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By Jan Lundius
STOCKHOLM / ROME, Jun 24 2019 (IPS)

Being a frequent visitor to the Dominican Republic, where I occasionally have enjoyed the high standard, security and excellent service of its resorts, I became puzzled by recent, quiet excessive media reactions to statistically insignificant cases of deaths in these resorts. The number of demises in Dominican resorts have been more or less the same over the years and do not at all differ from those of most other tourist destinations. People die in hotels all over the world. There may even be specific reasons for this and they are far from being unique to the Dominican Republic.

Hotel rooms are liminal spaces on the borderline between everyday life and something different. Unknown people have lived there before us, while strangers will occupy the rooms when we have left. During the Edo-period (1600-1867 CE) the red-light district of Edo (modern Tokyo) was called Ukiyo, the floating/transient world. Several modern hotels can be described as Ukiyoes, where people tend to behave quite differently from what they do at home. Drugs, excessive sex and other forms of “misconduct” are temptations in places you can leave without cleaning up after you. Furthermore, abnormal behaviour may be fostered by “all-inclusive” drinking and eating binges. Within the unfamiliar and secluded confinement of a hotel room you and your traveling companion/s may furthermore be prone to complaints and abuse you otherwise would refrain from. Our mind and bodies may also be exhausted after intensive day trips, heat and sunburn, conditions worsened by the content of ”private pharmacies” tourists tend to bring with them. To sum up – reasons for suffering sickness and even facing death in hotel rooms may be numerous.

In fictitious tales, hotel rooms provide the stage for horrific events and have been part of literary genres ever since the mythological villain Procrustes invited travelers to spend a night in his inn, where he stretched out, or cut off, their limbs to make them fit into his beds. A Victorian horror writer like William Wilkie Collins excelled in tales about hotel horrors, like The Dream Woman, A Terribly Strange Bed and The Haunted Hotel, the last one dealt with English tourists in Venice. Many of the murder mysteries in Agatha Christie´s 66 detective novels have hotel rooms as their main setting and they are also a common ambiance in Stephen King´s horror stories, whose The Shining and 408 became successful movies, together with other hotel horror blockbusters like Psycho, Vacancy and No Country for Old Men.

In Disney´s amusement parks in Orlando, Paris, and Tokyo you might enjoy a ride within The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, a skyscraper hotel inspired by a famous TVSeries. Several ”documentaries” like the popular America´s Haunted Hotels have presented mysterious happenings referred to by employees and guests working and staying in frightening hotels. Prominent among haunted US hotels is the Cecil Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles, which since its opening in 1931 gained a reputation for suicides and violent crimes. That this hotel changed its name to Stay on Main did apparently not distance it from its tragic reputation. Another ”haunted hotel” is The Luxor on the Las Vegas Strip. It has not changed its name and seems to thrive on its lugubrious fame.

Las Vegas may be described as an Ukiyo, a ”Floating World” where people come to indulge in gambling and entertainment. The town´s many hotels appear to confirm the rumour that such places cause both ”natural” and violent deaths. Not only do elderly people die in their rooms from heart attacks and respiratory problems, but people are committing suicide, die from overdoses and/or suffer crime related deaths and violent attacks. Last year, 205 murders and 1 296 rapes were reported in Las Vegas, a rate of 12 murders and 80 rapes per 100 000 people, while in New York 3 murders and 27 rapes were committed per 100 000 people.2 The Las Vegas death toll was considerably higher in 2017, when on October 1 a certain Stephen Paddock fired more than 1 100 rounds of ammunition from his suite on the 32nd floor of the Manadalay Bay Hotel into a crowd of concertgoers on the Las Vegas Strip. He killed 58 people and wounded 422. Mr. Paddock´s motive remains undetermined. He was found dead in his room from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Hotel related fatalities have not affected Las Vegas´s popularity as a tourist destination and do seldom figure in descriptions of this renowned resort city.3 Nevertheless, hotel deaths have recently gained prominence while describing another tourist destination – the Dominican Republic. After Tammy Lawrence-Daley on May 29 posted an account on her Facebook about the attack she suffered on the grounds of The Majestic Elegance Resort,4 accounts of deaths at Dominican resort hotels have gone viral and are currently being reported on the web, by major TV networks and daily newspapers around the world.5

During the past 12 months, six cases of sudden deaths of US citizens at hotels in the Dominican Republic have been reported. In July last year, a 45-year-old man died in his hotel room after a heart attack and in April this year a 67-year-old man died at the same resort after “drinking a Scotch from the minibar”. In June 2018, a 51-year-old woman died in another resort. She had also “had a drink from the minibar”. On May 24 this year, a woman died from a heart attack in another Dominican resort, she was 41 years old. A few days later at another resort, a 63-year-old man and his 49-year-old wife died from “respiratory failure and pulmonary edema.”6 Since these cases were revealed, numerous reports are appearing from people claiming to have become sick at hotels in the Dominican Republic, among them a couple who recently filed a lawsuit against a resort asking for $1 million after they had been refused a refund after claiming an insecticide had made them sick.7

More than two million US citizens visit the Dominican Republic every year, making up about a third of the country’s tourists. Several question marks may be added to the recent reports that already have had damaging effects on the Dominican tourist industry. Foremost among them are – Why is there suddenly such an intense reporting about six resort related deaths among 6.5 million visitors to the Dominican Republic? Particularly since deaths at hotels are not entirely uncommon, not the least in the US. The Dominican Republic is furthermore known to be comparatively safe for tourists, at least considerably safer than Las Vegas.

Reporting of Dominican tourist deaths was triggered by Tammy Lawrence-Daley´s not entirely crystal clear story. She did not place her account on Facebook until three months after the event, stating she had been attacked around 11 PM by a man wearing a Majestic Elegance uniform. Her husband did not report his wife´s disappearance until three and a half hours later and she was found by 6:40 in the morning “at a restricted area of the hotel”, showing bruises on her face and with a broken fingernail, though without the signs of the brutal violence evident on the photos she revealed on Facebook.

I cannot assess the veracity of Mrs. Lawrence-Daley´s statement, though I am inclined to question if her misfortune and six resort deaths within a year are reasons enough for placing the entire tourist industry of a country in jeopardy. A horror tale affecting not only hotel owners, but the hundreds of thousands Dominicans whose livelihood and that of their families depend on tourists visiting their island.8

1 Fulton, Robin (2006) Thomas Tranströmer: The Great Enigma, new collected poems. New York: New Directions.
2 https:/www.areavibes.com/las+vegas-nv/crime and https://www.areavibes.com/new+york-ny/crime
3 A famous exception is Hunter S. Thompson´s outrageous novel from 1971: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream.
4 Woods, Amanda (2019) “Dominican Republic resort claims Tammy Lawrence-Daley demanded $2.2M before going public”, New York Post, June 6.
5 Martinez, Gina and Josiah Bates (2019) “9 U.S. Tourists Have Died in the Dominican Republic in 2019. Should You Cancel Your Trip?” Time Magazine, June 18.
6 Mzezewa, Tairo (2019) “What Do We Know About the Dominican Republic Tourist Deaths?” The New York Times, June 12.
7 Salo, Jackie (2019) ”Couple recounts nightmare illness at the same Dominican resort where 3 died,” New York Post, June 6.
8 In 2018, The Dominican Republic was visited by 6.5 million tourists, spending $7.6 billion, an increase of 6 percent over the year before, when the tourist industry supplied more than 332,580 jobs, or 8.5 percent of the country´s total workforce. https://www.efe.com/efe/english/world/dominican-republic-s-economy-grows-by-7-pct-in-2018/50000262-3853232 and https://dominicantoday.com/dr/economy/2017/10/03/44886/

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

The post Are Hotels Dangerous? Putting in Context Dominican Republic Tourist Deaths appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

I stayed overnight at a motel by the E3.
In my room a smell I’d felt before […]
I stayed overnight in the echoing house.
Many want to come in through the walls
but most of them can´t make it:
they´re overcome by the white hiss of oblivion.
Anonymous singing drowns in the walls
Discreet tappings that don´t want to be heard
drown-out sighs
my old repartees creeping homelessly.

                                              Thomas Tranströmer The Gallery 1

The post Are Hotels Dangerous? Putting in Context Dominican Republic Tourist Deaths appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 24 2019 (IPS)

With a new report projecting a rise in population, specifically in Asia and Africa, the United Nations has warned that continued rapid population growth presents enormous challenges for sustainable development in the world’s 134 developing nations.

Among them, the heaviest impact will be on the 47 least developed countries (LDCs), described as the poorest of the world’s poor, and the 57 small island developing states (SIDS), including 20 “territories” which are non-UN members, largely vulnerable to continued economic hardships and environmental hazards.

https://www.un.org/development/desa/dpad/wp-content/uploads/sites/45/publication/ldc_list.pdf

In an interview with IPS, Dr Benoit Kalasa, Director Technical Division at the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) said LDCs are among the world’s fastest growing – and many are projected to double in population between 2019 and 2050 – putting pressure on already strained resources and challenging policies that aim to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and ensure that no one is left behind.

For many countries or areas, including some Small Island Developing States, he pointed out, the challenges to achieving sustainable development are compounded by their vulnerability to climate change, climate variability and sea-level rise.
http://unohrlls.org/about-sids/

In sub-Saharan Africa, the region that is expected to account for more than half of the world’s population growth over the coming decades, the number of babies projected to be born between 2020 and 2050 (nearly 1.4 billion) exceeds the number born between 1990 and 2020 by more than 50 per cent.

Excerpts from the interview:

IPS: Will the projected increase in population have an impact on the implementation of the 17 SDGs which have a 2030 deadline?

Dr KALASA: A rapidly increasing number of births poses particularly significant challenges for countries striving to expand services for mothers and newborns (SDGs 1, 3 and 5).

A growing number of infants foreshadows growing numbers of school-aged children and adolescents and youth in the future. In the 47 LDCs, the number of adolescents and youth aged 15 to 24 years is projected to grow from 207 million in 2019 to 336 million in 2050.

Leveraging the opportunity presented by the demographic dividend depends critically on investing in the health and education (SDGs 3 and 4) of the young people who will soon join the labour force, and on ensuring their successful integration into the labour market, with full and productive employment and decent work for all (SDG 8).

Many of the countries with the highest levels of maternal mortality and the greatest unmet need for family planning continue to experience growth in the number of women of reproductive age.

Programmes to expand access to family planning must keep pace with population growth just to maintain current levels of coverage.

In all countries and areas, achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women requires eliminating all forms of violence and discrimination against women (SDG 5), promoting female education (SDG 4), and ensuring that women have access to safe and effective means of family planning (SDG 3), as well as equal access to the labour market (SDG 8), social security and the political process (SDGs 8, 5 and 16).

Persons aged 65 or over make up the world’s fastest-growing age group. Virtually all countries are anticipating an increase in the percentage of older persons in their populations.

Countries need to plan for population ageing and ensure the well-being of older persons by protecting their human rights and economic security and by ensuring access to age-appropriate health care services, lifelong learning opportunities, and formal and informal support networks (SDGs 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10 and 16).

IPS: Is the anticipated increase in world population by 2 billion in the next 30 years a positive or negative factor?

Dr KALASA: While the projected addition of two billion people in the next 30 years poses challenges to the implementation of the 2030 agenda, it also brings a tremendous opportunity.

With human rights-based, quality sexual and reproductive health service provision, sufficient investment in education and health of young people, and gender equality, and promotion of the rights choices and well-being of older persons and immigrants, we will realize the demographic dividend and ensure the rights and choices of a new generation.

IPS: How reliable is the UN’s population estimates?

Dr KALASA: The UN Population Division has been estimating and projecting the world’s population since 1951. The estimates are based on all available sources of data on population size and levels of fertility, mortality and international migration for 235 countries or areas.

For each revision, any new, recent but also historical, information that has become available from population censuses, vital registration of births and deaths, and household surveys are considered to produce consistent time series of population estimates for each country or areas from 1950 to today.

For the 2019 revision, the latest assessment, 1,690 population censuses conducted between 1950 and 2018, as well as information on births and deaths from vital registration systems for 163 countries and demographic indicators from 2,700 surveys were considered.

The availability of new information contributed to revising recent, as well as past, population estimates and demographic indicators.

It is worth mentioning that the quality of population estimates and projections hinges on the collection of reliable and timely demographic data, including through civil registration systems, population censuses, population registers, where they exist, and household surveys.

