Africa

Muslim clerics in Somalia are moving to the front-line of the battle against coronavirus.

Dr Mah Hui Lim has been a university professor and banker, in the private sector and with the Asian Development Bank.
Dr. Michael Heng, Former professor in Management Science.

By Mah Hui Lim and Michael Heng
PENANG and SINGAPORE, Apr 1 2020 (IPS)

The Covid-19 pandemic, erupting in the background of lethargic global economy, could turn out to be the singular biggest crisis in a century. First reported in Wuhan, China, the corona virus has reached almost all countries. It has infected close to 1 million persons and caused over 40,000 deaths at time of writing; and the figures keep climbing. It is a health catastrophe which if not checked in its track would be the most serious since the Spanish Flu of 1918 that killed over 50 million people.

Mah Hui Lim

The pandemic has triggered a market crash. Stock markets across the world have trended downwards despite various measures by governments to support the economy. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development has warned that the economic recovery would take years. According to its secretary general Angel Gurría, the economic shock was already bigger than the financial crisis.

It is a crisis much more serious than the 2007-8 crisis, for three reasons. What started as a health crisis has morphed into an economic and possibly financial crisis.

First, it erupted in economic and financial environments more vulnerable than those of 2008. After the GFC of 2008, major central banks pumped trillions of liquidity to resuscitate the world economy. Unfortunately, much of this was misspent on financial shenanigans such as stock buybacks and mergers and acquisitions while global investments languished. Global debt was pushed to all time high of over 300% of world GDP compared to under 200% in 2008. In the last few years, economists and business analysts have been warning of an impending financial typhoon on the horizon. The gigantic typhoon has made its landfall triggered by an invisible and humble bug.

Second, this is a double-whammy crisis with both supply shock and demand destruction. Shops and factories close down, planes and trains stop operating, global supply chains are broken. Except for essential goods, demand has evaporated. Usual consumer spending nosedives as incomes dry up and many people are confined to homes. Such conditions hit at the core of real economy.

Michael Heng

Third, central banks have almost run out of ammunition. Interest rates have been cut to near zero and in some countries have turned negative. More quantitative easing is like pushing on a shoe string and will only inflate asset prices resulting in greater inequality. Governments have unleashed their bazookas with the US injecting $2 trillion (over 10% of its GDP) stimulus.

The once-in-a-century crisis has jolted policy makers out of their comfort zone. What has been considered a taboo is now followed without much disagreement across the board.

Helicopter money has now come into vogue. It means literally throwing money at the entire population for them to spend. The problem is if the population is locked down and most businesses remain shut, putting money in the hands of people will not restart business. In the last global financial crisis, there was nowhere to hide for the investor. Today, we are faced with a crisis of nowhere to spend.

There are three lessons to draw from this crisis.

First, the pandemic exposes the flaws of neoliberalism which deifies the free market and vilifies the state. This crisis shows that small government and big market are unable to cope with a crisis of this order. In fact, neoliberalism and market fundamentalism have damaged society considerably, resulting what the Karl Polanyi and later Michael Sandel call market society. Under this scenario, risks are socialized while profits are privatized. It weakens the capacity and readiness of society to respond to unanticipated nation-wide crisis.

Second, had the rich western countries cast off their ideological blinkers and used the opportunities after the GFC to invest in infrastructure, research and development, public goods, reduction of huge inequalities and other form of capital development, the whole world would have been in better conditions to deal with the unfolding situation.

Third, the crisis underscores the interdependence resulting from systematic integration over the past several decades. It is a cliché now to say that pathogen respects no border. It took only a few weeks for the virus to travel worldwide. A global solidarity is needed to tackle problem of this nature which unfortunately is not being displayed. Each country is frantically fighting its own fire with the rich countries pouring trillions while poor countries are left to fend on their own. But as Ably Ahmad, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, rightly said, health is a global public good and requires global design and solidarity. He warned that if Covid-19 is not beaten in Africa it will come to haunt the rest of the world.

The world has to act in a concerted action. We are all in the same boat; a leak in one part will sink the boat no matter where the source.

The post Dangers and Lessons of Present Multiple Crises appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Dr Mah Hui Lim has been a university professor and banker, in the private sector and with the Asian Development Bank.

Dr. Michael Heng, Former professor in Management Science.

The post Dangers and Lessons of Present Multiple Crises appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Ehtesham Shahid
DUBAI, Apr 1 2020 (IPS-Partners)

Global crises need global solutions yet some adjustments will have to be made if the world has to adopt a multilateral approach toward tackling the Corona pandemic, a senior academic said on Tuesday, March 31.

Participating in an e-symposium organized by the think-tank, TRENDS Research & Advisory, Prof. Yong Wang of the School of International Studies and Director, Center for International Political Economy at Peking University, said the G-20 has already taken an initiative and more such efforts are needed.

“We have our national interests but for facing challenges such as this we should work together,” he said. Prof. Wang was a panelist at the e-symposium – – Confronting the Challenges of COVID-19: A New Global Outlook – which was attended by several experts and researchers from around the world.

“Instead of scapegoating countries like China and India, countries like the US should look at their policies. We need to have a broader perspective on this,” said Prof. Wang.

Sharing China’s experience, he said that the country did the right thing by taking very tough measures such as the lockdown of Wuhan. “Indeed we are in the era of globalization and it has been rightly pointed out that this won’t be the last such outbreak,” he said.

“Chinese scientists shared genetic sequencing, which helped in data compilation and intelligence gathering to tackle the virus. The pandemic is under control in China and factories and companies are opening now. However, the government is still applying a very cautious approach,” he said.

Experts participating in this first-ever e-symposium of its kind highlighted the ongoing struggle between forces of globalization and protectionism but emphasized the need for a collective response to the Covid-19 challenge.

Prof. Maurizio Barbeschi, Adviser to the Executive Director, World Health Emergencies (WHE) Program at The World Health Organization (WHO), said the world has been preparing for pandemic since SARS and it is impressive how not prepared the planet was.

According to him, it is not just the peak of the pandemic but also the bumps and re-entry to normalcy will have to be managed. “Even vaccines may have to be handled with extreme care for not creating groups of haves and have-nots,” he said.

Prof. Barbeschi also said that it is obvious that travel bans did not work well. “The first reaction of governments so far wasn’t smart, quick or big or large enough to stop the exponential move of the virus,” he said.

Gulfaraz Khan, Professor of Viral Pathology and Chair, Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology at the College of Medicine and Health Sciences, UAE University, said that the scientific community is united against Covid-19.

Prof. Khan said that it must be acknowledged that China identified and made the virus sequence available to the international community within two weeks of the outbreak. “We have also seen an unprecedented number of publications on Covid-19,” Prof. Khan said pointing out that the world failed to identify the threat early.

“We had approximately a month to look at the outbreak even though the disease was spreading. The majority of the world’s cases happened after February so we need to learn lessons as a global community,” he said.

Prof. Khan also ruled out the possibility of a vaccine coming out anytime soon. “It could take 12-18 months if you add the time needed in mass production and in making it available around the world,” he said.

Delivering an international security perspective, Dr. Hussein Ibish, Senior Resident Scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, said it is not yet clear whether parochialism will triumph over populism in the aftermath of this crisis.

“There is discourse emerging from Europe that may not reflect the ground reality. There seems to be an adrenaline rush for insularity and parochialism promoted by populism which is not helping,” he said.

