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By Juan Pablo Segura
WASHINGTON DC, Jun 7 2019 (IPS)

The maternal mortality rate in the United States is the highest of any developed country – and the rate is rising. The US is currently the most dangerous place to give birth in the developed world.

Few to none of these maternal deaths are due to medical mismanagement. Instead, problems of access, care coordination, and inequities in health care resources and social services are at the heart of maternal death rates.

Minority women, particularly those facing socioeconomic challenges, are the primary victims behind these statistics — nationally, African American women are three to four times more likely to die from childbirth than non-Hispanic white women.

Heavy hitters like The New York Times, USA Today, NPR, and others have highlighted the problem of maternal mortality and called for action; and cities like DC have responded to the call by implementing maternal mortality task forces.

Consistently, these task forces have arrived at the same conclusion: the causes affecting pregnancy-related deaths are not separate threads, but a web; and these overlapping social, economic, behavioral, and genetic determinants cannot be adequately addressed by siloed stakeholders.

There are many who have long recognized this problem, and a few who have been actively committing resources toward creating solutions. They have put energy, time, and capital on the line to disrupt the status quo, addressing the problems to make improved pregnancy outcomes a reality.

Cradle Cincinnati is an exemplar. They have formed a coalition that connects all of the significant stakeholders in the pregnancy space to combat the high infant mortality rates in Hamilton Country, Ohio, joining families in the community to payers and health systems (including traditional competitors).

Cradle’s strategic model has made significant steps toward improving outcomes: for five years in a row, the number of sleep-related infant deaths in Hamilton County was lower than their historic average, dropping from 16 to 12 annually.

But 12 is still over the national average of nine, and the national average is nine too many. While a single life is at stake, we need to be taking leaps, not steps, to better outcomes.

While effective, models like Cradle and others like it (group prenatal care, for example) all share a dependence on human interaction, and this physical requirement is a huge constraint to scaling such programs. Without scalability, outcomes will continue to improve at a snail’s pace, eventually plateauing. We need to be able to scale these best practices in every community — not tomorrow but today.

This is where technology comes in. Tech can bridge the gap created by the human limitations of these models, and embedding proven workflows and care protocols in tech experiences that enable more interventions — like remote patient monitoring (RPM) through internet of things (IoT) devices — can be the key to scaling these alternative and more effective care models.

Digital tools provide the connectivity that models like Cradle deliver in the physical setting, while addressing the problems of cost, inefficiencies, and scalability that have slowed progress in the past.

More than 4 years ago, George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates (GW-MFA) anticipated this vision. They were one of the first providers in the United States to recognize the power of tech to disrupt outdated and insufficient standards of care in the pregnancy space — standards that had woefully failed in their purpose.

GW-MFA were early adopters of a novel model that directly addresses three troubling realities in the status quo: absence of education, lack of access to necessary care, and failure to stratify risk.

That new model was a partnership to create and deploy a technology-powered pregnancy solution to directly impact the pregnancy journey and its associated outcomes, supporting patients and providers with increased digital touchpoints, educational materials, and interventions through remote monitoring and digital engagement.

Now, in an industry first, the vision to connect all stakeholders in the space is being realized through a new partnership with AmeriHealth Caritas DC, a managed care organization, which has joined with GW-MFA to further deploy tech-enabled prenatal and postpartum care in the Medicaid population, a population often ignored by the technology community.

Partnerships such as this one begin to solve some of the structural difficulties in coordinating care between insurance companies and doctors for Medicaid patients. It will focus on increasing access to tech-enabled pregnancy care that allows all patients, regardless of their socioeconomic status, to receive the benefits of remote monitoring and virtual care with the same privacy and security as a physical interaction at the doctor’s office.

There is no excuse for the current statistics of maternal death. The healthcare industry has had the technology to impact care, but what has been missing is the combined vision to make these tools powerful agents of change. Mothers and infants in our communities have a right to a safe and healthy life, and partnerships such as this one have the power to be the difference.

The post Mothers in the US Are Dying: What Are We Doing to Save Them? appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Juan Pablo Segura is Co-founder of Babyscripts, the leading virtual care platform for managing obstetrics.

The post Mothers in the US Are Dying: What Are We Doing to Save Them? appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Women in the fisheries sector are largely concentrated in low-skilled, low-paid seasonal jobs without health, safety, and labor rights protections. Pictured here are Rita Francke and another fisherwoman at a jetty, in front of the old crayfish factory at Witsands, South Africa. Credit: Lee Middleton/IPS

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 7 2019 (IPS)

Our oceans play a major role in everyday life, but they are in grave danger. To protect the ocean, we must look to a crucial, largely overlooked component: gender.

For World Oceans Day this year, which occurs every year on Jun. 8, the United Nations and the international community is shining a spotlight on the intersections between the ocean and gender—an often underrepresented and unrecognised relationship.

“Gender equality and the health and conservation of our oceans are inextricably linked and we need to mainstream gender equality both in policies and programs and really in our DNA,” UN Women’s Policy Analyst Carla Kraft told IPS.

Founder of Women4Oceans Farah Obaidullah echoed similar sentiments to IPS to mark the occasion, stating: “It’s a great step that the UN is recognising the importance of addressing gender when it comes to achieving healthy oceans. You can’t achieve healthy oceans without achieving gender equality.”

Women make up approximately 47 percent of the world’s 120 million people, working in fisheries around the world, outnumbering men both in large-scale and small-scale fisheries.

However, women in the fisheries sector are largely concentrated in low-skilled, low-paid seasonal jobs without health, safety, and labour rights protections. In fact, women earn approximately 64 percent of men’s wages for the same work in aquaculture.

At the same time, women’s contributions both towards ocean-based livelihoods and conservation efforts remain invisible.

“There’s a disproportion valuation or recognition of women’s work and skills in marine and coastal development and ocean and marine resources,” Kraft said.

“Women’s economic empowerment is very much related to ocean activities and resources so it’s really about having gender equality as both a goal and a process through which we can conserve, preserve, and use the ocean in economic activity,” she added.

 

As ocean degradation and climate change deepens, women are left with even less access to economic resources, protection, and stable livelihoods, which thus exacerbates gender inequalities.

According to UN Women, women and children are 14 times more likely to die or get injured in natural disasters due to unequal access to resources.

While women’s political participation is increasing, Obaidullah noted that women are still left out of the table in decision-making and lack recognition around fisheries and ocean governance, telling IPS of her own experiences as an ocean advocate.

