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The Africa Cup of Nations draw takes place on Friday, with several Premier League players waiting to discover their respective countries' fate.

Infringements of press freedom and the targeting of journalists is one of the topics being discussed at the International Civil Society Week (ICSW 2019) - an annual gathering of civil society leaders, activists and engaged citizens taking place in the Serbian capital Apr. 8-12. Courtesy: CIVICUS

By A. D. McKenzie
BELGRADE, Apr 11 2019 (IPS)

“Stay safe. There’s no story worth dying for.”
That’s the message to journalists from Nada Josimovic, programme coordinator of Amsterdam-based media rights organisation Free Press Unlimited.

Most journalists would agree with her. But beyond the threat of physical harm, women reporters and journalists of colour run another risk: being harassed online, with the spouting of sexist and racist venom.

This, of course, happens to rights defenders as well, all over the world. But in the case of women, the harassment is “sexualised … sometimes with threats of rape,” said Josimovic.

“How does one protect oneself?” she asked, during a panel discussion on press freedom at International Civil Society Week (ICSW 2019) – an annual gathering of civil society leaders, activists and engaged citizens taking place in the Serbian capital Apr. 8-12.

Co-hosted by the Johannesburg-based global civil society alliance CIVICUS, the meeting is focusing on a range of issues that include infringements of press freedom and the targeting of journalists.

As the event took place, news surrounding the deaths of media workers continued. On Apr. 11, the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Audrey Azoulay, issued a statement condemning the killing of a sports reporter in the north-western Mexican town of Salvador Alvarado on Mar. 24.

“I condemn the killing of Omar Iván Camacho Mascareño,” stated Azoulay. “I trust the investigation underway will enable the authorities to bring the perpetrator of this crime to justice.”

Mascareño, of local radio broadcaster Chavez Radiocast, was found dead with signs of severe head trauma and injuries indicating that he had been beaten to death, according to media reports.
UNESCO issues its “condemnations” on a regular basis, given the frequency of attacks.

The UN agency has the mandate to promote the safety of journalists and does so “through global awareness-raising, capacity building and a range of actions, notably the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity”, according to the organisation.

This includes a module on Combatting Online Abuse: When Journalists and Their Sources are Targeted, but Josimovic and others stress that enough isn’t being done to end the specific harassment of women journalists.

“I think that media outlets don’t have good support systems for this kind of attacks,” she told IPS. “The legal aspect is also complicated.”

Social media companies, for instance, will not reveal the address of the perpetrators when the targeted individual complains, she said. Additionally, there is sometimes a lack of solidarity from editors and colleagues who have never experienced the harassment.

“Because it’s not happening in the real world, people kind of minimise the effect,” she added. “But women in general face more harassment on-line. In every sector, it’s there.”

Anyone who has doubts about this has only to look at some of the reports via the International Women’s Media Foundation, she said.

Rights activists say that broad coalitions were needed to promote the protection of rights and that journalists and human rights advocates need to work together. Courtesy: CIVICUS

Because of the similarity in methods used to attack rights defenders globally, press freedom groups and civil society organisations should increase ways of working together, said some delegates at the ICSW meeting.

Vukasin Petrovic, senior director for programme strategy at Washington DC-based rights monitoring organisation Freedom House, said that broad coalitions were needed to promote the protection of rights.

“Journalists and human rights advocates are the centrepiece of any strategy,” he told IPS. “The protection of freedom of expression and freedom of assembly are in the interests of both.”

Responding to a question about required journalistic “distance” and impartiality, he acknowledged that sometimes the relationship between the media and civil society can become too close.

“We do need transparency and accountability on all sides,” he said. “But building coalitions can make advocacy more powerful.”

For Dragan Sekulovski, executive director of the Association of Journalists of Macedonia – a country that’s “a champion when it comes to wiretapping” – part of the defence of media needs to come from the sector itself.

That includes promoting quality journalism and “leaving this to the audience to judge”, he said. In this way, public opinion may swing in favour of the media, helping to deter attacks and harassment.

“Quality” journalism requires resources, however, and as various media groups point out, the sector has been ravaged over the past years by job losses, low pay, copyright abuses and other ills.

This is compounded by declining public trust – because of a range of factors, including smear campaigns, accusations of purveying “fake news”, journalists’ own behaviour, and, of course, calling media “the enemy of the people” as American President Donald Trump has done.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, many of Trump’s tweets so far as president has “insulted or criticised journalists and outlets, or condemned and denigrated the news media as a whole”.

It has thus become an uphill battle to get some sections of the public to see the importance of journalists’ work, and to engage actively in protecting media freedom, said activists at the ICSW meeting.