According to Dr. Ibish, the crisis also poses a real threat to democracy in many countries. “Authoritarian states like China, in particular, say they are better at the discipline and population control needed to contain the virus,” he said. Dr. Ibish also argued that demagogues may use this crisis to consolidate power.

Dr. David Meyer, Associate Professor of Security and Global Studies and Program Director, Master of Arts in Diplomacy at the College of Security and Global Studies, the American University in the Emirates, said the US will continue to demand favorable trade deals as national interest cannot be wished away.

“After this crisis ends, protectionism will come back with a vengeance as more and more countries slip into recession. If the quarantine lasts more than six months then we are looking at economic depression,” he said.

The post Chinese Academic Defends Country’s Role amid Covid-19 Crisis appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Credit: UN Population Fund (UNFPA)

By Daud Khan and Leila Yasmine Khan
AMSTERDAM/ROME, Apr 1 2020 (IPS)

What is likely to be the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on developing economies? It is difficult to make predictions, because much will depend on the spread of the disease, especially in Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East, and the measures various Governments will take in the coming weeks and months. 

This two part article looks at possible economic impacts and what actions may be required to minimize disruptions on the poor and vulnerable. The first part looks at short term actions, whereas the second will look at possible medium to longer term developments. 

In the short term there is likely to be a sharp drop in domestic consumer demand in most developing countries. 

Demand for food, medical assistance and other essential items may rise, but this would be more than offset by lower demand for non-essential goods such as apparel and various services.

Demand would also fall due to other factors such as foreign buyers delaying or withdrawing orders; tourists, both local and foreign, canceling trips; and the declines in the stock market which erodes peoples’ wealth and their willingness to spend.

For countries with large numbers of overseas workers such as Philippines, India and Pakistan, or with large diasporas such as Somalia, remittances would slow down due to layoffs and delayed salary payments in Europe, the Middle-East and USA where most of these people live and work

For countries with large numbers of overseas workers such as Philippines, India and Pakistan, or with large diasporas such as Somalia, remittances would slow down due to layoffs and delayed salary payments in Europe, the Middle-East and USA where most of these people live and work.

Lower overall domestic consumer demand will have a negative impact on production and employment. The drop in consumer demand may have a lower effect in manufacturing, where companies could, if they have access to credit, build up stocks of finished goods rather than reduce production and lay off staff.  However, the effects on the small-scale services sector are likely to be dramatic.   

On the supply side, there are also likely to be disruptions in developing countries, as there may be shortages of imported raw materials and spare parts. However, this is likely to be less of a factor than in developed countries, where long supply chains are now the norm rather than the exception.   Moreover, lower fuel prices would help the developing countries, most of who are net importers of energy.      

The severity and duration of the short term demand and supply impacts depends on the measures various governments take to contain the spread of the virus.  If the pandemic shows signs of spreading rapidly as it doing in Europe and the USA, Governments will start to close factories and shops selling nonessential items. 

In India and parts of Pakistan a lockdown has already been imposed. In such a scenario the cut in GDP and incomes would be severe. It may even reach the 3-5% projected for Italy.  Such a fall would cause severe hardship on the poorest section of the population, such as day-laborers in cities and in rural areas.     

Many developing countries do not have Government run social safety nets. In times of need most people turn to friends, neighbors and relatives for help. 

Private charity tends to rise sharply in situations such as the current one. Private help includes direct assistance in cash and food items to affected people, continued salaries despite the inability to come to work, and assistance with medical expenses.

However, the largest part is in the form of donations to civil society organizations, NGOs, mosque or church committees, and to religious groups.  In many countries these organizations have very well developed capacities to reach the poorest, and are already well on the way to set up food distributions and other relief systems in big cities such as Karachi.

Although there are still many uncertainties about how the pandemic will develop, it is clear that private support mechanisms may not be able to fully cope. Moreover, such mechanisms tend to be relatively weak in rural areas as the scattered nature of the population makes it difficult to reach effected people.  

To complement private initiatives, the Government will need to mobilize its own institutional machinery, particularly those with presence in rural areas. These include police stations, health clinics and agriculture/livestock offices which could provide logistic bases to reach the rural poor with medical assistance, as well as income and food support. 

These facilities should be brought into play with funds being diverted from other ongoing activities. However, with Government struggling to meet rising medical care expenses, their financial capacity is likely to be severely limited. International organizations should be mobilized to help.

It is worth mentioning that the World Bank has set aside US$12 billion, the Asian Development Bank US$6.5 billion and the IMF US$50 billion for the helping countries with COVID-19. Others, including International NGOs, need to also be brought in.  A special role has to be played by the World Food Programme which has much needed expertise in dealing with the logistics of crisis as well as in raising resources.  

In addition to stepping up immediate relief actions, Governments should also bring into play the two major policy instruments at its disposal – the rate of interest and the exchange rate.  The central banks need to cut interest rates and require commercial banks to make corresponding decreases in interest rates on outstanding loans to consumers and businesses.

They should also encourage commercial banks to allow customers and enterprises to delay payments, and at the same time increase liquidity in the system by reducing the deposits commercial banks are required to hold with the central banks. Central banks and ministries of finance also need to recognize that devaluation of the currency may be necessary to keep them competitive in the face of falling global demand. 

The Government should try and take advantage of the lower international price of oil. As mentioned above, these cuts should be passed on to consumers, particularly industrial and commercial users, through lower prices for fuel and electricity.  Prices cuts should also prioritize diesel which is mostly used in agriculture, industry, and truck and bus transporters.  

Will these measures be enough?  Probably not. The developed countries should, where possible, help.  China is certainty playing its part by providing equipment and technical assistance to many countries in Asia and Africa. 

The USA and countries in Europe should also step up their level of assistance outside their borders. One way to quickly and effectively do this has been suggested by Imran Khan, the Prime Minister of Pakistan: – cancel, or at least reschedule, some of the debt of developing countries affected by the pandemic.  Debt repayment takes a large proportion of public expenditures. At this time, this money would be far better spent at helping people survive the crisis.    

 

Daud Khan works as consultant and advisor for various Governments and for international agencies including the World Bank and several UN agencies. He has degrees in Economics from the LSE and Oxford – where he was a Rhodes Scholar; and a degree in Environmental Management from the Imperial College of Science and Technology. He lives partly in Italy and partly in Pakistan.

Leila Yasmine Khan is an independent writer and editor based in the Netherlands. She has Master’s degrees in Philosophy and one in Argumentation Theory and Rhetoric – both from the University of Amsterdam – as well as a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy from the University of Rome (Roma Tre). She provided research and editorial support for this article. 

The post The Economic Impact of COVID-19 on Developing Countries appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Part 1 – Addressing the Short Term Aspects

The post The Economic Impact of COVID-19 on Developing Countries appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Nigerian footballer Desire Oparanozie is keeping fit at home during the lockdown using just shoes.

Kenyan national team basketball player Ariel Okal has spoken about his ordeal as he is unable to leave Algeria having just signed for a club there.

Tributes are being paid to Gita Ramjee for her world-renowned research into HIV prevention.

By IPS UN Bureau
NEW YORK, Apr 1 2020 (IPS)

Martin Khor, a former Director of Third World Network who was a regular contributor of opinion editorials to IPS over several years passed away In Penang on 1 April.

Born in 1951, Khor was active in civil society movements. A journalist, economist and former director of the advocacy group for Third World societies, Third World Network based in Penang, he taught at Universiti Sains Malaysia. Earlier, he headed the South Centre in Geneva.

