Africa

Steeplechaser Benjamin Lagat was stabbed to death in Kenya on New Year's Eve last year.

Danny Danon, Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations, addresses the Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East. Credit: UN Photo/ Evan Schneider.

By Naureen Hossain
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 5 2024 (IPS)

The decision of Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, to adopt two laws that would severely limit or outright ban UNRWA has the potential to set a dangerous precedent, where countries can simply implement their own justification to ban the activity of the United Nations, even if it violates their obligations under international humanitarian law. Even with the rest of the world condemning this course of action, for Israel, this has been a long time coming and they are unlikely to back down.

Before the laws were adopted on October 28, fifty-two global humanitarian organizations, such as Human Rights Watch, Oxfam and ActionAid, released a joint statement calling on world leaders to protect UNRWA and to “use all diplomatic means” to prevent the legislation from going through. The organizations also condemned Israel’s course of action during the current war waged in Gaza since October 2023.

“These actions are part of the wider strategy of the government of Israel to delegitimise UNRWA, discredit its support for Palestine refugees, and undermine the international legal framework protecting their rights, including the right of return,” the statement reads.

What seems certain is that more than 2 million people in Gaza will face greater hardships than they do now if UNRWA is no longer able to provide aid and public services. While the Knesset’s new legislation only applies to UNRWA in Israel and the occupied territories, this raises the possibility of a wider impact on the Palestinian community.

UNRWA Commissioner-General Phillipe Lazzarini said in a statement issued on X (formerly Twitter) that these bills would only increase the suffering of Palestinians and that they are “nothing less than collective punishment.”

Michael Omer-Man, Director of Research for Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), says that it is “difficult to fathom the scope of the downstream consequences of Palestinian refugees everywhere.”

Speaking to IPS, Omer-Man warned that the new Knesset laws would likely be the first of many in the future that will come to shape the legislative framework of Israel-Palestine relations. Israel’s campaign against UNRWA has been in the making for decades now, as it has claimed repeatedly that UNRWA is a terrorist organization and too deeply under the influence of Hamas.  The current war in Gaza has been justified to the Israeli public as a method to starve out the Palestinian refugees in the region. Israel accused that at least a dozen UNRWA staff members were involved in the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7, 2023.

As an entity of the United Nations with a mandate from the General Assembly established in 1949, UNRWA has largely been funded by other member states, though it has been seeing a funding shortfall over the last decade. This is in spite of the agreement between Israel and UNRWA established in 1967, where Israel had committed to facilitating UNRWA’s work. Without the organization’s presence to meet the needs of the population in Gaza, it should fall on Israel, as the occupying power, to take that responsibility.

As was pointed out by Chris Sidoti, a commissioner of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, there is some irony in this ban on UNRWA, for the organization has saved Israel billions of dollars in taxpayer money that would have gone towards providing aid and essential services to the Palestinian community.

In reality, it is unlikely that Israel would assume that responsibility now. However, supposing that Israel were to cooperate and take a more direct hand in providing aid and services to Gaza and the West Bank, it would not be a popular move among its civilians. Omer-Man said that among some members of the government, there is a fear of severe backlash from its citizens, given that they have been fed this justification for the war, given the claims that Gaza would be forced to starve and thirst away. A reversal of that stance could be seen as betrayal. Any economic pressure put on Israel to abide by international law may not reverse the tide of war or sway public opinion.

This was only reinforced when Israel sent a letter addressed to the President of the General Assembly over the weekend, announcing its intention to withdraw from its 1967 agreement with UNRWA effectively immediately. UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told reporters on Monday that as of now UNRWA is continuing to operate.

In the wake of the new legislation coming to pass, several countries have condemned this action, with a coalition of 52 countries and two organizations, which included Türkiye, China, Russia, Brazil and Saudi Arabia, issuing an appeal to the Security Council to enact an arms embargo on Israel.

The UN Ambassador in New York, Danny Danon, has said that Israel would “continue to facilitate humanitarian aid in Gaza according to international law.” He added that other UN organizations, such as the World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO) would be able to take over in providing aid in the way that UNRWA has. Israel’s letter to the General Assembly also reiterates this claim, noting in it that they would continue to “ensure the facilitation of humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza in a way that does not undermine Israel’s security”.

This has been refuted by the UN and its agencies, who have stated on multiple occasions that there is no alternative to UNRWA. They and other humanitarian organizations have argued that few other groups have the knowledge to navigate the Palestinian territories like UNRWA. They warn that a ban on UNRWA would create further obstacles to addressing what is already a severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Despite assurances from Israeli officials, this raises the question of whether this should mean that other UN agencies and humanitarian groups will not be targeted or discredited, much in the same way that UNRWA has been since the start of the war last October.

