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Everton hope injured midfielder Jean-Philippe Gbamin will be back in eight weeks, says manager Carlo Ancelotti.

Although women and girls account for a far smaller share of total homicides than men, they bear by far the greatest burden of intimate partner/family‐related homicide, and intimate partner homicide. Source: UNODC report

By Fairuz Ahmed
NEW YORK, Feb 7 2020 (IPS)

“I soiled my pants, I could feel the wetness seeping into my waistband, my eyes started to become blurry. Only the sound of the blaring television assured me that I was still alive. I tried to stop thinking and make my mind go completely blank. Over the years I have adapted and now I can make my mind go numb. But the only nagging question ringing on my mind during the last 45 seconds was: will this stain the carpet? Should I clean myself first or should I clean the carpet first? Which one is safer? Did he notice the stain?

I laid there without a word hoping and praying that he does not notice the wetness. I am pretty sure he will start to bash me noticing the stain. We just bought the carpet two years back and it is messed now for me. I laid down holding my breath.

His grip started to get loose. I saw him examining the wet spot on his jeans and his eyes change to a different color of red. A little later he moved his foot that was firmly digging on my chest. His mother scrunched her nose and tucked a portion of her garment to block the smell. She held my son by his arm and pulled him out of the closet. I saw my son being dragged to the kitchen. Although the blood on my eyes was making it hard to see, still I was relieved that my 6-year-old did not have to see his mother soiling her garments and her face red with blood. I laid there for roughly five minutes until my husband left the room.”

She takes a pause, touching the old cut on her lips and wipes the corner of her eyes marked with various shades of blue and purple. She speaks like this with vivid descriptions every time she comes to the shop. Then as expected, comes the routined realization of guilt, regret, and anger followed by her denial and helplessness. “It is not his fault. It is not. He is a good man, he buys me food, he gave money for laundry but sometimes he loses his patience. He is not a bad man.” She nods her head and forces a faint smile. He holds my hands and gestures me begging to stay calm.

This story is of a girl named Selina, who is a regular at the Asian store down the road.

Selina was only 16 years old when a family came to meet her as she came back home from school one day. All she knew was: the family lives in America and is affluent. She was married that evening. After a year, her husband brought her to the United States. For the last 7 years, she has never been permitted to meet anyone from her family or go back home. She does not have access to a telephone nor is she permitted to go out of the house alone. The only surrounding she knew was the house she lives in, the grocery store and the route to her son’s school. Coming from the same country as me, she speaks to me every chance she gets when her mother in law is not with her. I have seen her many times in the shop, hesitant, perplexed and with bruises. Today she came fully covering her face, limping and looking for a stain remover for her carpet.

I took another look at her face and at the fresh bandage covering her forehead and after 3 years of trying to gather some courage, I finally picked up my phone and dialed. (1)

Domestic abuse and violence are the willful intimidation, physical assault, battery, sexual assault, and/or other abusive behavior as part of a systematic pattern of power and control perpetrated by one intimate partner against another. It includes physical violence, sexual violence, psychological violence, and emotional abuse. The frequency and severity of domestic violence can vary dramatically; however, the one constant component of domestic violence is one partner’s consistent efforts to maintain power and control over the other. (2) Sometimes in the early stages of a relationship, it cannot be determined if one person will become abusive and to what extent that might lead to. Domestic violence intensified overtime. Outwardly an abuser seems like a wonderful person, liked by his colleagues and friends but gradually may become aggressive and controlling. Also, an abuser may have episodes of being violent and being loving or caring moments later. The abused might stay in a constant state of denial hoping for the episode to pass and then get back to normality.

The question comes in relation as to why the abuser does not voice her concerns or reach out for help. Also why they do not break the cycle of abuse? In the majority of countries with available data, less than 40 percent of the women who experience violence actually speak up and seek help of any sort. Among women who do, most look to family and friends and very few look to formal institutions and mechanisms, such as police and health services. Less than 10 percent of those women seeking help for the experience of violence sought help by appealing to the police or other organizations. (3) Between 960,000 and 3,000,000 incidents of domestic violence are reported each year, while many other incidents go unreported. (4) It is estimated that more than ten million people experience domestic violence in the U.S. each year. (5) In many cases, it has been seen that there is a massive gap between the number of abused women reaching out for help than the actual number of women facing abuse.

The victim’s reasons for staying with their abusers are extremely complex and, in most cases, are based on the reality that their abuser will follow through with the threats they have used to keep them trapped: the abuser will hurt or kill them, they will hurt or kill the children, they will win custody of the children, they will harm or kill pets or others and will ruin their victim financially. The victim in violent relationships knows their abuser best and fully knows the extent to which they will go to make sure they have and can maintain control over the victim. (6)

There is a growing body of research data demonstrating that immigrant women are a particularly vulnerable group of victims of domestic violence., where a widely utilized technique to dominate the abused is isolation. It is an important factor in marital abuse among South Asian immigrant families. It lends itself to the invisibility immigrant women experience based on their gender status in the United States. Drawn from unstructured interviews with abused South Asian immigrant women, three different levels of isolation are explained. The first level involves the quality of a woman’s relationship with her spouse; the second is related to the frequency and quality of social interaction with friends, relatives, and coworkers; and the third is explained in terms of the level of access to and participation in the ethnic community and other formal institutions. (5). This group of women tends to have fewer resources, stay longer in the relationship, and sustain more severe physical and emotional abuse. It has been seen many times that abusers of immigrant domestic violence victims actively use their power to control their wife’s and children’s immigration status and threats of deportation as tools that play upon victim’s fears so as to keep their abused spouses and children from seeking help or from calling the police to report the abuse.

Due to the language barrier, the immigrant women who have limited speaking ability of the language spoken in the foreign country get sidelined by default. During their doctor’s visits, children’s school visits and other social interactions they remain highly dependent on their spouses or upon family for getting their point across. So, if they want to voice out their concerns they are barred and monitored. It is a well-known common practice of many first generations and second-generation families to keep the families’ personal identification documents like passports, birth certificates, health insurance cards, social security cards and financial documents under the control of the male of the house. The women are always under constant surveillance and monitoring. Another interesting factor adding to the muted voice of abused women is financial dependency. Following traditions and cultural norms, regardless of educational background or social standing, a major portion of the immigrant women are required to put their earnings or savings into a joint account that she and her partner share. And in most cases, she holds no access or decision-making ability of her own money even if she is earning.

An update to Selina’s story:

One phone call made by her neighbor 2 years back, changed her life for the better. It took her 2 months to heal physically in a hospital, took 23 sessions of physical therapy to walk properly and hours of counseling to get back her mental health and stability. She now works in a bakery and can speak basic English after a year of training offered by her local shelter. She is living in a one-bedroom apartment with her son and she recently sent $50 to her ailing mother back home from her paycheck. Every time her cell phone rings, she smiles and pauses before answering. She loves the fact that she can breathe without taking permission from anyone and can speak with anyone she wishes to.

