Africa

By Saima Wazed and Zain Bari Rizvi
DHAKA, Bangladesh, Apr 1 2022 (IPS)

When is too much Autism awareness still not enough? This thought recurs every April as we near World Autism Day on April 2, and parents reach out to me after reading enthusiastic and well-meaning news and journal articles – which are actually harmful and hurtful.

Saima W. Hossain

In 2008, along with a few dedicated parents and professionals, we began our effort to raise awareness around Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). We eventually came together to form an advocacy, capacity-building, and research-based not-for-profit organization (Shuchona Foundation) established in 2014.

Today, we feel our work in Bangladesh, through effective national and international partnerships with equally dedicated parents and professionals, has impacted the country. Professional training, extensive awareness activities, and inclusion in social situations are demonstrable. The best part is that parents no longer view themselves as victims punished by fate for having a child with a disability.

Despite all the efforts in educating people in the many sectors of our country, including the formulation of a detailed National Strategic Plan, it is shocking to still find blatant disregard for the truth. I have, therefore, requested a parent, a former Shuchona Foundation head of operations and now a member of our executive board, to share her thoughts. Nothing speaks the truth louder and stronger than the person who has been on the receiving end of the discriminatory, hurtful, and unethical behaviour than the parent who hears it over and over again.

Here below excerpts of what I learned from Zain Bari Rizvi

If I had a Taka (Bangladesh currency) for each time someone said: ‘But he looks so normal,’ when I share that my son is on the Autism Spectrum, I would have been able to take early retirement at a villa in the Maldives!

Zain Bari Rizvi

I do not blame these mostly well-meaning people and their lack of awareness when widely read, and circulated dailies choose to use photos of children with Downs Syndrome to illustrate what children with Autism look like. Autistic traits cannot be captured with a still photograph, and most individuals with ASD look just like any other typical peer.

This sort of misrepresentation is not innocent and borders on dangerously harmful.

Deliberately associating a congenital genetic condition with a neurodevelopmental one will confuse the readers into thinking they are the same. This may also prevent parents and caregivers of children with Autism from seeking early intervention services that could potentially improve outcomes because they will have the false sense of comfort that their child ‘looks normal’, aka neurotypical.

There is no one true face of Autism because it is a not-one-size-fits-all spectrum disorder. It stays true to this famous quote by an Autism Advocate and Autistic person, Dr Stephen Shore: “If you’ve met one individual with autism, you’ve met one individual with autism.”

I am not a psychologist nor an expert, but as a parent who had the privilege to be educated and used my spare time and resources to do research, this incorrect and harmful visual misrepresentation enrages and upsets me.

Bangladesh has made considerable strides in Autism advocacy and policy changes due to extraordinary efforts by the leadership team at Shuchona Foundation. The Foundation has selflessly spearheaded the job of educating and opening the minds and hearts of people about what it entails to be on the Autism Spectrum. Because of their single minded dedication to this cause, we, in Bangladesh, are finally having a discourse on what Autism is and acknowledge and accept the differences in our children with Autism. We also have access to world-class services like early interventions such as ABA therapy and parent/caregiver engagement without shame or guilt.

And if there is one thing I learnt working closely with Shuchona Foundation, the key to making a difference is “to acknowledge that people will not always get it right but to look out for whether they want to learn to make it right”.

As World Autism Day on April 2 nears, my humble request to journalists and mainstream media is to do your duty of imparting factual and medically sound knowledge and information. Learn from your mistakes and ensure your stories and visual representations are accurate because media has the power to help or harm.

As I watch my feisty, opinionated and uber affectionate ASD child thrive in a typical school and social setting thanks to early childhood interventions and therapy, I shudder at the thought of what could have been our reality if I had paid heed to the photos of what Autism looks like in Bangladesh media.

I hope those reading this will take heed. Autism is a complex state of being, and no two autistics are alike. Every time I meet and spend time with someone with Autism, I am amazed at how unique, creative, and what a gift they are to the world. I want to change how we treat those we deem to be different, not change who they are.

For centuries all we have done is find creative ways to separate the majority from the minority. I hope the two years of the global pandemic will finally make us realize that when one group of people mistreat another, be it through military, financial or social power, we all suffer, not just the ones we discriminate against.

Saima Wazed Hossain is Advisor to the Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO), on Mental Health and Autism. She is Chairperson, National Advisory Committee for Autism and NDDs, Bangladesh and Chairperson, Shuchona Foundation. She is a specialist in Clinical Psychology and an expert on Neurodevelopment disorders and mental health. Her efforts have led to international awareness, policy and program changes, and the adoption of three international resolutions at the United Nations and WHO.

Zain Bari Rizvi is a Board Member of Shuchona Foundation, an Operations and Finance professional who is a passionate advocate for people with Autism and a mother of two children.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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In India, nearly one-fourth of women aged between 20 and 24 were reported to have been married before 18. Credit: Jaideep Hardikar/IPS

By External Source
NEW DELHI, Apr 1 2022 (IPS)

On December 22, 2021, the Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill, 2021, which seeks to raise the legal age of marriage for women from 18 to 21, was sent to a parliamentary standing committee for further discussion.

The bill is built on the assumption that raising the age of marriage will eradicate the practice of child marriage. However, this rationale doesn’t have any prior evidence to support it, because even when the legal age was set at 18, child marriages continued to take place without any fear of the law. This begs the question: Can legislation alone possibly curb child marriage?

 

Prevalence of child marriage

In a patriarchal society such as India, girls are often raised with the ultimate goal of marriage. They are confined to the household and not educated or expected to enter the workforce. Thus, until they are married, they are seen as a financial burden by the families, and marrying them off early is not only consistent with tradition but also more economically feasible

Child marriage, according to UNICEF, is defined as “a marriage of a girl or boy before the age of 18, and refers to both formal marriages and informal unions in which children under the age of 18 live with a partner as if married”. It is a consequence of deep-rooted socio-cultural norms and entrenched gender inequalities, which end up disproportionately impacting girls.

In a patriarchal society such as India, girls are often raised with the ultimate goal of marriage. They are confined to the household and not educated or expected to enter the workforce. Thus, until they are married, they are seen as a financial burden by the families, and marrying them off early is not only consistent with tradition but also more economically feasible.

