Africa

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

By Ignatius Banda
BULAWAYO, Feb 6 2020 (IPS)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Excerpt:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Excerpts from the interview:

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

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

Tahir Ahmad

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

CD: What will Humanity First prioritise?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CD: What makes you hopeful?

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

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

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

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

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

Excerpt:

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

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

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

By Abdullah Shibli
Feb 6 2020 (IPS-Partners)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This story was originally published by The Daily Star, Bangladesh

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Credit: Amnesty International

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Credit: Amnesty International

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The writer can be contacted at thalifdeen@aol.com

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

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

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Agricultural, construction, mining and other outdoor workers are facing highest productivity loss from extreme heat. Credit: Manipadma Jena/IPS

By Manipadma Jena
NEW DEHLI, Feb 5 2020 (IPS)

Last June when more than half of India was reeling under daily temperatures topping 40 degrees Celsius, Nursing Behera’s 11-month-old son burned both his legs when a pot of boiling water fell on him.

In their tin shack, for three days the child neither slept nor ate, whimpering in pain.

“It’s a furnace in summer our one-room hut, the table fan only pushes out hotter air. For three days I missed work, sat next to my little boy and wracked my mind how I could bring him a little relief,” Behera, a daily-wage meat cutter in a small chicken and egg outlet in eastern India’s Bhubaneswar city, told IPS.

He then thought to purchase a huge slab of ice – one as big as full-grown man. He wheeled it into the hut, angled the fan over it for a cool breeze and placed his son near it. It was only after this that his son’s burns scabbed up.

The accident, and the extreme heat that made it difficult for the boy to recover quickly, cost Behera. Not only in the wages he lost for not going to work for three days, but also in the costs to purchase and transport the ice. In total it was 15 days wages that had been lost.

But loss in labour productivity due to extreme heat could cost India 2.5 to 4.5 percent of its GDP by 2030 finds a McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) report released in January.

India, like most developing countries, heavily relies on manual labour. As of 2017, heat-exposed work has produced about half of India’s GDP, the report notes. According to World Bank data, India’s GDP stands at $2.719 trillion. In India heat-exposed employment, where workers are exposed to extreme heat or high outdoor temperatures such as in the construction and farming industries, comprises as much as 75 percent of its total labour force.

“By 2050, it is expected that some parts of India will be under such intense heat and humidity duress that working outside would effectively not be viable for almost 30 percent of annual daylight hours,” Mekala Krishnan, senior fellow at MGI and co-author of the report, told IPS.

“Record-breaking temperatures year after year place outdoor workers on the frontlines of climate change. Construction, outdoor and informal workers are exceptionally vulnerable to extreme weather,” Anjali Jaiswal, senior director of the India programme at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a New York headquartered non-profit environmental advocacy group, told IPS.

The trajectory of heatwaves in India has been calamitous. From 44 heatwaves in 1970, the numbers have catapulted to 524 heatwaves in 2017, reducing slightly to 484 in 2018, according to government data.

A 2015 heatwave claimed 2081 lives, the most since 1970. As a result, from that year, heatwaves have been categorised as a national disaster, along with floods, earthquakes and others. 

Effect of extreme heat on outdoor workers’ physical and mental health

As heat and humidity increase, labour productivity in outdoor work will drop because workers will need to take longer and more frequent breaks to avoid heatstroke. Moreover, their bodies will protectively fatigue, in a so-called self-limiting process, to avoid overheating.

India’s deadly 2015 heatwaves got researchers out in the sun asking outdoor construction workers how the extreme climate was affecting their health and productivity. The study said most workers reported increased tiredness and exhaustion, some suffered dizziness, nausea, loss of appetite, weakness and fainting spells. Still others said exposure to direct solar radiation blurred their vision, also impaired their judgement, made them light-headed in the evening and irritable. Most complained of musculoskeletal pain, which is triggered by loss of body salts from excessive sweating. 

However, workers did not report these health issues to supervisors. They perceived these injuries as part of their job or they feared negative consequences from the employer. Leave from work meant lost wages, they told researchers.

Labour productivity loss cuts into the national economy

“We estimate that the effective number of outdoor daylight hours lost in an average year because of diminished labour productivity would increase by about 15 percent by 2030 compared with today,” Krishnan who leads the McKinsey Global Institute’s research on gender economics, inclusive growth, and economic development, told IPS.