Notes

1. Selina’s story: The actual name and location of the victim and reporter have been kept confidential.

2. https://assets.speakcdn.com/assets/2497/domestic_violence2.pdf

3.United Nations Economic and Social Affairs (2015).
The World’s Women 2015, Trends and Statistics,p. 159.
https://unstats.un.org/unsd/gender/worldswomen.html

4. The Gateway Center For Domestic Violence Services. City of Portland, Oregon. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
5. NCADV. National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
6. https://ncadv.org/why-do-victims-stay
7.https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1009460002177

The post Do I Need Permission to Breathe? – A Migrant Woman’s Story appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Ding Ding is Deputy Division Chief, Caribbean 1 Division, Western Hemisphere Department (WHD) at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), & Inci Otker currently works at the Western Hemisphere Department, IMF and is mission chief for St. Kitts and Nevis & Trinidad and Tobago and Division Chief of Caribbean III.

By Ding Ding and Inci Otker
WASHINGTON DC, Feb 7 2020 (IPS)

The Caribbean economies have long recognized the value of working together. Improving regional integration—for instance, through more intraregional trade and policy coordination—can help the region’s small-size economies build greater resilience and scale, as well as enhance bargaining power on the global stage.

According to the latest IMF research, further liberalizing trade and labor mobility in the region can generate significant economic benefits—potentially over 7 percent of the region’s GDP in 2018.

While policymakers of the Caribbean Community* (CARICOM) remain committed to further integration and progress has been made, the implementation of integration initiatives and policies toward the goal of a regional economic union has been slow and needs to be accelerated.

Work in progress

Compared to other well-integrated regions, like the ECCU and EU, the Caribbean lags. The integration indices, which measure the degree of intraregional economic and institutional integration, suggest that Caribbean community’s integration has proceeded in several waves, with periods of integration followed by slowdowns in progress, including in removing remaining tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade and constraints on intraregional labor movement.

Financial integration has proceeded faster with tightly-interconnected financial systems across the region, but capital markets remain underdeveloped and fragmented. Harmonizing economic and structural policies to support a single economic space is still work in progress, with lacking harmonization and coordination of investment codes, tax incentives, and macroeconomic policies.

Pain points

Why has progress in regional integration been slow for the Caribbean? A combination of institutional, political economy, and structural factors underlie the slower implementation of integration policies.

The lack of a regional body with powers and accountability that can help transform community decisions to binding laws in individual jurisdictions is a key impediment. A decision-making process based on unanimity principle, where each member retains its sovereign authority, also hinders progress.

In the absence of a facilitating regional architecture, cooperation must rely on well-aligned national interests and shared goals, but national incentives do not seem to be well-aligned for integration, with its potential benefits perceived by some as uncertain, potentially uneven, and only materializing over a long horizon.

Differing export/production structures and income and development levels make it challenging to harmonize economic and structural policies around well-integrated policy frameworks.

Some regional authorities attribute the slow pace of implementation to a “crisis of will,” as much as to wasteful duplication and slow progress in harmonizing legal and institutional frameworks and to binding resource/capacity gaps.

A worthwhile goal

The Caribbean authorities broadly agree that integration should remain a top priority and greater collaboration is critical to tackle common challenges. It is important to capitalize on this momentum.

Recent IMF research finds that further liberalization of trade and greater labor mobility within the region can generate significant benefits.

A 25-percent reduction in non-tariff barriers and trade costs within CARICOM and vis-à-vis non-CARICOM trade partners can boost trade and improve welfare gain for all members—at about $6 billion, or 7.6 percent of the region’s GDP in 2018.

It can also help restructure economies from contracting to expanding sectors, resulting in a net employment gain across the region.

Way forward

Greater cooperation is the key to furthering regional integration in the Caribbean. While these economies’ small size and supply constraints may potentially limit benefits from economic integration, acting as a group can enhance the scale, bringing widespread benefits and helping the region further tap into global value chains.

That is, regional integration should not be an end-goal, but a means to an end of deepening Caribbean integration into the global economy.

At a time when momentum for economic integration seems to have stalled, close cooperation in high priority areas for the region can help demonstrate benefits of coordinated action and serve as a building block to the ultimate goal of full integration.

Key areas could include:

• Addressing impediments to institutional integration by harmonizing and rationalizing institutions and processes across the region and resolving resource/capacity constraints;
• Facilitating an equitable distribution of benefits through well-structured, adequately-resourced mechanisms to help realign national and regional interests;
• Enhancing functional policy coordination in the areas of common challenges, including building climate resilience, containing violent crime, and coordinating tax policies and systems to limit harmful competition; and
• ensuring financial stability in an increasingly more interconnected financial system.

What is CARICOM?

*The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is comprised of twenty countries (fifteen Member States and five Associate Members), mostly island states in the Caribbean stretching from the Bahamas in the north to Suriname and Guyana in South America. It was established by the English-speaking parts of the Caribbean in 1973 with the primary objectives to promote economic integration and cooperation among its members, ensure that the benefits of integration are equitably shared, and coordinate foreign policy. CARICOM is the oldest existing integration movement in the developing world.

The post Strengthening Caribbean Regional Integration appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Ding Ding is Deputy Division Chief, Caribbean 1 Division, Western Hemisphere Department (WHD) at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), & Inci Otker currently works at the Western Hemisphere Department, IMF and is mission chief for St. Kitts and Nevis & Trinidad and Tobago and Division Chief of Caribbean III.

The post Strengthening Caribbean Regional Integration appeared first on Inter Press Service.

The $683 million will be used for efforts towards women’s reproductive and sexual health rights across 57 countries, of which about $300 million will be directed towards UNFPA’s projects in Arab state regions, including countries such as Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Sudan, and Somalia. Credit: Abdurrahman Warsameh/IPS

By Samira Sadeque
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 7 2020 (IPS)

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is appealing for $683million in their mission to address sexual and reproductive health services for women and girls in conflict areas in the world. 

At the Humanitarian Action Overview 2020, launched on Thursday, the sexual and reproductive health agency highlighted the urgency with which the issue should be treated. 

With more than 168 million people currently requiring humanitarian assistance in the world, UNFPA projects 45 million women, girls and young people will be affected by some kind of conflict this year. 

For women and girls, sexual and health reproductive health rights have often come as secondary priority in crisis situations, but experts say it’s time to make them a primary concern. 

“[These] types of service have long time been forgotten,” Arthur Erken, Director of UNFPA Division of Communications and Strategic Partnerships (DCS), told IPS. “It should not be an afterthought, it should be part and parcel of [the whole concern].”  

“We’re focusing on women and what they’re going through because they’re on the front lines,”  Ann Erb Leoncavallo of UNFPA told IPS. “They’re trying to take care of their children, they’re getting pregnant, they’re having babies, they’re getting bombed, they’re suffering from floods, high waters, you name it.”

Leoncavallo added that many of the women in areas of conflict might head single-parent households or have their own trauma. “They get depression, they get traumatised because they faced increased of gender-based violence,” she said.  

The $683 million will be used for efforts towards women’s reproductive and sexual health rights across 57 countries, of which about $300 million will be directed towards  UNFPA’s projects in Arab state regions, including countries such as Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Sudan, and Somalia. 

