Africa

More than 10 newborn babies have died in a hospital fire in the western city of Tivaouane in Senegal.

Samuel Sasu Adonteng’s voice was one of many young voices heard during the 5th Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour. He believes the inclusion of the youth means there are better chances that the campaign to end the scourge will succeed. Credit: Fawzia Moodley/IPS

By Fawzia Moodley
Durban, May 26 2022 (IPS)

Samuel Sasu Adonteng, programme officer for the All-Africa Students Union (AASU), believes that the recent 5th Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour has taken us closer to ending child labour for the first time because the voices of those affected were heard.

The week-long conference had a strong contingent of child labourers and former children in bondage who spoke out about their horrific experiences and made input on the actions that must be taken to end the practice.

The six-day conference held in Durban, South Africa, concluded with the Durban Call To Action On The Elimination of Child Labour, a blueprint for accelerating the fight at a time when, despite efforts by the ILO and its partners, the number of children in bondage has ballooned to 164 million.

Adonteng played a crucial role in galvanising the child labourers and survivors of child labour from Africa to attend the conference to raise their voices on the international platform.

The 26-year-old Ghanian says that he could easily have become a child labourer.

“I come from a small community in the Greater Accra region where quite a lot of children work and hawk on the streets. At some point in my life, I also had to sell water on the streets. I also had to sell car spare parts. I’d carry them about a kilometre to suppliers or people who wanted to buy them.”

Luckily for Adonteng, he came from a family that’s very invested in education.

“They believed in the power of education and how it can help children achieve the kind of future they want.

His mother passed away when Adonteng was very young, so he was brought up by his aunt, who, he says, “was so much bent on my education, even if it meant that at some point she had to beg from other people to pay for my school fees.

“So, I was able to go to senior high school and university to get my first degree. Currently, I am pursuing my Master’s degree in Total Quality Management. Hopefully, I’ll get a second Master’s degree in International Relations and Development.

He says many parents in Ghana understand the value of education and “are even willing to sell their belongings to ensure that their children go to school.”

“Parents and other family members play a critical role in ensuring that children have access to education. Some parents send their children out to fishing villages and even farms to work rather than send them to school.”

During the Children’s Forum at the conference, there was a strong call for an awareness campaign for parents to understand the importance of educating their children.

He echoed the call by the survivors of child labour on countries to provide “free, high-quality education and social security networks such as school feeding programmes.”

Adonteng attributes his detour into social activism to “seeing how education can be a powerful tool to turn around the lives of anybody, and how if we don’t take certain actions, we will lose an entire generation to child labour.

He says AASU, which works with the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations in Ghana, supports a dual approach of child support and institutional support to end child labour. This, he says, resonates with the call by the survivors of child labour at the conference.

“The AASU first partnered with the 100 million Campaign to end child labour in 2018. Our first initiative was an enrolment programme, and through that, our understanding was that we would ensure that every child of school-going age who is not in school is put back into school.”

In the lead up to the Durban child labour conference, the AASU organised the Africa regional virtual march to send a message to grassroots communities that child labour was not the road to success.

“Keeping children in school gives them a higher chance of becoming better people and contributes to national, continental and global development,” says Adonteng.

Governments alone cannot end child labour, he says, “it needs collective effort; if everybody has that one mindset that children should not be working, then we will succeed.”

Adonteng attributes his participation in the conference as a facilitator and speaker to his involvement in the 100 million Campaign and the Global March Against Child Labour through the AASU.

He says the inclusion of children at the conference, several of whom were rescued by the Kailash Satyarthi Foundation, is a significant breakthrough and will help accelerate the fight’s pace, which has failed to bring down the number of children in child labour.

Adonteng says that the conference organisers have taken on board the issues raised by the youth participants in formulating the Durban declaration.

“I think the thoughts of the children have been valued. So, what’s left is for those key stakeholders who have the power, the political will and funding to do what needs to be done. So, if they do care about children, now is the time to make the right funding and policies available.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

This is one of a series of stories that IPS published about the 5th Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour in Durban, South Africa.

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It is estimated that more than one third of the European Union will be under “high water stress” by the 2070. Credit: Bigstock

By Baher Kamal
MADRID, May 26 2022 (IPS)

So busy as they are with strengthening military alliances and devoting billions of taxpayers’ money to double their war budgets and subsidise fossil fuels, European Governments seem not to care about the reiterated alerts that their continent faces a serious risk: the reduced availability -and more polluted– drinking water.

Two specialised bodies –the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), and the European branch of the World Health Organization (WHO)– have warned that plans to make water access possible in the face of climate pressures “are absent” in the pan-European region.

And “in most cases” throughout the region there has also been a lack of coordination on drinking water, sanitation and health during the Thirteenth meeting of the Working Group on Water and Health held on 19-20 May 2022 in Geneva.

 

Water-related disease

From insufficient drinking water supply to contamination by sewage overflow and disease outbreaks from improper wastewater treatment, existing risks from climate change to water, sanitation and hygiene in the pan-European region are set to increase significantly, UNECE/WHO-Europe warned.

The UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) reports that other estimates are even more pessimistic, with up to four billion people – over half the population of the planet – already facing severe water stress for at least one month of the year while half a billion suffer from permanent water stress

On this, a previous report: Drugged Water: A New Global Pandemic Hiding in Plain Sight? informs that people around the world are unknowingly being exposed to water laced with antibiotics, which could spark the rise of drug-resistant pathogens and potentially fuel another global pandemic.

