Africa

By CIVICUS
Aug 7 2024 (IPS)

 
CIVICUS speaks with Darío Iza Pilaquinga, president of the Kitu Kara People of the Kichwa nationality of Ecuador, about a historic court ruling that applied a constitutional provision recognising the rights of nature.

On 5 July, an Ecuadorian court issued a ruling recognising the rights of the Machángara River, which flows through the country’s capital, Quito. While other countries in the region recognise the right of people to a healthy environment, Ecuador’s constitution also recognises the right of natural elements not to be degraded. The lawsuit to protect the rights of the river, affected by high levels of pollution, was filed by the Indigenous Kitu Kara people. As a result of the ruling, the Municipality of the Metropolitan District of Quito must produce a plan to clean up the river.

Darío Iza Pilaquinga

What rights does the Ecuadorian Constitution recognise to natural elements?

The constitution recognises nature as a subject of rights. In practice, any person or community can demand that the authorities respect the rights of nature. The constitution also establishes the right to environmental restoration, which means the state must eliminate or mitigate the harmful effects of human activities on the environment.

The fact that Ecuador recognises the rights of nature clashes with western legal concepts, but for us it is an issue that goes beyond the legal and even the environmental realm. For Indigenous peoples, rivers and mountains are unique sacred entities that must be protected and preserved.

What tactics do Ecuadorian social movements use to demand environmental protection?

Citizens and Indigenous communities are demanding public policies that recognise the violation of nature’s rights. However, because we don’t want to depend on the changing will of successive administrations, we view court rulings as a fundamental tool for guaranteeing rights, including long-term environmental protection.

Through litigation, we have obtained Constitutional Court rulings that establish clear rules and oblige all public officials to protect rivers, regardless of changes in government. These rulings oblige institutions to define public policy to that effect and commit citizens to respecting nature and being aware of the environmental impact of their actions.

Finally, we run media campaigns to inform the public about the pollution levels of rivers and organise community litter picking. These campaigns are essential because, even if the government sets ambitious goals for itself, it cannot achieve them in the absence of people’s active participation.

Why did you file a lawsuit to protect the Machángara River?

The Machángara River, which flows through Quito, is very polluted. It looks more like an open sewer than a river. We believe that by failing to clean up its waters, the Quito authorities are violating the right of people in Quito to a healthy environment and the right of the river itself to not be degraded or polluted.

When the Kitu Kara people, alongside their communities and organisations, decided to join this action to defend the rights of the river, other environmental and cultural collectives joined us. Citizens’ groups, academics and researchers joined the cause, as well as former municipal officials who provided evidence of the lack of maintenance and conservation work on the river.

The city government is directly responsible for the failure to prevent pollution. Its public enterprises include the Municipal Public Company of Water and Sanitation (EPMAPS), responsible for drinking water supply and sewerage. Only three per cent of wastewater is treated, while the rest is discharged directly into the river. This affects water quality and environmental safety.

In our lawsuit, we hold the Municipality of Quito responsible for the pollution of the river and the violation of our rights. After hearing witnesses and scientists, the court found that in some stretches the river has only two per cent of oxygen, while the minimum required for animals and plants is 80 per cent. This is due to the presence of a large number of bacteria, parasites and viruses that consume the oxygen in the water.

In its ruling, the court recognised that the river’s rights were being violated and stated that the municipality must clean up the river and develop a methodology alongside citizens to educate them about the importance of protecting nature.

This landmark ruling is not the first: almost two years ago there was a similar one concerning the Monjas River. Although each case is unique, both rulings provide others in Ecuador with the legal tools they need to demand the protection of their rivers – such as people in the province of Pastaza, who have begun to demand the recognition of the Puyo River as a subject of rights.

How has the municipal government reacted?

Since the beginning, the city government tried to boycott the trial. They started by saying that our lawyer had a conflict of interest because he had been a judge at the Constitutional Court in the Monjas River case. But the judge rejected this.

Then they tried to take advantage of our naivety to get us to drop the case. A few days before the hearing, they called us to a meeting where they encouraged us to also sue the Ministry of the Environment, which is responsible for the rivers and for issuing permits, as well as EPMAPS. But our lawyers told us that if we requested the inclusion of additional defendants, the existing process could be declared null and void.

