Africa

The African Union secures an additional 400 million doses of Covid-19 jabs for poorer nations.

Terraces specially designed to prevent surface runoff during the rains have been key for growing vegetables on the sloping terrain of Finca Marta in the municipality of Caimito, Artemisa province, about 20 km from Havana, Cuba. CREDIT: Jorge Luis Baños/IPS

By Patricia Grogg
HAVANA, Jan 28 2021 (IPS)

Most beginnings are rocky and sometimes the obstacles seem insurmountable, before they are finally overcome. This was certainly the case for the Finca Marta, a farm in Cuba that had to begin by digging a well in search of water and with the hard-scrabble work of clearing an arid, stony and overgrown plot of land.

“It was an inhospitable environment, everything was totally abandoned,” agroecologist Fernando Funes told IPS. On Dec. 21, 2011, he and his family settled on an eight-hectare plot of land, some 20 km west of Havana, which they planned to farm against all odds.

“With Juan Machado, the local well digger who has become our shaman, we were digging for seven months, using only shovels, until at 14 metres deep we found water, more than we need. For us, this well is a metaphor for how far we are willing to go,” added Funes.

It was the solution to the main problem they faced in their decision to turn a relatively infertile, hilly plot of land without water into a productive farm, in a country whose water supply depends mainly on rainfall and where agriculture consumes about 60 percent of what is extracted from the watersheds.

The farm, which has 20 workers, now has a guaranteed round-the-clock water supply, from groundwater or rainwater that is harvested and stored in ponds and tanks. It is enough to cover the needs of both livestock and wild animals, as well as the crops. A solar pump now draws water from the well.

Farm management and production efficiency soon made it necessary to dedicate time and resources to the construction of greenhouses to produce seedlings, harvesting facilities, a rustic cowshed and a storage facility for beekeeping equipment and supplies, among other infrastructure.

Other efforts focused on the design of a sustainable energy system, incorporating various renewable energy alternatives such as solar panels for pumping water, a biodigester for capturing and distributing methane for cooking food, and solar water heaters.

“We have done all this ourselves by hand, with the resources, conditions and knowhow that we had,” Funes explained, after mentioning that further plans to take advantage of clean sources of energy include the installation of a windmill for pumping water and producing electricity.

It took seven months of digging without machines on the Finca Marta to find enough water in a 14-metre deep well for the farm’s organic crops and small livestock, some 20 km west of Havana. CREDIT: Jorge Luis Baños/IPS

And terraces were created to prevent soil erosion when it rains, “on a farm where the only flat part is where the house is,” said Funes.

Each terrace has a stone wall at the bottom to prevent surface runoff during rainfall. The substrate is composed of a mixture of soil and organic matter from vermiculture and compost produced on the farm, with residue from the biodigester and other waste.

The result is the production of a variety of top-quality crops free of chemical fertilisers and pesticides, in harmony with the environment. “This gives us a comparative advantage in the market, because we offer a high diversity that gives us better chances of meeting demand,” Funes said.

Beekeeping soon became an important activity at Finca Marta, which started with one old hive. Today there are more than one hundred hives and about 40 tons of honey have been produced over the last eight years using modern techniques, mainly for export.

Forming part of a Credit and Service Cooperative, Finca Marta, located in the municipality of Caimito in the west-central province of Artemisa, markets vegetables directly to a group of private restaurants, hotels and state-owned companies, while providing certain products free of charge to a local centre that assists at-risk pregnant women.

Agricultural engineer Fernando Funes explains how the biodigester works that uses livestock manure to produce biogas for domestic consumption at Finca Marta, in the municipality of Caimito, in the Cuban province of Artemisa near Havana. This is one of the innovations for the sustainable development of the farm. CREDIT: Jorge Luis Baños/IPS

“We are following a concept of production, processing, marketing and consumption. We do the whole chain ourselves,” said the agroecologist, who is determined to demonstrate in practice that it is possible to run an ecologically sustainable and socially just family farm that is also economically sustainable.

The project includes an ecological restaurant that opens once or twice a week to serve visitors interested in life in the Cuban countryside and in eating meals prepared with organic products. Agritourism boosts both knowledge and investment, because the income is reinvested in the production system.

“Coming in, we had a great deal of uncertainty, a lot of challenges ahead of us and it was very risky from every angle,” Funes acknowledged.

After four or five years of intense work, the farm was showing significant progress in terms of marketing and bringing in sufficient income to pay good wages and offer social benefits to the workers.

This is the largest pond dug on the Finca Marta farm for rainwater harvesting, part of the sustainable solutions used to turn a sloping, relatively infertile piece of land without water into a productive farm in the west-central Cuban province of Artemisa, which has now become a model for other farmers. CREDIT: Courtesy of Fernando Funes

“For me from the beginning it was an ethical and social commitment as a scientist for science to have an impact on the lives of people, who have to see an improvement in their income and living conditions in order to commit to a process of change,” said the agronomist.

But not only that. In his opinion, “the projection for the future is not only to continue enriching the farm, generating new jobs, and offering better wages and social benefits, but to begin to have an impact on transforming the area – that is, on local development.”

Funes, who has been dedicated to research and teaching for 20 years and has a master’s degree in Agroecology and Sustainable Rural Development and a PhD in Ecological Production and Conservation, plus 10 years of practical experience on his farm, has been part of a group of experts since October that will manage a government programme for the Development of Logistics and Supply Chains.

His farm also serves as a model for a network of 50 other farms that are adopting the concept of agroecological production, processing, marketing and consumption.

A woman plants vegetables on one of the terraces of Finca Marta, a farm using ecological farming techniques to tame inhospitable terrain with sustainable solutions, in the municipality of Caimito, in the west-central Cuban province of Artemisa. CREDIT: Jorge Luis Baños/IPS

The purpose of the government group, as announced when it was created, is to put into practice the modern concept of managing the integration, coordination and synchronisation of interrelationships, including material, informational and financial flows to supply and transform resources and products, all along the chain from suppliers to consumers.

These projects are part of Cuba’s effort to strengthen organic agriculture in domestic food production and thus alleviate the country’s dependence on imports, which cover 70 percent of food needs.

Today, this Caribbean island nation of 11.2 million people produces fresh vegetables and condiments using clean technologies on more than 8,000 hectares, where an average of 1.2 million tons of vegetables are produced annually.

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The ruling should enable Mauritius to start settling its new maritime borders in the Indian Ocean.

PRESS RELEASE
 

●A new survey covering 17 1countries on six continents—representing half the world’s population—reveals that a majority of respondents want their governments to devote more resources and attention to supporting gender equality.
●The first survey of its kind since the outbreak of COVID-19, the new poll shows that the pandemic has taken a disproportionate toll on women compared to men, in terms of both mental health and household obligations.
●Thesurvey offers a roadmap for actions that the public most wants to see, spotlighting where leaders' and decision-makers’ focus and investments can have the most striking impact.

By External Source
NEW YORK/PARIS, Jan 28 2021 (IPS-Partners)

A first-of-its-kind international survey finds that the global public overwhelmingly supports gender equality, and a resounding majority is ready for their governments and business leaders to take action to bridge the gender divide. At the same time, women and girls around the world are suffering the worst impacts of the COVID-19 crisis, which has disproportionately affected their mental and physical health, as well as their economic prospects. The vast majority of respondents—80% on average across the 17 surveyed countries—said gender equality is a priority to them personally, and 65% said their government should do more to promote gender equality in their country.

The global public perception survey, released in a new report by Women Deliver and Focus 2030, includes 17 countries across six continents whose inhabitants represent half the world’s population.

The results come two months before the Generation Equality Forum, a civil society–centered, global gathering for gender equality convened by UN Women and co-hosted by the governments of Mexico and France. There, leaders in government, the private sector, and civil society will have a critical opportunity to commit to bold, specific actions on gender equality issues. The forum will galvanize political action and secure financial commitments for the period of 2021-2026 on measures to advance women’s rights and opportunities around the world. Sixty-one percent of respondents urged their governments to use this forum as an opportunity to increase funding for gender equality initiatives.

“2021 promises to be a milestone year for accelerating global progress on gender equality. The Generation Equality Forum will call on governments, corporation, civil society and people of all ages and backgrounds around the world to step up with bold commitments to make gender equality a reality,” said Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women. “At such a critical moment it is invigorating to see that global public opinion is not only behind us, but pushing us to do more. The world is affirming that gender equality cannot wait. We can and we must achieve it in our generation, and it must be intersectional and intergenerational.”

Despite 25 years of progress since the landmark World Conference on Women in Beijing, no country has fully met its commitments to gender equality. More than half of the world’s girls and women—as many as 2.1 billion people—live in countries that are not on track to reach key gender equality-related targets by 2030.2

“We’ve made a lot of progress on gender equality over the last 25 years, but there’s so much work left to do. Now, with COVID-19, just as women are assuming an outsized role in responding to the pandemic in their communities and at home, they are also experiencing enormous added burden, and we could see the consequences of that strain playing out for years to come,” said Divya Mathew, Senior Manager, Policy and Advocacy at Women Deliver.