“It’s difficult—sometimes it’s because I’m a woman, sometimes it’s because of my ethnic background—to have my voice heard in certain settings. I’ll go to a conference and try to talk about serious topics with fellow delegates but [only to] be put down,” Obaidullah told IPS.

“I have seen how women have left the conservation movement and academia because of being in the minority in the fields that they work. And that has to change because we are losing out on all this capacity, intelligence, and training because of the inequality in this sector,” she added.

For instance, UN Women found that in Thailand men make 41 percent of decisions compared to 28 percent by women regarding fish farming. Such decisions are often related to establishing farms, business registration, feeding, and dealing with emergencies.

Obaidullah highlighted the need to empower  and support women across the globe to ensure sustainable ocean governance, including at the UN.

“Bringing in different voices from different backgrounds and from different genders is essential if we are going to set a healthier course for humanity…. we need to be making role models across geographies, across cultures if we are to get people motivated and inspired to take action for the ocean,” she said.

“There are a lot of women and people from different cultures and countries that are really on the ground fighting the fight for our ocean but they don’t get the spotlight.”

Women make up approximately 47 percent of the world’s 120 million people working in fisheries around the world, outnumbering men both in large-scale fisheries and small-scale fisheries. Credit: Lee Middleton/IPS

Already, the work towards inclusive conservation has begun.

In Seychelles, numerous organisations have put women and youth at the centre of efforts. One such organisation is SOCOMEP, a woman-run fisheries quality and quantity control company.

In Kenya, women are promoting conservation education within the mangrove forests through the Mikoko Pamoja mangrove conservation and restoration project, helping contribute to ecotourism, better health care and education while generating an income.

Kraft pointed to the need for data as the intersections between gender and the ocean still remain unexplored.

“One of the biggest issues right now that we have is the lack of sex-disaggregated data so it makes it harder to make really adequate policy responses when we don’t know the exact status of where women are in the economic activities in ocean and marine-related fields,” she said.

At the end of the day, the international community must also recognise that gender is related to and should be mainstreamed through all sectors.

“We have gone too long without having a gender lens really used for all of these policymakers…gender equality will benefit sustainable ocean governance and sustainable ocean governance with a gender lens will contribute to gender equality and women’s economic empowerment,” Kraft said.

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By Charlotte Munns
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 6 2019 (IPS)

Attacks on Afghan schools tripled between 2017 and 2018, according to a UNICEF report released last week: from 68 attacks to 192 in 2018. This figure seems unlikely to decrease as the Afghan government prepares to use schools once again for political activity in the upcoming election.

The report comes following the Third International Conference on Safe Schools in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. The international community met to discuss the Safe Schools Declaration which outlines means to protect schools in times of conflict. Attendees have called into question the effectiveness of this Declaration.

UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore expressed concern that education in Afghanistan was “under fire.”

“The senseless attacks on schools; the killing, injury and abduction of teachers; and the threats against education are destroying the hopes and dreams of an entire generation of children,” she said in a statement.

On Tuesday Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General, said in a statement, “due to the conflict in Afghanistan, more than 1,000 schools closed by the end of last year, leaving half a million children out of school.”

This swell in attacks comes as schools are being pulled deeper into the conflict in Afghanistan. They are used more and more frequently in elections. Educational institutions were used as polling booths for Afghani’s to cast their votes in the 2018 presidential election, as well as in 2014.

The majority of schools attacked in 2018 were used in some capacity during the elections.

Anthony Neal, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s (NRC) Advocacy Manager in Afghanistan and attendee at the Third International Conference on Safe Schools, said in a statement to IPS, “out of the 192 attacks on schools that took place last year, 92 of these were election-related,” adding, “using schools in this way places them directly on the front line.”

While schools have been used peacefully for political purposes elsewhere, the unique political situation in Afghanistan places a target on schools used in this capacity.

“In many countries around the world schools are used as polling centres – including just recently across Europe for the European Parliamentary elections. In most countries this occurs without increasing the risk of attack on these facilities,” Anthony Neal told IPS, “unfortunately in Afghanistan – where elections are seen as a major divide between the different sides of the conflict – this is not the case.”

Patricia Gossman, Senior Researcher in Afghanistan for Human Rights Watch, echoed this statement when she told IPS “a polling place is going to be a target unfortunately, given the Taliban’s attitude toward the elections.”

Organisations have called for polling booths and voter registration centres to be moved away from schools.

“Many schools across Afghanistan are currently being used by armed forces,” Neal said, “in order to protect education in Afghanistan, those supporting the elections should find alternative polling and voter registration sites.”

Despite this call to find new locations for election activities, the Afghan government seems to have made no progress in finding alternate sites, with reports indicating they are already preparing school buildings for the elections.

“They have made no preparations to use any other facilities,” Gossman said, “it is not beyond the means of those planning to come up with another facility.”

She suggested using tents as polling booths, which have been used successfully in other countries before, and are independent, neutral and cheap.

With the upcoming election scheduled for September, Afghanistan could see a worsening in an already precarious educational situation.

According to the World Bank, Afghanistan has a literacy rate of just 31%, one of the lowest in the world. This is partly due to the near complete prohibition of female education under Islamist Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001.

The UNICEF report released last week underscores this deterioration, estimating 3.7 million school-aged children, close to half of all Afghanis between the ages of 7 and 17, do not attend formal schools.

Attacks on educational institutions in Afghanistan is part of a global issue that the international community has attempted to address.

In a statement to the Third International Conference on Safe Schools Mark Lowcock, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator said, “in the last five years, more than 14,000 attacks on education were reported in 34 countries.”

He claimed poor adherence to the Safe Schools Declaration, to which Afghanistan is a signatory, is partly to blame; “when countries sign up for the declaration, they have to implement the obligations under it,” he added, “we are seeing too many examples of forces occupying schools. That has to stop.”

In the specific case of Afghanistan, however, the effectiveness of the Safe Schools Declaration seems questionable.

Speaking on the intensity of the violence in Afghanistan, Gossman noted, “even the best intentions seem to get thrown at the wind once you’re faced with this kind of pace of conflict.”

She added, “there’s all kinds of promises on paper that look very good, but implementation and enforcement are severely lacking.”

While the Safe Schools Declaration may aim to protect education in times of conflict, when faced with a context in which education is being violently targeted it seems powerless to instigate real change.

