Africa

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Korea is one of the world's top economies. Yet, behind the success, many feel alienated. Does the recent hit show Squid Game, reflect the underbelly of the society's success? Credit: Ori Song/Unsplash

By Ahn Mi Young
Seoul, Nov 16 2021 (IPS)

Immediately after its release, the Squid Game went viral, grabbing the attention of the world’s entertainment stage. The grotesque and hyper-violent thriller has reportedly become Netflix’s biggest show, the world’s most-watched and the most-talked-about streaming entertainment. Is it a case of art imitating life?

The global rise of Korean entertainment is reminiscent of South Korea’s rags-to-rich story. The once war-stricken country with per-capita GDP of 67 US dollars after the 1950-53 Korean War has become one of the world’s top economies with a per-capita GDP of 32,860 US dollars in 2020.

South Koreans enjoy high-tech conveniences, and many of their enterprises are sought after internationally, including home electronics, vehicles and ships.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, success stories abound about its business, technology or entertainment industries.

K-pop BTS is now a global star who often tops the Billboard charts. A few years ago, it was unthinkable that Korean entertainment could surpass the content produced in the United States.

Squid Game has become a global success. Is it a case of art imitating life?

“The Squid Game has become a hope for our students to go to the global stage,” Kim Sang-Hoon, a professor at Cheju Halla University who teaches future talents video-making or filmmaking or broadcasting, told IPS.

However, the storyline suggests that success is not the only parameter with which to measure Korean society. Squid Game is a story of the “losers” who dropped out from the success story.

The hero, Gi-Hoon, was in debt after losing his job and squandering his money on a horse-racing game. He got divorced and missed his ten-year-old estranged daughter. Sang-Woo was once a brilliant stockbroker but went broke after gambling away his money.

The drama director Hwang Dong-Hyeok told local media: “In fact, I used to be one of the losers.”

He elaborated that “as a boy of a single-mother at the backstreet of Seoul, I used to be a boy at the back street spending almost the whole day playing the games (all of which) appear in the Squid Game”.

Although many more South Korean people live the “most affluent life” ever in the country’s history, many people feel like they are playing the squid game, where a few winners take all at the expense of many losers.

In the Squid Game, an elderly character Ilnam said to another character, Gi-Hoon, while playing marbles: “Cheating on others is OK, but being cheated, is not OK?”

This soundbite is one that many South Koreans identified with.

“I felt thrilled when I heard this because it sounds like our reality,” said Ko June-Ho, a South Korean fan and a university student told IPS. He added he identified with so much in the story. “When the elderly character Il-Nam met Ki-Hoon after the squid game, Il-Nam said: ‘Life here (outside the game) is more hellish (than the life I spent in the squid game)’.”

In the death game, the losers are separated from their family, friends and community. Like Sae-Byok, a North Korean woman defector struggles to rebuild her lost family connections but all in vain. Or, Ali, a worker from Pakistan, is in debt because his Korean employer didn’t pay him. Even the elderly character Il-Nam, the Squid Game host, is wealthy but misses his old family ties. He tells Gi-Hoon: “I used to live with my family”.

Some experts say that the squid game losers are like South Korean losers, who feel isolated from the glory story.

Ironically, South Korea, one of the world’s most affluent countries, records one of the world’s top suicide rates. South Korea’s suicide rate in 2020 was the average of 25.7 suicides per 100,000 persons, compared with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries average of 10.9 suicides.

While technology businesses, like the online selling platform Coopang, have become successful during the COVID-19 pandemic, restaurant owners were forced to shut down because of regulations. The impact is clear.

Dr Park Chanmin, Seoul Central Mental Health Clinic, reflects this in a recent interview here.

“Since the start of the pandemic, people have become more and more worried about their jobs, they are seeing their incomes falling, and that is having an impact on their day-to-day lives.”

Asia Nikkei reported that a study by the Korea Economic Research Institute found that sales by independent merchants were down 78.5% in the first half of the year from the same period in 2020, with 58% of respondents attributing the decline to COVID.

Sanjog Lama, a Nepali student who studies hotel management in South Korea, believes the show was excellent.

“The cast and crews have done such an outstanding job. On top of that, the content of the series is just superb. It is thrilling, many scenes are gruesome, yet there is meaning in it.”

Another South Korean fan, Lee Ji-Hyeon, said: “The drama was like a puzzle game. I felt thrilled as I was putting the pieces of actors’ talk and each scene together so that I kept thinking about what it means and how it will be related to the next move.”

However, even in the extreme death game, the underlying warmth of the South Korean traditional culture is reflected.

The thriller’s punch line, with “Kkak-Ttu-gi” or “Kkan-Bu”, demonstrates Korean culture. The elderly Il-Nam says to Gi-Hoon: “Let’s make ‘Kkan-Bu” friendship between two of us.”

Kkan-Bu is a life-long friendship that lasts unchanged regardless of whether a person is a loser or a winner. Some characters made decisions that touched the heart of the fans.

Gi-Hoon did not give up their heart even in the live-or-die moment. Ji-Young gives up her life to let her game partner Sae-Byok can win the game. Even the hardened heart of the elderly Il-Nam softens as the senior and becomes friends with warm-hearted Gi-Hoon.

Another female character Mi-Nyo said: “They call me Kkak-Ttu-gi” In Korean children’s games.”

Kkak-Ttu-Gi shows how Korean culture values human connection. Even though the player is poor and cannot contribute, the team won’t kick them out.

There is irony in the money matters. Even though Gi-Hoon emerges as the winner of the game, grabbing $40 million, his life did not change. When he returns home after the game, he finds his mother dead. He remains a divorced, lonely man. Even though he has the prize in his bank account, he doesn’t spend it. Instead, he borrows Won10,000 from a banker and gives it to a street flower-selling woman.