“This survey shows us where the world has fallen short, but it also delivers the encouraging news that the vast majority of women and men around the world expect their leaders to take action to advance gender equality.”

Fielded in July and August of 2020, the survey offers a comprehensive picture of public experience and perception across six major gender equality issues, in addition to insights on how the COVID-19 pandemic had affected respondents’ lives, livelihoods, and emotional health. It also asked participants about their personal experiences with gender discrimination, their attitudes about sexist practices, and their beliefs about the causes of gender discrimination.

Key findings on these questions include:

●The global public supports the need for women to play a role in all aspects of the pandemic response, with 82% of survey respondents on average saying they believe women should be involved in the response at all levels. However, facts bear witness to another situation: although women make up 70% of frontline workers, they currently make up only 24% of COVID-19 response committees. To address these realities, a gender lens must be applied to COVID-19 response and recovery plans.
●COVID-19 has had a significant impact on women (ages 18-44), who are more likely to report both increased household burdens and greater emotional stress. In 13 of the 17 countries surveyed, women report experiencing more emotional stress and mental health challenges compared to men during the pandemic.
●Young people, especially young women, have the highest expectations of their governments to advance gender equality. Three in four young women (aged 18 to 24), across all 17 countries, call on their government to increase funding for equality in their country on the occasion of the Gender Equality Forum, compared to two in three respondents on average.
●57% of women on average reported experiencing some form of gender-based discrimination in their lifetimes, with the highest rates of discrimination reported in middle-income countries like Kenya (83%), India (81%), and South Africa (72%).
●Overall, the top priority for improving gender equality is ending gender-based violence, including online harassment, sexual assault, forced and child marriage, and female genital mutilation. This was selected as first choice by 32% of respondents on average across the 17 countries.
●In the United States, self-identified Black or African American respondents are less likely to say that gender equality has improved over the last 25 years, in comparison to respondents who self-identify as white. This trend was not observed to such a large extent in any other country including countries with a documented history of racial discrimination, such as South Africa.

The public’s support for gender equality cuts across generations, political leanings, and socioeconomic groups. While women are stronger supporters of most gender equality issues than men, a great majority of men also support gender equality. Young people under the age of 25, women in particular, are especially likely to hold their governments accountable for advancing gender equality initiatives.

The survey asked respondents for their opinions on six major gender equality issues, all of which the public resoundingly expects governments to address on the occasion of the Generation Equality Forum:

●Violence against women
●Women’s economic justice and rights
●Women’s movements and leadership
●Sexual and reproductive health and rights
●Women and climate change
●Technology for gender equality

Despite the widespread support for greater gender equality, persistent discriminatory attitudes towards women continue to hinder progress towards ending domestic violence and closing the gender pay gap. At the current rate of progress, it will take another century to achieve professional, political, and economic equality between women and men worldwide.3

Against this backdrop, the survey offers a roadmap for actions that the public most wants to see, spotlighting where leaders’ and decision-makers’ focus and investments can have the most striking impact.

“Our survey shows the extent to which gender equality has become a universal aspiration across all cultures. A majority of citizens support gender equality in the 17countries surveyed and aspire to more commitments from their governments.The alleged lack of public support for these issues is no longer a valid excuse to delay action”said Fabrice Ferrier, Director of Focus 2030. “There is no longer anything preventing decision-makers around the world–if notpolitical will -to addressthe most pressingneeds of girls and women and to take the necessary measures to promote gender equality,” he added.

1 Australia, Argentina, Canada, Colombia, France, Germany, Great Britain, India, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, New Zealand, China, South Africa, Switzerland, Tunisia, and the United States
2 Equal Measures 2030, Bending the Curve Towards Gender Equality by 2030(Surrey: Equal Measures, 2020), https://data.em2030.org/2020-index-projections/bending-the-curve-towards-gender-equality-by-2030/.

 

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The post New Multi-Country Survey Finds Overwhelming Majority of Citizens Want Their Governments to Act Now to Accelerate Progress on Gender Equality appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

PRESS RELEASE

 

●A new survey covering 17 1countries on six continents—representing half the world’s population—reveals that a majority of respondents want their governments to devote more resources and attention to supporting gender equality.
●The first survey of its kind since the outbreak of COVID-19, the new poll shows that the pandemic has taken a disproportionate toll on women compared to men, in terms of both mental health and household obligations.
●Thesurvey offers a roadmap for actions that the public most wants to see, spotlighting where leaders' and decision-makers’ focus and investments can have the most striking impact.

The post New Multi-Country Survey Finds Overwhelming Majority of Citizens Want Their Governments to Act Now to Accelerate Progress on Gender Equality appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Maj Fatima Isaacs led a three-year legal battle for her religious right to wear a headscarf.

Youth in Nigeria protested against the brutalities and extrajudicial killings by the rogue police unit known as SARS. The #EndSARS protests became a global movement as international corporations and celebrities offered their support.Photo by Ayoola Salako on Unsplash

By Samira Sadeque
Jan 28 2021 (IPS)

As Nigeria’s biggest city, Lagos, reportedly experienced a massive shortage of oxygen cylinders last week — with demand increasing fivefold in one of the city’s main hospitals just as the country recorded some of its highest number of coronavirus cases — its youth leaders are concerned about the impact on vulnerable women.

“It is a dire situation across the country, not only in Lagos state,” Kelechukwu (Lucky)Nwachukwu, a Nigerian feminist and activist, told IPS. “Many health facilities are largely underfunded with minimal to zero equipment. What is concerning is what this means for vulnerable women and girls who need regular health services and attention.”

“Our health sector is struggling per usual,” says Obianuju Maria Onwuasor, founder of PeriodRichOrg, an organisation working at the intersection of human rights and reproductive justice, commenting on the country’s low health budget. “The health sector alone ruins all the work of other thriving agencies without trying too hard.”

Both Nwachukwu and Onwuasor are youth ambassadors in Nigeria for Women Deliver, a gender advocacy organisation. Through their work, the ambassadors examine the intersection of sexual and reproductive health with other issues: from COVID-19 to the #EndSARS movement.     

In October, massive protests broke across the country, demanding an end to the killing of civilians by the police force and the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) authorities for almost three decades. The #EndSARS protests became a global movement as international corporations and celebrities offered their support.

Onwuasor of PeriodRichOrg told IPS that gender equity plays a crucial role in the end of police brutality, and in turn, the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs) in Nigeria.

“Far too many times, women and girls have been indiscriminately arrested and put behind bars for many frivolous reasons such as being outside too late in the night, being ‘prostitutes’, or evening just being women,” added Nwachukwu.

“In the wake of the protests, many states imposed total curfews,” he told IPS. “These curfews limited many people, especially vulnerable groups from accessing health, and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) facilities.”

Excerpts of their interview follow:

Inter Press Service (IPS): What are your thoughts about the government’s response to COVID-19 in Nigeria?

Obianuju Onwuasor (OO): I feel like the government is doing their best in some sectors; we have government ministries like the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) who have set measures in places to tackle the impact of the coronavirus; CBN has funds in place to help/support households and SMEs, and they also reduced interest rates on intervention loans. Nigerian Customs reduced its tariffs on custom duty charges.

Kelechukwu Nwachukwu(KN): There have been concerns about the testing capacity and numbers given the population of Nigeria. I believe given the resources available, Nigeria is doing her best to handle the situation. There has been massive sensitisation and awareness creation.

However, the Nigerian government should make walk-in test facilities available as well as subsidised testing costs for Nigerian citizens. I also think it is a critical time for Nigeria to review and strengthen our health systems and infectious diseases response mechanism. Nigeria must make a statement to be committed to improving the health indices of the country by investing intentionally in health care for all.

IPS: How has the #EndSARS movement impacted the specific issues you work on?

OO: At PeriodRichOrg, our primary goal is to create a platform that’s safe to talk about human rights as it relates to sexuality, sexual health and reproduction. During October’s Lekki massacre that killed 12, we witnessed peaceful protestors trying to save a gunshot victim the wrong way. Through my reach and multiple re-shares, I was able to create infographics that helped provide better understanding on how to better handle situations like this.

KN: As an activist, campaigner and development worker, one cannot anymore carry on normal operations and day to day work of social commentary, community interventions and activism without being labeled as an opposition or being part of the #EndSARS movement. But it is only a matter of time and all Nigerians desirous of lasting peace and respecting human rights will ride on shoulders of giants who are the feminists that championed this cause in addition to thousands of Nigerians who stood up to face the singular enemy.

IPS: The SARS force has been around since 1992. How does it affect gender rights?

OO: The role of gender equality in policing cannot  be overemphasised as it’s important in achieving SDGs five and 16 — the elimination of violence against women, and strong and stable judicial institutions. These goals can only be achieved by creating the right composition and culture of our nation’s policing force which isn’t happening at the moment.