In honor of Martin Khor’s memory, IPS is republishing one of his opinion editorials: Action Needed to Avoid the End of Modern Medicine

 
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Action Needed to Avoid the End of Modern Medicine

By Martin Khor

Martin Khor is Executive Director of the South Centre, a think tank for developing countries, based in Geneva.

Unregulated sales of antibiotics are contributing to growing resistance. Credit: Adil Siddiqi/IPS

PENANG, Malaysia, Dec 5 2017 (IPS) – The next time you have a bad cold and reach for the antibiotics left over from your last visit to the doctor, think again.

Firstly, the antibiotics won’t work as they only act against bacteria while the cold is caused by a virus.

Secondly, you will be contributing to the arguably the world’s gravest health threat – antibiotic resistance.

The wrong use and over-use of antibiotics is one of the main causes why they are becoming increasingly ineffective against many diseases, including pneumonia, tuberculosis, blood disorders, gonorrhoea and foodborne diseases.

While an effective antibiotic kills most of the targeted germs, a few may survive and develop resistance which can spread to other bacteria that cause the same infection or different infections. The rate of resistance and its spread can increase if antibiotics are wrongly or over used, and they then become increasingly ineffective to treat bacterial infections.

Martin Khor, Executive Director of the South Centre

Global health leaders are now ringing the alarm bell. “Antimicrobial resistance is a global health emergency,” warned the World Health Organisation’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “The world is facing an antibiotic apocalypse,” said the United Kingdom’s Chief Medical Officer Dame Sally Davies. “It may spell the end of modern medicine.”

Warns the WHO: “Antibiotic resistance is rising to dangerously high levels in all parts of the world. New resistance mechanisms are emerging and spreading globally, threatening our ability to treat common infectious diseases…Without urgent action, we are heading for a post-antibiotic era, in which common infections and minor injuries can once again kill.” (WHO Fact Sheet on antibiotic resistance, Nov. 2017).

These warnings were highlighted on World Antibiotics Awareness Week on 13-19 November when activities were held in many countries.

Antibiotic resistance is part of the wider phenomenon of anti-microbial resistance (AMR), which includes resistance of bacteria, fungi, viruses and parasites to medicines.

About 700,000 people die annually due to antimicrobial resistant infections, and this is estimated to rise to 10 million deaths a year by 2050 if action is not taken, with a cumulative economic cost of US $100 trillion, according to a 2016 review on AMR sponsored by the UK government.

A key tipping point was reached recently when it was found that some bacteria had evolved to be resistant to colistin, the antibiotic of last resort which is used on a patient when all other antibiotics are found ineffective.

Antibiotic resistance is rising to dangerously high levels in all parts of the world. New resistance mechanisms are emerging and spreading globally, threatening our ability to treat common infectious diseases…Without urgent action, we are heading for a post-antibiotic era, in which common infections and minor injuries can once again kill.

WHO Fact Sheet on antibiotic resistance, Nov. 2017
In 2016, researchers in China found colistin-resistant E. coli bacteria in 20 per cent of animals, 15 per cent of raw meat and 1 per cent of hospital patients that were sampled. The colistin resitance gene (mcr-1) could easily be transferred among different bacteria.

Malaysia was also one of the first countries where scientists found colistin-resistant bacteria. “Since the publication of our findings, mcr-1 gene has been found in many other countries,” said Associate Professor Dr Chan Kok Gan of University Malaya. “This is a frightening scenario and the whole world should sit up and take action to prevent further abuse of antibiotics.”

If this resistance continues to spread, colistin will become less and less effective and we will eventually lose the “antibiotic of last resort.”

The colistin story also carries another lesson. It is widely thought that resistance is due to over-use of antibiotics by consumers or the spread of infections caused by resistant bacteria to patients in hospitals.

However resistance is also spread through the agriculture sector and the food chain, as shown in the study on colistin in China.

In many countries, much of the antibiotics used (80 per cent in the case of the United States) are fed in farms to animals as growth promoters, to make them grow fatter and faster, as well as to prevent or treat diseases.

Resistant bacteria build up in the animals and are present in raw meat. Some of these bacteria are passed on to humans when they eat the meat.

In Malaysia, the Department of Veterinary Services in 2012 found that half of the domestic chickens tested had bacteria that were resistant to three types of antibiotics (ampicillin, sulphonamide, tetracycline), as cited in a memorandum by the Consumers’ Association of Penang.

The environment is another source of the spread of resistance. Residues and wastes containing resistant bacteria flow from farms and hospitals and contaminate soils, drainage systems, rivers and seas. Some of these bacteria find their way to humans.

The European Union banned the use of antibiotics as growth promoters in animal feed in January 2006 while the US started action to phase them out in December 2013.

In most developing countries, little action has so far been taken. Hopefully that will start to change. In November 2017, the World Health Organisation issued its first ever guidelines on the use of antibiotics in food-producing animals.

“Scientific evidence demonstrates that overuse of antibiotics in animals can contribute to the emergence of antibiotic resistance,” said WHO’s Food Safety Director, Dr Kazuaki Miyagishima.

 

Misuse of antibiotics and risks. Credit: WHO

 

A WHO-sponsored study published in The Lancet Planetary Health in November 2017 found that interventions that restrict antibiotic use in food-producing animals reduced antibiotic-resistant bacteria in these animals by up to 39%, according to a WHO press release.

The research paper (authored by William Ghali and 10 other scientists), reviewed thousands of studies, and selected 179 relevant ones, to find if there is an association between interventions that restrict antibiotic use and reduction in the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in animals and in humans.

The key findings are that:

• “Overall, reducing antibiotic use decreased prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in animals by about 15% and multidrug-resistant bacteria by 24-32%.”
• The evidence of effect on human beings was more limited but showed similar results, “with a 24% absolute reduction in the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in humans with interventions that reduce antibiotic use in animals.”

This study influenced the development of the WHO’s new guidelines, which are aimed at influencing policy makers in the agriculture and health sectors. According to a WHO press release, the guidelines include:

• An overall reduction in the use of all classes of medically important antibiotics in food-producing animals.
• Complete restriction of these antibiotics for growth promotion and for disease prevention without diagnosis.
• Healthy animals should only receive antibiotics to prevent disease if it has been diagnosed in other animals in the same flock or herd or fish population.
• Antibiotics used in animals should be from the WHO list as “least important” to human health and not from “highest priority critically important.”

In 2015, Health Ministers attending the World Health Assembly adopted a Global Plan of Action on anti-microbial resistance, and they agreed that each country should prepare national action plans by 2017.

Since there are many sources of antibiotic resistance, the national effort must include not only the health authorities but also those responsible for agriculture and the environment.

The health authorities should take action to control the spread of infections (including in hospitals), carry out surveillance of antibiotic resistance, introduce and implement regulations and guidelines on proper prescriptions, ethical marketing of drugs and rational drug use.

The agriculture authorities should phase out inappropriate use of antibiotics for animals, especially for growth promotion, while the environment authorities should prevent resistant bacteria and genes from contaminating soils, drainage systems, rivers and seas.

There should be campaigns to make the public aware of the dangers of wrongly using antibiotics and that they should not demand that doctors give them antibiotics unnecessarily.

The medical profession should adhere to guidelines on the proper use of antibiotics, while drug companies should not push for maximum sales but instead advocate prudent use of their antibiotics in both the health or animal sectors.

These are the more obvious actions that need to be taken and urgently if we are to succeed in slowing down the alarming rate of antibiotic resistance. If we fail, it may well be “the end of modern medicine”, as the health leaders and the scientists have warned us.

