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Hostility in the midst of Hunger Escalates in Sudan

Wed, 08/28/2024 - 17:14

President of the General Assembly, Dennis Francis, meets with internally displaced Sudanese civilians at a displacement camp in Juba. During his visit, he met with the President of the Republic of South Sudan to discuss a peace agreement and plans for humanitarian assistance. Credit: Nektarios Markogiannis/UN Photo

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 28 2024 (IPS)

The ongoing humanitarian crisis taking place in Sudan, which is a result of the civil war which began last year, continues to escalate as hunger and displacement plague the population, according to spokesperson for the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Stéphane Dujarric, during an August 21st press briefing.

The civil war broke out in April 2023 when the Sudan Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces began a fierce armed conflict in the capital city of Khartoum. According to reports by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), over 18,800 civilians have been killed and over 33,000 have been injured in the crossfire.

Additionally, Edem Wosornu, Director of Operations and Advocacy at OCHA, stated in a press briefing on August 6th that extended siege and conflict between the two parties has resulted in many women and girls being raped.

Food insecurity is currently the most pressing issue facing Sudan. Stephen Omollo, Assistant Executive Director for Workplace and Management of the World Food Programme (WFP), highlighted that “there is famine in Zamzam camp near El Fasher in North Darfur and that other areas in Darfur and elsewhere are at high risk, with more than half of the country’s population facing crisis levels of hunger”.

The WFP and the International Organization for Migration is currently in the process of providing food to areas most affected by famine, such as West Darfur, where 13,000 people are facing the risk of starvation. Wosornu added that the 26 million people facing acute hunger in Sudan is three times the population of New York City.

A spokesperson for the United Kingdom’s UN Representative added that approximately 100 Sudanese people will die of starvation every day until the conflict is settled.

Additionally, as a result of heavy armed conflict in the capital city Khartoum and the Darfur region, many communities have been pushed into displacement. The Sudan conflict is considered to be the world’s largest displacement crisis, with as many as 10.7 million people being displaced to other areas of Sudan and more fleeing to neighbouring nations, according to OCHA.

“Since the start of the current round of hostilities in Sudan, more than 780,000 men, women and children have crossed the border and headed to Renk town”, Dujarric stated.

Furthermore, over 5 million children have been internally displaced and 19 million children lack access to education as a result of 90 percent of schools being shut down. This makes Sudan one of the worst education crises in the world.

For the effective use of humanitarian aid, it is imperative that the conflict stops as soon as possible. Constant sieges and battles prevent the humanitarian community in Sudan as well as the United Nations from providing life-saving assistance.

Aid trucks have been severely obstructed in Sudan. Sudanese authorities have impeded the use of the Adre crossing, which is the most effective route in delivering assistance. In addition, many humanitarian workers have been attacked, kidnapped, and harassed.

Wosornu states “the conflict must stop to allow for the rapid delivery of humanitarian assistance across the country. The warring parties must uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law. Also needed are rapid, safe and unimpeded humanitarian access across Sudan through all possible routes and more resources, including flexible funding”. She adds that if these conditions were met, the current situation in Sudan would be far less dire.

Dujarric added that “peacekeepers established a temporary base in the area (of Renk, Sudan) and are helping to ensure the safe delivery of aid, providing protection to deter violence between diverse communities forced to live together in congested conditions and share dwindling resources”.

Currently, Sudanese authorities deny that there is a severe hunger crisis and that there is no obstruction of humanitarian aid. A delegate for Sudan stated that conditions in a Zamzam displacement camp do not meet the criteria for a declaration of famine. Additionally, they stated that there are no deaths from starvation. They reiterated that aid is not being impeded by the Sudanese government, rather, fault lies with the Rapid Support Forces.

The UN and the WFP is currently negotiating with Sudanese authorities on an increase of aid trucks as well as increased use of the Adre Passage, which makes key distribution points much more easily accessible. It is essential for aid to be supplied on a constant basis as there are 12 areas that face significant levels of famine.

Additionally, the UN predicts that approximately 2.7 billion dollars will be needed for the Sudan Humanitarian Appeal. As of the publication date, this plan has only been 32 percent funded, with a total of 874 dollars being raised for this effort. It is crucial for donors to financially contribute as Sudan is currently on the brink of collapse, having the world’s biggest crises in displacement, hunger, education, and violence.

IPS UN Bureau Report

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Categories: Africa

Struggling at Sea: The Plight of Indian Fishworkers Amid Climate Change and Government Policies

Wed, 08/28/2024 - 16:15

A fishworker sells a limited variety of fish. Due to climate change, the size of the catch and the variety of the fish caught have significantly decreased over time. Graphic: Aishwarya Bajpai/IPS

By Aishwarya Bajpai
NEW DELHI, Aug 28 2024 (IPS)

Climate change forces millions of India’s fishworkers to venture beyond the country’s exclusive economic zone into the perilous high seas.

In their search for a better catch, approximately 4 million of India’s 28 million fishworkers often face increased risks of capture by neighboring countries.

“Earlier, fish used to come close to the shore, but now we have to go farther out to find them. Our fishing season lasts about a month, and it takes several days just to reach our fishing spot. This time keeps increasing with each season, and lately, the number of days we spend at sea has doubled,” Jivan R. Jungi, a fishworker leader from Gujarat, India, told IPS.

It has not only made the lives of fishworkers challenging, but it also affects their families, accounting for about 16 million people, according to official data.

India, a South Asian country with a 7,500-kilometer coastline, relies on aquatic products such as fish and shrimp for its national income.

People involved in the fish and related industries. Source: Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying Graphic: Aishwarya Bajpai/IPS

According to a recent report by the Indian Express, India exported about 17,81,602 metric tons (MT) of seafood, generating a substantial revenue of ₹60,523.89 crore (USD 7.38 billion) in FY 2023–24.

“The government does not take care of us at all, despite the high profit margins in the fishing industry. They fail to provide even the basic benefits that the government can do, like fire safety,” Jungi told IPS. “Our boats are made of wood and run on diesel, which increases the risk of fire. We’ve been requesting safety measures or compensation for years, but nothing has been done, even as we face the growing challenges of climate change.”

Their plight is exacerbated by the Indian government’s policies, including a recent provision in the National Fisheries Policy 2020, which promotes “deep-sea fishing and fishing in areas beyond the national jurisdiction to tap under-exploited resources.” This policy aims to generate more revenue for the nation but does so at the expense of the fishworkers.

Temperature Rises Compare With Hiroshima Bomb

A report by Down to Earth, quoting a study by Science Direct, indicates that the Indian Ocean could experience a temperature rise of 1.7–3.8 degrees Celsius between 2020 and 2100.

To illustrate the severity, Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, is quoted as saying: “The projected increase in heat content is comparable to adding the energy of one Hiroshima atomic bomb explosion every second, continuously, for an entire decade.”

Fishworkers along the entire Indian coastline face mounting challenges, leading to conflicts with neighboring countries such as Pakistan, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Saudi Arabia.

According to India’s Ministry of External Affairs, between 2020 and 2022, more than 2,600 Indian fishworkers were imprisoned in ten countries across the Indian Ocean for maritime border incursions. The highest number of arrests occurred in Pakistan (1,060), followed by Saudi Arabia (564) and Sri Lanka (501).

People involved in the fish and related industries. Source: Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying Graphic: Aishwarya Bajpai/IPS

At Sea, In Danger

The issue of maritime boundaries and fishing rights goes deeper, often causing conflicts among fishworkers from different countries. When fishworkers cross into another country’s waters and catch fish, the local fishworkers claim ownership of the catch, leading to disputes.

This tension among fishworkers can have severe consequences. Moreover, after the arrest, instead of being treated as civilian prisoners, they sometimes face dire conditions, including the risk of death in foreign prisons.

As reported by the Ministry of External Affairs, nine Indian fishermen died in Pakistani jails over the past five years. In 2022, an Indian fisherman named Maria Jesind reportedly had been killed in an Indonesian prison.

This situation is too familiar to fishworkers, particularly those from India and Pakistan, who have long been caught in the political crossfire between their governments.

Historically, the lack of a clear demarcation line has forced fishworkers deeper into the sea without adequate security. As a result, both countries have been arresting fishworkers from each other’s territories for years now.

Last year, 499 fishworkers were released by Pakistan on July 3, 2023, after numerous attempts at their release by civil society organizations. These fishworkers, charged with violating the Passport Act for trespassing on water borders, are imprisoned after court trials, usually receiving sentences of a few months. The official sentence is typically six months, but the release of these fishworkers is rarely prompt, with many spending more than five years.

“But several have died. Balo Jetah Lal died in a Pakistani prison in May 2023; Bichan Kumar alias Vipan Kumar (died April 4, 2023); Soma Deva (died May 8, 2023); and Zulfiqar from Kerala (died May 6, 2023) in Karachi prison,” Jungi says, adding, “Vinod Laxman Kol died on March 17 in Karachi and his mortal remains were brought to his village in Maharashtra on May 1, 2024.”

While the arrests and deaths affect the families of the fishworkers, they also have a broader impact on the community, challenging their way of life and livelihood.

Fishworkers now demand that they not be arrested or shot at, but rather pushed back if they cross maritime boundaries.

After their release, the fishworkers struggle to make ends meet because the arresting government rarely returns their boats, resulting in a lifelong debt of around Rs. 50–60 lakhs (USD 5–6 million) per boat. As a result, the workers now demand that their boats be returned and that the government ensure that the families of arrested fishworkers receive support through policies and schemes, including educational opportunities for their children, to prevent them from falling into extreme poverty.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Excerpt:

Warming seas from climate change means that Indian fisherworkers often travel illegally into international territorial waters in search of a good catch and find themselves jailed and their boats confiscated, driving their families into poverty.

Categories: Africa

Bangladesh Students, Community Moves to Protect Minorities Following Fall of Hasina Government

Wed, 08/28/2024 - 11:45

Students and youth groups in Bangladesh stand guard outside temples and churches to protect those from vandalism during unrest after the Awami League government ouster. Credit: Rafiqul Islam/IPS

By Rafiqul Islam
DHAKA, Aug 28 2024 (IPS)

Immediately after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government on August 5, 2024, following weeks of deadly demonstrations staged by students, people carried out attacks on the houses and temples of the Hindu community in Dacope of Khulna, about 225 kilometres from Dhaka. They particularly attacked and vandalized the houses of minorities believed to be involved in the politics of the ousted Awami League government.

At least 11 Hindu houses in Dacope were attacked and vandalized, with attackers claiming these were acts of political revenge.

But, in Dacope, local Muslim and Hindu students and the community soon joined together to guard the houses and temples of the minorities so that they would no longer be victimized due to the political changeover.

Beginning in mid-June 2024, peaceful student protests in Bangladesh turned violent, resulting in hundreds of people killed, including at least 32 children, and thousands injured. The protests were the result of the reinstatement of a quota system for the distribution of civil service positions.

The government resigned in response to the protests, and a civilian interim government took its place.

In other areas too, attacks were carried out on the offices of the Awami League (AL) and residences and establishments of the AL leaders and temples, churches and houses of minority communities across Bangladesh during unrest.

Nur Nabin Robin, a resident of Chattogram City, said many people from minority communities, including Hindus, Buddhist and ethnic people, live in the port city in harmony.

But when the Sheikh Hasina government fell on August 5, people of the minority communities began to feel insecure in Chattogram since attacks on minorities were reportedly being carried out in different parts of the country, he said.

“So, we patrolled in the city for two to three nights in groups and guarded the temples and houses of the minorities so that none could attack them. We also asked them to call us via mobile phone if they can sense any clue of attack on them,” Robin told IPS.

Their concerns were exacerbated because most police stations across the country ceased operating after the fall of the previous government.

General students and even madrasa students came forward to protect the houses and places of worship as the leaders of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement asked supporters to guard temples and churches, responding to concerns voiced over reports of attacks on minority groups.

Jasim Uddin, a resident of Kuliarchar in Kishoreganj, told IPS that after the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government, mobs torched and vandalized houses of many AL leaders in his locality, but members of the Hindu community remained safe during the political turmoil as local people voluntarily safeguarded their temples and properties.

While national monuments and government buildings in the capital, Dhaka, were looted, there were no reports of attacks on temples or churches there during the recent political turmoil.

