Africa

Eyewitnesses describe their terror as a building containing a school collapsed in Lagos, Nigeria.

Former rebel fighters from South Sudan’s civil war, manually packing improved sorghum seed in Yambio, South Sudan. over 1,900 ex-fighters have been taken through rehabilitation programmes, and have been released to join vocational training and engage in agribusiness, with others being integrated into organised forces. Credit: Isaiah Esipisu/IPS

By Isaiah Esipisu
YAMBIO, South Sudan, Mar 13 2019 (IPS)

Almost a month to go ahead of the traditional rainy season in Gbudue State, 430 kilometres west of South Sudan’s capital, Juba, smallholder farmers are already tilling their land as they prepare to plant purer, drought-tolerant seeds.

“We are preparing our land this early because we are never sure when it is likely going to rain, and yet we cannot afford to miss out on the seed production programme, which is our new source of livelihood,” said Antony Ezekiel Ndukpo, a father of 19 children and a smallholder farmer based in Yambio region.

Africa’s youngest nation does not have reliable weather and climate information services, and this forces farmers to rely on traditional methods of forecasting, which are no longer accurate due to what experts say is climate change. However, the process of multiplying drought-tolerant seed is being taught to local farmers through a new initiative meant to promote peace in the country.

The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), in collaboration with the Gbudue State and the Netherlands government, is working with a local seed company and local smallholder farmers to produce fast-maturing improved seeds of different, drought-tolerant crop varieties that can be planted in the coming seasons by thousands of young men and women fighters who are returning home from the conflict.

Since 2013, South Sudan has experienced war between the government and opposition chiefs, which has led to deaths of thousands and the displacement of hundreds of thousands. According to the United Nations, since 2013 “more than 2.2 million refugees have fled across the border, famine in some areas, and a devastated economy.”

Antony Ezekiel Ndukpo with a packet of certified maize seed that he and other smallholders like him have produced in Gbudue State. Local smallholder farmers are being taught to produce fast-maturing improved seeds of different drought-tolerant crop varieties. Credit: Isaiah Esipisu/IPS

Farmers are taught how to take the pure versions of breeder’s and foundation seed and produce certified seed.

Breeder’s seed is produced from a pure or nucleus seed. This is further bred under supervised conditions into foundation seed for the sake of producing certified seed.

“As much as we are seeking peace, we must face the reality and use climate-smart techniques so as to make a meaningful change especially for a country that has just been at war,” said Dr Jane Ininda, a plant breeding expert at the AGRA.

“We need to give farmers drought-tolerant seeds because we are never sure of the climatic conditions ahead, and we need fast maturing varieties to escape the drought in case the duration of the rainy season turn out to be too short,” Ininda told IPS.

Over the course of the last six years a number of peace agreements have been signed, and as a result, many young people who had been recruited by rebel groups have begun returning home. In order to reintegrate them into normal life, the government wants them to start engaging in income-generating activities.

Previously “the government could apprehend and imprison all the ex-fighters returning from the bush,” Pia Philip Michael, the Gbudue State Minister for Education, Gender and Social Welfare, told IPS in an exclusive interview. “But we later found that most of them were children aged between 12 and 17 years, and the best way to help them was to draft a re-integration proposal and implement it.”

According to the minister, nearly all the returnees confessed that they joined the rebel groups because they were promised a constant salary of 200 dollars every month, and “this points to a livelihood issue,” he said.

According to the Governor of Gbudue State, Daniel Badagbu, guns cannot be used to win the war. “All we need is to create jobs, especially for the youth by introducing them to agribusiness and giving them livelihood skills through vocational trainings,” he told a United Nations Mission that visited Gbudue State late February.

In Gbudue State alone, over 1,900 ex-fighters have been taken through rehabilitation programmes, and have been released to join vocational training and engage in agribusiness, with others being integrated into organised forces.

“Creating livelihoods and economic empowerment is the only way of creating peace,” reiterated Badagbu.

“It all begins with seed,” said AGRA’s Ininda. “If we have to make a difference, then we need to avail certifiable seed to all famers, and it should be compatible with the prevailing climatic conditions,” she told IPS.

Unfortunately, the country does not have a system for seed certification in place. AGRA and its partners were forced to import breeder’s and foundation seed from the National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO) in Uganda.

With this seed, local seed company Global Agriculture Innovation and Solutions (GAIS) has trained 7,200 smallholder farmers in Gbudue and Lakes States on seed multiplication.

To multiply, the seed has to be planted in an isolated place, so that it does not collect pollen grains from other varieties of maize to maintain purity. The farmers are also taught about agronomic practices and what works best to ensure good quality seed, how to irrigate the seed in low rainfall in order to sustain growth. 

“In the two states, we concentrate on improved seeds of fast-maturing maize varieties, groundnuts, sorghum and cowpeas, which are the most appreciated food crops in these two states,” said Rahul Saharan, the Chief  Executive Officer for GAIS.

The farmers have already produced the first season of foundation seed.

While in most countries these processes are supervised by seed certifying agencies, because there are none present in South Sudan, GAIS does this.

The main aim of the project is to have sufficient seed that can be distributed to many farmers to improve their harvests. The country heavily relies on food aid, and that is evident at the Juba Airports, where the number of United Nations cargo and mission planes outnumber commercial jets.

“We are happy that we can now produce improved seed from our own soils. I believe this will yield better than the seeds we’ve been planting, which were grown in different places with different environmental conditions,” said Ndukpo.