“The drama makes me think about what matters in my life. People risk their lives for money, which turns out to be no solution,” said South Korean fan Lee Ji-Hyeon.

 

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An offshore oil rig drilling platform. Globally, fossil fuel subsidies amounted to 5.9 trillion US dollars in 2020, according to an IMF report. Credit: Bigstock

By Baher Kamal
MADRID, Nov 16 2021 (IPS)

It sounds incredible: while politicians have been cackling about the climate emergency and profiling in empty promises to halt it, they have spent six trillion US dollars from taxpayers’ money to subsidise fossil fuels in just one year: 2020. And they are set to increase the figure to nearly seven trillion by 2025.

Add to this that governments will double the production of energy from these very same, highly dangerous, global warming generators.

IMF study reports that globally, fossil fuel subsidies were 5.9 trillion US dollars in 2020 or about 6.8 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). And that such subsidies are expected to rise to 7.4 percent of GDP in 2025

In a 2021 study: Still Not Getting Energy Prices Right: A Global and Country Update of Fossil Fuel Subsidies, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reports that globally, fossil fuel subsidies were 5.9 trillion US dollars in 2020 or about 6.8 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). And that such subsidies are expected to rise to 7.4 percent of GDP in 2025.

According to the study, 8 percent of the 2020 subsidy reflects undercharging for supply costs (explicit subsidies) and 92 percent for undercharging for environmental costs and foregone consumption taxes (implicit subsidies).

Efficient fuel pricing in 2025 would reduce global carbon dioxide emissions 36 percent below baseline levels, which is in line with keeping global warming to 1.5 degrees, while raising revenues worth 3.8 percent of global GDP and preventing 0.9 million local air pollution deaths. Accompanying spreadsheets provide detailed results for 191 countries, IMF adds.

Commenting on this fact, António Guterres, the UN Secretary General, said that “… promises ring hollow when the fossil fuels industry still receives trillions in subsidies, as measured by the IMF. Or when countries are still building coal plants…”

Every country, city, company and financial institution must “radically, credibly and verifiably” reduce their emissions and decarbonise their portfolios, starting now, said Guterres.

 

Time running out for oil and gas?

Hard to believe when just 11 countries presented the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance at November’s UN Climate Conference in Glasgow.

Ireland, France, Denmark, and Costa Rica. among others, as well as some subnational governments, launched a first of its kind alliance to set an end date for national oil and gas exploration and extraction.

One of the Alliance members’ representative, Andrea Meza, Minister of Environment and Energy for Costa Rica commented: “Every dollar that we invest in fossil fuel projects is one less dollar for renewables and for the conservation of nature…” she added.

 

Energy Devourers

By 2050, 1.6 billion people living in cities will be regularly exposed to extremely high temperatures and over 800 million people living in cities across the world will be vulnerable to sea level rises and coastal flooding.

According to UN Habitat, which deals with human settlements and sustainable urban development, cities consume 78 percent of the world’s energy and produce over 60 percent of greenhouse gas emissions – while accounting for less than two per cent of the Earth’s surface.

Inger Andersen, the head of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) reported that “We build the equivalent of new buildings the size of Paris every week, and if that is the way we are expected to expand we need to think about how we do it because of climate, biodiversity, livability, quality of life. We need to build better.”,

According to Andersen, building and construction are responsible for 37 percent of CO2 emissions with construction materials like cement, accounting for 10 percent of global emissions.

She also pointed out that over half of the buildings that will be standing in 2060 haven’t been constructed yet.
According to UNEP, only 19 countries have added codes regarding energy efficiency for buildings, and put them in place, and most of future construction will occur in countries without these measures.

“For every dollar invested in energy efficient buildings, we see 37 going into conventional buildings that are energy inefficient. We need to move from these incremental changes because they are way too slow, we need a real sector transformation. We need to build better,” Andersen said, calling for more ambition for governments if they are to fill the promise of net-zero.

 

Cars, buses, trucks, ships…

The transport sector is responsible for approximately one quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Intergovernmental Panel of Experts on Climate Change (IPCC).

The sector’s emissions have more than doubled since 1970, with around 80 percent of the increase caused by road vehicles. The United Nations environment programme UNEP calculates that the world’s transport sector is almost entirely dependent on fossil fuels.

“A world where every car, bus and truck sold is electric and affordable, where shipping vessels use only sustainable fuels, and where planes can run on green hydrogen may sound like a sci-fi movie.”

This is how governments spend trillions of taxpayers’ pockets to subsidise fossil fuels that can only aggravate the ongoing climate emergency.

Seven wardens have been arrested after three men escape a maximum-security facility near Nairobi.

By Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana and Gillian Triggs
BANGKOK, Thailand, Nov 16 2021 (IPS)

Most countries in the Asia-Pacific region are on track to reach universal birth registration by 2030: an incredible achievement and a significant milestone in realizing human rights and equality. However, as the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed, many weaknesses remain in official recording systems, creating gaps in knowledge about the population and affecting how authorities respond to crises and reach those in greatest need.

Civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems record births and other key life events such as deaths and marriages. Birth registration is fundamental for accessing a wide range of social services, benefits and rights. It provides an individual with a legal identity and a proof of age, which are often requirements to enrol in school, receive healthcare, apply for formal work, register to vote, inherit property, obtain a passport and social protection, or open a bank account. And often it is the hard-to-reach and marginalized populations that are least likely to receive official documentation, including those living in rural, remote, isolated or border areas; minorities; indigenous persons; migrants; non-citizens; asylum-seekers; refugees and people who are stateless or of undetermined nationality.

As regional leaders gather this week for the 2nd Ministerial Conference on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics in Asia and the Pacific,1 the focus will be on regional and country-level achievements, obstacles and challenges in realizing the shared commitment that all people in the region will benefit from universal and responsive CRVS systems by 2024. It marks the midpoint of the Asia-Pacific CRVS Decade (2015-2024) and is an important milestone in the pursuit of creating national CRVS systems that are universal and responsive to the needs of entire populations.