The 2020 round of national population censuses, which is currently underway, will provide critical demographic information to inform development planning and to assess progress towards the achievement of the SDGs.

IPS: What is the impact of international migration?

Dr KALASA: International migration can be a transformative force, lifting millions of people out of poverty and contributing to sustainable development in both countries of origin and countries of destination.

Facilitating safe, orderly and regular migration, while reducing incentives for irregular migration, is the best possible way to harness the full development potential of migration (SDGs 8, 10 and 16). Addressing the adverse drivers of migration, such as poverty, insecurity and lack of decent work, can help to make the option of remaining in one’s country viable for all people.

IPS: Whatever happened to the 1960s concept of Zero Population Growth (ZPG)?

Dr KALASA: The ICPD Programme of Action (the International Conference on Population and Development) called for voluntary and rights-based family planning. At UNFPA, we counter any notion of “population control” and warrant that future generations never take a hard-won human right for granted.

Ensuring women’s right to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children is at the center of our agenda.

The writer can be contacted at thalifdeen@ips.org

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By IPS INTERNATIONAL DESK
ROME, Jun 24 2019 (IPS)

Qu Dongyu, China’s vice minister for agriculture and rural affairs, was elected to be the next Director-General of FAO, winning a majority of the 191 votes cast in the first round of an election held Sunday.

Qu said he will be “committed to the aspirations, mandates and missions of the Organization” and pledged to lead “all of FAO’s staff in working for member countries and for the world’s farmers.”

The new Director-General of FAO will be in office for the period 1 August 2019 to 31 July 2023. He will be eligible for only one additional mandate of four years.

Qu Dongyu succeeds José Graziano da Silva, who was first elected in 2011 and has served two consecutive terms.

These are some excerpts from a presentation he made over the weekend to the FAO Conference.

The post Chinese DG To Lead FAO For 4 Years From 1 Aug 2019 appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Roberto Savio
ROME, Jun 21 2019 (IPS)

Social Democrats, who had been steadily disappearing following the crisis of 2008, have been making a small comeback in the last year. Now they are in power in Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Finland and, most recently, in Denmark.

But the statistics are daunting. The recent European elections gave members of the Socialist group 20% of the vote, against 25% in 2014, and the erosion from the 34% achieved in 1989 and 1994 is clear. The latest success, in Denmark, with 25.9% of the vote, was lower than in 2015. In Finland, they received 17.7% of the vote, just two-tenths more than the Alt-Right. And in Sweden, Stefan Löfven won his mandate with the lowest vote in decades. In countries like the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Italy, they are becoming irrelevant.

Roberto Savio

It is interesting to note that they did not lose votes to the more radical left. The two European groups that bring together Syriza (Greece), Podemos (Spain), La France Insoumise (France) and Die Linke (Germany) received just 5% of the vote, against 7% in 2014. The votes they lost went basically to the Alt-Right. Today, the Social Democrats have popular support only in Spain (PSOE, 33%) and Portugal (PS, 33.4%). From the Scandinavian cradle of Social Democrats, there has been a shift to the Iberian Peninsula. Today, Portugal is what Sweden was twenty years ago: a model of civic values, tolerance and inclusion.

There is now a debate about the Danish model. Mette Frederiksen, leader of the Social Democrats, has adopted a very radical approach against immigrants, practically identical to the vision of the Alt-Right: deportation of immigrants to a desert island (a la Australian); confiscation of jewels and other valuables they bring with them; the prohibition of burkas and niqabs in open spaces. In 2015, nearly 60,000 migrants reached the country, but only 21.000 were given asylum; in 2017, just one-quarter of those who applied received asylum. At the same time, Frederiksen promised, among others, to increase welfare, subsidies to the poorest part of the population and incentives for young people (whom she wants to stop smoking: she has promised to increase the cost of cigarettes radically).

The Danish model is based on a simple fact. Today Europeans are governed by fear. Fear about the future, the arrival of Artificial Intelligence and robots , which could lead to the disappearance of 10% of current jobs: just the automation of cars would leave millions of taxi drivers, bus drivers, truck drivers and so on jobless (something that immigrants could never be responsible for). The so-called New Economy openly declares that labour is a small component in industrial production. The excess of available workers means that the days of a fixed job are over. This, of course, contradicts the fact that the population is in steep decline. According to the International Labour Organisation, Europe will need at least 10 million more people to remain competitive in 2030.

When feelings, and not ideas, become the basis of politics, and it is the gut and not the brain that decides, we have entered the realm of mythologies and left reality out of the picture.

Take Italy. The large majority of Italian workers now vote for Matteo Salvini, leader of the Northern League and deputy prime minister and Minister of the Interior. Salvini has made fear the central theme of his permanent electoral campaign. As Minister of the Interior, he has spent just 17 days in his ministerial office and the rest on the road. He has defined immigrants as the main threat to the security of Italians. He holds mass rallies, kissing the rosary or the Bible, and explaining that Italy is a slave of the European Union. He has introduced new security laws, which make it easier to possess a weapon. And he has launched an open campaign against the Pope and his calls for solidarity and inclusion. He suggests that the Pope could take all refuges into the Vatican, and he has made an alliance with the conservative wing of the Church, asking Pope Benedict to come back. He has doubled his votes, and he is on the way to becoming Italy’s next Prime Minister. He is now challenging the European Union with the declaration that he will not accept the 3% limit to the budget deficit and claims that he is acting on behalf of the Italian people, that Italians come first and Eurocrats seconds. This is a battle that he is going to lose. The European heads of governments, not the Commission, established the limit to the budget deficit. And his fellow sovereigntists, like Sebastian Kurz of Austria or Viktor Orban of Hungary, will never agree to making any sacrifice to allow Italy to run a budget deficit.

Italy is a good example for understanding how reality is no longer important and is not the basis for politics. Tito Boeri, an international economist and outgoing Director of the National Institute of Social Security (a well-respected institution), has just published an article entitled ‘The managers of fear’. Italians are now convinced that there is one immigrant for every four Italians: actually, there is one for every twelve. Polls show that Italians (and this is valid by and large for all Europeans) are convinced that there are four problems with immigrants: 1) they will take over their work: 2) Italians have to finance the welfare of immigrants that do not work out of their own pockets; 3) they make towns less secure; and 4) immigrants bring contagious diseases with them. Well, says Boeri, nearly 10% of immigrants have creates companies. Every immigrant who is an entrepreneur employs 8 workers, and the labour of immigrants is highly concentrated in activities that Italians have abandoned. They provide 90% of the workforce in rice fields, 85% in the garment sewing industry and account for 75% of fruit and vegetables pickers. Wages in these sectors have not increased in the last 20 years: they were low, and they remain low.

But the most important fact (and this is also true for all of Europe) is that today one Italian in four is over the age of 65, compared with one immigrant in 50. In Italy, there are 2 pensioners for 3 people who work. How could the pension system survive without immigrants? Yet the over 65s are now those who vote for the Alt-Right. This imbalance is destined to grow. To maintain the current system, 83% of a salary goes to the pension system. In the future, how much will it cost the falling number of workers to sustain those who have retired? Already 150,000 young people, most highly qualified, are leaving Italy every year.

What about crime? Statistics show that crime has been diminishing at the same time as the number of immigrants has been growing. And what about contagious diseases where we have statistics from the World Health Organisation: Turkey is the country that has received most immigrants (over four million) in a short period of time. No data exist that show an increase in contagious diseases. In Europe, Germany has been the nation that received most immigrants in a short period of time, yet there are no data showing any increase in contagious diseases.

Fear, according to historians, together with greed, is one engine of change of the course of history. When did fear start? With the economic crisis of 2008, brought about by irresponsible finance, the only global sector of the world without control. The crisis made clear that globalisation was a failure. Instead of lifting all boats as its propagandists proclaimed, it lifted few boats, and made those unprecedently rich: now 80 individuals possess the same wealth as 2.3 trillion people. In fact, greed preceded fear. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the world embarked on an orgy of private over public. The State was considered the enemy of growth. All social costs were slashed, welfare and education in particular, because they were considered non-productive. Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil is still doing the same: he has cut the budget of universities and has announced that he wants to “discourage” philosophy and sociology, in favour of “practical studies” like business, engineering and medicine. Gain came to be considered a central virtue. Companies were allowed to seek maximum profit by delocalising in cheaper countries, large companies to put local shops out of business, salaries were reduced, and trade unions marginalised. On its neoliberal path, globalisation was considered unstoppable.

The tide was so strong that it was called pensée unique. At first, the left had no answer. But then British Prime Minister Tony Blair came up with an alternative proposal in 2003. Given that globalisation is unstoppable, let us ride it and let us try to tame it: the Third Way. That, in fact, meant accepting globalisation. The result was that the social democracy tamed very little, and the losers of globalisation no longer felt defended by the left. Globalisation made all that was remunerable mobile: finance, trade, transportation. The State was left only with responsibility for what was not movable: education, health, pensions and all social costs.

This was accompanied by a considerable reduction of national incomes, as globalisation was able (and is still able) to hide profits from national tax systems. According to some estimates, there are 80 trillion dollars in fiscal paradises, one of the main reasons for the decline of national incomes. There was much less money to distribute. The public debt started to pile up. As I write, it now stands at 58,987,551,309,132 dollars (see the Economist debt clock for today’s figure). That has increased the debt servicing to pay and reduced the amount available for current expenses. Nobody talks of this Sword of Damocles hanging over the heads of countries and their citizens. No wonder the European Union introduced a measure to limit national deficits. Italy must already pay 30 billion euro every year for its deficit. To increase the deficit, as the government proposes, in order to gain votes is utterly irresponsible.

It is worth noting that before the crisis of 2008, there were no Alt-Right parties in Europe, except for that of Le Pen in France. However, it was just a matter of time before somebody started to ride fear in every country, that the decline of the traditional parties started and that there was no answer to the massive tide of neoliberal globalisation. Immigrants began to come in handy for stoking fear, and all the victims of globalisation switched to the new champions.

Now, it is a commonplace to say that right and left no longer exist. In fact, the fight is between sovereigntists – which means nationalists tinged with xenophobia and populism – and globalists, or those who still believe that international cooperation and trade are vital to growth and peace. This debate on the present ignores that the left is an historical process, that began with the first industrial revolution at the beginning of the 19th century, An incalculable number of people gave their lives in order to have social justice, curb the exploitation of workers and introduce the values of a modern and just society: equity, participatory and transparent democracy, human rights, and peace and development as values for international relations. These were the banners of the left. This historical treasure needs to be linked to present times.

The right- left dialectic has not disappeared. Just look at the growing environmental movement today which has gone into that divide. From Trump to Bolsonaro, climate change is a left-wing operation while, if you read ‘Laudato Si’, the encyclical of Pope Francis (which few do, unfortunately), you will see that the fight against climate change is above all a question of social justice and human dignity. In that sense, the Green parties are taking over part of the battles of the historical left.

And this brings us to a central issue: is solidarity an integral part of the legacy of the left?

I ask because Frederiksen obtained victory in Denmark, abandoning solidarity and using nationalism and xenophobia. Of course, she is giving her voters ample assurances that she will restore privileges for her citizens, and it is clear that this is now a winning formula, like the Third Way was for Tony Blair in the British elections in 1997. Except that it bows to globalisation, as the Third Way did. It bows to nationalism, populism and xenophobia, the new pensée unique for so many people in the world. Will it have a durable effect for those who call themselves left-wing?

Roberto Savio is publisher of OtherNews, Italian-Argentine Roberto Savio is an economist, journalist, communication expert, political commentator, activist for social and climate justice and advocate of an anti neoliberal global governance. Director for international relations of the European Center for Peace and Development.. He is co-founder of Inter Press Service (IPS) news agency and its President Emeritus.

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By Caley Pigliucci
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 21 2019 (IPS)

A recently-released report by the Washington-based Center for Global Development (CGD) shows that generic drugs, like omeprazole (used to treat heartburn), can cost 20-30 times more in low and middle-income countries than in high-income countries.

Rachel Silverman, a researcher with CGD who worked on the report, told IPS that “There is a lack of competition at the country level, even for basic, off-patent generic medicines. One firm can sometimes control 85% or more of the market share for specific drugs or therapy classes in some countries.”

The report also points out that low- and middle-income countries purchase more expensive branded medicine. Often, these unbranded drugs are not as trusted to be real.

There are laws to regulate unbranded medicine and ensure its quality, but Janeen Madan-Keller, a researcher at CGD, alongside Silverman, told IPS that it’s more an issue of a lack in enforcement.