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When we say that children aren’t learning, what we mean is that they are not fitting into our assessment of their learning outcomes | Picture courtesy: Nilesh Nimkar

By Nilesh Nimkar
THANE, MAHARASHTRA, India, Jun 6 2019 (IPS)

When we look at learning outcomes for children, we only look at standardised tests, ignoring any indigenous knowledge, language, or problem solving strategies they might have.

The brick kilns of Sonale were bustling with activity—children running around, indigenous technology being used, and lots of mathematics being done. I recently went there after a teacher from the nearby primary school approached our nonprofit, Quest, because the children living there were simply not learning. The concern was, if they didn’t even know their multiplication tables, how would they cope in classes V, VI, and VII?

So I went to see for myself. I asked these children, “To make the mortar for the bricks, how many pits have been dug?

“On one side 11; another side 12”

They also told me they would put three containers of raw material in each pit. So I asked them how many containers they would need in total, and after running off to count them, they came back with the right answers. They could also explain how they arrived at those numbers. What I found was that they were counting in threes. Not the way one recites the tables in the schools, but visualising it in their mind.

Clearly, these children knew how to multiply. That they failed to memorise their tables was beside the point. They had understood the concept and had demonstrated a strong meta-cognitive ability when they explained how they arrived at the answer

Clearly, these children knew how to multiply. That they failed to memorise their tables was beside the point. They had understood the concept and had demonstrated a strong meta-cognitive ability when they explained how they arrived at the answer. In my further conversations, I was amazed to see the kinds of calculations the children at the brick kilns did. For instance, 13 multiplied by 11 was done mentally because they were able to understand it within their own context (that of the brick kiln).

 

Standardised testing disadvantages marginalised children

This example illustrates one of the biggest challenges of our schools today—standardised assessment—which further disadvantages marginalised children. These children have a different type of cultural capital that schools and tests hardly recognise.

Western research in the field of math pedagogy points to the importance of children’s indigenous knowledge and strategies in solving problems and considers them to be the starting point for sound understanding of elementary mathematics. But what are those indigenous strategies in the Indian context? We still don’t know much about them. And our lack of knowledge results in us asking these children to run an unfair race.

Today, when we say that children from marginalised communities aren’t learning, what we mean is that they are not fitting into our assessment of their learning outcomes. By completely ignoring their indigenous knowledge, language, and problem-solving strategies, we have so far continued to focus on what they don’t know, and never paid attention to what they do know.

 

The process tells us more than just the outcomes

I do not deny the necessity of having some common indicators to understand the status of education in a given cluster, block, district, or state. But setting and chasing these indicators mindlessly could be dangerous.

Take for example, an encounter I had at an SSC exam centre in a rural school a few years ago. While I was visiting, I saw that the teachers were openly giving students answers to questions while they wrote their exams. When I asked why this was happening, a teacher said to me, “These children are weak from the beginning. It is almost impossible that they pass the exam on their own. If they fail, it will affect the result of our school and this would create a lot of trouble for us.”

This encounter is a classic example of what will happen if we neglect the process of learning and just focus on the numerical indicators of success. Our belief tends to be that if we can control learning outcomes, the quality of education will improve. But children can rote learn, or use unfair ways to pass their exams—we have no system that can check it at scale. What’s more, we are forgetting to track whether or not these children truly understand what they’ve been taught.

Ever since the ASER and other such reports have been published, we’ve been talking about how poor the learning outcomes are. But what have we really done to change things? We have been experimenting with examinations more than the actual process of learning, finding newer and newer ways to test the learning outcomes. But, if a pipe is choked, no matter what bowl you put under the opening, no water will drip into it. Similarly, no matter what exams, standard tests, and evaluation tool we use, only a little will change if we fail to address the core issues related to the process of learning.

 

“What I found was that they were counting in threes. Not the way one recites the tables in the schools, but visualising it in their mind” | Picture courtesy: Nilesh Nimkar

 

What needs to be done

1. Strengthen the process, invest in teachers

One of the positive outcomes of the Right to Education (RTE) Act is that it improved enrolment rates. But we know that it’s not enough to get children into schools. We need to alter our schools to meet children’s needs. If we want to set the process of education right, we have to strengthen its most impacting factor, the teacher.

Teacher education and ongoing teacher professional development are areas where we haven’t paid much attention. Instead of offering our teachers quick fixes to the challenges they face, we need to begin working with, and for our teachers.

One example of how to do this could be through a technology based distant mentoring system for teachers working across geographies. Quest, the nonprofit I run, has a system like this on a much smaller scale—here, teachers send audio recordings of their classroom activity to mentors (experienced teachers, teacher-educators, or researchers in the field of pedagogy), who then provide them with ongoing feedback to help them fine-tune their skills. This type of support system needs to be created on a larger scale.

 

2. Change the way we test

We need to alter the tools and parameters we use to assess success. We had a chance to do this when the idea of continuous comprehensive evaluations was introduced. However, the teachers and education community at large could not free themselves from the idea of examinations, and we lost a golden opportunity to bring our focus on to the process.

In a country as diverse as India, the assessment framework could be common for all. But the actual tests should be local and culturally appropriate. For example, I have seen assessment tests that show a picture of a well-maintained French garden or a city park, expecting a rural child to talk about it. In this situation it is obvious that the child will show poor oral expression.

Or yet another example is that of asking children to write words only from the ‘standard’ language—when in reality, Marathi spoken in different parts of Maharashtra is not the same. But normally the assessments are not sensitive to this regional variation, which means that children with a home language that is different than the standard variant of Marathi will always perform poorly.

The question we must ask ourselves is, do we want to make the education system more inclusive, or do we want to use it as a sieve to weed out the ‘weaker’ children? We need to design an overarching framework and build a bank of regionally, culturally appropriate testing items. Unless we do this our focus will always remain on what children don’t know.

 

Nilesh Nimkar has over 20 years’ experience in the field of early childhood education, elementary education, teacher education and curriculum development. He has initiated several innovative programs for teachers and children, specially in the rural and tribal areas. He has received the Maharashtra Foundation Award for ‘Outstanding social work in the field of education’.

 

This story was originally published by India Development Review (IDR)

The post What Standardised Testing Doesn’t Tell Us About Learning appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council Jan Egeland visited Buea in South West in Cameroon Tuesday 23 April. There he met with a group of women who have been displaced by the mounting crisis in the Anglophone parts of Cameroon.

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 6 2019 (IPS)

The world’s 10 most under reported displacement crises— which have rendered millions of people homeless– have continued to worsen due either to political neglect, a shortage of funds or lack of media attention, according to a new report released by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).