“Media organisations need to engage with citizens to make them understand why (citizens) need them,” said Josimovic.

Whether this would stop the attacks and harassment, especially of women journalists, is anyone’s guess. The issue will no doubt be raised again during discussions May 1-3, when the “main celebration” of UNESCO’s World Press Freedom Day takes place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Related Articles

• Attacks on Media in the Balkans Sound Alarm Bells for Democracy
• Smears, Laws, Lack of Cooperation: Tools Against Activists

The post No Story Worth Dying For appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

This article is part of a series on the current state of civil society organisations (CSOs), which will be the focus of International Civil Society Week (ICSW), sponsored by CIVICUS, and scheduled to take place in Belgrade, April 8-12.

The post No Story Worth Dying For appeared first on Inter Press Service.

After mass protests, the military says it has ousted and arrested long-time leader Omar al-Bashir.

Sudan's president Omar al-Bashir has been removed from power and arrested, according to the country's defence minister.

Ethiopia's Football Federation president Esayas Jira is doubtful the country will be ready to host next year's African Nations Championship (CHAN).

Five significant moments explain how Omar al-Bashir lost power in Sudan after nearly 30 years.

By Ulysses Dorotheo
BANGKOK, Thailand, Apr 11 2019 (IPS)

The image of a smoking toddler from Indonesia horrified the world but did little to motivate local policy makers to enact measures to protect children and youth from the harms of tobacco use. Indonesia has one of the world’s highest smoking rates where two out of three men and about 40 percent of adolescent boys smoke.

Cigarette prices in Indonesia are among the cheapest in the region, where a pack of Marlboros is sold for as little as US$ 1.70, while local brands or loose sticks are dirt cheap ($ 0.05 per stick), easily affordable to the nation’s 65 million smokers.

Indonesia has a complex tobacco taxation structure of 12-tiers, dividing between machine-made white cigarettes, machine-made Kretek cigarettes, hand-rolled cigarettes, size of manufacturing factories, and more. Annual increases in tobacco tax are small, having little impact on cigarette prices to reduce consumption, especially among the poor, who form the bulk of smokers.

In 2017, the Ministry of Finance issued a Regulation on Tobacco Excise Tax to increase tax for 2018 and at the same time stipulated a roadmap for the simplification of tax tiers, reducing from 12 tiers to 5 tiers by 2021.

The tier simplification roadmap was viewed as a win for public health, as fewer tiers will close the tax and price gaps and reduce the incentive for smokers to switch to cheaper cigarettes. However, a year later, in November 2018, the simplification roadmap was suddenly revoked thereby cancelling the tax increase and tier reduction.

In his review of hundreds of news articles, Mouhamad Bigwanto, a public health researcher from the University of Muhammadiyah Prof. Dr. HAMKA, saw pro-tobacco industry groups unfold a systematic, tactical plan that led to the defeat of the tobacco tax increase and tiers simplification.

Documented in Tobacco Industry Interference Undermined Tobacco Tax Policies in Indonesia, released by the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA), his findings illustrate the tobacco industry’s plan to present the industry as being crucial to the economy, while simultaneously undermining and derailing the tobacco excise policy through a coordinated multi-pronged strategy.

In mid-2018, the Coordinating Ministry of Economic Affairs released a new Tobacco Roadmap on the importance of the industry. This Tobacco Roadmap was the product of Independent Research and Advisory Indonesia (IRAI), a think-tank that the Ministry engaged, whose founder and head was the former CEO of Sampoerna Foundation, the charity arm of PT HM Sampoerna, which is owned by one of the world’s biggest cigarette manufacturers. IRAI lists Sampoerna Strategic, a tobacco-related entity, as one of its clients.

The pro-industry Tobacco Roadmap rationalizes the importance of the tobacco industry to the economy and argues for its protection and growth until 2045, rehashing past arguments used by the industry to oppose tobacco control.

It formed the basis to initiate and support measures to reject tobacco tax increase and simplification. The Roadmap was introduced and explained to various government departments including with the Ministry of Health.

Various pro-tobacco industry front groups were mobilized to build support and create public pressure. These groups vocalized a consistent main message that increasing tax will ruin the industry that employs 6 million workers, resulting in massive unemployment and reduction in government revenue.

The messages of these groups were all well-aligned, echoed, and re-echoed to reinforce one another. Media coverage of their messages reached a crescendo at the appropriate time. On cue, academics and research institutes generated and released evidence that rejected tax increase and tiers simplification.