A study elaborated by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), found that, globally, not enough attention is being focused on the threat posed by antimicrobial resistance with most antibiotics being excreted into the environment via toilets or through open defecation.

While 80 percent of wastewater in the world is not treated, even in developed countries treatment facilities are often unable to filter out dangerous bugs.

Already in 2015, 34.8 billion daily doses of antibiotics were consumed, with up to 90 percent of them excreted into the environment as active substances. Since then the amount of daily consumed antibiotics has been increasing considerably.

 

Dangers are real

“Climate change is already posing serious challenges to water and sanitation systems in countries around the world,” said Thomas Croll-Knight, spokesperson for the UN Economic Commission for Europe.

“From reduced water availability and contamination of water supplies to damage to sewerage infrastructure, these risks are set to increase significantly unless countries step up measures to increase resilience now,” warned Thomas Croll-Knight.

It is estimated that more than one third of the European Union will be under “high water stress” by the 2070s, by which time the number of additional people affected (compared to 2007) is expected to surge to 16–44 million.

 

Bad news

Meanwhile, as governments prepare for the next UN climate conference (COP 27) in November 2022 in Egypt and the UN 2023 Water Conference, UNECE painted a potentially grim picture moving forward in parts of Europe.

“From water supply and sewerage infrastructure damage to water quality degradation and sewage spillage, impacts are already being felt.”

For example, increased energy demand and disruption to treatment plants in Hungary are threatening significant additional operational costs for wastewater treatment.

And challenges in ensuring adequate water supply in the Netherlands have increased, while Spain struggles to maintain a minimum drinking water supply during drought periods.

 

Huge risk of water shortage

But if the Governments of wealthy and industrially and technologically advanced Europe are not dedicating enough attention to the looming drinking water shortage, imagine the case of the overwhelming majority of developing regions.

In fact, it is estimated that, globally, over two billion people live in countries that experience high water stress.

 

Four billion people facing severe water stress

The UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) reports that other estimates are even more pessimistic, with up to four billion people – over half the population of the planet – already facing severe water stress for at least one month of the year while half a billion suffer from permanent water stress.”

The situation has been worsening as more than half the global population will be at risk by 2050, due to stress on the world’s water resources.

 

700 million of people displaced…

“Desertification alone threatens the livelihoods of nearly one billion people in 100 countries. Intense water scarcity may displace as many as 700 million people by 2030,” said Munir Akram, president of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) during a UN meeting held already over a year ago.

On that occasion, the UN Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, told the meeting the current rate of progress would have to quadruple to meet the 2030 deadline.

“Moreover, the planetary crisis, including the interlinked threats of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, will increase water scarcity”, she added.

 

… and 600 million children impacted

“By 2040, one in four of the world’s children under 18 – some 600 million – will be living in areas of extremely high-water stress.”

The UN estimates more than two billion people worldwide still do not have access to safely managed drinking water, while 4.2 billion lack safely managed sanitation.

Meanwhile, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) during the same meeting reported that one in five children worldwide do not have enough water to meet their daily needs.

“The world’s water crisis is not simply coming, it is here, and climate change will only make it worse”, said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore.

“Children are the biggest victims. When wells dry up, children are the ones missing school to fetch water. When droughts diminish food supplies, children suffer from malnutrition and stunting. When floods hit, children fall ill from waterborne illnesses…”

 

Africa, Asia, Middle East…

A UNICEF report found that Eastern and Southern Africa have the highest incidence of children living in “water poverty”, with nearly 60 percent facing difficulty in accessing water every day.

Meanwhile, humanitarian organisations continue to call for scaling up assistance in the Horn of Africa, where the worst drought in 40 years is affecting some 15 million people across Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia.

The drought follows four consecutive failed rainy seasons, and the fear is the number could jump to 20 million if the current below-average rains fail.

UNICEF informes that South Asia is home to the largest number of children living in areas of high or extremely high vulnerability, or more than 155 million.

Meanwhile, the Middle East and North Africa is reported to be the most water-scarce region in the world, as it is home to 15 out of the 20 of the world’s most water-scarce countries.

What’s wrong with the world’s Governments?

The flag of the Republic of Angola (centre) flying at United Nations Headquarters in New York. Credit: Africa Renewal, United Nations

By Kingsley Ighobor
UNITED NATIONS, May 26 2022 (IPS)

Ambassador Maria de Jesus dos Reis Ferreira was appointed in February 2018 as the Permanent Representative of Angola to the UN, the first woman to hold the position.

Among other issues, she has focused on peace and security in Africa and has echoed her country’s strong support for universal vaccination of the global population.

In this interview with Africa Renewal’s Kingsley Ighobor, Ambassador Ferreira discusses women’s empowerment, free trade and what the continent can expect from the UN conference on climate (COP 27) that will be held in Egypt later this year.

Excerpts from the interview:

Q: What has been your journey to this role as the Permanent Representative of Angola to the UN?

My journey has been a long one, I can take hours talking about it. I started in the army and years later I shifted to diplomacy, which has been quite an interesting and challenging journey.

I have worked as a diplomat since 1980. Before my current role, I worked as an Ambassador in Austria, Slovenia, Croatia and Slovakia with residence in Vienna, where I was the Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

I am the first woman to serve in this post since Angola became a UN Member State 46 years ago.

Q: Congratulations! What are your top three achievements so far?