The post In memory of Martin Khor appeared first on Inter Press Service.

In many African countries water is a scarce resource, so the WHO is encouraging people to store it.

Henrietta H. Fore, Executive Director, UNICEF

By External Source
Apr 1 2020 (IPS-Partners)

Henrietta H. Fore became UNICEF’s seventh Executive Director on 1 January 2018. She has worked to champion economic development, education, health, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief in a public service, private sector and non-profit leadership career that spans more than four decades.

From 2007 to 2009, Ms. Fore served as the Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Director of United States Foreign Assistance. The first woman to serve in these roles, she was responsible for managing $39.5 billion of U.S. foreign assistance annually, including support to peoples and countries recovering from disaster and building their futures economically, politically and socially.

Earlier in her career at USAID, Ms. Fore was appointed Assistant Administrator for Asia and Assistant Administrator for Private Enterprise (1989-1993). She served on the Boards of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and the Millennium Challenge Corporation. In 2009, she received the Distinguished Service Award, the highest award the Secretary of State can bestow. Read full bio >>

Henrietta H. Fore, UNICEF Executive Director, speaks with children at the Umm Battah Girls School in Kadugli, the capital city of South Kordofan State, Sudan.

ECW. Before we talk about education, can you tell us how UNICEF is responding to the current COVID-19 pandemic?

Henrietta H. Fore. In just a few months, COVID-19 has upended the lives of children around the world. It represents not only a threat to their health — but to their education, as schools close their doors worldwide, and to their safety, as the combined socio-economic impacts of job losses, isolation and containment measures put children at increased risk of abuse, exploitation and violence. In communities worldwide, you can find UNICEF staff members working around the clock to provide emergency education kits, distance learning opportunities, lifesaving information about handwashing and sanitation, and psychosocial counselling to affected children. We are also working with governments to strengthen health systems, and better manage the disease as the outbreak spreads. We are sparing no effort to give this global health emergency the attention and resources it deserves.

ECW. You have served all your life leading and championing humanitarian and development issues, not the least education. What drives you?

Henrietta H. Fore. I’m driven by the futures of children. Everywhere I travel, even in the most difficult circumstances — in conflicts and natural disasters, in communities plagued by extreme poverty or discrimination — I meet children and young people whose eyes and faces are lit with hope for the future. They tell me about their dreams and aspirations. They want to contribute to their families and economies. Even those living in the most difficult circumstances are not passive victims. They are determined to build their own futures. But they need the right tools and support. Providing quality education to every child in every context is not only a basic human right — it is essential to bringing their dreams to life and to sustaining progress and even peace for all of humanity in the future.

ECW. What is the scale of the current crisis, and how does it relate to our collective efforts to reach SDG 4?

Henrietta H. Fore. The Sustainable Development Goals’ call for “education for all” must mean exactly that — education for all. Even those children whose education is interrupted by, or non-existent because of, conflicts and natural disasters. As Education Cannot Wait reminds us, there are currently about 75 million children in urgent need of educational support across 35 crisis-affected countries. In fact, the countries furthest away from achieving SDG 4 are all crisis-affected. In other words — we will not reach this goal if we fail to reach precisely these children. In these humanitarian emergencies, children’s education suffers first, when schools are closed or destroyed, and education is interrupted. Also, they are especially vulnerable to abuse, trafficking and exploitation. We must never forget that a generation of young people is at stake — tomorrow’s leaders, tomorrow’s citizens, tomorrow’s caretakers of our world. We cannot afford to let them down — at any stage of their education, no matter what barriers we must overcome to reach them.

ECW. UNICEF oversees multiple sectors and is the lead agency on education in emergencies. Why is delivering education in emergencies so important – as important as water, nutrition, medicine and other services? Why is it important to recognize education as a lifesaving intervention at times of humanitarian crisis?

Henrietta H. Fore. A child’s right to an education does not change because of a crisis. In fact, it is just important as every other need, and can even improve outcomes in other sectors. For example, schools provide a place for children to learn more than reading and math. They also learn healthy behaviours, such as the importance of proper nutrition and hand-washing to prevent disease. Schools also create a safe and secure learning environment during times of insecurity and crisis, providing a needed sense of normalcy, continuity and safety for children that have seen and experienced often traumatic events. So education not only provides a pathway for children to build and fulfil their potential — it can have multiplier effects that can help young people stay safe and healthy.

On 3 March 2020 in the Syrian Arab Republic, UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta H. Fore speaks with students at Tal-Amara school in southern rural Idlib.

ECW. We have recently witnessed important steps to present a consolidated UN response to the wellbeing and education of children caught in emergencies and crises. How do you see the role of UNICEF in strengthening co-ordination between relevant UN partners, civil society and private sector to ensure continuity, inclusion and real learning in complex emergencies?

Henrietta H. Fore. UNICEF is uniquely placed to bring partners together to serve children living through emergencies. We have over 790 education staff members spread across 144 countries — the single-largest global education presence of any international agency. This deep presence allows UNICEF to help countries expand access to quality education, even for the most marginalized children, such as those young refugees fleeing conflicts across borders. UNICEF is also the largest provider of education in emergencies in humanitarian response and, together with Save the Children, we are leading an IASC cluster co-ordination group on education. Together, we are working to ensure that all of our national and global partners are working as one to deliver quality education to children in emergencies.

ECW. UNICEF hosts a number of global funds and initiatives, including the Education Cannot Wait Fund. As a member of Education Cannot Wait’s High-Level Steering Group, how do you see Education Cannot Wait’s contribution to advancing SDG4 in crisis situations?

Henrietta H. Fore. Initiatives like Education Cannot Wait are gathering partners around the urgent and complex needs of children facing some of the world’s worst realities. ECW’s financing efforts are particularly important, enabling partners on the ground to act quickly to fill the gap between humanitarian and development funding, while building stronger school systems for the future. This is critical, especially when we consider that only about two per cent of overall humanitarian funding is currently dedicated to education. We must work to ensure that we use ever dollar for education wisely and strategically, while at the same time turning up the volume on this education emergency to draw even more funding and resources.

ECW. A major priority is that of girls’ education, especially for girls left furthest behind in conflicts, natural disasters and forced displacement. How can we reach these girls by 2030? How can we accelerate our joint efforts during the Decade of Action?

Henrietta H. Fore. On this issue, we cannot be complacent. Despite progress, 130 million girls are still out of school around the world. Even those who gain a primary education are still vulnerable to dropping out and being unable to continue their education beyond that level. And many girls who finish primary school are contending with poor quality education, and will not meet minimum proficiency in reading by the time they finish. This is not only an injustice — it’s a huge missed opportunity for development. Educating girls not only combats poverty, it also ensures better maternal and child health. That’s why UNICEF is bringing together partners around solutions like flexible learning for girls trapped by crises, and investments in school facilities — like separate toilets and safe learning spaces — to keep them learning. The Decade of Action depends on accelerating our progress through efforts like these, and we will not stop until every girl gets the education she needs and deserves.

ECW. As an inspirational global leader, what is your message to children and youth, many of whom you have met, who dream of an education, as they suffer the brunt of conflicts and disasters?

Henrietta H. Fore. My message to them is simple: education can never be taken from you. It is yours. It is portable. It will give purpose to your hands, hearts and dreams, wherever you may travel. Even as you face these crises and disasters, remember that millions of people are standing with you in your hour of need — donors, governments, activists, organizations like UNICEF, partnerships like Education Cannot Wait, NGOs, businesses and community leaders. Together, we are working around the clock to design, fund and deliver programmes to ensure you have the tools you need to shape your minds and your futures. We will not leave you behind.