KN: Many women, girls and vulnerable groups in Nigeria have long suffered from injustices from SARS. In addition to gender rights, violations have been exacerbated against sexual and gender minorities in Nigeria such as the LGBTQ+ community.

IPS: According to Amaka Anku, head of Africa Practice at Eurasia Group, the movement will likely lead to higher political turnout in 2023 and has “helped define campaign issues”. What policies in your area of work do you think should be prioritised for 2023 elections?

OO: What could be learnt from this #EndSARS movement is the amount of power we have when we all have one voice. All core demands may not have been met but our voices were heard across the world. We clamored and the world responded to our shouts and screams.

As regards to political turnout in 2023, in the past in Nigeria mostly the uneducated came out to vote. But with the #EndSARS peaceful protests, we could see people from all walks of life come together to fight for one cause. If this happens in 2023, we would probably have campaigners who want to address the issues we constantly complain about, younger people who have come out to run for electable positions, more voter turnout and conscious politicians who know that they would be held accountable for their actions. Our biggest issue in Nigeria is bad leadership and governance, and once we can resolve this pending issue we are one step closer to finding solutions to all the numerous issues we face daily.

In the 2023 elections, I am hoping that the government pays attention to policies that relate closely to SRHR and gender equality, including policies addressing female genital mutilation (FGM), easy access to contraceptives, and safer abortions.

KN: It is true that the movement will trigger a lot more conversations and discourses around key issues. On a professional level, I am keen to see the protection of the rights of LGBTQI+ persons in Nigeria – it is of paramount importance that the Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act be revisited, repealed and thrown out the door. Sexual and gender minorities in Nigeria must enjoy protection from the law as well as fundamental human rights enshrined in the constitution.

In addition, sexual and reproductive rights of women, girls and vulnerable populations should be at the forefront of policies. We have seen the global pandemic expose the deeper vulnerabilities these groups face. Women and girls should be allowed free and unhindered access to reproductive services such as safe and legal abortion, quality of care and an end to menstrual poverty.

Finally, the government must come out boldly to work towards the end of FGM which has affected over 200 million women and girls globally. Until there is a political will from both government and donors, little progress will be made.

 

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The Sri Lankan Government should end its policy of compulsorily cremating victims of COVID-19, independent UN human rights experts said on Monday. “We deplore the implementation of such public health decisions based on discrimination, aggressive nationalism and ethnocentrism amounting to persecution of Muslims and other minorities in the country” the experts said. Credit: UN News

By External Source
GENEVA, Jan 28 2021 (IPS)

A new UN report published on Wednesday warns that the failure of Sri Lanka to address past violations has significantly heightened the risk of human rights violations being repeated.

It highlights worrying trends over the past year, such as deepening impunity, increasing militarization of governmental functions, ethno-nationalist rhetoric, and intimidation of civil society.

Nearly 12 years after the armed conflict in Sri Lanka ended, impunity for grave human rights violations and abuses by all sides is more entrenched than ever, with the current Government proactively obstructing investigations and trials, and reversing the limited progress that had been previously made, states the report, mandated by UN Human Rights Council resolution 40/1.

The report urges enhanced monitoring and strong preventive action by the international community, warning that “Sri Lanka’s current trajectory sets the scene for the recurrence of the policies and practices that gave rise to grave human rights violations.”

Among the early warning signals the report highlights are: the accelerating militarization of civilian governmental functions, reversal of important constitutional safeguards, political obstruction of accountability, exclusionary rhetoric, intimidation of civil society, and the use of anti-terrorism laws.

Since 2020, the President has appointed at least 28 serving or former military and intelligence personnel to key administrative posts, the report states. Particularly troubling are appointments of senior military officials who were implicated in United Nations reports in alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the final years of the conflict.

These include Shavendra Silva as Army Chief in August 2019 and Kamal Gunaratne as Secretary to the Ministry of Defence in November 2019.

The Government has created parallel military task forces and commissions that encroach on civilian functions, and reversed important institutional checks and balances, threatening democratic gains, the independence of the judiciary and other key institutions, the report says.

The report also documents a pattern of intensified surveillance and harassment of civil society organisations, human rights defenders and victims, and a shrinking space for independent media.

More than 40 civil society organizations have reported such harassment from a range of security services – including the Criminal Investigation Department, Terrorist Investigation Division and State Intelligence officials.

“The High Commissioner urges the authorities to immediately end all forms of surveillance, including intimidating visits by State agents and harassment against human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists, social actors and victims of human rights violations and their families, and to refrain from imposing further restrictive legal measures on legitimate civil society activity.”

It warns that despite the Government’s stated commitment to the 2030 Agenda, Tamil and Muslim minorities are being increasingly marginalized and excluded in statements about the national vision and Government policy. Divisive and discriminatory rhetoric from the highest State officials risks generating further polarization and violence.

Sri Lanka’s Muslim community is increasingly scapegoated, both in the context of COVID-19 and in the wake of the Easter Sunday attacks of April 2019.

The report notes that Sri Lanka’s armed conflict emerged against the backdrop of progressively deepening discrimination and marginalization of the country’s minorities, particularly the Tamils.

Grave human rights violations and abuses committed by all parties have been documented in successive UN reports, including extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention, torture and sexual violence affecting Sri Lankans from all communities.

Numerous commissions of inquiry appointed by successive governments have failed to credibly establish truth and ensure accountability for the violations, the report notes.

The Government has now appointed a new commission of inquiry to review the findings of previous commissions, but its membership lacks diversity and independence, and its terms of reference do not inspire confidence it will produce any meaningful result.

A Presidential Commission of Inquiry to investigate alleged “political victimisation” of public officials, security forces and others has undermined police investigations and court proceedings related to several high-profile human rights and corruption cases.

One former chief of the Criminal Investigation Division, who led investigations into several emblematic human rights cases, has been arrested while another inspector from the Division left Sri Lanka, fearing reprisals for his lead investigative role in several emblematic cases, and now faces criminal charges.

“While the criminal justice system in Sri Lanka has long been the subject of interference, the current Government has proactively obstructed or sought to stop ongoing investigations and criminal trials to prevent accountability for past crimes.”

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet stressed that the failure to deal with the past continues to have devastating effects on tens of thousands of family members from all communities who persist in seeking justice, reparations – and the truth about the fate of their loved ones.

“I urge the international community to listen to the determined, courageous, persistent calls of victims and their families for justice, and heed the early warning signs of more violations to come,” Bachelet said, calling for resolute measures by UN Member States.

“Given the demonstrated inability and unwillingness of Government to advance accountability at the national level, it is time for international action to ensure justice for international crimes. States should also pursue investigations and prosecution in their national courts – under accepted principles of extraterritorial or universal jurisdiction – of international crimes committed by all parties in Sri Lanka,” Bachelet added.

“States can consider targeted sanctions, such as asset freezes and travel bans against credibly alleged perpetrators of grave human rights violations and abuses.”

Sri Lanka’s contributions to UN peacekeeping operations must be kept under review, the High Commissioner added. Bachelet also urged the Council to support a dedicated capacity to collect and preserve evidence for future accountability processes.

The High Commissioner stressed that Sri Lanka will only achieve sustainable development and peace if it effectively addresses systemic impunity and ensures civic space.

“The failure to do so carries with it the seeds of repeated patterns of human rights violations and potential conflict in the future,” she said.

In preparing the report, the UN Human Rights Office sent detailed questions to the Government and received written responses, followed by a substantive virtual meeting with Government representatives on 7 January 2021. The Government also commented on the report.

The report will be formally presented to the Human Rights Council in Geneva on 24 February, followed by an interactive dialogue.

Source: Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Geneva.

 

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Dangerous speech is a toxic brew of emotion and age-old tropes.. Photo by Jonathan Farber on Unsplash

By External Source
Jan 28 2021 (IPS)

As senators plan for an impeachment trial in which former President Donald Trump is accused of inciting his supporters to mount a deadly insurrection at the Capitol, global concern is growing about threats of violent unrest in multiple countries, including the U.S. The United Nations reports the proliferation of dangerous speech online represents a “new era” in conflict.

Dangerous speech is defined as communication encouraging an audience to condone or inflict harm. Usually this harm is directed by an “ingroup” (us) against an “outgroup” (them) – though it can also provoke self-harm in suicide cults.

Targets of dangerous speech are often dehumanized, depicted as fundamentally lacking qualities – empathy, intelligence, values, abilities, self-control – at the core of being human

U.S. law reflects the assumption that dangerous speech must contain explicit calls to criminal action. But scholars who study speeches and propaganda that precede acts of violence find direct commands to violence are rare.

Other elements are more common. Here are some of the red flags.

 

Firing up emotions

Psychologists have analyzed the speeches of rousing leaders like Hitler and Gandhi for their emotional content, assessing how much fear, joy, sadness and so on were present. They then tested whether the levels of emotion could predict whether a certain speech preceded violence or nonviolence.