Since 2014, more than 70 million more children in the region have greater access to education, health and social protection because their birth has been officially recorded and recognized through the issuance of a birth certificate. This is a notable achievement and testament to the resolve and commitment of governments to the shared goals made in 2014, the strength of regional cooperation, and the support of 13 development partners, including the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.

Still, there is work to do. Robust and universal marriage registration systems are needed to prevent girls from being coerced into early marriage, which often threatens their lives and health. The region also has an opportunity to reduce the risk of statelessness and human trafficking, as well as to promote solutions for refugees and asylum seekers by documenting links to the country of origin. UNHCR’s work with national governments to strengthen and broaden civil registration systems to formally register people considered stateless or of undetermined nationality has led to profound policy changes across Central Asia and the legal recognition of every birth, irrespective of parents’ status.

Furthermore, as we have witnessed during the global pandemic, when civil registration systems fail to reach everyone in the country and not everyone is counted, a public health crisis intensifies. Whereas robust CRVS systems enable governments and health authorities to track the pandemic and respond quickly and in an informed manner, a poorly functioning civil registration system masks the true impact of a crisis: deaths go uncounted — especially among the poorest and most vulnerable — and individuals are unable to access humanitarian relief or benefit from financial stimulus measures and, more recently, national vaccination programmes.

Governments that are unable to account for the entire population face barriers to creating and implementing effective public policy and responding to a crisis in an equitable manner. A comprehensive approach to civil registration, with timely and accurate data that are put to the right use, has the power to benefit every individual and inform public policy simultaneously, including by reducing statelessness across the region.

Leaving no one behind through universal birth and death registration demands bold and ambitious outcomes from the upcoming ministerial conference. We have the knowledge, experience and technical ability to create registration systems that are responsive to the needs of the population and can guide us through current and future challenges.

1The 2nd Ministerial Conference on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics in Asia and the Pacific will take place from 16 – 19 November.

Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana is Executive Secretary, ESCAP
Gillian Triggs is Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, UNHCR

 

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At least 24 people are injured in the blasts near parliament and the city's police HQ.

January 2021 marked a historic event for African economic development –the launching of free trading under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

By Mosh Matsena
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 16 2021 (IPS)

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement promotes socio-economic growth and development in Africa through liberalised trade processes and structures. So far, the 54 African countries have signed the agreement, resulting in immense potential for the growth of trade between African countries.

In fact, it has been hailed as perhaps the “most ambitious free trade project since the creation of the World Trade Organization itself” by Martyn Davies, the managing director of Emerging Markets at Deloitte Africa.

The question is: are African countries harnessing this potential offered by the AfCFTA? According to the African Development Bank (AfDB), intra-Africa exports amount to only 16.6% of total trade.

Lwazi Mboyi, the Acting CEO of the Southern African Cross-Border Road Transport Agency (C-BRTA), says there is a need for strategic partnerships between regional and corridor-based institutions, trade and transport stakeholders (such as the Cross-Border Road Transport Regulators Forum – a regional forum of regulatory authorities) and related bodies.

This would leverage collaborative efforts towards resolving the bottlenecks affecting cross-border transport and regional trade.

“It is imperative that we decisively deal with operational constraints and Non-Tariff Barriers which negatively affect the performance of the cross-border transport system and in the corridors linking the COMESA-EAC-SADC tripartite and beyond,” said Mboyi.

He added: “As we do this, we must aim to ensure that cross-border road transport operations are underpinned by firstly, a harmonised regulatory environment and secondly; a predictable operating environment.”.

Mosh Matsena

The reality is that it’s not just policies and procedural shortcomings that have resulted in limited cross-border trade volumes in Africa. We have to look deeper into why intra-African trade has been slow to gain traction, leading to Africa’s ongoing heavy reliance on foreign imports.

The unfortunate truth is that African countries don’t always view their counterparts on the continent in a favourable light. This is due various reasons such as historical conflicts between countries or regions, as well as poor political and trade relationships.

There are also negative perceptions about doing business in Africa, including lack of basic infrastructure for trade, not living up to global quality standards, having weak governance structures and simply not being a viable choice for successful business operations.

While some of these views do hold some merit (especially in terms of past trade environments), a lot has changed over the last decade. Many African countries have continually, and consistently enhanced and improved their systems and processes relating to trade and economic development.

Sadly, negative perceptions have not always shifted in line with these positive changes and advancements despite data and projections showing huge potential for such countries, and the continent as a whole. This lack of recognition of socio-economic growth indicators negatively impacts intra-African trade.

Stimulating trade

To stimulate intra-African trade, we need to understand the current limitations and opportunities on the continent. There is need to change the narrative about Africa. The narrative needs to be future-forward and reflective of where the continent is headed.

For transformation to truly happen in Africa, we need the buy-in and support of all stakeholders, not just government and policymakers.

Private sector needs to be open to the conversation of doing more and more business on the continent and explore local partnerships to an exponentially larger extent.

However, for this to work, stakeholders and decision-makers need to be committed to tangibly improving trade and development in Africa in terms of raising the bar when it comes to excellence, service delivery, infrastructure, ethical business practice, policies and other related factors.

According to a 2021 white paper released by the World Economic Forum (in collaboration with Deloitte), the current insufficient and inert interlinkages between African economies have exacerbated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the continent’s supply chains.

The report states that “the continent can do little to counter the global forces inclining towards deglobalization, but it can itself embrace a self-supportive regionalism through enhanced intra-African trade, not to mention promoting Africa as an enhanced destination for investment from multinationals”.

Communication is key

In order to successfully boost intra-African economic trade, we need to put in a lot of work to improve trade, development and business systems that promote trade across the continent.