In order to help women reach out for help, unlearn their shame and stigma, UNFPA is currently working with a “safe space” for many women to take a break from their everyday activities. 

The “women and girl safe spaces” is dedicated space in the refugee camps where women can come and meet with other women, share notes, relax, and have a safe environment to discuss concerns and ask for help, Erken explained.

“It’s safe, men are not allowed,” Erken said, adding that the purpose of the space is to put a lot of attention to calming women, giving them breathing space, and often counselling services.

He says there doesn’t seem to be any stigma about women coming into these spaces, pointing out refugee camps in Jordan that have the facility. He learned from some of the service providers the women do visit, when their kids are in school and their husband occupied. 

Dr. Afrah Thabet Al-Ademi, a UNFPA medical doctor in Yemen who works with women who have escaped conflict, says education has a role to play in destigmatising these services for refugee population.

A staggering $100.5 million is being requested specifically for the crisis in Yemen, the highest on the list provided by UNFPA.

“A lot of women who are not educated, who feel targeted, and feel stigma to talk about their needs or family planning,” Al-Ademi told IPS. 

She recalls one time when she was meeting with a woman who had just given birth and who had covered her baby with a headscarf. 

“When she exposed the baby, I found that she covered the baby with a newsletter, she didn’t have clothes,” Al-Ademi told IPS. 

As a result, UNFPA in Yemen is now developing a kit specifically for mothers of new borns, to be put in “health facility for any woman who comes in for deliver”.

“The clothes is like a dignity for her,” said Al-Ademi.

The “Mama Kit” has clothes for the baby, pads for the mother, blankets, and diapers, among other things for the newborn. 

UNFPA is also allocating funds for Democratic Republic of Congo, Syria, Sudan, Bangladesh, and Venezuela to assist with sexual and reproductive health for the women in those countries.

Related Articles

• India and Japan’s MPs Act Quickly to Implement Sexual and Reproductive Health Plans after ICPD25
• When is Universal Health Coverage Good for Attaining Universal Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights?

The post UNFPA Highlights Need to Address Sexual and Reproductive Health of Women in Crisis Areas appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Many specialist doctors and nurses in Africa are migrating to greener pastures, leaving cancer patients with few options. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo/IPS

By External Source
LONDON, Feb 7 2020 (IPS)

Low- and middle-income countries could see an 80 per cent rise in cancer over the next 20 years if treatment and prevention services are not stepped up, according to the latest World Cancer Report.

The report, compiled by the World Health Organization (WHO), warns that cancer prevention is taking a back seat in poor countries, as their health systems tackle such immediate problems as infectious diseases, child health and nutrition.

The report found that less than 15 per cent of low-income countries offer comprehensive cancer treatment—including diagnostics, treatment and prevention—compared to 90 per cent of rich countries.

Modelling employed in the report showed that, by 2040, the global burden of cancer is set to double to around 29-37 million new cases a year. Cancer is responsible for a third of premature deaths, as well as a cause of financial hardship and prolonged disability in poor countries, the report said.

Types of cancer affect people in poor and rich countries differently. The report found that Kaposi Sarcoma, a skin cancer that causes lesions and is related to HIV, poses the greatest risk for those in the poorest countries, followed by cervical cancer.

“At least 7 million lives could be saved over the next decade, by identifying the most appropriate science for each country situation [and] by basing strong cancer responses on universal health coverage.”

Tobacco use remains responsible for 25 per cent of all cancer deaths, the report said, but while smoking is becoming less popular in wealthy countries, it is increasingly common in the lowest-income ones—raising their cancer burden.

The report’s authors said that such differences must be considered when developing responses to cancer.

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “At least 7 million lives could be saved over the next decade, by identifying the most appropriate science for each country situation [and] by basing strong cancer responses on universal health coverage.”

The report zoomed in on cervical cancer, for which infection with Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) is one of the preconditions. A vaccine against the virus exists but is hard to come by in poorer nations. The report showed that 34 per cent of young women in high-income countries received vaccination against HPV, but only 3 per cent of young women low-income countries had been vaccinated.

The data marries with the findings of a report published on 30 January in medical journal The Lancet. The report, based on two scientific studies, found that 91 per cent of global cervical cancer deaths in 2018 occurred outside high-income countries.

Bernard Stewart, a professor of medicine at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia said that, along with low healthcare budgets, doctors in developing countries have to deal with stigma and cultural beliefs, which make a one-size-fits-all approach to tackling cervical cancer difficult.

Recognition of possible stigmatisation is essential when implementing screening programmes aimed at girls and young women, Stewart said, adding: “Action depends critically on the values and perspectives of particular communities, rather than being amenable to generalisations.”

The cost of healthcare interventions around cancer also plays a role in preventing a wider roll-out of screening and treatment in developing countries, the report warned. A model developed by the WHO showed that providing cancer services to 90 per cent of the global population would cost around US$140 billion over the next decade—and save around 7.3 million lives.

Most of this money would go towards training doctors in cancer detection and prevention, the report said, as a lack of knowledge of the disease is one of the main causes of late diagnoses and treatment.

“If people have access to primary care and referral systems then cancer can be detected early, treated effectively and cured,” said Ren Minghui, the WHO’s assistant director-general for universal health coverage.

But Stewart says this may be difficult to achieve, as health systems in the lowest-income countries face a multitude of problems, including inadequate transport, infrastructure and staff. “Actions in remote locations, for example, are almost always more expensive than reaching comparable populations in cities,” he said. “Cost is always a consideration, especially in the context of priorities, other health-related policies or other budgetary constraints.”

 

This story was originally published by SciDev.Net

The post UN Health Agency Predicts 80 Percent Rise in Cancer Burden Among Poorest Countries appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Seven "packages" of 10 elephants each are on offer after a ban on hunting was lifted last year.

Raja Casablanca's Ben Malango is not worried about facing his former club TP Mazembe despite controversy over his transfer.

Africa is one of only two continents with no confirmed cases of coronavirus.

A selection of the best photos from across the continent this week.

The Education Relief Foundation (ERF), jointly with the Republic of Djibouti, convened the Third Forum on Balanced and Inclusive Education (III ForumBIE) 2030. The Forum held in on 27-29 January 2020 aimed to develop strategies for achieving United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4), on inclusive and equitable quality education.

By Maged Srour
ROME, Feb 6 2020 (IPS)

The Education Relief Foundation (ERF), jointly with the Republic of Djibouti, convened the III ForumBIE 2030 on Balanced and Inclusive Education On January 27-29 2020. This third ForumBIE 2030, with the overall aim to develop strategies for achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) on inclusive and equitable quality education, concluded with the signing of the Universal Declaration on Balanced and Inclusive Education, which established a new international organization : ‘Organization for Educational Cooperation’.

Below, we bring you images from the III ForumBIE2030 that took place in Djibouti City, capital of the small Horn of Africa country. An IPS team of three journalists and analysts, Joyce Chimbi, Stella Paul and Maged Srour attended and reported on the Summit.