Talking about achievements, with regards to peace and security, it is important to note that as part of Angola´s leadership of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) for the second time, our President João Lourenço, in his capacity as Chair, briefed the UN Security Council in June 2021 at a meeting dedicated to the situation in the Central Africa Republic. He called for an end to the arms embargo imposed on the country.

Ambassador Maria de Jesus dos Reis Ferreira

In addition, Angola continues to contribute and support a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Also in 2021, Angola presented for the first time its National Voluntary Review at the High-Level Political Forum on the implementation of the 2030 Development Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Another great achievement was that the UN General Assembly, through a resolution in February 2021, granted Angola three additional years [until 2024] to prepare for a smooth transition from the Least Developed Country category to a Middle-Income Country. That was after intense negotiations.

I must mention that Angola is, for the second time, a member of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) for the triennium 2022-2024. The Committee is tasked primarily with examining the programme budget of the United Nations.

Q: What are your priorities for 2022?

Our main priority for this year is to continue to focus on peace and security with particular emphasis on Africa, specifically our sub-region.

We will also continue to pay attention to programmes that foster humanitarian assistance to vulnerable groups, including women and children, environmental protection and sustainable development.

Q: “The role of women in diplomacy is key to reforming the male-dominated nature of international relations,” Ambassador Ferreira

There are only a few African women Permanent Representatives to the UN in New York. What needs to be done to increase that number?

The role of women in diplomacy is key to reforming the male-dominated nature of international relations. Women’s participation in peace and security mechanisms is necessary to deviate from the patriarchal norm of men being decision-makers while women remain in the background.

However, each country has its own national strategy. It is not just a matter of increasing the number of women PRs in New York or in any other position, it is also that women merit it.

In Angola, slowly but surely, positive steps have been taken toward the inclusion of more women in all sectors, including diplomacy. Since President João Lourenço assumed office in 2017, there has been a steady increase in the number of women Heads of Missions. Currently, 14 women lead Diplomatic Missions and three are Permanent Representatives. I am in New York and one each in the UN office in Geneva and at UNESCO in Paris. There is still a gap in terms of gender balance because we have 40 men in the Missions, but we are moving in the right direction.

Q: Why is women’s empowerment important in Africa?

Empowering women in Africa will promote their sense of self-worth, ability to determine their own choices and their right to influence social change in society. Gender equality is achieved when men and women enjoy the same socio-economic rights and opportunities and have equal access to education, health care, decent work, and representation in political and economic decision-making processes.

Women account for about 50 per cent of Africa’s population, but they remain underrepresented in decision-making.

Latest statistics show that women occupy about 24 per cent of parliamentary seats in Africa, significantly close to the global average of 25 per cent. Unfortunately, the sub-regions of Southern Africa with 31 per cent and East Africa with 32.4 per cent largely account for women’s representation in parliament in Africa. The other three sub-regions are way behind.

Of course, the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action has a target of at least 30 per cent while the African Union Agenda 2063 sets a goal of 50 per cent women’s representation.

Q: “Climate change poses systemic risks to our economies, infrastructure investments, water and food systems, public health, agriculture, and livelihoods, which collectively threaten to undo Africa’s development gains,” Ambassador Ferreira

Angola has been at the forefront of the call for universal COVID-19 vaccination. What more needs to be done to achieve success in this area?

Angola, like many developing countries, has been calling for universal vaccination against COVID-19 so that no one is left behind.

In his speech at the at the UN General Assembly in September 2021, President Lourenço called for the waiving of Intellectual Property rights to make it possible for many countries to manufacture vaccines so that they become available to everyone.

Last February, at the High-Level Meeting on Universal Access to COVID-19 Vaccines, our President again urged the richest nations to donate $5 billion through COVAX for urgent purchase of about 600 million vaccines, and to supportthe implementation of national vaccination campaigns.

The pandemic has a global dimension and therefore requires a global response. Its impact has accentuated the interdependence among nations. For this reason, we continue to advocate for the waiver of IP rights to enhance production, distribution and equitable access.

I am happy that Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia have been selected to receive the technology required to produce mRNA vaccines on the continent, as part of WHO’s effort to replicate what are believed to be the most effective licensed shots against COVID-19.

The world must come together in this fight against COVID-19. Access to vaccines, tests and treatments for everyone who needs them is the only way out.

Q: We’re now in the second year of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). What are your views regarding how African women can benefit from free trade?

There is no doubt that women are key stakeholders in the development of the African economy. First and foremost, women constitute 70 per cent of informal traders, which is why the AfCFTA recognizes the importance of gender in intra-African trade.

But we must take further steps. For example, we must promote policies that close the gender gap. In considering the potential impact of AfCFTA on Africans, let’s consider the question of whether such an impact will help address gender inequality.

The good news is that, according to the World Bank, AfCFTA could potentially lift 30 million Africans out of extreme poverty and increase the incomes of 68 million others who live on less than $5.50 a day. And we have a combined market of 1.3 billion people from which women traders can benefit immensely.

In addition, the AfCFTA can boost women’s roles in jobs across different sectors, for example the agricultural sector.Expanded export markets present huge opportunities for women.

Remember also that increased industrialization and diversification can benefit women in manufacturing industries because it will make higher-skilled and better-paying jobs more available and accessible to them. Significantly, women entrepreneurs, including those in SMEs, will reap rewards from regional value chains.