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About Education Cannot Wait: ECW is the first global fund dedicated to education in emergencies. It was launched by international humanitarian and development aid actors, along with public and private donors, to address the urgent education needs of 75 million children and youth in conflict and crisis settings. ECW’s investment modalities are designed to usher in a more collaborative approach among actors on the ground, ensuring relief and development organizations join forces to achieve education outcomes. Education Cannot Wait is hosted by UNICEF. The Fund is administered under UNICEF’s financial, human resources and administrative rules and regulations, while operations are run by the Fund’s own independent governance structure.

Please follow on Twitter: @EduCannotWait @YasmineSherif1 @KentPage
Additional information at: www.educationcannotwait.org

For press inquiries: Kent Page, kpage@unicef.org, +1-917-302-1735
For press inquiries: Anouk Desgroseilliers, adesgroseilliers@un-ecw.org, +1-917-640-6820
For any other inquiries: info@un-ecw.org

The post Education Cannot Wait Interviews Henrietta H. Fore, Unicef Executive Director appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Former Marseille president Pape Diouf dies after suffering with coronavirus, the French club have announced.

By Jan Lundius
STOCKHOLM / ROME, Apr 1 2020 (IPS)

The experience and interpretation of the Coronavirus pandemic oscillates between the personal and the general spheres. The official discourse and measures taken by authorities have a direct impact on our lives, change our daily existence and foster worries for the future. A dark cloud of uncertainty hovers above us. What do decision makers know? What can they do? What can we do? Many of us are secluded in our own homes, others in wards or hospitals, or even alone and far away from the ones they love:

All you who sleep tonight
Far from the ones you love,
No hands to left or right,
And emptiness above –
Know that you aren’t alone.
The whole world shares your tears,
Some for two nights or one,
And some for all their years. 1

When we find ourselves in the midst of a crisis some comfort might be found in literature, particularly now when so many of us are quarantined. Literature may help us to assess our existence from another point of view.

Many authors have been outsiders, i.e. they have felt being “a step away from others”. This can create a crippling feeling of loneliness, though also provide an ability to observe and comment on the behaviour of others. A European example of such an author is Albert Camus, who actually wrote a novel he called L’Étranger, The Outsider, about a man separated from “the society in which he lives, wandering on the fringe, on the outskirts of life, solitary and sensual.” Since Mersault, the novel’s main character did “not cry on his mothers funeral” Camus asserts that he deserved Society’s condemnation. 2

In the novel La Peste, the Plague,3 which Camus wrote five years after L’Étranger his perspective has shifted. His main characters are still encountering an absurd existence, though they are now generally experiencing it together. His own life (he suffered from chronic tuberculosis), and in particular his experiences with the French resistance during World War II, made Camus believe there is goodness and compassion in the depth of most human hearts. This in spite of the narcissism, cruelty and, above all, indifference to human suffering that might characterize the actions of many decision makers.

In La Peste most of the characters confront the pestilence in an undramatic and stubborn manner. They do not glorify heroism or power, instead they ”are obscurely engaged in saving, not destroying, and this in the name of no ideology.” Camus wrote about what he called the small heroism of common people, in contrast to the ”large cowardice” of powerful decision makers.

The novel tells a fictitious story about a plague sweeping an Algerian city, asking questions related to an unfathomable destiny and the human condition. The characters in his novel range from medical doctors, to trapped tourists, fugitives, criminals, soldiers and politicians, all demonstrating the effects a pandemic have on a multifaceted community.

A medical doctor who lives comfortably in an apartment building experiences the upsetting death of the concierge and thus suspects that an epidemic is approaching. He contacts the town authorities, though his fears are dismissed by an assurance that they cannot be founded on the basis of a single death. No measures are taken to mitigate a possible plague. The doctor becomes more or less appeased by the experts´ conclusive opinions and like everyone else he begins to envisage the danger the town faces as ”unreal”. Nevertheless, he continues to feel uneasy, in particular since his wife is away on a sanatorium. A few days after the worried doctor´s visit to the Town Hall the city’s eighty hospital beds are taken and their occupants soon begin to die. Within a short while the epidemic has killed off half the town’s population of two hundred thousands. Doctor Rieux works day and night to combat the plague simply because he is a doctor and it is his job to relieve human suffering. He does not do it for any grand religious or political purposes. However, others oppose the scourge due to their religious convictions, or a high-minded moral code. Most of the people who abide to extraordinary measures and sacrifice their well-being for others are just like Doctor Rieux doing so without any fuss. They know they cannot win their struggle against death, their loved ones are dying all around them, but nevertheless, out of a sense of duty and compassion they continue to help one another.

On the contrary, most politicians and community leaders behave in an erratic and often brutal manner, devoid of considerations for others. Such persons are trapped within their own power games, suspecting that ”the masses” are dangerous and volatile. Their Draconian measures are often supported by violence, instilling fear, or even indifference, instead of cooperation and compassion.

When the plague subsides everyone is scarred and changed. They have survived, but many of their loved ones have died and they view existence from a new perspective. Most of those who endured the affliction have become stronger and more sensitive persons, though others cannot cope with afterlife, some commit suicide, others become crazy. However, all in all, the authorities´ predictions about violence and mayhem were not fulfilled. People proved to be more resilient and compassionate than they even could imagine themselves to be.

Camus´s powerful vision in La Peste coincides with observations made by the U.S. author Rebecca Solnit. While studying human behaviour during several recent natural disasters she came to the conclusion that astonishingly many people not only rose to the occasion, but did so with force and joy, revealing an ordinarily unmet yearning for community, purposefulness, and meaningful work. Her A Paradise Built in Hell4 becomes a tale about moments of altruism, resourcefulness, and generosity arising amidst disasters´ grief and disruption. Books like the ones of Solnit and Camus indicate a vision of what social systems could become if they were less authoritarian and fearful, and more collaborative and local.

They indicate that most of the panicking and selfish behaviour originates from governing elites fearful of the threat that ”common” people will not get along without them and accordingly oust them from office. Many politicians become victims of an abstract thinking that makes them prone to intervene without listening to the needs and fears of the victims of a disaster and thus run the risk that their actions might even be to the detriment of a devastated community.

Is such thinking behind the muddled messages of a world leader like Donald Trump? For more than two months he was in a state of denial about an upcoming pandemic, thus putting millions at risk. Against all expertise Trump predicted a worst case scenario where ”cases in a few days time” would go down from a ”handful to zero”. It was only after the stock market sell-off increased in speed that he finally recognized that some action was needed.

Trump´s lack of empathy is flagrant. He and his minions continue to treat the coronavirus as a PR problem, a political problem, and a business problem, downplaying the severity of the pandemic by urging people to continue life like everything is normal. A week ago, Trump tweeted: ”We cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself.” Accordingly, the world´s most powerful man casts doubt on his resolve in the fight against a mass killer.

Trump acts like the power greedy politicians in Camus´ and Solnit´s books, who abided in an absurd and secluded bubble made up of their own greed and narcissism. Persons unaware of Kant´s categorical imperative to act in such a way that their behaviour might become a universal law, or as former homeland security advisor Thomas Bossert expressed it: ”It’s reasonable to plan for the U.S. to top the list of countries with the most cases in approximately one week. This does NOT make social intervention futile. It makes it imperative!”5 This was stated more than a week ago and the U.S. is now topping the list of Coronavirus afflicted individuals, while Trump is still dragging his feet.