According to the Netherlands Director-General for International Cooperation Reina Buijs, it is only by taking action that peace will prevail in South Sudan.

“It is good to see the government, the private sector, the civil society, the clergy, and the people come together for the sake of peace,” Buijs told IPS. “There can be many nice words on paper, or spoken, but if it does not translate in concrete actions, people cannot believe any more.”

“It feels great to see the donor support being translated into future hope for the people and in implementing the peace agreement,” she said, adding that the Netherlands would be proud to continue supporting such initiatives in South Sudan.

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The post Using Climate-Smart Solutions to Promote Peace in South Sudan appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Crowds gather at the Rabta hospital, as a bereaved father says officials must be held accountable.

Tewolde Gebremariam says Boeing's 737 Max 8 aircraft shouldn't fly until their safety is established.

Emergency workers and locals are working to rescue those trapped under the rubble.

Girls at Galkayo Center in Puntland, Somalia

By Hawa Aden Mohamed
PUNTLAND, Somalia, Mar 13 2019 (IPS)

Aisha Elias Adan was abducted on the evening of February 24th at a market in Israc village, Puntland, Somalia.

Her body was carelessly dumped in front of her family home the following morning. A doctor’s report showed that she had been brutally gang-raped.

Her genitals were severely injured and stuffed with plastic bags, apparently to make it more difficult to collect DNA evidence. She had been strangled to death.

Aisha’s heartbroken mother told the police that she had heard some noise in a nearby compound during the night. On storming the house the following morning they found her daughter’s dress close to two suspects who were still sleeping.

A third man managed to escape but was also arrested on his way to nearby Bosaso town.

Sexual violence is sadly not a shocking occurence in Puntland. Many people say that it is simply “not taken seriously”. For years it has been relatively common place and perpetrators have enjoyed impunity.

The Galkayo Education Center for Peace and Development, an organisation I set up in 1999, supports dozens of cases of sexual violence every single year.

The situation has gotten even worse lately, with gang rapes committed by not only civil society but also military professionals, marines and even the police themselves – men who are tasked with protecting girls and women rather than causing them harm.

Women in Puntland are exasperated by how difficult it is to get people to care and to get justice after crimes have been committed against us.

For many years I worked with other local activists to push for Somalia’s Sexual Offences Bill, which was finally passed in late 2016. This was the first of its kind in Eastern Africa and banned sexual exploitation, harassment and gang rape.

It took a long time to get it through, but in the end it enjoyed widespread support from religious and community leaders as well as the Justice, Religious Affairs and Women, Development and Family Affairs ministries.

We really saw it as a landmark moment and hoped that it would mean that women and girls in this region would finally be given some form of legal protection against sexual violence.

A little over two years later it seems to have achieved very little. It is close to impossible to get accurate statistics, but although we know the prevalence of rape and murder in the Puntland region is high, Aisha’s case is one of the first reported instances. Her story is only coming to light because of its shocking nature.

Somali women – and men – have coming together in protest over the past two weeks, marching to demand justice for Aisha and all girls like her.

However, we know that since there is only one under-resourced forensic facility in the region (in Garowe), and other limitations on police resources, this may prove to be more difficult than we would like.

In this politically unstable region the police service complain of not only a lack of funding for themselves, but also to pay for meals for suspects while they are in custody. In some cases this means that they are released, as it just costs too much to keep them until their trial is scheduled to be held.

While people in general support the law there continues to be some resistance from many in societies, including – incredibly – from some judges, who would prefer that customary and religious laws are used instead of the formal legal system.

This runs contradictory to what is written in our constitution, but in practice it means that Aisha’s family will now be approached by the perpetrators’ families to negotiate some form of trade off.

Attitudes need to urgently change on this as it means that the female victim is never really considered as men make deals behind closed doors. This International Women’s Day we hope that this does not happen on this occasion and that Aisha’s case is brought through the official courts.

Aisha was buried on February 26th. Hers is a truly tragic case, which has resonated very deeply here in Puntland. I hope that it will shake things up. The seemingly never-ending violence against women and girls, where men can evade any responsibility for what they do, has to end.

The only way we can achieve this is to put rapists and murderers behind bars, using proper legal channels and protecting victims and their families for as long as it takes to ensure justice can take hold.

The post Gang Rape & Murder of 12 Year Old Somali Girl Sparks Fury appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Hawa Aden Mohamed is founder of The Galkayo Centre, an organisation based in Galkayo, Puntland, Somalia, which educates and protects girls from female genital mutilation (FGM) and other forms of violence. It is the local partner of international group Donor Direct Action.

The post Gang Rape & Murder of 12 Year Old Somali Girl Sparks Fury appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Illustration: Manan Morshed

By Khushi Kabir
Mar 13 2019 (IPS-Partners)

(The Daily Star) – I do not usually write very easily. As someone working mostly with people with little or no literacy, my forte, as I would like to call it, is the oral tradition. I speak, I talk, I converse. I write today based on my perceptions from my work with rural women with whom I have lived and learnt from over the last four decades.

Women come from different backgrounds, in terms of class, religion, ethnicity, ability and so on. Yet, where land is considered, we tend to see similarities. What is the relationship between women and land? Is she simply a passive and submissive recipient of the benefits she receives as a family member? Is she an unpaid and unrecognised pair of hands needed for fulfilling family chores? Does she feel the same ownership and entitlement over the land of her family, as the men do? Does ownership have the same connotation as entitlement? These are questions that often come to my mind as I work with both men and women, when I try to promote or introduce the idea of what ownership of land means to women.