Q: “A better deal for Africa will mean climate justice for a continent that accounts for only three per cent of cumulative global CO2 emissions but bears the brunt of its effects,” Ambassador Ferreira

Egypt will host COP27 later this year. What does Angola at large want to see come out of it?

First, I would like to congratulate Egypt for being the host of COP27.

Angola considers climate change to be one of the greatest challenges facing humanity due to its direct and indirect effects on the economic and social life of nations. Climate change poses systemic risks to our economies, infrastructure investments, water and food systems, public health, agriculture, and livelihoods, which collectively threaten to undo Africa’s development gains.

Africa is the most vulnerable continent to climate change impacts under all climate scenarios above 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Currently, Angola’s national energy matrix incorporates 62 per cent of non-polluting sources of energy, and we are aiming to reach 70 per cent in 2025. We have clearly defined our concrete contribution to a reduction of carbon in electricity production until 2025. We are also taking complementary actions in the sustainable management of forests, transport and agriculture.

A better deal for Africa will mean climate justice for a continent that accounts for only three per cent of cumulative global CO2 emissions but bears the brunt of its effects. Yet, less developed countries are under increasing pressure to adopt low-carbon development and transition their economies to net-zero by 2050.

In my view, COP27 presents a unique opportunity for Africa to lead the climate conversation and negotiate better climate deals for the continent.

Source: Africa Renewal, United Nations

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Wars and conflicts have pushed more than 139 million people in 24 countries into acute food insecurity. Credit: FAO

By Mario Lubetkin
ROME, May 25 2022 (IPS)

If the war in Ukraine, that was initiated three months ago, does not end, and without a reduction in the growing number of conflicts in other parts of the world, hunger will only continue to increase.

As rarely seen in recent history, issues related to agrifood systems and world food security are at the centre of global and regional debates and actions in the search of possible solutions to prevent the rapid worsening of world hunger as a result of war and other conflicts.

It also seeks to accelerate efforts to transform agrifood systems, to ensure inclusive and environmentally sound development and better nutrition.

Wars and conflicts have pushed more than 139 million people in 24 countries into acute food insecurity; extreme weather events have been responsible for extreme hunger for another 23 million people in eight countries, while economic shocks have enormously affected 30 million people in 21 countries

“Peace is essential to protect people from hunger,” FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu has repeatedly said at major world forums.

Ukraine is obviously the country most affected by the war because of the human suffering and the destruction of food supply and value chains.

However, the consequences of this conflict are also being felt by low-income and food-importing countries that depend on Russia and Ukraine for food, grain, fuel and fertilizer supplies, especially in Africa and Asia, as they face an unprecedented rise in food prices.

At the end of March, just over a month after the start of the war, on 24 February, food products increased by 12.6%, the highest increase since 1990, according to data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

At the end of April, prices fell slightly; however, the prospects for the coming months are far from encouraging.

According to a recent study by FAO, World Food Programme (WFP), and other institutions, around 193 million people in 53 countries were already suffering from acute food insecurity and in need of very urgent assistance in 2021, almost 40 million more than in 2020.

It is expected that the figures will continue to increase in 2022 if wars and conflicts continue.

Afghanistan alone represents approximately 20 million people in this situation, half of its population, with very high figures also in Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen.

Wars and conflicts have pushed more than 139 million people in 24 countries into acute food insecurity; extreme weather events have been responsible for extreme hunger for another 23 million people in eight countries, while economic shocks have enormously affected 30 million people in 21 countries.

These data demonstrate the increasingly close relationship between conflicts, climate change, economic and financial crises, as well as energy and health problems, with the fight against hunger.

All this in a context already worsened by the effects of COVID-19 in recent years, which further aggravated the situation of people who numbered more than 800 million at the beginning of the pandemic. The effects of COVID-19 increased that figure by an additional 100 million, not to mention the problems of malnutrition that affect more than 3 billion people.

The war increased prices, especially of wheat, corn and oilseeds as well as fertilizers. These increases come on top of already high increases in the worst period of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wheat export forecasts for Russia and Ukraine have been revised downwards, and while other players such as India and the European Union have increased their offers, solutions remain very limited, and prices are expected to remain high.

Countries likely to be most affected by their dependence on wheat imports from European countries at war include Egypt and Turkey, as well as several African countries such as Congo, Eritrea, Madagascar, Namibia, Somalia and Tanzania.

In addition, some countries that rely heavily on imported fertilizers from Russia are exporters of grains and high-value commodities such as Argentina, Bangladesh and Brazil.

To face this difficult reality for a group close to 60 countries, FAO is proposing at major international forums, such as the Group of Seven (G7) meeting in Stuttgart, Germany, this month, the creation of a global Food Financing Fund.

This Fund would be designed to help the most affected countries cope with rising food prices and thus contribute to alleviating the situation of 1.8 billion people.

To guarantee greater market transparency, this specialized agency of the United Nations, together with the countries of the Group of 20 (G20), is promoting the strengthening and expansion of the Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS).

It is an inter-agency platform designed to improve the transparency of food markets, established in 2011 by the world’s most powerful countries following the global food price increases of 2007-2008 and 2010.

At the same time, the aim is to support Ukrainian rural families with rapid action to enable them to cultivate crops in time for the harvest that begins in the coming months, which represents an essential source of income for the country’s 12 million rural inhabitants, almost a third of its population.

This involves, for example, distributing potato-planting inputs for to thousands of Ukrainian producers in at least 10 provinces and making targeted economic transfers.