The Education Relief Foundation (ERF), jointly with the Republic of Djibouti, convened the Third Forum on Balanced and Inclusive Education (III ForumBIE) 2030. The Forum held in on 27-29 January 2020 aimed to develop strategies for achieving United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4), on inclusive and equitable quality education.

The Summit took place in Djibouti City, capital of the small Horn of Africa country of Djibouti.

The Summit took place in Djibouti City, capital of the small Horn of Africa country of Djibouti.

Delegates and representatives from 38 governments, civil society organisations and academia gathered to discuss common objectives of achieving ‘balanced and inclusive education’ through concrete steps. These steps are described in the Universal Declaration of Balanced and Inclusive Education (UDBIE), the important document that was presented and signed at the Summit.

The focus of the Summit was not only the signing of the UDBIE, it was also an opportunity for stakeholders to highlight the most pressing challenges faced by countries in achieving inclusive education. Among the issues that were raised: how much progress has been made so far; which groups face more difficult access to education (i.e. women, indigenous populations, minorities, disabled people), where are people struggling the most to have access to education and what can be done to take concrete action.

The focus of the Summit was not only the signing of the UDBIE, it was also an opportunity for stakeholders to highlight the most pressing challenges faced by countries in achieving inclusive education. Among the issues that were raised: how much progress has been made so far; which groups face more difficult access to education (i.e. women, indigenous populations, minorities, disabled people), where are people struggling the most to have access to education and what can be done to take concrete action.

Women and girls are the ones who have more difficulty in accessing education. About one third of countries in the developing world have not achieved gender parity in primary education. Moreover, data by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), shows that only 35 percent of students studying STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) in higher education globally are women.
At the Summit, many delegates emphasized the need to include more concrete action to empower women to access education.

Women and girls are the ones who have more difficulty in accessing education. About one third of countries in the developing world have not achieved gender parity in primary education. Moreover, data by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), shows that only 35 percent of students studying STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) in higher education globally are women.
At the Summit, many delegates emphasized the need to include more concrete action to empower women to access education.

During the informal session of the three-day event, delegates from 38 countries discussed the upcoming creation of the Organization for Educational Cooperation. They also fully explored the dynamics of the challenges to achieve inclusive education, examining trends and facts in different regions – Africa, Asia, Latin America, Middle East and North Africa – while also proposing concrete actions to “tailor education to local contexts”, “prepare students to address world challenges”, “transforming the dynamics of the classrooms” and “responsibility of the academia” in these processes.

During the informal session of the three-day event, delegates from 38 countries discussed the upcoming creation of the Organization for Educational Cooperation. They also fully explored the dynamics of the challenges to achieve inclusive education, examining trends and facts in different regions – Africa, Asia, Latin America, Middle East and North Africa – while also proposing concrete actions to “tailor education to local contexts”, “prepare students to address world challenges”, “transforming the dynamics of the classrooms” and “responsibility of the academia” in these processes.

At the Closing Ceremony of the Third Forum BIE 2030, 38 governments, civil society organisations and academic entities became the first to sign the Universal Declaration of Balanced and Inclusive Education (UDBIE). Furthermore, 30 signatories, including governments and civil society organisations, agreed to establish the Organization of Educational Cooperation (OEC), a new international organization from the Global South with the aim to create platforms and mechanisms of solidarity-based technical and financial cooperation and support for educational reforms.

Sheikh Manssour Bin Musallam, President of The Education Relief Foundation, (second from left) who sponsored the Summit, was elected as the first Secretary General of the OEC. In this photo, on his right, is Ismail Omar Guelleh, President of the Republic of Djibouti.

Kadra Mahamoud Haid, first lady of Djibouti, (second from right) was present at the opening ceremony of the Summit.

The Summit was a moment of international and national interest, covered by many local and international news organizations, including IPS Inter Press Service News Agency. Stella Paul (India), Maged Srour (Italy) and Joyce Chimbi (Kenya) formed the oart of the IPS reporting team.

The Summit was a moment of international and national interest, covered by many local and international news organizations, including IPS Inter Press Service News Agency. Stella Paul (India), Maged Srour (Italy) and Joyce Chimbi (Kenya) formed the oart of the IPS reporting team.

The event was followed extensively on social media, with thousands of tweets and posts on the main social networks.

The event was followed extensively on social media, with thousands of tweets and posts on the main social networks.

The event was followed extensively on social media, with thousands of tweets and posts on the main social networks.

The event was followed extensively on social media, with thousands of tweets and posts on the main social networks.

Djibouti is a country where the security situation remains fragile and conflict in the border area with Eritrea is a continuing concern. The country has been facing threats from terrorism, civil unrest, crime and piracy. For this reason, the Summit was held in tight security. The Summit was an opportunity for the country to show its capacity to host international meetings without incident especially after the 2014 incident when the Somalia-based terrorist group Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at a restaurant in the capital city.

The post Organization of Educational Cooperation Established to Meet SDG4 appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Female genital mutilation (FGM) traditional surgeon in Kapchorwa, Uganda speaking to a reporter. The women in this area are being trained by the civil society organisation REACH in how to educate people to stop the practice. Credit: Joshua Kyalimpa/IPS

By External Source
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 6 2020 (IPS)

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) poses serious risks to the health and well-being of women and girls, but it also exacts a crippling economic toll, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). 

New modelling by the UN agency to coincide with the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, marked on Thursday, reveals that the cost of treating the total health impacts of FGM would amount to $1.4 billion globally per year.

The figure sees individual countries devoting nearly 10 per cent of their yearly expenditure to treat FGM; for some countries, it could be as high as 30 per cent.

“FGM is not only a catastrophic abuse of human rights that significantly harms the physical and mental health of millions of girls and women; it is also a drain on a country’s vital economic resources”, said Dr Ian Askew, Director of WHO’s Department of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research.

“More investment is urgently needed to stop FGM and end the suffering it inflicts.”

 

FGM a ‘manifestation of gender inequality’: UN chief

Female genital mutilation is a blatant manifestation of gender inequality, said UN chief António Guterres, in his message to mark the International Day, noting that it was “deeply entrenched in social, economic and political structures. It is also a human rights violation and an extreme form of violence against girls.”

He applaued the focus on the Day on the power of young people to make their voices heard: “We must amplify those voices and help them to advocate for change and for their rights. Together, we can eliminate female genital mutilation by 2030. Doing so will have a positive ripple effect on the health, education and economic advancement of girls and women.”

 

More than 200 million affected

It is estimated that more than 200 million women and girls today have undergone FGM, which involves altering or injuring female genital organs for cultural or non-medical reasons.

The procedure is mostly carried out on young girls between infancy and 15-years-old, and the impacts on their health and well-being can be immediate—from infections, bleeding, or psychological trauma—to chronic health conditions that can occur throughout life.

Women subjected to FGM are also more likely to suffer life-threatening complications during childbirth, and to experience pain or problems when they menstruate, urinate or have sex.

 

Medicalized FGM on the rise

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) further reports that around a quarter of FGM survivors, or roughly 52 million women and girls, were cut by health care providers. The death of a 12-year-old girl in Egypt last month highlighted the dangers of medicalized FGM.