A prominent religious organization which has a powerful voice in the Muslim majority country issued a clear message that the government must revoke the excise simplification plan. Champions from relevant government ministries, such as Labor and Industry, made pro-industry statements that influenced the decision-making process up to the highest executive level (President’s level).

In contrast, voices from health groups supporting tax increase and simplification were less in frequency and magnitude compared to the pro-tobacco industry voices, such that at the end of 2018, following strong pressure from various pro-tobacco industry groups and institutions and systematic interference from the tobacco industry, the Government announced it will not increase the excise tax in 2019 and revoked the simplification roadmap.

The cancellation of the tax increase and annulment of the simplification roadmap show both the might of the tobacco industry in influencing policy makers and the vulnerability of the Government to industry interference.

While the tobacco industry’s strategy to defeat tax increase may not be new or novel, the willingness of policy makers to respond positively to the industry is astounding when juxtaposed against current global awareness on the harms of tobacco use.

Across the globe countries are setting target dates to become tobacco-free, but the Indonesian government is moving purposefully in the opposite direction to protect the tobacco industry for the next two decades, unmindful that about 230,000 Indonesians are killed annually by tobacco-related diseases.

Paradoxically, at high level meetings, Indonesia has committed to implement the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which include a target to achieve health for all by reducing tobacco use.

Clearly other measures are needed to protect public health policy from being undermined by commercial interests. These include:

• • Adopting a government code of conduct that regulates interactions with the tobacco industry and its affiliates to ensure transparency and prevent industry interference.

 

• • Prohibiting institutions and individuals with tobacco industry ties from developing tobacco control policies because of their clear conflict of interests.

 

• Requiring political parties to disclose their funding sources as part of good governance.

*SEATCA is a multi-sectoral non-governmental alliance promoting health and saving lives by assisting ASEAN countries to accelerate and effectively implement the evidence-based tobacco control measures contained in the WHO FCTC. Acknowledged by governments, academic institutions, and civil society for its advancement of tobacco control movements in Southeast Asia, the WHO bestowed on SEATCA the World No Tobacco Day Award in 2004 and the WHO Director-General’s Special Recognition Award in 2014.

The post Revealed — A Roadmap to Defeat Tobacco Tax & Keep Indonesians Addicted appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Dr. Ulysses Dorotheo is Executive Director of the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA)*

The post Revealed — A Roadmap to Defeat Tobacco Tax & Keep Indonesians Addicted appeared first on Inter Press Service.

The political turmoil in Sudan means the Confederation Cup tie between Sudanese club Al Hilal and Tunisia's Etoile du Sahel is postponed.

Exterior wall of the Welikada Prison, Colombo. Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena said he would reinstate executions after more than 40 years and apply death sentences to those convicted of drug offences. Credit: Ranmali Bandarage/IPS

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 11 2019 (IPS)

While figures have dropped, the “inhuman” use of the death penalty still remains too common worldwide, a human rights group said.

In a new report, Amnesty International found that global executions fell by almost one-third last year, making it the lowest rate in at least a decade.

“The dramatic global fall in executions proves that even the most unlikely countries are starting to change their ways and realise the death penalty is not the answer,” said Amnesty International’s Secretary General Kumi Naidoo.

“This is a hopeful indication that it’s only a matter of time before this cruel punishment is consigned to history, where it belongs,” he added.

For instance, Burkina Faso abolished the death penalty in 2018, while both Malaysia and the Gambia declared an official moratorium on executions.

In Iran, where the death penalty is an all too common form of punishment, executions fell by a whopping 50 percent.

Despite the positive news, the use of the death penalty has continued, violating basic human rights including the right to a fair trial and the importance of ensuring dignity and respect.

According to Amnesty International, there were 2,531 death sentences globally in 2018, just a slight decrease from 2,591 reported in 2017.

Though there was some progress, Iran still continues to account for more than one third of all recorded executions.

In fact, approximately 78 percent of all known executions were carried out in just four countries: Iran, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, and Iraq.

Hồ Duy Hải is among 600 people under the death sentence in Vietnam, and still remains at risk of execution.

Convicted of theft and murder, Hồ Duy Hải said he was tortured and forced to sign a “confession” which he later retracted.

In 2015, the Committee on Judicial Affairs of the National Assembly found serious violations of criminal procedural law in the handling of Hồ Duy Hải’s case.

“It has been 11 years since he was arrested and our family was torn apart. I can no longer bear this pain. Just thinking about my son suffering behind bars hurts me so much,” his mother Nguyễn Thị Loan told Amnesty International.

“I would like the international community to help reunite my family. You are my only hope,” she added.
While exact figures are unknown, China is still the world’s top executioner with potentially thousands of people sentenced to death each year.