Addressing these dramatically growing emergencies, investing in the healthier, more nutritious and equitable agrifood systems, applying science and innovation more intensely to these processes, and reducing food losses can solve the food situation of hundreds of millions of people.

“Time is short and the situation is dire,” warned Qu at the United Nations Security Council on 19 May.

Excerpt:

This is an op-ed by Mario Lubetkin, Assistant Director-General at FAO

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By George Pagoulatos
ATHENS, Greece, May 25 2022 (IPS)

Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine has sparked a new introspection in the West. A number of commentators, most of them writing from the US and the UK, have come up with their latest scapegoat: Germany’s to blame, they say, with its decades-long policy of appeasing Russia. Really?

People love to dislike Germany. Often for good reasons. Successive Merkel administrations were hard-hearted in their management of the eurozone crisis, imposing crippling austerity on the South. They prioritised Germany’s narrow economic interests when dealing with illiberal regimes, including an aggressive Turkey.

Germany pursued a similar policy with Russia, too, weaving a tight web of economic relations. Since the turning point of 24 February, it is clear that this policy has outlived its usefulness. But the vitriol hurled at Germany has been excessive in the extreme: ‘Putin’s useful idiots’ was the verdict of a recent Politico Europe article on Germany’s leaders. The German president was prevented from visiting Kyiv after being declared persona non grata. It’s all getting rather out of hand.

Understanding the German perspective

Extreme criticism of this sort is not only about Germany and how to deal with brutal leaders like Putin. It is also about Europe’s role in the international system. And it has gone too far, for at least four reasons:

First, history.

Having acknowledged the crimes of Nazism, Germany was re-established on new foundations after 1945. No other country has made historical guilt such an integral part of its national self-consciousness.

George Pagoulatos

This led to the drawing up of a pacifist constitution, the consignment of German nationalism to the fringes, and seven-plus decades of commitment to European integration. When the Germans justify Nord Stream by citing the destruction wrought by Hitler’s Germany on Russia, or when they say they don’t want German tanks rolling into Ukraine killing Russian soldiers, there is deep historical content in it.

One could dismiss it as a thing of the past, but vacuous it isn’t, nor is it just pretext.

Second, Ostpolitik.

The Social Democrats in Germany today inherited Willy Brandt’s post-1960s doctrine of cooperation, dialogue and detente with the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc. This policy, which has been adhered to by every administration since, contributed to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and to the peaceful reunification of the two Germanies.

As a member of NATO, Germany did not cease to play an active role in the containment of the Soviet bloc. But it complemented this role with a farsighted policy of opening up to the Soviet Union. A wise policy which was vindicated.

Third, Realpolitik.

There is no doubt that its nexus of commercial transactions with Putin’s Russia has been commercially beneficial for Germany. Should anyone be surprised if a state chooses to act according to its economic interests? And indeed, the mercantilism of an export-led German economy that grows on the back of foreign trade often leads German foreign policy to forge relations with authoritarian regimes.

Nord Stream 2 did leave Germany fully dependent on Russian gas. However, the Scholz administration shut the pipeline down immediately after the invasion of Ukraine and moved forward to support all the heavy sanctions imposed, accepting the resulting economic damage.

But the key point here is this: If Europe’s main weapon for responding to Putin’s aggression is economic sanctions, it is precisely the density of the commercial relations with Russia that makes sanctions an effective lever capable of delivering real pressure.

Without these transactions, Putin would have nothing to lose – sanctions would be utterly meaningless! Economic interdependence gives Europe the power to exercise a deterrent by escalating sanctions. Even if it stands to bear a good part of the cost of them itself.

Building bridges not walls

There is nothing black and white about dealing in the long term with a militaristic authoritarian rival, one that holds nuclear weapons. It requires an ever-evolving mix of incentives and sanctions to encourage positive behaviour, discourage negative actions, and respond directly to aggression; a toolkit containing both engagement and containment to be applied in alternating doses.

The German logic of dealing with Russia is helping to maintain a balanced European foreign policy mix, which would otherwise be heavily skewed toward atavistic Cold War hawkishness.

Fourth, Europe.

Peace in post-war Europe owes much to the pragmatic restraint of its leaderships, the taming of nationalisms, the forging of mutually beneficial cooperation. The EU owes its historical success to building bridges, not walls. Of course, when things change, Europe (and Germany) change their mind, to paraphrase Keynes.

The EU cannot and must not abandon its doctrine of soft power; rather, it must complement it with hard power and defensive deterrence. But holding the European leaders who sought to engage Russia as a partner responsible for Putin’s war is worse than revisionism. It is a plain distortion of logic.

This article was originally published on ekathimerini-com

George Pagoulatos is a professor at the Athens University of Economics and Business, visiting professor at the College of Europe, and director general of the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP)

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Nigerians should not be pushing against global COVID-19 vaccine inequity amid widespread looting of the national treasury. Credit: UNICEF/Nahom Tesfaye

By Ifeanyi Nsofor
ABUJA, May 24 2022 (IPS)

Nigeria’s accountant-general, the administrative head of the country’s treasury, has been arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for allegedly stealing 80 billion naira ($134 million). This is a staggering theft in a country that has an estimated poverty rate of 95 million (48% of the population) and some of the worst health indices in the world.

As a universal health coverage and global health equity advocate, I know that Nigeria’s health system would be stronger and work better by blocking these leakages and channeling the funds to provide universal health coverage for every Nigerian.