“This adds up equivalent to an additional four weeks of heat-related work stoppage, from 11 am to 4 pm, assuming a 12-hour workday,” she added.

When four weeks of productivity loss per worker is multiplied by the hundreds of thousands outdoor workers in large parts of India, it can add up quickly to hit the GDP.

By 2030 over half of the world’s population will live in hot climates with increasing exposure to potentially dangerous heat conditions according to international organisation Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL).

India could become one of the world’s first places to experience heatwaves that cross the survivability limit for a healthy person, if no significant decarbonisation or adaptation measures are undertaken, the McKinsey report said.

In many regions, warming has already surpassed 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial period (1861–1880). Heatwaves already kill an estimated 12,000 people annually across the world, a number the World Health Organization says will grow to 255,000 people per year by 2050 if global warming grows unchecked.

Extreme heat will fuel more economic inequality

“Long working hours in the hot sun, lack of income and access to cooling and water, often along with poor living conditions are additional stressors,” Jaiswal said.

“Indeed, one of the characteristics of climate risk highlighted in the McKinsey report is its regressive nature. Poorer regions often have climates that are closer to physical thresholds. They rely more on outdoor work and natural capital and may have fewer financial means to adapt quickly,” Krishnan said.

Without sustainable cooling, it will be the developing world that feels the most significant “productivity penalty,” according to Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) — an initiative launched by the United Nations to help achieve universal energy access.

‘In a warming world, cooling is not a luxury. It is an issue of equity,’ SE4ALL holds.

Today, air conditioner penetration is roughly 10 percent across India’s 1.3 billion population, compared to roughly 60 percent across China, cites the McKinsey study.

But beyond purely economic loss, there is the ‘social cost of carbon’ climatologists said. Climate crises potentially impact millions of people with knock-on long-term social effects as illustrated by Behera’s case where his family’s health, associated mental trauma played havoc.

India is adapting to extreme heat but not fast enough

India is already acting on several short to medium-term adaptation action. “Through the heat action plans (HAP), more work breaks are provided during peak heat periods, more medical officers are trained to identify extreme heat symptoms, and drinking water is being widely provided in cities by non-profits,” Jaiswal said adding, “most importantly, state and city governments have early warning systems that warn communities ahead of time of upcoming heat events.”

In India, 23 states and over 100 cities are working on heat action plans, led by the government’s National Disaster Management Authority in partnership with the Indian Meteorological Department, NRDC and the Indian Institute of Public Health.

MGI estimates it would cost India up to $110 billion by 2030 to address some of the lethal heat-waves risks, including adequate air conditioning penetration. Capacity and knowledge building, investment in adaptive technology and infrastructure, and supporting the economy’s transition away from outdoor work are some obvious adaptation steps. In 2019,‘India Cooling Action Plan’ – a 20-year policy road map (2018 to 2038) to address the sustainable cooling requirements – was brought in.

On heat health insurance for India’s outdoor workers MGI’s Krishnan told IPS that, “While insurance cannot eliminate the risk from a changing climate, it is a crucial shock absorber to help manage risk. Insurance can help provide system resilience to recover more quickly from disasters and reduce knock-on effects.”

“However, as the climate changes, insurance needs to be further adapted to continue providing resilience and, in some cases, to avoid potentially adding vulnerability to the system,” she added.

Related Articles

• Women in Climate Hot Spots Face Challenges Adapting
• Running from the Storm – How Bangladesh’s Climate Migrants are Becoming Food Secure

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The draw for the knock-out stage of the Confederation Cup has been held in Cairo, with last year's runners-up Renaissance Berkane of Morocco set to meet Egypt's Al Masry.

Tim the elephant had tusks so long, they reached the ground. He died of natural causes.

The killing of the prime minister's estranged wife has turned into a case worthy of a crime novel.

Odion Ighalo says he was so desperate to join Manchester United he took a pay cut to make the deal happen.

The prime minister's wife is formally charged with murdering her husband's previous wife in 2017.

Though most developed countries treat sewage, treatment levels do not generally remove nutrients from the wastewater that is discharged. One exception is the state of Maryland (U.S.) where all major sewage treatment plants are required to upgrade to enhanced nutrient removal technologies that will remove most of the nutrients from the wastewater. Credit: Chesapeake Bay Program

By Manzoor Qadir and Vladimir Smakhtin
HAMILTON, Canada, Feb 5 2020 (IPS)

Vast amounts of valuable energy, agricultural nutrients, and water could be recovered from the world’s fast-growing volume of municipal wastewater.