“There are typically laws on the book about the quality of medicines…but regulatory agencies in many countries are ill-equipped and under-resourced to effectively enforce quality standards,” said Madan-Keller.

Silverman points to the private sector and calls upon them to ensure quality control. “Pharmaceutical companies have an ethical responsibility to ensure that their products are safe and effective,” said Silverman.

But for Silverman, the problem is bigger than the private sector alone can handle.

“Health product markets are extremely susceptible to market failure—from asymmetric information, barriers to entry, and forms of anticompetitive behavior, among other issues,” Silverman said.

Silverman and Madan-Keller think the solution lies in a combination of an expansion of programs already in place and the introduction of resources from institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The Geneva-based World Health Organization (WHO) already aims to counteract some of the problems addressed in the report through the Collaborative Registration Procedure (CRP).

According to the WHO, the measure aims to accelerate the registration of finished pharmaceutical products (FPPs) thus “ensur[ing] that much-needed medicines reach patients more quickly.”

But the CGD report sees this program as only being a step in the right direction. The report explicitly calls for a “reform [of] WHO guidance and policy to support modern and agile procurement policy and practice.”

Silverman believes that an expansion of the CRP by the WHO would be “a global fix to the problem of burdensome country-by-country registration processes that impede market entry and competition.”

Asked for a comment, Fadela Chaib, of WHO told IPS, “We have not seen the report so we cannot comment at this stage.”

Financing of Health Products

The report also analyzed the different forms of funding for health products across countries. The three forms considered in the report are donor financing, the private sector, and government funding.

Donor financing takes first place in the level of funding for health products provided in low-income countries.

But donor financing contains both good and bad elements. It has been beneficial in providing a reduction in cases of HIV and malaria, but the large-scale politics behind donor financing has had some ill-effects.

“In countries like the US and UK, domestic politics drives a lot of uncertainty about the level of aid year-to-year,” says Silverman.

She worries that this uncertainty “trickles down to the recipients of donor-based medicine, limiting their capacity for accurate medium- to long-term planning.”

Silverman points to the concentration of purchasing power in only a few hands as another potential problem of donor financing.

It can lead to a lack in access to necessary supplies that can have detrimental effects, sometimes leading to deliver delays of life-saving medicines.

This is a potential shortcoming of a method called pooled purchasing, which combines several small buyers into one larger entity (giving it more power) which then purchases things, like medicines, on behalf of those small buyers.

But the researchers at Toulouse School of Economics and CGD think that, when done well, pooled purchasing can be beneficial because it drives down costs.

With small buyers making small purchases, Silverman says “This can introduce large transaction costs, that are typically passed down to the consumers; it also reduces purchaser negotiating power to secure better prices.”

The report argues that at a national level, pooled purchasing would be able to reduce drug prices by up to 50 – 75 percent because small buyers can have more purchasing power, which in turn drives down the prices of health products.

While in low-income countries, donor financing accounts for half of procured health products, in higher income countries, there is a stronger reliance on government procured products.

The transition between donor financing and government procured health products can be rocky, with middle-income countries often seeing limited financing from donors or the government.

Silverman says that in these countries, “Most families turn to the private sector where the quality of medicines can be unreliable and prices can be very high—and they often pay out of pocket.”

In low-middle-income countries, the private sector procures around 80% of all health products.

“This is sometimes called the “missing middle” problem; countries are “too wealthy” to receive substantial donor resources, but they have not yet built robust universal health coverage systems to provide health services and financial risk protection to their citizens,” Silverman says.

The transitions countries go through levels of funding that could be smoothed over if donor financing was not cut off as soon as a country has enough income. The researchers as CGD believe that there should be continued support for low-middle-income countries, even after government funding increases.

Finding this balance of funding during transition periods and the expansion of protections for those in need of life-saving medicines is now left open to the global health community, and to UN agencies like the WHO.

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By Geneva Centre
VIENNA, Jun 21 2019 (IPS-Partners)

Societies must work together to build more tolerance, solidarity and peace within and between nations, said the Executive Director of the Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue, Ambassador Idriss Jazairy, during the 19 June international conference on “From Interfaith, Inter-Civilizational Cooperation to Human Solidarity.” He emphasized that all such societies are built on shared aspirations and not shared ethnicity.

This Geneva Centre was one of the organizers of this major event together with the Baku International Centre for Interreligious and Inter-Civilizational Cooperation and the KAICIID Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue Centre.

It gathered over 200 high-level experts from 30 countries and 10 international organizations. A special message of greeting was extended to the co-organizers of the conference and the participants by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan HE llham Aliyev during the inaugural ceremony.

As the moderator of the opening and the first plenary sessions, Ambassador Jazairy stated that although the Berlin Wall was demolished in 1989, new physical and virtual walls were being erected which were breaking up societies and multilateralism.

“It is one of the greatest paradoxes of the contemporary world that major world faiths and creeds that all preach human fraternity are being perverted to justify hatred and exclusion. The threat to peoples is not diversity, but poverty. Terrorism has no religion, denomination or nationality. It is a social cancer that affects the whole world,” he said.

To overcome this situation, Ambassador Jazairy highlighted the importance of promoting awareness of both the commonality of values and the specificities of practices of diverse faiths as expressions of enrichment through pluralism. He emphasized that all faiths supported God-given dignity to human beings and the duty of all to uphold it in particular for women and girls and vulnerable groups. Likewise, he recalled that all such faiths equally advocate the love of one’s neighbor.

The Executive Director of the Geneva Centre praised the outcome of the 25 June 2018 World Conference on religions and equal citizenship rights, the World Tolerance Summit organized in November 2018 in Dubai, the historical meeting of 4 February 2019 between the Pope and the Grand Imam of Al Azhar held in Abu Dhabi, and the Fifth World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue held in-May 2019 in Azerbaijan.

In his concluding remarks, the Geneva Centre’s Executive Director underlined that the promotion of equal citizenship rights is the silver-bullet to promote successful societies that manage diversity and stimulate empathy towards the other.

Ambassador Jazairy added: ‘Ethnicity, religious or political affiliations do not convey more rights on some groups than on others. As the US Congress affirmed already in 1782 ‘E pluribus unum.’ This diversity needs to become again the subject of cultural celebration and lay the foundation for social cohesion and the promotion of inclusive societies. There can be no sustainable pursuit of happiness in islands of prosperity surrounded by oceans of poverty.”

The Executive Director of the Geneva Centre concluded his statement by appealing to countries from the Global North and the Global South to jointly promote empathy between different cultures and civilizations and to “speak up together so that the conference message comes out loud and clear and is picked up by politicians who can make it become a reality.”

In the concluding session of the conference, the co-organizers endorsed an outcome declaration welcoming, inter alia, the adoption of the 25 June 2018 World Conference 10-Point Outcome Declaration on “Moving Towards Greater Spiritual Convergence Worldwide in Support of Equal Citizenship Rights” which was sponsored by the Geneva Centre and its partners last year.

The co-organizers likewise adopted a joint message to the President of Azerbaijan HE Ilham Aliyev and to the President of Austria HE Alexander Van der Bellen appealing to both countries to address obstacles to sustainable peace and development, promote inter-civilizational dialogue and to make this conference format replicable at regular intervals in the future.

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By Geneva Centre
VIENNA, Jun 21 2019 (IPS-Partners)

Following the 19 June international conference on “From the Interfaith and Inter-Civilizational Cooperation to Human Security” held in Vienna, the Executive Director of the Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue Ambassador Idriss Jazairy concluded his visit to Austria with a series of meetings with government officials and decision makers.

Ambassador Jazairy was firstly received by the Adviser to the President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Judicial and Religious Affairs HE Ali Al Hashem. Ambassador Jazairy expressed his appreciation to HE Al Hashem for gracing the co-organizers of the conference with his presence and for his inspiring statement at the opening session that the Ambassador moderated. HE Al Hashem praised the conference as an outstanding example of enhancing interfaith and inter-civilizational dialogue. He likewise commended the endeavours of the Geneva Centre to promote mutual understanding and cooperative relations between peoples and societies.

Ambassador Jazairy was also received by Professor Etibar Najafov, Head of the Department of Interethnic Relations, Multiculturalism and Religious Issues of the Presidential Administration of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The Ambassador expressed his appreciation for the fruitful cooperation between Azerbaijani institutions and the Geneva Centre for this important conference. Ambassador Jazairy said that Azerbaijan has established itself as a country that practices multiculturalism and that is committed to promote tolerance, diversity and peace. He expressed his readiness to participate in the Second Summit of Religious Leaders to be held in November 2019 in Baku and to pursue joint avenues with the Government of Azerbaijan to explore alternative narratives on issues of relevance to human rights and in particular on the question of Enlightenment.

Ambassador Jazairy likewise met with the National Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Muslims of Kenya and former Ambassador of Kenya to the Unites States, Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands and Czechia HE Yusuf Nzibo. The parties discussed matters related to communal harmony and peace between Christians and Muslims in Eastern Africa. Ambassador Jazairy said he stands behind the efforts of the Supreme Council of the Muslims of Kenya to promote mutual understanding and tolerance between different social and religious segments in the country.

In the next meeting held at the HQ of King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID) in the presence of HE Al Hashem, Ambassador Jazairy and KAICIID’s Secretary General HE Faisal Bin Abdulrahman Bin Muaammar discussed the important role of civil society representatives to transform inter-religious dialogue into political awareness. Ambassador Jazairy stressed that there is an urgent need to facilitate an inclusive dialogue between all layers of society, steer clear of politicisation and to promote a value driven human rights system.

The Executive Director of the Geneva Centre also held meetings with Bishop Emeritus of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Jordan and the Holy Land His Eminence Munib A. Younan, the Secretary of the Commission for Religious Relations with Muslims at the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue of the Holy See Monsignor Khaled Akasheh, and the Metropolitan of Zimbabwe and Angola as well as Member of the World Council of Churches’ Executive Committee Archbishop Seraphim Kykkotis.

During these meetings, the parties expressed their readiness to engage in joint avenues with the Geneva Centre to promote interfaith and inter-civilizational dialogue as well as to address issues related to Islamophobia, Christianophobia and Anti-Semitism that prevail in societies worldwide.

In a final meeting, Ambassador Jazairy met with the Head of the Expert Council of the Baku Network Dr Elkhan Alasgarov. Options to initiate joint initiatives between both think-tanks to promote mutual understanding and cooperative relations between societies, in the framework of human rights, were explored. The parties expressed their interest in signing a partnership agreement to formalize their cooperation.

This is the last commitment of Ambassador Jazairy as Executive Director of the Geneva Centre. He is resigning from his position and he has been elected by Oxford University to become a visiting fellow of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies.

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Losing a part of oneself: The difficult economic situation in Eritrea means that the roads of the capital Asmara are shared by battered old cars and donkey-drawn carts. Eritreans who leave the country often explain that no matter how opposed they might be to the government, their departures are accompanied by feelings of having betrayed the ideals for which previous generations fought. Eritrea gained its independence in 1993 after a 30-year-long war—Africa’s longest—against Ethiopia. Relentless fighting caused hundreds of thousands of deaths on both sides—about 120,000 Eritreans were injured or killed (with a similar number of Ethiopians killed) meaning that virtually every family in this tiny country had someone directly impacted by the war—and led to a million Eritreans leaving.Credit: James Jeffrey/Milena Belloni/IPS

By James Jeffrey and Milena Belloni
ASMARA, Eritrea/ANTWERP, Belguim, Jun 21 2019 (IPS)

Most media narratives about Eritrea suggest an endless stream of young people fleeing the country, who couldn’t wait to escape. But the reality is far different and more nuanced—both when it comes to those who have left, and those who chose to remain.