Once the process started, the mayor went to the media to announce that a project to build 27 treatment plants had been approved, in an attempt to show he was addressing the problem. When we asked for and received more information, we discovered that one of the main proposed plants, which would treat a large proportion of sewage, would be built on land that was part of the ancestral community of Llano Grande, which had not yet been consulted. In other words, the Indigenous communities’ right to free, prior and informed consent was being violated.

Even if the municipality had carried out the consultation and the community had given its consent, the project couldn’t have been carried out easily, because it would have destroyed an archaeological and agricultural zone and a preserve of Andean dry forest, violating the rights of nature. In short, the municipality was trying to solve one problem by creating another. When we objected, they accused us of obstructing their actions to solve the problem we had created.

Finally, their reaction to the ruling was also negative: the city government appealed the decision and promoted an extensive social media campaign to justify its position. This was aggravated by the activation of a troll campaign against us, as well as the intervention of other groups trying to take advantage of the situation in their fight against the current municipal administration.

However, we are optimistic. We believe that the Provincial Court and, if it comes to it, the National Court will ratify the decision, because the violation of rights we have denounced is so clear and obvious.

Civic space in Ecuador is rated ‘obstructed’ by the CIVICUS Monitor.

Get in touch with Darío Iza through his Instagram page and follow @daroizap on Twitter.

 

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By Patricia Roy
KINGSTON, Jamaica, Aug 7 2024 (IPS)

The International Seabed Authority (ISA) Assembly meeting concluded last week with no mining authorized, an unprecedented number of States calling for a moratorium or precautionary pause and a new Secretary-General elected.

Three weeks of negotiations included intense scrutiny of the ISA’s annual financial management; no Mining Code was agreed; a Head of State attended the meeting to support a moratorium for the first time in the Assembly’s history; and there was the first formal debate ever by the ISA Assembly on the need to adopt an overall policy for the protection of the marine environment.

Momentum to defend the deep increased with 32 states now calling for a precautionary pause or moratorium. The attendance of senior political figures, Indigenous Leaders and youth from across the world added weight to the push to stop mining from proceeding and the election of a new Secretary General opens up a new era for the ISA.

The Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC) has been present throughout the negotiations in Kingston and Deep-Sea Mining Moratorium Campaign Lead, Sofia Tsenikli said: “For years the ISA has operated in its own bubble, pressing ahead and resisting the mounting calls for precaution. This Assembly meeting has marked a pivotal shift for the ISA and the moratorium campaign.

The dumbo octopus, which uses its ear-like fins to propel itself off of the seafloor, is one of the many species that call the deep-sea home. Credit: U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Okeanos Explorer Program, 2014 expedition, Gulf of Mexico.

States and communities that are on the front lines of deep-sea mining and its impacts are here in Jamaica to defend their homes and cultures from this destructive activity before it can begin. We applaud the ocean champions spearheading efforts to safeguard our fragile and essential deep sea.”

Malta, Honduras, Tuvalu, Guatemala, and Austria joined the ever-growing wave of countries calling for a precautionary pause to deep-sea mining, citing a lack of scientific knowledge and understanding of the deep sea, the absence of an effective regulatory regime and the high risk to the marine environment.

The ISA Assembly elected Leticia Carvalho as the new Secretary-General of ISA after defeating incumbent Michael Lodge, marking a new chapter for the institution responsible for the effective protection and long-term health of the deep sea.

The DSCC’s co-founder Matthew Gianni congratulated Carvahlo and the government of Brazil on this historic election and noted: “The ISA has an opportunity to champion a new way forward for sound ocean governance that prioritizes the precautionary principle and secures the health of the deep sea and its benefits for future generations.

We urge the new Secretary General to prioritize advancing transparency in the work of the ISA and independent scientific research and capacity building, decoupled from an extractive agenda, to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the deep ocean, its diversity of species and ecosystems, and the role they play in maintaining the health of the planet for all of us.”

For the first time, the ISA Assembly discussed the possibility of a General Policy for the protection and preservation of the marine environment, which could set the necessary conditions to be fulfilled before commercial deep-sea mining exploitation can be considered.

However, no decision was taken, as a group of States, including China, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Uganda and Ghana, refused to engage in any development on a General Policy at this Assembly, despite the support from a large number of States, including Chile, Palau, Vanuatu, Samoa, Switzerland, Brazil and Greece to bring the protection of the marine environment into the heart of ISA’s supreme organ: the Assembly.