Some 380 billion cubic meters (1 m3 = 1000 litres) of wastewater are produced annually worldwide — five times the amount of water passing over Niagara Falls annually. That’s enough to fill Africa’s Lake Victoria in roughly seven years, Lake Ontario in four.

Furthermore, wastewater volumes are increasing quickly, with a projected rise of roughly 24% by 2030, 51% by 2050.

Looked at another way, the volume of wastewater roughly equals the annual discharge from the Ganges River in India. By the mid-2030s, it will roughly equal the annual volume flowing through the St. Lawrence River, which drains North America’s five Great Lakes.

Among major nutrients, 16.6 million metric tonnes of nitrogen are embedded in the world’s current annual volume of wastewater, together with 3 million metric tonnes of phosphorus and 6.3 million metric tonnes of potassium.

Theoretically, the recovery of these nutrients could offset 13.4% of global agricultural demand for them.

Recovery of these nutrients in that quantity could generate revenue of $13.6 billion globally at current prices: $9.0 billion in nitrogen, $2.3 billion in phosphorus, and $2.3 billion in potassium.

The energy embedded in wastewater, meanwhile, could provide electricity to 158 million households — roughly the number of households in the USA and Mexico combined.

Beyond the economic gains, environmental benefits of recovering these nutrients include minimizing eutrophication — the phenomenon of excess nutrients causing dense plant growth and aquatic animal deaths due to lack of oxygen.

In its new study, funded by the Government of Canada, the UN University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) provide these estimates and projections based on a new analysis of the world’s total annual wastewater production.

In many countries, official data on wastewater is often scattered, poorly monitored and reported, or simply unavailable. Nonetheless, our study offers important approximations of global and regional wastewater volumes and insights into its potential benefits.

Our study found that Asia is the largest wastewater producing region by volume — an estimated 159 billion cubic meters, representing 42% of urban wastewater generated globally, with that proportion expected to rise to 44% by 2030.

Other top wastewater-producing regions: North America (67 billion cubic meters) and Europe (68 billion cubic meters) — virtually equal volumes despite Europe’s higher urban population (547 million vs. North America’s 295 million).

The difference is explained by per capita generation: Europeans 124 cubic meters; North Americans 231 cubic meters).

By contrast, Sub-Saharan Africa produces 46 cubic meters of wastewater per capita — about half the global average (95 cubic meters), reflecting limited water supply and poorly-managed wastewater collection systems in most urban settings.

Achieving a high rate of return on wastewater resource recovery will require overcoming a range of constraints. But success would significantly advance progress against the Sustainable Development Goals and others, including adaptation to climate change, ‘net-zero’ energy processes, and a green, circular economy.

It is important to note that many innovative technologies are available today and are being refined to narrow the gap between current and potential resource recovery levels. In the case of phosphorous, for example, recovery rates of up to 90% are already possible.

Also needed to advance progress: to leverage private capital by creating a supportive regulatory and financial environment, particularly in low- and middle-income countries where most municipal wastewater still goes into the environment untreated.

Municipal wastewater was and often still is simply deemed to be filth. However, attitudes are changing with the growing recognition of the enormous potential economic returns and other environmental benefits its proper management represents.

As the demands for freshwater grow and scarce water resources are increasingly stressed, ignoring the opportunity for greater use of safely-managed wastewater is an unthinkable waste.

We hope this study helps inspire the development of national action plans leading to wastewater collection and resource recovery and reuse.

Safely managed, wastewater is a key achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 6.3, which calls on the world to halve the proportion of untreated wastewater, and to substantially increase its recycling and safe reuse globally by 2030.

*The paper, “Global and regional potential of wastewater as water, nutrient, and energy source,” is published by Wiley in Natural Resources Forum, a UN Sustainable Development Journal. Co-authors: Manzoor Qadir, Praem Mehta, UNU-INWEH, Canada; Younggy Kim, McMaster University, Canada; Blanca Jiménez Cisneros, UNAM, Mexico; Pay Drechsel, IWMI, Sri Lanka; Amit Pramanik, Water Research Foundation, USA; Oluwabusola Olaniyan, Winnipeg Water and Waste Department, Canada.

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Excerpt:

Vladimir Smakhtin is Director, and Manzoor Qadir is Assistant Director, of UNU-INWEH, a global leader in research related to unconventional water sources, supported by the Government of Canada through Global Affairs Canada and hosted by McMaster University.