1 Seth, Vikram (1990) All You Who Sleep Tonight. New York: Knopf/Doubleday.
2 Camus, Albert (2000) The Outsider. London: Penguin Modern Classics.
3 Camus, Albert (2002) The Plague. London: Penguin Modern Classics.
4 Solnit, Rebecca (2010) A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Rise in Disaster. London: Penguin Books.
5 Haberman, Maggie and David E. Sanger (2020) ”Trump Says Coronavirus Cure Cannot ´Be Worse Than the Problem Itself´,” The New York Times, March 23.

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

The post The Need for Empathy in the Time of Coronavirus appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Credit: UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 1 2020 (IPS)

The deadly, fast-spreading coronavirus which upended three key UN conferences—on the empowerment of women, on nuclear disarmament and on indigenous rights—claimed another casualty last week when a commemorative meeting on the transatlantic slave trade was postponed.

A visibly disappointed president of the 193-member General Assembly, Tijjani Muhammad-Bande of Nigeria, said the postponement of the commemorative event was “regrettable” and was “the result of the continuing evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The widespread pandemic, he pointed out, reinforces the fact that “we have a duty to open our minds to the lived experiences of others”: the 15 million Africans who were forcibly removed from their homelands and subjected to “heinous cruelty and robbed of their dignity, freedom, and identities”.

“The onus is upon every Member State to eradicate trafficking, forced labour, servitude and slavery. None of us will be truly free whilst these people suffer”, he noted.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who is desperately trying to keep the world body functioning despite a forced shutdown, warned that the transatlantic slave trade was “one of the biggest crimes in the history of mankind.”

“And we continue to live in its shadow,” he said, even as modern-day slavery has raised its ugly head in a far corner of the world, involving a Samoan-born chief who was found guilty of more than 20 charges of dealing in slaves and human trafficking in New Zealand.

According to a March 17 British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) report, Joseph Auga Matamata, 65, was convicted of offences over a 25-year period.

His victims, all of them Samoan, were “too scared to alert the authorities because of his status as a matai or chief.”

Each of the 13 slavery charges on which he was convicted carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison. “It is the first time someone has been charged with both slavery and human trafficking in New Zealand”, BBC said.

Matamata faces up to 20 years in jail or a fine of nearly $300,000 for the human-trafficking convictions. Sentencing will take place on 6 May, BBC reported.

Formerly known as Western Samoa, the South Pacific island nation was governed by New Zealand until its independence in 1962.

Credit: UNICEF/UN052608/Romenzi

Karolin Seitz, Director of Global Policy Forum’s Business and Human Rights Programme, based in Bonn, told IPS it should be welcomed that with this decision, New Zealand is showing its engagement in the fight against modern-day slavery.

In many other countries, however, and especially in transnational cases of human rights violations by companies, high barriers to access to justice remain. Improvements in effective legal measure for people affected are overdue globally, she said.

“The current negotiations in the UN Human Rights Council on a legally binding treaty on business and human rights are an important step towards achieving this aim”.

While several elements still need clarification and improvement, she pointed out, the revised draft of such a treaty puts an important focus on the rights of the victims and access to remedy and justice in cases of human rights violations by companies.

“If New Zealand wants to show its real commitment to ending slavery and human trafficking globally, it should constructively support the formulation of an international treaty and finally participate in the upcoming negotiations in October 2020,” said Seitz.

After an exhaustive study of modern-day slavery, the Geneva-based International Labour Organization (ILO) concluded there are over 40 million people who are victims of slavery, including 25 million in forced labour and 15 million in forced marriages – with at least 71 percent of them comprising women and girls.

Tsitsi Matekaire, a Global Lead for Equality Now’s End Sex Trafficking programme, told IPS it is commendable that the New Zealand government has secured a conviction in this case.

Governments must also ensure that victims are properly supported to rebuild their lives after their traumatic experiences. “We hope that a strong support system has been put in place in this instance for the 13 Samoan victims,” she added.

“Human trafficking is a serious crime and a grave violation of human rights”.

Every year, she pointed out, many thousands of vulnerable people fall prey to traffickers and are trafficked and exploited in both their own countries and abroad. Nations across the world are affected by human trafficking, whether as a country of origin, transit or destination for victims.

“Intersecting inequality, discrimination, and abuse of power are root causes of human trafficking and exploitation,” said Matekaire, a former Program Manager at Womankind Worldwide providing program and advocacy support to women’s rights organizations in Ethiopia, Uganda and Zimbabwe on ending violence against women, and promoting women’s civil and political participation

She said these factors lead to marginalization and poverty for certain groups of people and increase their vulnerability to human trafficking.

“Women and girls are disproportionately disadvantaged by inequality, poverty, and discrimination, and account for the majority of victims of human trafficking globally”

Marginalised racial, ethnic, and socially excluded communities, migrants and LGBTQ+ people are also more vulnerable to human trafficking and exploitation, she added.

A key driver for human trafficking, she argued, is the huge profits that traffickers and others in the exploitation chain make. Considered the world’s fastest growing criminal enterprise, the ILO estimates that human trafficking generates annual profits of 150 billion dollars a year.

Prosecution of exploiters should be a key priority for all governments. It is vital that perpetrators are punished appropriately for their actions and prevented from committing further harm, she noted.

This also sends a strong message to society that human trafficking and exploitation are intolerable and perpetrators will be held fully to account. In parallel to this, authorities need to ensure victims receive both the justice and support they deserve, and this is provided in a timely fashion, she added.

“It is commendable that the New Zealand government has secured a conviction in this case. Governments must also ensure that victims are properly supported to rebuild their lives after their traumatic experiences. We hope that a strong support system has been put in place– in this instance for the 13 Samoan victims,” Matekaire declared.

This is part of a series of features from across the globe on human trafficking. IPS coverage is supported by the Airways Aviation Group.

The Global Sustainability Network ( GSN ) is pursuing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal number 8 with a special emphasis on Goal 8.7 which ‘takes immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labour in all its forms’.

The origins of the GSN come from the endeavours of the Joint Declaration of Religious Leaders signed on 2 December 2014. Religious leaders of various faiths, gathered to work together “to defend the dignity and freedom of the human being against the extreme forms of the globalisation of indifference, such us exploitation, forced labour, prostitution, human trafficking” and so forth.

The writer can be contacted at thalifdeen@ips.org

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The post Modern Day Slavery Reaches a Far Corner of the World appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Thibault Fornier lives in an ex-French colony, but is enamoured with all things British.

How Burkina Faso's Hugues Fabrice Zango - who was hoping to be his country's first Olympic medalist at Tokyo 2020 - is changing his mentality to cope with the coronoavirus lockdown.

Water falls through these enormous pipes to activate the 20 turbines of the Itaipu hydroelectric plant on the Brazilian-Paraguayan border. Credit: Mario Osava/IPS

By Leonardo Beltran
MEXICO, Mar 31 2020 (IPS)

This year started with the news of the appearance of a new virus, COVID-19. The impact and severity of its effects in public health, mortality and the world economy are overwhelming. No public health system was prepared for this crisis, and yet governments are reacting deploying different policies to mitigate the crisis, and recover as fast as possible.

However, public opinion is divided, some support a more stringent approach on human liberties, others more emphasis on the economy, but the reality is that this is a false dilemma. You cannot privilege one over the other, because without health you cannot produce, and without production or sustenance there is no health.