The death penalty is applied in a range of offences including non-violent offences which violates international law and standards as they do not classify as the “most serious crimes.”

In June 2018, authorities in Lufeng city in southeastern China conducted a “mass sentencing rally” where 10 people were charged for drug-related offences and executed.

Elsewhere, the use of the death penalty has been reintroduced which, in some cases, is happening in countries that have had a decades-long moratorium.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena said he would reinstate executions after more than 40 years and apply death sentences to those convicted of drug offences, like the Philippines.

The government even posted a job advertisement seeking an executioner with “excellent moral character” and a “very good mind and mental strength.”

Sudan resumed the implementation of death sentences after a hiatus in 2017, including the sentencing of Noura Hussein.

Hussein, a young Sudanese woman, was married against her will to Abdulrahman Mohamed Hammad at the age of 16 and was raped when she refused to consummate the marriage.

When Hammad tried to rape her again, Hussein defended herself and in the struggle, he sustained a fatal knife injury and died.

Despite evidence of self-defence, Hussein was convicted and sentenced to death, prompting global outrage.

“I was in absolute shock when the judge told me I had been sentenced to death. I hadn’t done anything to deserve to die. I couldn’t believe the level of injustice – especially on women,” Hussein told Amnesty International.

“My case was especially hard as at the time of sentencing, my family had disowned me. I was alone dealing with the shock,” she added.

Though the death sentence was overturned, it has only been replaced with a five-year prison sentence and financial compensation of 8,400 dollars. Still, prosecutors are pushing to reinstate the death sentence in her case.

The global struggle is still far from over, Naidoo noted.

“Slowly but steadily, global consensus is building towards ending the use of the death penalty…from Burkina Faso to the U.S., concrete steps are being taken to abolish the death penalty. Now it’s up to other countries to follow suit,” he said.

“We all want to live in a safe society, but executions are never the solution. With the continued support of people worldwide, we can – and we will – put an end to the death penalty once and for all.”

Related Articles

• Death Sentences Keep Sliding, Says Amnesty International

The post People Do Not “Deserve to Die”: Injustice of Death Penalty Persists appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Susan Wilding
GENEVA, Apr 11 2019 (IPS)

Anti-government protesters invading Serbia’s state-owned television station, demanding that their voices be heard. Journalism bodies writing to the Albanian prime minister over plans to censor online media outlets. A Belgrade corruption-busting reporter forced to flee his house that had been torched; a Montenegrin investigative journalist shot in the leg outside her home.

These are just some of the violations emerging from the western Balkans as a clampdown on media freedom – and civil liberties – undermines Serbia’s and Montenegro’s bids to join the European Union.

It’s little wonder that Serbia tumbled 10 spots to rank 76th on the 2018 Reporters without Borders Press Freedom Index, which states bluntly: “Serbia has become a country where it is unsafe to be a journalist.” Its neighbours fare little better: Albania is in 75th place, Kosovo is ranked 78th and Montenegro is a dismal 103rd.

Smear campaigns against courageous journalists; impunity for those assaulting media players; collusion between politicians and brown-envelope reporters; high levels of concentration of media ownership in a few hands; threats of cripplingly expensive litigation; the chilling effect of self-censorship on reportage. The list of media abuses in the Balkans goes on and on.

Belgrade, Serbia is playing host to International Civil Society Week, running thro Friday April 12, bringing together over 900 delegates to debate solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges. Some of the questions on the agenda will be: What more can we, as civil society, do to ease this stranglehold on free expression? How can we raise our voices to protect individual and media liberties?

Such restrictions on the media are incompatible with participatory democracy, which depends on three fundamental human rights – freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom of association and freedom of expression – which are also protected under international law. Any government that claims to have free and fair elections, and claims to be a democracy, cannot deny its citizens access to information and the right to be heard.

According to findings by the CIVICUS Monitor, an online platform that tracks threats to civil society in 196 countries, states are generally using two types of tactics to restrict civic freedoms, and the crack down on media freedoms is no exception.

The first is legal: imposing or enforcing laws that restrict democratic freedoms and criminalise free speech. For example, this includes bringing trumped-up judicial charges against journalists or media houses, thereby diverting energy and resources from watchdog journalism.

The second type comes in the form of extrajudicial means and are even more contemptible: including intimidating the media into submission through carefully coordinated smear campaigns and public vilification, and sometimes through physical intimidation and outright repression.

While such states may make an elaborate show of using (or abusing) the laws of the land to rein in the media, such censorship is clearly a perverse parody of democracy – an expression of a growing trend in which the ‘rule by law’ replaces the rule of law.