We urge the Assembly to open this discussion again next year and to develop a General Policy to safeguard these fragile ecosystems.

DSCC International Legal Adviser Duncan Currie said: “A discussion on the protection of the marine environment is long overdue at the ISA Assembly considering the global outcry of environmental concerns surrounding deep-sea mining.

The ISA Assembly, as the supreme organ of the ISA, has the legal authority under UNCLOS to establish such a general policy. We are disappointed this didn’t happen this year but we look forward to working with states constructively on the establishment of a General Policy for the protection and preservation of the marine environment next year.”

Moreover, a Mining Code remains far from being agreed – a blow to mining companies – and the unrealistic and artificial 2025 Roadmap remains on the table, with over 30 outstanding regulatory matters still unresolved, undecided or undiscussed.

DSCC Policy Officer Emma Wilson said, “With independent scientists pointing to the risks of deep-sea mining, as well as the absence of a robust scientific understanding of these ecosystems, it’s time for States to zoom out from the technicalities of the mining code and instead address one basic question: is it or is it not safe to allow this industry to proceed under the current circumstances? Rushing to adopt a regulatory regime that would open the gates to a highly destructive activity for an area we know little about is beyond reckless and risks irreparably and permanently damaging our ocean and planet.”

Patricia Roy is a senior press officer for the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition and Communications INC. She has worked for more than 10 years in art management and communication in the public and private sectors in France, the UK and Spain. Working with Communications INC, she specialises in European and international media strategy, coordination and outreach for environmental and social campaigns designed by international NGOs.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Gender bonds are increasingly recognized as an innovative instrument that can be used to tap into capital markets to finance gender equality. Credit: Stella Paul/IPS

By Vanina Vincensini and Jemimah Njuki
NEW YORK, Aug 6 2024 (IPS)

Iceland’s gender bond last month caused great excitement in the capital markets community. While gender bonds have been increasing in popularity within the private sector, Iceland is the first country to issue a sovereign gender bond. Many in the development community are however asking, are gender bonds the solution to financing for gender equality?

So, what are gender bonds? Gender bonds are bonds that integrate gender equality objectives or the empowerment of women. Gender bonds follow the Social Bond Principles established by the International Capital Market Association and contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG 5), and are verified by independent entities, known as second-party opinions.

In 2021, ICMA, IFC, and UN Women published the first gender bond guide. The guide offers practical guidance on how to use gender bonds to finance gender projects and strategies and includes examples of gender-based targets for issuers and the types of projects that can be financed by private and public sector issuers.

With declining ODA going to gender inequality, the ability to mobilize resources from multiple sources including both public and private to advance gender equality objectives is increasingly becoming critical

The focus on gender bonds, or debt securities to finance gender equality is driven my many factors, one being that the share of development finance for gender equality decreased after a decade of progress—from 45% in 2019-20 to 43% in 2021-22.

With declining ODA going to gender inequality, the ability to mobilize resources from multiple sources including both public and private to advance gender equality objectives is increasingly becoming critical. But important questions remain on how we can mobilize and hold capital markets accountable to address structural gender inequalities.

 

Potential of capital markets

Global capital markets are vast and diverse, encompassing various instruments including stocks, bonds, and other financial assets. and institutions that facilitate the flow of capital. As of 2023, the global bond market was valued at approximately $100 trillion, similar in size to global GDP according to the OECD.

This market includes government bonds, corporate bonds, municipal bonds, and other debt instruments issued by various entities. Despite the significant size of the bond market, the allocation of funds specifically targeted towards gender equality remains relatively modest. Gender bonds are still in their nascent stages, but their growth is promising.

At the end of 2023, the global capital invested in gender bonds had reached approximately $14.5 billion. While this is a small fraction of the overall bond market, it reflects a growing recognition of the importance of gender-focused investments.

Gender bonds are increasingly recognized as an innovative instrument that can be used to tap into capital markets to finance gender equality. For example, last year Latin America and the Caribbean saw 26 gender bonds amounting to $2.25bn, led by issuances in Mexico, Chile and Colombia. In Africa gender bonds have been issued in Morocco, Tanzania, Rwanda and South Africa.

Despite this, the potential of gender bonds is yet to fully be realized, and challenges remain on how to ensure they lead to impact on gender equality, and that they address structural gender inequalities. There is risk of “pink washing” with bonds being labelled as gender but not having gender equality objectives or not having impact on gender equality.