The risk of an extramarital pregnancy—which can endanger marriage prospects and make the girl a financial liability for an indefinite period—also makes child marriage seem to be a solution instead of a problem for many Indian communities.

Thus, even though they’re illegal, child marriages have wide societal sanction. This is evident from the recently released fifth round of the National Family Health Survey, according to which nearly one-fourth of women aged between 20 and 24 were reported to have been married before 18.

The decrease is marginal from the last round of the survey conducted in 2015–16, despite the fact that the existing child marriage law has been in place for over four decades. While there was an impressive drop in child marriages from 2005–06 and 2015–16, this might be attributable to better educational opportunities and other factors rather than the law.

 

Concerns about the proposed legislation

The proposed legislation to raise the legal marriage age for girls to 21 can have several harmful consequences.

 

1. Possible misuse of the law

According to a survey by Partners for Law in Development, 65 percent of the cases under the existing child marriage law were in response to elopement (not necessarily involving marriage) and were filed by disapproving parents or families.

These cases would be wrongfully filed to harass the couple, their age or legality of the marriage notwithstanding. Increasing the age to 21 will bring more consenting adults who choose to marry under the threat of such harassment, and could become a tool for people to oppose inter-religious and inter-caste marriages.

 

2. Disempowerment of women
A 2008 Law Commission report on reforming family law recommended a uniform age of marriage for boys and girls at 18 years and not 21. The reason: If all citizens can vote, enter contracts, be guardians, tried as adults for crimes they commit at 18, why shouldn’t they be allowed to get married as well, regardless of their gender? The new law could curtail the freedom of choice of a greater number of women.

 

3. Possible increase in sex-selective practices
The current socio-economic system makes people want to marry their daughters as soon as they can or choose not to have a daughter at all. Increasing the legal marriage age without changing patriarchal social norms can result in parents feeling even more ‘burdened’ by what they view as additional responsibility of the girl child, which in turn could lead to an increase in sex-selective practices.

 

Recommendations

There are several strategies that have worked globally in reducing the incidence of child marriages. Some solutions that might work in the Indian context are discussed below.

 

1. Bringing about parity in the legal age of marriage

We endorse the recommendation of the 2008 Law Commission to make the legal age of marriage for boys and girls uniform at 18 years and not 21. When individuals can vote at 18, they should also be allowed to choose their partners at this age.

 

2. Investing in girls’ education

There is clear evidence that allowing girls to complete their education delays marriage and provides them with the opportunity of being financially independent. According to the NFHS-4, the median age of marriage increases from 17.2 years for women with no schooling to 22.7 years for women with 12 or more years of schooling. Education enables them to fulfil their aspirations and live a life of dignity, and affords them the agency to uphold their sexual and reproductive rights in their choice to marry.

Child marriages are closely tied to low levels of education, poverty, and rural residence. The NFHS-4 reveals that girls living in rural areas with little or no education and belonging to the lowest wealth quintile are more likely to be married before they turn 18.

The government must address the barriers to girls’ education by providing a safe environment, improving the quality of education, and making girls’ education a more useful investment for parents.

 

3. Economic and social empowerment of girls

Investing in the capacity and skill building of adolescent girls is critical for them to realise their economic potential. Financial empowerment often gives individuals a greater say in their households and their own future. It can give girls the ability to say no to early marriage, and the family won’t see them as a liability. Greater attention to creating safe opportunities for paid work among women and girls is also required.

 

4. Targeted social and behaviour change communication (SBCC) campaigns

To end child marriage, we must make investments in targeted SBCC. Social norms that exclude girls and boys from marriage-related decision-making need to change.

Evaluation findings from the Population Foundation of India’s flagship SBCC initiative ‘Main Kuch Bhi Kar Sakti Hoon’ showed that reinforced messaging brought about increased awareness of the perils of child marriage and a positive shift in the attitude of girls and parents exposed to the programme.

We need more comprehensive SBCC initiatives that are supported by local leadership—including elected representatives, community, and religious leaders—to transform gender stereotypes of submissiveness and institutional discrimination that denies women agency.

 

5. Policies and programmes that reach the most marginalised

Marginalised communities are more vulnerable to early marriages. According to the NFHS-4, general category women tend to get married at a later age, with the median age of marriage for women aged 25–49 being 19.5 years. This figure is 18.5 years for women from other backward castes, 18.4 for scheduled tribes, and 18.1 for scheduled castes.

We need more policies and programmes that connect girls and young women, and their families, especially from marginalised communities, to financial institutions, education, information, health (including sexual, reproductive, and mental health), and nutrition services.

 

6. Ensuring registration of marriages

Despite a Supreme Court ruling making registration of marriages mandatory, state governments have done little to implement the verdict. The governments must develop a mechanism to ensure that all marriages (including civil, religious, and customary unions), births, and deaths are mandatorily registered through a system, as a means to track marriages and the age of marriage.

Moreover, action should be taken against those authorising and facilitating child marriages in rural areas.

Any approach to end child marriage needs to be geared towards securing the rights of girls, especially those vulnerable to early marriage. We have to think beyond punitive measures and legislations and transform the patriarchal socio-economic system that fosters child marriages.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Martand Kaushik works as a media and communications specialist at the Population Foundation of India.

Alok Vajpeyi is the lead for knowledge management and core grants at the Population Foundation of India.

Poonam Muttreja is the Executive Director of the Population Foundation of India

 

This story was originally published by India Development Review (IDR)

Anila Noor, Founding member of the European Coalition of Migrants & Refugees & European Lead of the Global Refugee-led Network (GRN)

By Sania Farooqui
NEW DELHI, India, Apr 1 2022 (IPS)

It has been a month since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has now created one of the biggest refugee crises of modern times. More than 3.7 million people have left the country, in what has become the fastest exodus globally since World War II.

According to this statement by UNICEF, one month of war in Ukraine has led to the displacement of 4.3 million children – more than half of the country’s estimated 7.5 million child population. This number includes more than 1.8 million children who have crossed into neighboring countries as refugees and 2.5 million who are now internally displaced inside Ukraine.

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency has said, intense fighting could continue to trigger further displacement, as an estimated 13 million people remain stranded in conflict-affected areas or unable to leave their homes due to lack of alternative options or safe routes out.