Most importantly, we also have to communicate effectively in order to get the message across and really change the narrative. To achieve this, we need more open channels of communication and dialogue regarding connecting African businesses and organisations to each other.

Platforms such as webinars, round-table discussions, cross-border trade shows such as the upcoming 2021 Intra-African Trade Fair in Durban, South Africa this November, and networking events are effective ways to stimulate interaction that leads to collaboration.

In fact, we all as players within the African economic eco-systems need to be “ambassadors” when it comes to brand building for the continent. Such an approach will benefit businesses, countries, and Africa as a whole – and this “bigger picture” vision is what will move the continent forward in a very intentional and tangible manner.

This communication process should be a productive cycle – make positive changes, communicate about these changes, this then leads to more positive shifts in perceptions, which comes back again to more positive changes.

The bottom line is that, as Africans, we need to take more responsibility for how we see each other, and how others see us.

Let us all rise to the challenge, using the AfCFTA as a springboard to stimulate business relations with our African counterparts. Africa’s time is now, so let’s make it happen – together.

Source: Africa Renewal, United Nations.

Mosh Matsena is the founder and CEO of 1Africa Consulting, a South African-based strategic communications and business solutions agency.

 

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By Jomo Kwame Sundaram and Anis Chowdhury
KUALA LUMPUR and SYDNEY, Nov 16 2021 (IPS)

Quickly enabling greater and more affordable production of and access to COVID-19 medical needs is urgently needed in the South. Such progress will also foster much needed goodwill for international cooperation, multilateralism and sustainable development.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

The World Trade Organization (WTO) will soon decide on a conditional temporary waiver of Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). The waiver was proposed by South Africa and India on 2 October 2020. Two-thirds of the 164 WTO members – mainly developing countries – support it.

But sustained European efforts – of Switzerland, the UK and the EU, led by Germany – have blocked progress ahead of the WTO ministerial starting 30 November. Meanwhile, ongoing text-based discussions seem to be leading nowhere.

IP not needed for innovation
Affordable vaccines and drugs have been crucial for eliminating infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, HIV-AIDS, polio and smallpox. But despite strong evidence to the contrary, advocates insist intellectual property rights (IPRs) are needed to incentivize innovation.

Development of COVID-19 vaccines and other therapeutics have been accelerated by considerable government financing. Only six major vaccine developers received over US$12 billion in public funding. Projected revenue from their IP monopolies will exceed tens of billions.

Supply shortages have disrupted vaccine supplies. IP monopolies block competition, making it hard to quickly increase supplies. Thanks to patent protection, for example, only four companies produce plastic bioreactor bags needed to make vaccines.

Cross-border IP enforcement has been enhanced by TRIPS in 1995. The African walkout from the 1999 Seattle ministerial highlighted the WTO’s rich country bias. As part of the compromise to revive WTO talks, TRIPS has included a ‘public health exception’ since 2001.

Anis Chowdhury

Subject to onerous conditions and paying fair compensation, ‘compulsory licensing’ allows making patented products using processes without patentholder consent. Yet, European negotiators still insist that voluntary licensing provisions are enough.

All licensing requires case-by-case, patentholder-by-patentholder, country-by-country negotiations. But licensing is only limited to patents, without requiring sharing ‘industrial secrets’ needed to make complex biochemical compounds.

Time consuming, onerous and costly, such negotiations are beyond the means of most poor countries. Worse, some high-income country (HIC) governments have blocked such licensing, even when agreed to by companies.

IP deepens inequalities
The World Health Organization Director-General has noted four-fifths of vaccine doses went to HICs or upper middle-income countries (MICs). Rich countries – with a seventh of the world’s population – had bought over half the first 7.5 billion vaccine doses by November 2020.

Meanwhile, only 1.5% in low-income countries (LICs) were vaccinated by August 2021. Much of the variation in infection and death rates is due to unequal access, not only to vaccines, but also diagnostic tests, medical therapies, protective equipment, devices, equipment and other needs.

The private-public COVAX facility had promised to deliver two billion vaccine doses by end-2021, and to reach a fifth of the people in 92 LICs. But less than half a billion doses have been delivered so far.

Australian academic Deborah Gleeson warns that even as promising new treatments become available, they will be too costly for most in LICs and many MICs. Diagnostic tests are unequally distributed, with HICs averaging over a hundred times more than LICs.

And even when governments and companies are willing to license others to supply small LICs with low-cost generics, most MICs are excluded. Worse, some high-income country (HIC) governments have blocked such licensing, even when agreed to by companies.

Some HICs have been embarrassed into sharing millions of their unused excess vaccine doses. But of the 1.8 billion doses promised so far, only 14% has gone to LICs. Such donations of funds and other needs undoubtedly help.

But such unpredictable acts of charity – e.g., by HICs who bought far more than they needed – are hardly enough. Manufacturing capacity in the developing world must still be enhanced to meet overall needs. This requires the waiver.

Contrary to the claim that the South lacks manufacturing capacity, vaccines have long been made in over eighty developing countries. Although novel, mRNA vaccine manufacture involves less steps, ingredients and physical capacity than traditional vaccines. MSF has identified many capable producers in the South.

TRIPS waiver urgently needed
TRIPS provides 20-year monopolies for patents. These have often been ‘evergreened’, i.e., extended, sometimes indefinitely, ostensibly to reward additional innovation. Thus, most developing countries have been prevented from meeting their health needs more affordably.

The temporary waiver would allow companies everywhere to produce the required items and use patented technologies without infringing IP. Supplies would increase and prices fall. Currently, access to COVID-19 needs is very inequitable, deepening the yawning gap between HICs and LICs.

The revised 21 May text clarifies the proposed waiver is for at least three years from the decision date, subject to annual review. It would cover products and technologies – including vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics, devices, protective equipment, materials, components, methods and means of manufacture.