NRC Secretary-General Jan Egeland says humanitarian assistance should be given based on needs– and needs alone. However, every day millions of displaced people are neglected because they have been struck by the wrong crisis and the dollars have dried up.

The countries faced with displacement crises last year were largely in Africa, with Cameroon heading the list, followed by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Central African Republic, Burundi, Mali, Libya and Ethiopia.

The remaining three, according to the NRC, were Ukraine, Venezuela and Palestine.

“This depressing list must serve as a wake-up call for all of us. Only by drawing attention to these crises, learning about them and placing them high on the international agenda, can we achieve much needed change,” said Egeland, a former UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator

Dr Martin Scott, from the University of East Anglia, UK, and lead author of a recent report into The State of Humanitarian Journalism, told IPS although reports like this are an important first step in raising the profile of these crises – but it is not enough to simply lament the lack of coverage.

“What’s needed is a clear-headed assessment of why these displacement crises receive so little coverage. Partly, it’s a reflection of the broken business models of most international journalism – which means news outlets often struggle to provide consistent coverage of real public value,” he argued.

But it is also a reflection of the political priorities of powerful countries – which news outlets often reflect, Dr Scott added.

These reports, he pointed out, also draw attention to what’s not working, in general, within international journalism.

“But there are news outlets which do, regularly, report on crises like these – such as Devex, News Deeply, The New Humanitarian and Inter Press Service (IPS),” he noted.

“It is important to highlight their work – so that audiences know there is coverage of these crises out there,” he declared.

Singling out Cameroon, Egeland said the international community is asleep at the wheel when it comes to the crisis in Cameroon. Brutal killings, burned-down villages and massive displacement have been met with deafening silence.

He said conflict has so far uprooted half a million people in South-West and North-West Cameroon. Hundreds of villages have been set ablaze. Hospitals have been attacked. Health workers fear being abducted or killed.

Over 780,000 children have seen their schools close and thousands of people, currently hiding in the bushes, have received no humanitarian relief. Still there has been no major mediation efforts, no large relief programmes, minimal media interest and too little pressure on parties to stop attacking civilians.

“This culture of paralysis by the international community has to end. Every day the conflict is allowed to continue, bitterness is building and the region edges closer towards full-blown war,” said Egeland, who recently visited the central African country.

The Norwegian Refugee Council is calling for increased attention to the crises on the list to prevent the suffering of millions of vulnerable people.

“This depressing list must serve as a wake-up call for all of us. Only by drawing attention to these crises, learning about them and placing them high on the international agenda, can we achieve much needed change,” Egeland said.

Asked if the United Nations and the international community were lagging behind in their support, NRC’s Tiril Skarstein told IPS: “We believe that the international community is not doing enough to solve these crises. The lack of political will to find solutions to these crises is often a result of lack of geopolitical interests in the area.”

However, he pointed out, there are also some countries on the list where several world powers have competing interests, leading to a deadlock and a lack of political solutions for people on the ground,–like for example in Palestine and Ukraine.

Asked if the shortfall in funding is due to neglect on the part of Western donors or domestic economic and financial constraints within donor nations, he said humanitarian assistance should be given based on needs alone.

Still, it is easier to attract humanitarian funding to some crises than others. Often, “ we see a close link between the amount of media attention a crisis receives and the amount of humanitarian funding. Some of the crises at the neglected crises list were less than 40 percent funded last year.”

But there is also a general funding shortfall, he conceded.

Last year, only about 60 percent of the total humanitarian appeals by UN and partner organizations were funded.

“This means that we need all donors to increase their humanitarian support so that we can meet the actual humanitarian needs, and we also need new donors, including several emerging economies, to step up.”

Asked why these crises were affecting mostly African nations, compared to Asian and Latin American nations, Skarstein told IPS “unfortunately, the crises on the African continent seldom make media headlines or reach foreign policy agendas before it is too late.”

The lack of funding and political attention has devastating consequences for the civilians who receive neither protection against attacks, nor the necessary relief when they have had to flee their homes in search of safety, he argued.

Most of those who flee head towards neighboring countries or are displaced within their own country. “However, the fact that most of these people do not turn up at our doorsteps here in Europe, for example, does not remove our responsibility to act,” he noted.

According to NRC, the crisis in Cameroon has its root in the country’s troubled colonial history. After World War One, the former German colony was split between a French and British mandate.

The country has now both English and French as official languages, but people in the English-speaking parts have been feeling increasingly marginalized, NRC said.

And in 2016, civilians took to the streets, and a heavy crackdown by security forces led to widespread violence and the formation of armed opposition groups.

The writer can be contacted at thalifdeen@ips.org

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By Saim Bin Mujib
Jun 5 2019 (IPS-Partners)

At a time of extreme scarcity of open space for children to play, Washpur Garden City in Bosila of Dhaka has opened up an aesthetic place completely made of bamboo for kids to have fun.

The project called Bamboo Playspace is a part of an architectural course CADSE (Critical Architecture Design and Sustainable Environment), where students from different universities took part to create it.

The space was designed and created under supervision of design and architecture studio Para to help flourish the physical and mental development of kids from the non-profit Local Education and Economic Development Organization (LEEDO). But the Bamboo Playspace is open for all children.

Moreover, the place is not only for kids’ play. There is a stage and a gallery for holding drama and other cultural activities too.

This story was originally published by The Daily Star, Bangladesh

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By Matilde Mordt
QUITO, Ecuador, Jun 5 2019 (IPS)

As the UN commemorates World Environment Day, UNDP would like to take this opportunity to commend Ecuador’s efforts to address climate change and its commitment to raising its climate ambition.

Ecuador is at the forefront of delivering climate action, and in the frontlines of Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) design. It has gone from an Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) presented in Paris, that defined targets for only two sectors: Energy and Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use, to a revised NDC 2020-2025 which includes both mitigation and adaptation.

This ambitious NDC is one of the first registered before the UNFCCC for the 2020 round, and the first to fully use the guidelines for NDCs agreed in Katowice at the end of 2018. It has several features worth highlighting:

Firstly, it has been formulated in a way that is fully aligned with national priorities as defined in the National Development Plan. It is likewise aligned to the 2030 Agenda, contributing to numerous SDGs;

Secondly, it has been developed in a highly participatory manner, gathering more than 150 institutions from public and private sectors, academia, and civil society, including over 1,000 participants.