Indeed, the stealing of public funds denies millions of people healthcare, which comes with severe health consequences. These include citizens living with chronic debilitating illnesses, loss of productivity, worsening poverty and even death. In our country, about 58,000 women die during pregnancy and childbirth yearly; and 1 in 8 children do not live to witness their 5th birthday. Simply put, corruption is a matter of life and death.

These are five examples of how the missing 80 billion naira could improve the health of Nigerians if rechanneled.

First, 80 billion naira would fund President Muhammadu Buhari’s plan to provide health insurance for 83 million poor Nigerians, as part of his implementation of the new National Health Insurance Authority Act that he recently signed into law.

Further, the missing 80 billion naira is 114 times the 701 million naira budgeted for the defunct National Health Insurance Scheme in 2022. It is unsurprising that the Scheme did not achieve a national health insurance coverage of up to 5% for the past 18 years.

A mandatory health insurance program is a way to achieve universal health coverage for Nigerians because out-of-pocket spending at the point of healthcare pushes people into poverty. Isn’t it ironic that millions of Nigerians are pushed into poverty when they access healthcare and the accountant-general is alleged to have stolen 80 billion naira? This is a classic case of suffering in the midst of plenty.

Second, the stolen 80 billion naira can fund tertiary healthcare for millions of Nigerians who access care at teaching hospitals. Lagos University Teaching Hospital, University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, University of Ibadan Teaching Hospital, Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital and Jos University teaching Hospital collectively have a budget of 78 billion naira for 2022.

Teaching hospitals do not just provide tertiary healthcare. They also provide primary and secondary healthcare services. In addition, they train medical students and other health professionals. They are also training institutions for doctors specialising to become consultants.

Third, the stolen 80 billion naira is 13 times the 6 billion naira collectively budgeted for National Obstetric Fistula Centres at Abakaliki, Bauchi and Katsina states in 2022. The World Health Organization describes obstetric fistula as an abnormal opening between a woman’s genital tract and her urinary tract or rectum.

It is caused by long obstructed labor and affects more than 2 million young women globally. The abnormal opening leads to leakage of urine and/or faeces from the vagina. Obstetric fistulas destroy the dignity of women. Victims are ostracized, stigmatized and lose economic power. It said that you smell victims before you see them.

That is the huge burden that victims carry. In Nigeria, prevalence of obstetric fistula is 3.2 per 1000 births. There are 13,000 new cases yearly. A review of obstetric fistula in Nigeria showed that the backlog of cases could take 83 years to clear.

In contrast, the stolen 80 billion naira would shorten the time it takes to clear this backlog. I know from my experience as a grantmaker. In 2012, I led the community health initiatives at the TY Danjuma Foundation. A one-year grant of 11 million naira awarded to a grantee in Kano state, northwest Nigeria provided surgical repairs of obstetric fistulas; training of health workers on repair and care of patients; economic empowerment of patients; and advocacy to communities to discourage early marriage and encourage health-facility-based deliveries.

Fourth, the missing 80 billion naira if allocated to the National Primary health Care Development Agency would improve COVID-19 vaccines procurement, distribution and administration in Nigeria. Indeed, that amount is more than 3 times the 24 billion naira budgeted for the NPHCDA in 2022.

So far, Nigeria is mostly depending on the generosity of vaccines donated by rich countries such as the U.S. through the COVAX facility. This is not sustainable. Recent news out of South Africa reveals that Aspen Pharmacare could shut down production of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine because African countries are not placing orders as expected.

At a cost of $7.50 per dose of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, $134 million would buy 18 million doses to vaccinate Nigerians and help the country achieve herd immunity as quickly as possible. Nigerians should not be pushing against global COVID-19 vaccine inequity amid widespread looting of the national treasury.

Lastly, the stolen 80 billion naira is 1.5 times the amount budgeted for the 54-billion-naira Basic Health Care Provision Fund. According to the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, the fund is to improve access to primary health care by making provision for routine costs of running primary health centres, and ensure access to health care for all, particularly the poor, by contributing to national productivity. Eighty billion naira increases the number of poor and vulnerable Nigerians who could access healthcare through the Basic Health Care Provision Fund.

Sadly, while still trying to come to terms with the allegation against the accountant-general, there is more news of fraud in Nigeria. A former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission was arrested for allegedly stealing 47 billion naira. Also, the only female to have served as the speaker of Nigeria’s federal House of Representatives was also arrested for 130 million naira fraud.

These thefts must stop, and the funds should be put where they are most needed: funding healthcare. Without health, we have nothing.

Lucky Agbavor survived child labour in Ghana and put himself through school by selling ice cream. The Pentecostal Church pays for his tuition during his nursing studies, but he still sells juice to put food on the table. Credit: Cecilia Russell/IPS

By Fawzia Moodley
Durban, May 24 2022 (IPS)

Lucky Agbavor sleeps on a mattress in a church in Accra, Ghana sells juice to earn an income, and has been a child labourer since he was four. Now he has made an impact on the international stage when he participated in the 5th Global Conference on the Elimination of Child labour.

Agbavor’s life’s trajectory lays bare the horrors of child labour and how poverty and lack of education rob people of their childhood and the prospect of a decent future.

The link between the lack of education primarily driven by poverty as a root cause of child labour underpinned virtually every discussion at the Conference which was held in Durban, South Africa in May 2022.