They discovered the following emotions, particularly combined, could ignite violence:

• Anger: The speaker gives the audience reasons to be angry, often pointing out who should be held responsible for that anger.
• Contempt: The outgroup is deemed inferior to the ingroup, and thus unworthy of respect.
• Disgust: The outgroup is described as so revolting they are undeserving of even basic humane treatment.

 

Constructing the threat

By studying political speeches and propaganda that have inspired violence, researchers have identified themes that can stir these powerful emotions.

Targets of dangerous speech are often dehumanized, depicted as fundamentally lacking qualities – empathy, intelligence, values, abilities, self-control – at the core of being human. Commonly, outgroups are depicted as evil, due to their alleged lack of morality. Alternatively, they may be portrayed as animalistic or worse. During the Rwandan genocide, Tutsis were referred to as cockroaches in Hutu propaganda.

To build a “story of hate,” a good guy is needed to counter the villain. So whatever dehumanizing quality is present in the outgroup, the opposite is present in the ingroup. If “they” are the Antichrist, “we” are the children of God.

Alleged past wrongdoings of the outgroup against the ingroup are used to position the outgroup as a threat. In cases of ongoing conflict between groups, such as between Israelis and Palestinians, there may well be examples of past wrongs on both sides. Effective dangerous speech omits, minimizes or justifies past wrongs by the ingroup members, while exacerbating past wrongs of the outgroup.

“Competitive victimhood” is used to portray the ingroup as the “real” victim – especially if ingroup “innocents” like women and children have been harmed by the outgroup. Sometimes past acts of the outgroups are fabricated and used as scapegoats for the ingroup’s past misfortunes. For instance, Hitler blamed the Jews for Germany losing World War I.

A particularly dangerous fabrication is when outgroups are accused of plotting against the ingroup the very deeds the ingroup is planning, if not actually committing, against the outgroup. Researchers coined the term “accusations in a mirror” after this strategy was explicitly described in a Hutu propaganda handbook following the Rwandan genocide.

 

Disengaging one’s moral compass

Effective dangerous speech gets people to overcome internal resistance to inflicting harm.

This can be accomplished by making it seem like no other options remain to defend the ingroup from the threat presented by the outgroup. Less extreme options are dismissed as exhausted or ineffective. The outgroup can’t be “saved.”

Simultaneously, speakers deploy “euphemistic labeling” to provide more palatable terms for violence, like “cleansing” or “defense” instead of “murder.” Or they may use “virtue-talk” to play up honor in fighting – and dishonor in not. After directing his followers to kill their children and themselves, cult leader Jim Jones called it “an act of revolutionary suicide protesting the conditions of an inhumane world.”

Sometimes, the ingroup suffers from an illusion of invulnerability and does not even consider the possibility of negative consequences from their actions, because they are so confident in the righteousness of their group and cause. If thought is given to life post-violence, it is portrayed as only good for the ingroup.

By contrast, if the outgroup is allowed to remain, obtain control or enact their alleged devious plans, the future looks grim; it will mean the destruction of everything the ingroup holds dear, if not the end of the ingroup itself.

These are just some of the hallmarks of dangerous speech identified through decades of research by historians and social scientists studying genocide, cults, intergroup conflict and propaganda. It is not an exhaustive list. Nor do all these elements need to be present for a speech to promote harm. There is also no guarantee the presence of these factors definitely leads to harm – just as there is no guarantee that smoking leads to cancer, though it certainly increases the risk.

The persuasiveness of a speech also depends on other variables, like the charisma of the speaker, the receptivity of the audience, the medium by which the message is delivered and the context in which the message is being received.

However, the elements described above are warning signs a speech is intended to promote and justify inflicting harm. People can resist calls to violence by recognizing these themes. Prevention is possible.

H. Colleen Sinclair, Associate Professor of Social Psychology, Mississippi State University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Masooma Ranalvi is the founder of WeSpeakOut and has campaigned to end FGM/C.

By Mariya Salim
NEW DELHI, India, Jan 28 2021 (IPS)

Survivors of female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM/C), are determined to share their stories to end this practice – even though they face ostracisation by their communities.

Masooma Ranalvi, an FGM/C survivor and founder of ‘WeSpeakOut’, an organisation committed to eliminating FGM/C or khafd/khafz/khatna explains that FGM/C is practised by various communities in India but is prominently practised among the Dawoodi Bohras.

However, speaking out against the harmful practice has not been easy for Ranalvi and the many others who have dared to relive their childhood memory of being ‘cut’ and share it with the world to end it some-day.

“There is a culture of fear around this issue, a culture of silence. Many do not speak out as there are social boycotts against who do – unofficially declared but carried out by the community,” says Ranalvi in an exclusive interview with IPS.

“Twenty years ago, even burial rights after death would be denied to those who dared to differ and economic sanctions against families who did not comply and spoke out,” says Ranalvi, who has been a leading voice in pushing for a legal and social end to FGM/C in India and across the globe.

According to a study conducted by ‘WeSpeakOut’, of the two million people who belong to India’s Bohra community and its diaspora, nearly 75%-80% of Bohra women are subject to FGM/C.

Ranalvi is also a petitioner in the legal action initiated in 2017 by lawyer Sunita Tiwari.

Tiwari filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court of India seeking a ban on FGM/C among the Dawoodi Bohra Muslim Community. This practice, which has been the community’s best-kept secret and practised by many others worldwide, is increasingly being spoken about, especially by the survivors.

Mariya Taher is the co-founder of Sahiyo an organisation aimed at ending FGM/C across the globe.

FGM/C involves the partial or total removal of external female genitalia or other injuries to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. Religion, culture, and tradition are often cited as motives for those practising it. There are about 92 countries where FGM/C is practised out of which 51 countries have expressly prohibited it under their national laws in some form or another.

In Asia, however, there is not a single country which has a law enacted to prohibit the harmful practice.

Based in the United States, Mariya Taher has co-founded Sahiyo, a non-profit working to end the practice globally and among the Bohra Community. She is a survivor and has been active passing state-level legislation in Massachusetts against it.

“It took five years to do so, but this past August 2020, we were able to pass a law. I am currently working with a group in Connecticut to pass a state law there. In the U.S., while we have a federal law, we also need state legislation, only 39 states have laws against FGM/C at this point,” Taher told IPS.

Aarefa Johari, journalist and co-founder of Sahiyo, adds that “enacting legislation against FGM/C has to be preceded by, accompanied and after that followed by intense and robust community activism at the grassroots level. It needs education, awareness and dialogue.”

Aarefa Johari is a journalist and co-founder of Sahiyo

A survivor, she believes that though “a law against FGM/C is vital as a deterrent and as a means of making the State’s stance on the practice clear, laws alone cannot bring an end to deep-rooted social norms.” This would require a long-term commitment and legal intervention to change the community’s mindset, Johari says.

Since many within the various communities use religion to justify the practice, it is important to note that there has been extensive research and writing around the issue by Islamic scholars and others, based on Quranic texts and Hadith (a collection of traditions containing sayings and actions of Prophet Muhammad) which discredit the practice as Un-Islamic.

Karamah, Muslim Women Lawyers for Human Rights, in a study published on FGM/C, concludes that FGM/C is a harmful practice that lacks religious mandate.

“The Qur’an does not provide a single verse or instance in which female khitan (FGM/C) is mentioned as obligatory or desirable. Furthermore, contrary to general belief, there is no single authentic hadith of the Prophet that requires female khitan.”

Ten-year-old Munira’s (name changed) aunt held her hand and took her to the basement of her empty house one Sunday evening promising to play a game with her. Little did Munira know the prize of this game, where she was asked to lie on a table with her underpants down and her lips sealed by her aunt to prevent her screams being heard, would end in her being scarred for life. She was ‘cut’ by a member of her family. This memory resonates with most survivors of the practice.

“It is never easy for anyone who has experienced some form of gender-based violence to share their story … My process took years, and it involved me first learning about it, then writing about it. The first thing I ever wrote was for the imagining equality project,” Taher says.

“It took many years after that project for me to get comfortable to share it on camera or to be interviewed by the media about my experience. But even as I grew comfortable, I experienced multiple forms of backlash.”

The impact on her immediate community meant that some of her relatives stopped speaking to her.

“Our movement (to end FGM/C) itself has faced backlash both publicly and privately from the community – we are trolled a lot online, there are attempts to constantly discredit the stories of survivors and silence those who speak up,” says Johari.

The trolling has not stopped the campaign to end FGM/C.

“It is important to emphasise that this is a sign of the importance of our work, and we get as much (or more) positive support from community members as we get negative brickbats,” Johari adds.

Many women and some community members against FGM/C sadly choose to remain silent in the interest of the ‘larger cause’, given the Islamophobic climate that exists.

Taher says that it is difficult not to see the intersection of oppressions when working on FGM/C, Islamophobia, unfortunately, being one of them.

“Particularly with the false assumption that only Muslims practice FGM/C. FGM/C is global … occurs in every continent in the world except Antarctica. And where FGM/C does occur in Islamic communities, it is a very small minority,” Taher says.