Since the start of the war, nearly 200 UNRWA facilities have been damaged or destroyed entirely by repeated, targeted attacks and crossfire by the IDF. 237 UNRWA staff members have been killed. Separate from that, there have also been cases of aid convoys or vehicles bearing the sigil of groups such as WFP that have been shot at by Israel’s armed forces, forcing the targeted groups to temporarily suspend their activities out of safety concerns.

“What I would take from this… is that they’re looking for a piecemeal solution to keep people alive to ensure that they seem like they are doing just enough to abide by international humanitarian law,” said Omer-Man.

The laws that would ban UNRWA are set to come into effect in January 2025. The Israeli Foreign Ministry has stated that “UNRWA is part of the problem in Gaza—not part of the solution,” and that “claims that there is no alternative to UNRWA are unfounded.”

“Despite the substantial evidence we provided to the UN demonstrating Hamas’s influence over UNRWA, no measures were taken to acknowledge or alter the situation. As I have repeatedly emphasized, UNRWA is under Hamas’s control in Gaza. Israel will continue its cooperation with humanitarian organizations but not with those that serve terrorism against Israel,” Danon remarked.

Suffice to say, Israel’s actions go against its obligations under international law. To say nothing of Israel’s actions in the current war, as the IDF’s campaign in northern Gaza has devastated the area and left the humanitarian response on the ground scrambling. It also challenges the Palestinian question that has been in debate for decades and the two-state solution that the international community wants to work towards.

Israel’s actions in recent weeks only show, as Omer-Man warned, that rather than answer the question, they want instead to erase the question, to dismantle it.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Vice-President Teodoro Obiang Mangue says that anyone found having sex at work will be suspended.

Members of the Masehual Siumaje Mosenyolchicauani women's cooperative, who teach weaving and other crafts of the Nahua people, in Cuetzalan del Progreso, central Mexico. Credit: Courtesy of Taselotzin

By Emilio Godoy
MEXICO CITY, Nov 5 2024 (IPS)

What began as a search for fair prices for indigenous handicrafts in 1985 has evolved into a women’s organisation in Mexico that promotes climate justice while advocating for land and environmental rights.

“We set ourselves the very broad goal of achieving access for women to a more dignified life, and we did that through various activities,” Rufina Villa, an indigenous Nahua woman, told IPS.

“We thought we were only going to make handicrafts, but with the meetings we saw that it was important to do other things,” said the founder of the Masehual Siuamej Mosenyolchicauani (indigenous women who support each other, in the Náhualt language) cooperative.“We are constantly training to improve our services. We started learning about the problems of pollution in our environment, to see places with deforestation, damage caused by mass tourism”: Rufina Villa.

These initiatives include women’s literacy, human rights training, product quality improvement, economic autonomy and environmental protection in Cuetzalan del Progreso, in the central state of Puebla, some 297 kilometres south of Mexico City.

Nestled among mountains in the region known as the Sierra Norte, Cuetzalan is a rural municipality, called a ‘magical town’ because of its location, with cloud forests, waterfalls and caves, among other scenic beauties, and a majority indigenous population.

Founded by 25 women, in its first stage the cooperative focused on protecting the environment by separating waste, making compost for their crops and farming with agro-ecological practices. It has also always protected the springs that supply water to Cuetzalan and encouraged energy transition to less polluting alternatives.

“We were pioneers in supporting community tourism to protect the territory. We are constantly training to improve our services. We began to learn about the problems of pollution in our environment, to see places with deforestation, damage caused by mass tourism,” continued the 69-year-old activist and mother of four daughters and four sons.

Although the cooperative does not explicitly link its activities to the search for climate justice, they aim to solve, at least in their community, the environmental and climate problems that others have created.

Cuetzalan del Progreso, in the central state of Puebla. Credit: Secretary of Tourism

Climate justice revolves around economic equity, security and gender equality and seeks solutions to the inequalities created by the causes and consequences of the climate crisis among individuals and groups of people.

After building a hotel in 1997, whose caretaker is Villa’s husband, the organisation invested some USD 20,000 in 2022 in the installation of solar panels, an amount already recouped, in a push for energy transition in an area where hydroelectric and fossil plants supply most of the electricity.

To cut gas and electricity costs, they also installed solar water heaters the following year.