Sometimes these attacks on media are coming from “strongmen” leaders with the ambition of concentrating power and eliminating any checks and balances. In other instances, we see these kinds of restrictions imposed by governments that feel threatened and see media clampdowns as another way to hold onto power.

A weakened state or leaders who came to power through dubious means or with a small majority are likely to mute the civic space to cling to power. It may therefore, not be surprising that it’s happening in the Balkans, given the area’s fraught political history.

When popular dissent swells against unpopular policies and actions, a vulnerable state’s first target is the media, because of their potential role in unseating power. It is also something we see as a classic copy-and-paste tactic: questionable leaders see their regional neighbours getting away with it, with few if any repercussions, and follow suit.

Even the online space – the ultimate democratic arena of the 21st century, where the gladiatorial thrust and parry of views is essential to robust debate – is not being spared in this battle to seize ideological control of the marketplace of ideas.

Some countries have already shown that it’s entirely possible to shut down or control social media platforms, denying citizens their fundamental right to participate in debate and in policymaking.

The reasons that States give for silencing media vary but often include similar statements such as journalists are writing “defamatory” articles or disseminating “fake news”. Often, they maintain, the reportage is “unpatriotic”, “goes against our culture or values” or “does not advance our nationalist agenda”.

With the restrictions on media freedoms increasing in the Balkans, we should be highlighting the situation and sharing tried and tested strategies for pushing back and opening the space for a free and independent media.

We should be concerned that the world so easily shifted its attention away from the region after the terrible conflict that claimed so many lives 20 years ago. Why did we not linger a while to monitor the aftermath? Do we turn a blind eye to human rights abuses, as is the case in China and elsewhere, as long as there is peace, development and economic prosperity?

The post Attacks on Media in the Balkans Sound Alarm Bells for Democracy appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

This article is part of a series on the current state of civil society organisations (CSOs), which is the focus of International Civil Society Week (ICSW), sponsored by CIVICUS, and scheduled to conclude in Belgrade, April 12.

 
Susan Wilding is the head of the Geneva office at CIVICUS, a global alliance of civil society organisations.

The post Attacks on Media in the Balkans Sound Alarm Bells for Democracy appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Teenager Sajeda Shareif hopes her actions will encourage peace in a country which has faced instability since 2011.

The tidal wave of popular protest is beyond anything President Bashir has faced before.

Photographer Sanlé Sory spent 25 years documenting night life in the West African country of Burkina Faso.

Source: https://pixabay.com/de/users/qimono-1962238/

By Heike Kuhn
BERLIN, Apr 10 2019 (IPS)

What happens worldwide on Fridays, a regular working day and consequently, a school day? We are all witnessing that students do not attend their classes: During the week of March 15, 2019, according to www.fridaysforfuture.org, there were at least 1.6 million striking students in more than 125 countries on all continents. Students ask their governments and parents: “Why should I be studying for a future that soon may exist no more, if no one does anything to save that future?” And they pledge: “Dear adults, use your power!” The youngsters gather in front of their town halls, exposing signs and pictures #Fridaysforfuture or #Climatestrike.

How did this global movement start? It all began with the activism of one person, a girl from Sweden. Who is that girl? Greta Thunberg is a Swedish student, aged 15 in 2018. Due to the hot summer in 2018, causing severe fires in large forests in Sweden, she decided on August 20 to boycott school lessons until the general elections in her country on September 9 would have taken place. And she did. Her motivation: To advocate for the obligations voluntarily taken over by the Swedish government to reduce carbon emissions as foreseen by the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

But even when the elections had taken place, she continued to boycott school lessons on Fridays. As a climate activist she has become a role model for thousands of students all over the world. In the following months, students followed her, in December 2018 there were more than 20.000 students in about 270 cities “on strike”, in Japan, Finland, USA, Australia and Germany. And these demonstrations do continue – every Friday, having now reached the impressive number of 1.6 million participants. You can listen to Greta Thunberg’s impressive speech addressing political leaders at the climate conference in Katowice (COP 24) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbDnPj0G0wY). What is her message to all these leaders and politicians? She argues that the adults in charge only speak about green growth because they are too scared to take measures which could be unpopular. From her point of view, the wrong decisions taken in the last decades are the cause for the mess we are in today. And she explains to the powerful leaders that they are not mature enough to take responsible decisions, even this burden is left to the children. Whereas in industrialized countries people can enjoy wealth, people in developping countries, especially children, suffer and are threatened with regard to their future.