Colossal cost: The nearly three decades since independence have not been much easier for Eritreans who remained, with continuing conflict—including a terrible two-year border war with Ethiopia from 1998 to 2000—deprivation and lack of freedom becoming part of everyday life, set against a crippled economy. “There is a limit to the sacrifice that we can make for the country,” a young Eritrean in Asmara tells IPS. “My parents’ generation has died for this country, those who have survived live in deprived conditions, young generations are still in national service unable to choose for their own lives. There is a limit to everything.” Credit: James Jeffrey/Milena Belloni/IPS

Wary diaspora: Previous years of strife mean that despite Asmara’s picturesque surroundings, when it comes to everyday practicalities, such as public transport, residents are left waiting for too few buses to service the city. Today, Eritrea’s population is about 5.2 million, while about 1.5 million or 1 in 5 Eritreans live around the globe, of whom about half a million live in refugee-like situations, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency. While last year’s peace agreement with Ethiopia—including the opening of the border for the first time in decades—has led to significant improvements in the region’s geopolitics, there has been no change in Eritrea’s political situation. Hence the diaspora continue to wait for President Isaias Afwerki to address internal affairs and the future of the country’s much-hated national service, which mandates that all citizens above 18 serve the state in different ministries or in the military for tiny salaries. Originally implemented in 1995, the conscription was meant to last 18 months. However, since the 1998 border conflict, national service became unlimited. Credit: James Jeffrey/Milena Belloni/IPS

Learning the hard way: Street-side huskers selling their wares on the streets of Asmara. Tanja Müller from the University of Manchester’s Global Development Institute explains that before the border war with Ethiopia, many qualified diaspora Eritreans from all walks of life and professions chose to return to the country. “Often they incurred financial or other losses and became disillusioned by the conduct of the war and its aftermath, turning from enthusiastic patriots to concerned citizens whose concerns were not in any way engaged with,” Müller says. It’s easier for older members of the diaspora to return—having left when Eritrea was still part of Ethiopia and therefore are not viewed as disloyal by the Eritrean government. But those who have left since the 1998 border war face more risks in doing so. Credit: James Jeffrey/Milena Belloni/IPS

Government assurances not enough: Young men often hang around Asmara’s streets with few opportunities to find meaningful work. “We accept the reality of migration, we understood how difficult it was for them to live in a country that was held in a limbo by foreign powers,” says a leading government representative who spoke on the condition of anonymity. But such statements often appear at odds with the evidence of a regime that often treats migration punitively. Hence most diaspora choose to remain abroad until a clearer tangible sign of change by the government, while those who have the resources to travel choose to reunite with families in the less risky environment of neighbouring Ethiopia. Credit: James Jeffrey/Milena Belloni/IPS

Remittances and resentment: While the diaspora maintains a strong link with families back home, especially through remittances—some estimate that about 30 percent of Eritrea’s gross domestic product is derived from money sent back to the country—stories of resentment towards family members in the diaspora are common in Eritrea. Some families remain in debt after paying for the journeys of those who left, while those abroad are seldom able to send enough money to satisfy their relatives’ desire for a substantial lifestyle change. But the fact remains that everyday survival for most Eritreans depends on remittances because of low public salaries and the high cost of living, especially over the last decade. Credit: James Jeffrey/Milena Belloni/IPS

Negative view of migration: State propaganda has been portraying migration negatively. The post-border war situation with Ethiopia meant Eritrea remained on a war footing, meaning emigration, especially that of young people, was not allowed. At the same time, much public discourse defined emigration as unpatriotic behaviour, and as selfish and destructive conduct, with no positive effect on the country and its people. But the lack of change and progress seen in Eritrea is causing some of those who have stayed to doubt their previous beliefs. Credit: James Jeffrey/Milena Belloni/IPS

Relentless passage of time: “I would have never believed if someone 10 years ago told me that I was still going to be here,” 26-year-old Jordanos* tells IPS, while sitting together in front of Adi Kaye Higher College, where she works as a university assistant. “You know how it goes, they give you something to do, they send you here and there and you don’t realise that time is passing by and that you have obtained nothing.” She explained she felt stuck with little educational and professional prospects. She is hoping to gain a legal way out of the country because having a passport can make life much easier abroad. Also, she did not want all her years of service for the country to be wasted—she wanted to leave as a patriotic citizen, she says, not as someone who escaped her duty. Credit: James Jeffrey/Milena Belloni/IPS

Eritrea will always be home: Even if migration remains a common desire for many young Eritreans, explaining they want to see the world and pursue further education to make money to help their families, at the same time most discuss it as a temporary solution. They emphasise that Eritrea is their home and they want to return eventually. “I cannot see myself living abroad forever,” says Jordanos. “I will build a house in my father’s land. By then the village will be a city with schools, and good services.” Credit: James Jeffrey/Milena Belloni/IPS

Diaspora potential lost:About 80 percent of Eritrea’s population depends on agriculture for their livelihoods, with many scarping through as subsistence farmers. Most commentators on Eritrea argue that by maintaining a punitive approach to those who escaped in the last 20 years, the Eritrean government is wasting an opportunity to harness the huge size of the diaspora and its potential to direct important human and economic capital back to the country. Eritrea, the experts say, has much to gain from embracing a more liberal emigration policy and promoting circular migration. They also note that while the past strict emigration policy has had little effect on the outflow of young people from the country, it has impacted on their chances to go back for regular visits and to reinvest back home, leading, as a result, to more impoverishment and hence more emigration. Credit: James Jeffrey/Milena Belloni/IPS

Deep rooted problems must be addressed: Old boats and decrepit buildings at the port city of Massawa that many hope could be revitalised by new trade with Ethiopia. But the hope and jubilation that accompanied the opening of the Eritrea-Ethiopia border last year is already receding. Recently all the reopened border crossing points between Ethiopia and Eritrea were closed without official explanation. While most observers say this is likely a temporary measure while the two governments sort out trade and visa regulations, many also express serious doubts about what can be achieved while the Eritrean government maintains the same authoritarian stance. “Diaspora investment is also not the Holy Grail it is often made out to be,” Müller says. “[The problem] is about much more than emigration policy, it is the capture of the economy by the Eritrean government that hinders diaspora contributions, but also fear.” Credit: James Jeffrey/Milena Belloni/IPS

*Eritrean names have been changed at the request of those interviewed to protect identities—hence no photos have been taken of those interviewed—due to concerns about government reprisals against individuals or family members who remain in Eritrea.

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The African Union - United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur, Sudan, referred to by its acronym UNAMID, was established on 31 July 2007 with the adoption of Security Council resolution 1769. UNAMID has the protection of civilians as its core mandate, but is also tasked with contributing to security for humanitarian assistance, monitoring and verifying implementation of agreements, assisting an inclusive political process, contributing to the promotion of human rights and the rule of law, and monitoring and reporting on the situation along the borders with Chad and the Central African Republic (CAR).

By Daniel Yang
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 21 2019 (IPS)

Sudanese civilians risk their lives everyday protesting and campaigning for democracy but they face several obstacles, including street closures and no Internet access.

However, the prospect for democracy remains uncertain with regional autocracies aiding the military government, ceaseless violent clashes and the UN on retreat.

A Sudanese protester, Abdelfatah Arman, told IPS that the situation on the ground is characterized by continued violence.

“We started to see military personnel in uniforms, along with the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS),” Arman said, recalling a protest he participated in Al Souq Al Arabi, the largest open market in the capital Khartoum.

“They were heavily armed and blocked, with their open back pick-up trucks, all the roads leading to the Souq or the Presidential Palace. They used batons, teargas, and had snipers in some buildings,” he said, in an interview with IPS.

“We started to run in every direction to get out of there,” said Arman, who is currently a doctoral student at Penn State University’s education school.

He is also a journalist and a member of the Forces of Freedom and Change (FCC), a protest organization group.

Since December 2018, protesters led by the FFC and the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) have taken to the streets in half a dozen cities, demanding the resignation of Sudan’s ruler of thirty years, Omar al-Bashir.

Although al-Bashir was ousted in April, a military government headed by the Transitional Military Council (TMC) has since taken over, rejected the civilian demand for democratic elections and killed more than 100 peaceful sit-in protesters in a brutal crackdown on June 3 that drew international outrage.

Nearly 40 bodies were later reported to be thrown into the Nile River, among them men, women and children. Medical staff were wounded, along with doctors and volunteers at clinics.

Al-Bashir was indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2009 on charges of war crimes in the western region of Darfur. The charges are pending and he never appeared before the ICC in the Hague.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch has condemned the June massacre, calling for a UN inquiry into the TMC’s violence.

“The decision to unleash violence against peaceful protesters is absolutely unjustified and unlawful, and a slap in the face for those who have been pursuing dialogue to achieve a handover to civilian government,” the organization said.

The crackdown continued with a government Internet shutdown aimed to discourage protests, which rely on platforms like Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp, to communicate.

The Internet shutdown has worsened civilian safety, said journalist Zeinab Mohammed Salih, in a letter to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

“Those forced to walk have been seen carrying knives and sticks, especially in Khartoum’s twin city of Omdurman, to protect themselves,” Salih said.

The UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, Gwi-Yeop Son, has noted the “deteriorating” humanitarian situation in Sudan, voicing deep concern that half a million people are at risk of disease infection without access to proper medical supplies.

Despite mounting obstacles, the SPA has reasserted its conviction for a civilian government, called for an international panel to investigate the “barbaric” June 3 massacre in Khartoum and continued to call for civil disobedience.

However, regional autocracies like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are working towards a different end.

In April, the two Gulf countries reportedly sent Sudan’s military leaders three billion dollars in aid to strengthen the TMC’s counter-revolution efforts.

UAE’s Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed promised to “preserve Sudan’s security and stability” in fear that Sudan’s democratic energy could jeopardize his own tightly-controlled nation.

Security intelligence thinktank The Soufan Group warns that the on-going confrontation could risk spiraling into a full-scale civil war.

“There are clear parallels to some of the Arab Spring protests that eventually progressed to full-blown insurgencies, including Syria, where indiscriminate shelling of civilians by the military initially galvanized protest movements that helped launch a broader uprising,” the organization said.

However, a potential civil war could end up in another military government, repeating Egypt’s path following the Arab Spring.

The United Nations has urged for both sides to resume peaceful negotiations and search for a political solution to the conflict.

At the Security Council meeting on June 14, member states stressed that the worsening humanitarian situation demands continued UN support, but Sudan should take control of its own political future.

“A peaceful and orderly transition aiming to achieve the transfer of political power to a civilian, democratic and representative government is the only lasting way to resolve the current crisis,” said Belgium’s representative Marc Pecsteen de Buytswerve.

The UN withdrew its civilian staff in Khartoum after the June 3 massacre but resumed the rest of its operations.

Arman said that the FFC would not hold negotiations with the military government until the sit-in massacre is investigated. However, despite the present tension with the TMC, Arman remains optimistic for a democratic transition.

“We’re hopeful that if we were able to topple dictator Bashir and his successor Gen. Ahmed Award Ibn Auf, we would be able to topple Gen. Al-Burhan and the military junta.”

“We’ll continue our protest and civil disobedience until they’re out,” said Arman. “We will not accept anything less than a civilian-led government.”

The post Sudan’s Fragile Hope for Democracy appeared first on Inter Press Service.

UN Secretary General, António Guterres visiting a refugee camp in Uganda. June 2017, PHOTO//Twitter @antonioguterres

By Siddharth Chatterjee
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 20 2019 (IPS)

As the world marks World Refugee Day on June 20th to celebrate the strength, courage and perseverance of refugees, a glaring concern remains just how inadequate the global response to the refugee crisis has been.

To a large extent, refugees have been painted with the broad strokes of a burden to host economies or sources of insecurity and crime. The world has lacked the resolve and skills needed to negotiate peace settlements, end the refugee crisis through dialogue and diplomacy and support countries that continue to host refugees.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the world is facing the highest levels of displacement ever in history, with over 65 million people forced from their homes by war, internal conflicts, drought or poor economies. People are forcibly displaced at a rate of 34,000 per day due to conflict or persecution.

The world’s poorer countries are bearing the brunt. Currently, eight out of ten refugees are hosted by developing countries, mostly in Africa, adding to existing challenges such as access to food, water, shelter and health care to both refugees and host communities.

Extensive media coverage of the surge in refugees landing in Europe has tended to divert attention from the challenges that a few African countries are grappling with as they carry the burden of displacement. Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya are among the countries in Africa that continue to extend their hospitality and bare the social and economic burden.

Ethiopia hosts nearly 740,000 refugees, mostly from Somalia, Eritrea, Sudan and South Sudan, the largest refugee population in a single African country. The country maintains an open-door policy that welcomes refugees and allows humanitarian access and protection. In Uganda, the more than 500,000 refugees from Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan, have been granted free movement, employment opportunities and land for building new homes or farming.

Kenya currently hosts about 480,,000 refugees. Most are Somali refugees, but others are from South Sudan, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo, the Great Lakes region, and others. They are concentrated in three main locations: the Dadaab camps, the Kakuma camp, and urban areas.

In Kakuma, the Government of Kenya and various UN agencies led by UNHCR together with the World Bank (IFC) are implementing the Kalobeyei Integrated Socio-economic Development Programme that is enhancing inclusion by empowering the refugees and host communities to participate in socio-economic activities.