The proposal also covers the application, implementation and enforcement of TRIPS provisions on patents, copyrights, designs and other protected information, e.g., undisclosed manufacturing blueprints and industrial secrets.

Thus, the waiver has long been urgently needed to contain the pandemic worldwide. But rich countries have successfully blocked progress thus far despite the heavy human and economic toll it has taken.

Game changer
Unlike the more flexible arrangements of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the WTO framework and negotiating priorities have undermined developmental aspirations.

The South has been undermined by rich countries’ betrayal of the 2001 Doha compromise. After ‘softly’ killing the ‘Development Round’ promised then, rich countries can now redeem themselves by supporting the waiver.

Almost two years after COVID-19 was first recognized, the pandemic continues to threaten the world, with poor countries and people now worse affected. The devastation could be partly mitigated if developing countries could meet their pandemic needs without fear of litigation for IP infringement.

A TRIPS Council meeting is scheduled for 16 November, before the four-day WTO Ministerial Council meeting from 30 November. The waiver would also encourage renewed international cooperation, long undermined by destructive rivalry and competition.

By refusing to make concessions, rich countries would not only jeopardize the WTO, but also the world’s ability to urgently contain the pandemic. With complementary financial resource transfers, they can restore the goodwill urgently needed for international cooperation and to revive multilateralism.

 

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Tens of thousands of Nigerians took to the streets last October as part of the #EndSars protests.

The officers covered up the torture and killing of Alexander Monson, a judge in Mombasa rules.

Georgina Wabano and her mother cooking traditional food for school children in Peawanuck, ON, December 18, 2019. : © 2019 Daron Donahue

By Shantha Rau Barriga
Nov 15 2021 (IPS)

“Nothing about us without us” – that was the call from the indigenous rights advocate Ghazali Ohorella from the Alifuru people in the Maluku Islands, Indonesia during a panel at the climate summit in Glasgow.

This plea was echoed by many activists from groups marginalized by systemic oppression whom I met at COP26: young activists, women, people with disabilities, older people, refugees, people from the Global South – all of whom are the most affected but have contributed the least to the climate crisis.

These experts spoke firsthand of the impacts of the climate crisis on their communities, the ongoing struggle to have their voices heard, and the concrete actions needed to solve this existential crisis which affects us all.

Worldwide, women farmers make up nearly half of the agricultural labor force, and produce up to 80 percent of food crops in developing nations yet, in many countries, women have less access to resources, such as land rights, credit, markets, education and technology

Instead of shutting out these voices, governments should listen and learn from them.

The slogan I heard from Ohorella has long been used by disability rights advocates and the session reminded me of the negotiations toward the UN treaty on the rights of people with disabilities, which was adopted in 2006.

During that process, I saw firsthand the benefits of inclusion. Governments came to respect and recognize the expertise of people with lived disability experience, which led to major advancements on their rights. It also resulted in changed mindsets, where people with disabilities were no longer seen as objects of charity, but holders of rights.

Fifteen years later, climate activists at COP spoke about the disconnect between the knowledge held by those with lived experience and the governments seated at the table making decisions on their behalf. Activists like Gabriele Peters from British Columbia and Ayakha Melithafa from South Africa urged world leaders to work with them and learn from them.

We should listen to and incorporate this know-how to build the kind of systems change we need to respond to the climate crisis, with equity. For example, involving women in local forest management has had positive effects for both livelihoods and conservation. This is already happening in Indonesia and Brazil.

Worldwide, women farmers make up nearly half of the agricultural labor force, and produce up to 80 percent of food crops in developing nations yet, in many countries, women have less access to resources, such as land rights, credit, markets, education and technology.

By leveling the playing field through legal reforms, targeted investments, and increased women’s meaningful participation, according to Project Drawdown, a resource for climate solutions, farm yields will rise and there is less pressure to deforest. Ensuring that women are included in the design and implementation of climate planning would heighten chances of success.

Overall, lands securely held and managed by Indigenous peoples also have lower rates of deforestation than comparable areas, evidencing their successful forest management practices. Advancing the rights of marginalized groups – an urgency in and of itself – has major climate benefits for the planet.

Not every impact of climate change can be solved with new technologies. Front line communities with deep knowledge of their lands are also carrying out successful adaptation strategies. In Australia, first responders are learning from aboriginal people, who lower the risk of bushfires by reducing fuel levels on the forest floor. In Mexico, farmers hit by increasingly long droughts and diminishing crop yields are developing groundbreaking solutions to restore degraded land to productivity.

In Canada, some First Nations maintain strong traditional food sharing networks that have helped address climate-driven loss of food through sharing harvests with at-risk members of the community, while others have built up community science programs that monitor climate change impacts on their environment.

Frontline communities are also developing healing practices to process grief caused by the permanent loss or alteration of ecological features that once sustained livelihoods and cultural practices. Artists are also leading the movement from artistic expression to policy change. As the climate crisis increasingly takes a toll on mental health, particularly among youth, we should support the arts, culture, and healing advanced by climate and environmental justice and Indigenous rights movements.

Meaningful participation in decision-making processes that affect citizens’ lives is not only a demand, it’s a right. While the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement recognize the importance of participation, including “a country-driven, gender-responsive, participatory and fully transparent approach” for adaptation, states (and COP organizers) aren’t meeting these requirements. For Indigenous people, their free, prior, and informed consent is required for implementation to be successful.

As Ridhima Pandey, a youth climate activist from India, told us this week: “If we really want to treat the climate crisis as a crisis, it’s really important for the governments, organizations and activists to all come together, to start taking concrete action.”

Wise words from a 14-year old. Will governments listen?