This is a powerful statement. In the meantime, Greta has celebrated her 16th birthday. She has the Asperger syndrome, a mild form of autism. However, she is capable to come up with a clear view and responsible position with regard to the future and the action needed. Her view is much clearer than the one of adults, among them politicians, entrepreneurs or each of us. With strong impetus she explains that she does not understand why governments and citizens would not act, as climate change is threatening all of us.

We all know that climate change is a reality, only very few persons still deny the facts and the evidence behind it. Climate is changing rapidly, deepening the abyss between those who can adapt and protect their lives – the rich – and those who are directly exposed to it, many poor people in Africa, Asia or Latin America. They are threatened by floods, avalanches, tsunamis or simply because of drought. Climate change is the reason for people to leave their villages thus becoming refugees. Climate change makes childhood much harder for so many girls and boys worldwide or even destroys childhood at all. Far too often there is no education which is the most important way out of poverty and which creates perspectives for families.

At the same time, everyone is talking about sustainable life styles, but what is really happening? As citizens and as customers we see and feel our share. When taking the car or air plane even for short trips, we know we could easily walk or take the train. When consuming too much meat, we know we could eat less. Furthermore, we still use too much fossil fuel or witness the ongoing deforestation of tropical rainforests. However, we are perfectly aware that giving up some of these climate threatening habits would be very easy for us – so why are there so many obstacles?

Coming back to Swedish activist Thunberg and her recent presence in the media: Greta was invited to the World Economic Forum in Davos/Switzerland in January 2019 and there she talked to the powerful leaders of our governments. How did she get there? By train, of course, which meant she was travelling for 32 hours from Stockholm to the Alps. Once again, she delivered a most impressive speech, claiming that our house is on fire: A short summary of her key note: In Davos, where the focus is on economy, finance and growth, these seem to be the main global problems. As to Greta a turnaround is urgently needed, since financial success comes with an unthinkable price tag. Citing the scientific findings of the IPCC, she refers to the short deadline for homo sapiens to stop the emissions of green house gas. And she clearly states that this change will be uncomfortable to many of us. She urges leaders to take influence on political decisions and reminds them that the bigger their platform is, the bigger their responsibility is, too.

Who listens to Greta? Which politicians and leaders take action after the global movement fridaysforfuture? In my country, Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel has complimented Greta on her activism and expressed sympathy for the global movement (a slight irritation after a comment of Chancellor Merkel during the Munich Security Conference in March 2019 has been discarded). But where is the action needed? Let us remember that global leaders voluntarily agreed on two major texts in 2015: the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Whereas SDG 13 asks for taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts, showcasing the political will of all the subscribing 192 countries, the legal character of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change is a binding one. What action have leaders taken since then in order to fulfil their ambition and legal obligations? In 2015, Greta was 13 years old, in 2018, when analysing the global climate situation, she started her activism. In between, on the occasion of the International Women’s Day on March 8, Greta Thunberg was proclaimed the most important woman of the year in Sweden in 2019. On March 31, she received the German Special Climate Protection award (Goldene Kamera). And three Norwegian MPs have nominated her as a candidate to receive this year’s Nobel Prize for Peace.

From my point of view, the most important consequences of Greta’s wake-up call are the fact that it brings about a global discussion for the change needed. Furthermore, it causes incentives for real leaders and reasonable politicians to act today. I personally hope that Greta will be right in her analysis of the IPPC’s report that there is still a short deadline left for homo sapiens to stop the emissions of greenhouse gas and safe our planet. And, hopefully, that Yuval Noah Harari, the author of the famous bestseller “Sapiens” may revise his conclusion at the end of his book, that in the course of seventy thousand years homo sapiens has become the master of the entire planet and, at the same time, has become the terror of the ecosystem.

The post Fridays for Future – following Greta Thunberg! appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Protesters continue to call for the interim president to resign, despite the announcement.

Nicholas Muchami decided to clear the road himself after local leaders in Kenya refused to build one.

Michel Forst, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders next report will focus on impunity, as only about 5 percent of attacks on rights defenders have been investigated and the perpetrators “brought to justice”. Credit: AD McKenzie/IPS

By A. D. McKenzie
BELGRADE, Apr 10 2019 (IPS)

The murder of Brazilian politician and human rights activist Marielle Franco just over a year ago and attacks on other rights activists around the world have galvanised civil society organisations, with the United Nations heightening its own strategy to protect rights defenders.
However, some countries aren’t interested in cooperating with civil society or international governmental bodies and even actively engage in smear campaigns against rights advocates.