Let’s be clear on one front: without confronting existing patriarchal structures, any intervention only serves to continue existing imbalances. In the area of resources too, land rights and a pro-women land redistributive policy are considered too radical or not an option, even as we loudly proclaim our commitment to women’s progress. Excuses of cultural practices, traditions and taboos are conveniently brought up when women’s, and particularly excluded and marginalised women’s, access and rights are in question. The only place where women’s access to land is mentioned is in case of inheritance rights, as determined by religious, traditional or social constructs, but not as an entitlement, not as a right as an equal citizen and not as part of a redistributive policy.

Given the changes in the current agriculture production systems, the peasant no longer produces for the family or for the local market; the system is now a market-led production system, in which the women, too, are being employed or engaged simply as labour. Previously, the woman in the peasant family had a crucial role to play post-harvest, in seed preservation, growing of vegetables, and tending of poultry and cattle for her family. Even though her role as the carer and in many cases the provider was never given the value it deserved, at least it allowed her to demarcate a space of her own.

The commercialisation of production processes which were traditionally the domain of women and the intrusion of a market-led economy even at the lowest household level of production have further exacerbated women’s alienation from the means of production. The process of transforming fertile agriculture land into a barren saline desert through the promotion of a deliberately created global market for shrimp aquaculture industry—forcibly grabbing land from local agriculture producers and fishers dependent on the existing natural resources for their livelihoods—is a prime example of the negative consequences of an export-led market economy where women get demoted to lowly paid insecure labour, from being a main actor in agriculture or related processes. Additionally, since this industry enjoys the protection of the powers that be—within the government, political bigwigs, donors and business interest groups—women living in shrimp cultivation areas face the added fear of violence and rape without having access to any kind of recourse.

Another example of a destructive market-led intervention would be the conversion of indigenous lands for tobacco plantations and other forms of cash crops or pulp forests for profit. These types of exploitation of natural resources in the name of development have most severe impacts on indigenous and rural populations. Yes, women do find employment opportunities as a result of these changes, but at what cost? Low paid employment in which they have no agency, as opposed to what they were in control of, even if it did not provide them with cash. We should learn to calculate and put an economic value to what has been lost, and compare it to the meagre amount she is now forced to work for.

The gendered discrimination so firmly entrenched in our personal laws add even more to women’s vulnerabilities. In Muslim family laws, though the woman does inherit in theory—albeit half of what her male counterpart in the family structure does—in reality, whatever little she receives does not go to her. It is controlled and manipulated in the brothers’ name to keep it within the family. She forgoes her inheritance in the misguided belief that when in distress, she will be looked after by her brothers—a phenomena that seldom happens. If she does keep her inherited property, for the sake of maintaining her marriage, she often gives it to her husband. As is well known, in Muslim law, if a man has no sons and only daughters, the daughters will only inherit a part, while the rest will go to male relations as specified. In Hindu law, a widow or unmarried daughter only gets the right of residence but no inheritance rights.

Previously, women in peasant families had a crucial role to play post-harvest. It allowed her to demarcate a place of her own. PHOTO: STAR

The social norms of the Muslim majority of the country are now penetrating the practices of other religions that are more equal in this matter, seeping even into matrilineal societies such as the Khasis and Garos. A case that I am familiar with, which needed my intervention, involved a childless Catholic couple, where the male partner died. After his demise, many of his relatives insisted on following the Muslim practice of transferring the property to the husband’s family rather than to the wife. They even managed to get a priest from a neighbouring area (not of their own), who stated the same. Luckily, the case was resolved with the widow now living in peace in her own marital home. However, the episode does highlight how religious or customary laws are being bent to suit the status quo.

For the landless with whom I work, government rules state that women headed households, who now constitute over 15.5 percent of Bangladesh’s population, will only receive khas land provided she has an able-bodied son. In all other cases, the Khas land is registered in the name of both the husband and wife. However, as is to be expected, the wife has no say, control or possession of the land in her name. In case of a divorce, the man simply states the land was given to his wife, thus the land is not hers. Even when laws have been enacted and attempts made to implement them, not much progress can be noticed when something as crucial, as central, as land is concerned.

Empowerment is a key factor in ensuring women’s right to development. Empowerment is the process of change through which those who have been denied the ability to articulate their needs, exercise their rights and influence the decision-making processes which shape their lives, are enabled to do so. The dimension that needs to be looked at concurrently when understanding the concept of empowerment is that of resources, both tangible as well as intangible—including the question of power and agency, i.e. the ability to define and articulate needs and priorities and to act upon them. The failure of the poor and disenfranchised, more particularly women, to achieve their valued goals, is a reflection of the underlying asymmetries in their basic capabilities. However, it has to be understood that these underlying asymmetries do not exist due to their just being so, but very clearly due to the structures of power that are reinforced continuously, often in the name of culture and development.

Khushi Kabir is a rights activist and the coordinator of Nijera Kori.

This story was originally published by The Daily Star, Bangladesh

The post HER LOST LAND appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Women's relationship with land, within family, religion and culture

The post HER LOST LAND appeared first on Inter Press Service.

The primary school was on the top floor of a building in the city of Lagos, reports say.