Excerpt:

Shantha Rau Barriga is the disability rights director and the lead on Strategy Development at Human Rights Watch

Credit: EBRD

• EBRD Transition Report 2021-22 highlights growing gaps in the use of online services and digital skills since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic
• Investment returns on digital services are far higher in economies with greater digital skills
• A “brain drain” of digitally skilled workers is affecting some countries’ prospects

By Richard Porter
LONDON, Nov 15 2021 (IPS)

A growing digital divide is emerging as a major threat to a robust recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, according to new research by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

The Bank’s Transition Report 2021-22 ‒ System Upgrade: Delivering the Digital Dividend reveals the increasing gap between economies that have stepped up their use of online and digital services and those that have fallen further behind.

The report focuses on the 38 economies in which the EBRD invests. The Bank found that, since the start of the pandemic, people who are wealthier, living in cities and more advanced economies are better able to order goods and services online, do their banking through the internet and work from home.

Elsewhere, large parts of the population remain excluded from these opportunities and are more at risk of losing their jobs as digital technology becomes more widely used. Furthermore, many economies in the EBRD regions are experiencing significant “brain drain”, as people with strong digital skills move abroad.

While highlighting the digital divide, the report also shows how much progress has been made on the provision and use of digital and online services since the start of the Covid-19 crisis.

EBRD Chief Economist Beata Javorcik said: “In many countries, large parts of the economy, as well as schools and universities, went online in a matter of days when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. The digitalisation process is destined to continue and will remain one of the key forces shaping our world. Yet there are large digital divides between the EBRD regions and the advanced economies, between the various economies in the EBRD regions and within individual economies. Addressing these divisions is vital to their success.”

Helping countries and clients with their transition to digital technology is one of three strategic priorities for the EBRD, along with tackling climate change and supporting economic inclusion.

The EBRD announced its new strategic approach on accelerating the digital transition setting out how it will use all the instruments at its disposal ‒ policy, investment and advisory activities ‒ to unleash the transformational power of digital technology in the economies where it invests.

A new index of digital transformation

The Transition Report 2021-22 introduces a new index of digital transformation as a way of assessing the divide between and within countries. In the economies where the EBRD operates, only Estonia scores in excess of the average of more developed economies. The index calculates a score based on 22 different measures of the availability and use of digital technologies.

Estonia’s index score of 92.2 is the highest in the EBRD regions. Turkmenistan’s is lowest, at 16.1, while Tajikistan’s is next, at 23.7. The quality of regulation and online access to government services is one of the main reasons for these low scores.

Among other EBRD investee economies, Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco post low scores for digital skills, while Lithuania and Slovenia come in higher, alongside Estonia.

The key constraint on digital development is insufficient skills. There is evidence that more educated people in the EBRD regions have been improving their digital skills, catching up with the most developed nations. However, older people and those with lower levels of education and income are increasingly being left behind.

This is having an increasing impact as digital technologies are used more widely in all industries. Occupations that are more exposed to automation through the use of artificial intelligence have seen more job losses. Workers with fewer digital skills find it harder to adapt to new roles that become available.

The report also looks at the effect on economies and on financial services of investing in digital technologies.

On investment, it finds that the returns on digital-intensive capital are significantly higher in economies with stronger digital skills. A case study looking at high-speed broadband in Turkey shows that firms with better connectivity are more likely to export and introduce new products.

In Russia, smaller firms have increased staff numbers by about 19 per cent, on average, following the roll-out of 4G mobile technology.

Access to financial services for households and small businesses has been improved by the growth of digital finance. However, at the same time, banks have been reducing the number of physical branches.

And while some alternative finance platforms have emerged, they have been primarily focussed on debt rather than equity funding – unlike some more developed markets.

Beata Javorcik said: “The future is digital, and our task is to deliver the digital dividend as quickly and smoothly as possible. I firmly believe that with the right kind of digital transition, the economies of the EBRD regions will enjoy increased prosperity, better social outcomes and greater environmental sustainability.”

Lack of trust and low levels of digital skill constrain remote working

Richard Porter is Director of Communications at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

 

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Groundnut farm in Torit, South Sudan. Credit: Isaiah Esipisu/IPS.

By External Source
Nov 15 2021 (IPS)

Africa has pinned its hopes on agriculture for the creation of jobs and the resulting reduction of poverty. But its role is being stymied by the high cost of financing.

Limited investment, high interest rates and restricted support means African businesses are losing out to foreign competitors.

If we want to transform the continent’s food security and fortunes, then African Governments must help create an economic environment conducive to local investment by, for example, amortizing loan rates and driving billion dollar investments into the sector.

And all stakeholders—including government, donors, and the private sector— must work towards a more equitable and inclusive approach to build local investment for sustainable agricultural growth.

Agriculture in Africa is the sector that offers the greatest potential for poverty reduction and job creation, particularly among vulnerable rural populations and urban dwellers with limited job opportunities.

Dr. Mavis Owureku-Asare

To transform the continent’s food security and fortunes, African Governments should urge the mainstream banks to amortize loan rates and drive billion dollar investments into the sector. All stakeholders—including government, donors, and the private sector—must align and target their investments towards a more equitable and inclusive approach that will support the locals and lead to a sustainable growth in agriculture.

Agriculture today accounts for 23% of GDP in Sub Saharan Africa, and growth generated by agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa is estimated to be 11 times more effective in reducing poverty than GDP growth in other sectors—a vital multiplier given that 65% of the continent’s labor force is engaged in agriculture.

While an absolute increase in investment is essential, Africa has been the land of opportunity for foreign investors. African entrepreneurs are facing some of the world’s most challenging business conditions. The resources necessary to grow a business—such as finance, human and social capital, and infrastructure are less accessible in Africa. Finance, in particular, is costlier in Africa than in other parts of the world.

The most obvious of all the challenges, most African-led start-ups have difficulties in raising capital. Entrepreneurs and small business owners cannot easily access finance to expand business. They are usually faced with problems of collateral, high interest rates, extra bank charges, inability to evaluate financial proposals, limited financial knowledge, making it difficult for small businesses to access finance.