At a recent press briefing, UNHCR’s Representative in Ukraine, Karolina Lindholm Billing, said “a massive humanitarian crisis that is growing by the second. The seriousness of the situation cannot be overstated. Overnight, lives have been shattered and families torn apart. Millions are living in constant fear, with many sheltering in bunkers from indiscriminate shelling and heavy bombardments,” Billing said.

Most have fled to neighboring countries such as Poland, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Slovakia, while a few have moved towards various other European countries. The “situation looks set to become Europe’s largest refugee crisis this century”, UNHCR said.

While early responses to refugee displacement address urgent functional and practical issues, such as meeting basic needs, resettlement efforts, security, food, living or just basic human survival, over the course of time, the humanitarian disaster needs a much broader and a more strategic response which would be most useful to people experiencing the displacement.

Anila Noor, one of Founding members of the European Coalition of Migrants and Refugees and European Lead of the Global Refugee-led Network (GRN) in an exclusive interview given to IPS says, while there have been normative shifts towards the inclusion of refugees and the value of Refugee-led organizations in international processes regarding refugees, but much work still needs to be done.

Last December, the international community gathered virtually (due to Omicron) for the High Levels Officials Meeting (HLOM), which was the two year check in on the progress the international community has made towards implementing the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR). While Refugee participation was largely relegated to the side and lead-up events, voices of refugees were largely absent from the actual HLOM itself, says Noor. “For every small gain, we have numerous battles, before this meeting was converted to a fully virtual format only 10 of the 500 people in the room were going to be refugees.”

“There was some positive progress, as both the US and Germany had refugees on their delegations for the first time, and Canada for the second time. The US signed onto our Refugee participation pledge, which is a commitment to meaningfully include refugees in discussions and policy making,” said Noor.

Currently there are at least 82.4 million people around the world who have been forced to flee their homes. Among them are nearly 26.4 million refugees, around half of whom are under the age of 18. More than 56 percent of refugees came from three countries: Syria (6.7 million), Afghanistan (2.7 million), and South Sudan (2.3 million). Adding to these numbers will be displacement due to the ongoing war, which has already left an estimated 3.7 million leave their country.

While resettlements become the most urgent priority, what follows is often a system that disenfranchises the refugees, depriving them of civil and political rights – which often leads to being excluded from multilateral arenas by their host country and/or their country of origin.

Through advocacy and appeals, GRN has been working towards pushing the international community for meaningful engagement of refugees, inclusion in international and domestic conversations and policy decisions. “UNHCR should commit to 25% refugee participation in the 2023 Global Refugee Forum and create a refugee seat in UNHCR’s governing body, EXCOM, by 2023.

“We have lived the experiences we are seeking to influence, these are our personal experiences of displacement, the fact that we have come this far is directly attributable to the strength of our fight and the truth of our message. We know what type of help would be most useful to people experiencing displacement, and we know how to get this help directly to them,” says Noor.

These large scale humanitarian crises come with the challenge to international laws and state responsibility with their roots in political and diplomatic failure, when laws of war are breached, it sets a bad precedent, impunity increases refugee flows and displacement, which in itself is a source of instability. Addressing the causes calls for a shared political agenda and a need to introspect and work towards a more humanitarian inclusive approach, keeping in mind the most vulnerable are always women and children.

As countries continue to open their borders for this large-scale ongoing global humanitarian crisis – from Afghanistan to Ukraine to Syria, this is also a reminder that without taking into account the rights and needs of refugees, internally displaced and stateless people, the common goals of those who have committed to the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development which offers a universal, integrated, transformative and human rights-based vision for sustainable development, peace and security will remain an unfinished business.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Credit: UNESCO

By Pawan Ghimire and Simone Galimberti
KATHMANDU, Nepal, Apr 1 2022 (IPS)

The International Day of Sport for Development and Peace, which will be commemorated on April 6, is a day that celebrates the positive effects that sports can have on the society.

The humanity needs to confront existential challenges but few remember that in September 2019 the United Nations declared the then upcoming decade as the ‘Decade of Action”, ten precious years where the world would act at unison to achieve the Agenda 2030.

Then the international community could not imagine that a devastating pandemic was about to come and the consequences of Covid-19 are still being experienced throughout the world.

The suffering and painful experiences that many of us have been going through in the last two years show that the vision enshrined in the Agenda 2030 is still a far cry from being realized.

The United Nations Secretary General’s response to these daunting challenges is called “Our Common Agenda”, a blueprint for a stronger, fairer and more inclusive multilateral world.

In this special day we need to ensure that sports can play a significant role in putting such bold plans into action, turning ambitious goals into a real opportunity to mobilize millions of people.

This is the power of sports and it is key that we think of sports for development and peace not as a standing alone sub-area.

Rather our efforts should be to turn the entire sports industry into a tool for social change.

Credit: United Nations

Certainly, when we talk about sports for development and peace, we refer to thousands of not-for-profit organizations, the vast majority of whom, despite their small in size and budgets, are active on the ground, trying to offer solutions to myriad of problems at local level.

For example, sports can bring people together and be an enhancer of a society that is more equal and just where women, vulnerable groups can have a stronger voice and agency.

If we think about disability, we know that millions of persons with disabilities in the developing world, still face multiple problems that deny them their rights to have a dignified life.

Investing in inclusive sports practices can be a powerful tool that can bring people together, persons with disabilities but also persons without disabilities.

It can be an important advocacy tool for a better level playing field, allowing people without disabilities to think and reflect about their privileges and the lack thereof for their disable peers.

In short sports can be a glue that connects people but it can also be a potent platform where disadvantaged persons can train their skills and fulfill their ambitions.

Let’s call this the uniquely transformative power of sports.

We know many stories of sports celebrities, champions admired throughout the world that could find their path to glory because of their achievements in the field of sports.

That’s why this special day should not be just celebrated as a day for committed advocates and practitioners alone but rather as an opportunity to push for a better leveraging of sports to help those left behind and at disadvantage to find a way forward in life.

For this to happen, we need a comprehensive strategy able to attract the interest of all stakeholders involved in sports.

The true is that, while sports for development and peace is more and more recognized worldwide as a social innovation, there is still huge divide between such practices and the mainstream sports industry.

Many global sports clubs with resources and phenomenal outreach are doing their bit to promote a positive use of sports within local communities but we need to be more ambitious.

What it is indispensable is to reach a new global understanding on the transformative role sports can have.