The Taselotzin (Nahuatl for ‘offshoot’) Hotel, set in a nurturing environment, offers private rooms, cabins and dormitories, as well as ecotourism services, highlighting the value of the forest and water sources. On the premises, members of the cooperative also teach how to make and appreciate Nahua weavings and other handicrafts.

It belongs to the Huitziki Tijit (Náhualth for ‘hummingbird’s path’) Tourism Network, which operates in five Puebla municipalities with a majority Nahua population and great ecological value, among them Cuetzelan.

In 1997, a cooperative of Nahua women founded the Taselotzin ecotourism hotel, in the indigenous municipality of Cuetzalan del Progreso, in the state of Puebla. Credit: Courtesy of Taselotzin

 

Growing risks

Like other regions of Mexico, a country vulnerable to the effects of the climate crisis, Cuetzalan, with some 50,000 people in 2020, is suffering from climate impacts.

Between March and June this year, the municipality experienced severe, extreme and exceptional droughts, which had not happened so far this century, according to the governmental National Meteorological System’s Drought Monitor.

In addition, it lost 1,000 hectares of tree cover from 2001 to 2023, equivalent to a 12 percent decrease since 2000, according to data from the international platform Global Forest Watch. In 2023, it lost 86 hectares, the highest figure since 2019 (108).

“The land is bountiful. We have been through a lot and we are still standing,” said Doña Rufi, as she is affectionately known in the area, which cultivates milpa, an ancestral system that combines the planting of corn, beans, squash and chili peppers, as well as coffee, bananas and medicinal plants.

This century, the communities of Cuetzalan have faced threats to water, such as mass tourism, mining and hydroelectric initiatives, as well as electricity and oil projects of the state-owned Petróleos Mexicanos and Federal Electricity Commission.

A woman weaves on a loom in the indigenous municipality of Cuetzalan del Progreso, central Mexico. Credit: Government of Puebla

The Cuetzalan Ecological Territorial Planning Program, created in 2010, regulates land use in the municipality.

Most of Cuetzalan’s water supply relies on springs. More than 80 community water committees operate and are responsible for water transfer infrastructure and maintenance, but the drought is affecting these sources.

“The drought has been hard, although now it is raining. We protect the springs and that is why we have opposed projects of death”, as the Nahua villagers call works that destroy the environment, said Villa.

The cooperative is made up of 100 Nahua women from six of the municipality’s communities. It is one of some 100 women’s cooperatives, out of a total of 8,000 operating in the country.

Two farmers check the flow of water coming from the springs, the main source of supply for the indigenous municipality of Cuetzalan del Progreso in the Mexican state of Puebla. Credit: Cupreder

Absent

Mexico’s public policies lack a climate justice perspective, which is reflected in the territory.

The latest update of Mexico’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), the set of voluntary climate policies that each country adopts as part of the Paris Agreement, mentions climate justice only once and does not link any of the measures to it.

The same is true of Puebla’s 2021-2030 State Climate Change Strategy.

Hilda Salazar, founder of the non-governmental organisation Mujer y Ambiente, believes the ‘powerful’ concept of climate justice has permeated little in Mexico’s municipalities and communities.

“There has been no vision of climate justice. In recent years, because of the severe impacts, they have begun to introduce the concept, but without much clarity about what we are talking about,” she told IPS in an interview in Mexico City.

“The state and municipal governments have a great lack of knowledge. When it comes to implementation, it is seen as an environmental issue, not as development, and it is divorced from the climate agenda”, she adds.

A banner rejecting megaprojects in the indigenous municipality of Cuetzalan del Progreso, in the central Mexican state of Puebla. Credit: Cupreder

In Mexico, the courts have received at least 23 lawsuits related to climate issues, a far cry from Brazil’s 89 cases. Few have been successful and fewer still were linked to climate justice.

In this scenario, processes such as those of the Cuetzalan cooperative could motivate more local communities to undertake their own.

Villa appreciated several lessons learned from the cooperative’s longstanding work.

“We know how to organize, which one person cannot achieve alone—to continue establishing networks, to know what is happening in other regions, it is important to take care of our environment and our culture, defend our collective rights, our autonomy as women, as people, as indigenous people,” she stressed.

And she believes it is important to pass this on to younger women. “Women used to work at home, but now they go out to sell their products, such as coffee, cinnamon, honey, or work in tourism,” she said.

According to Salazar, who is also a member of the non-governmental Gender and Environment Network, there is a lack of legislation, programmes and land policies. 

“It is a structural problem. It does not reach the dimension it should have because of the impacts, and policies divorce economic, technological, social and cultural aspects. There are disadvantages (for women) from access to information to participation and implementation,” she said.