In Dhaka, Muslim students were found guarding the Dhakeshwari National Temple, a Hindu place of worship. A Muslim was spotted offering prayers in front of Dhakeswari temple so nobody would attack the temple.

Professor Muhammad Yunus, Chief Adviser to the interim government of Bangladesh, visited Dhakeshwari National Temple on August 13, 2024, to express his solidarity with the Hindu community. During his visit, he called upon the minorities to keep patience and remain united.

Yunus condemned the attacks on minority communities in the country as “heinous.”

Religious harmony is the long tradition of Banglalees, while people from different religions—Islam, Hindu, Buddhist, Christian—have been living together from generation to generation.

“Over 90 percent people in Bangladesh do not believe in communalism. Attacks were carried out on minorities due to political reason or gaining personal interest. Those who carried out looting and vandalism were not involved in the student movement,” adviser to interim government Syeda Rizwana Hasan told a function recently in Dhaka.

She said madrasa students had safeguarded temples in many places of Bangladesh, which showed an example of the country’s religious harmony.

Barrister Sara Hossain, the honorary executive director of the Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST), said once miscreants carry out any attack on minorities, all should protect them.

CONCERN REMAINS

Following the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government, there was chaos across the country, with law enforcement officials retreating in many places for fear of retaliation.

According to a report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) of the United Nations released on August 16, 2024, attacks were conducted against minorities, including Hindus, especially in the days immediately after the change of government.

The OHCHR report recognized the role of the student organizations and other ordinary people who were forming groups to protect the minorities.

It details some of the attacks against minorities, including Hindus, especially in the days immediately after the change of government. On August 5 and 6, Hindu houses and properties were reportedly attacked, vandalized and looted in 27 districts. A number of places of worship were also damaged, including an ISKCON temple in Meherpur, Khulna division, which was vandalized and set on fire.

On August 5 and 6, Hindu houses and properties were reportedly attacked, vandalized and looted in 27 districts, while many temples were also damaged, including an ISKCON temple in Meherpur, Khulna division, which was vandalized and set on fire.

The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council (BHBCUC) claimed that around 200-300 Hindu homes and businesses were vandalized since August 5 last while 15-20 Hindu temples were damaged.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

UN Efforts for a Resilient Iraq

Wed, 08/28/2024 - 08:16

UN agencies are working together to integrate traditional knowledge with modern technology, optimizing water use for agriculture. Credit: FAO Iraq

By Ghulam Isaczai
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug 28 2024 (IPS)

Climate change and water scarcity pose significant threats to Iraq’s stability, prosperity, and the well-being of its people. The environmental challenges facing the nation are complex and interconnected, requiring a comprehensive and coordinated response.

In Iraq, the United Nations Country Team (UNCT), under my leadership, has been at the forefront of addressing these critical issues, working tirelessly to build a more sustainable and resilient future for all Iraqis.

Through the Resident Coordinator’s Office (RCO), we aim to leverage the diverse expertise and resources of different UN agencies, fostering a coordinated and integrated approach to development challenges.

Through this collaborative model, we can maximize our impact and deliver holistic solutions to tackle the interconnected web of factors that contribute to climate change and water scarcity.

This includes not only mitigating the immediate effects of these environmental threats but also addressing their underlying causes, such as unsustainable water management practices and overreliance on fossil fuels.

United Nations Resident Coordinator in Iraq Ghulam Isaczai visiting a water project site. Credit: UN in Iraq

The UN in Iraq has made a lasting impact in Iraq through a number of key initiatives. These include:

1) Forging climate resilience

Iraq is highly vulnerable to climate change impacts, including rising temperatures, droughts, and desertification severely impacting agricultural productivity and social stability. To address this, the UNCT, in cooperation with the Iraqi Government, organized Iraq’s first Climate Conference in Basra in 2023. This event resulted in the “Basra Declaration” with key government commitments and initiatives like an afforestation campaign, aimed at enhancing Iraq’s climate resilience.

These efforts led to increased national and international awareness and cooperation on climate issues, establishing a framework for future environmental and policy planning, including the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC).

The Basra Declaration aims at strengthening Iraq’s institutional, technical, and financial capacities to tackle climate change by mainstreaming medium- to long-term adaptation strategies into national and local planning.

2) Advancing water security

Iraq suffers from a critical water crisis due to reduced rainfall and over-utilization of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. These challenges are exacerbated by inefficient water management and agricultural practices.

Last year, Iraq was the first country in the Middle East to join the UN Water Convention, underscoring the country’s commitment to boosting regional cooperation and ensuring equitable water use, essential for the stability and prosperity of the region.

In alignment with these national objectives, the RCO is leading a ‘Water Task Force’ that brings together UN agencies in Iraq to enhance water governance, boost agricultural resilience, and improve sustainable water usage.

For instance, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) are working together to integrate traditional knowledge with modern technology, optimizing water use for agriculture—an essential step for bolstering Iraq’s food security.

Meanwhile in the Sinjar district, a United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) initiative, funded by the Italian government is transforming local water access, in-line with the need to ensuring safe water for all Iraqis. Similarly, in Ninewa Governorate, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) installed water desalination systems in seven villages, significantly improving living conditions.

3) Preserving the Mesopotamian Marshes

The Mesopotamian Marshes, a unique ecosystem and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, are threatened by climate change, pollution, and unsustainable water management practices, leading to severe ecological and human impacts.

The RCO coordinated efforts across UN agencies to conserve the marshes by developing environmental strategies, supporting afforestation projects and facilitating community-based adaptation plans to improve the livelihoods of local communities.

For example, the World Food Programme (WFP) is undertaking afforestation projects in both southern Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, aligning with the government objective of planting five million trees by 2029. These efforts are directly contributing to the national climate change strategy through the Local Adaptation Plan, focusing on areas most impacted by climate change.

Furthermore, the UN has led legislative advancements in natural resource management, including the adoption of the Environmental Strategy and the National Sustainable Land Management Strategy and Action Plan, which are crucial for agriculture and marshland conservation.

These initiatives have helped restore ecological balance, supported local livelihoods, and bolstered the marshlands’ resilience to environmental pressures, thereby securing their status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

4) Developing renewable energy policies

Iraq’s heavy reliance on fossil fuels not only constrains its economic stability but also contributes to substantial greenhouse gas emissions. The country has significant potential for renewable energy development but faces challenges in attracting investment and developing necessary infrastructure.

To address this gap, the UN facilitated the revision and adoption of Iraq’s Renewable Energy Law, a pivotal move towards boosting renewable energy investment and development. The revised Renewable Energy Law has created a more favourable environment for renewable energy investment.

Similarly, an initiative by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is supporting Iraq’s shift away from oil-dependence, through the NAP – which outlines efforts to reduce emissions and prepare for the effects of climate change. The UN is also assisting Iraq develop its NDCs for 2025, which is the country’s commitment to reduce emissions and adapt to climate change as part of the Paris Agreement.

These efforts have opened avenues for increased investment in renewable energy, promoting sustainable economic growth and reducing the country’s carbon footprint.

A sustainable and resilient future for Iraq

The collective work of the UN in Iraq has set the country on a promising trajectory towards climate sustainability and resilience. Our upcoming United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) for 2025-2029 will outline our efforts to help Iraq mitigate and adapt to climate change, manage water resources sustainably, and protect its unique environmental and cultural heritage.

As we look to the future, the UN in Iraq remains committed to supporting the government and people of Iraq in their pursuit of a sustainable and resilient future.

Ghulam Isaczai is United Nations Resident Coordinator in Iraq. To learn more about the work of the UN in Iraq visit iraq.un.org.

IPS UN Bureau

Categories: Africa

Global Poverty Grows as Super-Rich Get Richer Faster

Wed, 08/28/2024 - 07:58

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram and Siti Maisarah Zainurin
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Aug 28 2024 (IPS)

Oxfam expects the world’s first trillionaire within a decade and poverty to end in 229 years! The wealth of the world’s five richest men has more than doubled from 2020, as 4.8 billion people became poorer.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

The 2024 Oxfam report entitled Inequality Inc. warned, “We’re witnessing the beginnings of a decade of division” as billions cope with the “pandemic, inflation and war, while billionaires’ fortunes boom”.

“This inequality is no accident; the billionaire class is ensuring corporations deliver more wealth to them at the expense of everyone else”, noted Oxfam International’s Amitabh Behar.

Driving inequality
Summarising the report, Tanupriya Singh noted gaps between rich and poor, and between wealthy nations and developing countries had grown again for the first time in the 21st century as the super-rich became much richer.

The Global North has 69% of all wealth worldwide and 74% of billionaire riches. Oxfam notes contemporary wealth concentration began with colonialism and empire.

Since then, “neo-colonial relationships with the Global South persist, perpetuating economic imbalances and rigging the economic rules in favour of rich nations”.

The report notes, “economies across the Global South are locked into exporting primary commodities, from copper to coffee, for use by monopolistic industries in the Global North, perpetuating a colonial-style ‘extractivist’ model”.

Siti Maisarah Zainurin

Inequalities within rich nations have grown, with marginalised communities worse off, giving rise to rival ethno-populisms and vicious identity politics.

Seventy per cent of the world’s largest corporations have a billionaire as principal shareholder or chief executive. These firms are worth over $10 trillion, which exceeds the total output of Latin America and Africa.

The incomes of the rich have grown much faster than for most others. Hence, the top 1% of shareholders own 43% of financial assets worldwide – half in Asia, 48% in the Middle East, and 47% in Europe.

Between mid-2022 and mid-2023, 148 of the world’s largest corporations made $1.8 trillion in profits. Meanwhile, 82% of 96 large corporations’ profits went to shareholders via stock buybacks and dividends.

Only 0.4% of the world’s largest companies have agreed to pay minimum wages to those contributing to their profits. Unsurprisingly, the poorer half of the world earned only 8.5% of world income in 2022.

The wages of almost 800 million workers have not kept up with inflation. In 2022 and 2023, they lost $1.5 trillion, equivalent to an average of 25 days of lost wages per employee.

In addition to income inequality, the 2024 Oxfam Report noted workers face mounting challenges due to stressful workplace conditions.

The gap between the incomes of the ultra-rich and workers is so huge that a female health or social worker would need 1,200 years to earn what a Fortune 100 company CEO makes annually!

Besides lower wages for women, unpaid care work subsidises the world economy by at least $10.8 trillion yearly, thrice what Oxfam terms ‘tech industry’.

Monopoly power
Oxfam notes that monopoly power has worsened world inequality. Thus, a few corporations influence and even control national economies, governments, laws, and policies in their own interest.

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) study found monopoly power responsible for 76% of the fall in the labour share of US manufacturing income.

Behar noted, “Monopolies harm innovation and crush workers and smaller businesses. The world hasn’t forgotten how pharma monopolies deprived millions of people of COVID-19 vaccines, creating a racist vaccine apartheid while minting a new club of billionaires”.

Between 1995 and 2015, 60 pharmaceutical companies merged into ten Big Pharma giants. Although innovation is typically subsidised with public funds, pharmaceutical monopolies price-gouge with impunity.

Oxfam notes the Ambani fortune in India comes from monopolies in many sectors enabled by the Modi regime. Ambani’s son’s recent extravagant wedding celebrations flaunted extreme wealth concentration worldwide.

The 2021 Oxfam report estimated that “an unskilled worker would need 10,000 years to earn what Ambani made in an hour during the pandemic and three years to earn what he made in a second”.

Unsurprisingly, the 2023 Oxfam Report noted, “India’s richest 1% own around 40% of the country’s wealth, while over 200 million people continue to live in poverty”.

Fiscal subordination
Corporations have increased their value through a “sustained and highly effective war on taxation … depriving the public of critical resources”.

As many corporations increased their profits, the average corporate tax rate dropped from 23% to 17% between 1975 and 2019. Meanwhile, around a trillion dollars went into tax havens in 2022 alone.

Of course, falling corporate tax rates are also due to “the broader neoliberal agenda promoted by corporations and their wealthy owners, often alongside Global North countries and international institutions such as the World Bank”.

Meanwhile, pressures for fiscal austerity have grown as government tax revenue has declined relatively for decades. High government indebtedness with corporate tax evasion and avoidance have exacerbated austerity policies.

Underfunded public services have adversely affected consumers and employees, especially health and social protection. Higher interest rates have worsened debt crises in developing nations.

With governments fiscally constrained from sustaining public services, privatisation advocates have become more influential, gaining greater control of public resources by various means.