“The truth is FGM/C is a social norm justified in all sorts of ways – religion, health, social status, marriageability, tradition, culture, etc. This social norm was started before the advent of Islam and Christianity – meaning it pre-dates those religions. Yet, in doing this work today, speaking out against Islamophobia as well as xenophobia is vital when working on FGM/C.”

Ranalvi said the decision to turn to legal action only happened when all else had failed.

“We knocked at the doors of the courts when all attempts at dialogue with the clergy and leadership within the community failed. The support of enacted laws and of institutional bodies to give power to our resistance and enable us to take control over our bodies and help end this violation, is imperative,” adds Ranalvi.

As the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation on February 6th nears, it can only be hoped that FGM/C, a widely prevalent but dark secret that violates women’s human rights and practised by various communities across the world, ends.

Mariya Salim is a fellow at IPS UN Bureau

 

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Guinea score late to earn a quarter-final spot at the African Nations Championship (CHAN) as Zambia also progress.

A phone call in the middle of the night led one Swiss lawyer to pursue Nigeria's stolen money.

By Anya Anya Schiffrin - Hannah Clifford - Allynn McInerney - Kylie Tumiatti and Léa Allirajah
Jan 27 2021 (IPS)

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, journalists everywhere are feeling the consequences; job cuts, layoffs and closures have swept the world.

Philanthropists, journalism organizations, economists and governments have come up with solutions to address this financial devastation, some calling for greater collaboration among these groups. In a new report from Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, “Saving Journalism: A Vision for the Post-Covid World,” we analyzed initiatives around the world that hope to save the industry.
Our research noted renewed interest in government and Big Tech funding news and an emphasis on preserving what exists rather than starting up new outlets that may not survive.

To make sense of the proposed solutions, we broke them up into four categories, established by Luminate foundation’s managing director Nishant Lalwani: getting Big Tech to help pay for news, government subsidies and other kinds of support, new business models and philanthropic funding. A few solutions are outlined below:

1) Getting Big Tech companies to pay for news

Many of the people we spoke with feel strongly that it’s time to get big tech companies to substantially support journalism and to get governments involved in making that happen.

One pathbreaking example is the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission’s new media code that would force Google and Facebook to pay for news. Introduced to parliament in December, the law would require the tech companies to pay for news they use and force them into binding arbitration if they cannot agree on a price.

The law would also require the tech companies to notify news outlets before they change algorithms that affect audience traffic. If passed the law would create a more balanced relationship between news organizations and the platforms. Germany, Spain and France have, in the past, all tried to use copyright laws to get big tech to pay for news.

The difference here is that Australia is using competition law to change the balance of power between big tech and media companies. If it gets passed, then Australia will have accomplished something that the US has not succeeded in doing although there are efforts underway to get the tech companies to pay for news. These include Free Press’s 2019 proposal to tax microtargeted advertising and use the funds to pay for “civic journalism” and the bi-partisan Journalism Competition & Preservation Act which would allow publishers to band together when negotiating payments with Google and Facebook.

2) Public subsidies

We’re also seen renewed interest in government support for news including in Africa and the US which have traditionally been more wary of the dangers of public funding. Now journalists are looking wistfully at the countries that included funding for journalism as part of their broader Covid relief efforts. Norway, Denmark, Canada, Australia and Singapore stepped up with extra government funding and/or tax credits to support quality journalism and journalists during the pandemic. Australia’s government created an A$50 million (US$35.3 million) Public Interest News Gathering Fund in May to help maintain public-interest journalism in regional areas. And Norway (EFJ, 2020a) and Singapore have also provided subsidies to outlets and freelancers during Covid-19, with Norway allocating NK27 million (US$2.9 million) to media organizations that lost advertising income due to the virus. The government dedicated DKK180 million (US$28.3 million) to compensating outlets for lost advertising revenue between March and June in 2020.

All these ideas can and should be replicated in other parts of the world. In the U.S. there are a number of proposals for supporting news, including the Local Journalism Sustainability Act which was introduced in July 2020. The proposed law would provide federal tax credits to local media outlets for subscriptions, journalists’ compensation and advertising. Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) has introduced a bill for a commission to study how to help local news. Advocates are hoping that some of these plans will be voted on in 2021.

In Kenya, journalist Mark Kapchanga argues that some endangered news outlets should receive financial assistance from the government but that the funds must be delivered in such a way that the outlets can safely maintain their independence, for instance, through the Media Council of Kenya.

3) New business models

Innovators are also looking to see what kinds of changes can be made to current business models so that quality journalism can be preserved in the future. In Southern Africa, Botswanan journalist Ntibinyane Ntibinyane is seeking funds for The Digital Transitions Project that would safeguard the survival of quality journalism outlets in Southern Africa and help them transition into the long term.

In the U.S., 6,700 local news outlets are owned by hedge funds, which is worrisome for many media professionals because these funds are not interested in supporting news long- term but in making short- term profit. Rather than waiting for them to be asset stripped and killed off, Steve Waldman, the former senior advisor to the chair of the Federal Communications Commission has been thinking about how these newspapers could be transformed and survive. In October 2020, Waldman launched A Replanting Strategy: Saving Local Newspapers Squeezed by Hedge Funds, proposing that these outlets be turned into non-profits or locally owned outlets, which is similar to proposals from Free Press and academic Victor Pickard.

4) Foundation funding
Foundation funding has sustained hundreds, if not thousands, of small start-ups around the world and in 2020 many organizations established emergency funds during the pandemic and were inundated with eager applicants. Google News Initiative funded outlets in Latin America, Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe and the US providing grants ranging from US$5,000 to US$30,000 to 5,300 newsrooms — selected from nearly 12,000 applicants. outlets applied to their Journalism Emergency Relief Fund.

Latin American governments have done little to support journalism so it’s mostly been foundations, Google and Facebook that have stepped in to help. Facebook and the International Center for Journalists provided US$2 million in grants for Latin American outlets to help them cover covid and also to survive. In Ecuador, two universities (Universidad San Francisco de Quito and Universidad UTE) teamed up with two media outlets, El Universo and Codigo Vidrio, to win a grant from the US government to counteract Disinformation and Misinformation in the Age of Covid.

Lessons Learned:

Each of the above categories offers some promise for providing more substantial and sustainable support for journalism in the future. However, none of these can stand on their own, especially as the pandemic worsens an already growing crisis. While philanthropic support has enabled hundreds, if not thousands, of media outlets around the world, more systemic support is needed.

The above examples offer some ideas. In addition, we’d like to see more donor coordination and government support aimed at keeping existing outlets alive and strengthening the local news ecosystem, rather than funding small startups that may wind up competing with each other. Our research suggests there is lots to be learned from countries around the world that provide government support for quality journalism and try to get big tech companies to help pay for news.

Dr. Anya Schiffrin is senior lecturer at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. She wrote the report with her students: Hannah Clifford, Allynn McInerney, Kylie Tumiatti and Léa Allirajah. Further research was done by Chloe Oldham.

This article first appeared in the Columbia Journalism Review on January 13, 2021.

 

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Excerpt:

New Report Maps Ambitious Covid-era Efforts Around the World to Save Journalism

The post “Saving Journalism: A Vision for the Post-Covid World” appeared first on Inter Press Service.

"Credible reports" show they were involved in human rights abuses, the state department said.

No countries are safe until all are vaccinated, a leading Covid-19 expert says.

The man who dominated life for a generation is remembered as a caring disciplinarian.

Jamaica defender Alvas Powell signs for Sudan's Al Hilal Omdurman from David Beckham's MLS side Inter Miami.

By Md Saimum Reza Talukder
Jan 27 2021 (IPS-Partners)

The World Health Organization (WHO) has adopted “leaving no one behind” and “equitable access to vaccines” as the basic principles for Covid-19 vaccination around the world. GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, has also set up “equitable and sustainable use of vaccines” and “leaving no one behind” as the core of their high-level strategy for worldwide immunisation. All these strategies are in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals. However, global vaccination is not just a mere strategy or goal. This relates to the right to healthcare, which is an integral part of the right to life and must be ensured irrespective of nationality, religion, race, creed or culture.

According to a report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), around 79.5 million people had been forced worldwide from their homes due to persecution, conflict and human rights violations as of mid-2020. That number includes 29.6 million refugees, 4.2 million asylum seekers and 45.7 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). Around 34 million of this 79.5 million are children. Unfortunately, it is not clear who will ensure the Covid-19 vaccination of all these people. According to UNHCR in January 2021, “around 90 countries are currently developing national Covid-19 vaccination strategies and 51—or 57 per cent—have included refugees in their vaccination plans”. This trend reminds us that most of the UN member states are ignoring, if not denying, the responsibility to “respect”, “protect” and “promote” human rights principles as per the UN Charter towards refugees, IDPs and stateless people.