In her opinion, the gender approach has the virtue, in environmental and climate issues, of putting asymmetries and inequalities at the centre. “It strikes at the heart,” she said.

IPS UN Bureau Report

This feature piece is published with the support of Open Society Foundations.

 

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Excerpt:

What started as a broad attempt to allow women to live a more dignified life, an indigenous women’s organization, Masehual Siuamej Mosenyolchicauani, now aims to solve environmental and climate problems that others have created.

The Prince and Robert Irwin revealed their favourite African animals ahead of the Earthshot Prize award.

Small-scale fishers play a fundamental role in feeding people—they use sustainable methods of catching and processing fish products and are a significant force in the employment and livelihoods of millions of people internationally—yet, until now, they have been excluded from climate and biodiversity conferences. For the first time at COP 16, which closed in Cali, […]

A Bangladeshi mother feeding her children nutrient-rich small fish, mola and leafy vegetables. Credit: Finn Thilsted / WorldFish

By Shakuntala Thilsted and Cargele Masso
CALI, Colombia, Nov 5 2024 (IPS)

It’s often said that we are what we eat. However, our diets are also a reflection on the health of our food systems, the environment and agricultural biodiversity.

In the same way that our bodies need a range of nutrients for optimum health, the environment also benefits from systems that produce a variety of foods, each of which makes different demands of, and contributions to, natural ecosystems.

Unfortunately, global diets are failing to strike a healthy balance of foods from both land and water systems. While more than 3,700 aquatic species offer a wide range of nutritional benefits, consumption is limited to a handful of fish, seafood and other aquatic species. Similarly, only six crops make up more than 75 per cent of total plant-derived energy intake.

Relying on the same few foods, whether crops, livestock or fish, not only limits the nutritional value provided, but it also erodes natural resources, from soil health to water quality. This hampers efforts to address global malnutrition and mounting pressure on the environment and farming systems.

After delegates gathered at the UN COP16 biodiversity talks to agree the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, this is a critical time to champion diverse diets for improved health and nutrition, agricultural biodiversity and data-informed decision-making within food systems.

From a human development perspective, diverse diets are essential to ensure that people get enough nutrients to meet their dietary needs. This means making full use of a wide variety of plant-based and animal-source foods from both land and water.

Inadequate diets are a leading driver of preventable deaths, contributing to 11 million deaths in 2017. At the same time, dietary diversity has been linked with a reduced risk of mortality as well as diet-related illnesses, including diabetes and heart disease.

Many under-utilised foods, including aquatic foods and especially indigenous small fish species, seaweeds and bivalves such as clams, scallops and mussels, can provide a rich variety of readily available nutrients, while improving health outcomes.

For example, in Bangladesh, micronutrient deficiencies such as anaemia pose significant public health challenges. To tackle this issue, researchers established community-based production of small fish chutney to supplement the diets of pregnant and breastfeeding women. The results showed that adding small fish chutney to meals reduced anaemia among these women by a third.

Integrating greater diversity across diets, including overlooked yet nutritious aquatic foods, is essential for improving global nutrition and health.

At the same time, diverse diets can also support the preservation of agricultural biodiversity and maintain healthy ecosystems by creating demand for a broad range of food types.

As a result of repeatedly growing genetically uniform crops, the world has lost 75 per cent of plant genetic diversity in the past century. This not only affects food system resilience but also increases crop vulnerability to pests, diseases, and climate-induced disasters.

Global reliance on rice, wheat and maize for energy intake means the world’s supply of food is significantly limited when these crops are adversely impacted by climate change such as drought or flooding. These cereal crops also place the same repeated demands on natural resources, which can impact soil and water quality and biodiversity. This ultimately results in supply vulnerability and compromises global food and nutrition security.

Instead, cultivating a range of foods that include indigenous crops, such as sorghum, millet and yams, and using principles of agroecology can better support food security goals. Initiatives such as the Vision for Adapted Crops and Soils (VACS), supported by CGIAR, are harnessing the potential of indigenous and locally adapted crops to support agricultural biodiversity. For example, legumes can turn nitrogen in soils into ammonia and other compounds, which benefit non-legume crops grown alongside them.

Science and evidence can help governments, policymakers and other stakeholders in food systems to identify gaps in agricultural biodiversity to promote diverse diets and food production, and support biodiversity strategies.

For example, tools such as the Periodic Table of Food and Agrobiodiversity Index can help map food quality and improve existing knowledge on agricultural biodiversity by collecting relevant data to quantify the sustainability of global food systems.