Now a second-year nursing student at the Pentecost University, Agbavor never enjoyed a childhood. At four, his mother sent him off to her uncle in a remote village because she could not provide for her son. He had to help his ‘grandpa’ in his fishing enterprise.

His mother took him back home four months later, fearful for Agbavor’s life after he fell off her uncle’s canoe and almost drowned.

Two years later, he was sent to another relative, a cash crop farmer. So here was this six-year-old who had to wake up at 3 am every day to start work: “I had to collect the fresh ‘wine’ drained from the palm trees to be sent to be distilled for alcoholic extraction. I was doing this alongside household chores every morning.”

By the time Agbavor got to school, he was already exhausted. “Sometimes I was very stressed and dozed off, and often I didn’t grasp anything taught in class”.

After school, he tried to make money to pay for his fees by fetching cocoa from the farm and packing it for processing.

“Sometimes, we went to the forest to cut and load wood. We used chain saws and then carried the beams to a vehicle for transportation.”

The chopping of the trees was illegal.

“Forest guards would intercept us because it was illegal. So, they would arrest the operator, and you would not get paid even the paltry money we worked so hard for,” he says.

Agbavor often went to school in torn uniform and used one book for all his subjects.

This continued for ten years, but at least he managed to get a rudimentary education.

“Glory to God I passed my basic education in 2012 where I could continue high school, but unfortunately my ‘grandfather’ said he had no money even though I had worked for him for the past ten years,” he says.

Agbavor returned to live with his mother, whose financial situation was still dire, and he had to fend for himself.

“I started selling ice cream, coconuts, bread. I even ventured into photography with my uncle, who had a studio where he promised to give me a job and take me to high school, but after working for him for a year, he failed to keep his promise.”

Agbavor says he then went into full time ‘business’ selling ice cream on the streets to raise funds for high school. He worked long hours and had to sell lots of ice cream to earn enough money.

Lucky Agbavor addresses the 5th Global Conference on the Elimination of Child labour. Credit: Cecilia Russell/IPS

Unfortunately, Agbavor, who wanted to be a doctor, did not achieve the results needed to go to medical school, so he decided to do a nursing degree as a way to eventually study medicine.

The Pentecostal Church agreed to pay his fees, but he still had to find the money for food and other necessities. He now sells juice to earn an income and says he is grateful to some local benefactors who help him from time to time. But life is still far from rosy. He has no home and sleeps on a mattress in the church.

Agbavor’s presence at the conference is thanks to the National Union of Ghana Students, who felt Agbavor’s story would be an eye-opener. He was one of several child labour survivors including several saved by the Kailash Satyarthi Foundation who shared their stories..

It’s Agbavor’s first trip outside his country. Yet, his self-confidence and charisma have allowed him to hold his own at a conference attended by politicians, business people, trade unionists, and NGOs worldwide.

He attributes his ability to stand his ground to his tough upbringing.

“I have seen the worst of life. It made me strong. I am like a seed. I sprouted out of the soil. It is the same potential millions of other children (in bondage) have.”

Agbavor’s message to the conference is that while access to free education is key to liberating children in bondage, the quality of that education is equally important.

“I want to tell people that the schools that educate the children of ministers, politicians, doctors, those same schools can absorb and educate child labourers,” he says.

IPS UN Bureau Report

This is one of a series of stories that IPS published around the 5th Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour in Durban, South Africa.

 

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A group of Farmacoop workers stand in the courtyard of their plant in Buenos Aires. Members of the Argentine cooperative proudly say that theirs is the first laboratory in the world to be recovered by its workers. CREDIT: Courtesy of Pedro Pérez/Tiempo Argentino.

By Daniel Gutman
BUENOS AIRES, May 24 2022 (IPS)

“All we ever wanted was to keep working. And although we have not gotten to where we would like to be, we know that we can,” says Edith Pereira, a short energetic woman, as she walks through the corridors of Farmacoop, in the south of the Argentine capital. She proudly says it is “the first pharmaceutical laboratory in the world recovered by its workers.”

Pereira began to work in what used to be the Roux Ocefa laboratory in Buenos Aires in 1983. At its height it had more than 400 employees working two nine-hour shifts, as she recalls in a conversation with IPS.

But in 2016 the laboratory fell into a crisis that first manifested itself in delays in the payment of wages and a short time later led to the owners removing the machinery, and emptying and abandoning the company.

The workers faced up to the disaster with a struggle that included taking over the plant for several months and culminated in 2019 with the creation of Farmacoop, a cooperative of more than 100 members, which today is getting the laboratory back on its feet.

In fact, during the worst period of the pandemic, Farmacoop developed rapid antigen tests to detect COVID-19, in partnership with scientists from the government’s National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (Conicet), the leading organization in the sector.

Farmacoop is part of a powerful movement in Argentina, as recognized by the government, which earlier this month launched the first National Registry of Recovered Companies (ReNacER), with the aim of gaining detailed knowledge of a sector that, according to official estimates, comprises more than 400 companies and some 18,000 jobs.

The presentation of the new Registry took place at an oil cooperative that processes soybeans and sunflower seeds on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, built on what was left of a company that filed for bankruptcy in 2016 and laid off its 126 workers without severance pay.

Edith Pereira (seated) and Blácida Benitez, two of the members of Farmacoop, a laboratory recovered by its workers in Buenos Aires, are seen here in the production area. This is the former Roux Ocefa laboratory, which went bankrupt in the capital of Argentina and was left owing a large amount of back wages to its workers. CREDIT: Daniel Gutman/IPS

The event was led by President Alberto Fernández, who said that he intends to “convince Argentina that the popular economy exists, that it is here to stay, that it is valuable and that it must be given the tools to continue growing.”