That’s why the United Nations Secretary General needs to elevate sports at the core of his Our Common Agenda, ensuring that sports can be, not only the unifying factor, the glue but also the toolkit that can bring the required change.

United Nations agencies should do a better job not only at mainstreaming sports in their programs but also enabling partnerships with professional sports as well, engaging and working with clubs and leagues to truly harness sports for the common good, not as just a nice “add on”, through the usual CSR projects, but as a key strategy for their success.

The Our Common Agenda envisions a series of global gatherings and initiatives focused on different themes, including education and the future of job market and gender equality.

Interestingly, within this blueprint, there is a commitment to do more to involve and engage youth meaningfully.

The ideal goal for Secretary General Guterres would be a different United Nations that can do a much better job to prioritize youth’s needs and aspirations, putting them in the driving seat.

It will certainly take a lot of effort to shift gear and move from words to deeds in making the United Nations more youth centric.

Starting truly investing in sports, bringing them at the center of the development and social agenda in the developing as well higher income countries, is certainly one of the best ways to implement the Agenda 2030.

It will bridge the generational divides and allow more and more youth to be in the “game” not as spectators but as key protagonists.

If you think about, there is really no better way to get into actions in this decade.

Pawan Ghimire is chairman – Cricket association of the blind Nepal and treasurer of World Blind Cricket Limited, UK

Simone Galimberti is the Co-Founder of ENGAGE. He can be reached at simone_engage@yahoo.com

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Madeleine Albright. Credit: NATO

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 1 2022 (IPS)

When Madeleine Albright was nominated to be the first female US Secretary of State back in 1997, some apparently questioned whether “a woman could go toe-to-toe with world leaders”.

“Madeleine quickly quashed those misguided doubts,” says Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a tribute to Albright, who passed away last week at the age of 84. “There was simply no doubt that, in any room, she was as tough as anyone and often tougher. That said, it wasn’t always easy.”

Blinken says she reportedly walked into her first meeting of the UN Security Council, as the new U.S. ambassador, and quipped: “15 seats and 14 men, all looking at me.”

But when she saw the plaque at her seat that read THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, her nerves vanished: “I thought, if I do not speak today, the voice of the United States will not be heard. When I finally did speak, it was the first time that I represented the country of my naturalization, the place where I belonged.”

Albright, known for her courageous stand on international diplomacy, was also a feminist and a strong advocate of gender empowerment. When she campaigned for Hillary Clinton, who was running for the US presidency in 2016, Albright famously told a gathering of potential women voters: “There is a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women”.

But when she was the US envoy to the United Nations (1993-1997), Albright had a rousing, long running battle with UN Secretary-General (UNSG) Boutros Boutros-Ghali, a former deputy prime minister of Egypt.

The independence of the Secretary-General is a longstanding myth perpetuated mostly outside the United Nations. But as an international civil servant, he is expected to shed his political loyalties at the UN’s revolving door at the entrance to the Secretariat building, when he takes office, and more importantly, never seek or receive instructions from any governments.

But virtually every single Secretary-General—nine at last count– has played ball with the world’s major powers in violation of Article 100 of the UN charter.

Boutros-Ghali, the only Secretary-General to be denied a second term because of a negative US veto, and who passed away in February 2016, unveiled the insidious political maneuvering that goes inside the glass house by the East River.

That single negative vote was cast by Albright.

The US, which preaches the concept of majority rule to the outside world, exercised its veto even though Boutros-Ghali had 14 of the 15 votes in the Security Council, including the votes of the other four permanent members of the Council, namely the UK, France, Russia and China.

Boutros-Ghali, who held the post of UNSG from 1992-1996, continued a strong contentious relationship with Albright.

In its tribute to Albright, the New York Times wrote last week that she was largely unknown until Bill Clinton took office as president in 1993 and named her chief delegate to the United Nations.

Over a four-year period, the Times said, she became a tough advocate for the global interests of the United States. But she and Clinton “clashed repeatedly with Boutros-Ghali over peacekeeping operations in Somalia, Rwanda and the Bosnian civil war.”

UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali.

In his 368-page book titled “Unvanquished: A US-UN Saga” (Random House, 1999), Boutros-Ghali provided an insider’s view of how the United Nations and its Secretary-General were manipulated by the Organization’s most powerful member: the United States.

In in late 1996, Albright, on instructions from the US State Department, was fixated on a single issue that had dominated her life for months: the “elimination” of Boutros-Ghali, according to the book.

UN Under-Secretary-General Joseph Verner Reed, an American, is quoted as saying that he had heard Albright say: “I will make Boutros think I am his friend; then I will break his legs.” After meticulously observing her, Boutros-Ghali concluded that Albright had accomplished her diplomatic mission with skill.

“She had carried out her campaign with determination, letting pass no opportunity to demolish my authority and tarnish my image, all the while showing a serene face, wearing a friendly smile, and repeating expressions of friendship and admiration,” he writes.

“I recalled what a Hindu scholar once said to me: there is no difference between diplomacy and deception,” wrote Boutros-Ghali, in his book.

During his tenure, Boutros-Ghali pointed out that although he was accused by Washington of being “too independent” of the US, he eventually did everything in his power to please the Americans. But still the US was the only country to say “no” to a second five-year term for Boutros-Ghali.

The former UN chief recalls a meeting in which he tells the then US Secretary of State Warren Christopher that many Americans had been appointed to UN jobs “at Washington’s request over the objections of other UN member states.”

“I had done so, I said, because I wanted American support to succeed in my job (as Secretary-General”), Boutros-Ghali says. But Christopher refused to respond.

Boutros-Ghali also recounted how Christopher had tried to convince him to publicly declare that he will not run for a second term as secretary-General. But he refused.

“Surely, you cannot dismiss the Secretary-General of the United Nations by a unilateral diktat of the United States. What about the rights of the other (14) Security Council members”? he asked Christopher. But Christopher “mumbled something inaudible and hung up, deeply displeased”.

One of his “heated disputes” with Albright was over the appointment of a new executive director for UNICEF back in 1995. It was a dispute “that seemed to irritate Albright more than any previous issue between us”.

President Bill Clinton wanted William Foege, a former head of the U.S. Centres for Disease Control, to be appointed UNICEF chief to succeed James Grant.

“I recalled,” says Boutros-Ghali, “that President Clinton had pressed me to appoint him (Foege) when we had met in the Oval Office in May 1994.”