“An increasing number of states have now refused to cooperate with the UN,” said Michel Forst, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, in the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

“They don’t want to invite any more special rapporteurs to visit the countries or to produce reports,” he told journalists at a press briefing during International Civil Society Week (ICSW 2019), an annual gathering of civil society leaders, activists and citizens taking place in the Serbian capital this week, Apr. 8-12.

The meeting – co-hosted by the Johannesburg-based global civil society alliance CIVICUS – has brought together more than 850 delegates who are focusing on issues ranging from “the crackdown on media freedom to emergency assistance for NGOs under attack”. It is also addressing the “power” of solidarity alongside greater accountability.

Forst said he was attending the event to learn from the participants. His next report, to be presented during the UN General Assembly in the fall, will focus on impunity, as only about 5 percent of attacks on rights defenders have been investigated and the perpetrators “brought to justice”, he told journalists.

A growing problem in protecting rights defenders is the way in which some states try to defame activists, Forst said. In regions from Europe to Latin America, there are on-going campaigns to discredit rights advocates, and public opinion can be influenced by the derogatory terminology.
“These campaigns are dangerous for defenders,” he said. “They are called ‘enemies of the state’, they are called ‘promoters of western values’, they are (said to be) ‘against development’.”

In some countries, activists are also accused of having links to terrorism and of opposing progress when they try to block projects that are disastrous for the environment or for indigenous peoples.

“What is also a matter of concern for me is that these campaigns are led by politicians, by political actors, prime ministers, ministers of foreign affairs, ministers of defence,” Forst added.

He said the Belgrade ICSW meeting was important for activists to see that what is happening in their home country or region may also be taking place elsewhere, so that they can try to build bridges and strengthen links.

The meeting has in fact highlighted similarities in methods of repression around the world – methods that include not only physical attacks, but surveillance, travel bans, on-line harassment and the use of government structures and legislation to try to suppress freedoms.

Even as the ICSW meeting takes place, rights organisations elsewhere have been issuing alarms about breaches of civic and media rights. Separately from the event in Belgrade, rights organisation PEN America on Apr. 9 warned that the “Trump administration’s targeting of journalists has reached a new level”.

The group pointed to reports from the U.S.-Mexico border (and leaked documents from a Department of Homeland Security whistle-blower) indicating that “U.S. government agencies have been tracking and monitoring over 50 individuals, mostly journalists and immigration advocates, as they report on the humanitarian situation” at the U.S. southern border.

Government entities have reportedly participated in the “tracking and monitoring of these journalists, including the creation of a U.S. government database containing sensitive personal information”, PEN America said. The group called the database “a shocking and unwarranted violation of journalists’ First Amendment rights” and “an appalling violation of press freedom”.

In France, meanwhile, the national branch of Amnesty International criticised a French “anti-riot” law that could threaten freedom of assembly and expression. The law, adopted by parliament, would allow police to systematically search protestors, and, despite certain assurances, it “remains a serious infringement on public freedom and the balance of power”, Amnesty France stated Apr. 9.

The law comes as France’s Gilets Jaunes (or Yellow Vests) continue their protests, with thousands marching on Apr. 6 in Paris and other cities for the 21st weekend in a row. Certain lawmakers say the legislation is necessary to prevent further destruction of property and life-threatening fires started by protestors during some of the demonstrations.

But France also uses other legislation “to target those defenders who are trying to help and rescue migrants coming to Europe via the Mediterranean sea,” said Forst, who is French.
“We’re seeing more and more the criminalisation of (rights) defenders”, through the use of the law, he said.

In Serbia, anti-government demonstrators are set to intensify their actions Apr. 13 — the day after ICSW 2019 ends — with what promises to be the biggest gathering since protests began last December.

Protestors are calling for free and fair elections and greater media freedom. (Last month some forced their way into the offices of Serbia’s state-run television network, to show dissatisfaction with what they called one-sided reporting.)

At the opening ceremony of ICSW, Serbian activists slammed President Aleksandar Vučić for repressive policies, often without naming him, and some called for protection of the media.

“We will stand up for freedom of journalists… the freedom not to be threatened in any way,” said Maja Stojanovic, of Serbian organisation Civic Initiatives, a co-host of the meeting.

Ahead of ICSW, Serbia was added to a watchlist of “nations where civic freedoms are under serious threat”. The watchlist – released by the CIVICUS Monitor, an online platform that tracks threats to civil society across the globe – said Serbian authorities have “orchestrated a smear campaign against demonstrators, labelling government opponents as ‘paid’ activists working against Serbian interests”.

The confused and disquieting developments in many countries further highlight the need to find cross-border solutions and to create links between rights defenders, Forst said.