The e-commerce company is to become first African start-up to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Women from the Mishing community in Dhemaji district are shocked by the siltation caused by the floods. Credit: Priyanka Borpujari/IPS

By Victor Tsang and Shari Nijman
NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 13 2019 (IPS)

When Mandelena became a mother, she was only 16. During the prolonged dry season in Gwor County, South Sudan, her community saw crops failing and cattle dying. Children stopped going to school because of hunger and women and girls had to walk up to five hours every day to collect water.

When resources for families further dwindled as the drought prolonged, young girls were married off for a dowry as soon as they reached puberty. Mandelena’s situation was no different. Indirectly, the course of her life had been forever changed by the environmental crisis that crippled her country.

All hands on deck

While environmental changes affect everyone, due to existing gender inequalities, women often bear the bulk of the burden. In patriarchal societies, cultural, legal and political restrictions often undermine women’s adaptability and resilience to climate change.

When cyclones and floods, droughts and extreme heat rip through the social fabric, communities need all hands on deck to deal with the repercussions. Lack of access to land and financial credit make it especially hard for women to bounce back from the onslaught.

When the effects of climate change don’t present themselves as emergencies that grab our attention on the evening news, but rather as slow-onset changes in landscapes and livelihoods, the most severe social consequences are for women and girls first.

• Being in charge of domestic fuel and water provision, women and girls have to walk farther to find these threatened resources. More and more unpaid hours are spent, which could otherwise have been spent on remunerative tasks or in school.
• Every year, indoor air pollution kills 4.3 million people, most of them women and children, because three billion people rely on inefficient cooking technology, such as wood, charcoal or animal waste.

The struggles of women and girls are only part of the picture, as gender equality concerns both men and women. In Mandelena’s community in South Sudan, cattle raiding is common and intimately linked with men’s needs to pay a good dowry for a young bride. This practice is upheld even as resources are becoming scarcer.

The result is a culture of violence, including sexual violence, to the backdrop of climate change and environmental degradation, which intensifies hunger, reduces water availability and kills cattle.

Holistic approach to a sustainable world

More than ever, the world is realizing that the sustainable development goals we set for ourselves aren’t standalone targets but rather a holistic approach to a more inclusive world. We need to recognize the key role women play in taking care of our communities, as they bear the brunt of environmental changes.

When we empower women – by supporting equal access to land, agricultural extension services, financial inclusion and education – we give them the tools to become true custodians of our biodiversity.

Some of the world’s most passionate environmentalists have shown the world that women could be powerful guardians of our planet and agents of change. We can capitalize on their knowledge and experiences.

As we increasingly become aware of the existential climate risks and repercussions of environmental degradation, governments and the private sector are pledging to take action in order to ensure a livable future for all, it is time to consider the role that women are already playing in the sustainable future of our world.

Who will lead our green revolution? Who will take the green jobs? And where will the science and innovations that facilitate our sustainable future come from?

If we want to make a real difference in our future, we have to empower every woman and man to be custodians of our earth. Because the legacy of our environment is the legacy of Mandelena’s daughters as much as her sons.

• The World Food Programme said in a statement after the crash: “We also mourn the loss of our colleagues at other United Nations agencies and all of those who died in the crash. Among them was Victor Tsang, a former employee of WFP who moved to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). We ask that everyone keep those who lost loved ones in their thoughts and prayers.”

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The post From 2018: When Environmental Crises Hit Homes, Women Suffer the Most appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

IPS is reissuing this piece that appeared in Mar 5, 2018 in memory of one of the authors, Victor Tsang, who tragically passed away on Sunday in the Ethiopian Airlines crash along with 156 others. There were 21 United Nations officials on board the flight. The fatalities included people from 35 countries, including 32 Kenyan citizens, 18 from Canada, nine from Ethiopia, eight from Italy, China and the US, and seven from the UK and France.

 
 
This article is part of a series of stories and op-eds launched by IPS on the occasion of this year’s International Women’s Day on March 8.

 
 
Victor Tsang is UN Environment gender expert and Shari Nijman, UN Environment communication officer

The post From 2018: When Environmental Crises Hit Homes, Women Suffer the Most appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Geneva Centre
GENEVA, Mar 13 2019 (IPS-Partners)

(Geneva Centre) – Multilateralism must be people-driven. The current rise of populism around the world is inextricably linked to a feeling of being excluded and kept out of decision-making processes broadly shared by ordinary people. These were the main conclusions of a joint event between the Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue and the UNOG Library entitled Leadership in Modern Multilateralism. The debate was held on 12 March 2019 at the United Nations Office in Geneva in the Library Events Room at Palais Des Nations.

At a time when the UN and other international organizations in Geneva are actively celebrating “100 years Anniversary of Multilateral Diplomacy in Geneva” to mark the Centenary of the founding of the League of Nations, multilateralism is under important strain. The effectiveness of global institutions and of global policymaking is constantly questioned whilst alliances are fraying. Against this background, the timely debate co-organized by the UNOG Library and the Geneva Centre discussed multilateralism as the most logical approach to the challenges the world is facing in our time of fast-paced globalisation. The panellists explored the principles and ideas underpinning multilateralism against a complex background of climate change, the rise of technology and the future of the global economy.