On the other hand, American venture capital and private equity is dominating Africa, but it’s mostly funding other foreign founders as native entrepreneurs struggle to raise financing. Some attribute the funding inequity to a mix of issues, including lack of experience with and understanding of the African market, general mistrust, and the tendency to fund companies based in the West that are operating in Africa.

For example, in Ghana, foreign businesses who borrow from their home countries assess 3-5% loans to do business in Ghana whereas the locals have to borrow at 23% to compete with these companies. Even with continental free trade these foreign businesses have about 20% advantage over local companies and startups who borrow from within. Even with efforts from the government to compel prevailing commercial banks to reduce loan rates, Ghanaian businesses and startups are still losing out with the implementation of continental free trade agreement.

Dr. Cedric Habiyaremye

Even though some agro-processing businesses registered with the Ghana Free Zone Authority and Ghana Investment Promotion Centre are exempt from income tax for ten years from paying duty on the importation of equipment, lowering interest rates will go a long way to solidify some of these interventions for startups who must borrow money to start a business.

Tax incentives alone cannot account for other challenges for the lack of infrastructure and problems faced in Ghana’s investment environment. The government should also address land acquisition challenges with local and traditional authorities who own most of the land in Ghana.

By having inequity in funding, Africa’s start-up environment is missing out on a lot of talent and losing out on building many great companies to transform the continent’s food systems.

To build the continent’s next start-up giants, a few things are needed; setting up SME help desks and developing relevant products for the emerging African entrepreneurs; government agencies should engage to provide credit support to help de-risk bank lending, reducing the need for collateral as well as the cost of borrowing; banks across the continent need to work with entrepreneurs to help them prepare viable business proposals in accordance with their lending rules.

Public-private partnerships are a strong pillar and a good support system for agribusiness start-ups to leverage. For example, a high-yielding economic opportunity in the agri-food systems sector needs numerous components: capacity development adapted to local entrepreneurs’ needs and labor markets opportunities; facilitation and mentorship in adequately accessing land, credit, and markets; and enhancing the opportunities for agripreneurs inclusion in policy and strategic debates.

To be sure, there are exciting steps in the right direction. Organizations like Food Systems for the Future are offering capital and wraparound services tailored to Agtech, Foodtech, and Innovative, scalable market businesses with a potential for increased profitability and nutrition impact in Sub Saharan Africa. In addition, Norrsken Foundation is building East Africa’s largest hub for entrepreneurship and innovation in Kigali, Rwanda, for education, innovation, and entrepreneurship—forming an ecosystem that enables entrepreneurs to build strong companies that solve local and global challenges. Google, The Tony Elumelu Foundation, and Seedstars World (to name a few) are also playing an active role in providing funding for these green entrepreneurs.

However, this challenge is still very far from being resolved on the entire continent.

There is a need to enable African entrepreneurs in the food systems to develop or enhance their business ideas and create a high-quality business plan to support the launch or growth of their agri-business.

Until then, agriculture will fail to live up to its potential for economic growth in Africa.

 

Dr. Mavis Owureku-Asare is a Food Scientist based in Ghana. She is The Head of Senior Research Scientist at the Biotechnology and Nuclear AaAgriculture Research Institute where She is leading research and providing solar drying technologies to reduce postharvest losses in the Tomato value chain. She is a Food Safety Consultant and a 2020 Aspen New voices fellow.

Dr. Cedric Habiyaremye is a Rwandan crop scientist, Research Associate at Washington State University, Research Lead at Food Systems for the Future Institute, and agricultural entrepreneur developing solutions for a zero-hunger and malnutrition-free world. He is a New Voices Senior Fellow at The Aspen Institute. www.CedricNotes.Com

 

South Africa's FA is to protest to Fifa about the refereeing during Sunday's decisive World Cup qualifying loss to Ghana.

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 15 2021 (IPS)

The United Nations, which consists of 193 member states, has long been accused of discrimination against staffers who number over 315,000 and spread across 56 UN agencies and entities worldwide.

But most of these are deeply rooted system-wide. A wide-ranging staff survey, both in New York and Geneva last year, revealed that discrimination was based either on race, religion, gender or nationality.

Last year, the UN Secretariat in New York, faltered ingloriously, as it abruptly withdrew its own online survey on racism, in which it asked staffers to identify themselves either as “black, brown, white., mixed/multi-racial, and any other”.

But the most offensive of the categories listed in the UN survey was “yellow” – a widely condemned Western racist description of some Asians, including Japanese, Chinese and Koreans.

https://www.globalissues.org/news/2020/08/21/26749

The Asian Group at the UN, comprising over 50 member states, is one of the largest among regional groups in the world body, and UN staffers of Asian origin have now formed a UN Asia Network for Diversity and Inclusion (UN-ANDI).

Shihana Mohamed of Sri Lanka, a founding member, and one of the coordinators of UN-ANDI, told IPS: “Our mission is to work towards a culture in which inclusivity is integrated into all aspects of work and life in the Organization and diversity is the foundation of talent and productivity.”

“We believe that we all have the power to stop discrimination, eliminate oppression and bring an end to ignorance and indifference. We stand against racial prejudice and intolerant attitudes and actions around the world and within the Organization,” said Mohamed, who is currently Human Resources Policies Officer at the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC).

“We strongly support all initiatives for promoting inclusion, justice, dignity, and combating racism and discrimination in all forms, inside and outside the United Nations.”

“We believe that our perspectives will enrich the discussions on any organizational culture-related issues and facilitate the journey towards the paradigm that is engrained in the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights”, said Mohamed, who has more than 20 years of experience in the UN system, having previously worked at UNESCAP, UNDESA, UNOHRM and UNDPKO.