Matilde Mordt

It is important to note that all relevant ministries were involved in the process, including also the national disaster risk reduction system, municipal and provincial governments, to ensure a whole of government approach and coherency between interventions;

Finally, UNDP´s NDC-Support Programme developed and applied a methodology for a gender-sensitive formulation of the NDC. This not only ensured equal participation of men and women in the process, but also provided tools to identify gender gaps, and proposed solutions to reduce inequalities and ensure a fair distribution of benefits.

This is also a first for the NDCs globally, and we would like to congratulate the Government of Ecuador for embracing this approach.

Throughout the NDC preparation process, UNDP provided a platform for integrating public and private sector, academia, and civil society in discussions, and we developed and applied innovative methodologies such as design thinking to enhance the contributions of participants.

We also integrated the support of sister UN Agencies during the process; reaching out to UN Women for gender mainstreaming and to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for technical assistance on agriculture, forestry and land use.

UNDP’s vast network of experts, knowledge and resources was used to facilitate the NDC preparation, including national level projects and global programmes such as the NDC Support Programme, REDD+ and BIOFIN. This is an example of our Global Policy Network in action.

The process would not have been possible without the continuous backing of our main donors, European Union, Germany, Norway, Spain and Italy, as well as the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and Global Environment Facility (GEF).

UNDP has already been actively involved in the implementation of concrete climate actions in Ecuador for the last 20 years. Ongoing efforts will constitute building blocks for its NDC implementation going forward.

For instance, we support Ecuador to implement a combined GCF and GEF project in the forestry/REDD+ sector in the Amazon, that not only helps Ecuador comply with international climate and environmental commitments, but also supports communities – indigenous peoples and rural populations, men and women – to improve their livelihoods.

We are uniquely positioned to work in the intersection between environmental sustainability and poverty reduction, aiming precisely at leaving no one behind.

Ecuador´s NDC will now be implemented through an Action Plan, complemented with a Financial Strategy and Monitoring, Reporting and Verification system as the tracking tool. Sustained support from the international community to maintain this progress is key for allowing Ecuador to advance on this path. At UNDP we stand ready to continue supporting these efforts.

This links to the upcoming Climate Summit, to be celebrated in New York this September. We know that unprecedented efforts are required from all sectors of society to tackle the climate emergency – and we know that the task is urgent.

Ecuador has increased its level of ambition and will be pleased to continue sharing its experience and contribute to lessons learned and good practices.

The post Ecuador in Frontline to Address Climate Change appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Matilde Mordt is UNDP Resident Representative in Ecuador

The post Ecuador in Frontline to Address Climate Change appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Niklas Hagelberg
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 5 2019 (IPS)

Fossil fuels—oil, gas, coal and their derivatives—pollute the atmosphere and emit the greenhouse gases that are ramping up global heating to dangerous levels. But did you know that governments around the world are subsidizing this pollution?

Historically, governments around the world have used fossil fuel subsidies for a variety of reasons, including to promote energy independence, encourage industry and cushion the poorest in society.

But they never took sufficient account of what economists call “externalities” such as air pollution and the resulting impacts on our health.

There is a special kind of madness in a system that funds the healthcare burden from asthma, respiratory diseases and lung cancer, and at the same time funds companies that pollute the air and contribute towards these health issues in the first place.

Niklas Hagelberg

Ordinary people pay the price three times over—taxes for healthcare, taxes to support fossil fuel subsidies, and then the ultimate price of compromises to their health.

Air pollution claims the lives of one in nine every year and is the single biggest health risk facing people across the world. Fossil fuel subsidies often fail to benefit targeted groups and are a significant drain on national budgets.

Global fossil fuel subsidies cost taxpayers about US$400 billion. Imagine if these public resources were directed to finance sustainable development, clean energy and climate action.

Fossil fuel subsidies disproportionately benefit the top oil majors, help their profit margins and serve as a powerful disincentive to develop renewable energy. They also reduce the available pot of resources for investment in renewables.

Countries that heavily subsidize these fuels of the past are stifling the current and future business and economic opportunities that renewable energy provides.

Redirecting the money used for fossil fuel subsidies has the potential to accelerate our ability to address the global climate crisis, and ensure a just decarbonization. The additional resources could also be used for other development priorities such as health, education or infrastructure.

The planet can no longer afford these subsidies. We should move to scrap them as soon as possible and make the switch to a green economy.

The energy landscape is changing quickly

The energy transition is happening now, all around us. The growth rate of renewables is three times faster than fossil and nuclear fuel, with record growth rates in solar and wind power. The United Kingdom just went 100 days on 100 per cent renewable energy sources, and no one noticed.

However, despite the rapid pace of change, the bulk of all our power for heating, lighting, cooking, transport and industry still comes from fossil fuels.

A major way to reduce air pollution, which is above World Health Organization safe levels in many cities around the world, is to switch more quickly away from fossil fuels. We should eliminate fossil fuel subsidies, except for liquefied petroleum gas cooking programmes.

UN Environment, in collaboration with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and the International Institute for Sustainable Development Global Service Initiative, has developed a methodology to measure fossil fuel subsidies, providing comparable data to allow the tracking of national and global trends.

The report helps governments to understand the extent of the problem (for example what percentage of their Gross Domestic Product they spend on fossil fuel subsidies) and take action to reduce or abolish these subsidies.

Air pollution is the theme for World Environment Day on 5 June 2019. The quality of the air we breathe depends on the lifestyle choices we make every day. Learn more about how air pollution affects you, and what is being done to clean the air. What are you doing to reduce your emissions footprint and #BeatAirPollution?

Further resources:
Calling time on fossil fuel subsidies
Measuring Fossil Fuel Subsidies in the Context of the Sustainable Development Goals

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Excerpt:

Niklas Hagelberg is Coordinator, Climate Change Programme, UN Environment

The post We Must do More to Speed up Ending Fossil Fuel Subsidies appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Mahamadou Tounkara
Jun 5 2019 (IPS-Partners)

(GGGI) – Air pollution has become the number one environmental problem affecting people’s health, impacting 300 million children worldwide and contributing to the premature death of 600 thousand children every year.

Indoor air pollution from cooking on open fire using firewood or charcoal is a major problem in many developing countries. In Ethiopia, for example, biomass fuel, used by 95% of the population for cooking, is responsible for 50,320 annual deaths of children under-five year, accounting for 4.9% of the national burden of disease in Ethiopia. Acute respiratory infections are the leading cause of mortality among children in Ethiopia.