Private corporations profit from discounted public asset sales, public-private partnerships and government contracts to deliver public policies and programmes.

“Major development agencies and institutions… have found common ground with investors by embracing approaches that ‘de-risk’ such arrangements by shifting financial risk from the private to the public sector”, the report states.

Access to essential public services should be universal. Insisting on private profit-making considerations deprives marginalised communities of access, worsening inequalities.

Siti Maisarah Zainurin will join a Malaysian government research institute after completing work at Khazanah Research Institute.

IPS UN Bureau

Categories: Africa

Recovering Bangladesh’s Stolen Wealth

Wed, 08/28/2024 - 01:00

By Anis Chowdhury, Khalilur Rahman and Ziauddin Hyder
SYDNEY, NEW YORK, WASHINGTON DC, Aug 27 2024 (IPS)

Bangladesh bleeds as over US$3 billion drains from Bangladesh annually through offshore accounts. According to a recent report, close to US$150 was siphoned off the country during 15 years of kleptocratic Hasina regime’s mis-rule. Nearly US$50 billion went out of the country in the first six years (2009-2015) of the Hasina regime.

Anis Chowdhury

Urgent action is needed not only to stop this fatal bleeding, but also to recover the country’s stolen wealth.

Corruptions and illicit transfer of funds
Bangladesh has been a fertile ground for corruption and usurpation of public money. A 2011 UNDP report ranked Bangladesh at the top along with Angola among least developed countries (LDCs) for “illicit financial flows”.

Corruption and illicit transfer of funds reached an unprecedented level during the fallen Sheikh Hasina’s autocratic regime as the regime’s survival became increasingly reliant on letting its cronies and kleptocrats rob banks. A staggering US$8.4 billion was misappropriated from banks alone through irregularities, misuse of powers, and money laundering.

Another major source of corruption by kleptocrats has been grossly inflated aid- and foreign debt-funded mega projects. Tax evasion by politically connected elites has been a major source of revenue loss, estimated at US$703 million a year.

A 2017 Global Financial Integrity Report found illicit financial flows from Bangladesh the highest among LDCs. On average as much as US$8.3 billion per year has been laundered from Bangladesh through trade mis-invoicing alone – by inflating import price and under-pricing exports – between 2009 and 2018.

Khalilur Rahman

Besides using “hundi”, criminals also use their children studying abroad as “money mules” to transfer illegally acquired wealth. Various schemes, such as “golden visa”, “second home”, of destination countries like Canada, Portugal, Australia, Malaysia, Dubai – also provide easy means to launder illegally gained wealth.

It is reported that 252 Bangladeshi bureaucrats, police and other officials bought houses in the United States by laundering the country’s money. Bangladeshis top the list of foreign buyers of real estates in Dubai. Canada’s “Begumpara” has become the “forbidden paradise” of wealthy Bangladeshis. One ex-minister of the previous regime alone owns 350 properties, worth approximately over US$264 million, in the UK.

The offshore financial wealth of Bangladeshis is estimated at 0.7% of the nation’s GDP. Illicit fund transfer from Bangladesh is estimated at 2.2% of the country’s total revenue in fiscal year 2019-20, and deprives Bangladesh of over US$700 million worth of revenue income.

Kleptocracy: Rule by thieves
Under Sheikh Hasina, state institutions served regime elites or kleptocrats to exploit citizens. This undermined democratic norms and weakened economy’s foundation. Kleptocrats often stash their ill-gotten gains outside the country.

Ziauddin Hyder

Had the ill-gotten money remained and invested in the country, the economy would have at least benefitted even though at the cost of rising disparities and misgovernance. However, with such a large illicit outflow of funds, the country has the worst of both – an increasingly precarious economy, unable to create productive and decent jobs for a growing youth population, and inequality of income and wealth rapidly growing to an obnoxious level – while all state institutions are captured by regime’s partisans.

Recovering stolen wealth for sustainable development
Corruption and illicit transfer of funds are a major drag on development. Therefore, asset recovery is included in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) under Goal 16.4 and in the commitments under the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development.

The recovery of stolen assets is a fundamental principle of the UN Convention against Corruption. Chapter V of the convention provides a framework for the return of stolen assets, requiring states parties to take measures to restrain, seize, confiscate, and return the proceeds of corruption.

However, there is no single international authority responsible for recovering laundered money. Several mechanisms and institutions work together to address this issue. There are a number of international laws and conventions that can be used to claim laundered money. These agreements provide a framework for cooperation between countries in combating money laundering, terrorist financing, and other financial crimes.

Bangladesh can seek assistance of the United Nations, the World Bank and Interpol. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the World Bank have a joint Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative (StAR) to support international efforts to end safe havens for corrupt funds. Since its establishment in 2007, StAR has assisted over 35 countries in drafting legal frameworks, setting up the institutional structure, and building the skills necessary to trace and return stolen assets.

Interpol assists countries to recover and return assets obtained corruptly. Interpol works closely with a number of national, regional and international bodies such as the International Anti-Corruption Coordination Centre, which brings together specialist law enforcement officers from multiple agencies around the world to tackle allegations of grand corruption and help bring corrupt elites to justice.

Political will is critical
The recovery and return of criminal assets is a complex process. It can take many different shapes, depending on the type of corruption offense, how the recovery effort is initiated and by whom. It also depends on whether a criminal conviction exists in the state of origin, whether criminal or civil process is used – or both; as well as which legal mechanisms to restrain assets are available in the destination state. Whether the state harmed by corruption has requested a return of their stolen assets is fundamentally important.

However, the most critical factor is political will. Collusive abuse of power is the most important reasons why nothing happens to the perpetrators of high-level corruption and illicit transfer of funds.

Bangladesh itself has the Money Laundering Prevention Act, which criminalises laundering and authorises the confiscation of laundered assets. Bangladesh has also signed mutual legal assistance treaties (MLATs) with other countries.

Sadly, the country does not effectively use any of the tools to recover laundered money, whether during Hasina’s autocratic rule or prior to it. Bangladesh is yet to sign MLATs with popular money laundering destinations – Australia, Canada, Cyprus and Switzerland.

Time to act now
The leading national dailies have recently carried editorials highlighting the urgent need to recovering the country’s smuggled money. Politicians are also raising the issue with important countries, such as Switzerland. The President of the Bangladesh Economic Association has urged for the formation of a separate commission to stop corruption, money laundering and recovery of undisclosed money.

There is also momentum in some destination countries. For example, Sheikh Hasina’s niece, Tulip Siddiq, a British Bangladeshi Labour Party lawmaker and a minister, is being investigated by the UK parliament’s standards for a London property.

Bangladeshi diaspora community has been active in exposing money laundering and real estate investments by corrupt Bangladeshi politicians and elites in various countries; and is campaigning to confiscate their assets.

Thus, there is a momentum; and the interim government must act now. This is the best opportunity for the country to recover its billions of dollars of stolen asset. The head of the interim Government, Professor Yunus, must use his international standing and good will to request the United Nations, the Interpol and destination countries to assist Bangladesh in this regard.

The interim Government should also initiate MLATS with missing popular destination countries and become a party to the OECD’s Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters and “Common Reporting Standard”. This will allow Bangladesh to obtain the bank account and other financial information of Bangladeshis living in the signatory countries.

Anis Chowdhury, Emeritus Professor, Western Sydney University (Australia) & former Director of UN-ESCAP’s Macroeconomic Policy & Development Division.

Khalilur Rahman, former Secretary of the UN Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Technology Bank for LDCs; former head of UNCTAD’s Trade Analysis Branch and its New York Office.

Ziauddin Hyder, Former Director Research BRAC and Adjunct Professor, University of the Philippines at Los Banos

Categories: Africa

Nicaragua, China, India among 55 Nations Restricting Freedom of Movement

Tue, 08/27/2024 - 18:21

Credit: Freedom House

By Liam Scott
WASHINGTON, Aug 27 2024 (IPS)

At least 55 governments in the past decade have restricted the freedom of movement for people they deem as threats, including journalists, according to a Freedom House report published last Thursday.

Governments control freedom of movement via travel bans, revoking citizenship, document control and denial of consular services, the report found. All the tactics are designed to coerce and punish government critics, according to Jessica White, the report’s London-based co-author.

“This is a type of tactic that really shows the vindictive and punitive nature of some countries,” White said. This form of repression “is an attempt to really stifle peoples’ ability to speak out freely from wherever they are.”

Belarus, China, India, Nicaragua, Russia, Rwanda and Saudi Arabia are among the countries that engage in this form of repression, the report found. Freedom House based its findings in part on interviews with more than 30 people affected by mobility controls.

Travel bans are the most common tactic, according to White, with Freedom House identifying at least 40 governments who prevent citizens leaving or returning to the country.

Revoking citizenship is another strategy, despite being prohibited by international law. The Nicaraguan government in 2023 stripped more than 200 political prisoners of their citizenship shortly after deporting them to the United States.

Among them were Juan Lorenzo Holmann, head of Nicaragua’s oldest newspaper, La Prensa. “It is as if I do not exist anymore. It is another attack on my human rights,” he told VOA after being freed. “But you cannot do away with the person’s personality. In the Nicaraguan constitution, it says that you cannot wipe out a person’s personal records or take away their nationality. I feel Nicaraguan, and they cannot take that away from me.”

Before being expelled from his own country, Lorenzo had spent 545 days in prison, in what was widely viewed as a politically motivated case.

Blocking access to passports and other travel documents is another tactic. In one example, Hong Kong in June canceled the passports of six pro-democracy activists who were living in exile in Britain.

In some cases, governments refuse to issue people passports to trap them in the country. And in cases where the individual is already abroad, embassies deny passport renewals to block the individual from traveling anywhere, including back home.

Myanmar’s embassy in Berlin, for instance, has refused to renew the passport of Ma Thida, a Burmese writer in exile in Germany. Ma Thida told VOA earlier this year she believes the refusal is in retaliation for her writing.

White said Ma Thida’s case was a classic example of mobility restrictions. For now, the German government has issued a passport reserved for people who are unable to obtain a passport from their home country — which White applauded but said is still rare.

“Our ability to freely leave and return to our home country is something that in democratic societies, people often take for granted. It’s one of our fundamental human rights, but it’s one that is being undermined and violated across many parts of the world,” White said.

Mobility restrictions can have devastating consequences, including making it difficult to work, travel and visit family. What makes matters even worse is the emotional toll, according to White.

“There is a huge psychological impact,” White said. “A lot of our interviewees mention especially the pain of being separated from family members and not being able to return to their country.”

In the report, Freedom House called on democratic governments to impose sanctions on actors that engage in mobility controls.

White said that democratic governments should do more to help dissidents, including by providing them with alternative travel documents if they can’t obtain them from their home countries.

https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/2024-02/FIW_2024_DigitalBooklet.pdf

Source: Voice of America (VOA)

IPS UN Bureau

Categories: Africa

UN Secretary General Warns of ‘Brutal’ Impacts of Climate Change for Pacific Islands

Tue, 08/27/2024 - 10:36

Secretary-General António Guterres witnessed the impact of rising sea levels while in Samoa. Credit: Kiara Worth/United Nations

By Naureen Hossain
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 27 2024 (IPS)

UN General Secretary General António Guterres warned of the wide-ranging impacts of climate change on a visit to the Pacific islands of Samoa and Tonga.

“(Climate change) spells disaster: wide-ranging and brutal impacts, coming far thicker and faster than we can adapt to them—destroying entire coastal communities,” said Guterres, speaking at a meeting of Pacific Island leaders in Tonga.

Rising sea levels and warming ocean temperatures pose a threat to the stability of Pacific Island nations and their socio-economic viability. Two new reports from the United Nations and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) shed light on the accelerating rate of sea-level rise and warn of its impact on coastal areas worldwide.

A report from WMO, The State of Climate Change in the Southwest Pacific 2023, reveals that sea levels in that region are higher than the global average. Among other factors, Sea-level rise is among the consequences of global warming and climate change shaping the fabric of seas and oceans. The UN Climate Action Team’s new technical brief, Surging Seas in a warming world, provides a breakdown of sea-level rise through scientific reporting and considers the implication on a broader scale.

While in Tonga for the 53rd Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Meeting, Guterres warned that rising sea levels would have an “unparalleled power” to wreak havoc on coastal cities and their economies.