The programme has created conditions that are attracting investment from the private sector and impressive gains are already evident in a more vibrant local economy. The International Finance Corporation estimates that there are over 2,500 refugee businesses in Kakuma and Kalobeyei, with economic activities being worth about $56 million per year

Such data supports the need to begin to see refugees not just as a problem to be overcome. Various studies have concluded that refugees have a net positive effect on the welfare of locals. The World Bank, “Yes, in my backyard” established that refugee presence in Kakuma contributes 3% to the GDP in Turkana West.

As UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has observed, “inclusion and social cohesion are the tools with which it is possible to allow refugees and host communities to live together in harmony and create a win-win situation for everyone”.

The world must take collective responsibility for the horrors of rampant conflict, violence and human rights abuses that continue to force people to flee within or outside their countries. Currently, about two-thirds of all the refugees under the UNHCR’s mandate come from just five countries: Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Myanmar and Somalia.

Even with the large part of the global crisis emanating from only those few hotspots, humanitarian support remains chronically underfunded. Developing countries, especially Africa deserve better support.

As the world observes World Refugee Day this year, UNHCR has received contributions of only $306 million for its programmes in Africa, which represents a paltry 11 percent of its requirements.

With a keener sense of purpose and will, the world can take better care of refugees, a segment of society that represents humanity at its most vulnerable.

It is the only way to prove that the oft-repeated declaration about all humans being born equal is more than just parody.

The original version of this article appeared in Thomson Reuters Foundation news.

The post Sharing the Burden of Refugees; the World Can Do Better appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Siddharth Chatterjee is the United Nations Resident Coordinator to Kenya.

The post Sharing the Burden of Refugees; the World Can Do Better appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Charlotte Munns
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 20 2019 (IPS)

Over 785 people have been diagnosed with HIV in Larkana, Pakistan. 82% of those individuals are children, and only half are receiving the treatment they need.

A World Health Organisation (WHO) report titled ‘HIV Outbreak Investigation in Larkana’ rated the situation a Grade-II emergency requiring US$1.5 million to contain. WHO is able to provide only US$200,000 of those funds.

This report comes as it is announced South Africa has attained the UN goal of 90-90-90 diagnosis-treatment-suppression of HIV ahead of the 2020 objective. Pakistan’s recent leap away from that target illustrates the profound disparity in treatment and prevention of HIV across the globe.

On April 25th, a number of children from Larkana, a city in the north-west of the Sindh province of Pakistan, were referred for HIV testing after they exhibited a persistent fever. An initial HIV-positive diagnosis of 15 children aged between 2 and 8 years old prompted a large-scale screening programme beginning on April 28th.

Larkana Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Nauman Siddique wrote in an op-ed, “the results of the screening within the first few days were shocking. The tests revealed that the parents of the HIV-positive children were HIV negative.”

The disease was not spread through those means commonly associated with the disease: sexual intercourse, births and drug use. Perhaps more disturbingly, the outbreak seemed to be due to systemic poor medical practice in the region.

Interviews with parents regarding their childrens’ medical history revealed a local doctor, Muzaffar Ghangro, as a possible source for the outbreak. 123 of the diagnosed patients had been treated at his practice.

Authorities arrested the doctor on charges of unintentional murder. He was later found to be HIV-positive, however there is no evidence that he injected the patients deliberately.

WHO noted, “iatrogenic transmission via unsafe injection practices and poor infection control is likely to be the most important driver of the outbreak.” This includes re-use of syringes, poor disposal of used equipment and little protection between doctor and patient.

UNAIDS Country Director for Pakistan and Afghanistan Maria Elena Filio Borromeo told IPS, “as this practice is widespread in Pakistan, it is likely that the same will happen again if no corrective measures are implemented now.”

Organisations working in the area have also pointed to unsafe cheap circumcisions, sometimes in barber shops, as accountable for some of the cases.

“Around 82% of those infected were children less than 15 years old, and most of these children are also malnourished, have concomitant infections and come from very poor, illiterate families in Ratodero, Larkana,” Borromeo said.

With 20,000 new HIV infections in 2017, Pakistan already has the second largest growing AIDS epidemic in the Asia-Pacfic region. Low literacy rates, poverty, gender inequality and little understanding of the disease increase the risk of transmission in Pakistan.

In response to claims the outbreak was a result of systemic issues in the Pakistani health system, the province expanded testing facilities under the Sindh AIDS Control Program. More than 26,000 people have now been tested.

The Sindh Ministry of Health also instigated a widespread crackdown on unlicensed and informal medical practices, closing more than 900 health clinics and unlicensed blood banks following investigation.

WHO, UNAIDS and the UN children’s agency UNICEF are all on the ground assisting local authorities in containing the outbreak. Despite this support, on June 17th only 396 of the nearly 800 people diagnosed had been referred to their facilities for treatment.

Further, Pakistan is almost entirely dependent on foreign aid. The country has the resources to treat only 240 of the diagnosed patients.

The burden on the healthcare system will only deepen as time progresses. These children diagnosed must now regularly take antiretroviral therapy drugs for life.

Borromeo underscored that the implications of such an outbreak extend far deeper than access to medical services. “The community in general lacks HIV education; myths and misconceptions prevail,” noting that as a result of the outbreak, “stigma, discrimination and even rejection will deepen.”

The Los Angeles Times reported that police in Ratodero, a town in the Sindh Province at the heart of the outbreak, arrested a man for killing his wife after she was diagnosed with HIV. He apparently accused her of having sex outside of the marriage. Borromeo also recalled hearing of a father of four children who hung his wife after learning she was HIV positive.

While over half may not receive treatment at all, the outlook for those children with access to life-saving antiretroviral therapy is one of social isolation. Misunderstandings surrounding how HIV is spread lead to stigmatisation and discrimination.

Systemic issues in the Pakistani healthcare system caused the outbreak in the Sindh Province, however endemic socio-cultural issues mean its effects will be felt long after the outbreak is contained.

The post Poor Outlook for HIV-positive Children in Pakistan appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Mohammed Eid
CHAPEL HILL, North Carolina, USA, Jun 20 2019 (IPS)

I am a refugee, born to a refugee family. I was granted that status on the day I came into this world. I was not aware of what had happened before then. I did not fight any battle, I did not threaten anyone. I did not even choose my own race or ethnicity. I just came to this world to find myself a displaced person.

Being a refugee means, I am a stranger on every spot on this planet. Some see me as a burden on the people of the hosting country. I drink their water, I eat their food, and I breathe their air. Day after day, their resources are less and less because of me, the alien person who came from outside. Maybe that explains why I never had access to education or healthcare, and I will never have access to work in the future.

Not being welcomed at one place, my family decided to travel to another. One expulsion after another, one deportation after another, we roamed the planet looking for one spot to claim. We found none.

Very often, I felt as if we came to the wrong planet, but it was the only one. We decided to return to the place we once called home, we were stopped at a man-built wall called a border and sent to a refugee concentration camp. We were told it was a temporary solution but we learned that temporary solutions can often last forever.

Mohammed Eid

The place was crowded. People had been forced into only one fifth of what once was all theirs. We were constantly threatened, bombed, displaced and even slaughtered. We felt insecure and scared but we could not go anywhere. I was upgraded from a refugee to internally displaced person (IDP). Not much change – just different words to describe the same suffering and pain.

As internally displaced people, we were assigned a monthly food package by a United Nations agency. It allowed us to survive, thanks to donors who shared their money and food with us. My childhood memories? Standing for hours in food lines, moving from one shelter to another, burying loved ones and struggling with disease and health problems.

Life for me has never been stable. Yet I have always dreamed of a place called home. I have often stood by the walls that keep us inside the camps and peeped through holes in them. What my eyes took in was another world.
I saw open space and fields. I felt the fresh breeze on my face. I imagined myself at home – in a place where I belonged to the earth, to the sky, to the rocks, to the sand, to the trees, to the hills and to the breeze. A place where I would be welcomed as a human being. To me, home is like nothing else.

Today, the world observes World Refugee Day. On this day, we do not celebrate. We are reminded that there is no place for us in this world. We just remember the moral failure of our human race. On the World Refugee Day, I will only make one wish: that all those around the world forced from their homes, longing for home, will be refugees no more.

Footnote: I’ve just graduated my double major master’s program in Global Studies from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and International Development from Duke University. I’m now still in Chapel Hill, North Carolina waiting for my certificate and transcript to be issued and at the same time I’m working on a temporary job with Duke University on designing programs on training youth from the Middle East and North Africa on leadership and democracy.

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Excerpt:

On World Refugee Day, personal reflections of a young Palestinian from the Gaza Strip

 
Mohammed Eid* is from Rafah Refugee Camp in the Gaza Strip.

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While there were just 10 megacities worldwide in 1990, this number has tripled to 33, with populations of more than 10 million people. The number of megacities is expected to rise to 43 by 2030, mostly in developing countries. Credit: Desmond Brown/IPS

By Desmond Brown
ANKARA, Jun 20 2019 (IPS)

With two-thirds of the world’s population projected to be living in cities by 2050, increasing pressure continues to be placed on forests which are being cleared to make way for agricultural production.

China, India and Nigeria are set to drive a surge in urbanisation, with the percentage of the global population living in urban areas increasing from around 55 percent currently, to 68 percent in the coming decades, according to United Nations figures.

Luc Gnacadia, former Minister of Environment of Benin and former Executive Secretary of the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) says as more people move to cities – where incomes and rates of consumption are generally higher – more pressure is put on forests to produce more animal and processed food products, which require more clearing.

“The system that we have, that is mining natural resources, using it for consumption patterns that are wasteful, that system is still in play,” Gnacadia told IPS on the sidelines of the International Soil Congress in Turkey, which ended Jun. 19.

“It is less people producing more for cities, which means that they may be just mining the soil, mining the forest and causing us to be more and more vulnerable to climatic shocks and contributing to it.”

Gnacadia said forests are being lost because of what he described as the misuse of land in agriculture.

He said agricultural expansion globally is taking place by encroaching on existing pristine ecosystems, including forests.

Luc Gnacadia, former Minister of Environment of Benin and former Executive Secretary of the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) says as more people move to cities – where incomes and rates of consumption are generally higher – more pressure is put on forests to produce more animal and processed food products, which require more clearing. Credit: Desmond Brown/IPS

The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the U.N. said on Tuesday that expanding plantation and sprawling urban areas are placing greater pressure on forests and resources, hurting rural communities and exacerbating the effects of climate change.

“If we want less of this, we must first consider the land potential and clearing capacity; what can the land be used for must be clearly identified before we make decisions,” Gnacadia said.

“When we use the land for agriculture, we must clearly map the land and identify where the land is in good health and make sure that we avoid degradation. Whatever we do must have one aim. We use the land but we make sure that we do not lose its productivity, and we do not deplete all of its nutrients.

“For the lands that are experiencing some degradation, we must make that we do whatever we can to reduce it . . . you must assess if there’s still, in socio-economic terms, potential for restoring it, bringing it back to life. If it is, then you have to do it.”

While there were just 10 megacities worldwide in 1990, this number has tripled to 33, with populations of more than 10 million people. The number of megacities is expected to rise to 43 by 2030, mostly in developing countries.

Tokyo is the world’s largest city with a population of approximately 37 million people, followed by New Delhi with around 29 million and Shanghai with 26 million. However, India’s capital is forecast to surpass Japan’s most populous area by 2028.

UNCCD-Science Policy Interface co-chair Dr. Mariam Akhtar-Schuster says countries need to put in place an integrated land use planning mechanism to be able to satisfy the demands and needs of households, and at the same time sustainably manage and conserve the natural environment

“We have to consider that urban people also have a demand for firewood, cooking wood and construction material. These are all taken from forests,” Akhtar-Schuster told IPS.

“If an unregulated expansion of urban areas takes place then nearby forests will be affected, but even if forests are not logged for housing, they are a source for firewood, for cooking and this can lead to an immense degradation process.”

Akhtar-Schuster stressed that it is a governance issue and “you have to create procedures and regulations, how much wood is allowed to be taken out of forests and how far forests control mechanisms have to be in place to avoid illegal logging and the removal of wood for daily demand.”

Urban planning should also consider that infrastructure for energy is needed, Akhtar-Schuster said, adding that forests are very vulnerable to human use and this needs to be taken care of.