Air pollution is the biggest environmental threat to public health and 9 out of 10 people in the world breathe air containing high levels of pollutants

Air pollution has been getting worse in recent years. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution is the biggest environmental threat to public health and 9 out of 10 people in the world breathe air containing high levels of pollutants. Traffic is a contributor to bad air quality, but another factor is “brown” electricity generation. Burning fossil fuels to generate electricity releases dangerous pollution that contributes to poor air quality and health issues. Green growth can minimize air pollution through investment in areas such as cleaner forms of energy generation and transport, better management of traffic congestion, adoption of cleaner manufacturing, agricultural and construction practices, and clean cooking.

 

GGGI and its work

At GGGI, we work directly with governments to tackle the growing concern of air pollution, as it has become the largest cause of premature death in many nations. GGGI has 32 Member countries and works across the thematic priorities of sustainable energy, green cities, sustainable landscapes and water and sanitation to deliver impact through six strategic outcomes which are aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In addition, GGGI’s 70 projects contribute to all of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.

 

GGGI’s country examples

GGGI’s Mexico team has developed a tool to measure and quantify health effects on transport-related air pollution and supported the government of Mexico in the creation of a governance system, involving Mexico City and five other surrounding states to help improve air quality in the central region of the country. Three-wheelers are an important form of public transport in Vientiane, Laos, but it is also the biggest source of air pollution. The three-wheeler project has been replaced by an e-bus and an e-motorbike project, as the government wants to phase out the three-wheelers. A growing number of countries are shifting its perspective to focus on basic public services that need to be more sustainable, inclusive and now, more emphasis is placed on helping to improve the quality of life for the citizens.

 

Photo: San Vicente, Philippines

Electric tricycles (e-trikes) have already started to roam the streets of San Vicente, Philippines. GGGI provided technical assistance to San Vicente and the implementation of e-trikes will not only mitigate the effects of climate change, but also create jobs and improve mobility of its residents, without the pollution and noise. GGGI is also working with the governments of Jordan and local and international partners and stakeholders to help the Jordan achieve its goals of reaching 14% greenhouse gas emissions reductions by 2030, improving urban air quality, and catalyzing electric mobility to improve the country’s energy efficiency and reduce its dependence on oil imports.

 

Photo: Meeting with KP Sharma Oli, Prime Minister of Nepal

 

Nepal launched its National Action Plan for Electric Mobility, developed by the Government of Nepal and GGGI in 2018. GGGI’s Nepal team has been working closely with the Ministry of Forests and Environment since 2017 to advance clean, sustainable transportation and support the Government to get electric buses on the road. Peru is in the process of modernizing its vehicle fleet and eliminating the vehicles that pollute the most. GGGI’s Peru team is currently supporting the Ministry of Transport and Communications in the design of its freight vehicle scrapping program.

 

Air pollution in Asia

In the last few decades, there has been incredible economic growth in Asia, during which the environment took a back seat, but now people are confronting air pollution and other impacts and so the mindset is changing. In the Republic of Korea, the Moon Jae-in government has changed its perspective on energy policy and has increased its renewable energy target from 4% to 20% and this has led to a lot of societal discussion in the Republic of Korea. The United Kingdom started such a discussion 10 years ago, when it had close to 50% of its energy coming from coal but in 10 years it has gone down to almost zero. People were worried about energy security but now wind energy has become cheaper than coal and building wind turbines has generated a lot of jobs. A rapid transition took place in 10 years.

In Asia, the primary driver for green or clean tech may not be climate change but air pollution, which causes asthma and kills people all over Asia. Beijing had more blue skies this year than in previous years, as coal mines have been closed and more electric buses are on the roads. China has become a leader in certain areas of clean technology and is commercially exploiting these opportunities, for example in constructing solar panels. In Europe, wind energy provides a thriving industry and many commercial opportunities. Japan is pushing for a hydrogen economy, and various countries are finding out that these could bring a new generation of prosperity

At the opening ceremony of the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF) in Beijing, President Xi Jinping gave a remarkable speech on China’s commitment to multilateralism, opening up the country’s economy, breaking down subsidies and tariffs, and promoting high quality green development in the interest of peace and prosperity across the world. At GGGI we are exploring how that commitment can translate in acceleration of renewable energy uptake in developing countries, using Chinese expertise and technology.

Air pollution is virtually everywhere in Asia in the big cities because of transport, coal-fired power plants and industry. Even in less-developed rural areas where you don’t expect the level to be as high. Eighty percent of people in Cambodia are still cooking food on an open fire and using coal for heating and as a result, indoor air pollution is a huge problem for them. Pollution is the largest cause of premature death now, even more than smoking. It is something that worries us a lot and plays a large part in green growth.

Air pollution is the second-largest cause of premature deaths for children in Mongolia. But there is also cause for alarm in countries where it is not as clearly visible and people are not so aware of the problem. Inefficient energy use in households, industry, agriculture and transport sectors, and coal-fired power plants were the major sources attributed to outdoor air pollution, while the lack of access to clean cooking fuels and technologies contributed most to indoor pollution. The latter puts women and children as the biggest group at risk. As a result, two-thirds of Southeast Asian cities saw a five percent growth in air pollution between 2008 and 2013 according to a WHO report in 2016. However, the report noted that more governments were increasing their commitments to reduce air pollution.

Small individual decisions such as walking, using bicycles, opting for public transport or sharing car trips have significant impact, and go hand in hand with ambitious public policy decisions. The world needs to take action and commitment to get the clean air we want to breathe in our bicentennial.

 

Mahamadou Tounkara, Director, Strategy, Partnerships and Communications, Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI)

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Excerpt:

Mahamadou Tounkara is Director, Strategy, Partnerships and Communications, Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI)

The post Standing up for the clean air we deserve! appeared first on Inter Press Service.

In 2011 Somalia also experienced severe drought and many were forced to leave their homes and make the long journey to an aid camp in the Somali capital Mogadishu. Credit: Abdurrahman Warsameh/IPS

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 5 2019 (IPS)

Climate-related displacement and food insecurity is not a future possibility, but it is already happening and it’s only projected to worsen without urgent action in coming years.

Yesterday, ahead of World Environment Day, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) sounded the alarm on the growing impacts of drought in Somalia.

“UNHCR and humanitarian partners fear that severe climatic conditions combined with armed conflict and protracted displacement could push the country into a far bigger humanitarian emergency,” said UNHCR spokesperson Babar Baloch.