These tools can inform national priorities for guaranteeing healthy, diverse foods from healthy, diverse environments. They can also facilitate the tracking of global commitments to protecting biodiversity, supporting the implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework.

Meanwhile, the conservation of crop and animal genetic material in gene banks or biobanks is essential for safeguarding beneficial traits for future varieties better adapted to provide necessary nutrition and climate resilience.

Prioritising diverse diets can reap positive benefits for people and biodiversity, reducing reliance on foods that strain the environment and deliver limited nutritional value.

But this requires not only renewed commitments, but also effective actions, investment and targets for preserving genetic resources of all kinds of species needed for healthy, diverse diets.

Now that the UN biodiversity talks have concluded, we call on parties to commit to integrating nutrition-sensitive approaches in the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework to support global biodiversity, food and nutrition security and health.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Impacts of prolonged flooding and heavy torrential rains in a community along the Lake Chad Basin region. Credit: Seyba Keïta/UNICEF

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 5 2024 (IPS)

Chad is currently in the midst of a dire humanitarian crisis due to persisting armed conflict, mass displacement, widespread hunger, natural disasters, and an overall lack of essential services. Due to security challenges from the Boko Haram militant group, millions of Chadians have faced decreased mobility as well as human rights violations including imprisonment, beatings, kidnappings, and killings.

According to estimates from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), approximately 32 percent of Chad’s population is dependent on humanitarian assistance for survival. Development in Chad has seen considerable setbacks due to armed violence and national disasters, with Chad ranking as one of the poorest countries in the world, according to the annual United Nations Human Development Report.

It is estimated that life expectancy in Chad is only 53 years. Only 22 percent of Chad’s population is literate, six percent have access to electricity, and eight percent have access to basic sanitation. Furthermore, around 75 percent of all births in Chad take place without the presence of healthcare personnel.

Boko Haram’s occupancy in Central Africa dates back to 2009, when the group launched an insurgency in Nigeria, leading to the deaths of over 300,000 as well as 2.3 million displacements. It then spread to neighbouring nations along the Lake Chad Basin. In June, the International Office for Migration (IOM) reported over 220,000 displacements due to attacks from armed groups along the Lake Chad Basin.

On October 27, Boko Haram targeted a military garrison near Lake Chad, resulting in the deaths of 40 Chadian security personnel. This surprise attack not only heightened the pervasive fear among civilians, but also raised concerns among humanitarian organizations and Chadian officials that conditions will continue to deteriorate due to the increasing brutality of the armed attacks.

The government of Chad has called upon the international community for aid in an effort to stabilize violence concentrated in the Lake Chad region. The Lake Chad basin is bordered by Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria, nations with which Chad forms the Multinational Joint Task Force, a coalition that is committed to eradicating armed groups in the region.

“Determined collective action is essential to eradicate this scourge which threatens the stability and the development of the entire region,” said Abderaman Koulamallah, spokesperson for the Chadian government.

On November 3, Chad’s President Mahamat Idriss Deby issued a statement announcing Chad’s possible withdrawal from the Multinational Joint Task Force, citing a lack of coordination in joint efforts against terrorist organizations. Deby expressed frustration at the coalition’s limited communications and streamlined operations.

Heavy flooding and torrential rain has caused considerable damage to critical infrastructures in Chad over the course of 2024, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) confirmed in October that all 23 provinces of Chad have experienced prolonged rainfall, affecting over 1.9 million civilians.

Figures from ACAPS, a non-profit organization that analyzes international humanitarian crises, show that by October 18, there had been over 576 flood-related civilian casualties. Additionally, over 218,000 homes were destroyed and 342,000 were severely damaged.

Over 1.9 million hectares of land designated for agriculture have been flooded, killing over 72,000 heads of livestock. This has devastated Chad’s economy and significantly aggravated the hunger crisis it is facing. According to the World Food Programme (WFP), over 3.4 million Chadians face acute food insecurity, a notable increase of 240 percent from 2020.

Chad also has one of the fastest growing refugee populations in Africa, currently hosting over 1.2 million refugees, many of whom are Sudanese migrants who fled from the increasingly volatile conditions of the Sudanese Civil War. Due to the vast majority of resources and funding being allocated to alleviate the refugee crisis, internally displaced communities in Chad are facing a lack of humanitarian assistance.

The United Nations and its partners are currently on the frontlines of this crisis providing medical support, educational services, food, and clean drinking water. OCHA and its affiliates report that they have allocated over 148 million dollars to mitigate the humanitarian crises plaguing Chad and its neighbouring nations, focusing on “tackling hunger and malnutrition, averting famine, preventing disease outbreaks, and addressing climate-related shocks.”