The European Union, for instance, has guidelines for embassies of member states abroad on “how to protect rights defenders”, and funding is available for embassies to relocate individuals at risk, Forst told reporters. In addition, a network of shelter cities exists (the number of these is growing with continued attacks).

But it is difficult to relocate at-risk female activists who may have children, and here, too, there is often lack of cooperation or agreement on asylum requests.

While some countries can effectively help rights defenders in far-off regions, they seem powerless when it comes to their own neighbours.

Still, defenders are becoming “more efficient” in forming local, national and international networks, Forst said. “It is a battle … solidarity is important.”

He said the good news is that some countries that were “blocked in the past” are now granting access to international bodies to help protect defenders and to end impunity.

In contrast to states like the Philippines that are dangerous for rights defenders and don’t wish to “do anything to solve the problem”, other countries “like Mexico, Colombia, Honduras, Brazil now – maybe – do recognise, because of the number of killings … that they need to solve the problem,” Forst added.

In Brazil, meanwhile, activists and others are still asking: who killed Marielle Franco?

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The post Smears, Laws, Lack of Cooperation: Tools Against Activists appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

This article is part of a series on the current state of civil society organisations (CSOs), which will be the focus of International Civil Society Week (ICSW), sponsored by CIVICUS, and scheduled to take place in Belgrade, April 8-12.

The post Smears, Laws, Lack of Cooperation: Tools Against Activists appeared first on Inter Press Service.

A refrigerator being transported by cart.

By Joyce Msuya
NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 10 2019 (IPS)

Our planet is heating up. 2018 was the fourth-warmest year on record, with peak temperatures engulfing the planet – from 43°C in Baku, Azerbaijan, to the low 30s across Scandinavia. The last four years have been the hottest since records began in 1880.

It is no surprise, then, that demand for cooling is growing. In just one part of the cooling sector, the number of air conditioners in use is expected to rise from 1.2 billion today to 4.5 billion by 2050 – boosted by the growing spending power of the global middle class.

We should not stop this growth in cooling. Almost one third of the world’s population faces dangerous temperatures for over 20 days a year, while heatwaves cause 12,000 deaths annually.

We need to provide equitable access to a technology that protects against extreme heat, keeps food fresh and vaccines stable, and so much more.

But we are stuck in a vicious cycle. As the planet warms, we need more cooling. More cooling means more power: energy demand for space cooling is projected to at least triple by 2050 – consuming the same amount of electricity as China and India today.

This means more planet-warming emissions – predicted to rise 90 per cent over 2017 levels by 2050. And back to the start of the cycle we go.

There is, however, a way out. A swift and targeted move to clean and efficient cooling can limit climate change, allow us to safely increase access to cooling for those who need it most and, according to the International Energy Agency, save up to USD 2.9 trillion globally through 2050 by using less electricity.

To accelerate the transition to clean and efficient cooling, we need a unified effort. As of last week, we have this effort, in the shape of the Cool Coalition – a new global effort led by UN Environment, the Climate and Clean Air Coalition, the Kigali Cooling Efficiency Program, and Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL).

We formed this coalition now because we have an unparalleled opportunity with the Kigali Amendment, which began its work on the first day of 2019.

This amendment is an add-on to the Montreal Protocol, the global treaty that saved the ozone layer. Under it, nations have agreed to phase down the use of refrigerants that are thousands of times more potent greenhouse gases than carbon dioxide.

Cutting down on these gases, known as HFCs, can deliver up to 0.4°C of avoided warming by the end of this century. This is a great result on its own.

However, a strategy that takes advantage of the refit and redesign of cooling equipment to increase its energy efficiency may double the climate benefits. There are also opportunities in “smart” buildings, designed for efficiency and natural cooling. We should look at shifting power for cooling to renewable sources – although without the efficiency measures, cooling would consume all of the world’s projected renewables capacity by 2050.

Coalition members are already acting. UN Environment is promoting clean and efficient cooling through its District Energy in Cities initiative. Rwanda has put in place a national cooling plan that includes standards and labels for refrigerators and air conditioning.

Danish engineering firm Danfoss is rolling out cooling solutions that are more energy efficient and climate friendly. But we need help.

We need national and local governments, businesses and civil society to make concrete pledges to help achieve this transition. The Coalition’s champions are seeking to secure such commitments ahead of the 2019 Climate Action Summit, called by the UN Secretary-General. Join us and help keep ourselves, and the planet, cool.

The post Staying Cool is Creating a Vicious Cycle on our Warming Planet appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Joyce Msuya is Acting Executive Director, UN Environment

The post Staying Cool is Creating a Vicious Cycle on our Warming Planet appeared first on Inter Press Service.

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