“I replied to her (Albright) as I had then to President Clinton: that while Dr. Foege was without doubt a distinguished person, unfortunately, I could not comply,” writes Boutros-Ghali.

He also told Clinton that he was personally and publicly committed to increasing the number of women in the top ranks of the United Nations, and UNICEF would particularly benefit from a woman’s leadership.

Since Belgium and Finland had already put forward “outstanding” women candidates – and since the United States had refused to pay its U.N. dues and was also making “disparaging” remarks about the world body – “there was no longer automatic acceptance by other nations that the director of UNICEF must inevitably be an American man or woman.”

“The U.S. should select a woman candidate,” he told Albright, “and then I will see what I can do,” since the appointment involved consultation with the 36-member UNICEF Executive Board.

“Albright rolled her eyes and made a face, repeating what had become her standard expression of frustration with me,” he wrote.

When the Clinton administration kept pressing Foege’s candidature, Boutros-Ghali says that “many countries on the UNICEF Board were angry and (told) me to tell the United States to go to hell.”

The U.S. administration eventually submitted an alternate woman candidate: Carol Bellamy, a former director of the Peace Corps.

Although Elizabeth Rehn of Finland received 15 votes to Bellamy’s 12 in a straw poll, Boutros-Ghali said he appealed to the Board president to convince the members to achieve consensus on Bellamy so that the United States could continue a monopoly it held since UNICEF was created in 1947.

And so, Boutros-Ghali ensured that the post of UNICEF executive director will remain the intellectual birthright of the Americans for the last 75 years—and even to this date.

This article contains extracts from a newly-released book on the United Nations titled “No Comment – and Don‘t Quote Me on That”, described as a satire peppered with scores of political anecdotes. Authored by Thalif Deen, the book is available at Amazon. The link follows: https://www.rodericgrigson.com/no-comment-by-thalif-deen/

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Aerial view of the biogas plant located in the industrial park of Zárate, a municipality in eastern Argentina, featuring three large biodigesters. CREDIT: Courtesy of BGA Energía Sustentable

By Daniel Gutman
ZÁRATE, Argentina , Mar 31 2022 (IPS)

Three giant concrete cylinders with inflated membrane roofs are a strange sight in the industrial park of Zárate, a world of factories 90 kilometers from Buenos Aires that heavy trucks drive in and out of all day long. They are the heart of a plant that is about to start producing energy from agro-industrial waste, for the first time in Argentina.

“This is the first plant that will generate biogas with waste from the food industry. For example, fats from dairy companies or leftovers from meat processing plants where beef, chicken and pork are processed,” Ezequiel Weibel, one of the partners in the company that designed and executed the project, tells IPS.

“Until now, in this country we were used to biogas production using livestock effluents or crop residues, but not other kinds of organic waste,” adds Weibel, as he walks around the site and points to the sector where dozens of gigantic bags of pig blood meal are stockpiled.

Weibel is a young agricultural engineer who in 2011 created the company BGA Energía Sustentable together with his fellow student Martín Pinos, with the support of IncUBAgro.

IncUBAgro is a program of the School of Agronomy at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), which encourages innovative projects aimed at solving agricultural, environmental and productive problems.

The plant’s three biodigesters have a capacity of 12,000 cubic meters and are set up to receive some 146 wet and 35 dry tons of waste per day from the eastern province of Buenos Aires. In the huge tanks the waste will be stored without oxygen so that the bacteria can do their work.

The organic matter will undergo an accelerated decomposition process, which will convert it into biogas, composed of 60 percent methane and 40 percent carbon dioxide.

The biogas, in turn, will be fed to a generator that will produce electricity and inject it into the national power grid, which will distribute it throughout the country. The plant, which has an installed capacity of 1.5 megawatts (MW), is already completed and is only awaiting the clearing of the final red tape to start operating.

The plant is located at the end of a short dirt road about 10 kilometers from the highway to Buenos Aires, within the Zárate district, on the banks of the Paraná River, on an area of one and a half hectares.

Ezequiel Weibel (l) and Ezequiel Tamburrini stand with two of the three biodigesters in the background in Zárate, 90 kilometers from the capital of Argentina, which will convert waste from the agri-food industry into biogas. CREDIT: Daniel Gutman/IPS

A better solution for organic waste management

“This is a family business that was founded by my father,” Agustín Patricio, one of the shareholders of Eittor, the company that owns the plant, tells IPS. “We have been treating industrial waste for more than 20 years. The organic waste was mainly used to generate compost, to be used as fertilizer…even though we knew it could be used to produce energy.”

Through international trade fairs, for several years the company had been following solutions for recycling and reusing waste for energy production developed in countries such as Italy and Germany.

“We are increasingly aware of the scarcity of energy and the pollution caused by its generation and use, and we believe that the idea of producing biogas with organic waste is a better solution,” Patricio adds.

The opportunity to carry out the project came when public policies in favor of the energy transition were adopted in Argentina – long dependent on natural gas and oil production – much later than in other countries in the region.

In September 2015 Congress gave an important signal in favor of clean energies by passing a law to promote renewable sources of electricity.

The new law set the goal for 20 percent of Argentina’s electricity to come from renewable sources by 2025. It also established that renewables would have dispatch priority, so they are the first to be injected into the grid when different sources are available.

As a result, on days of lower demand, the proportion of renewables is higher. According to official figures, the historical peak occurred on Sept. 26, 2021, when 28.84 percent of electricity consumption was covered by renewables.

This electricity generator will be powered by the biogas produced from agro-industrial waste. The Eittor company’s plant, located in the municipality of Zárate, will be connected to the Argentine national power grid. Renewable sources provided 13 percent of the electricity consumed in Argentina in 2021. CREDIT: Daniel Gutman/IPS

Renovar’s spring

With the momentum from the new law, the government launched – between 2016 and 2018 – the Renovar Program, which held three tenders for the construction of renewable energy projects.

The big incentive for private investors was that the purchase of electricity was guaranteed for a 20-year term at a fixed rate in dollars and a fund was set up to ensure payment, with guarantees from the World Bank, the Argentine Investment and Foreign Trade Bank and other international and national credit agencies.

Thus, renewable energies, which provided an insignificant proportion of Argentina’s electricity until 2015, experienced explosive growth from 2016, to the point that in 2021 they covered 13 percent of total demand, according to official data from the energy ministry.