The other co-ordinators of UN-ANDI include Abul Hasnat Monjurul Kabir of Bangladesh (UN System Coordination Advisor/Team Leader, Gender Equality and Disability Inclusion in UN Women), Cirila Villaflores of the Philippines (Human Resources Associate, UNDP) and Xuejun Wen of China (Reviser, Chinese Translation Service, DGACM, UN Secretariat).

A zoom meeting of Asians last month. Credit: UN-ANDI

In a concept paper released recently, the Network says it welcomes Asian staff and affiliated personnel within the UN system — including diplomats, interns, consultants and former staff, who are either Asians or of Asian descent.

Meanwhile, a 2014 General Assembly Resolution, proclaiming the “International Decade for People of African Descent”, called upon Member States and international organizations to take action “to promote equality and inclusion of persons of African descent and to directly engage with persons of African descent for the purposes of doing so”.

The call for action resulted in the inauguration by staff members of the United Nations People of African Descent (UNPAD). One of its primary goals was “to establish a platform for the coordination of the engagement between the UN Administration and UN personnel of African descent, promoting equal inclusion, and facilitating access for persons of African descent in the UN system while increasing the visibility to the issues facing them.”

Currently, there are also other interest groups such as UN Globe for LGBTQ community and UN Feminist Network for women and gender parity in the UN system.

http://www.ipsnews.net/2020/08/racism-un-practice-preach/

Ambassador Anwarul Chowdhury, a former Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations (1996-2001), told IPS raising awareness is important, but raising one’s voice is more important. He described a recent zoom meeting as a landmark event with Asian staffers meeting publicly for the first time as a group.

“You have to raise your voice, you have to speak up loudly as an Asian, as a member of this network, and in a focused way to speak up whenever there is an opportunity or create an opportunity to speak up,” he said, while addressing the Group last month.

“That is what we need— attention, global attention– that is what I believe is important for us to remember”.

The African group’s power comes from their solidarity as a group — wherever they are, as civil society, as staff, as member states, and they are very solidly together, and they are supportive of each other, said Chowdhury, a former UN Under-Secretary=General and High Representative of the UN (2002-2007).

He pointed out that the African network also includes ambassadors and other diplomats. “That is a very wonderful example for us, the Asians, to follow because staff members can do only so much.”

“But member States’ understanding and support to their objective, their demands, their needs, their frustrations are essential. So, Asian network should make an effort to reach out to the ambassadors or diplomats and start telling them about this network, tell them that we need your support, we need you to back us up when the moment comes in the 5th Committee most of the time or in some occasions in their “umbrella” statements in the General Assembly,” he advised.

But “we need to say that this should apply to the Asian staff members also. That way we will be able to raise our voice and make ourselves heard very well and that that is very important.”

“As you approached me, you should approach also the former staff members from Asia who are available in New York. It is better to consult them and to get to learn from their experience, from their energy, from their ideas”, he declared.

According to the 2021 annual report of the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC A/76/30), the largest number of unrepresented (17) and underrepresented (8) countries in the UN system were in the Asia and the Pacific region (para. 148).

In 10 or more organizations with no formal guidelines for geographical distribution, staff were not represented from 64 countries and among them, 25 countries were from the Asia. Twelve countries did not have staff in 15 of the organizations, with seven of these countries from Asia and the Pacific (para. 155).

At the recent zoom meeting, Akiko Yuge of Japan, a former Assistant Administrator of the UNDP, said: “As the world advances towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, countries, communities, and people in the Asia and the Pacific region have shown remarkable progress, success, and resilience.”

Their local knowledge and wisdom, resourcefulness, and innovation have certainly promoted the SDGs in many ways.

“The great diversity and wealth of backgrounds, cultures, and abilities in our region make us stronger and creative. This is indeed the power and strength of Asia and the Pacific nations and people”.

“As we build back better, let us maximize this power of diversity while ensuring inclusion of every person in our society and economy”, said Yuge who has served in UNDP offices in Thailand, Indonesia, and Bhutan, and also travelled to many countries in the Asia and the Pacific region.

Xuejun Wen, Coordinator of UN-ANDI/Reviser, Chinese Translation Service, DGACM, UN Secretariat, New York, said inequality and racism have long been problems in human history and the pandemic has seen them become more acute and apparent. That has led to the founding of UN-ANDI.

“It is a very very young network, but we have started to see a great deal of interest in it, because many of us as Asians have experienced or seen the impact and harm that unfair practices have brought on us. The problems will not be solved overnight, but we believe that a thousand-mile journey is composed of a great many single steps. Every tiny effort will count”.

Cirila Villaflores, Coordinator of UN-ANDI/ Human Resources Associate, UNDP, New York, said UN-UN-ANDI believes in the sharing of human experiences which reveal the dynamism and complexity of human nature.

“Any social or cultural discrimination in our basic personal rights on the grounds as indicated in the UN charter is incompatible with our calling to love what is true and good. UN-ANDI serves as a platform to freely exchange such ideas in order to grow and learn to cherish what is right”

Yuan Lin, UN-ANDI member/ Information Systems Officer, MONUSCO, Goma Office, Democratic Republic of Congo said “UN-ANDI provides an excellent platform to bring voices to the UN staff of Asian heritage. It allows many of the talented and hard-working UN colleagues from Asian member states and background to address organizational matters that are relevant to them.”

Purna Sen, Visiting Professor at London Metropolitan University and the former Executive Coordinator and Spokesperson on Addressing Sexual Harassment and Other Forms of Discrimination, said beyond cultural and regional representation, the UN-ANDI has a key role to play to become a trusted route through which issues that are troubling the UN are addressed increasingly, responsively.

Acknowledging that neither racism nor sexual harassment should exist inside the UN, the Secretary-General has acknowledged that they both do. UN-ANDI can aspire to offer support, advice and succor to those so harmed and advise the SG on how to address these issues in ways that build upon the experiences of survivors, said Sen.

 

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