“I am not saying that forests should not be used, but they have to be used sustainably and that means you have to put in a lot of regulations especially is urban expansion takes place,” Akhtar-Schuster said.

“It takes years and years and years until a small sapling turns into a real big tree and this time dimension needs to be considered in any planning. You have to have a very long vision if you want to manage your forests sustainably and you will always have to check the condition whether there’s a natural rejuvenation of forests taking place, you will have to check that the age structure of forests close to urban areas always remains healthy.”

Global demand for commodities like rubber and palm oil have driven changes in land use, especially in countries such as Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, where governments have granted businesses leases and land concessions to boost their economies.

Related Articles

• Desertification ‘More Dangerous and More Insidious than Wars’
• ‘What it Takes to Feed 7.5 Billion People’
• There’s No Continent, No Country Not Impacted by Land Degradation

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On the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, United Nations officials as well as government and civil society representatives convened to address sexual violence and stressed the importance of a survivor-centred approach. Pictured here is a graffiti expression in Rio de Janeiro calling for the end to violence against women. Credit: CC By 2.0/Fernando Frazão/Agência Brasil

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 20 2019 (IPS)

Sexual violence is still all too common and continues to threaten peace and security worldwide. How can we do better? Put survivors at the centre.

Marking the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, on Jun. 19, United Nations officials as well as government and civil society representatives convened to address sexual violence and stressed the importance of a survivor-centred approach.

“[This] is an opportunity to not only raise awareness of the need to end conflict-related sexual violence, but also to stand in solidarity with and pay homage to the survivors—women, girls, men and boys—who despite the horrors they have endured, show the determination, resolve, and unflinching courage to stand up and speak out against this scourge,” said Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict and Under-Secretary-General Pramila Patten during a panel discussion at the U.N.

Also in attendance was Amanda Nguyen, CEO and founder of Rise, a non-governmental civil rights organisation, who echoed similar sentiments, stating: “It is the most fundamental, moral responsibility of a nation to listen and to offer justice to the most vulnerable people within it. And it is the most fundamental, moral responsibility of the international community to come together and to do the same.”

“Global leaders must take sexual violence seriously, and must look at all sexual violence survivors as humans with full human dignity,” she added.

The U.N. estimates that approximately 35 percent of women—or 1.3 billion people—have experienced sexual violence. Other studies puts that figure as high as 70 percent along with numerous other men and children.

In April, the Security Council passed Resolution 2647 which recognised the need for a survivor-centred approach to prevent and respond to sexual violence with regards to non-discriminatory services and access to justice.

But how do we employ a survivor-centred approach?

Patten noted the need for survivors to have tailored assistance that meets their specific needs.

“The plight of all survivors should be the moral compass that guides our actions…survivors are not a homogeneous group. Sexual violence has many victims,” she said.

While the story of thousands of Yazidi women who experienced sexual slavery at the hands of the Islamic State (IS) made international headlines, lesser known are the cases of such violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) communities.

In 2015, the U.N. found that attacks against LGBTI individuals took place as a form of “moral cleansing” by armed groups in Iraq.

The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner on Human Rights found that 88 percent of LGBTI asylum-seekers and refugees from Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua were subjected to sexual and gender-based violence in their home country.

Such violence in Central America has driven migration to the north—among the first people to reach the United States in the widely reported migrant caravan in November 2018 were 85 LGBTI people. 

However, specific services and attention to LGBTI communities are still sorely lacking.

Nguyen highlighted the need for access to justice and to include survivors in the drafting of legislation.

“Peace is not the absence of visible conflict. In order for there to be true peace, survivors must have access to justice. Their lives are the invisible war zones that corrode human potential and hold back the promise of a just world. Their powerlessness is our shame. This is a peace we can all help deliver,” she said.

“Nothing is more sacred than the universal right to human dignity,” she added.

After learning about the complexities in seeking justice for survivors in the U.S., Nguyen helped pass support for the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights which includes the right to not pay for a rape kit examination—which can cost as much as 2,000 dollars—and the right to not have one’s rape kit destroyed before the statute of limitation expires.

Since then, her organisation Rise has put survivors at the forefront, helping them “pen their own civil rights into existence.”

“Change happens when we decide, and we can decide to uphold the principles of fairness, equality, and justice. We can decide that no one is powerless when we come together. We can decide that no one is invisible,” Nguyen said.

Patten highlighted the transformative nature of a survivor-centred approach, stating it: “is one that gives voice and choice to the survivors, restores their agency, builds their resilience, and enshrines their experience on the historical record….by shifting power dynamics in this way, a survivor-centred approach can also be a profoundly transformative approach that reaffirms the status of the survivor as a holder of rights.”

Related Articles

• Sexual Assault Survivors March to End Gender Violence in India
• Women in Argentina Are Empowered as They Speak Out Against Gender Violence
• Central America: Eradicating Gender Violence is Vital to State Security

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By Geneva Centre
GENEVA, Jun 19 2019 (IPS-Partners)

Ambassador Idriss Jazairy, Executive Director of the Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue, has appealed to international decision-makers to express greater solidarity to destitute refugees from the Arab region.

Ambassador Jazairy made this call of action on the occasion of the 2019 World Refugee Day which is observed annually on 20 June. The Executive Director of the Geneva Centre highlighted that there are more than 3 million refugees in the Arab region owing to the proliferation of conflicts and the rise of violent extremism and to the imposition of blockades. He said that the efforts of numerous Arab countries such as Jordan and Lebanon in hosting and in providing assistance to refugees stand out as shining examples of countries driven by the principles of international solidarity and justice. It serves as a source of inspiration for other regions witnessing much more modest inflows of people on the move such as in Europe, in the US and in Latin America, Ambassador Jazairy remarked.

In relation to the situation in Europe, the Executive Director of the Geneva Centre averred that the inflow of displaced people has been exploited by a populist tidal-wave fuelling xenophobia and in particular Islamophobia. In this regard, he highlighted that the refugee crisis is not a “number crisis” as European countries most hostile to the arrival of people on the move are those that have hosted the smallest numbers. “The current massive displacement of people worldwide has thus turned into a politicized crisis of solidarity, with closed border policies and the rise of xenophobic, populist trends that may impact adversely on the medium-term interests of their economies,” he said.

In this connection, Ambassador Jazairy expressed concern at a recent proposed draft decree by the Minister of Interior of Italy, Matteo Salvini, to fine organizations and individuals who attempt to rescue sea stranded refugees and migrants and even to revoke or suspend the licence of boats used by NGOs.

Ambassador Jazairy added that the refugee crisis is man-made, mainly triggered by decades of violence, conflict and war, and should be acknowledged as such, despite some political narratives seeking to externalize its causes and to obscure responsibilities. One of its many consequences – Ambassador Jazairy underlined – is social upheavals and mass exodus which have contributed to the extraordinary cohorts of people on the move that are left with no other option than to flee their home societies in search of better living opportunities.

In this connection, the Executive Director of the Geneva Centre appealed to decision-makers to restore peace and stability in the Middle East so as to cull the outflows of people in search of livelihoods and to enable destitute refugees to safely return to their home societies. This calls for – Ambassador Jazairy concluded – “a radical political change of approach in problem solving in the region and to phase out the use of foreign military interventions, respecting sovereignty, supporting democracy and human rights through peaceful means only.”

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Tariq Ahmad is Senior Policy and Research Advisor – Aid Effectiveness at Oxfam America

By Tariq Ahmad
WASHINGTON DC, Jun 19 2019 (IPS)

It has been four years since governments agreed on the most ambitious set of international commitments to fight poverty and inequality to date. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), otherwise known as the Global Goals, are ‘a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity.’ The goals ambitiously aim to “Leave No One Behind.”

Cecilia, 43, and her grandchildren are pictured amongst drowned maize in the village of Malambwe, southern Malawi, on April 3, 2019. Cecilia farmed 1½ acres, but two thirds of her farmland was flooded, due to Cyclone Idai. Vegetables were washed away, interplanted between maize, which drowned. Cecilia’s house, where she lives with her six children and two grand-children, collapsed with flooding caused by Cyclone Idai. Credit: Philip Hatcher-Moore/Oxfam

Yet, 4 years into the SDGs, we starting to see that we’re quite off-track to achieve the goals and many are being left behind.

We need to see nations, civil society, the private sector and individuals monitor each goal in its own right, without failing to see how the goals – and these actors meant to address them – are all inherently connected.

But focusing just on the implementation of the goals and indicators is technical and only part of the formula needed to achieve the SDGs. More importantly, we also need to be honest about the real political challenges keeping us from achieving the goals.

We need bold, decisive action now – we have run out of time for platitudes and empty promises.

We are approaching a few key moments in the process – the High-Level Political Forum will bring key stakeholders together, July 9-18, and the 2019 UNGA will be a critical moment to check in on progress, and adjust course on the SDGs.

We have a lot of work to do to make sure the SDGs don’t fail – and everything at stake. We need to bring global leaders together to serious consider the commitments we made and ensure that UN forums are strengthened to be places for increased mutual accountability and political agreements.

And we must also watch as movements and issues evolve around us. The SDG’s must follow its track, but it must also be adaptable and react to these dynamic issues and actors driving them.

Oxfam is committed to further all 17 SDGs through its campaigning, advocacy and program work and will continue to challenge the status quo and to work with other CSOs and partners in order to help ensure the global community secures the will, means and mechanisms required to achieve the SDGs.

Civil Society Space

Effective realization of the SDGs depends on a free, vibrant, and protected civil society. Civil society is a key partner in ensuring success for the entire SDG agenda. If civil society is to be called up on to convene, lead and hold this process accountable, it must also be given the opportunities to do so, both in countries and in global decision-making bodies.

In many nations ostensibly signed up to the SDG’s, civil society space is shrinking. Civil society need resources and respect to uphold their crucial piece – without them this process will fail.

Gender

Gender issues must be considered in their own right, and they must also be factored in across each of the goals and issues. Women, just as men, must be able to lift themselves out of poverty and this can only happen through a full realization of their human rights and by ensuring gender equality.

The majority of people living in poverty are women and girls; with less income and fewer assets than men, they comprise the greatest proportion of the world’s poorest households, and that number is growing. Women are afforded less opportunities to make decisions about their futures, through policy or even in communities.

Evidence shows that unless the poorest countries can make huge strides in tackling both poverty and economic and gender inequalities, it will be impossible to meet global goals, and the SDGs as a whole will fail. This is yet another example of how all of these goals are inextricably linked – if women and girls don’t have a chance to realize their potential, no one will.

Chhatiya with her baby son at their house in Kaushal Nagar, Patna, Bihar. Her family of 6 belong to a marginalized group and live in a rundown house in Kaushal Nagar, an urban slum in Patna, India, which has no toilet or safe drinking water. The extreme gap between rich and poor is undermining the fight against poverty, damaging our economies and fuelling public anger. Yet inequality continues to grow and all too often it is women and girls who are hit hardest. Credit: Atul Loke, Panos / Oxfam

Tackling Inequality, Climate Change – and How to Pay for it all

In the last several years, inequality has risen on the international agenda, ranking regularly as a top risk in the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report. Fighting extreme inequality has become a widely cited cause and symptom of millions of people’s struggles and frustration.

Tackling economic inequality has also become a key principle in the development strategies of major institutions, including the IMF, the World Bank, the OECD and the UN, with a specific SDG 10 targeting inequality.

Oxfam has argued that extreme inequality impedes poverty alleviation, slows economic growth, compounds gender inequality, drives inequality in health and education outcomes, undermines economic mobility over generations, fuels crime, undermines social cohesion, and harms democracy.”

Climate change is another issue escalating in urgency both from institutions and thought leaders, as well as the general public. And, we are seeing more and more the connections being made between climate change, who is affected by it most, and who is contributing.

Climate change is at its core, a consequence of our deeply unequal global economy. The richest countries and people are overwhelmingly responsible for causing this crisis and often feel the least of its consequences.

It’s largely women and minorities on the front lines of extreme weather; with the lowest paid, least secure jobs; in unsafe housing, and without enough information or resources to prepare for or recover from disasters.

Tackling each of the SDG’s takes money, obviously, but four years after the world endorsed the goals and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, there has been very little progress filling the SDG financing gap – leaving us without the resources necessary to achieve what we have set out to do.

But four years into this ambitious vision, financing levels mobilized are totally inadequate to implement the goals effectively. There is a reported gap of $2.5 trillion, and despite this, trends are going in the wrong direction.