“The reason is clear: greenhouse gases—overwhelmingly generated by burning fossil fuels—are cooking our planet,” said Guterres. “And the sea is taking the heat—literally.”

Sea-level rise poses a global threat to low-lying islands and coastal communities connected to the sea. In this area, nearly 11 percent of the world’s population (900 million) lives on continents or islands connected to the sea, which also hosts a great concentration of the world’s economic activities and cultural heritage sites. Coastal megacities across all continents, such as Bangkok, Dhaka, Buenos Aires, London, Tokyo, and New York City, face risks to their safety and sustainability. Sea-level rise erodes land, destroys infrastructure, and disrupts lives and livelihoods.

Sea-level rise, however, has a disproportionately negative impact on small island developing states (SIDs), particularly those in the Pacific. Many islands in the Pacific are dealing with a sea-level change of 15 cm between 1993 and 2023, much higher than the global mean sea-level rise of 9.4 cm. Based on a projection of 3 degrees Celsius in global temperatures, sea-level rise in the Pacific will increase by an additional 15 cm between 2020 and 2050. Yet Pacific Islands only account for 0.02 percent of global emissions. The UN special brief notes that at least 90 percent of Pacific Islanders, or 700 million people, live within five kilometers of the coastline.

The average rate of sea-level rise has more than doubled since the 1990s. Between 1993 and 2002, the rate was 0.21 percent. The rate from 2014 to 2022 was measured at 0.48 percent. This increasing rate has been attributed to the warming of oceans and the loss from ice sheets in Greenland and the Antarctic.

Along with rising sea levels, ocean surface warming is a grave concern for the Pacific. Between 1981 and 2023, nearly the entire South-West Pacific region reached rates of 0.4 degrees Celsius, about three times faster than the global surface ocean warming rate of 0.15 percent over the same period. The WMO also identified that marine heatwaves—periods of unusually high ocean temperatures—increased in intensity and duration in much of the Pacific over the last decade. It will have far-reaching adverse effects on fish stocks and coral reef resilience, which will impact ecosystems, economies and livelihoods in the Pacific.

“The [Pacific] ocean has taken up more than 90 percent of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gases and is undergoing changes that will be irreversible for centuries to come. Human activities have weakened the capacity of the ocean to sustain and protect us and—through sea level rise—are transforming a lifelong friend into a growing threat,” said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo.

“For some nations, the loss of land due to climate change and rising sea levels may render them uninhabitable. With this raises the implications of relocation, sovereignty and statehood. Island nations across the Pacific are already experiencing a loss of life and land erosion due to sea-level rise. They are also particularly vulnerable to tropical cyclones and the increasing frequency and severity of coastal flooding. Adaptation to the impacts of sea-level rise needs to work on a greater scale than in the past. Without investing in new adaptation and protection measures in the Pacific, economic damage and loss due to coastal flooding could come up to trillions of dollars lost,” Guterres said.

In his statement, Guterres appealed that countries need to step up in their commitments towards climate action by presenting new Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) by 2025. This is an opportunity for all stakeholders in climate action to take immediate action to cut emissions and build up resilience to climate impacts. Guterres called for governments to increase finance and support vulnerable countries, singling out developed countries to honor their financial commitments, such as doubling adaptation finance to USD 40 billion by 2025. He also called on countries to support new financial goals during this year’s UN Climate Conference (COP29).

By 2027, every person on Earth should be protected through effective early warning systems, Guterres added. This would be done through investing in and building capacity of local climate data services and knowledge, which can help inform early warning systems and long-term adaptation solutions.

“The world must look to the Pacific and listen to the science,” said Guterres. “This is a crazy situation: Rising seas are a crisis entirely of humanity’s making. A crisis that will soon swell to an almost unimaginable scale, with no lifeboat to take us back to safety. But if we save the Pacific, we also save ourselves.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

Biodiversity: Roll Up the Sleeves and Do Something, says Astrid Schomaker, New UNCBD Head

Tue, 08/27/2024 - 09:10

Astrid Schomaker, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. Credit: UNCBD

By Stella Paul
MONTREAL & HYDERABAD , Aug 27 2024 (IPS)

“We are living in a time where nature is regularly raising its hand and saying, ‘Look, I’m here and I’m in trouble,’ and then bringing us all sorts of natural disasters to the table,” says Astrid Schomaker, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD), in an exclusive interview with IPS.

“And,” she emphasizes, “The world is beginning to recognize that we have to have a different relationship with nature. Luckily, we already have a framework to do that.”

Since taking the reins of the UNCBD in July—less than three months before the 16th Biodiversity Convention of the Parties (COP16) is held in Colombia—Schomaker has been a leader in a rush. From preparing for the COP to coordinating with Colombia, the COP presidency and global leaders who will be attending the conference, while also presiding over a number of meetings and communicating the urgency of timely implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework, Schomaker has a damaging schedule.

There are three COPs this year—all within a short span of three months and the CBD COP16, scheduled to take place from October 19–November 1, is the first of them. Schomaker is looking at this as a huge opportunity to send out a message to the other COPs.

“Unless we have a different way of interacting with the earth’s natural resources, we will not succeed on biodiversity, but also certainly not on climate change. And if that comes out and there is meant to be a new coalition launched at the COP that Colombia will be piloting, I think we will send a super strong message to the other conventions and I’m sure they will hear it and pick up on it.”

Coordinating With Other UN Conventions

But a successful COP will also depend on how well CBD can collaborate with other COPs, as the issues—biodiversity, climate change and drought are also closely linked. Schomaker asserts that she is on the right track, coordinating closely with other conventions as well as other UN agencies.

“I’ve been working with all these other conventions and processes as well, because for us to make this Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) a success is to make sure that the UN system pulls together and that governments also reflect on their own way of working,” she explains, that biodiversity is not sector specific where environment ministries alone can run it, but one in which other ministries and stakeholders are needed to make this framework a success.

From Green Diplomacy to Biodiversity

Schomaker, however, is not new to multi-agency collaboration and coordination. She begins the interview by sharing glimpses into her previous role at previous role at the European Commission’s Environment Department, describing it “a bit of warm-up” for her current position as the head of UN CBD.

“My last job was the Director for Green Diplomacy and Multilateralism. So, previously, I did it for a group of 27 countries. Now I work with 196 member states. Previously, I covered, so to speak, environmental governance and all assessments, including biodiversity, but also the chemical conventions and how all these conventions work together. Now I’m more focused on biodiversity—this is very much about everybody coming together.”

Schomaker also describes this as a “super exciting opportunity” to be able to work dedicatedly on biodiversity at a time “when the world has sort of heard the wake-up call”.

COP16: Challenges and Hopes

Barely eight weeks from now, world leaders will be heading to Cali, Colombia, to attend the first COP since adopting a new global plan in Montreal to protect at least 30 percent of the earth’s biodiversity by 2030. The past two years have seen a slew of activities, including structuring the implementation mechanism, supporting countries to revise their individual biodiversity action plans and setting up indicators for measuring the progress of the implementation. According to Schomaker, there are, however, several issues that need urgent attention at Cali.

“I think in Montreal (which is dubbed Biodiversity’s Paris moment), we managed to be more successful than in Paris, because we already had our monitoring framework and its broad outlines agreed at the same time. So that was actually a great success,” Schomaker says, continuing with a candid assessment of the challenges.

“But there are many areas that need extra focus. First of all, for the parties now need to move from this political agreement into implementing it and into aligning what they’re doing nationally with the targets and goals of the framework. And as you know, we have this National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans (NBSAPs) as our key instruments for implementation; those need to be revised, and the parties have committed to revising those national action plans, or where they cannot do that, at least to come forward with targets by COP16. And for me, this is a bit like the proof of the pudding.”

A Push for Inclusiveness

But it is resource mobilization that tops Schomaker’s list of priorities, including raising money from private sector investors. The UN Biodiversity Convention aims to mobilize at least USD 20 billion per year by 2025 and at least USD 30 billion per year by 2030 for biodiversity-related funding from all sources, including the public and private sectors. However, so far, the actual pledges have been just about USD 300 million, while the contribution has been less than USD 100 million.

In May of this year, the then acting Executive Secretary David Cooper told IPS that the world needed a clear roadmap to bridge this wide financing gap.

Schomaker appears in agreement with that and talks about an all-inclusive resource mobilization strategy to meet the unmet goals in biodiversity financing. She is especially pushing for greater inclusion of business and thinks contribution from private business could unlock the investment that has been missing so far.

“Business, I think, plays a super important role. It was really great to see the private sector show up in force in Montreal. I think we’re now expecting a greater mobilization for Cali. So business is very, very aware of their role, of both their dependencies and their impact.”

“As you know, there are compelling figures on the relationship between nature and business, which is worth USD 44 trillion,” reminds Schomaker, referring to the New Nature Economy Report of the World Economic Forum. Published in 2020, the report highlighted that USD 44 trillion of economic value generation—over half the world’s total GDP—is moderately or highly dependent on nature and its services and, as a result, exposed to risks from nature loss.

“So, I think that’s important if you continue to work with business and make sure that they have the tools to understand what the impacts and dependencies are. And we will provide a lot of space for that also at the COP, the Business and Biodiversity Day and many other activities, for sure,” she says.

Staying Positive

But, despite the challenges ahead, Schomaker doesn’t want to sound all gloom and doom. Instead, she is looking at each development, however small, as a sign of positivity and hope.

In fact, on the day of this interview, the CBD had been leading a crucial meeting on Digital Sequencing Information conference in Montreal. DSI discussions center on the fair and equitable sharing of valuable benefits from digital sequence information—the digital versions of plant, animal, and microorganism DNA—and are generally considered one of the most contentious issues among biodiversity negotiators from the global north and the global south. But Schomaker asserts that there are reasons for hope. One of them is planning to launch a DSI fund.

“As you know, COP15 has already decided that there should be a mechanism and a fund for Digital Sequence Information for the benefits to be paid—the benefit from the use of digital sequencing information from genetic resources. So, one of the options is that the Global Environment Facility (GEF) might manage this fund.

“But overall, I can say that the discussions that I’ve been witnessing over the past few days and this morning are very, very constructive. And this is not to downplay that there are different perspectives, but I think everybody has come here saying, ‘Okay, we’ve taken a decision at COP15 and that decision told us we’re going to have that mechanism, we’re going to have a fund and we need to operationalize it. And our deadline is Cali’,” Schomaker says.

States Must Take the Lead

As the chief of UN Biodiversity, Schomaker has already dived into action, but she doesn’t mince words while pointing out that the UN can only be a facilitator—the real power and the responsibility to make decisions lie clearly with the states. This is especially important to remember because to kickstart the implementation of the GBF, countries need to submit their revised, more ambitious NBSAPs but until today, only 14 of the 196 signatory countries have done so.

“We are looking at how these big planning processes, the NBSAPs and then the NDCs under the Climate Convention, and how these things can also be done in better coordination, also at national level, with each other, remains a big challenge. The second thing, and I’ve already hinted at that, is this idea that if we want to be successful in combating biodiversity loss, of course, governments need to take the lead,” she emphasizes.

“Do Something”

Finally, when asked what message she would have for anyone heading to COP16, Schomaker has a clear answer: Signing of the GBF proved that there was enough political commitment, but it should not be seen as an event that was “just a beautiful moment, where energy came together, and everybody just had good moment together, and the stars were aligned.”

Instead, she says, “It’s time to roll up the sleeves and do something.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

IPS UN Bureau, IPS UN Bureau Report, Cali, Columbia, COP16,

Categories: Africa

Explainer: COP16—What’s It About and What Does It Need to Achieve?

Tue, 08/27/2024 - 09:09

David Cooper, Deputy Executive Secretary, Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Canadian Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault, Colombian Environment Minister Susana Muhamad and CBD Executive Secretary Astrid Schomaker at a recent press conference in which they looked ahead to COP16. Credit: CBD

By Cecilia Russell
JOHANNESBURG, Aug 27 2024 (IPS)

‘Peace with Nature’ is the theme for the 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP16) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which will take place in Cali, Colombia, between October 21 and November 1, 2024.

But what does ‘Peace with Nature’ mean?

Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Susana Muhamad

For COP16 chair and Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Susana Muhamad, the theme of Peace with Nature means understanding that climate change and restoring nature are both sides of the same coin.

“That’s the main motivation why Colombia decided to host this conference, we see there is a double movement that humanity has to make,” Muhamad told a press briefing on August 22, 2024.