Often, in times of transition, drawing lessons from the past is a good way to find solutions and inspiration for the way forward. In this vein, the Geneva Centre and UNOG Library proposed an interactive discussion in light of the legacy of two great figures of multilateralism – Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Maurice F. Strong, as depicted in two publications issued by the European Centre for Peace and Development (ECPD) in 2018, entitled Remembering Boutros Boutros-Ghali, and Remembering Maurice F. Strong respectively. The panel underscored the role of these eminent persons who shaped international affairs and discussed the changes in the nature of leadership in the 21st century, with the rise of modern multilateralism.

A book signing with Mr Roberto Savio, coordinator of the publications, journalist; President Emeritus of Inter Press Service (IPS) and Chairman of IPS Board of Trustees, was arranged after the debate.

Mr. Michael Møller, Director-General of United Nations Geneva, delivered welcoming remarks, in which he highlighted that, despite enduring grave challenges like climate change, pervasive inequality, health issues and ongoing conflict, the world is however in an overall better situation today than at any time in history.

Mr. Møller underscored that multilateralism was at a crossroad today. According to the Director General of UNOG, it was imperative to address the crisis of confidence affecting international institutions, and to better define the roles of International Organizations, of Nation-States, of the private sector and of Civil Society Organizations in the leadership of multilateralism.

Mr. Møller conclude his welcoming remarks by quoting Kofi Annan: “Whether our task is fighting poverty, stemming the spread of disease or saving innocent lives from mass murder, we have seen that we cannot succeed without the leadership of the strong and the engagement of all.”

The discussion benefited from the participation of the following experts:

• Mr. Roberto Savio, Author; Journalist, President Emeritus of Inter Press Service (IPS) and Chairman of IPS Board of Trustees;

• Prof. Thomas Biersteker, Professor of International Security and Director of Policy Research, Graduate Institute;

• H. E. Ms. Hala Hameed, Ambassador & Permanent Representative of the Republic of Maldives to the United Nations Office and other international organisations in Geneva.

Ms. Corinne Momal-Vanian, Director of the Division of Conference Management at United Nations Office Geneva moderated the debate.

The Executive Director of the Geneva Centre, Ambassador Idriss Jazairy, delivered introductory remarks. Ambassador Jazairy reviewed the evolution of post-WWII multilateralism, taking the UN as an example. Ambassador Jazairy carried out this review through the prism of his own experience as an Algerian diplomat and Head of a UN specialized agency. In this regard he also paid special tribute to former Executive Director of UNICEF, Jim Grant, who designated his Ambassador Audrey Hepburn to read the outcome document of the World Summit on the Economic Advancement of Rural Women, which Ambassador Jazairy organized as President of IFAD in Geneva, in February 1992 in the presence of Boutros-Ghali, with the involvement of 64 First Ladies and 20 Cabinet Ministers. The Summit was chaired by Queen Fabiola of Belgium.

Ambassador Jazairy emphasized that, whilst the multilateral climate in the 1970s was dominated by a cooperative spirit, the climate changed significantly afterwards. The Director of the Geneva Centre further discussed the concept of “Responsibility to protect” or R2P and the misuses that led to this concept being manipulated into a tool for externally imposed regime change. In this regard, he underlined that the “weaponization of humanitarianism was a wanton outgrowth of the responsibility to protect.”

Finally, Ambassador Jazairy insisted on the importance of understanding that multilateralism had to be people-driven. He noted that the current rise of populism around the world was inextricably linked to a feeling of being excluded of decision-making processes shared by ordinary people. As such, the Director of the Geneva Centre emphasized that the solutions for tomorrow’s multilateralism lay in, on the one hand, “breaking the logjam on Security Council reform”, and on the other hand, in empowering citizens worldwide, by involving credible civil society actors headquartered in the South as well as in the North.

Mr. Roberto Savio echoed Ambassador Jazairy in saluting the three heroes of multilateralism, Jim Grant, Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Maurice F Strong, that in the 1980s, multilateralism went into crisis. He spoke of the legacy of Jim Grant who had saved millions of children from death and remained, however, largely unknown. Furthermore, according to Mr. Savio, Maurice Strong had been, throughout his career, mixing his abilities of management of private enterprises and his visionary skills as a UN leader. He saluted his pioneering engagement for the environment and the climate, and his crucial role in the 1992 Rio Conference on Environment, which initiated an inclusive process on environment that continued in Kyoto and Paris.

Furthermore, Mr. Savio reiterated that it was imperative that all countries accepted other countries’ right to an equal voice in international fora. In this sense, he remarked that the multilateral climate had suffered a change of direction that exacerbated inequality and opened the way to nationalist, populist and extremist political movements. He noted that “The two engines of history are greed and fear”.

H. E. Ms. Hala Hameed remarked that for a small country like the Republic of Maldives, multilateralism is an essential tool to ensure cooperation, to work jointly on peace, security, economic partnerships, as well as to promote and to protect human rights. According to Ambassador Hameed, small countries could gain a voice in the international arena only through multilateral cooperation.

In this regard, the Ambassador & Permanent Representative of the Republic of Maldives remarked that the Maldives had been very involved in the work of the UN Human Rights Council and particularly in the creation of the mandate of Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment.

Ambassador Hameed remarked that the Maldives, immediately after obtaining independence in 1965, became a member of the UN. She further emphasized the importance of dialogue for leaders in multilateralism, particularly for small countries, who needed to be persistent and to use diplomatic channels, both formal and increasingly, informal ones, in order to bring to the agenda matters that concern them.