Additionally, the 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan for the Lake Chad Basin region seeks to assist over 22 million people, requiring approximately 4.7 million dollars in funding. The UN continues to urge further donor contributions as conditions in the region deteriorate.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Credit: African Union
 
The African Union is committed to electing a visionary leader capable of transformative change including dramatically reducing extreme poverty and ending Africa's own "forever" wars.

By Olara A Otunnu and Salim Lone
KAMPALA, Uganda / NEW JERSEY, USA, Nov 5 2024 (IPS)

Africa has had a terrible record dealing with extreme poverty. The late Adebayo Adedeji, the legendary head of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), campaigned vigorously but unsuccessfully in the 1980s against the IMF and World Bank-imposed structural adjustment programmes, contending that these contributed to poverty’s increase.

The continent’s economic growth plummeted rapidly in that decade by an average of 2.5 per cent annually, hitting the already poor the hardest. Hard as it is to believe, things have gotten much worse since then for the poor.

In 1990, Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 15 percent of the world’s extremely poor. By 2022 that figure had soared to 60 percent, while every other world region reduced poverty levels. The magnitude of the dramatic downward spiral has been felt by the extremely poor, with about 450 million scrambling every day to try to provide life’s basics for their families, not always successfully.

This extraordinary emergency mainly went unnoticed by the richer countries. The Carnegie Africa programme noted in its Fall Bulletin published last month that one of the notable global financial trends of 2024 seems to be a reduction by several of the richest in bilateral Official Development Assistance (ODA).

The African Union (AU) is determined to change this sorry tale by appointing as the next Chairperson of the Africa Union Commission a visionary leader capable of setting in motion the “transformative change” promised in the Commission’s historic “Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want.”

That Agenda has the unprecedented goal of achieving a “dignified standard of living” for all the continent’s people by its centenary year, or of course earlier. That goal would require, among other things, prioritizing the drastic reduction of the continent’s gaping inequality, which of course goes against the world’s prevailing market and ideological trends.

A simultaneous but more immediate goal is the Agenda’s flagship project, “Silencing The Guns in Africa,” which pledges to bring an end to the continent’s own forever wars and conflicts that have taken a toll of millions and continue to rage with no prospect of end in sight.

Somalia is the poster child of this crisis: there seems to be no effort under way to bring about peace, except the continuing use of force that has utterly failed to end the killing.

Africa’s heads of states have been emboldened in their commitment to a transformative campaign by some astonishing turn of economic and political events. Last year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast that in 2024, the world’s seven fastest growing economies, and 12 of the top 15, would be African.

This is a result of many factors, but primarily because the continent’s vast natural and mineral resources have emerged as an indispensable engine of growth for the increasingly hi-tech orientation of industrialized economies.

The magazine Foreign Affairs captured these developments in a succinct headline: “The Global Economy’s Future Depends on Africa: As Others Slow, a Youthful Continent Can Drive Growth.” But on its own, such remarkable progress will not automatically make a major dent in extreme poverty.

Some of this new attention was in prominent evidence at the United Nations General Assembly’s high level “presidential” session which concluded in October. The United States announced it would push for two new permanent non-veto-wielding seats for Africa. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres emphasized that Africa should have veto power as well.

Africa’s youngest and newest leader, the dynamic prisoner turned president Diomaye Faye of Senegal, who is enjoying intense international attention, asserted that a New World Order is essential for global stability, and the UN Security Council needed to give Africa veto power, reflecting the radically changed global demographics.

Africa is also being paid high level political attention in other forums. A year ago, the Group of 20 (G20), the premier grouping of the Global South and industrialized countries, made the African Union a permanent regional member at its New Delhi Summit.

These are exceptional achievements for the AU Commission and have given Africa a seat at the table for the highest-level discussions where fateful decisions vital to Africa’s, and the world’s, future are made. The breakthroughs have also begun re-shaping the continent’s despairing image internally and internationally.

None of this, however, should in any way diminish the magnitude of the challenge ahead. Only a miniscule number of economically impoverished countries in our lifetime has managed to achieve exceptional growth as well as massive reductions in poverty and inequality. To strive for such an outcome for an entire continent, with 55 countries and 1.5 billion people at radically different levels of economic and social development, will be a daunting task.

That task will take on new life with the February 25 election at the AU summit of a new Commission chairperson. With this new transformative mandate, the Chairperson will become, or will need to become, a pivotal African and continental figure, the global face of the African Union and of the African people.

A loose comparison would be the UN Secretary General, who is the face of the United Nations as well as of all humanity. In that regard, with his well-known African and global profile, Mr Odinga will hit the ground running.