For gender bonds to be truly impactful, we believe three key things are needed.

 

First is to expand the use of proceeds to address structural causes of gender inequality. Most of the gender bonds issues so far have gone to financing women owned businesses.

The National Microfinance Bank Tanzania’s Jasiri Gender Bond launched in 2023 provides capital and resources to 3000 women-led small and medium enterprises.

The most recent issuance, by Bolivia’s BancoSol $30mn bond, announced on June 20, is intended to provide finance for up to 4,500 micro and small enterprises led by women in the country and aims to contribute to closing the country’s gender financing gap, where half of all businesses in Bolivia are women-led, yet only 24 per cent of economically active women have access to credit.

But bonds can go beyond closing financing gaps. Eligible projects for the Iceland gender bond, as per their bond framework developed with technical support from UN Women and aligned with the gender bond principles, include the provision of decent living standards for women and gender minorities, increasing the supply of affordable housing that benefits low-income women, as well as efforts to increase maximum payments during parental leave which create incentives for both parents to make use of their equal right to paid parental leave.

 

Second, set up broad-based accountability mechanisms to ensure gender bonds lead to sustainable and transformative impact on gender equality. Investors need assurance that their funds are making a real difference. And these instruments can only make a difference in women’s and girls’ lives if we know that gender-specific outcomes are achieved.

This is why bond issuers are encouraged to align with the voluntary guidelines developed by the ICMA, IFC and UN Women, which include recommendations on clear bond frameworks, second party opinions and verifications, and annual reporting on the use of funds.

Impact reports that include sex-disaggregated quantitative data and qualitative insights can then build investor confidence, gender bonds credibility, ultimately encouraging more investments in projects that have direct and positive impact on gender equality.

In Argentina, the first gender bonds issued in the country created new jobs for women-entrepreneurs and their employees. In South Africa, procurement from black women–owned suppliers of a corporate bond issuer increased from 13.8% to 16.26% in the first year.

 

Third, more sovereign bonds could significantly impact gender equality due to their scale and reach, if they are backed up by sound policies, action plans, and debt management strategies.

Unlike other financial instruments, sovereign bonds can mobilize large sums of capital, which can be directed towards national programmes and policies aimed at reducing gender gaps.

Additionally, the credibility and stability associated with government-issued bonds make them attractive to a broad range of investors. But a precondition to issuing more sovereign gender bonds is political will, sound debt management strategies, and robust gender equality investment and action plans.

Governments must demonstrate a strong commitment to gender equality by integrating gender analysis into their financial and policy frameworks.

They also need to ensure that public expenditures are aligned with gender equality goals. In the case of Iceland, the country’s action plans to close persisting gender gaps, its long-standing practice of gender-responsive budgeting, strong financial standing and fiscal discipline provided a conducive environment for successful gender bond issuance.

More countries could follow Iceland’s example in the context of the 2025 international financing agenda which will mark the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (considered the most progressive blueprint ever for advancing women’s rights) and the fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, to be held in 2025 from 30 June to 3 July in Spain.

And while gender bonds have great potential, they are not a panacea for addressing the glaring gaps in financing for gender equality. Public financing is needed to bring about meaningful and transformative gender equality and gender bonds are just but a miniscule of a larger effort to plug the $360B annual funding gap for gender equality.

 

Vanina Vincensini is a global expert in sustainable and inclusive finance. She advised Iceland on its pioneering sovereign gender bonds proposition, setting a precedent for innovative gender-focused financial solutions worldwide.

Jemimah Njuki is the Chief, Economic Empowerment at UN Women and a New Voices Fellow. She writes widely on issues of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.

For the first time in 25 years, we have seen extreme wealth and extreme poverty increase simultaneously. The world’s five richest men doubled their fortunes since 2020 while five billion people have been made poorer. Credit: Lova Rabary-Rakontondravony/IPS

By Amitabh Behar
NEW DELHI, Aug 6 2024 (IPS)

We are living in a world of multiple crises of inequality, climate breakdown and conflict. Billions of people globally are facing huge hardship. Whole governments, too, are virtually bankrupt, with extremely high debt levels forcing them to implement brutal and deeply unpopular cuts and tax rises for ordinary people. 3.3 billion people live in countries that spend more on debt interest payments than on either education or health.