Although the Egyptian authorities banned FGM in 2008, it is still common there and in Sudan, according to UNICEF.

Agency analysis indicates that medicalized FGM is increasing due to the misguided belief that the dangers of FGM are medical, rather than a fundamental violation of a girl’s rights.

“Doctor-sanctioned mutilation is still mutilation. Trained health-care professionals who perform FGM violate girls’ fundamental rights, physical integrity and health,” said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore.

“Medicalizing the practice does not make it safe, moral, or defensible.”

 

Abandoning FGM is possible

The trend toward medicalized FGM comes as opposition to the practice continues to grow.

Since 1997, global efforts have led to 26 countries in Africa and the Middle East enacting legislation against FGM, while 33 other countries with migrant populations from nations where it is practiced have also followed suit.

UNICEF also found that the proportion of girls and women in high-prevalence countries who want FGM stopped has doubled over the past two decades.

“We are making progress. Attitudes are changing. Behaviors are changing. And overall fewer girls are getting cut,” said Ms. Fore, the agency’s chief.

Dr. Christina Pallitto, a scientist at WHO, added that many countries and communities are showing that abandoning FGM is possible.

“If countries invest to end female genital mutilation, they can prevent their girls from undergoing this harmful practice and promote the health, rights and well-being of women and girls,” she stated.

This story was originally published by UN News

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Former Olympic relay gold medallist Roland Schoeman is given a one-year ban, backdated to May 2019, after testing positive for banned substance GW501516.

South Africa's ex-president causes a row after posting a photo of himself taking aim with a rifle.

Vegetable vendors in Zimbabwe. While the country is experiencing massive food shortages, many vendors say they are forced to throw rotting vegetables away as people don’t have the money to purchase their goods any longer. Credit: Michelle Chifamba/IPS

By Ignatius Banda
BULAWAYO, Feb 6 2020 (IPS)

Piles and piles of rotting vegetables at food markets situated right in Zimbabwe’s central business district would elsewhere be viewed as a sign of plenty.

But this Southern African nation has not been spared the irony of food wastage at a time of food shortages.

In Bulawayo’s sprawling vegetable market in the CBD, which provides a livelihood for hundreds of vendors, rotting vegetables have become the norm.

With the country facing an ever-growing food crisis that has seen international appeals for humanitarian assistance, the lack of activity at vegetable markets in the country’s major cities highlights the challenges developing countries face with balancing food production and consumption.

“We cannot give away the vegetables just because we fear they will rot,” said Mihla Hadebe, who sells anything from tomatoes to cabbages to mangoes and cucumbers.

“Even if we lower prices, people just do not have money that is why you see a lot of vegetables rotting like this,” Hadebe told IPS from his vegetable stall.

And this is happening at a time vendors say there is a shortage of vegetables that range from staples such as African kale, cabbages and tomatoes, and whose shortages have pushed up prices.

While a bunch of kale sold for ZWD.2  (about 1 US cent) in December, the price has now shot up to ZWD5 (about 3 US cents), Hadebe said “because there is nothing [available] where we buy these veggies. The farmers say there is no water”.

According to the Southern Africa Media in Agriculture Climate and Environment Trust (SAMACET) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation it is difficult to quantify the losses but they acknowledge the wastage in Zimbabwe is quite huge.

Zimbabwe is one of many countries included in the Food Sustainability Index, created by the Barilla Centre for Food and Nutrition and the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), and the country has become the focus of concerns about under-nutrition amid a crippling drought blamed on climate uncertainty.

Vegetables are thrown away despite reminders by nutritionists of their value in daily consumption habits.

The 2018 Barilla report titled Fixing Food, noted that Zimbabwe was one of 11 African countries still lagging behind in “implementing health eating guidelines at national level.”

“Given the fact that about a third of the food the world produces is lost or thrown away, sustainable agriculture can only go so far. Tackling consumer food waste and post-harvest waste (the loss of fresh produce and crops before they reach consumer markets) will involve everything from changing consumption patterns to investing in infrastructure and deploying new digital technologies. None of this is easy,” the report noted. 

“But while enough food is already being produced to feed the world’s population, ending hunger and meeting rising demand for food will not be possible without addressing this high level of food loss and waste,” the report says.

It comes at a time when Zimbabwe seeks to address the growing problem of under-nutrition. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has already raised alarm about high levels of poor nutrition in the country, noting that the problem is especially worse among children and women.

“In Zimbabwe, nearly 1 in 3 children under five are suffering from malnutrition, while 93 per cent of children between 6 months and 2 years of age are not consuming the minimum acceptable diet,” James Maiden, UNICEF Zimbabwe spokesperson told IPS.

“Across the country about 34,000 children are critically suffering from acute malnutrition,” Maiden said.

While in urban and rural areas, families have long produced their food in community gardens, the projects have suffered because of extreme weather despite being fed by boreholes.

“What is happening is terrible. We have borehole but as you can see our vegetables are suffering under this heat,” said Judith Siziba, one of many women who plants vegetables for domestic consumption in the city of Bulawayo.

“There is nothing we can do but watch. We thought even if there are no rains, the boreholes would offer us relief but no,” she told IPS.

This is at a time concerns have been raised that climate change has also affected groundwater levels when boreholes are expected to offer relief to the agriculture sector to ensure food security.

Zimbabwe is one of many countries that have seen record high temperatures, throwing agriculture activity into uncertainty as food insecurity worsens.

This has worsened everyday diets amid poor salaries despite full supermarkets in a country that falls under sub-Saharan African region where the Food Sustainability Index says is home to the world’s hungriest populations.

The World Food Programme (WFP) says the number of people requiring food assistance continues to rise in Zimbabwe, stating that half the population — nearly 8 million people — is now facing food insecurity. It has also raised concerns about under-nourishment for both children and adults.

“WFP is working towards doubling the number of people it assists in Zimbabwe. We aim to support 4.1 million people who are facing hunger,” said Isheeta Sumra, the WPF-Zimbabwe spokesperson.

“As things currently stand, we urgently need $200 million to see us through till mid-2020. The situation is dire, and we can foresee our needs growing over 2020,” Sumra told IPS.

Nathan Hayes, an analyst with the EIU, believes the country has been slow in responding to the food and nutrition crisis.

“Making matters worse, poor rains have exacerbated the food crisis. This ongoing economic crisis means that social safety nets have been cut, leaving many families vulnerable and unable to afford sufficient food each day,” Hayes told IPS. 

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Excerpt:

Nearly half of Zimbabwe's population -- some 8 million people -- face food insecurity. Yet in food and vegetable markets across the country wastage is high as piles of once-nutritious vegetables rot.

The post Vegetables Rot in Food Markets across Zimbabwe While Half the Population Faces Food Insecurity appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Location: Mt Hampden, 30km outside Harare The water-shortage crisis has worsened recently due to the drought. Children are missing school twice a week. Women are being abused at water sources. Children and women are walking up to 2 kilometres to access water. Credit: Lovejoy Mtongwiza (Twitter: @LJaymut10), award-winning Zimbabwe-based photojournalist.