Fernández said on that occasion that the movement of worker-recuperated companies was born in the country in 2001, as a result of the brutal economic and social crisis that toppled the presidency of Fernando de la Rúa.

“One out of four Argentines was out of work, poverty had reached 60 percent and one of the difficulties was that companies were collapsing, the owners disappeared and the people working in those companies wanted to continue producing,” he said.

“That’s when the cooperatives began to emerge, so that those who were becoming unemployed could get together and continue working, sometimes in the companies abandoned by their owners, sometimes on the street,” the president added.

Two technicians package products at the Farmacoop laboratory, a cooperative with which some of the workers of the former bankrupt company undertook its recovery through self-management, a formula that is growing in Argentina in the face of company closures during successive economic crises. CREDIT: Courtesy of Farmacoop

A complex social reality

More than 20 years later, this South American country of 45 million people finds itself once again in a social situation as severe or even more so than back then.

The new century began with a decade of growth, but today Argentines have experienced more than 10 years of economic stagnation, which has left its mark.

Poverty, according to official data, stands at 37 percent of the population, in a context of 60 percent annual inflation, which is steadily undermining people’s incomes and hitting the most vulnerable especially hard.

The latest statistics from the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security indicate that 12.43 million people are formally employed, which in real terms – due to the increase of the population – is less than the 12.37 million jobs that were formally registered in January 2018.

“I would say that in Argentina we have been seeing the destruction of employment and industry for 40 years, regardless of the orientation of the governments. That is why we understand that worker-recovered companies, as a mechanism for defending jobs, will continue to exist,” says Bruno Di Mauro, the president of the Farmacoop cooperative.

“It is a form of resistance in the face of the condemnation of exclusion from the labor system that we workers suffer,” he adds to IPS.

“He who abandons gets no prize” reads the banner with which part of the members of the Farmacoop cooperative were demonstrating in the Plaza de Mayo in downtown Buenos Aires, during the long labor dispute with the former owners who drove the pharmaceutical company into bankruptcy. The workers managed to recover it in 2019. CREDIT: Courtesy of Bruno Di Mauro/Farmacoop.

Today Farmacoop has three active production lines, including Aqualane brand moisturizing cream, used for decades by Argentines for sunburn. The cooperative is currently in the cumbersome process of seeking authorizations from the health authority for other products.

“When I look back, I think that we decided to form the cooperative and recover the company without really understanding what we were getting into. It was a very difficult process, in which we had colleagues who fell into depression, who saw pre-existing illnesses worsen and who died,” Di Mauro says.

“But we learned that we workers can take charge of any company, no matter how difficult the challenge. We are not incapable just because we are part of the working class,” he adds.

Farmacoop’s workers currently receive a “social wage” paid by the State, which also provided subsidies for the purchase of machinery.

The plant, now under self-management, is a gigantic old 8,000-square-meter building with meeting rooms, laboratories and warehouse areas where about 40 people work today, but which was the workplace of several hundred workers in its heyday.

It is located between the neighborhoods of Villa Lugano and Mataderos, in an area of factories and low-income housing mixed with old housing projects, where the rigors of the successive economic crises can be felt on almost every street, with waste pickers trying to eke out a living.

Edith Pereira shows the Aqualane brand moisturizing cream, well known in Argentina, that today is produced by the workers of the Farmacoop cooperative, which has two industrial plants in Buenos Aires, recovered and managed by the workers. CREDIT: Daniel Gutman/IPS

“When we entered the plant in 2019, everything was destroyed. There were only cardboard and paper that we sold to earn our first pesos,” says Blácida Martínez.

She used to work in the reception and security section of the company and has found a spot in the cooperative for her 24-year-old son, who is about to graduate as a laboratory technician and works in product quality control.

A new law is needed

Silvia Ayala is the president of the Mielcitas Argentinas cooperative, which brings together 88 workers, mostly women, who run a candy and sweets factory on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, where they lost their jobs in mid-2019.

“Today we are grateful that thanks to the cooperative we can put food on our families’ tables,” she says. “There was no other option but to resist, because reinserting ourselves in the labor market is very difficult. Every time a job is offered in Argentina, you see lines of hundreds of people.”

Ayala is also one of the leaders of the National Movement of Recovered Companies, active throughout the country, which is promoting a bill in Congress to regulate employee-run companies, presented in April by the governing Frente de Todos.

“A law would be very important, because when owners abandon their companies we need the recovery to be fast, and we need the collaboration of the State; this is a reality that is here to stay,” says Ayala.

Argentine President Alberto Fernández stands with workers of the Cooperativa Aceitera La Matanza on May 5, when the government presented the Registry of Recovered Companies, which aims to formalize worker-run companies. CREDIT: Casa Rosada

The Ministry of Social Development states that the creation of the Registry is aimed at designing specific public policies and tools to strengthen the production and commercialization of the sector, as well as to formalize workers.

The government defines “recovered” companies as those economic, productive or service units that were originally privately managed and are currently run collectively by their former employees.

Although the presentation was made this month, the Registry began operating in March and has already listed 103 recovered companies, of which 64 belong to the production sector and 35 to the services sector.

The first data provide an indication of the diversity of the companies in terms of size, with the smallest having six workers and the largest 177.