For the first time in 25 years, we have seen extreme wealth and extreme poverty increase simultaneously. The world’s five richest men doubled their fortunes since 2020 while five billion people have been made poorer. In his 2023 SDG Progress Report, the United Nations Secretary-General announced that the sustainable development goal (SDG) which tracks inequality is one of the worst performing.

Tax is one of the most important levers that a government has at its disposal to reduce economic inequality and generate revenue for governments to spend on policies that reduce inequality. Historically, taxation of the ultra-rich has helped to create more equal societies and prevent an extreme gulf from emerging between the haves and the have-nots.

Half of the world’s billionaires live in countries with no inheritance tax for direct descendants. They will pass on a $5 trillion tax-free treasure chest to their heirs – which is more than the GDP of Africa—beginning the next generation of aristocratic elites

However, in the decades prior to the pandemic, progressive taxation collapsed. The ultra-rich and corporations have been favoured with low-tax regimes, while taxes on billions of ordinary people have increased.

Billionaires are paying tax rates as little as 0.5% on their immense wealth, a fraction of that paid by teachers or nurses. Meanwhile, billionaire fortunes are rising at an annual average of 7% over the past four decades –far faster than the wealth of ordinary people.

The call for increased taxation on the ultra-rich is gaining momentum. For the first time in its history, in June, G7 leaders committed to working together to increase progressive taxation.

Under the Brazilian G20 Presidency in July, G20 Finance Ministers committed for first time ever to cooperate on taxing ultra hight net wealth individuals more effectively. Oxfam strongly supports the Brazilian G20 Presidency’s initiative to set a global standard on taxing the super-rich.

At the G20 Summit in November this year, leaders need to go further than their finance ministers and back concrete coordination: agreeing on a new global deal to tax the ultra-rich at a rate high enough to close the gap between them and the rest of us. Political leaders are waking up to this being a very popular policy; even wealthy individuals support higher taxes on themselves.

Nearly three-quarters of millionaires in G20 countries support higher taxes on wealth, and leading figures such as Abigail Disney have been vocal in their support of a global effort to tax the ultra-rich.

Greater taxation of the world’s richest individuals is not the only answer to the inequality crisis, but it is a fundamental part of it. A one-off solidarity wealth tax and windfall taxes would raise funds that can be directed to provision of public goods. It is feasible to make these progressive changes.

Italy was one of the first countries to impose a windfall tax, and after WW2 the French government taxed excessive wartime wealth at a rate of 100%. A similar level of ambition is needed today.

Further, governments should permanently increase taxes on the richest 1%, for example to at least 60% of their income from labour and capital, with higher rates for multi-millionaires and billionaires. They must especially raise taxes on capital gains, which are subject to lower tax rates than other forms of income.

Permanent taxation of wealth that rebalances the taxation of capital and labour can greatly reduce inequality, as well as tackle the disproportionate political power and the outsized carbon emissions of the super-wealthy.

We need to see the wealth of the richest 1% taxed at rates high enough to significantly reduce the numbers and wealth of the richest people and redistribute these resources.

This includes implementing inheritance, property and land taxes, as well as net wealth taxes. Half of the world’s billionaires live in countries with no inheritance tax for direct descendants. They will pass on a $5 trillion tax-free treasure chest to their heirs – which is more than the GDP of Africa—beginning the next generation of aristocratic elites.

Above all, we want to see a shift in imagination from governments. A reckoning that more of the same —more billionaire wealth, and a deeper plunge into a cost-of-survival crisis— is the definition of insanity and more suffering for billions of people. We need to heed the evidence, but also look to history, and what ordinary people are calling for around the world.

Closing tax loopholes and ensuring that the richest pay their fair share would reduce inequality and raise trillions of dollars urgently needed to stop climate breakdown and invest in fairer societies for everyone.

It would put people and planet before the needs of a rich few. The time has come for governments to shake off decades of failed ideology and rich elite influence, and to do the right thing: tax the ultra-rich.

Excerpt:

Amitabh Behar is Executive Director of Oxfam international

The uncle of boxer Imane Khelif, whose Olympics has been hit by a gender eligibility row, says she's faced "bullying".

The uncle of boxer Imane Khelif, whose Olympics has been hit by a gender eligibility row, says she's faced "bullying".

The uncle of boxer Imane Khelif, whose Olympics has been hit by a gender eligibility row, says she's faced "bullying".