By Craig Dube
HARARE, Zimbabwe, Feb 6 2020 (IPS)

In November 2019, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food described Zimbabwe – a country once hailed as the bread basket of Africa – as a state on the brink of man-made starvation.

Some 5.5 million inhabitants are food insecure, with over 2 million also lacking access to essential services such as healthcare and clean water. These numbers are expected to rise to over 8 million and 3.5 million respectively in 2020, affecting some 60% of the population.

At the end of January, a Humanity First team led by Tahir Ahmad, its head of humanitarian operations, travelled to Zimbabwe to lay plans for humanitarian response efforts and set up a Zimbabwean office.

Humanity First is an international aid agency, registered in 43 countries across six continents, which has been working on human development projects and responding to disasters since 1994.

Excerpts from the interview:

Craig Dube:
What brings you to Zimbabwe, and what have you found?

Tahir Ahmad:
When we initially came here in 2018, in the wake of Cyclone Idai, we saw that Chimanimani [in southeastern Zimbabwe] was an area that seemed isolated, but was not alone in terms of need. In the problems people there were experiencing because of the cyclone – hunger, thirst, the lack of decent shelter and healthcare provision – they weren’t alone. These conditions were widespread wherever we went, even in Harare.

Tahir Ahmad

We’re back in Zimbabwe now to get things moving faster: get all the infrastructure in place, get everyone trained up very quickly, do needs assessments and help local Humanity First staff understand how to translate their needs assessment into project proposals that we can look at, get funds and mobilise quickly to do the work.

CD: What will Humanity First prioritise?

TA: We just came back from Mashonaland West province, and I remember driving away from every area thinking, “This challenge is too big for us”. The people there need… everything. But there are some core needs, like food and running water.

I’m a bit breathless at the moment: I saw so many people and their needs are so diverse. We were in urban areas where there were number of functioning boreholes, their hand pumps were working fairly well, and the water was flowing nicely. But this was put into perspective when an old woman told us: “The distance is fine – when I was well and when we were eating food. Now we don’t really have the strength to walk that distance.”

The price of maize, for example, is just ridiculous in the context of people’s income. In some areas the average wage is about three hundred [Zimbabwean] bond dollars per month (about USD$15), but a 10kg bag of maize is 100 bond dollars.

People are so hungry, and the heat is searing. They need sustainable food supplies, and purified water, too. Many are resorting to getting water from lakes, and there’s a risk of cholera, typhoid, or — at best — diarrhea.

Many women want to sew to bring some value into their local economy. But if they’ve got a sewing machine, it’s either broken or they have no way of powering it any more.

We saw many instances of grandmothers who no longer have children, for various reasons – including deaths, illness or abandonment – and are living in dire poverty, with a yard full of grandchildren

We saw people who were unable to work because of cataracts; one grandmother we met was pretty close to blindness because of them. Before that, she had been able to sustain her family; she had some technical expertise in carpentry, and she had sold food as well. If we restore her sight, it’ll make a big impact not only for her, but for the nine grandchildren she’s looking after.

There are plenty of elderly people who are completely immobilised, and disabled kids who need special care and attention; wheelchairs, or at least crutches. It’s more a case of what don’t they need, really, than what they need. If I told you what they need, I’d be here all day.

CD: How do you make change happen as an organisation? What capacity do you have to say, “These are the things we can do to bring change”?

TA: As an organisation, our expertise is about mobilising logistics, it’s not just about supplying immediate needs. One thing we’re looking to do is a root cause analysis, which is essentially:

You’re hungry. Why are you hungry?
Because I have no food.
Why have you got no food?
Because I have no money.
Why have you got no money?
Because farming isn’t going on very well.
Why is it not going very well?

Because of poor irrigation systems.
This root cause analysis is a process of asking, why, why, why?

There are a number of places where, if we could just get a few boreholes installed, we could give farmers access to water, perhaps fund a few irrigation systems. Not install them ourselves, but fund people to do it, which will give them the ability to self-sustain. In the meantime, though, there are areas that need food now.

I simply don’t see enough of a marketplace where we can say, here’s some cash, some vouchers or some EcoCash [mobile money]; go buy your own food. The marketplace is not functioning well, and the supply is not flowing well enough to serve the number of people we want to serve. Once we get that immediate stuff done, then we’ll be looking at, how we turn immediate assistance into development. We are looking at sustainable livelihoods.

CD: As a Zimbabwean, I find it hard to imagine the scale of the challenges some regions of my country are facing.

TA: Absolutely. You can go to a shopping mall in Harare and buy coffee and a few cakes, and that’s the equivalent of five people’s monthly wage in some rural areas.

I would really encourage people from Harare and other major cities to go out to rural areas. Go and see for yourselves, and come back and advocate. Advocate, advocate, advocate.

CD: What people and organisations will Humanity First be engaging with in Zimbabwe?

TA: Operational partnerships happen out there in the field. You bump into people, you go to coordination meetings, and you try not to duplicate efforts. The key thing is getting an understanding of the operational environment.

We spent a big chunk of this trip talking to multiple NGOs and the Zimbabwean government. NGOs and other actors tend to work in isolation, but this time I think everyone’s seen that the challenges are big. You cannot not work together.

CD: In 2020, why do we still need humanitarian aid organisations?

TA: A few years ago, the future of aid was cash transfers. But everything is dependent on the marketplace and the environment, because every disaster or crisis is different. The solution has to be government-led, and in Zimbabwe, it is to a degree. It is about investing resources in manpower and human capital development, planning and programming toward that end goal of human development.

When we talk about aid, we talk about humanitarian actors coming in… and in many cases not being very effective. It’s because traditionally they have just been treating symptoms, where, if people are hungry, they don’t ask why, they just give food and walk away.

So, the challenge for us, and for many organisations, is thinking about what the end status we want to see is, and who we need to work with to make it happen, although that’s a very simplistic way of putting it.

We have a long-term desire for involvement here, not from a humanitarian perspective, but a development perspective. The plan is to design the development programme first and then look at the humanitarian programme as the enabler, almost the precursor. In contexts like Zimbabwe, it is the development part that is the most challenging.

CD: How do you ensure that the people and areas you serve do not become aid dependent?

TA: That’s pretty simple: sustainable livelihoods. If you have a sustainable livelihood focus from the outset, then generally people won’t be looking for handouts. And in fact, here in Zimbabwe, no one’s looking to us for sympathy. No one’s begging.

When you look at the root-cause level, Zimbabweans are looking for ways to support themselves. Communities genuinely understand that food supplies aren’t always sustainable. You can do a six-month [food aid] programme, but there’s little point if people will be starving in the seventh month.

If instead you have a sustainable livelihood focus, and invest the time in your assessments, speak to as many people as possible, understand local economies, and understand the systems and see how one factor within a local economy can have massive repercussions in the wider economy within a good systems thinking frame, then you can have massive impact in terms of sustainability.

CD: What are the key challenges for Humanity First’s work in Zimbabwe?