Her vision clearly places biodiversity as politically relevant as the climate change agenda.

While it is crucial to decarbonize and have a just energy transition, it’s equally important to “restore nature” so that it can, in the end, “stabilize the climate.”

She outlines three political successes: strong engagement from all sectors, positioning biodiversity as a parallel movement to decarbonization, and approving the Digital Sequencing Information Fund.

“At the same time as we are not decarbonizing, the climate will continue changing, and nature will not have the time to adapt,” Muhamad said. “And if nature collapses, communities and people will also collapse, and society will collapse.”

COP16’s role as the first of three COPs (organized respectively by the UNCBD, UNFCCC and UNCCD) this year is to bring “political and economic awareness to biodiversity and so bring humanity back to safe limits during the 21st century.”

CBD Executive Secretary Astrid Schomaker

For CBD’s Executive Secretary Astrid Schomaker, the Columbian presidency’s theme of Peace with Nature is a call to action.

She describes the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGVF) as the blueprint for making peace with nature, with four goals: protecting and restoring nature, sharing benefits, investing in nature, and collaborating with nature.

Schomaker asserts that COP16 is essential for resolving the outstanding issues from COP 15.

“This is about access and benefit sharing of digital sequence information from genetic resources. Now that’s a very technical subject, but the very, very important one also in terms of the mobilization of resources, but also in terms of the understanding of how we interact with nature, that when we take from nature, we benefit from nature, we give back to nature.”

Schomaker also referred to the need to finance biodiversity with international support, adding to Canada’s donation of USD 200 million. The fund currently stands at USD 300 million.

Finally, COP16 will include initiatives that will bring indigenous peoples and local communities to the table and elevate their voices so that the traditional knowledge they can bring can deepen the debate.

Canadian Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault

Handing over the baton to the COP16 presidency, Guilbeault looked back at COP15, which has been termed biodiversity’s “Paris moment,” referring to the Paris Climate Treaty of 2015, which aims to hold “the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels” and pursue efforts “to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.”

Despite the achievements and hard work, biodiversity issues are still challenging, and are not yet at “Peace with Nature.”

“Species are still going extinct. We still use natural resources unsustainably. And we’ve still not collectively realized that, in the fight against climate change, our biggest ally is nature.”

What are the challenges?

Finance

Muhamad recognized that financing is crucial for “sustained” and secure resources for the future. She called on Parties to come forward and make firm commitments to finance biodiversity, although they have until 2025 to do so in terms of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

The COP16 chairperson also hoped that this forum would be a “pioneer” for new financing mechanisms that go beyond relying on countries financing the framework and to “open new doors of possibilities for funding mechanisms that are more sustainable and that are at the scale of the challenge that we are facing.”

Business

Muhamad also referred to the proactive role of business with regard to their responsibilities towards keeping a safe environment and its contribution to biodiversity.

The framework mandates government remove, over time, subsidies to sectors of the economy that may impact biodiversity. This could lead to backlash, so human rights and fairness are crucial; however, there are also many opportunities.

“We hope at COP16 to bring a lot of inspiration from those business models that are already incorporated and taking nature as a design into consideration, and that are being the vanguard of new prospects.”

It is also crucial to make this a partnership between government and business to move forward and there will be opportunities in both the green and blue zones at COP16 to take the conversation forward.

Digital sequencing

Muhamad anticipates that the approval of a digital sequencing fund and the mechanism for implementation will be key achievements of the negotiations.

Schomaker added that it had already been “decided that there will be a new global mechanism for sharing the benefits of digital sequencing information on genetic resources, and that global mechanism includes a fund.” What is still under discussion is what form the fund will take.

“Will it be a new fund, a completely new fund, which is one of the options on the table, or will it be one of the existing funds that we have?”

David Cooper, CBD’s Deputy Executive Secretary , agreed that the discussion includes whether to use existing funds like the Global Biodiversity Fund, which is managed by the Global Environment Facility or create a new fund.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

Climate Activists Target Culture Greenwashing

Tue, 08/27/2024 - 08:43

Credit: Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images

By Andrew Firmin
LONDON, Aug 27 2024 (IPS)

Civil society is working on all fronts to tackle the climate crisis. Activists are protesting in numbers to pressure governments and corporations to cut greenhouse gas emissions. They’re using non-violent direct action and high-profile stunts, paying a heavy price as numerous states criminalise climate protest.

Campaigners are taking to the courts to hold governments and companies accountable for their climate commitments and impacts, with recent breakthroughs in Belgium, India and Switzerland, among others, and many more cases pending. They’re pressuring institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels – 72 per cent of UK universities have pledged to divest – and putting forward corporate resolutions calling for stronger action.

At the global level, activists are working to influence key meetings, particularly the COP climate summits. At the most recent summit, COP28, states agreed for the first time on the need to cut fossil fuel emissions – an incredibly belated acknowledgement, but one that came only after intensive civil society lobbying.

As pressure mounts, fossil fuel companies are looking for any way they can portray themselves as responsible corporate citizens while continuing their lethal business for as long as possible. They want to make it look as though they’re transitioning to renewable energies and cutting greenhouse gas emissions, when the opposite is true.

Cultural institutions are a prime target for fossil fuel companies with declining reputations but deep pockets. The outlay is tiny compared to the benefits. Through sponsorship, they try to present themselves as generous philanthropists and borrow the high public standing of well-known institutions. But climate activists aren’t letting them get away with it. They’re putting increasing pressure on art galleries and museums to end fossil fuel funding.

Science Museum in the spotlight

The UK is ground zero, home to numerous world-class galleries and museums under pressure to attract private sector sponsorship and to oil and gas titans such as BP and Shell. Pretty much all of London’s major cultural institutions have taken fossil fuel funding in the past. But that’s far less the case now. Thanks to the efforts of campaigning groups such as Culture Unstained, Fossil Free London and Liberate Tate, several have cut ties.

The latest victory came in July, when London’s Science Museum ended its contract with Norwegian state-owned oil giant Equinor. Equinor sponsored WonderLab – an interactive children’s exhibition – since 2016.

Equinor continues to develop new extractive projects, despite the International Energy Agency making clear there can be no further fossil fuel developments if there’s any hope of realising the Paris Agreement. Equinor majority owns the North Sea Rosebank oil and gas field, which the UK government approved for drilling last year.

The Science Museum publicly stated that its sponsorship had simply reached its end, but emails suggested that Equinor was in breach of the museum’s stated commitment to ensure sponsors comply with the Paris Agreement, as determined by the Transition Pathway Initiative, which assesses whether companies are adequately transitioning to a low-carbon economy.

Last year it was revealed that the Science Museum’s contract contained a gagging clause preventing the museum saying anything that might harm Equinor’s reputation. Such restrictions could prevent museums discussing the central role of the fossil fuel industry in causing climate change. There are also examples of companies such as Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell trying to influence the content of exhibitions they sponsor.

As well as reputation-washing, fossil fuel companies can leverage sponsorships to lobby for further extraction: BP’s funding of a Mexican-themed event at the British Museum enabled it to network with Mexican government representatives as part of a successful bid for drilling licences. As its funding of arts bodies became more controversial, BP was also reported to have brought together representatives of sponsored institutions to discuss how to deal with activists.

Room for improvement

It’s unlikely this change would have happened without civil society pressure, which increased the Science Museum’s reputational costs. It marked the successful conclusion of an eight-year campaign involving young climate activists, scientists and civil society groups in the UK and Equinor’s home country, Norway.

But there’s still much room for improvement. The Science Museum still has a contract with BP, even though the Church of England divested from BP for the same reason the museum dropped Equinor: because the Transition Pathway Initiative assessed it wasn’t aligned with the Paris Agreement.

Even more grotesquely, the Science Museum’s new ‘Energy Revolution’ exhibition is sponsored by Adani, the world’s largest private coalmine developer, which is also involved in manufacturing drones Israel is using to kill people in Gaza. In April, campaigners held a sit-in protest against this deal. Hundreds of teachers have refused to take their students to the exhibition. In 2021, when the agreement was struck, two trustees resigned in protest.

There are many ways to express disgust. Shell’s sponsorship of a Science Museum climate exhibition led some prominent academics to boycott the institution and refuse to allow their work to appear in its exhibitions. Several of the galleries and museums that have accepted fossil fuel money have seen activists occupy their spaces in protest. When the Tate group of galleries was sponsored by BP, Liberate Tate staged a series of artistic interventions, including one where people threw specially designed fake banknotes.

British Museum on the wrong side of history

As long as it insists on taking fossil fuel money, the Science Museum can only expect more bad publicity. And it’s now something of a laggard. Many of the UK’s internationally renowned institutions have conceded civil society’s demands to cut the cord. The National Portrait Gallery, Royal Opera House, Royal Shakespeare Company and Tate have severed links with BP, and the British Film Institute, National Theatre and Southbank Centre have stopped accepting funding from Shell.

The trend has spread beyond the UK: Amsterdam’s renowned Van Gogh Museum ended its Shell deal in response to campaigning. In 2020, the city’s famous museum quarter was declared free of fossil fuel sponsorship.

But alongside the Science Museum, there’s another big holdout: the British Museum, long controversial for its vast collection of looted colonial-era artefacts. Last year it once again put itself on the wrong side of history by agreeing a 10-year US$65.6 million deal with BP, making a mockery of its stated intention to phase out fossil fuel use. It acted in defiance of protests and a letter signed by over 300 museum professionals urging it to end its relationship with BP, while its deputy chair resigned in protest.

It’s not just the cultural sector that fossil fuel corporations are trying to co-opt – they’re also extensively involved in sport. Petrostates such as Qatar, and likely soon Saudi Arabia, are hosting peak global sporting events, sponsoring everything from elite athletes to grassroots sports and using sovereign wealth funds to buy high-profile football clubs.

People rightly expect arts, sciences and sports to uphold exemplary standards because, at their best, they’re the highest expressions of what humanity can achieve. That’s why it’s so shocking when fossil fuel companies try to coopt them. All their attempts to launder their reputations must be met with determined resistance.

Andrew Firmin is CIVICUS Editor-in-Chief, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.

Categories: Africa

Research: Disease and Climate Stress Resistant Wheat Varieties for Global South

Mon, 08/26/2024 - 18:22

Scientists screen the Indian wheat genetic resources collection in Jaipur, India.

By Maina Waruru
NAIROBI, Aug 26 2024 (IPS)

Groundbreaking research indicates that the wild relatives of wheat could be turned into an all-time food security crop capable of cushioning vulnerable populations from starvation and hunger, thanks to its ability to withstand both climatic stress and diseases. Wheat is a staple for over 1.5 billion people in the Global South.

The review looked at two different studies and found that using the ancient genetic diversity of wild relatives of wheat, which provides 20 percent of the world’s calories and protein, could lead to weather- and disease-resistant varieties of the crop. This could ensure food security around the world.

The study led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre reveals that “long overlooked” wild wheat relatives have the potential to revolutionise wheat breeding, with new varieties capable of withstanding climate change and associated threats, including heat waves, droughts, flooding, and emerging and current pests and diseases.

Wild wheat relatives, which have endured environmental stresses for millions of years, possess genetic traits that modern varieties lack—traits that, when integrated into conventional varieties, could make wheat farming more possible in ever more hostile climates, the study published today (August 26, 2024) explains.

By farming the more resilient wheat, productivity could increase by an estimated USD 11 billion worth of extra grain every year, says the authors in the review paper titled ‘Wheat genetic resources have avoided disease pandemics, improved food security, and reduced environmental footprints: A review of historical impacts and future opportunities’ published by the journal Wiley Global Change Biology.

The review suggests that the use of plant genetic resources (PGR) helps against various diseases like wheat rust and defends against diseases that jump species barriers, like wheat blast. It gives nutrient-dense varieties and polygenic traits that create climate resilience.

The study points to a vast, largely untapped reservoir of nearly 800,000 wheat seed samples stored in 155 gene banks worldwide that include wild varieties and ancient farmer-developed ones that have withstood diverse environmental stresses over millennia. This is despite the fact that only a fraction of this genetic diversity has been utilised in modern crop breeding.

The findings, according to co-author Mathew Reynolds, will have major implications for food security, particularly in the Sub-Saharan Africa region, where the world’s most food-insecure populations live.