According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), “vaccine nationalism” has stood as a massive blow to the global vision for universal and equitable access to an affordable vaccine. Vaccine nationalism is when countries prioritise inoculating their own populations before others. Experts have already warned that this vaccine nationalism would prolong the Covid-19 pandemic by years. From the point of view of public health discourse, it is impossible to break or sustainably slow the transmission of the coronavirus unless a minimum of 70 percent of the population has acquired immunity. That is why the UNHCR believes that the exclusion of refugees, IDPs and stateless people from vaccination plans carries the risk of ongoing transmission in these populations, with spillovers into the global population. HRW also thinks that opaque vaccine deals could undermine a global recovery from the pandemic.

It is to be mentioned that refugees, IDPs and stateless people are more vulnerable to the Covid-19 pandemic than others. According to UNHCR, more than 85 percent of refugees are hosted in low- and middle-income countries, where health systems have often been overwhelmed, with limited capacity to manage persons with severe Covid-19 complications. UNHCR also stated that refugees, forcibly displaced and the stateless are often unable to practice social distancing due to overcrowded living arrangements, and with inadequate access to information and health care services, they remain at a high risk of contracting the virus.

There are currently around 866,457 officially registered Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh (although the Bangladesh government terms them as FDMN or Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals), living in just 26 square kilometres of land in Cox’s Bazar, with poor access to clean water and other hygiene facilities. Other estimates suggest there are close to 1.1 million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. According to the Rohingya Crisis Situation Report 29 by WHO from October 2020, the total number of confirmed Covid-19 patients amongst Rohingya refugees were 310. The report also suggested that nine refugees had died from Covid-19.

While it is good news that the transmission of coronavirus in the refugee camps has been kept under control, we must also remember that it is almost impossible to maintain physical distance in such an extremely overcrowded place like the Rohingya refugee camps. According to HRW, the internet shutdown and mobile phone restrictions in the camps have hindered humanitarian aid groups’ ability to provide emergency health services and rapidly coordinate essential preventive measures for the Covid-19 pandemic. We should not forget that as Myanmar does not recognise Rohingyas as its citizen, it has left them as stateless people and turned them into one of the most vulnerable populations in the world. The Rohingya face persistent public health risks, which are likely to be exacerbated by a pandemic. So far, there is no hope that Rohingya refugees would get Covid-19 vaccines from the Myanmar government. There are also no effective international efforts yet to pressurise Myanmar regarding vaccination of the Rohingyas. Nor we have seen any specific commitment from the international community regarding vaccination of the Rohingyas, although global immunisation should be the shared responsibility of all countries.

Bangladesh also has a responsibility towards Rohingya refugees because it has pledged to respect international law and the principles enunciated in the UN Charter, according to Article 25 of its Constitution. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had outlined the Bangladesh Preparedness and Response Plan for Covid-19 in July 2020. Although this national strategy recognised Rohingya refugees as a vulnerable population at increased risk of the rapid spread of Covid-19, Bangladesh is yet to declare a probable vaccination strategy and allocation for Rohingyas. According to a report in this daily, the COVAX programme led by the WHO and GAVI is supposed to give Bangladesh vaccines for 34 million people within 2021. However, it is not clear whether the GAVI would request the Bangladesh government to include Rohingyas in this vaccination programme or not.

The Covid-19 pandemic is a public health emergency which requires emergency medical supplies, including emergency access to vaccine. In the case of Syed Saifuddin Kamal and BLAST vs Bangladesh and others [Emergency Medical Services Case], the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh opined that failure to provide emergency medical services is a serious violation of the fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 27 (equality before law), Article 31 (protection of law) and Article 32 (right to life, liberty and security) of the Constitution. These constitutional safeguards should also be extended to Rohingya refugees by interpreting the “spirit of the law”. Thus, vaccine nationalism must not prevail over equality, human dignity and social justice, which are the founding principles of Bangladesh.

Md Saimum Reza Talukder teaches Cyber Law at BRAC University.

This story was originally published by The Daily Star, Bangladesh

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Apple farmers in Kashmir package their crops to send to a mandi or market yard. According to policy, wholesale transactions between farmers and traders must take place in a mandi, yet the market yards have become hubs of widespread corruption where a small group of sale agents have taken control. Credit: Stella Paul/IPS

By Stella Paul
HYDERABAD, Jan 27 2021 (IPS)

“This road is my home now and it will decide my future,” Sukhvinder Singh, a 27-year old farmer from the Moga district of Punjab, tells IPS. Last November, weeks after the government of India passed three farm bills he felt were anti-farmer, Singh travelled to Singhu, a village near Delhi, to demand the laws be repealed. Since then, he has been living in a tent he shares with five other fellow farmer-protesters.

On Sunday night the temperature dipped to 7°Celsius but Singh’s voice sounded warm and loud, betraying the cold. “Its like spending another night in the field, guarding my wheat crops,” he says.

There are currently an estimated 300,000 farmers protesting at Singhu, which has now turned into a tent city.

Though mobilised by 32 different groups, the farmers are unified in their demand: a total repeal of all three new laws:

• the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act,
• the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, and
• the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act.

Farmers protests: Outburst of years of anger

The farmers’ protest on the edge of New Delhi started on Nov. 26, but this has been a movement years in the making.

According to food and farm experts, uncertain and erratic pricing, lack of access to the market, low returns, recurring losses and debt burdens have been part of an average farmer’s life across the country, including Punjab, for a very long time.

While a section of the experts think that the state must accept responsibility for the well-being of farmers and compensate them for their losses, the other section believes that the government should just embrace and promote a free market policy with minimal interventions and regulations over the agriculture market.

The government interventions have, till now, included Minimum Support Prices (MSPs) — a system where the states announced MSP for 22 crops before their sowing seasons. This also included the procurement of grains and pulses from farmers by the government to run its subsidised food distribution to the poor (PDS system), the regulation of wholesale trade with farmers, control of stocks with traders, and control of exports and imports.

However, the new farm policies have sided with the free-market policy advocates and adopted exactly the opposite of what farmers want: strict enforcement of the MSP and greater intervention by the government in the procurement and wholesale trade. 

“Indian farmers have been protesting for years, but the country failed to take notice. For example, in recent years, we have seen milk farmers pouring pails of milk on the streets and vegetable farmers have crushed their fresh produce under bulldozers – all in a way to protest the volatile and erratic pricing that forced them to suffer huge losses,” Kavitha Kuruganti, a well-known activist and farm expert from Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture or ASHA-Kisan Swaraj network, a national network of organisations working on food, farmers and freedom, tells IPS.

“But every time, the protest ended with a verbal assurance by the government or a piece of paper saying their grievances would be looked into,” says Kuruganti.

Sandhya Mohite, a marginal cotton farmer in Maharashtra state’s suicide-affected Yavatmal region. Cotton is one of the crops where Minimum Support Prices (MSPs) system has worked but now, according to the country’s new farm laws, farmers will be no longer guaranteed a minimum price on produce. Credit: Stella Paul/IPS

What farmers want vs what they are offered

In India, the wholesale purchase of produce from farmers is regulated by the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act 2003. According to the policy, wholesale transactions between farmers and traders must take place in a mandi — a designated market yard.The sale of produce under public scrutiny brought a level of protection from being cheated on weights and measures and price. There are hundreds of such mandis across the country, which are governed by an elected body of APMC authority. 

However, over time, the market yards have become hubs of widespread corruption where a small group of sale agents have taken control and influenced APMC officials with their economic power and ties to major political parties. Unable to stand up to these price fixers, the farmers have had no option other than to play along and bear the losses.

The government acknowledges the cartelisation and, as a solution, is allowing alternate channels such as privately-managed market places which can compete with the regulated APMC mandis for the farmer’s produce.

In addition, farmers will be able to sell directly to consumers. Large buyers, such as firms engaged in food processing, large scale retail or exports can also bypass the wholesale markets altogether and buy directly from farmers.

These ideas were first recommended by the Swaminathan Commission – an experts’ committee tasked by the government in 2004 to finding solutions to problems faced by farmers.

However, the Swaminathan Commission also recommended a higher MSP and protective regulations for farmers while doing contract farming for large private traders. But the new laws do not include either of these recommendations.

The farmers now fear that since the MSP is no longer mandatory, they will be forced to accept any price large firms offer. Food crop growers also argue that they cannot even transport their produce to the nearest market yard without incurring losses. And they question how can they reach and sell at markets faraway.

The big player scare

In December 2020, even as their protests gathered steam, farmers across Punjab pulled down hundreds of mobile towers belonging to Reliance Jio Infocomm — India’s largest cellular service network. The protesters targeted the network after it was rumoured that large corporations like Reliance industries, along with Adani group, would be entering the contract farming business, potentially pushing independent farmers out of their livelihoods. After over 1,500 Jio telecom towers were damaged, the company finally approached the court and also clarified in a statement that it had no farm business plans. But the fear lingers.

Harmandeep Singh, a farmer from Tarn Tarn, Punjab tells IPS: “Today they are saying there are no plans. But tomorrow it may change. These companies are so rich, they can buy any amount of land and push us out of the business. Who will stop them?”