Too many of the solutions governments propose, such as the reliance on private sector finance to close this gap, are not being realized. And many innovative financing proposals exaggerate and miscalculate their potential to meet the demands of those who are being left behind by the SDG agenda.

They in fact risk further increasing inequality at the very moment when inequality most threatens humanity’s progress. This financing challenge isn’t just about filling the financing gap. It’s also about taking concrete measures to make sure the right types of finances, the types of finance that help fight poverty, inequality, and gender inequality are being used.

Without financing and actions to improve the quality of that finance, we’re actually pushing some further into poverty, not just leaving them behind.

In order to meet the promises they set out in the SDGs, the world’s governments must use all available tools to mobilize additional resources. Tightening rules to prevent tax dodging at all levels could have a significant impact.

Fairer trade rules and labor rights are also important examples of where global collective action is needed to help rebalance the power and resources.

We must also continue to recognize the significant potential of aid, or Official Development Assistance (ODA), to reduce inequality both between and within countries, which will give countries more resources to meet all of the goals – not just those explicitly calling out inequality. This redistribution is not an act of charity, it’s a matter of justice that will help every country ensure a more stable, equal and safe future.

Looking Ahead

We need all people – wherever they sit on the geographic, gender, economic, age spectrum – to all recognize their role in this crisis and act accordingly. The SDG’s have the potential to be a powerful, game-changing agenda that can change countless lives.

But we can’t let ourselves believe that its current pace and results can have those effects – we need to hold the process and its leaders accountable, and we need this to be helpful guiding principles for real people’s everyday life-changing work to save our planet and give those who need it the tools to lead safe, healthy, fulfilling lives.

During the HLPF, UNGA, other summits and meetings, and every day in between, we need to see sweeping, committed and coordinated action from nations, leaders, companies and individuals to have enough impact to avert a true economic and climate crisis. We need to see action like our planet’s and billions of lives depend on it, because they do.

The post SDGs, Currently Off-Track, Need Bold Decisive Action appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Tariq Ahmad is Senior Policy and Research Advisor – Aid Effectiveness at Oxfam America

The post SDGs, Currently Off-Track, Need Bold Decisive Action appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Christine Lagarde

By Katja Iversen
NEW YORK, Jun 19 2019 (IPS)

As the first woman to lead the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and a leader in advocating for increased investment and action toward gender equality, Christine Lagarde helps Deliver for Good explore the steps needed to build sustainable financing & economic opportunities for girls and women.

Evidence shows that girls and women play a significant role in boosting economic growth, reducing inequality, and strengthening financial resilience for families and their communities. For example, when companies have a higher percent of women on their boards, it results in greater financial stability for their business. Research further reveals that when women have access to financial services, economic growth booms – creating a ripple effect benefitting entire families, communities, and countries, across generations.

Evidence like this forms the basis for the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) commitment to identify the case for investing in programs and policies that prioritize girls and women. Now, the IMF is releasing several new reports to further demonstrate, and call for, strengthening women’s economic participation and leadership within sectors. It isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do with significant social and economic returns on investment.

In this conversation with Katja Iversen, President/CEO of Women Deliver, Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the IMF, sheds light on the importance and urgency of investments that advance gender equality and equity for girls and women around the world. As the first woman to lead the IMF, and a leader in advocating for increased investment and action toward gender equality, there is no one more qualified to help Deliver for Good explore the steps needed to build sustainable financing for girls and women.

Katja Iversen: As part of its core mandate, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) works to help countries build and maintain strong economies. How do girls and women factor into this mission, and how does the IMF put this into action?

Christine Lagarde: Empowering girls and women can be critical to economic development in countries.

The IMF has found that the positive economic effects of greater gender equity cover several crucial dimensions of an economy’s performance. It can boost growth, reduce income inequality, help economies diversify their exports, and partly mitigate the economic effects of demographic change. Therefore, even besides the obvious moral and social dimensions, empowering women is an economic “no-brainer.”

An economy should work for women—helping, not hindering.

As well as conducting research in these areas, the IMF has increasingly taken gender considerations into account in our policy advice, programs, and capacity development. For example, since 2015 we have actively incorporated gender analysis and advice in 39 of our annual economic health-checks with member countries, known as Article IV consultations. We are now moving to incorporate gender analysis and advice into broader country work.

IMF-supported programs have contained measures to help empower women economically. With the Jordanian authorities, for instance, we have discussed reforms to help women including more flexible working hours, greater access to childcare, and more efficient and affordable public transport. Under its IMF-supported program, the Egyptian government has increased funding for public nurseries and other facilities to help women seeking work.

Our capacity development work has included training courses, technical advice, and peer-learning workshops with country authorities. These have covered areas such as gender budgeting, which seeks to understand the impact of fiscal policies on gender equity goals.

Katja Iversen: Research shows when women have the opportunity to participate in the formal labor force and have an income, it increases their influence and decision-making power within their families and communities. It also shows that women to a larger extent reinvest their earnings in their children’s health and education, creating a ripple effect that benefits future generations. Beyond the social benefits, can you also expand on the economic benefits of empowering girls and women?

Christine Lagarde: Empowering women can transform lives and society. Women’s empowerment can strengthen an economy in several ways—greater gender equity can support growth, social inclusion, and economic resilience.

A recent study by IMF found that the macroeconomic benefits of greater gender inclusion are actually even greater than previously estimated.

It looked at the economic consequences that men and women bringing different skills and ideas to the workplace can have. Because of these differences, men and women actually complement each other, creating more value than if workplaces were less gender diverse. As a result of such complementarities, raising women’s participation in the labor force – including in leadership – can bring greater gains than raising male participation.

It is estimated that if a country with a 30 percent gap between women’s and men’s labor force participation could close that gap, then GDP would increase by 25 percent. Between 3 and 7 percentage points of that rise in GDP would be from productivity gains caused by greater gender diversity.

It is important to note as well that men would stand to win—because higher productivity would help to increase men’s wages.

This kind of research provides the IMF – and decision makers at large – with a robust analytical foundation on which to make the case with our member country authorities that empowering women truly matters not only from a moral perspective but from an economic one too.

Katja Iversen: Despite the fact that we know women’s participation in the economy drives both social and economic benefits, women continue to face a range of barriers – legal, social, and cultural. For example laws that prevent women from opening bank accounts or social norms that place women primarily in the informal, unpaid care sector. What solutions/recommendations can the IMF and financial institutions provide to tackle these barriers?

Christine Lagarde: IMF research shows that when legal barriers are removed, women’s participation in the workforce increases. In half of the countries studied, when gender equity was reflected in the law, women’s participation in the labor force increased by at least 5 percentage points in the following five years. The IMF highlights these legal barriers and their economic costs in our discussions with member country governments.

Aside from removing legal obstacles, the IMF regularly offers recommendations on other ways to help women participate in the economy.

In many advanced economies, our advice to governments tends to focus on how women can juggle work and family life—including ensuring parental leave provisions, affordable and high-quality childcare, and tax policies that do not penalize secondary earners (who are usually women).

In many emerging and developing economies we emphasize education. Gender gaps in education can be reduced through higher public spending on education, better sanitation facilities, reduced teenage pregnancy rates, and delaying the age of marriage.

It is evident that women are making economic contributions that often are not reflected in the official statistics. For example, women carry out the majority of care work—work that they are often not compensated for financially and for which they may not receive necessary support. The IMF is working on a paper on the value of unpaid care work too help inform this debate.

Lastly, we emphasize the need for greater financial inclusion of women because improving access to finance, including by women, has major macroeconomic benefits. This year, for the first time, we released gender-disaggregated supply-side data on financial inclusion though the IMF’s Financial Access Survey (FAS) which highlighted factors that help to close the gender gap in financial access, such as simplified deposit accounts regulations. The FAS has also identified lack of gender-disaggregated data in many countries. We will continue to work with country authorities to improve the availability and comparability of financial access data.

Katja Iversen: From borrowers to regulators, there are relatively few female leaders in the financial sector. We have heard you champion the importance of gender balance and diversity on boards of financial institutions by explaining that it “will perhaps lead to better decision making and fewer unnecessary risks.” You are the first woman to serve as Managing Director of the IMF. Why does this matter and what are some key actions that can be taken to move toward gender parity at all levels in the financial sector?

Christine Lagarde: Globally, women hold less than 20 percent of board seats in banks and bank supervision agencies and account for less than 2 percent of bank CEOs. Interestingly, many developing economies have higher shares of women on bank boards and banking supervision boards compared to advanced economies.

Research reveals that greater shares of women on bank boards and banking supervision boards are associated with greater bank stability. Banks with higher shares of women leaders have higher capital buffers and lower non-performing loans ratios. Banking systems with more women on supervisory boards are less likely to get in distress.

What can we do to help more women succeed in finance? It is important to repeatedly emphasize to young women that banking isn’t solely a “man’s job.” Strong female mentors are valuable, as are further efforts to make work environments more women-friendly, including through flexible working practices. As an industry, the financial sector is lagging behind on that front.

More broadly, not just in finance, I used to think that there should not be quotas, but I have changed my mind on that. To work, quotas should be distributed along the hierarchy of a company, and there needs to be a pipeline from which women are selected.

Katja Iversen: How did you become a passionate advocate for gender equity?

Christine Lagarde: Gender equity is a personal and professional passion of mine. As a child, my parents were loving and supportive, which gave me confidence. I also took some risks. When I was 16, my father had just passed away, and I took an American Field Service scholarship to study in the U.S. I was away from my family when we were grieving. I stayed with a host family, and I am grateful to my mother for having encouraged me to take this risk. It is at times like these when you absorb, digest, and enrich yourself. So, you could say that I grew up as an independent young woman.

Despite this, I was aware of the glass ceiling, particularly when I began my legal career. At one of my first job interviews with a major law firm, I was told that, as a woman, I would never make partner. I left the interview and looked elsewhere, but the experience was a stark reminder of discrimination, and there would be other episodes throughout my career.

When I became Managing Director of the IMF in 2011, I began to see gender equity through an additional prism, which is that it also carries large, and potentially transformative, value in economic terms. During my visits to IMF member countries, I have met many inspirational women from all walks of life, and they have really helped to sustain my passion for gender equity, offering a constant reminder that behind all the analysis and advice there are people whose lives can be transformed.

This story was originally published by Deliver for Good

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On average, migrant workers send between 200 and 300 dollars home every one or two months. Contrary maybe to popular belief, this represents only 15 per cent of what they earn: the rest –85 per cent – stays in the countries where they earn the money. Credit: IFAD/Christine Nesbitt.

By Baher Kamal
MADRID, Jun 19 2019 (IPS)

Straight to the point: while right and far-right politicians keep marketing their image with intensive campaigns of hatred, discrimination and stigmatisation against migrants, 200 million migrant workers worldwide will sacrifice over half a trillion dollars from their hard-earned money, to rescue 800 million members of their impoverished families. And that’s only this year 2019.

This huge amount adds up to more than three times the level of Official Development Assistance (ODA) and surpasses Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), stated the Rome-based International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) ahead of the 16 June 2019 International Day of Family Remittances.

In fact, IFAD’s president, Gilbert F. Houngbo, on 14 June announced that remittances from international migrant workers to their families are expected to rise to over 550 billion dollars in 2019, up some 20 billion from 529 billion in 2018.

An impressive figure given that it corresponds to only 15 per cent of migrant workers’ earnings who total around 200 million out of the world’s estimated 260 million migrants.

An essential fact that is most often under-reported or even unreported at all is that 85 per cent of their earnings remain in the host countries.

“Behind the numbers are the individual remittances of 200 dollars or 300 dollars that migrants send home regularly so that their 800 million family members can meet immediate needs and build a better future back home. Half of these flows are sent to rural areas, where they count the most,” IFAD’s chief explained.

 

Pakistani migrant workers build a skyscraper in Dubai. Credit: S. Irfan Ahmed/IPS

 

8.5 trillion dollars in just 15 years

An additional staggering fact is that if current trends continue, it is projected that 8.5 trillion dollars will be transferred to families in developing countries over the 15-year life of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

”By then, it is estimated that over 2 trillion dollars (on average 25 per cent of remittances received) will have been saved or invested. If leveraged effectively, remittances can have an unprecedented multiplier effect on sustainable development,” said Houngb.

Remittances from international migrant workers to their families are expected to rise to over 550 billion dollars in 2019, up some 20 billion from 529 billion in 2018.