We two have worked at senior levels internationally, including at the United Nations under Secretary General Kofi Annan, on many of the goals that are also at the heart of Agenda 2063. We have also had the honour to work closely with Raila, as he is known universally by presidents and peasants and workers alike.

We have seen how effortlessly he moves from the highest levels of African and international leaderships, to spending time with street traders, women farmers and passionate young entrepreneurs and protesters.

This particular skill is one of his strongest suits for the Commission Chairmanship. In our view, one of the AU’s principal weaknesses is that it is not very well known in the grassroots and heartlands of the continent. That must change. The African Union should be seen as a beacon of hope and protection for the tens of millions caught up in strife, oppression or dislocation but feel forgotten by the rest of the continent.

Sometimes they think the outside world cares more. Raila Odinga is the kind of person who will travel to ravaged areas to talk to the afflicted and do whatever possible to try to ease and understand their pain and launch efforts for their immediate relief.

In addition, we believe Mr Odinga is uniquely qualified to serve as the new AU Commission Chair, given his long history as an instinctively transformative figure with the political and practical skills to translate visionary goals into successful policy.

Prime Minister of Kenya for five years as well as the enduring leader of the opposition for two decades till this year, Mr Odinga was also twice a Senior Envoy for the African Union on critical assignments.

One of these was his five years as AU High Representative for Infrastructure Development, an area he presciently promoted from the 1990s onwards as the crucible of economic growth and industrialization of African countries.

Raila Odinga has presented Africa’s leaders his ambitious, carefully thought-through agenda for this moment of historic transformation and transition. To achieve this agenda, it will require a leader who can mobilize and work seamlessly with the African leaders. It will require great political stature and moral authority to mobilize the global community and to form important strategic partnerships globally and within Africa.

Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Mr. Odinga is the man for this season—a man forged in the national and continental political cauldron for a time such as this. Africa would be very fortunate to have him at the helm of the African Union Commission at such a historic and an exciting moment.

Olara A. Otunnu has served as President of the UN Security Council, Chairman of the UN Commission on Human Rights, and UN Under-Secretary General and Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict.

Salim Lone, a widely published writer, was Spokesman for Mr Raila Odinga, Prime Minister of Kenya and opposition leader, 2005-2013, and a Director of Communications and Spokesman at the United Nations, 1997-2003.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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By External Source
Nov 4 2024 (IPS-Partners)

 
Matthias Schmale is the Assistant Secretary-General, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine. Schmale brings more than 30 years of experience in humanitarian and development work. He previously served as Senior Adviser to the UN Development Coordination Office’s regional team for Africa, as Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator (a.i) in Nigeria, and in several high-level positions with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNWRA), including Director for UNRWA Affairs in Lebanon, Gaza and New York, acting Chief of Staff and acting Deputy Commissioner General.

Before joining the United Nations, he held senior positions in the International Red Cross and Red Crescent movement, and non-government organizations at global, regional and country level, including in Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. He holds a PhD in development economics and a master’s degree in macroeconomics from Berlin’s Free University.

ECW: As the war in Ukraine stretches into its third year, the education of 4 million children has been disrupted, with 600,000 children unable to access in-person learning due to ongoing fighting and displacement. How can world leaders support access to quality education for children in Ukraine impacted by this war, as well as for Ukraine refugee children in neighboring states?

Matthias Schmale: The obvious answer to this question is that world leaders must work to the best of their abilities and in full respect of the UN Charter and the territorial integrity of Ukraine to help end the devastating full-scale invasion by the armed forces of the Russian Federation. Quality education requires a peaceful and stable environment and for refugee children to have the choice to return home with their parents. World leaders and we all should also not forget the many children struggling to have access to quality education under conditions of illegal occupation and annexation including in Crimea.

Since we unfortunately cannot predict when the war on Ukraine will end, world leaders are asked to ensure that the humanitarian and recovery aid provided by their respective governments is maintained to meet the enormous needs of children in Ukraine and that this support explicitly includes dedicated resources for what is often referred to as education in emergencies. International solidarity has to include funding work to create safe spaces in educational facilities and supporting the government and authorities at all levels in maintaining and strengthening education systems and capacities under very challenging conditions.

ECW: You are an economist by training. How can investments in education through multilateral funds such as Education Cannot Wait help us deliver on the promises made in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and why are such investments crucial for crisis-affected children in Ukraine?

Matthias Schmale: As an economist I would say that not all return on investments can be measured in the form of financial profit. Society at large profits when investments into education maintain the hopes of the young for a more dignified and profitable future!