However, the entry of big corporations in agriculture happened well before a more corporate-friendly Modi government came in power, Subramaniam Kannaiyan, General Secretary of South Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers Movements (SICCFM), tells IPS.

“In 2011, the then Congress Government had allowed 100 percent foreign investment in several sectors of agriculture, so the corporates have been there for a long time already. In fact, since we joined World Trade Organisation (WTO), opening up of the markets has become inevitable. However, there should be a balance and ways to support and protect the local, small farmers and for that the APMC should play a stronger role, not be done away with,” says Kannaiyan, who is also a member of the global small farmers movement La Via Campesina.

No takers for a 3rd party role

On Jan. 12, the Supreme Court of India formed  a 4-member committee to hold talks between the government and the farmers to resolve the protests over the farm laws. But the farmers were quick to reject the committee and refused to be part of it.

“When there is a dialogue underway between the government and the protesting farmers, there is absolutely no need for the Supreme Court to take on a mediatory role given that neither the government nor the union leaders have approached the Supreme Court and said, ‘please resolve this,” says Kuruganti, who is also a member of the 41-member farmers delegation that has been holding the talks with the government.

So far, there have been 11 rounds of dialogues which centre around not just ‘techno-legal’ issues but also on policy directions and policy implications — “areas where the Supreme Court has no role to play,” Kuruganti says, explaining why the farmers do not see any merit in joining the review committee.

“The problem today is, except for Punjab and Haryana, there is no large farmers union anywhere else in this country,” says Kannaiyan of SICCFM.

“This is why a movement of this magnitude can be led only by farmers from those states. But we stand by them strongly in solidarity.”

Digging their heels deeper

Yesterday, Jan. 26, India celebrated its Republic Day – the day the country’s constitution came into effect. The celebration usually includes a token display of the country’s military might by parading its nation’s defence weaponry.

But this week, the nation witnessed a different parade: a 100-km long tractor rally by the protester farmers. The government tried to prevent the rally by getting a court order and some of states also banned sale of fuel to tractors, but this failed to dissuade the farmers who were determined to carry out the rally. Many vowed to only return home after the 3 farm bills have been repealed.

Yesterday, thousands of protesting farmers marched to New Delhi’s historic Red Fort.

There were skirmishes between police and a small number of protesters, but the majority of protesters were peaceful. Police reportedly dispersed the crowd with tear gas and one protester died after a tractor overturned and fell on him.

“The government is trying to show the world that it has done a great job by building weapons. Now we want to tell the world that a country that a country is not made great by making weapons but by respecting its farmers and by restoring its economic lifeline – the agriculture which is not happening right now,” Mandeep Kaur, a woman farmer with small land holding from  Punjab’s Ludhiana who has travelled to Singhu several times during the past two months to join the protests, tells IPS.

Indeed, the Food Sustainability Index, developed by the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition and the Economist Intelligence Unit, ranks India 4th overall, behind Colombia and China, in a ranking middle income countries’ sustainability and greatest progress towards meeting environmental, societal and economic key performance indicators for agriculture.

On Jan. 22, after the 11th round of discussions, the government offered to delay the implementation of the farm laws for 12 to 18 months – allowing farmers the additional time to prepare themselves for the future.  However, as the farmers refused to settle for anything less than a full repeal of the legislation, the government declined to announce dates for further discussions. 

The impasse has failed to move the farmers from their stance, but some are asking the government to not make it a show of ego.

“Accepting the demands of the farmers and repealing the farm laws should not be seen as a victory of the farmers or the loss of the government; it should be seen as a victory of democracy,” Kuruganthi says.

Meanwhile, farmers from several states including Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Kerala and Telangana have lent their support to the protest movement.

And today, Jan. 27, a day after the Republic Day protest, Kuruganthi says “the protest movement will continue peacefully”.

 

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The post 60 Days on, India’s Biggest Farmers’ Protest Shows No Sign of Weakening appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Yesterday, Jan. 26, India celebrated its Republic Day. But it was marked by scenes of farmers driving their tractors in convoy and marching to New Delhi's historic Red Fort. IPS senior correspondent STELLA PAUL unpacks the issues behind India's farmers' protests.

The post 60 Days on, India’s Biggest Farmers’ Protest Shows No Sign of Weakening appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Jan Lundius
STOCKHOLM / ROME, Jan 27 2021 (IPS)

Occasionally some of us might suffer from a feeling of maximal overload, overwhelmed by COVID-19 and the reign of Donald Trump. It can maybe be conceived as far too euro-centric to be concerned about the disastrous situation in the U.S., with media stuffed to the brim by news about Donald Trump while the global environmental crisis is steadily getting worse and war, injustices and famine continue to agonize people in places like Darfur, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Syria.

First Lady Melania Trump decorates Rush Limbaugh with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images

Nevertheless, what happened in Washington on 6th of January indicates that something has gone outrageously wrong. The ongoing catastrophe which, among other things, was crowned with the triumph of the media product Donald Trump did not disappear with his election loss. People who fell victims to lies spread by irresponsible, shallow and hate mongering media are still among us, not only in the U.S., but all over the planet. Let me, for the sake of simplicity, focus on the situation in the U. S.. How could so many individuals put their trust in a narcissistic, manipulative and blatantly ignorant world leader? A man able to seduce some of his admirers to storm their nation’s popularly elected legislature while claiming they did so in the name of “democracy”.

One starting-point for a search for the roots of the U.S. anti-democratic movement could be the open wounds left by the U.S. Civil War, when the Congress in 1871 adopted the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution, extending civil and legal protection to former slaves, while prohibiting any member of the federation from disenfranchising voters “on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” This did not hinder several state legislatures from continuing to deny former slaves their legal rights and terrorize black citizens for exercising their rights to vote, running for public office, and serving on juries. In response, Congress passed a series of Enforcement Acts and empowered the American president to use military force to protect African Americans, something several U.S. citizens perceived as an infringement of their rights and came to consider the Federal Government as a means to introduce “socialism” to control the life of every citizen.

After World War I, opponents to “socialism” rose to prominence, while black veterans demanded equal rights and labour unions became emboldened by European demands for social justice and the Russian revolution. For example, mine workers demand for higher wages and better working conditions culminated in violent and lethal clashes, like the Herrin Massacre in 1922 and the so called Battle of Blair Mountain in 1921, the largest armed uprising since the Civil War.

Lynchings reached their height by the beginning of last century and during the 1920’s, primarily targeting African-Americans and other ethnic minorities. In 1921, mobs of white citizens, several of them provided with weapons by city officials, attacked black residents in the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma, destroying more than 35 square blocks of the district, known as the wealthiest black community in the U.S.. Afterwards, 6,000 black residents were interned and the official death toll was determined as 36 “dead Negroes”.

The white supremacist hate group Ku Klux Klan grew after 1920 and flourished nationwide. At its peak in the mid-1920s, the organization claimed to include about 15 percent of the nation’s population, approximately 4 to 5 million men.

In the 1930s, the Federal Government of Democrat President Franklin D. Roosevelt answered to the Great Depression by establishing business regulations, a basic social safety net, and a government-funded infrastructure. Measures that were met with fierce opposition from wealthy business- and industry owners, as well as right-wing politicians. A resistance that may be exemplified by an often quoted paragraph in a letter written by Senator Henry Hatfield when Roosevelt in 1932 had won the elections and introduced his New Deal:

This is despotism, this is tyranny, this is the annihilation of liberty. The ordinary citizen is thus reduced to the status of a robot. The president has not only signed the death warrant of capitalism.

Such opinions are now commonplace in the U.S., and not the least shared by its now former president, claimed author of The Art of the Deal, which actually was entirely ghost-written. This wealthy businessman supports a view that a Government actively supporting well-being for all its citizens undermines American liberty by redistributing tax dollars from hard-working men and women to those eager for handouts, i.e. minority groups who in junction with “crooked” politicians are opposed to “Making America Great Again”. Again? This probably means combatting any government intending to guarantee equal rights, justice and well-being and accuse it of “bringing socialism to America”. The motto of “Making America Great Again”, may with a historic hindsight mean an intention to force any U.S. Government back to the form it had in the 1920s, when unquestioned privileges were enjoyed by a white elite, while social injustice and racism reigned almost unabated.

Such intentions became more feasible after 1987, when the so called Fairness Doctrine ended. This doctrine meant that a Federal Communications Commission policy required public media channels to base their stories on fact and present both sides of an issue. When this doctrine was abolished the scene was set for talk radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh (who last year was awarded with the Presidential Medal of Freedom) and his equivalents at the cable television news network Fox News, to spread a message that their ideal nation now is threatened by “socialism”. A covert, and occasionally quite open, message indicating that hard-working white men who take care of their wives and children are constrained and discriminated by Big Government, which is taxing them to give benefits to lazy people of colour and Feminazis. “Liberals” undermine the nation’ s morals and destroy “family values”, aided and abetted by lawmakers busy with the construction of a ruthless System that sucks tax dollars.