Gilbert F. Houngbo, IFAD President

 

Five big facts

Here are 5 facts provided, among others, by the UN about the transformative power of these often small – yet major – contributions to sustainable development worldwide:

1. About one in nine people globally are supported by funds sent home by migrant workers

Currently, about one billion people in the world – or one in seven – are involved with remittances, either by sending or receiving them. Around 800 million in the world – or one in nine people– are recipients of these flows of money sent by their family members who have migrated for work.

2. 2. What migrants send back home represents only 15 per cent of what they earn

On average, migrant workers send between 200 and 300 dollars home every one or two months. Contrary maybe to popular belief, this represents only 15 per cent of what they earn: the rest –85 per cent – stays in the countries where they actually earn the money, and is re-ingested into the local economy, or saved.

3. Remittances remain expensive to send

These international money transfers tend to be costly: on average, globally, currency conversions and fees amount to 7 per cent of the total amounts sent.

4. The money received is key in helping millions out of poverty

Although the money sent represents only 15 per cent of the money earned by migrants in the host countries, it is often a major part of a household’s total income in the countries of origin and, as such, represents a lifeline for millions of families.

In fact, it is estimated that three quarters of remittances are used to cover essential things: put food on the table and cover medical expenses, school fees or housing expenses. In addition, in times of crises, migrant workers tend to send more money home to cover loss of crops or family emergencies.

The rest, about 25 per cent of remittances – representing over 100 billion dollars per year – can be either saved or invested in asset building or activities that generate income, jobs and transform economies, in particular in rural areas.

5. Half of the money sent goes straight to rural areas, where the world’s poorest live

Around half of global remittances go to rural areas, where three quarters of the world’s poor and food insecure live. It is estimated that globally, the accumulated flows to rural areas over the next five years will reach $1 trillion.

 

Why do migrants migrate

Having said that, a harsh question arises: why all these millions and millions of human beings have been forced to abandon their homes and families to fall prey to smugglers, deadly voyages, separation of their children, detention, torture, forced repatriation, etcetera?

Let alone being victims of human traffickers who buy and sell them as just human flesh merchandise to feed the business of prostitution, child recruitment as soldiers, slave-labourers and even for trading their organs?

 

Three chief reasons lay behind most of the migrants need to flee:

•   Impoverishment: Most migrants and refugees proceed from former European colonies in Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean, from countries which had been practically enslaved under European military occupation and which, since their formal independence, have been easy prey to intensive exploitation by big private business. One of the dramatic consequences of that occupation and the ongoing exploitation is the deepening impoverishment of native populations, a fact that has been aggravated by the dominant neo-liberalism-led ‘globalisation.’

•   Conflicts: most of the around 40 ongoing armed conflicts are due to either the fictitious splitting of nations and compact ethnic communities through aribitrarian borders imposed by former European colonisers, or more recently directly or indirectly fuelled by the voracious exploitation of natural resources by huge translational private business,

•   Climate crisis: the growing wave of unusual droughts, floods, loss of harvests, of homes and lives, which is caused by climate change, which an immense number of the migrants’ countries of origin did no generate.

 

Just know that a whole continent like Africa, which is home to around 1,2 billion human beings, has contributed only 4 per cent to greenhouse gas emissions, while bearing the brunt of more than 80 per cent of its dramatic consequences.

These three main reasons lay behind the forced migration of so many millions of human beings, should suffice to explain why the number of people fleeing exploitation, wars and climate change-driven disasters, need to search for other places to feel safer or simply just survive, while working hard to help their families also survive.

 

NOTE: This article is a follow up to previous two reports of the same author, both published in Human Wrongs Watch: The Most Expensive 529 Billion Dollars, which details the huge human and economic cost of migrants remittances, and The Hellish Cycle focusing specifically on the case of Southeast Asia migrants.

Baher Kamal is Director and Editor of Human Wrongs Watch

The post The Immense Cost 200 Million Migrant Workers Pay to Rescue their Families appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 19 2019 (IPS)

The world’s developing nations, currently fighting an uphill battle in their attempts to implement the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), are facing another stark demographic reality: a rise in world population by 2.0 billion people in the next 30 years: from 7.7 billion to 9.7 billion in 2050.

The population of sub-Saharan Africa alone is projected to double by 2050 (99% increase), according to a new report, The World Population Prospects 2019: Highlights, published by the Population Division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), and released June 17.

Of the nine countries, which will make up more than half the projected growth of the global population– eight are in Africa and Asia.

The eight include: India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Tanzania, Indonesia and Egypt, plus the United States (in descending order of the expected increase).

Around 2027, India is projected to overtake China as the world’s most populous country, according to the report.

Asked if this increase will have an impact on the implementation of the UN’s 17 SDGs, Joseph Chamie, a former director of the UN Population Division and currently an independent consulting demographer, told IPS: “Without a doubt, the population increases, especially for countries in Africa and South Asia, will have serious consequences on the implementation of the SDGs by 2030, with repercussions extending beyond those regions”

High population growth rates, he pointed out, outpace efforts to educate, employ, house and achieve fundamental development goals.

Chamie described the report as “a major achievement” because it provides invaluable demographic information about the past and likely future for the world, regions and countries.

While world population continues to grow but at a slower pace, enormous demographic diversity exists and numerous population changes are underway across regions and countries, he noted.

Asked if the anticipated increase in world population was a positive or negative factor, Chamie said: “Certainly, several billion additional people will have an enormous impact. More people mean more items consumed and more resources used.”

A world population reaching 8 billion in several years, nearly 10 billion by 2050 and close to 11 billion at the century’s close, poses critical challenges for humanity and the world’s environment, he argued.

Prominent among those challenges, especially relevant for the rapidly growing developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa, are concerns about food, water, housing, education, employment, health, peace and security, governance, migration, human rights, energy, natural resources and the environment.

Purnima Mane, a former President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Pathfinder International, told IPS rampant and unplanned population growth always has negative consequences. But the situation is not the same everywhere.

“As you know, in parts of the world, population is growing rapidly with limited access to contraception while in others population is not growing adequately to meet the economic demands of the country,” said Mane, a former UN Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director (Programme) at the UN Population Fund (UNFPA).

If the anticipated population growth happens mainly in the developing world, as is expected, resources are more likely to fall short of the needs of the people, she warned.

This would not foster national development and individual and family well-being, she noted.

“Ironically, many countries which have low population growth are shutting their doors to immigrants who could take on economic roles which would benefit those countries as well as the immigrants who are moving away for a better life and to leave behind the political and economic instability in their own countries,” Mane added.

Liu Zhenmin, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, said the report offers a roadmap indicating where to target action and interventions.

“Many of the fastest growing populations are in the poorest countries, where population growth brings additional challenges in the effort to eradicate poverty, achieve greater equality, combat hunger and malnutrition and strengthen the coverage and quality of health and education systems to ensure that no one is left behind,” he added.

The report also confirmed that the world’s population is growing older due to increasing life expectancy and falling fertility levels, and that the number of countries experiencing a reduction in population size is growing.

The resulting changes in the size, composition and distribution of the world’s population have important consequences for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the globally agreed targets for improving economic prosperity and social well-being while protecting the environment.

The world’s population continues to increase, but growth rates vary greatly across regions

But many regions that may experience lower rates of population growth between 2019 and 2050 include Oceania excluding Australia/New Zealand (56%), Northern Africa and Western Asia (46%), Australia/New Zealand (28%), Central and Southern Asia (25%), Latin America and the Caribbean (18%), Eastern and South-Eastern Asia (3%), and Europe and Northern America (2%).

According to the report, life expectancy at birth for the world, which increased from 64.2 years in 1990 to 72.6 years in 2019, is expected to increase further to 77.1 years in 2050.

While considerable progress has been made in closing the longevity differential between countries, large gaps remain.

In 2019, life expectancy at birth in the least developed countries lags 7.4 years behind the global average, due largely to persistently high levels of child and maternal mortality, as well as violence, conflict and the continuing impact of the HIV epidemic.

Asked about the credibility of the figures, Chamie said past UN global projections have been found to be impressively close to reality and the current world population projections are expected to be similarly reliable and insightful.

Asked about the longstanding concept of zero population growth, he said while ZPG may not be as visible as it was in the 1960s, it remains an important goal for many people.

Without global population stabilization, governments will increasingly struggle to address critical issues including global warming, biodiversity, environmental degradation, as well as shortages of energy, food and water supplies.

High-growth countries, particularly those in Africa, should endeavor to pass as quickly as possible through demographic transition to low death and birth rates as has already been realized throughout much of the world, he noted.

World Population Prospects 2019: Highlights and related materials are available at https://population.un.org/wpp/

The writer can be contacted at thalifdeen@ips.org

The post Rising Population Trends Threaten UN’s Development Goals in Asia & Africa appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Geneva Centre
VIENNA, Jun 19 2019 (IPS-Partners)

In relation to the organization by the Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue together with its partners in Vienna on the theme of “From the Interfaith and Inter-Civilizational Cooperation to Human Security”, the Executive Director of the Geneva Centre Ambassador Idriss Jazairy participated in several high-level meetings in Vienna.

The aim of these meetings was to enhance the Geneva Centre’s collaboration with inter-religious organizations and academic institutions in the field of interfaith dialogue and the promotion of mutual understanding and cooperative relations between societies.

In the meeting with the Chairman of the Caucasus Muslims’ Board His Virtue Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazadeh, in the presence of the Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Austria HE Galib Israfilov and the Head of the Parliamentary Committee on International Relations of the National Assembly of Azerbaijan Mr Samad Seyidov, Ambassador Jazairy expressed his appreciation to his interlocutors for the fruitful cooperation which has led to the organization of this important conference.

The Executive Director of the Geneva Centre likewise commended the outcome of the Fifth World Forum on Inter-Cultural Dialogue, held from 2-3 May 2019 in Baku, as it examined appropriate ways to support diversity, dialogue and mutual understanding as foundations for sustainable peace.

In response to Ambassador Jazairy’s remarks, the Azeri officials expressed their appreciation to the endeavours of the Geneva Centre to promote mutual understanding and cooperative relations between people and societies.

His Virtue Pashazadeh and Ambassador Jazairy agreed that they were united in the same vision to promote equal citizenship rights in multi-cultural and multi-religious societies worldwide. Ambassador Jazairy gave copies of the Geneva Centre’s book on “Islam and Christianity, the Great Convergence: Joining Forces to Enhance Equal Citizenship Rights” to the Azeri officials.

In light of this discussion, the participants highlighted the need to capitalize on the momentum of the 25 June 2018 World Conference on religions and equal citizenship rights, the 2018 World Tolerance Summit, the Joint Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together signed on 4 February 2019 by HH Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al Azhar His Eminence Ahmad Al-Tayib in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, as well as the Fifth World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue held in Baku to examine inventive ways to carry the process forward to harness the collective energy of religions in the pursuit of equal citizenship rights. The 19 June conference – it was agreed – serves as a timely opportunity to harness unity in diversity and promote mutual understanding, tolerance and empathy.

In this connection, the parties agreed to further explore the possibility of organizing joint conferences on inter-faith dialogue and to conduct further research on points of commonalities of religions, creeds and value systems in the pursuit of joint values. Ambassador Israfilov and Mr Seyidov expressed their readiness to cooperate with the Geneva Centre on these matters.

In a second meeting, Ambassador Jazairy was received by Ambassador Emil Brix, the Director of the famous Diplomatic Academy in Vienna. Ambassador Jazairy used the occasion to inform Ambassador Brix about the Geneva Centre’s endeavours to organize panel debates at the United Nations Office in Geneva (UNOG) to promote a value-driven human rights system and to act as a platform for dialogue between a variety of stakeholders involved in the promotion and advancement of human rights in the Arab region and beyond.

Ambassador Brix highlighted that that the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna was established in the 18th century to enhance inter-civilizational dialogue and to build bridges of understanding between the West and the Ottoman Empire. In fact, Austria was one of the first countries in Europe to recognise Islam as an official religion, which it did in 1912, following the annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1908. The promotion of cooperative relations between peoples and societies – Ambassador Blix said – remains therefore one of the founding values of the Diplomatic Academy.

In light of this discussion, the parties expressed their readiness to explore joint avenues in the holding of conferences and thematic workshops as well as to facilitate student exchange visits. They highlighted the importance of addressing matters related to the reform of the multilateral system, enhance the long-term efficiency of the United Nations and transform inter-religious dialogue into political awareness.

The post Conference in Vienna: Executive Director of the Geneva Centre received by the Chairman of the Caucasus Muslims’ Board and the Director of the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna appeared first on Inter Press Service.