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Former child solider Mulume Bujiriri* (front left) from the Democratic Republic of Congo. A new report on Children and Armed Conflict states that children allegedly associated with terrorist organisations should be treated as victims of terrorism, not accomplices and noted that often governments “criminalised” children instead of offering them the proper support. Credit: Einberger/argum/EED/IPS

By Samira Sadeque
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 5 2020 (IPS)

Counter-terrorism efforts adopted by governments around the world in response to threats of terrorism are affecting children negatively in numerous ways, a report by Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict (Watchlist) claimed last week. 

The policy note claimed a lot of these counter-terrorism measures “lack adequate safeguards for children” and lose sight of how they’re detrimental to children against the bigger picture of fighting terror threats. 

It further listed six ways in which children are affected through counter-terrorism efforts by states: treatment of children alleged to have terrorist affiliations; inability of governments to maintain internationally recognised juvenile justice standards; erosion of “principle of distinction”; being huddled in the definition of “foreign terrorist fighters”; denial of access to humanitarian needs brought upon by measures such as sanctions; and the Screening, Prosecution, Rehabilitation and Reintegration (SPRR) measures being loosely applied. 

Children allegedly associated with terrorist organisations should be treated as victims of terrorism, not accomplices, the report read, adding that too often governments instead “criminalise” children without providing them proper support. 

“Children have been tortured, subjected to ill-treatment, and unlawfully and/or arbitrarily detained on national security-related charges for their actual or alleged association with these groups,” read the report. 

Experts echo this sentiment.

“Children may also be vulnerable to recruitment and exploitation by these armed groups,” Joe English of United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) told IPS. “From north-east Nigeria to Somalia, Iraq and Syria to Yemen and beyond, children who have been recruited and exploited by armed groups in any kind of conflict are first and foremost victims whose rights have been violated.”

According to a 2019 U.N. report on terrorist exploitation of the youth, children can get recruited by terrorist units for a variety of reasons, such as their location and its proximity to a terrorist group, financial instability, societal perceptions or political marginalisation, and exposure to extremist propaganda — factors children have little control over. 

“We know that armed groups use duress, coercion, manipulation and violence to force or persuade children to join them, while some children may have lived in areas controlled by these armed groups have no meaningful choice but to associate with them,” says English. 

That is why it’s crucial that children are provided with care instead of further marginalisation if they are preyed upon by terrorist groups.

“All children in these situations, must be treated primarily as victims of human rights violations. Children affected by armed conflict should be supported with evidence-based services that aid their recovery and support their reintegration into communities,” says English of UNICEF, adding that the children should instead be provided support to “reintegrate into their communities and recover.”  

Meanwhile, it’s also important to ensure that international laws and procedures are followed in the event that children are detained. 

As the Watchlist report claims, special provisions designed for children in the justice system, as dictated by International Humanitarian Law (IHL), must be followed. 

English, of UNICEF, agrees. “Detention of children should only be a measure of last resort and for the shortest possible time,” he says. “Children should not be investigated or prosecuted for alleged crimes committed by their family members or for association with designated terrorist groups or other armed groups. Children should be provided with psychosocial services, legal assistance and support to reintegrate into their families and communities.”

While children are vulnerable to falling prey to terrorist ideology or recruiting due to a number of reasons, it’s not that the population is devoid of concerns about terrorism. According to a UNICEF survey conducted across 14 countries in 2017, violence and terrorism are concerns on children’s radars — as issues that they would be impacted by as well as issues their peers will suffer from. The survey included children from the ages of 9 to 18, according to English, who shared the data with IPS.

“Children across all 14 countries surveyed were equally concerned about terrorism with 65 percent of all children surveyed worrying a lot about this issue,” he said. 

As such, heavy concerns remain regarding children’s well-being in conflict-prone areas. There are numerous ways in which they can be affected, says English, echoing the findings of the Witness report. 

“Children are disproportionately victims of armed conflict, including conflicts with armed groups that target and terrify civilians,” he told IPS. “Children may be caught up in attacks themselves, or lose their parents, family members or caregivers. Their homes, schools or the hospitals and health clinics they rely on may come under attack.”

Currently UNICEF operates in 14 countries providing services to children on their path out of armed forces and armed groups, says English, and working with governments to advocate for children to be identified as victims so that their families receive support to rehabilitate them. 