“The discoveries are very promising, as Africa has a lot of new environments in terms of potential wheat cultivation,” he told IPS.

Based on the research findings, significant environmental benefits have been realised thanks to various scientific efforts that have successfully integrated wild genes into modern species.

The study acknowledges that the use of PGR in wheat breeding has improved the nutrition and livelihoods of resource-constrained farmers and consumers in the Global South, where wheat is often the cereal of choice in parts of Asia and Africa

“We’re at a critical juncture,” says Reynolds. “Our current breeding strategies have served us well, but they must now address more complex challenges posed by climate change.”

He observes that breeding that helps in maintaining genetic resistance to a range of diseases improves “yield stability” and avoids epidemics of devastating crop diseases that ultimately threaten food security for millions.

“Furthermore, post-Green Revolution genetic yield gains are generally achieved with less (in the Global North) and often no fungicide in the Global South, and without necessarily increasing inputs of fertilizer or irrigation water, with the exception in some high-production environments,” the study contends.

As a result, there has been an increase in grain yield and millions of hectares of “natural ecosystems” have been saved from cultivation for grain production. These include millions of hectares of forests and other natural ecosystems, Reynolds and colleagues found.

Equally promising is the discovery in some experimental wheat lines incorporating wild traits that show up to 20 percent more growth under heat and drought conditions when compared to current varieties, and the development of the first crop ever bred to interact with soil microbes that has shown potential in reducing production of nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas. This enables the plants to use nitrogen more efficiently.

“The use of PGR wild relatives, landraces, and isolated breeding gene pools has had substantial impacts on wheat breeding for resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses while increasing nutritional value, end-use quality, and grain yield,” the review further finds.

Without the use of PGR-derived disease resistance, fungicide use to fight fungal diseases, the main threat to the crop, would have easily doubled, massively increasing selection pressure that would come with the need to avoid fungicide resistance, the review finds.

Remarkably, it is estimated that in wheat, a billion litres of fungicide application have been avoided, saving farmers billions that would go into the purchase and application of the chemicals, it adds.

The authors note that as weather becomes more extreme, crop breeding gene pools will need to be further enriched with new adaptive traits coming from PGR to survive the vagaries of climate change.

These ‘definitely’ include stubborn diseases that have plagued wheat farming in the tropics, such as the Ug99, a devastating stem rust fungal disease that, at its worst, wipes out entire crops in Africa and parts of the Middle East, Reynolds said.

Modern crop breeding, it says, has largely focused on a relatively narrow pool of star athletes—elite crop varieties that are already high performers and that have known, predictable genetics.

The genetic diversity of wild wheat relatives, on the other hand, offers complex climate-resilient traits that have been harder to use because they take longer, cost more, and are riskier than the traditional breeding methods used for elite varieties.

“We have the tools to quickly explore genetic diversity that was previously inaccessible to breeders,” explains Benjamin Kilian, co-author of the review and coordinator of the Crop Trust’s Biodiversity for Opportunities, Livelihoods and Development (BOLD) project, that supports conservation and use of crop diversity globally.

Among the tools are next-generation gene sequencing, big-data analytics, and remote sensing technologies, including satellite imagery. The latter allows researchers to routinely monitor traits like plant growth rate or disease resistance at unlimited numbers of sites globally.

While the collection and storage of PGR since early in the 20th century have played a key role, especially in breeding of disease-resistant plant varieties, the study concludes that a massive potential remains unexploited.

With wild relative varieties having survived millions of years of climate variance compared with our relatively recent crop species, more systematic screening is recommended to identify new and better sources of needed traits not just for wheat but for other crops as well, the study advises.

It calls for more investments in studying resilient wild varieties of common crops, taking advantage of widely available, proven and non-controversial technologies that present multiple impacts and a substantial return on investment.

“With new technologies emerging all the time to facilitate their use in plant breeding, PGR should be considered the best bet for achieving climate resilience, including its biotic and abiotic components,” the authors said.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

Clean Energy Boosts Autonomy for Brazilian Women Farmers – VIDEO

Mon, 08/26/2024 - 16:03

Iná de Cubas next to the biodigester she obtained with the Energy of Women of the Earth project, in the municipality of Orizona, in the Brazilian state of Goiás. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS

By Mario Osava
ACREUNA / ORIZONA, Brazil , Aug 26 2024 (IPS)

A community bakery, family production of fruit pulp, and the recovery of water springs are some of the initiatives of the Energy of Women of the Earth, organised since 2017 in the state of Goiás, in central-western Brazil.

A common resource is non-conventional renewable energy sources, such as solar and biomass, which are fundamental to the projects’ economic viability and environmental sustainability.

The network includes 42 women’s organisations in 27 municipalities in Goiás, a state that, like the entire central-western region, has an economy dominated by extensive monoculture agriculture, especially soybean, corn, sugar cane and cotton.

It is an adverse context for small-scale family farming, due to low population density and distant urban markets. A movement to strengthen the sector has intensified in this century, with the Agro Centro-West Family Farming Fairs promoted by local universities.

There are 95,000 family farms in Goiás, 63% of the state’s total number of farms.

“The network is the link between the valorisation of rural women, family farming and energy transition,” Gessyane Ribeiro, an agronomist who coordinates the project that uses alternative energy sources to empower women in agricultural production, told IPS.

The Energy of Women of the Earth project, which generated the network, is promoted by Gepaaf, a company known by the Portuguese acronym of its name, Management and Elaboration of Projects in Consultancy to Family Agriculture, and born from a study group at the Federal University of Goiás.

Non-repayable funding from the Caixa Economica Federal, a state bank focused on social and housing support, allowed the company, in partnership with two institutes and the university, to deploy actions involving 92 women farmers and to set up 60 family projects and another 16 collective projects until June 2023.

In Acreúna, a municipality of 21,500 inhabitants, 14 women farmers run a bakery that provides a variety of breads, pastries, cakes and biscuits to local public schools, which have around 3,000 students. They are women from the Genipapo Settlement, where 27 families received plots from the government’s land reform programme.

Solar energy made the settlement’s Residents’ Association’s enterprise viable, along with basic education schools in nearby towns. The National School Feeding Programme requires beneficiary schools to allocate at least 30% of their purchases to family farming.

In Orizona, a municipality of 16,000 people, Iná de Cubas received a biodigester and eight photovoltaic panels, which generate biogas and electricity for its production of fruit pulp, also for school meals.

Another technology distributed by the project, the solar pump, recovered and preserved one of the springs that form a stream in Orizona. The equipment, powered by solar energy, pumps water from the spring to a pond belonging to Nubia Lacerda Matias, where her cows quench their thirst.

Before, the animals went straight to the spring, fouling the water and damaging the surrounding forest. The area was fenced off, protecting both the water and the vegetation, which grew and became denser, to the benefit of the people who live downstream.

Categories: Africa

Fast-Acting Interventions Needed for Sudanese Refugee Children as Needs Outpace Response

Mon, 08/26/2024 - 08:58

These Sudanese refugee children are among the 748,000 refugees and asylum-seekers who have sought refuge in Egypt. Credit: ECW

By Joyce Chimbi
CAIRO & NAIROBI, Aug 26 2024 (IPS)

As peace eludes war-torn Sudan, thousands of displaced people fleeing the deadly battle between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have found refuge in neighboring countries, including Egypt.

The Sudanese refugee population in Egypt has grown almost sevenfold in what is considered the worst displacement crisis in the world, impacting 10 million people, with at least 2 million having fled to neighboring countries, including Egypt. In Egypt, over 748,000 refugees and asylum-seekers are registered with the UNHCR, a majority of whom are women and children who have recently arrived from Sudan. This number is expected to continue to rise.

“When Sudan plunged into conflict, the international aid community, UN agencies, civil society and governments developed a response plan to meet the urgent needs of refugees fleeing Sudan to seek safety in five different countries, including Chad, Ethiopia, Egypt, South Sudan and the Central African Republic,” Yasmine Sherif, Executive Director of Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises within the United Nations, told IPS.

To put it into perspective, the 2024 Sudan Regional Refugee Response Plan calls for USD 109 million to respond to refugee education needs across the region. To date, only 20 percent of this amount has been mobilized, including USD 4.3 million—or 40 percent of the requirement for Egypt.

ECW was among the first to respond in the education sector, providing emergency grants to support partners in all five countries.

The government of Egypt has demonstrated great commitment to providing refugees with access to education services, but with 9,000 children arriving every month, the needs are overwhelming.

Consequently, nearly 54 percent of newly arrived children are currently out of school, per the most recent assessment.

Sherif says despite Egypt’s generous refugee policy, the needs are great, resources are running thin and additional funding is urgently needed to scale up access to safe, inclusive, and equitable quality education for refugee as well as vulnerable host community children.

“Families fleeing the brutal conflict in Sudan endured the most unspeakable violence and had their lives ripped apart. For girls and boys uprooted by the internal armed conflict, education is nothing less than a lifeline. It provides protection and a sense of normalcy amidst the chaos and gives them the resources they need to heal and thrive again,” she said.

Yasmine Sherif, Executive Director of Education Cannot Wait (ECW), interacts with the Sudanese refugee community in Egypt. Credit: ECW

The government of Egypt has demonstrated great commitment to providing refugees with access to education services, but with 9,000 children arriving every month, the needs are overwhelming.

On a high-level stock-taking UN mission to Egypt in August 2024, ECW, UNHCR and UNICEF are urging donors, governments and individuals of good will to contribute to filling the remaining gap and scaling up the education response for refugee and host-community children.

“We have seen the important work that is being undertaken by UNHCR, the Catholic Relief Service and local organizations. But needs are fast outpacing the response, and Egypt now has a growing funding gap of USD 6.6 million. Classrooms are hosting as many as 60 children, most of whom are from host communities,” Sherif says.

Stressing that additional resources are urgently and desperately required to ensure that refugee and host community children in Egypt and other refugee-receiving countries in the region can attend school and continue learning. With the future of the entire region at stake, ECW’s call to action is for as many donors as possible to step in and help deliver the USD10 million required here and now to adequately support the refugee and host communities.

Education Cannot Wait Executive Director Yasmine Sherif, UNHCR, UNICEF, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) staff and Sudanese refugee girls and women at the CRS office in Cairo, Egypt.Credit: ECW

“We have seen the important work that is being undertaken by UNHCR, the Catholic Relief Service and local organizations, such as the Om Habibeh Foundation. But needs are fast outpacing the response,” Sherif says.

“In the spirit of responsibility sharing enshrined in the Global Compact on Refugees, I call on international donors to urgently step up their support. Available funding has come from ECW, ECHO, the EU, Vodafone, and a few other private sector partners. We should not abandon children in their darkest hour. This is a plea to the public and private sectors, and governments to step in and deliver for conflict-affected children,” she said.

Dr. Hanan Hamdan, UNHCR Representative to the Government of Egypt and to the League of Arab States, agreed.

“Forcibly displaced children should not be denied their fundamental right to pursue their education; their flight from conflict can no longer be an impediment to their rights. UNHCR, together with ECW and UNICEF, continue to ensure that children’s education, and therefore their future, are safeguarded,” she said.

“To this end, it is crucial to further support Egypt as a host country. It has shown remarkable resilience and generosity, but the increasing number of displaced individuals requires enhanced international assistance. By strengthening Egypt’s capacity to support refugees, we can ensure that more children have access to education and eventually a brighter future,” Hamdan added.

During the high-level ECW mission in Egypt, the ECW delegation met with key strategic partners—including donors, UN agencies, and local and international NGOs—and with Sudanese refugees to take stock of the scope of needs and the ongoing education response by aid partners.

Jeremy Hopkins, UNICEF Representative in Egypt, reiterated the agency’s commitment.

“UNICEF is steadfast in its commitment to ensure that conflict-affected Sudanese children have the opportunity to resume their education. In Egypt, through innovative learning spaces and the Comprehensive Inclusion Programme, UNICEF is working diligently, under the leadership of the Egyptian government, in cooperation with sister UN agencies and development partners, to create inclusive learning environments and strengthen resilient education systems and services,” Hopkins said.

“This not only benefits displaced Sudanese children but also supports host communities by ensuring that all children have access to quality education.”

In December 2023, ECW announced a USD 2 million First Emergency Response Grant in Egypt. The 12-month grant, implemented by UNHCR in partnership with UNICEF, is reaching over 20,000 Sudanese refugees in the Aswan, Cairo, Giza and Alexandria governorates.