Prof. Thomas Biersteker presented multilateralism today as a crisscross of formal intergovernmental organizations, informal intergovernmental organizations and transnational or trans-governmental institutions, the latter having known an exponential rise over the years. Whilst formal governance was driven by member states, based on international treaties, and grounded in domestic law, the world was witnessing, according to Professor Biersteker, the emergence of a “new governance”.

Professor Biersteker concluded that, whilst the first type of formal multilateral structures remained crucial, as it lies at the very foundation of multilateralism, it was important to acknowledge and work with the emerging informal networks and forms of government.

Professor Biersteker remarked that the world today was not necessarily lacking good leaders. He noted that new leaders were emerging among pioneers such as Malala Yousafzai or the Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg. Referring to the characteristics that leaders today should have, he highlighted flexibility, including seeing the possibility of all forms of governance and operating simultaneously in formal and informal initiatives; as well as the capacity of listening to others.

During the ensuing Q&A session, a representative of UN Youth underlined the importance of participatory processes in multilateralism and of understanding the value of collective leadership versus traditional leadership, of connected networks instead of hierarchies, and of collaborative processes instead of top down approaches. Another member of the public underlined the importance of inclusive multilateralism and highlighted the need to bring more women leaders to the forefront of multilateral institutions and processes.

The post The Geneva Centre co-organizes a UN Library Event on Leadership in Modern Multilateralism appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Many countries have grounded Boeing 737 Max jets after the Ethiopian Airlines crash but not the US.

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By Herve Verhoosel
GENEVA, Mar 13 2019 (IPS)

The bell rings and the halls erupt with the sounds of chatter and excitement as hundreds of children run to the dusty courtyard for recess. I joined them to play football but the game instead turned into a round of questions.

“What is your name? Do you speak Arabic? Where are you from? Do you support Barcelona or Madrid? Or Manchester? Do you play PokemonGo?”

Where am I from? I’m from Belgium. But I know that if I asked this question to some of these children, their response wouldn’t be so simple.

This Friday marks the ninth anniversary of the start of the Syria crisis and, with an average age of around 9, many of the refugee children I spoke to would have a very limited recollection of life in their home country. Some would have no memory at all of their homeland.

Herve Verhoosel

“I have 693 kids in the morning and 836 in the afternoon” said M. Samia, Director of Abra intermediate school in the governorate of Saida, southern Lebanon. Samia and his team explained that, in Lebanon, the schools have a first session in the morning for Lebanese children, and a second session in the afternoon for Syrian refugees.

“We’re very proud to be one of the schools working with the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Ministry of Education for the school snacks programme,” he said.

Each day, the children receive a healthy snack such as nuts or fruit and some milk. Overall, WFP’s school feeding programme reached nearly 1.5 million children across Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt last year.

For most of us, it is difficult to understand what it must feel like to be uprooted by conflict. To flee bullets and bombs and leave behind a life, a house, a job, a family, friends, school….

It is estimated that more than 11 million Syrians have left their homes since the beginning of the conflict. Some of them have fled to Europe but many of them – more than 5.6 million – are registered with the UN in what is called the Syria + 5 region, which includes Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, and Egypt. More than 6 million people remain internally displaced within Syria.

The Syrian conflict continues to drive the largest refugee crisis in the world, and WFP and partners are committed to supporting them in whichever countries they find themselves.

Within Syria, WFP feeds 3.5 million people every month. In the +5 countries, WFP assists 3.3 million Syrian refugees with a combination of food assistance and cash-based transfers.

Most of the refugees in neighbouring countries do not live in formal refugee camps. Instead, they are interspersed throughout towns and cities. Cash-based transfers, which enable them to make choices about what they eat, have injected more than US $2 billion dollars into the local economies of Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Egypt and Syria since 2012.

In Turkey – which hosts over 3.7 million Syrian refugees – WFP and partners support refugee families living outside camps with a debit card loaded with cash each month. This is known as the Emergency Social Safety Net or ESSN programme.

The ESSN has reduced by half the number of refugee parents withdrawing their children from school – and it has also led to many fewer parents cutting meals so their children can eat.

After nearly eight years, many Syrian refugees wish to return home and end the cycle of navigating unfamiliar lands, languages, and cultures. In these cases, any return or relocation must be voluntary, safe, dignified and well-informed and in line with minimum protection standards.

For those who do want to go home, most have no houses or jobs to return to – nor do most of them have the means to feed or educate their children.

Syrians returning to their country and communities need support – and they need to work. Unemployment is running at 50 percent overall and is as high as 80 percent among young people.

WFP is helping Syrians produce their own food and generate incomes in areas that are secure where markets are functioning. More, however, needs to be done. The economy needs to be rebuilt.

In the meantime, we need to maintain the vital lifeline of food assistance on which millions of vulnerable Syrians depend. For this to happen, WFP needs an additional US$116 million from now until June 2019.

As for my friends at Abra intermediate school, I hope that they can continue their education so that one day they may realize their potential. I hope they can overcome the all the suffering they have experienced.

I hope that someday soon they can get to know their country so in the future, if someone asks where they are from, they can give a ready answer.

*The third Brussels conference is currently underway, through March 14, on ‘Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region’ , and the 9thanniversary of the Syrian conflict falls on Friday, March 15th.

The post Syrian Crisis Enters Ninth Year with 11 Million Refugees Overseas & 6 Million Home appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Herve Verhoosel is Senior Spokesperson UN World Food Programme*

The post Syrian Crisis Enters Ninth Year with 11 Million Refugees Overseas & 6 Million Home appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Credit: Kobby Blay.

By Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah and Shari Ankomah Graham
ACCRA, Mar 13 2019 (IPS)

On Saturday 9th March, a small group of activists from Ghana, concerned by the continued incarceration of Ugandan feminist activist Dr Stella Nyanzi, rallied by the symbolic national independence Square to raise awareness on the dangers of remaining quiet to injustice.

Despite living in an era of whistleblowers and pushing to hold our leaders accountable, there has been very little continental efforts to defend the freedom and liberty of activists and human rights defenders from other African countries.

Onlookers appeared puzzled by the “Free Stella! Free Uganda” and “People Power! Our Power” chanted throughout the 30-minute walk from the square to Ghana’s National Theater. Ghanaian police officials who processing the police permit allowing us to march asked, “Why Stella Nyanzi? Don’t you have problems here?”

For some of us with Ugandan ancestry, our relatives were not too sure how to process the Stella Nyanzi case. They are numbed and weary from the daily absurdities of living under Museveni’s regime and disregard of human rights,  but still congratulated us for taking a stand, lifting a bit of the cloak of hopelessness around Stella’s release.

 

Credit: Kobby Blay.

 

When Stella Nyanzi first got arrested in April 2017, legions of her fans, supporters and activists swung into action, demanding that the Ugandan government #FreeStellaNyanzi.

She had been arrested and charged with Cyber Harassment and Offensive Communications under sections 24 and 25 of Uganda’s 2011 Computer Misuse Act. These so called offensive communications included describing Yoweri Museveni, the President of Uganda as a ‘pair of buttocks’.

We recognise and appreciate the activism of Dr Stella Nyanzi. In spite of being personally vilified and professionally sidelined, she does not give up, and stays firm to her values. She has declared that she is continuing her resistance from prison, the least we can do is amplify her struggle from our own locations.

In May 2017, Stella Nyanzi was granted bail. She didn’t remain free for long. In November she was re-arrested under the same charges, appearing before a Magistrate Court on the 9th where she refused to apply for bail, demanding a speedy trial instead. That speedy trial has not happened, and this time round, there doesn’t seem to be a similar groundswell of civil activism demanding she be freed. The reasons for this may be as complex as the case that Stella faces.

Stella Nyanzi is accused of disturbing the peace of President Museveni, and The First Lady of Uganda, Janet Kataaha Museveni, who also serves as the Minister of Education and Sports.

Clearly, offending the most powerful people in the land of Uganda has dire consequences, but should this be the case? We would argue not, but in repressive countries, speaking up and criticising powerful politicians and the elite is dangerous. Repressive governments ensure that their critics disappear.

Just think of Jamal Khassogi and the numerous journalists, activists, and Women Human Rights Defenders around the world who have been murdered, made to disappear or are behind bars for speaking truth to power. For this is what Stella Nyanzi does. She speaks truth to power. She deliberately invokes rudeness, sarcasm and artistic creativity to point out the failures of the Museveni government. She is perceived as a threat by the regime because we recognise the truth in her words. We won’t dare say what she says – we are too scared of the consequences – but she is fearless, and will not allow herself to be muzzled.

We too should not allow ourselves to be muzzled, and that is why in Ghana we marched demanding that all charges under Stella Nyanzi be dropped, and that she be freed. People should be able to criticize their governments. Governments should be able to listen to what their people say – whether that feedback be cloaked in insults or dressed up in pretty clothing. If we allow Stella Nyanzi to perish because of her cyber activism, we too could be next.

We have seen first hand how solidarity beyond borders can boost and nurture a culture of advocacy and global accountability of African leaders. Only a handful of us had marched in Accra to #FreeBobiWine, Ugandan musician and member of Parliament arrested, tortured and unjustly detained in August 2018 and eventually released on bail a month later – this came by after our first march inspired other global marches and outcry in bigger cities. We know that an African leader’s greatest fears are when his people decide to regain their power by any means necessary and when foreign donors threaten to starve national coffers.

We recognise and appreciate the activism of Dr Stella Nyanzi. In spite of being personally vilified and professionally sidelined, she does not give up, and stays firm to her values. She has declared that she is continuing her resistance from prison, the least we can do is amplify her struggle from our own locations. We urge African activists across the continent and Diaspora to also demand with us, #FreeStellaNyanzi.

 

Nana  Darkoa Sekyiamah is Director of Information, Communications and Media,  Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID)

Shari Ankomah Graham is an international development consultant currently coordinating the SheTrades in the Commonwealth Program in Ghana.

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Demonstrations have continued despite Abdelaziz Bouteflika saying he would not stand for a fifth term.

Relatives of the people who died on board an Ethiopian Airlines flight have been speaking of their grief.

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Executive Director of the Geneva Centre, Ambassador Idriss Jazairy (left), and IPS Inter Press Service founder Roberto Savio

By Ambassador Idriss Jazairy and Roberto Savio
GENEVA and ROME, Mar 12 2019 (IPS)

For over 70 years, the UN system has been perceived as the guardian of peace and development in the world. However, multilateralism today is undeniably under strain. The effectiveness of global institutions and of global policymaking is questioned, and alliances are fraying.