TA: It’s not going to be the government or their structures – counter to what I thought would be the case. I mean, the government is doing the best they can. I’ve had a few meetings with ministers and they are leveraging all the help they can get. I know there are a lot of detractors of the Zimbabwean government, but every meeting I’ve had has been very welcoming. They have only been enablers.

The big challenge is going to be inflation. It’s going to be people’s ever-greater needs, if we’re not fast enough. We are racing against the clock – and that’s the whole humanitarian community, not just us.

We need to act fast enough to fight issues like cholera, typhoid and malnutrition. We need to get here and start working straightaway in a coordinated manner.

CD: What makes you hopeful?

TA: We did a community gathering with 500 people in Mashonaland West. We had only asked for 100, but many more people came; and some had travelled 7 km or more. And what gave me hope, in dialogue with them on both an individual level and a focus group level, was their resilience.

I found myself thinking, what if this had happened to me? I have no idea what I would do. I imagined having no income at all and no one to rely on, no vertical resilience coming from the state, and not being able rely on my friends or family or the wider community. I wouldn’t know how to survive.

But the people we met were doing it. Imagine: you have no food, no electricity, no water, no transportation, no IT capacities, no ways to communicate and you’ve got a limited skillset. What do you do? But they make it happen: Zimbabweans’ resilience makes me hopeful. They are tough as nails, but time is our challenge.

*Craig Dube is a Zimbabwean native and health equity professional working in the fields of socio-political determinants of unequal health outcome and poverty alleviation. He is a 2018-19 Atlantic Fellow for Social and Economic Equity. Craig completed an MSc in Inequalities and Social Science at the London School of Economics in 2019, followed by a traineeship at Oxfam UK.

The post A Humanitarian Response for the Crisis in Zimbabwe appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Craig Dube*, Atlantic Fellow for Social and Economic Equity, interviews Tahir Ahmad, head of humanitarian operations at Humanity First

The post A Humanitarian Response for the Crisis in Zimbabwe appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Central American migrants walk along the highway near the border with Guatemala, as they continue their journey trying to reach the US. PHOTO: THOMSON REUTERS

By Abdullah Shibli
Feb 6 2020 (IPS-Partners)

Jeanine Cummins, the author of the latest American best-seller novel “American Dirt”, is taking a lot of flak for her story based on the experience of a Mexican woman named Lydia and her eight-year-old son who flee their home and cross over to the USA. Several critics have pointed out that Cummins exploited the harrowing experience of an illegal migrant but at the same time used “harmful stereotypes”. Some have even hinted that the novel glamorises the life of migrants and their struggles.

The criticism of insensitivity towards the plight of migrants who have been trying to enter the USA has been a major public issue in the recent past since the Trump administration launched a major operation to stem the flow of Latin Americans entering the USA illegally. While those who are waiting at the southern border to come to the USA do not face the extreme hardships that humans on the move at other locations face every day, the story of a migrant anywhere is a heart-breaking one. Whether we are talking about the migrants from war-ravaged Middle East, the hunger-driven droves in Yemen and East Africa, the Venezuelans temporarily living in Cordoba or, closer to home, the Rohingyas chased out of their own country, migrants are the modern equivalent of the Jews in exodus fleeing torment in ancient Egypt.

Regardless of the criticism of American Dirt, the central character in the novel has a lot in common with the typical Latin American migrant at the US-Mexico border seeking to get in. They are escaping danger or deprivation at their homeland, but also face incredible dangers along the way. In December 2018, the Associated Press found in an exclusive tally that almost 4,000 migrants had died or gone missing in the previous four years after embarking on their journey through Mexico. That’s 1,573 more than the previously known number calculated by the United Nations. “And even the AP’s number is likely low—bodies may be lost in the desert, and families may not report missing loved ones who were migrating illegally.” These Latin American migrants are among about 56,800 worldwide who died or disappeared over the same period, the AP found.

We all know that migrants anywhere face considerable risks. Unfortunately, migrants from Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, and El Salvador also have to cope with the danger of drug trafficking and gang violence in Mexico. More than 37,000 people have gone missing throughout Mexico because of this violence, with the highest number in the border state of Tamaulipas, through which many migrants cross. “The sheer numbers of the disappeared, along with crushing bureaucracy and the fear of gangs, makes it difficult for families to track what happened to their loved ones,” said the Associated Press report.

The southern flank of the USA has witnessed several humanitarian crises in recent years, regardless of the best attempts of the NGOs, the press, and civil society to head off major disasters like in the Middle East. Most of the migrants who flock to the US border originate from the Central American republic of Honduras where decades of misrule, corruption, and marauding gangs have created a living hell for 10 million Hondurans. They cross over to Guatemala and El Salvador before they can enter Mexico. The Hondurans, who often travel in a caravan for safety and camaraderie, are joined by other Latin Americans mostly from neighbouring countries. It is common knowledge in the USA that an average citizen of these countries is a victim of violence, pillage, government atrocities, repression, and economic deprivation. It would not be an exaggeration to suggest that the “northern journey” is perilous for these people, who are only trying to save their own lives.

“People move to survive. They move in search of food. They move away from danger and death. They move towards opportunities for life. Migration is tied to the human spirit which seeks adventure, pursues dreams, and finds reasons to hope even in the most adverse circumstances. Such movement affects the communities [that] migrants leave and the communities that receive these migrants. This movement also impacts communities along the route of transit,” states a report titled “Ethical Dimensions of Migration, Diversity and Health” published the Faculty of Public Health in UK.

US government agencies, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Border Patrol have cracked down hard on the movement of migrants at its southern border. Between October 2018 and May 2019, it was reported that 444,309 Central Americans were caught at the border, which is double the 223,564 apprehended in all 12 months of the fiscal year 2018. Over 80 percent of those apprehended are families with children or minors travelling alone.

Take the case of a mother of two minor children who faced insurmountable obstacles on a border crossing known as the Gateway to the Americas International Bridge last November. Laura walked, rode, and travelled by other means from Nicaragua, stood on the pavement of the bridge over Rio Grande between Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, and Laredo, Texas, all without nearly any protection from the elements and freezing temperature. For three days, she and her children have been waiting in a no-man’s land between these two countries.

“They said that they were going to let us through but that it’s full inside,” Laura said as a CBP agent standing on the Gateway Bridge a few feet away from her was checking documents. A dozen adults and small children were bundled up, single-file, in front of her. It was gusty, and they had tied their blankets to the side of the bridge as a makeshift curtain. A Salvadoran woman in line next to Laura glanced at the city behind her, among Mexico’s most dangerous, and said, “No, no, we cannot go back.”

Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) is in a very difficult situation thanks to his neighbour in the north, President Donald Trump. In the past, refugees, asylum seekers or desperate Latin Americans hoping to reach the USA have been able to use the US-Mexico border as the gateway. Now, after the USA threatened the Mexican government with dire consequences should the latter fail to stop the desperados from crossing over to the USA, President Obrador has been obliged to resort to some extraordinary measures to stem the flow to the north. The current US administration has threatened not only to cut any foreign assistance to Mexico, but also to hurt the Mexican economy in other ways if the refugees are not forcibly turned back and blocked from travelling through Mexico to reach the US border. Advocates for migrants say that the Trump administration has all but slammed the door on migrants fleeing violence and persecution, exposing children and other vulnerable populations to grave risks.