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By Barilla Foundation
Feb 5 2020 (IPS-Partners)

Today, February 5, 2020, Italy is celebrating its seventh National Day against Food Waste.
According to the Food Sustainability Index, developed by Barilla Foundation with the Economist Intelligence Unit, every year Italians waste 65 kg of food per person.

This is an alarming figure considering that in addition to being an ethical problem, food waste fuels climate change, generating 8% of annual greenhouse gases.

Food lost or wasted every year around the world translates into a financial loss of 2.6 trillion dollars a year, while also wasting the natural resources used to produce it.

The fruit and vegetables we throw away every year in fact required over 73 million cubic meters of water to be produced, enough to fulfill the drinking water requirements of a whole region of Italy like Apulia for 153 days. Not to mention the fact that 28% of the land available around the world is used to produce food that isn’t consumed.

The figures for this waste show that we are facing a dramatic situation which, globally, is stopping us from achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN’s 2030 Agenda. Visit the Barilla Foundation website to find out all the projects, articles and publications put in place to better understand the causes and therefore identify the solutions in terms of food losses and waste.

Su-Eatable Life Project, a three-year initiative funded by the European Commission, designed to save about 5,300 tons of CO2 equivalent and around 2 million cubic meters of water related to food consumption in Europe, has been launched. With the support of an easy-to-use information system, sustainable menus will be introduced to company and university canteens (in Italy and the UK). Barilla Foundation is spearheading the project, working alongside GreenApes, Wageninen University and the Sustainable Restaurant Association.

Each of us can play a part in making a change! Here are a few tips to reduce waste in the home

1) Shop rationally: before you buy, check what you really need, make a list – and stick to it – remember that wasting food is also a waste of money
2) When you’re cooking, keep an eye on your quantities and only cook what you can eat
3) Check your labels: always check the ‘eat before’ dates
4) When storing food in the fridge, put the short-life food in front and store in the freezer what you are not likely to eat soon
5) Recipes to avoid food waste: don’t bin leftovers and food waste, they can be turned into new creative dishes

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Gold mine known as "Ocho muertos" ("Eight Dead") in Las Claritas, Venezuela. Credit: Clavel A. Rangel/HRW

By External Source
NEW YORK, Feb 5 2020 (IPS)

Residents of Venezuela’s southern Bolívar state are suffering amputations and other horrific abuses at the hands of armed groups, including Venezuelan groups called “syndicates” in the area and Colombian armed groups operating in the region, both of which exercise control over gold mines, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday, February 4.

The armed groups seem to operate largely with government acquiescence, and in some cases government involvement, to maintain tight social control over local populations.

“It is critical for gold buyers and refineries to ensure that any Venezuelan gold in their supply chains is not stained with the blood of Venezuelan victims.”

Venezuela has reserves of highly valued resources like gold, diamonds, and nickel, as well as coltan and uranium. Although the government has announced efforts to attract partners for legal mining and a crackdown on illegal mining, most gold mining in southern states, including Bolívar, is illegal, with much of the gold smuggled out of the country.

The various syndicates that control the mines exert strict control over the populations who live and work there, impose abusive working conditions, and viciously treat those accused of theft and other offenses – in the worst cases, they have dismembered and killed alleged offenders in front of other workers.

“Poor Venezuelans driven to work in gold mining by the ongoing economic crisis and humanitarian emergency have become victims of macabre crimes by armed groups that control illegal mines in southern Venezuela,” said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. “It is critical for gold buyers and refineries to ensure that any Venezuelan gold in their supply chains is not stained with the blood of Venezuelan victims.”

The operations of these illegal mines are also having a devastating impact on the environment and the health of workers, local sources said. Internal economic migration due to the economic and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela has increased the number of people seeking to work in mining areas. Many residents live in fear and are exposed to harsh working conditions, poor sanitation, and an extremely high risk of diseases such as malaria.

In October 2019, Human Rights Watch interviewed 21 people who had worked in mines or mining towns in Bolívar state in 2018 and 2019, including the mines near Las Claritas, El Callao, El Dorado, and El Algarrobo.

In October and November, Human Rights Watch interviewed 15 other people, including leaders of indigenous groups in the area, journalists and experts who visited the area recently, and family members of people working in mines, and reviewed reports by independent groups and media outlets, which were consistent with accounts from the people interviewed in the field. Human Rights Watch also reviewed satellite imagery that shows the growth of mining in this area.