Often, in times of transition, drawing lessons from the past is a good way to find solutions and inspiration for the way forward. In this regard, it is important to remember the inspired leaders of the UN system who have propelled forward the concept of multilateralism over the years. It is therefore important to evoke the legacy of Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Maurice Strong, but also of UNICEF’s Jim Grant, as they all represent visionary UN figures who contributed greatly to the evolution of multilateralism.

The UN started as an alliance of the victors of WWII. Alliances shift. This is a reminder that when war-like situations occur in the real world, power politics of those victors may take over. They may either draw multilateralism to their side as in the Korean War, or go to war without multilateral approval, as in the case of the invasion of Iraq.

In the 1960s, while keeping the structure of a victors’ club, the UN became, for 2 decades, a universal organization defending the goal of self-determination and of the removal of obstacles to development. A significant moment in this regard was the signing of the Principles governing international trade relations and trades policies, which ultimately led to the Final Act of UNCTAD I in 1964. There was a general feeling of « reshaping the international order » and writing history. Indeed Juan Somavia, later Director General of the International labour Organization participated, with one of the co-signatories of this editorial, under the editorship of Nobel Prize winner Jan Tinbergen, in writing an eponymous book for The Club of Rome.

In December 1977, the General Assembly decided to create a Committee of the Whole (COW), to bring back to the fold of the UN the North-South dialogue which had been uneventfully shunted to the CIEC in Paris. Ambassador Idriss Jazairy led the work of the COW as its first chairman COW throughout 1978, with the goal of negotiating on substantial issues and producing action-oriented conclusions on North-South relations. Thorvald Stoltenberg, the Norwegian Minister who passed away recently, succeeded him in this position, and, with his generosity and open-mindedness, successfully pursued the endeavours of the COW towards increased North-South dialogue.

Thus the multilateral climate in the ‘70ies was cooperative. Negotiations were about adjustments to external and international policies. But the situation changed thereafter. Even our solace of a peace dividend after the end of the Cold War as confirmed by the General Assembly Declaration on the Right to Development of 1986, became a chimera.

The UN focus changed later on to respond to the strategic priority of the WWII victors by proclaiming in 1995 an indefinite extension of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), without any counterpart from the nuclear States. The 2005 UN Summit also endorsed the « responsibility to protect » (R2P) leading inter alia to the Security Council Resolution 1973 imposing a no-fly zone on Libya in 2011. States volunteering to implement this resolution exceeded their mandate however, and brought about regime change. Resort to force under Chapter VII, requires henceforth smarter mandates and greater accountability for implementation. Likewise R2P should not be abused, as in Libya, or ignored as in Gaza. Weaponisation of humanitarianism is another wanton outgrowth of R2P.

Both the Millennium and the 2005 Summits concentrated efforts thereafter on domestic reforms of governance including in the field of human rights. Created by the United Nations General Assembly in 2006 by resolution 60/251, the UN Human Rights Council intended to be a more cooperative body than its predecessor, the « naming and shaming »-oriented United Nations Commission on Human Rights.

Giving the UN a handle on domestic policies is however a fraught issue. The implementation of reforms domestically, in order to be legitimate, must be a people-driven process. As multilateralism includes domestic policy evaluation in its purview, it must also become increasingly people-driven. In fact, the current outburst of populism springs from the feeling that ordinary people are kept out of the search for solutions that concern them to problems « without passports » as Kofi Annan used to call pandemics, environmental degradation, non-proliferation, immigration etc.

So whither the democratisation of multilateralism? Firstly, through breaking the logjam on Security Council reform. Secondly, through the empowerment of citizens worldwide, in compliance with « We, the people… » of the UN Charter. This peoples’ representation will continue to suffer from legitimacy impairment so long as their entities remain predominantly headquartered in advanced countries. Democracy requires the involvement of a much larger number of credible international NGOs actors headquartered in the South as well.

Multilateralism is, in fact, a vision of international relations, based not of force, but on international law; not on short-sighted economic interests, but on a long-term strategy of international cooperation. It is the quite obvious policy: if we reduce conflict and competition, we reduce tensions, and we push for a civilized world. Competition and force have been the fuel for the last two world conflicts. But as the famous etiologist Konrad Lorenz has observed, man is the only element of the Kingdom of animals who never learns from his mistakes. Nowadays, we do not only have the multilateral system in disarray. We do not have an international system, but we have countries that do not recognize their allies, and are ignoring existential threats, like climate change (“a Chinese hoax”), or nuclear resurgence.

But new waves are appearing, and they are not a repetition of the past. Never had we such formidable women mobilization before. Students are following the example of a young Swedish girl who is scolding the elites in Davos and the chairmanship of the European Union, with regard to climate change, to remind them that they are mortgaging her future. All these new actors in international relations, believe deeply in Peace and Cooperation. A new multilateralism is coming, made by citizens and not by governments. In history, humankind has always been looking for a better world. Maybe we headed towards a new salutary turn, which will save us from tensions and wars.

In short, to paraphrase Churchill on democracy, multilateralism may be the worst form of interaction between nations, except for all the others. The UN has got the principles right as now with the 2030 Agenda. But leadership is crucial to achieve success. Those we commemorate today as great leaders, such as Dag Hammarskjold, stood on the outside frontiers of universalism, erring more, as it were, on the side of General than on that of Secretary, in marshalling innovation towards more human justice and wellbeing. One lost his life for it, another, his second term. They were true leaders.

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New Tunisia coach Alain Giresse has handed recalls to Youssef Msakni and Moez Hassen ahead of the AFCON qualifier with eSwatini later this month.