As a result of below average rains and a worsening drought, an estimated 5.4 million people are likely to be food insecure by September in many parts of the Horn of Africa nation. Of those, over two million will be in severe conditions and in need of immediate emergency assistance.

The drought has also forced nearly 50,000 people to flee their homes in search of food, water, and aid. More than 7,000 were displaced last month alone.

“People who are already displaced because of conflict and violence are also affected by the drought, at times disproportionally,” Baloch added.

The latest crisis is occurring at the wake of a two-year drought that ended in 2017, which displaced over one million.

According to UNHCR, weather-related hazards such as storms, droughts, and wildfires displaced 16.1 million people in 2018.

Climate-related crises are only expected to occur with greater frequency across the world.

In a new, terrifying report, Australian think tank Breakthrough National Center for Climate Restoration warned that climate change poses a “new-to-mid-term existential threat to human civilisation.”

“This policy paper looks at…the unvarnished truth about the desperate situation humans, and our planet, are in, painting a disturbing picture of the real possibility that human life on earth may be on the way to extinction, in the most horrible way,” said Admiral Chris Barrie in the foreword.

The assessment warns that the world’s currently on its way to least 3° Celsius of global warming and projects that by 2050, one billion people in regions such as the Middle East and West Africa will have to relocate due to unliveable climate conditions.

There will also be severe decreases in water availability and a collapse in agriculture and food production.

“The scale of destruction is beyond our capacity to model with a high likelihood of human civilisation coming to an end,” the report states, noting that such climate impacts will accelerate conflict and instability.

But not all hope is lost.

The report urges governments to have strong leadership and mobilise resources “akin in scale to the World War II emergency mobilisation” in order to quickly build a zero-emissions industrial system.

“A doomsday future is not inevitable! But without immediate drastic action our prospects are poor. We must act collectively,” said Barrie.

UNHCR similarly called on more international action to prevent climate-related disasters, increase efforts to strengthen resilience, and protect those already affected by climate change.

Last month, aid agencies launched a 710-million-dollar appeal in response to the drought in Somalia. Only 20 percent has so far been funded.

“With climate change amplifying the frequency and intensity of sudden disasters, such as hurricanes, floods and tornados, and contributing to more gradual environmental phenomena, such as drought and rising sea levels, it is expected to drive even more displacement in the future,” Baloch said.

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Handpumps, participatory rural appraisals, wadi programmes, and so on, all came from an innovation or technology developed by civil society | Picture courtesy: Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (India)

By Apoorva Oza
AHMEDABAD, GUJARAT, India, Jun 4 2019 (IPS)

When we look at some of the things we take for granted in India today, there is a common thread to all of them. Every single one. They all originated from civil society.

People hear the word civil society and react differently; and it depends on where they come from. For the business leader, social and environmental concerns are impediments to business. “Environment ke liye poora project band hojata hai, what about growth, what about the economy?” (Entire projects have to be shut down for the sake of the environment).

I’ve also been in conversations with some government officers who say, “woh kaam chhota karte hain aur credit bahut le lete hain. Kaam toh hum karte hain paisa toh hamara hai.” (The nonprofits hardly do any work but take all the credit. We are the ones who do the work, the ones who put in the money).

But nothing is farther from the truth. When we look at rural India, and look at some of the things we take for granted today—be it women self-help groups (SHGs), ASHA workers, biogas plants, RTI applications, and so on—there is a common thread to all of them. Every single one. They all originated as innovations in civil society.

 

Our largest government programmes were born in civil society

 

1. National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) and Self Help Groups (SHGs)

When we look at rural India, and look at some of the things we take for granted today—be it women self-help groups (SHGs), ASHA workers, biogas plants, RTI applications, and so on—there is a common thread to all of them. Every single one. They all originated as innovations in civil society.

One of the largest programmes of the government—the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM)—is based on women self help groups (SHGs). And the concept of an SHG was developed by Aloysius Fernandes and his team at MYRADA.

In the 1970s, MYRADA was working with large primary agriculture cooperative societies (PACS), all of whom seemed to be failing. In some of the geographies however, while the cooperatives had collapsed, there were some villages where small groups were saving and giving credit to each other.

Aloysius and the MYRADA team saw this, identified them as empowered groups that the banks could lend to, gave it form and structure, and took it to NABARD.

NABARD realised the value of what MYRADA was helping build, because they themselves were trying to reach out to the poor and their existing institutional portfolio was failing because the cooperatives weren’t functioning. They supported MYRADA and then pushed the banks to lend to these groups of poor women who saved regularly.

So, in a sense the SHG movement was started by MYRADA and to some extent, NABARD. The state was not in the picture at that time.

Then the first SERP programme came up in Andhra Pradesh. They used the base created by NABARD and MYRADA and they promoted the SHGs. And because the SERP programme worked, and because the World Bank was funding SERP, when the government created the NRLM, they used the same principles and structures.

Today the NRLM, which rides almost entirely on the SHG infrastructure, is the only large-scale institutional arrangement that the government has to reach out to poor. Every government uses it, regardless of what end of the political spectrum they occupy. It is pro-poor and still has elements of the market—the state can extend its entitlements directly to the people, while also enabling them to be self-reliant by promoting enterprises. But if there hadn’t been MYRADA, we probably wouldn’t have had NRLM today.

 

2. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) 

India’s most talked about government programme MGNREGA came about because Jean Drèze and others in civil society drafted it, and advocated for it.

The idea of MGNREGA did borrow from an earlier employment guarantee programme that was started in Maharashtra by Mr Vitthal Sakharam Page—chair of the Maharashtra State Legislative Council, and a social activist—who wrote the first draft in 1965. But it was only when several civil society activists fought for it in the early 2000s, that it became something that the Central government took seriously and passed into national law.

 

3. Integrated Water Management Programme (IWMP)

The early work around watershed management was done in Sukhomajri in Haryana. A more integrated approach was later piloted at Ralegan Siddhi by Anna Hazare. This, and the Hiware Bazar model by Popatrao Pawar became models to emulate, and the IWMP guidelines that are in place today are a result of contributions from many nonprofits.