Sudanese displaced children in Egypt are falling behind in their education. Education Cannot Wait has made a global appeal for funds to ensure they are able to continue with their education. Credit: ECW

The grant supports interventions such as non-formal education, cash grants, social cohesion with host communities, mental health and psychosocial support, and construction and refurbishment work in public schools hosting refugee children to benefit both refugee and host community children. As conflict escalates across the globe, ECW is committed to ensuring that all children have a chance at lifelong learning and earning opportunities.

Beyond Egypt, ECW has allocated USD 8 million in First Emergency Response grants in the Central African Republic, Chad, Ethiopia and South Sudan to address the urgent protection and education needs of children fleeing the armed conflict in Sudan. In Sudan, ECW has invested USD 28.7 million in multi-year and emergency grants, which have already reached more than 100,000 crisis-affected girls and boys.

During the mission, ECW called on leaders to increase funding for the regional refugee response and other forgotten crises worldwide. ECW urgently appeals to public and private donors to mobilize an additional US$600 million to reach 20 million crisis-impacted girls and boys with safe, quality education by the end of its 2023–2026 strategic plan.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

Conditions Grow Dire in Myanmar

Mon, 08/26/2024 - 08:35

Several Rohingya Muslims that have fled from the oppressive conditions in Myanmar to one of the two refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Credit: K.M. Asad/UN Photo

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 26 2024 (IPS)

On August 21st, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General Stéphane Dujarric spoke at a press briefing at the United Nations Headquarters about the ongoing Rohingya genocide taking place in Myanmar. Dujarric detailed high levels of hostility and displacement in the Shan, Mandalay, and Rakhine regions, which have significantly intensified since late June of this year.

“On 5 August, an estimated 20,000 people were reportedly displaced from three downtown Maungdaw wards. There are also reports of more people crossing into Bangladesh. In northern Shan, there has been a resurgence of fighting since late June, with an estimated 33,000 people displaced from four townships”, Dujarric stated.

Additionally, casualties continue to grow as armed conflict escalates in the Rakhine State. A joint statement delivered by United States Ambassador Robert Wood on behalf of the United Nations states that the Myanmar regime is currently using displaced Rohingya Muslims as human shields and have placed landmines around their camps. Furthermore, ethnic minorities are being drafted into the military by force, with many of them being young children.

Wood went on to say that the Myanmar Armed Forces have been employing “indiscriminate aerial bombardments of civilians and civilian objects, burning of civilian homes, attacks on humanitarian workers and facilities, and restrictions on humanitarian access”.

A joint statement by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union, as well as the Foreign Ministers of the United States, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Switzerland, among other nations, states “violence against civilians has escalated, with thousands jailed, tortured and killed. Airstrikes, shelling and arson have been used to destroy civilian infrastructure, including homes, schools, healthcare facilities and places of worship”.

In addition, hostilities from the Myanmar military have forced millions of ethnic minorities to flee to neighboring territories such as Bangladesh, India, Thailand, and Malaysia. Bangladesh currently has the largest refugee camp in the world, with over one million Rohingya refugees flocking to Kutupalong Refugee Camp in Ukhia, Cox’s Bazar. However, attempts at relocation remain extremely dangerous as over 600 refugees have been reported dead or missing at sea.

Since the Myanmar regime’s military coup in 2021, the need for humanitarian aid has grown immensely as conditions grow more dire every day. The population in need of aid has swelled from 1 million to over 18 million. Furthermore, approximately 3 million people have been displaced from their homes, which have been bombarded or destroyed by the military.

Environmental factors also play a significant role in rates of displacement in Myanmar. Dujarric adds that “Torrential monsoon rains since the end of June are aggravating the already dire humanitarian situation. Some 393,000 men, women and children have been impacted by this flooding”.

Furthermore, women and LGBTQ residents have long been disproportionately and adversely affected by policies in Myanmar, which have been greatly exacerbated post-coup. There have been numerous reports of women, girls, and LGBTQ individuals being conscripted and subjected to sexual and gender-based violence.

According to a report published July 2nd by Tom Andrews, the UN Special Rapporteur on the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar, “Junta forces have committed widespread rape and other forms of sexual violence, often characterized by the utmost cruelty and dehumanization. Members of resistance forces have also been responsible for abuses against women, girls, and LGBT people. Accountability for sexual and gender-based violence is extremely rare, and survivors struggle to access the support they need”.

Andrews goes on to say that widespread displacement during the Rohingya genocide has increased the risk of violence, human trafficking, forced child marriage, and sexual exploitation. This is highly counterproductive in easing tensions as there is a growing resistance in Myanmar, composed of Rohingya women, girls, and LGBTQ people, that are focused on providing humanitarian aid and easing conflict.

The United Nations intends to combat tensions in Myanmar and assist Rohingya people through the 2024 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan, with a focus on helping those who have been displaced or exposed to military conflict.

Although early funding has resulted in over 2 million Myanmar residents receiving humanitarian aid, there remains much work to be done. Approximately 993 million dollars are needed to fully fund this initiative, with only 23 percent of that goal being met as of now. Additional support from donors is necessary in order to respond to this growing humanitarian crisis.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

Rohingya Refugees Must Not Be Forgotten

Mon, 08/26/2024 - 08:06

A Rohingya refugee, Jannat is back in school and dreams of being a doctor. Credit: Save The Children Bangladesh/Rubina Hoque Alee

By Yasmine Sherif
NEW YORK, Aug 26 2024 (IPS-Partners)

Seven years ago, a brutal campaign of violence, rape and terror against the Rohingya people ignited in Myanmar’s Rakhine State. Villages were burned to the ground, families were murdered, massive human rights violations were reported, and around 700,000 people – half of them children – fled their homes to seek refuge in Bangladesh.

Today, Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar hosts the largest refugee camp in the world with close to a million children, women and men living in makeshift settlements. The crisis is an abomination for humanity. And while the Government of Bangladesh and other strategic partners are supporting the response, the resources are severely strained and access to essential services is scarce.

As the global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises within the United Nations, Education Cannot Wait (ECW), along with its strategic donor partners, government, UN agencies and civil society, has supported holistic education opportunities for both Rohingya and host community children in Bangladesh since November 2017. The more than US$50 million in funding, delivered through a consortium of partners – including government counterparts, PLAN International, Save the Children, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNICEF and other local partners – has reached over 325,000 girls and boys with quality education. Over the years, the programmes have provided learning materials for close to 190,000 children, financial support to over 1,700 teachers, and rehabilitated over 1,400 classrooms and temporary learning spaces.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, fires in the refugee camp and other pressing emergencies, the programming in Bangladesh was quickly adapted, and over 100,000 girls and boys were able to take part in remote education programmes during the height of the pandemic.

For refugee girls like Jannat, these investments mean nutritious school meals, integrated learning opportunities, catch-up classes, and security and solace in a world gone mad.

We must not forget Jannat and the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya girls like her that only yearn to learn in safety and freedom. Our investment in their education is an investment in peace, enlightenment and security across the region. Above all, it is an investment in the Rohingya people’s rights and other persecuted groups that face human rights abuses and attacks the world over.

Despite strong support from donors – as shown in this powerful joint statement by Japan, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States following their visit to the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar in May of this year – the Rohingya crisis is fast-becoming a forgotten crisis.

The Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis Joint Response Plan 2024 calls for a total of US$852 million in funding, including US$68 million for education. To date, only US$287 million has been mobilized toward the plan. More concerning still, only 12.8% has been mobilized towards the education response, according to OCHA’s Financial Tracking Service. What we need to realize is that our investments in education are investments in health, food security and skills development. Taken together with other actions, it forms a cornerstone upon which all the other Sustainable Development Goals can be achieved.

As we commemorate seven years of persecution and attack, we must demand that perpetrators are held accountable for human rights violations, we must establish conditions conducive for a safe return of the Rohingya to their native lands, and we must enforce the rule of law and expect humanity for the people whose lives have been ripped apart by this brutal crisis.

Join ECW and our partners in urgently mobilizing additional resources to provide Rohingya girls and boys – and other children caught in emergencies and protracted crises worldwide – with the promise of a quality education. They deserve no less.

IPS UN Bureau

Excerpt:

Education Cannot Wait Executive Director Yasmine Sherif Statement on the 7-Year Anniversary of the Rohingya Crisis

Categories: Africa

Tackling the World’s Planetary Emergency

Mon, 08/26/2024 - 07:47

Tackling the Planetary Emergency: Supporting a Declaration of Planetary Emergency at the UN General Assembly and the Convening of a Planetary Emergency Platform

By Eoin Jackson and Nina Malekyazdi
NEW YORK, Aug 26 2024 (IPS)

The world is facing a triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss.

Climate change continues to pose an existential threat to humanity, with recent science estimating that we have possibly less than six years left to change course and rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions to have a chance of avoiding the worst of the climate crisis.

Pollution is crippling air and water quality, exacerbating the inequality between wealthy and low-and middle-income countries. Biodiversity loss has the potential to collapse our food and water supply chains, putting further pressure on some of the most vulnerable countries in the world to manage the ever-growing risk of poverty, hunger, and harm to human health.

We also have scientific evidence that six of the nine core Planetary Boundaries have been crossed, posing a catastrophic danger to the Earth’s overarching ecosystem.

With this in mind, the Climate Governance Commission, supported by the Earth governance smart coalition Mobilizing an Earth Governance Alliance (MEGA), seeks to assist in catalyzing the implementation of critical reforms to global governance institutions for the effective management of the triple planetary crisis.

Probably the most significant and fundamental reform that could be established quickly and effectively would be a Declaration by the UN General Assembly of a Planetary Emergency and the convening of a Planetary Emergency Platform to facilitate global cooperation to address the emergency.

Adopting a Planetary Emergency Declaration would ensure that policy actions to protect the environment – especially the climate – would be elevated to top priority in global, national and local decision-making, requiring concerted action by all sectors of government, similar to the way that other critical emergencies are addressed.

Convening the Planetary Emergency Platform would help facilitate the development of cooperative plans for urgent action at all levels of governance on specific goals such as, for example, a global, fast-track de-carbonization package. The fact that we are indeed in a serious planetary emergency justifies and indeed requires an approach that can sufficiently address such an emergency.

Why declare a Planetary Emergency?

An emergency occurs when risks (impact X probability) are unacceptably high, and when time is a serious constraint. As identified by MEGA and the Climate Governance Commission based upon the best available science, we are at such a juncture. Consequently, with scientific evidence continuing to mount depicting the grave circumstances humanity finds itself in, the UN General Assembly, with the support of climate-vulnerable countries, should consider responding in kind, declaring a planetary emergency recognising this fundamental shift toward an emergency footing and moving quickly to convene an emergency platform to reflect these circumstances and facilitate urgent, coordinated action, with linked national emergency plans.

The growing urgency for declaring a planetary emergency stems from a history of a fragmented multilateral planetary policy system, that lacks a coordinated and ambitious response at the speed and scale required. Climate change to date has been treated as a peripheral issue dealt with primarily within a two-week framework every year at the climate COPs (Conference of the Parties), leading to a lack of effective cooperation between different aspects of the multilateral system and its domestic counterparts. Further, climate change solutions have not been adequately linked to mitigating pollution and biodiversity loss.

This siloed approach to handling the crisis as just another social and economic issue, rather than the interlinked and existential threat that it poses to society, illustrates how unequipped current governance structures are to handle this all-encompassing and systemic issue.

Consequently, global governance at present lacks the preparation and resilience necessary for current and future global shocks caused by the planetary emergency (e.g. extreme weather events, potential collapse of food supply chains, major economic crises, among other shock events).

However, this emergency also opens the door for the UN General Assembly and broader multilateral system to reconsider its framing of its approach and identify new governance mechanisms to address current gaps in the system. Governments and policymakers are now presented with an opportunity for transformation – to create a sustainable governance framework that facilitates the safe operation of humanity within its Planetary Boundaries.

Climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss and its related ecological, social, and economic problems are global issues, and thus require a whole-of-system approach to provide global solutions.

By recognizing that the world is in a state of acute distress through the Declaration of a Planetary Emergency at the UN General Assembly and thereby convening a Planetary Emergency Platform to coordinate a response to this emergency, policymakers would be provided with a framework needed to transcend current political divides to effectively address the challenges we face.