If governments reorient SOEs mandate towards sustainability, they will have at their disposal the tools arising from their 2030 ASD and Paris Agreement commitments

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its 2014 report warned about the risks of global warming, in particular for health and the economy.

In terms of health, the risks of vector-borne diseases will generally increase with warming, due to the expansion of the season and area of infection, despite reductions in some areas that will become too warm for disease vectors.

In economic terms, systemic risks due to extreme weather events that would lead to the collapse of infrastructure networks and essential services, and the risk of food and water insecurity and loss of livelihoods and incomes in rural areas, particularly for poor populations.

Today we are observing with COVID-19 the vulnerability or our public health systems and the combined effect of the fragility of the economy globally. To the extent that we continue without adjusting our way of production and consumption, global warming will continue to accelerate, precipitating the materialization of negative impacts for biodiversity, ecosystem services, economic development, and aggravating risks to livelihoods and for food and human security.

Moreover, if we are to prepare for this future, governments in designing their recovery plans can assess their alternatives and support a sustainable growth path. In 2015, the world agreed upon a new vision that would guide their actions in the future adopting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2030 ASD) and signing the Paris Agreement.

These agreements included a set of tools to assist countries select their most efficient pathway towards low carbon development. In fact, recovery after the pandemic would be easier if governments “walk the talk on climate change” reorienting their State-Owned Enterprises towards sustainability.

 

Credit: United Nations

 

2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development [1]

In September 2015, the heads of state and government at the UN headquarters in New York City adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The international community committed to promote the sustainable development agenda in its three dimensions – economic, social and environmental – in a balanced and integrated manner, for which it is essential to guarantee lasting protection of the planet and its natural resources and where there is universal access to a supply of affordable, reliable and sustainable energy.

One of the key elements in the 2030 ASD includes a commitment to enhance international cooperation to facilitate access to advanced and cleaner fossil-fuel technology.

 

Paris Agreement [2]

On December 12, 2015, in Paris during the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Convention Framework on Climate Change the international community signed the Paris Agreement, an international treaty in which for the first time all nations came together into a common cause to undertake joint efforts to combat climate change and adapt to its effects.

The Paris Agreement has two fundamental pieces to fight climate change. First, foster low Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHGs) development by incorporating carbon planning in government policy, and the second, finance flows consistent with a pathway towards a low carbon economy.

 

Walking the Talk on Climate Change

Today more than ever, if governments are to respond according to the crisis, one of the best instruments they have are their State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs).

SOEs have a competitive advantage in their readiness to emerge from a crisis and embrace the international new low-carbon development framework, for three reasons: corporate governance, mandate and scale.

1. Corporate governance. SOEs have an institutional structure in which there are representatives of the government. Therefore, board members representing the State would be careful enough to voice and reflect the views of the government administration into the assessments and performance of the SOE.
2. Mandate. SOEs typically are seen as a mean to pursue development strategies of the sector, or as tools to buy into foreign technologies and know-how. Thus, embedding sustainability into the mission of the SOE on one hand, would be easier given that usually the majority of the board members are government officials; and on the other, an SOE normally operates in sectors that are deemed strategic for the state, energy being one of those, and sustainability would certainly would have an effect in the way SOE corporate policy is conducted.
3. Scale. SOEs in the energy sector represent 70% of all the assets of oil and gas production, and around 60% of the coal power plants globally [3].  Therefore, to accelerate the recovery and the pace towards low-carbon development, size matters, and in this case, given that SOEs dominate the energy sector, a policy focused on low carbon growth naturally has to be led by SOEs.

 

If governments reorient SOEs mandate towards sustainability, they will have at their disposal the tools arising from their 2030 ASD and Paris Agreement commitments. These jurisdictions would be able to move faster in their low-carbon recovery pathways, promoting an innovation ecosystem with technology, finance and carbon planning tools to spur new markets and business models needed to adapt to this new future.

Therefore, an opportunity for governments to speed up recovery and walk the talk on climate change is by reorienting their SOEs towards sustainability, driving their mission and their Raison D´être.

There are a number of benefits for the different stakeholders.

For the government, the new mandate would open access to the resources (technology, finance and carbon planning tools) available in the 2030 ASD and the Paris Agreement; it would be consistent both with the national and international obligations on climate action, and it will send a strong signal of the commitment of the national government to tackle the challenges posed by climate change.

For the SOEs, it would improve their competitiveness by aligning their mission to the new low carbon development architecture, and especially by granting them access to climate finance, clean energy technology and carbon planning tools.

For the general public, it would be easier to hold accountable their governments, assess the value of taking climate action, and eventually to enjoy the social revenue of a low carbon future.

 

[1] UN General Assembly, Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, 21 October 2015, A/RES/70/1, available here

[2] Paris Agreement to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Dec. 12, 2015, T.I.A.S. No. 16-1104.

[3]  Prag, A., D. Röttgers and I. Scherrer (2018), “State-Owned Enterprises and the Low-Carbon Transition”, OECD Environment Working Papers, No. 129, OECD Publishing, Paris.

 

The post Walking the Talk on Climate Change after the Pandemic: Reorienting State-Owned Enterprises towards Sustainability appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Leonardo Beltran is Non-Resident Fellow of the Institute of the Americas, Member of the Board of SEforALL, and former Deputy Secretary at the Mexican Department of Energy

The post Walking the Talk on Climate Change after the Pandemic: Reorienting State-Owned Enterprises towards Sustainability appeared first on Inter Press Service.

With this week's Nations Cup qualifiers postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic, why not share your favourite Afcon moments with us?

Credit: Education Cannot Wait

By External Source
Mar 31 2020 (IPS-Partners)

Armed conflicts, forced displacement, climate change induced disasters and protracted crises have disrupted the education of 75 million children and youth globally. And that number is growing in an unprecedented way with the spread of COVID-19. Education has been hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 pandemic with 1.53 billion learners out of school and 184 country-wide school closures, impacting 87.6% of the world’s total enrolled learners. Drop-out rates across the globe are likely to rise as a result of this massive disruption to education access.

While other critical needs such as health, water and sanitation are being responded to, educational needs cannot be forgotten and these have an equally detrimental impact if left unaddressed. The ‘pile-on effect’ of the coronavirus is that, during the global COVID-19 pandemic, interruptions to education can have long term implications — especially for the most vulnerable. There is a real risk of regression for children whose basic, foundational learning (reading, math, languages, etc.) was not strong to begin with. And millions of children who have already been deprived of their right to education, particularly girls, are being more exposed to health and well-being risks (both psychosocial and physical) during COVID-19. These are the children and youth we at Education Cannot Wait (ECW) prioritize, including:

• Girls: Young and adolescent girls are twice as likely to be out of school in crisis situations and face greater barriers to education and vulnerabilities such as domestic/gender-based violence when not in school.
• Refugees, displaced and migrant children: These populations often fall between the cracks as national policies might not necessarily include these vulnerable groups and they must be included and catered for in any global responses to this crisis if this has not already occurred.
• Children and youth with disabilities: Along with other marginalized populations, including children from minority groups, are neglected in the best of times and have lower educational outcomes than their peers.
• Young people affected by trauma or mental health issues: Schools and learning centers are places for communities to address health related issues, including mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS), which the most vulnerable students rely on for their wellbeing and development in order to learn.