In a press briefing on October 2019, Mark Morgan, the acting CBP commissioner, declared, “If you come to our borders with a child, it’s no longer an immediate passport into the interior of the United States.”

Dr Abdullah Shibli is an economist and works in information technology. He is Senior Research Fellow at the International Sustainable Development Institute (ISDI), a think-tank in Boston, USA.

This story was originally published by The Daily Star, Bangladesh

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Credit: Amnesty International

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 6 2020 (IPS)

The world’s young activists, numbering over 3.8 billion, are on the war path.

The rising new socialist movements—which included “Black Lives Matter,” “Occupy Wall Street” “Un-Occupy Palestine” and “the #Me Too Movement” triggering women’s marches— were aimed at battling racism, institutionalized inequalities, political repression and sexual harassment.

In its recent cover story, Time magazine dubbed it “Youthquake” – a new phenomenon shaking up the old order, as young activists lead the fight against right-wing authoritarianism, government corruption and rising new hazards of climate change.

Joanne Mariner, Senior Crisis Response Adviser at Amnesty International (AI), told IPS “it is stunning to see how aggressive government efforts to quash protests, including by killing protesters, have not even succeeded in stopping them in the short run”.

In the long run, far too much is at stake, she said, where the coming years are likely to see more protests rather than fewer.

And it is more so in Asia, says AI, in a recently-released report which reviews human rights in 25 Asian and Pacific states and territories during 2019.

“2019 was a year of repression in Asia, but also of resistance”.

“As governments across the continent attempt to uproot fundamental freedoms, people are fighting back – and young people are at the forefront of the struggle,” says Nicholas Bequelin, AI’s Regional Director for East and South-East Asia and the Pacific.

“From students in Hong Kong leading a mass movement against growing Chinese encroachment, to students in India protesting against anti-Muslim policies; from Thailand’s young voters flocking to a new opposition party to Taiwan’s pro LGBTI-equality demonstrators. Online and offline, youth-led popular protests are challenging the established order,” he added.

Also, the rise of a new generation determined to lead the fight against climate emergency has led to a major youth movement worldwide, resulting in protest marches, with thousands of young people demonstrating in the streets of New York and in several world capitals.

According to Time magazine, the world’s under-30 population has been rising since 2012, and today accounts for more than half of the world’s 7.5 billion people.

Credit: Amnesty International

Asked for the primary reasons for this surge in young activism, Mariner said this new era of youth activism reflects young people’s understanding that it’s their future at stake.

“If they don’t demand more from governments, including a voice in the decisions that affect their lives, their future is uncertain. It is the young who will inherit this fast-warming planet, and they see all too clearly the consequences of their elders’ inaction and irresponsibility,” she argued.

Meanwhile, the Youth Assembly, described as one of the longest-running and largest global youth summits, is scheduled to take place in New York city February 14-16.

The theme of next week’s 25th session will be: “It’s Time: Youth for Global Impact” aimed at underlining the importance of engaging young people, “especially at a time when the youth are influencing and leading movements that can change the world.”

Meanwhile, the Amnesty International report says China and India, Asia’s two largest powers, set the tone for repression across the region with their overt rejection of human rights.

Beijing’s backing of an Extradition Bill for Hong Kong, giving the local government the power to extradite suspects to the mainland, ignited mass protests in the territory on an unprecedented scale.

Since June, Hong Kongers have regularly taken to the streets to demand accountability in the face of abusive policing tactics that have included the wanton use of tear gas, arbitrary arrests, physical assaults and abuses in detention. This struggle against the established order has been repeated all over the continent, said AI.

In India, the AI report noted, millions decried a new law that discriminates against Muslims in a swell of peaceful demonstrations. In Indonesia, people rallied against parliament’s enactment of several laws that threatened public freedoms.

In Afghanistan, marchers risked their safety to demand an end to the country’s long-running conflict. In Pakistan, the non-violent Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement defied state repression to mobilize against enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions.

Divya Srinivasan, Equality Now’s South Asia Consultant, told IPS young people across Asia have shown incredible resilience and bravery in their continuing battle against government repression in 2019.

One remarkable feature of these protests is that in many instances, they have been led by women and girls, including those from minority communities, she added.

In India, one of the epicentres of protests against the new anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) which discriminates against Muslims, has been the neighbourhood of Shaheen Bagh in New Delhi.

Srinivasan said women and children have braved the winter chill and gathered in huge numbers to continuously occupy a highway around the clock in a peaceful protest that has already lasted over a month.

“The voices of these women, particularly Muslim women, have been bravely opposing the Government’s discriminatory laws, and voicing concerns about the oppression of minorities and police brutality.”

“The Shaheen Bagh protest began on December 14th with around a dozen local women and their children and numbers soon swelled into the hundreds”, she said.

And the site has become a creative space for many children and young people, with singing, storytelling, poetry, and talks happening daily, and drawings, graffiti, posters, photographs, and art installations decorating the roadside where people are camping”

In early 2019, Srinivasan said, India saw another historic protest in the form of the Dignity March, which was a 10,000-kilometre long march through 24 states that brought together thousands of survivors of sexual violence, including many young women and girls, who were raising their voices to call for justice, dignity, and an end to victim-blaming and stigma.”

“Young women across Asia are making their voices heard. We cannot ignore them any longer,” declared Srinivasan, a licensed attorney in India with a background in women’s rights, including work on sexual harassment in the workplace and sexual violence against women.

Asked whether there is a role for the United Nations to either support or give its blessings to these youth activists, AI’s Mariner said: “The UN, including at the highest levels, can and should speak out to demand that governments respect the right of peaceful protest”

She pointed out it was heartening to hear UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres condemn the killings of protesters in Iraq, “although he has been far less vocal regarding repression elsewhere”.

Also encouraging, from the perspective of UN action, are the numerous UN special rapporteurs who have called on the authorities in Hong Kong, India, and Indonesia, among others, to protect the rights of those who participate in protests, she declared.

The AI repot said people speaking out against these atrocities were routinely punished, but their standing up made a difference. There were many examples where efforts to achieve human rights progress in Asia paid off.

In Taiwan, same-sex marriage became legal following tireless campaigning by activists. In Sri Lanka, lawyers and activists successfully campaigned against the resumption of executions.

Brunei was forced to backtrack on enforcing laws to make adultery and sex between men punishable by stoning, while former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak took the stand on corruption charges for the first time.

The Pakistani government pledged to tackle climate change and air pollution, and two women were appointed as judges on the Maldivian Supreme Court for the first time.

And in Hong Kong, the power of protest forced the government to withdraw the Extradition Bill. Yet, with no accountability for months of abuses against demonstrators, the fight goes on.

The writer can be contacted at thalifdeen@aol.com

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Former Netherlands international Hesterine De Reus explains what needs to be done to develop women's football in Cameroon and how Uefa is helping.

Ballake Sissoko says his kora, a traditional harp-like instrument, arrived in Paris in pieces.

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