Today, the country has 187 operational renewable energy projects with a total installed capacity of 5182 MW. Most involve wind power (74 percent), followed by solar power (13 percent), small hydroelectric projects up to 50 MW (seven percent), and bioenergies (six percent), such as the Zárate plant, which was one of the successful bidders in the last of the Renovar Program’s three tenders.

The Argentine electricity system has a total capacity of almost 43,000 MW and continues to be supported mainly by natural gas and oil-fired thermal power plants and large hydroelectric power plants.

However, the brief clean energy spring in Argentina is over: there are currently no new renewable energy projects.

Moreover, 33 projects awarded under the program that had not started due to lack of financing were cancelled this year.

“The Renovar Program was successful from its launch until 2018, when Argentina was hit by a serious financial crisis, foreign credit dried up and the government turned to the International Monetary Fund,” Gerardo Rabinovich, vice president of the Instituto Argentina de Energía General Mosconi, a private research center, tells IPS.

Ezequiel Weibel stands inside one of the biodigesters of the biogas plant that his company, BGA Energía Sustentable, built in Zárate in northeastern Argentina to use agro-industrial waste. The young engineer developed his renewable energy enterprise with the support of the innovative projects incubator of the Faculty of Agronomy at the University of Buenos Aires. CREDIT: Daniel Gutman/IPS

“This meant that the projects, even some of the ones already awarded, were no longer financially feasible. Foreign investors left and there is no capital market in Argentina to finance these capital-intensive projects,” says Rabinovich.

The expert points out that an additional problem is the saturation of the electric transportation system, which is especially important in a large nation like Argentina, where big urban areas are concentrated in the center of the country.

The Eittor plant is thus unlikely to be replicated for a long time in this Southern Cone country, which is the third largest economy in the region after Brazil and Mexico.

“This is a double solution, because energy is generated at the same time the environmental problem of waste disposal is solved,” Ezequiel Tamburrini, head of the biogas plant, tells IPS.

“I would say that in Argentina there is no collective awareness of the environmental problem of waste generation, and most people do not know that energy can be generated with waste. That is why we have to bring visibility to this type of initiative in the country,” he argues.

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People take time to go to the bank, but not to register to vote. Lower voter turnout and registration are a cause for concern in Zimbabwe. Credit: Ignatius Banda/IPS

By Ignatius Banda
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, Mar 31 2022 (IPS)

Activity in the streets of Zimbabwe’s second city is testimony to a thriving informal sector where thousands of people eke out a living selling all sorts of wares.

From vegetables to soft drinks to television sets, mobile phones and anything in-between, all are peddled here, where being self-employed means putting in more hours to ensure food on the table.

It is here where 41-year-old Gilbert Mabutho works as an itinerant vendor, peddling whatever commodity he can sell. Today he is selling boiled maize (corn) because he says, “maize is in season.”

“There are no jobs. This is where my bread comes from,” Mabutho told IPS.

Amid the hustle and bustle, Mabutho is among many who have not taken time off their daily grind to register to vote or check their names in the voter’s roll ahead of the forthcoming primary elections.

Voter registration opened in January and closed on February 28 ahead of the by-elections. Registration will resume after the by-elections from April 10 to 30.

“I haven’t had time to register. I am just too occupied trying to make ends meet,” Mabutho said.

By-elections, considered harbinger of the country’s 2023 elections, were held earlier this month, and analysts are raising concerns about the low response to voter registration and participation.

Yet besides being too busy to make time for voter registration, residents such as unemployed Samson Basvi say they do not see any benefit in voting.

“The country’s hardships have been going for years now, showing me no reason to vote,” Basvi told IPS.

“If voting truly changed anything, surely the people who are voted into power would improve our lives,” he reasoned, expressing a common sentiment here, where the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union (Patriotic Front) (ZANU-PF) has been in power since 1980.

According to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, the country’s second-largest city has the lowest number of registered voters.

In the 2018 elections, where President Emmerson Mnangagwa claimed disputed victory, about three-quarters of about 5.5 million registered voters cast their vote – which was considered a high turnout.

“It is not clear yet if voter turnout in the by-elections is an indicator of the 2023 polls,” said Piers Pigou, southern Africa analyst at the International Crisis Group.

Analysts note that a lack of trust in electoral processes has led to voter apathy.

“The prime cause for apathy is fears of a possible rigging of elections in favour of the ruling ZANU-PF, a long-standing sentiment among voters,” said Stanley Mabuka, an analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), a government-appointed body tasked with running the country’s elections, has also been criticized for what is seen as poor voter education and voter registration campaign, with some residents claiming they have not heard about voter verification or registration.

“A lacklustre approach by the ZEC on registration exercise in remote areas might also accelerate voter apathy among first-timers. Already the registration exercise is running late due to delays imposed by the coronavirus pandemic,” Mabuka told IPS.

Zimbabwe has for years witnessed a cycle of disputed election outcomes, with opposition political parties accusing the ruling party of manipulating electoral processes. At the same time, some observer missions raised concerns about the credibility of the 2018 poll results.

“We have not seen the number of people registering rising compared with the number of people qualified to vote even if they meet all the requirements,” said Effie Ncube, a political analyst and independent researcher in Bulawayo.

“You then have people registered to vote but don’t vote because of despondency that elections have not been delivering the kind of lifestyle they desire,” Ncube told IPS.

The ruling party says it is targeting 5 million votes in the 2023 elections, while the Citizens for Change Coalition (CCC), led by Nelson Chamisa, says it is targeting 6 million voters. But with the current pace of voter registration and the inspection of the voter’s roll expected to pour into 2023, there is little to show that either party will garner such numbers.

By-elections were called to fill vacant municipality and legislative seats, but some analysts note that by-elections have generally attracted few voters, a phenomenon seen across the continent.

“There is usually less interest in by-elections, but there is also the issue of young people who have turned voting age who are failing to get registration documents that will allow them to vote,” said Pigou.

“Low voter participation has been a general trend across the region (southern Africa), and this has been particularly the case with younger people,” Pigou told IPS.

More is required to be done if voters are to be convinced of a “possibility of change spearheaded by a democratic opposition,” says Stephen Chan, a professor of world politics at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies who has written extensively about Zimbabwe.