Every child has a basic right to education and learning, and Education Cannot Wait investments help to realize this right for crisis affected children in Ukraine and elsewhere. Due to Covid followed by the impact of the full-scale invasion, hundreds of thousands of school children in Ukraine have not seen the inside of a classroom for at least five years. So, investments into online learning continue to be crucial. At the same time, we know that online learning can never replace meeting and interacting with other children in safe spaces, and Education Cannot Wait can help create such safe spaces.

I have seen some very impressive examples here in Ukraine, for example in Kharkiv, where portions of a number of metro stations have been converted into safe and fantastic underground classrooms. And when I recently met the Governor of Kherson – that is continuously attacked – he mentioned as one of his priorities creating safe spaces where children can meet, learn and receive mental health support. With public finances in Ukraine severely strained, international solidarity shown through multilateral funds like Education Cannot Wait make all the difference for children struggling to cope with the ongoing war.

ECW: The Global Business Coalition for Education pledged US$50 million from the private sector in support of ECW’s 4-year strategic plan, with 70,000 laptops already shared with schools in Ukraine and neighboring countries. How can, and why should, the private sector continue to provide even more support for education for crisis-impacted children in Ukraine and beyond?

Matthias Schmale: The private sector will be a key driver in building back better and recovery efforts that are already ongoing. This will require a dedicated and healthy workforce, which is why educating children and young people is so critical.

Successful business leaders I have met in the countries and places I have served often told me they are not only successful due to the formal education they received, but that vocational training and acquiring relevant skills often made the real difference. Business leaders must help ensure that curricula are adapted to ensure relevance in public and private schools, and sufficient business-oriented learning and vocational training opportunities are created and made available.

ECW: Two in three Ukraine children in the frontline areas are out of school. They are experiencing challenges in terms of safety, protection, mental health and well-being. How is the United Nations coordinating an integrated cross-sectoral response through its agencies, funds, and programmes to reach these children and ensure they receive holistic support?

Matthias Schmale: It is important to underline that in my understanding the UN’s primary role is to support governments in looking after the welfare and safety of its citizens and ensuring that all have access to the best education and learning possible. The UN team in Ukraine is preparing for lift off of the 5-year Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework agreed with government for the period 2025 to 2029, and we are identifying how we can ensure that the contributions of various agencies are well coordinated and make the maximum impact in the lives of vulnerable children.

At the risk of not mentioning a UN entity and its valuable contribution, this for example includes building on the professional expertise and knowledge of good practice that UNICEF brings around protection of children’s rights and quality learning in safe environments, UNESCO on modernizing curricula and teacher’s training, UNDP on supporting government on mobilizing adequate public financing, UNFPA on protecting children from sexual abuse and violence, UNHCR and IOM in helping ensure no child including internally displaced gets left behind, WHO’s primary and mental health capacities to ensure children are healthy to capitalize on learning opportunities as well as UNOPS in helping repair and eventually rebuild schools. To underline these are just illustrative examples, and as Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator it is my duty to ensure that all 22 UN entities with a presence in country as well as those without are respected for the specific contribution they can make and included in our joint effort to help Ukraine in reaching all vulnerable children.

ECW: We all know that ‘readers are leaders’ and that reading skills are key to every child’s education. What are three books that have most influenced you personally and/or professionally, and why would you recommend them to others?

Matthias Schmale: There are a lot of good writers who wrote excellent books that have influenced me, and it is hard to pick just three among them. J.M. Coutzee, William Darymple and Chimamanda Ngozie Achie continue to intrigue me for the combination of illuminating sensitive topics and encounters between different cultures through their fiction while being highly entertaining at the same time. Darymple’s 1993 City of Djinns is a fascinating travelogue of Dehli, which I devoured in preparation for staying and working there a couple of weeks myself in another life. Coutzee’s 1999 novel “Disgrace” is a rather bleak pre ‘Me-Too’ read about the desires and deficiencies of men. And Chimamanda Ngozie Achie’s acclaimed 2013 “Americanah” explores aspects of race, identity, love, and honesty through a young Nigerian woman’s journey to the United States in pursuit of higher education.

 

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Bournemouth and Ghana forward Antoine Semenyo says repeated rejections as a teenager left him more motivated to forge a career in football.

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On December 12, 2022, a group of Azerbaijani environmentalists blocked the only road connecting Armenia with the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave. The news went largely unnoticed by mainstream media, perhaps because it was difficult to understand. How could a group of so-called environmental activists block the free movement of people and basic supplies? And where, exactly, is […]