In 1993, federal officers stormed the centre of a religious cult stockpiling weapons in a compound in Waco, Texas. Seventy-six people died. Rush Limbaugh stoked his listeners’ anger with reports of Big Government murdering U.S. citizens, making much of the idea that a group of Christians had been killed on orders from Attorney General Janet Reno, an “unfeminine” Government official.

Talk show host Alex Jones warned that Reno’s “murder” of people at Waco was part of Big Government’s plan to impose martial law and take the guns away from “law-abiding” citizens. An army veteran, Timothy McVeigh, decided that “we have to shed blood to reform the current system.” On April 19, 1995, a date chosen to honour the Waco stand-off, McVeigh set off a bomb in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, including 19 children at a day care centre, and wounding more than 800 people.

For the past four years, Trump and his enablers have insisted that current unrest is caused by Islamist terrorists, anarchists and radicalised immigrants, this in spite of the fact the Department of Homeland Security has declared that the biggest threat to the Nation’s stability and security comes from groups believing that their liberties are being “taken away by the perceived unconstitutional or otherwise illegitimate actions of government officials, or law enforcement.” Anti-government protesters who currently are joined by white supremacists and other affiliated groups. People, who after storming the seat of the United States Congress and legislative branch of the U.S. federal government, were called “patriots” by the then President Donald J. Trump, who furthermore stated “I love you”.

This is what happens when racial hatred, misogyny and chauvinism are not only ignored but even supported by the highest authority of a nation. In the name of global justice we can no longer ignore the hatred that has been brewing in the U.S.. Persons who for their own benefit have added fuel to the fire must be held accountable. Lack of space forbids me to present a long list of places where an unwillingness to address issues such as inequality and increasing violence have caused immense human suffering. I sincerely hope that the Congress, the Senate, the President and the people of the United States will be able to once and for all put a definite halt to this dangerous rise of chauvinism and bring to justice those who with their lies have instigated the rise of home-grown terrorism and lured mentally fragile people to embrace Qanon and similar, deranged conspiracy theories

Sources: Perliger, Arie (2020) American Zealots: Inside Right-Wing Domestic Terrorism. New York: Columbia University Press. Wade, Wyn Craig (1987) The Fiery Cross: The Ku Klux Klan in America. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Jan Lundius holds a PhD. on History of Religion from Lund University and has served as a development expert, researcher and advisor at SIDA, UNESCO, FAO and other international organisations.

 

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The post An American Horror story appeared first on Inter Press Service.

A profound shock to our societies and economies, the COVID-19 pandemic underscores society’s reliance on women both on the front line and at home, while simultaneously exposing structural inequalities across every sphere. Responding to the pandemic is not just about rectifying long-standing inequalities, but also about building a resilient world in the interest of everyone with women at the centre of recovery. Credit: United Nations

By Constanza Tabbush
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 27 2021 (IPS)

With over 90 million confirmed cases and 1.9 million deaths globally, and a second wave sweeping into 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to hold the world hostage.

Less visible and talked about is how its social and economic fallout is hitting women hard – and often harder than men. The latest data shows that the pandemic is poised to push 47 million women and girls into extreme poverty, increasing the total number of women and girls living in extreme poverty to 435 million.

The projections also show that this number will not revert to pre-pandemic levels until 2030. To recover from this crisis, decisive government action is imperative to safeguard the rights and needs of women and girls.

As governments around the world scramble to protect jobs, pass fiscal stimulus packages and social protection measures, how can policymakers ensure that their COVID-19 responses work for women and girls, whose needs, priorities and voices are chronically absent from the data and analysis that shapes policies?

Recently, UN Women and UNDP launched the COVID-19 Global Gender Response Tracker, a real-time database that includes more than 2,500 policy measures across 206 countries indicating how governments are responding to the pandemic from a gender equality perspective.

This rich repository of policy data – covering measures on violence against women, women’s economic security and unpaid care – is now providing evidence-based guidance to policymakers about gender-sensitive response measures that protect the lives, jobs and wellbeing of both women and men.

Throughout 2021, UN Women and UNDP will deliver periodic updates of the Gender Tracker, as well as incorporate new data on women’s leadership in the COVID-19 response.

Constanza Tabbush, Research Specialist at UN Women. Credit: Felicitas Rossi

Here are five key lessons emerging from the Gender Tracker, with a focus on social protection and labour market policies:

1. Put women’s needs at the centre of the socioeconomic response

The Gender Tracker shows that countries around the world mounted extraordinary social protection and jobs responses to the pandemic in 2020. However, although women are facing higher job and income losses than men, only ten per cent of the 1,310 social protection and job measures taken so far explicitly aim to strengthen women’s economic security.

Cash transfers and food aid that directly target or prioritise women are among the most common measures. Yet this social assistance targeting women is often small-scale, temporary and offers minimal benefits to women in need.

This is especially worrying because the economic uncertainty triggered by the pandemic is far from over and forecasts predict female poverty is likely to increase. In 2021, it is expected there will be 118 women in poverty for every 100 poor men globally.

Curbing the rise of poverty among women needs robust and interconnected social protection measures from the government that safeguards them from risks and vulnerabilities from childhood to old age.

2. Prolong COVID-related emergency measures benefiting women

Policymakers will need to sustain, scale up and replicate existing measures supporting women’s economic security in 2021. So far, most social protection programmes have not lasted through the duration of lockdowns or the longer-term economic downturn, often leaving beneficiaries high and dry after a few months.

Early in 2020, cash transfers and food assistance were key to women’s livelihood security. Most of the schemes were short-lived, lasting an average of 3.3 months.

In Togo, for instance, the innovative three-month emergency coronavirus cash transfer programme (Novissi) targeting informal workers included larger benefits for women, but has now been discontinued.

Togo is not the exception, but the rule. Emerging evidence suggests that out of 429 cash programmes, only 32 were extended for an additional period.

3. Extend assistance to informal workers to prevent more women from falling into poverty

In many developing countries, women work mostly in the informal economy – in areas such as domestic work, market trading or agriculture – and are often vulnerable to poverty and fall through the cracks of existing welfare systems.

Sustaining and scaling up the extension of social protection to informal workers in 2021 is vital in supporting women and their families economically.

Last year, countries including Brazil, Colombia, Kenya, Morocco, the Philippines and South Africa, launched new cash transfer programmes targeting informal workers, some of which provided extra benefits for women.

The emergency cash transfer in Brazil stands out for doubling benefit levels for women heads of households, providing them with approximately USD 215 per month (versus USD 107 for other beneficiaries).

Its positive impacts added political momentum to parliamentary and civil society initiatives for a basic income programme in the country. If improved, these temporary measures can thereby provide a stepping stone to more permanent solutions for women in the informal economy.

4. Improve access to paid leave and childcare services so that women can hold on to their jobs and return to work

Since the onset of the pandemic, women’s share of the unpaid work of cleaning, cooking and childcare has increased, contributing to an exodus of women from the labour force.

Alarmingly, only 60 out of 206 countries have taken steps to address unpaid care demands, by expanding paid family leaves or flexible work arrangements. Support for public childcare services – which are critical for women to hold on to their jobs – has been minimal.

Despite this, a handful of inspiring countries, including Costa Rica, Australia and Canada, declared childcare services essential. For instance, the Government of Canada recently announced major new investments in childcare services as part of its economic recovery plan.

It is not too late for policymakers to promote swift actions to counter the heavy toll the pandemic is having on women’s labour force participation. Failure to do so may leave women with permanent scars from the economic crisis catalysed by the pandemic.

5. Invest in social protection systems now to build resilient societies

The COVID-19 pandemic will not be the last shock our societies endure, and decision-makers are already looking for ways to buffer or prevent future blows. The time to invest in strengthening national social protection systems is now.

Countries that invested in their social protection systems before the pandemic were better prepared to quickly scale up or adapt cash transfers in response to the crisis, with positive ripple-effects for women.

High-income countries in Europe, for instance, relied heavily on their well-developed social insurance systems. Meanwhile, middle-, and some low-income countries (like Argentina, Bolivia, Egypt and South Africa) were also among the 39 countries that quickly rolled out cash transfers with direct benefits to women.

However, in the absence of comprehensive systems, other countries struggled to put in place an adequate response. Every economic crisis further erodes the little resources the most vulnerable have, widening gender and social inequalities.

Only by investing in universal social protection systems now, can we ensure that this or future crises do not deepen women’s disadvantage, and that that disadvantage does not pass on from one generation to the next.

Source: UN Women

 

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The post COVID-19’s Social & Economic Fallout Hits Women Harder appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Constanza Tabbush is a Research Specialist at UN Women. She co-authored the latest edition of UN Women’s flagship report, Progress of the World’s Women, and has published extensively on gender, social movements and social policy. Constanza has a PhD in Sociology from the University of London, and prior to joining UN Women, worked as a Research Associate at the National Research Council in Argentina.

The post COVID-19’s Social & Economic Fallout Hits Women Harder appeared first on Inter Press Service.