Without access to education, as shocks are experienced – including loss of life, health impacts and loss of livelihoods – children are more vulnerable and unprotected. As household finances are being strained and needs increase, out-of-school children are more likely to be exposed to risks like family violence, child labor, forced marriage, trafficking and exploitation, including by responders. For the most vulnerable children, education is lifesaving. Not only does it provide safety and protection, importantly, it also instils hope for a brighter future.

So continuing education through alternative learning pathways, as soon as possible, must also be a top priority right now, to ensure the interruption to education is as limited as possible. We urgently need to support teachers, parents/caregivers, innovators, communications experts and all those who are positioned to provide education, whether through radio programmes, home-schooling, online learning and other innovative approaches.

What does this mean for responders like ECW? In the short term, this means we must maintain access to learning and ensure kids retain knowledge and skills (i.e. through temporary remote, alternative or distance learning programmes). In the medium term, this means catching up and transitioning students who have fallen behind or had a break in their education to re-join their level of schooling and competency (i.e. automatic promotion with a mandatory catchup/remedial period at the beginning). In the longer term, this means there is a need for education systems to be set up with contingency capacities to mitigate and manage risk in the future.

The post COVID-19 and Education in Emergencies appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Jewel Fraser
PORT OF SPAIN, Mar 31 2020 (IPS)

A Trinidad and Tobago parliamentary report in 2018 made two disturbing observations about that country’s quarry sector:

• Of the 67 mining operators on record, only 6 were operating with current licenses;
•  The State loses large sums in the form of unpaid/uncollected royalties from quarry companies.

This unregulated state of affairs is also having an adverse impact on the environment since many quarry companies do not follow environmentally sustainable practices. But the government is hoping that a Global Environment Facility-funded project, IWEco, will change that. 

Alicia Aquing, Project coordinator with IWEco believes a quarry rehabilitation project that IWECo is carrying out in northeast Trinidad will inspire quarry companies to operate sustainably by virtue of lessons learned from her model site. It’s a big challenge in view of the many problems plaguing the industry. A  white paper on the industry noted problems in  the sector ranging from the presence of criminal elements; biodiversity loss, stress on the natural  water systems and deforestation caused by illegal quarrying or poor practices; to the problem of weak regulatory agencies unable to enforce laws governing the sector.

As for the 61 unlicensed companies, the Parliamentary report later clarifies that these refer to mineral processing plants whereas there were 42 licensed quarry operators in 2015 and another 46 operating under expired licences.

In this Voices from the Global South podcast, IPS Caribbean correspondent Jewel Fraser pays a visit to the IWECO rehabilitation site to learn more about what it is doing.

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The post GEF Project to be Game-changer for Trinidad Quarries appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

IPS correspondent Jewel Fraser finds out whether a GEF-funded project can really help Trinidad and Tobago quarry companies be environmentally responsible.

The post GEF Project to be Game-changer for Trinidad Quarries appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Rohingya refugee children attend an open-air Arabic school at Kutupalong Refugee Camp in Cox's Bazar. Because of the pandemic, such gatherings are no longer possible. Photo: Reuters

By Athena Rayburn
Mar 31 2020 (IPS-Partners)

All around the world, the numbers are climbing. Each day registers thousands of new cases and lives lost. In Europe, now the epicenter of the pandemic, governments know that the worst is yet to come and are implementing increasingly restrictive measures to enforce social distancing and isolation. In Cox’s Bazar, we have been watching the world and holding our breath for the first confirmed case of Covid-19. With reports of the first confirmed case in the local community in Cox’s Bazar, it’s just a matter of time until the virus reaches the vulnerable population living in cramped conditions in the largest refugee settlement on earth. Thousands of people could die.

One million Rohingya refugees, half of whom are children, have been sheltering in sprawling camps in Cox’s Bazar since August 2017, when they were forced to flee their homes in the face of horrific violence. For almost three years, Rohingya refugees have been telling us they want to go home and resume normal life. They want their children to go to school and for families separated by the conflict to be reunited. So far, international attempts to hold Myanmar accountable for alleged crimes against the Rohingya and improve conditions in Rakhine state have failed spectacularly. In short, it will be years until the Rohingya see justice.

As global life grinds to a halt in a bid to contain the coronavirus, we must remember that for the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, their lives have already been in limbo for years; it is their status quo, and it will not end with the containment of coronavirus.

If there is one lesson for refugees that we must take away from this crisis—it must be that refugee camps, and a life in limbo, should never be considered an acceptable long-term solution. We must challenge perceptions that because the Rohingya in Cox’s Bazar escaped Myanmar with their lives, they are safe. The coronavirus is a warning to us that there is not endless time to resolve the issues in Myanmar that would finally allow the Rohingya to return home. While the people and Government of Bangladesh have generously continued to shelter the Rohingya for years, life in the camps is not safe.

Children, in particular girls, are at a high risk of exploitation, violence and trafficking. Rohingya refugees do not have access to livelihood opportunities to help them support their families.

We are now witnessing the impact that coronavirus is having in communities that can social distance, wash hands and have access to strong healthcare systems, yet this virus has still brought them to their knees. In the densely packed camps of Cox’s Bazar, options of social distancing or self-isolation are remote, with many refugees living in cramped conditions in makeshift shelters made of bamboo and tarpaulin. Even simple hygiene practices such as regular hand washing become complicated feats of logistical planning when access to clean water is severely limited.

The Government of Bangladesh and humanitarian agencies have sprung into action. Rohingya refugees are included in the Government’s national plan to respond to Covid-19, food distribution agencies are developing new ways to distribute food that minimises close person to person contact. Rohingya volunteers are mobilising throughout the camps to spread hygiene and prevention messaging that will protect their families and loved ones. Volunteers from the host community are being trained too, supporting everything from delivering awareness trainings to implementing referral mechanisms and medical treatment. The humanitarian agencies in Cox’s Bazar have already stripped back to essential-only services like healthcare and food distribution. This is a necessary step to ensure we are reducing the chances of transmission and minimising the impact of this disease on the Rohingya community, but, this decision too, will come at a cost. Just two months ago, the Bangladeshi Government approved the use of the Myanmar school curriculum in the camps, but children’s education will now have to be suspended to contain the coronavirus. Our child-friendly spaces are closed and may be repurposed for medical use if the need arises. Rohingya children are now not only at risk of Covid-19 but will have to face this challenge without access to their regular support systems or safe spaces to play.

We will do whatever we can to work with the Government of Bangladesh and Rohingya refugees to protect them from Covid-19. But the fact remains, Rohingya children should not be living in these camps. They should not have to fight a global pandemic with the bare minimum needed to survive. They should be at home, at school; playing and learning. At a time when there are more displaced people around the world than ever before—the coronavirus has exposed how our systems fail the most vulnerable. Our global mechanisms for accountability and the protection of human rights have failed the Rohingya so far—it is absolutely essential that we do not fail them again. This is a global pandemic and the virus is now hitting the most vulnerable communities. We must come together. Only a global response will stop the spread of the virus everywhere. This means the international community must step up to offer medical support, testing kits, share data and provide much needed funding to support the response. But stepping up also means so much more than that. When the dust settles, when planes start flying again and the borders re-open—we cannot go back to “business as usual”, we cannot assume we have endless time to resolve this crisis, that Rohingya children can wait. Rohingya children must be afforded a future of hope and opportunity, like every child deserves. We may not have the power to safeguard against another pandemic. But we do have the power to ensure it isn’t the most vulnerable that end up paying the heaviest price.

Athena Rayburn is Save the Children’s Humanitarian Advocacy Manager, based in Cox’s Bazar.

This story was originally published by The Daily Star, Bangladesh

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