 

Satellite image recorded as of January 3, 2020 shows the extension of Las Claritas mining site in Bolivar State, Venezuela. © 2020 Planet Labs

 

Numerous people interviewed said that many mines in Bolívar are under the tight control of Venezuelan syndicates or Colombian armed groups. The International Crisis Group has reported that both the Colombian rebel group National Liberation Army (Ejército de Liberación Nacional, ELN) and at least one dissident group that emerged from the demobilized Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, FARC) operate in the area. Several people interviewed also said that these groups were active in Bolívar.

People interviewed also said that Venezuelan authorities are aware of the illegal mining activities. Ten people who worked at the mines, two journalists covering the area, and a local indigenous leader said that state security agents have visited mining sites to collect bribes.

Some of these sources said they witnessed this. Two people working in the mines and the indigenous leader, interviewed by Human Rights Watch separately, claimed they saw a top official from the Nicolás Maduro government visit the mines in different incidents.

The armed groups, who are effectively in charge of the mines and the settlements that have grown up around them, brutally enforce their rule. “Everyone knows the rules,” one resident said. “If you steal or mix gold with another product, the pran [the syndicate leader] will beat or kill you.” Another said “They are the government there…. If you steal, they ‘disappear’ you.”

As detailed below, four residents said that they witnessed members of syndicates amputating or shooting the hands of people accused of stealing. Several other residents said they knew of cases in which syndicate members had cut offenders into pieces with a chainsaw, ax, or machete.

Residents are also exposed to mercury, which miners use to extract the gold, despite it being prohibited in Venezuela. Mercury can cause serious health problems, even in small amounts, with toxic effects on the nervous, digestive, and immune systems, and on lungs, kidneys, skin, and eyes.

Studies conducted in mining areas in Bolívar many years ago already found high levels of mercury exposure, including among women and children, for whom the health risks are even higher and, for pregnant women, include serious disability or death of the fetus and, if carried to term, the child.

In addition, residents described consistently harsh working conditions in the mines, including working 12-hour shifts without any protective gear and children as young as 10 working alongside adults.

The malaria epidemic affecting Venezuela is closely correlated with the upsurge of illegal mining in the south of Venezuela. Often, miners live outdoors in tents, which increases their exposure to mosquitoes. Deforested mining pits, which fill with rainwater, provide an excellent breeding environment for malaria-carrying mosquitoes.

 

Satellite imagery show a significant increase in the number and expansion of mining sites along Chicanan River in Bolivar State, Venezuela, since 2016. © 2020 Planet Labs

 

Nearly every person interviewed who had worked in mines or mining towns had had malaria, many of them multiple times. The public health system, amid the humanitarian emergency in the country, has not been able to provide treatment to everyone. Several interviewees said they sometimes had to purchase antimalarial drugs, which could cost up to two grams of gold, currently about US$100 on the international market.

Human Rights Watch has been unable to find any public information regarding investigations into the criminal responsibility of government officials or Venezuelan security forces implicated in these abuses.

On November 14, Human Rights Watch requested information from Venezuela’s authorities on the status of prosecutions against those responsible for abuses committed by armed groups in Bolívar, including government officials and members of Venezuelan security forces complicit in abuses, but has received no response.

Human Rights Watch was unable to identify whether any of the gold mined under the control of syndicates was sold or whether it is in the supply chain of any specific companies. Nonetheless, companies should be vigilant about gold from Venezuela and undertake human rights due diligence to identify, prevent, mitigate, and account for their impact on human rights connected to their operations, consistent with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

In the case of Venezuelan gold, this includes identifying and assessing risks in supply chains, monitoring a business’ human rights impact on an ongoing basis, publishing information about due diligence efforts, and having processes in place to remediate adverse human rights impacts of their actions.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has stated that businesses have an obligation to adopt due diligence procedures to ensure that the minerals they engage with do not come out of “conflict” or “high-risk” areas – that is, areas in which armed conflict, widespread violence, collapse of civil infrastructure, or other risks of harm to people are present.

“National and international companies buying gold from Venezuela should know whether it comes from mines in Bolívar state and should have due diligence procedures in place to ensure that their supply chains are free from illicit, exploitative, and violent activities,” Vivanco said.

“If companies find that their gold supply is linked to some of these abuses, or are unable to trace its source, they should work to fix those problems or cease working with those suppliers.”

 

This story was originally published by Human Rights Watch

 

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