What would a Declaration of a Planetary Emergency at the UN General Assembly achieve?

We have already seen regional, national, and local climate emergency declarations issued across 2359 jurisdictions (as of August 2024). Such declarations by themselves have limited impact due to the global nature of this emergency. However, they demonstrate a keen interest in responding to the triple planetary crisis within an emergency framework, providing a core foundation for multilateral cooperation.

A Planetary Emergency Declaration would be science-led and action-focused, helping to elevate global planetary policy by connecting and elevating the existing declarations and filling the gaps in our current governance framework. Activating, focusing, and coordinating existing capacities at the UN through a Declaration of this kind could form a crucial aspect in ensuring that the Declaration is not merely a reflection of well-intended aspirations, but that it provides a solid basis for building effective, cooperative action.

A Planetary Emergency Declaration could build off and connect to its predecessors’ efforts and acknowledge all inter-connected risks associated with the triple planetary crisis in order to facilitate a global green transition. This would in turn allow for the Declaration to stimulate, support and facilitate cooperation and implementation of planetary policy at multilateral, national, and subnational levels.

The Declaration could seek primarily to achieve three things at the outset.

Firstly, as noted above, it could place the multilateral system on an acknowledged emergency footing, allowing for more ambitious action at all levels of governance, and reducing the current barriers to planetary progress.

Secondly, a Declaration could open the door for more effective emergency governance platforms including in particular the convening of a Planetary Emergency Platform, in line with the broader proposal of the UN Secretary General that emergency platforms be convened to strengthen the response to complex global shocks.

A Planetary Emergency Platform, using the Declaration as its basis, could be tasked with coordinating, defragmenting, and harmonizing the international community’s response to the triple planetary crisis. This would, in turn, speed up much needed solutions to the crisis, including, for example, the unlocking of greater climate finance and increased protection of crucial global commons under threat from human activity, from the Amazon to the High Seas.

A Platform of this kind would also be capable of developing a Planetary Emergency Plan, which could outline and bring into effect these desired outcomes, as well as assist with monitoring the implementation of the Declaration.

Finally, a Declaration of Planetary Emergency would allow for scientific concepts like Planetary Boundaries to become more familiar and integrated into our global policy responses, as well as creating vital opportunities to bridge the gap between planetary science and policy.

The Declaration could seek to ensure policymakers have greater impetus to take emergency action to protect these Planetary Boundaries, helping to generate political support and reduce geopolitical barriers to progress.

A Planetary Emergency Declaration at the UN General Assembly could serve as a crucial next step toward remedying the – to date – dysfunctional and inadequate nature of our response to the triple planetary crisis and convene a Planetary Emergency Platform as a key governance mechanism to facilitate the cooperation required between national and subnational entities to ensure effective and equitable planetary action.

Working with climate-vulnerable states, and global experts, the Climate Governance Commission and Mobilizing an Earth Governance Alliance will offer support to build a coalition to advance this Declaration at the UN General Assembly and accelerate our shared efforts to capably and effectively manage the global environment.

Eoin Jackson is Chief of Staff and Legal Fellow at the Climate Governance Commission and Co-Convenor of the Earth Governance ImPACT Coalition; Nina Malekyazdi is a Summer Intern at the Climate Governance Commission and a graduate in International Relations of the University of British Columbia

Source: Mobilizing an Earth Governance Alliance (MEGA)

MEGA is a coalition of civil society organizations working in cooperation with like-minded governments, legislators, experts, private sector actors and other stakeholders to strengthen existing environmental governance mechanisms and establish additional mechanisms. MEGA is led by the Climate Governance Commission and World Federalist Movement-Institute for Global Policy (co-hosts) in cooperation with 28 co-sponsoring organizations.

IPS UN Bureau

Categories: Africa

Gaza War: Displaced Palestinian Families Struggle to Access Basic Services

Sat, 08/24/2024 - 18:50

Palestinians living in Gaza struggle to access humanitarian aid. Credit: United Nations

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 24 2024 (IPS)

The latest Israeli evacuation order on August 17 led to the displacement of over 13,000 individuals, Secretary-General Stéphane Dujarric told a press conference at the UN headquarters.

The briefing held on October 19, 2024 detailed the impact of the continuation of the hostilities since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

The evacuation order was the latest in a series by the Israeli government that have exacerbated the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The conditions in the region are dire, with Palestinians facing a lack of access to food, clean water, fuel, and healthcare, as well as constant bombings, outbreaks of diseases, and displacement.

The number of Palestinians that have been killed during the course of the Israel-Hamas War this past year greatly exceeds that of any point during the entire Israeli-Palestinian conflict. While it is difficult to pinpoint the exact number of lives lost in the Gaza Strip, it has been confirmed to exceed 40,000.

During a press briefing at the UN Headquarters on August 14, 2024, the Secretary-General’s deputy spokesperson, Farhan Haq, said, “Ongoing bombardment and hostilities in Gaza continue to kill, injure and displace Palestinians, as well as damage and destroy the homes and infrastructure they rely on… In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Israeli settlers and forces killed five Palestinians between August 6 and August 12. Another 54 Palestinians, including 11 children, were also injured during the same period.”

In addition to the deaths and displacements, Palestinians have been forced to relocate to refugee camps and reside in the remnants of children’s schools and hospitals, which were bombarded and are now nearly inhospitable.

Earlier in the month, the Secretary General’s spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, said, “The ongoing hostilities, constant evacuation orders, and severe shortages of essential supplies are making it increasingly difficult for displaced families to access basic services at their place of arrival.”

Dujarric added that severe fuel shortages interfere with the operations of healthcare facilities, as ambulances and essential surgeries are often halted or postponed. This is particularly concerning as Palestinians need widespread access to healthcare, with many of them suffering from disease, malnutrition, and life threatening injuries as a result of constant Israeli blockade, bombardment, and relocation.

There was also concern that humanitarian aid was being denied.

According to Haq, Israeli authorities have rejected about a third of aid missions to Gaza since August 1. The cumulative impact of these access constraints is to perpetuate a continued cycle of deprivation and distress among affected people who are facing death, pain, hunger and thirst on a daily basis.”

This built on an earlier statement from Dujarric that while 500 aid trucks were sent to the Gaza Strip every day, a daily average of 159 trucks were allowed in unimpeded.

Israel denies blocking humanitarian aid.

The International Court of Justice earlier this year ordered that Israel halt its military offensive in the Rafah governorate. This followed an earlier order that Israel should take all measures to prevent any acts contrary to the 1948 Genocide Convention. South Africa brought a case arguing that Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip during the Israel-Hamas war led to a humanitarian crisis and mass killings, potentially amounting to genocide.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

Gaza War: Displaced Palestinian Families Struggle to Access Basic Services

Sat, 08/24/2024 - 18:50

Palestinians living in Gaza struggle to access humanitarian aid. Credit: United Nations

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 24 2024 (IPS)

The latest Israeli evacuation order on August 17 led to the displacement of over 13,000 individuals, Secretary-General Stéphane Dujarric told a press conference at the UN headquarters.

The briefing held on October 19, 2024 detailed the impact of the continuation of the hostilities since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

There was also concern that humanitarian aid was being denied.

This built on an earlier statement from Dujarric that while 500 aid trucks were sent to the Gaza Strip every day, a daily average of 159 trucks were allowed in unimpeded.

Israel denies blocking humanitarian aid.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

Things Can Only Get Better for Bangladesh

Fri, 08/23/2024 - 13:31

By Saifullah Syed
ROME, Aug 23 2024 (IPS)

The student movement in Bangladesh demanding reform of the quota system for public jobs was the straw that broke the camel’s back. The Awami League (AL) government led by Sheikh Hasina, in power continuously since 2008, collapsed on 5th August 2024. With Sheikh Hasina fleeing to India and leaving the country in disarray, her authoritarian rule of 15 years just melted away.

Saifullah Syed

Prior to this sudden and dramatic turn of events, during her rule, the country was mired by institutional and financial corruption, crony capitalism, authoritarian administration, and forced disappearance of opponents. In addition, the AL government of Sheikh Hasina monopolised all lucrative appointments and commercial privileges for people belonging to her party, banning political discourse and dissent.

She developed the personality cult of her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who led the country to independence in 1971 and who was brutally murdered on 15th of August 1975. The personality cult was so perverse that liberation of the country was attributed to Sheikh Mujib alone and all the other stalwarts of the liberation war and her party were ignored. Everything of significance happening in the country was attributed to his wisdom and foresight alone and were often named after him. Every Institution, including schools across the country and embassies around the world were obliged to host a “Mujib corner” to display his photo, and books about him only.

Yet, no political party, including the leading opposition Bangladesh National Party (BNP) succeeded in mobilising an uprising against Hasina’s regime. This was partly due her ability to project AL and her government as the sole guarantor of independence, sovereignty and secularism. Everyone else was cast as a supporter of anti-liberation forces, being communal, and accused of being motivated to turn the country into a hotbed of Islamic extremism. BNP was also accused of committing crimes and corruption when it was in power.

The founder of BNP is linked to the cruel murder of Sheikh Mujib and the members of her family, and the current leader of BNP is accused of masterminding the grenade attack aimed at killing Sheikh Hasina at an AL rally on 21st August 2004. Hasina survived the attack, but it killed 24 people and injured about 200.

Why did the student movement succeed ?

Like most historical events there are several factors, but the ultimate ones were that (i) the students were willing to die and (ii) the Military displayed patriotism and wisdom by refusing to kill. The students came from all walks of life, transcending party lines and economic background. Hence, attempts to cast them as anti-liberation did not succeed. The army refused to kill to protect a despotic ruler. Bangladeshis have always overthrown dictatorial rulers.

Why the students were ready to die and the army refused to kill are important issues for analysis but the critical question right now is: what next and where do we go from here ?

What Next for Bangladesh ?

The students have shown support for the formation of an interim government with leading intellectuals, scholars and elite liberal professionals and civil society actors under the leadership of Dr Younus, the founder of the Grameen Bank and a Nobel Laureate. These people were previously silenced and harassed during Hasina’s 15 year rule.

Many people remain sceptical, however. Many fear collapse of law and order and communal disturbances in the short run, which may lead to the emergence of another dictatorial rule. Neighbouring India, which supported Hasina’s government, is concerned about the rights of minorities in Bangladesh, although they showed scant concern for the minorities in India in the recent past.

Political and geo-political analysts are busy analysing the geo-political implications and the role of key players in mobilising the students to overthrow Hasina. This is raising questions about who engineered the Regime Change.

Fortunately for Bangladesh and the Bangladeshis, things can get only better. None of the short-term concerns have materialised. No major collapse of law and order nor oppression of minorities have taken place, barring a few localised incidents. Regarding the long run, things can only get better: it is extremely unlikely that another leader can emerge with reasons to substantiate a “moral right to rule”, disdain political discourse and project a personality cult – the basic ingredients of a dictatorial regime.

Hasina embodied several factors which were intrinsically associated with who she was. It is unlikely that anyone else with a similar background will emerge again. She started as a champion of democracy by seeking to overthrow the military rule that followed the murder of her father, then as a champion of justice by seeking justice for the killing of her father. Over time, however, she became a despot and a vengeful leader. Even if AL manages to regroup and come to power, it will be obliged to have a pluralistic attitude and not identify with Sheikh Mujib alone. All the stalwarts of the party have to be recognised, as only by recognising the forgotten popular figures of the party can it re-emerge.

Regarding the wider geo-political play by bigger powers, it may be important but cannot take away the fact that the majority of people are in favour of the change and are happy about it. It could be similar to gaining independence in 1971. India helped Bangladesh to gain independence because of its own geo-political strategic objective, but it has not reduced the taste of independence. If Bangladeshis’ desire coincides with the objective of others’ then so be it. It is win-win for both.

Eventually, Bangladesh will emerge with robust basic requirements for the protection of the institutions to safeguard democracy, such as independent judiciaries, a functioning parliamentary system with effective opposition parties, vibrant media and civil society organisations. It will become a country that will recognise the collective conscience of the leading citizens and intellectuals and establish good governance and social justice. The economy may go through some fluctuations due to troubles in the financial sector and export market, but a robust agriculture sector, vibrant domestic real estate market and remittances will keep it afloat.

The author is a former UN official who was Chief of Policy Assistance Branch for Asia and the Pacific of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Categories: Africa

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