“By and large, by-elections attract a low turnout around the world. In Zimbabwe, however, there are added factors of disillusionment with the fragmentation of the opposition and the sense among voters that ZANU-PF is at this point not able to be dislodged from power,” Chan told IPS.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Joint Asian Population and Development Association (APDA) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) research documented the impact of the COVID-20 pandemic on women and girls. The research also found promising practices emerged during the pandemic. Credit: UNFPA

By IPS Correspondent
Tokyo, Mar 31 2022 (IPS)

Women and girls in the Asia-Pacific region were adversely impacted due to COVID-19 pandemic responses – with marginalized women and girls’ access to sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) and gender-based violence (GBV) services profoundly affected.

These were the findings of a study by the Asian Population and Development Association (APDA) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The research conducted from 2020 to 2021 reviewed SRHR and GBV laws, policies, and implementation practices during the pandemic response in six countries in the Asia-Pacific region, namely Bangladesh, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Nepal, and the Philippines.

On the upside, UNFPA and APDA research also identified promising practices that emerged during the pandemic. The report makes extensive recommendations to governments to mitigate the impact of emergencies like the pandemic.

“The failure to classify appropriate sexual and reproductive health rights and gender-based violence services as essential, in line with international human rights law, compounded challenges to accessing such services during the pandemic,” the report states. The Asia-Pacific region’s findings mirrored the global trend which, according to the Special Rapporteur on the right to health, non-COVID-19 related healthcare services had been less available during the pandemic, including sexual and reproductive healthcare services.

Maternal Health

“Reduced access to ante- and postnatal care and skilled birth attendance during the pandemic has led to increased maternal mortality,” the study found. For example, in July 2021, Nepal reported a considerable increase in maternal deaths, with 258 women dying due to pregnancy or childbirth between March 2020 and June 2021 – 22 of whom had COVID-19. In the year before March 2020, Nepal recorded 51 maternal deaths.

The barriers women met included not being able to access ante- and postnatal care and safe delivery health services. Women feared getting COVID-19 at hospitals or health centers. There was a lack of transport, and financial and human resources were diverted from SRHR services to manage the COVID-19 outbreak.

“Midwives and birth center workers reported an increase in the number of pregnant women considering delivery options outside hospital settings owing to a fear of infection, overcrowding, supply shortages, and visitor restriction,” according to the findings. This resulted in unsafe and unskilled birthing practices, which could lead to maternal and infant deaths.

This trend was especially problematic for women and girls in disadvantaged and hard-to-reach areas.

There were several promising practices.

Bangladesh developed guidelines for essential maternal health services and provided virtual training for healthcare professionals. It also implemented midwifery mentoring to establish and monitor safe maternity services for women.

There was public interest litigation to establish access to maternal health rights for pregnant women in India and Nepal.

Indonesia improved and expanded midwifery care.

The Philippines implemented cash voucher assistance and established obstetric triage tents for pregnant women.

The report suggests that governments regard antenatal care, skilled birth attendance, and postnatal care as essential services.

Sexual and Reproductive Health Services

The report recommends that workers in the SRH and maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent care shouldn’t be re-deployed to other areas. Surveillance systems should alert health ministries of increases in deaths so emergency preventive measures can be put in place and information systems updated to capture declining or missed antenatal and postnatal care appointments. These efforts would prevent maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity.

The research found an “unmet need for family planning and contraception because health facilities are closing or limiting services, and women are refraining from visiting health facilities due to fear of COVID-19 exposure or because of travel restrictions.”

Vital supplies for SRH, including modern contraceptives, were less readily available given the closure of production sites and global and local supply chains disruption.

In Fiji, India, Indonesia, Nepal, and the Philippines, advocacy prompted governments to develop guidelines on contraceptive availability and continuity of family planning services during the pandemic.

The Philippines also set up virtual family planning and delivered contraceptives.

Nepal created community-based family planning services in remote quarantine centers.

Indonesia developed a model policy to include women and girls with disabilities in the COVID-19 response, and Bangladesh set up mobile phone messaging known as m-health for family planning.

Apart from declaring family planning an essential service, the researchers recommended that governments move services from clinical settings to communities, such as community-based family planning services.

HIV and STI prevention

HIV and other STI prevention also suffered setbacks during the pandemic. Testing and treatment stalled due to travel and transport restrictions, the prohibitive cost of courier services for delivering antiretroviral drugs, and inadequate stock due to global supply chain disruptions.

Gender-Based Violence

“Restrictions in place to limit the spread of COVID-19 not only increase the risks of gender-based violence but also limit the ability of survivors to distance themselves from their abusers and access GBV response services,” the research found.

There were a range of problems, including accessing help if women were locked down with their abusers, while support services struggled to meet demand.

“Judicial, police, and health services, which are the first responders for women, are overwhelmed, have shifted their priorities, or are otherwise unable to help. Civil society groups are affected by lockdowns and the reallocation of resources. Some domestic violence shelters are full; others have had to close or have been repurposed as health centers,” the research found.

Despite the dire consequences of lockdown on gender-based violence, numerous examples of innovative solutions included revising GBV referral pathways.

Fiji created one-stop service centers, and the Philippines made the clinical management of rape an essential service.

Bangladesh created one-stop service centers in their hospitals and multiple free 24-hour psychosocial counseling hotlines.

In Jammu and Kashmir, India, empty hotels and education institutions were designated safe spaces for violence survivors.

The researchers recommend that information on operational multisectoral gender-based violence response services and referral mechanisms is available and adapted to the COVID-19 context.

They also recommend that the clinical management of rape is classified as an essential service.

Trained counselors should also operate multiple free 24-hour psychosocial counseling hotlines.

Finally, the report noted that it was necessary to “ensure that no one is left behind, for example, people with disabilities; indigenous people; ethnic minorities; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex people; internally displaced people and refugees; people in humanitarian settings; and people facing multiple intersecting forms of discrimination, by ensuring that vulnerable groups have the information they need to respond to GBV and have access to essential life-saving services.”

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Refugees entering Poland from Ukraine at the Medyka border crossing point. March 2022. The UN has helped tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees to cross into Poland and other neighbouring countries. Credit: UNHCR/Chris Melzer

By Michelle Bachelet
GENEVA, Mar 31 2022 (IPS)

For more than one month now, the entire population of Ukraine has been enduring a living nightmare. The lives of millions of people are in upheaval as they are forced to flee their homes or hide in basements and bomb shelters as their cities are pummeled and destroyed.

I echo the Secretary-General’s words that “continuing the war in Ukraine is morally unacceptable, politically indefensible and militarily nonsensical.”

The hostilities must stop, without delay. Today, I call on the Russian Federation to heed the clear and strong calls of the General Assembly and of this Council, and immediately act to withdraw its troops from Ukrainian territory.

In the five weeks since the conflict began, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has recorded at least 1,189 deaths of civilian men, women and children and at least 1,901 injuries. We know the actual figures are likely far higher. In many places of intensive hostilities, such as Mariupol and Volnovakha, it is very challenging to obtain a comprehensive picture.

The persistent use of explosive weapons with wide area effects in populated areas is of immense concern. These weapons include missiles, heavy artillery shells and rockets, and airstrikes, causing massive destruction of and damage to civilian objects.

In addition, my Office has received credible allegations that Russian armed forces have used cluster munitions in populated areas at least 24 times. We are also investigating allegations that Ukrainian armed forces have used such weapons.

Homes and administrative buildings, hospitals and schools, water stations and electricity systems have not been spared. To date we have verified 77 incidents in which medical facilities were damaged to various degrees, including 50 hospitals, 7 psycho-neurological facilities and 20 other medical facilities.

Overall, 55 medical establishments were damaged, 10 destroyed, and two were looted. Actual numbers are again likely to be considerably higher, and reports of additional incidents are being corroborated by the Human Rights Monitoring Mission.

Indiscriminate attacks are prohibited under international humanitarian law and may amount to war crimes. The massive destruction of civilian objects and the high number of civilian casualties strongly indicate that the fundamental principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution have not been sufficiently adhered to.

Civilians are enduring immeasurable suffering, and the humanitarian crisis is critical. In many areas across the country, people urgently need medical supplies, food, water, shelter and basic household items.

Above all, they need the bombs to cease, and the weapons to fall silent.

In several besieged cities, my Office has noted a significant increase in mortality rates among civilians that can be attributed to disrupted medical care coupled with conflict-related deprivation and stress.

As one woman from Kyiv told my colleagues: “I cannot imagine the situation of people with diabetes, or those undergoing cancer treatment, for whom it is critical to regularly take medications.”

People with disabilities and older people face a particularly appalling humanitarian situation. Long-term care facilities are suffering a lack of food, heating, electricity, water and medication. Many residents who have chronic health conditions rely on others for care and are struggling to access bomb shelters or safe areas.

At least one facility for bedridden patients and other people with disabilities, mostly older people, came under fire while its residents were inside, with dozens of alleged casualties. My colleagues in Ukraine are working to establish the fate and whereabouts of survivors. Moreover, displaced people with disabilities, now staying at poorly equipped temporary facilities, often lack access to health care and rehabilitation services.

Since the beginning of the invasion, Russian armed forces have carried out attacks and military strikes on and near large cities, including Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Sievierodonetsk, Sumy, and Mariupol, and the capital, Kyiv.

In the besieged city of Mariupol, people are living in sheer terror. The situation is worsening by the day, with constant shelling, fighting in the streets and people struggling to survive with the bare minimum of life’s necessities including food, water and medical supplies.

We are looking into allegations that some Mariupol residents have been forcibly evacuated, either to territory controlled by Russian-affiliated armed groups or to the Russian Federation.

Across Ukraine, the rights to life, liberty and security are under attack. Detention of civilians who are vocal about their pro-Ukrainian views in territories under control of Russian forces has become widespread. My Office has also received allegations of killings of two civilians considered to be affiliated with Russian armed forces or supporting pro-Russian views.

There are reports of up to 350 conflict-related detentions by Ukrainian law enforcement officers including four cases where the individuals’ relatives received no information regarding their formal arrest, place of detention or their fate.

Furthermore, I am very concerned by the abundance of videos available through open sources depicting interrogations of prisoners of war that have been taken by both Ukrainian and Russian forces.

We have also received some allegations of conflict-related sexual violence, including rape, and have been working to corroborate them.

Additionally, freedom of expression is under threat. Every day, many journalists are courageously fighting a crucial battle against mounting misinformation and propaganda, often putting their own lives at great risk.

Seven journalists and media workers have been killed since hostilities began, and another 15 have come under armed attack, nine of whom were injured. We have also documented the arbitrary detention and the possible enforced disappearance of 22 journalists and civil society activists who have been vocal against the invasion in Kyiv, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia regions.

I underscore that independent, objective reporting of the facts on the ground is absolutely vital to counter the harmful spread of misinformation and propaganda.

The devastating consequences of this war are being felt far outside Ukraine’s borders. Nearly a quarter of Ukraine’s population have been forced to flee – over 4 million people have fled the country since the attack began, and an estimated 6.5 million are internally displaced.

It is encouraging to see the outpouring of support offered to refugees by Ukraine’s neighbours and other countries around the world. I reiterate that it is essential to extend such welcome to all who have fled, without discrimination.

I also urge destination countries to provide particular protection to women and children, many of whom face risks of human trafficking, including sexual and labour exploitation.

Additionally, a rise in Russophobia has been observed in a number of countries. My Office continues to monitor this closely.

As the war approaches its sixth week, I reiterate my calls for States to respect and uphold international humanitarian and human rights law. I urge humanitarian assistance to be delivered safely and effectively.

All civilians must be protected and those who wish to leave must be provided safe passage in the direction they choose. And prisoners of war must be treated with dignity and full respect for their rights.

The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine will continue its vital monitoring role. Despite the very difficult security context, staff in various parts of the country continue to document civilian casualties, the impact of hostilities and violations of human rights. I take this opportunity to thank all who are working to assist the people of Ukraine.

Every day, my colleagues are listening to the heartbreaking stories of Ukrainians whose lives have been shattered by these brutal attacks. Just last week, they asked a simple question to a displaced man from a town in eastern Ukraine – “where are you from?” His reply: “I am from Izium, a city that no longer exists.”

The terror and agony of the Ukrainian people is palpable and is being felt around the world. They want the war to stop, and to return to peace, safety and human dignity.

It is long past time to heed their call.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Excerpt:

Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
In an address to the 49th session of the Human Rights Council

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