These are just few examples but the story repeats itself again and again regardless of the sector. Consider these two others examples; one old and one relatively recent:

• ASHA workers: The concept of ASHA workers was born in Jamkhed. The Aroles—Dr Mabelle and Dr Raj—started a programme in 1970 which involved semi-literate women delivering home-based care to mothers and newborns. It was taken to scale by the government, and our country now has over six lakh ASHA workers.
• 108 Service: The 108 service that everyone lauds as a model of efficiency and scale was started as a service by EMRI—a nonprofit in Andhra Pradesh under the aegis of Satyam Foundation (EMRI was later taken over by the GVK Foundation). It was handed over to the Andhra Pradesh government, and later, other state governments implemented it. Today it runs across 15 states and two union territories.

The list continues—handpumps, participatory rural appraisals, wadi programmes, and so on. Essentially, almost any government programme worth its salt came from an innovation or technology developed by civil society. This is not to belittle the role of the state, which is by far the major development actor, but to emphasise the role of civil society in nation building.

Despite this, we are seeing a marginalisation of the civil society sector by markets and the government because we haven’t told our story well enough.

 

Civil society is too self-effacing

What is the philosophy of a civil society? We believe that we will develop solutions which over time the community will own and the state or market will support. When that happens, we believe our work is done.

In a way, it’s a very phoenix-like approach—you create and you disband. And you start all over again on some other problem. We don’t patent anything; we don’t take credit for anything.

And perhaps this is because we know that something as complex as social change requires the contribution of many people—communities, grassroots organisations, the state, funders, and so on. But we have gone to the other extreme. We don’t even acknowledge our role in the change; in fact, we undermine it.

When people ask us if we have successfully run a programme, we say “Nahi humne toh kuch kiya nahi hai, ye toh sab gaonwalon ne kiya hai” (No, we didn’t do anything, it was the villagers who did everything). And while it might be politically correct to say that we are only the catalysts, and the real work is done the community; it’s not always an accurate representation.

Civil society is more than the catalyst; we are innovators—technical innovators and idea innovators. We take really complex problems and come up with new ways to address them. We do effective work but refuse to take credit for it. And our refusal to take credit only feeds into the government’s view point—if the community is doing everything and civil society isn’t doing anything, then we will deal with the community directly.

 

People don’t understand our unique proposition

Because we have undermined ourselves, our unique proposition is not known. Our value to society is not only what we do or how we do it, but also at what cost we do what we do.

Many of us work at ridiculously low costs but we don’t document it, and we don’t measure it. So, some corporates, who want to work on social programmes, believe that they don’t need nonprofits. All they have to do is take the nonprofit’s staff and implement it on their own because it seems easy and cheap to do so.

The reality is different. Running a programme is complex. It takes years to build trust. And it requires humility, rigour, and persistence. It requires training, all-weather support, and hand-holding—all things that lead to an enabling ecosystem that a good nonprofit creates.

But some corporates don’t know this; they just want to take on the programmes because they believe they can do it better on their own rather than share space with nonprofits. It’s we who are at fault because we allowed this to happen.

 

The assumption is that nonprofits cannot scale

Scale is the new measure of ‘success’, where others find civil society wanting. Small, local and specialised civil society organisations are disappearing, and are not considered relevant in this new India which is in a hurry.

If one studies what has worked in the past, one realises that many, relatively small organisations have transformed the country. Consider MKSS, which started its work in a small village in Rajasthan, and even at its peak, worked largely in Rajasthan for the citizens’ right to information. That the RTI Act eventually became one of the most effective legislations by the state to hold itself accountable to its citizens, is a story of how impact is not necessarily a function of size.

We are constantly told by corporates and governments that we can’t scale. But then I reflect on what is it that a large corporate that has scaled typically does? They pick one slice of a human being’s life, for instance, the fact that people might like to drink cold sweet water in summer. It is one need—one would think a very unhealthy need but nevertheless a need. And then a multi-billion-dollar soft drink industry gets created around this need. You serve nothing; in fact, you take a poor man’s good water and convert it into this sweet water and charge him INR 20 for it. That is your net value addition to society. So that is all you know. To understand one very small slice of a human being’s need and address it.

Now compare that to what civil society is trying to do. We are trying to transform the conditions in which human beings live. This is dramatically different from creating a market for one small need of an individual.

It’s easy to scale a product that is uni-dimensional, serves a very specific micro-need, to which you can throw a ton of resources—money, talent, technology. But can you do it when it involves changing entrenched social norms across all aspects of a person’s life and livelihood?

The problem is while we in the sector might know how to do some of this, we don’t know how to articulate it and how to measure it.

And because we haven’t articulated it, we cannot argue for resources, for space, for anything really.

 

Even if the state hasn’t failed, we will always need civil society

Civil society is that critical third pillar of the samaj-sarkar-bazaar (society-government-market) triangle. Without it, no society can function. Even in most successful countries across the world there will always be people who are marginalised, and issues that are not on government or company radars.

There will always be a human problem which the market will never take up and the state will not realise either, because it is too buried, or too out there in the future. Even in its best form, the government is not designed to look at these things. And countries that have a majoritarian democracy will ignore those who are not a part of their majority. It’s a design problem.

So, who will look out for these people, who will help change entrenched social norms, who will build awareness of issues that matter?

 

Apoorva Oza is the chief executive officer of Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (India). He is also actively involved in founding and supporting nonprofits and nonprofit networks, as well as influencing government policy. A mechanical engineer with a diploma in rural management from the Institute of Rural Management, Anand, he has also completed courses from Cranford University, United Kingdom, and Cornell University, USA.

 

This story was originally published by India Development Review (IDR)

 

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By Michael Lim Mah Hui and Jomo Kwame Sundaram
PENANG and KUALA LUMPUR, Jun 4 2019 (IPS)

Finance has not stopped at dominating the real economy. The tentacles of finance have reached into significant, if not most parts of society.

Gerald Davis characterises modern society, where finance is dominant, as a ‘portfolio society’, in which aspects of social life have been securitized and transformed into a kind of capital or investment to be managed.

Michael Lim Mah Hui

Social insurance
One area that affects many is ‘social insurance’, with state-organized social protection being replaced by market options for individuals. US social security was introduced as part of Roosevelt’s New Deal to provide adequate economic protection to workers after retirement.

This program has been compulsory, universal, and managed by the state. This was often supplemented by private pension funds provided and managed by companies for their workers.

Under President Reagan, the ‘401K’ was introduced in 1981 to allow and encourage employees to manage their own retirement funds and plans. Companies were only too happy to replace their pension plans with 401K as many had unfunded pension liabilities.

The responsibility of investment and management of retirement funds now rests with employees, most of whom are poorly equipped to do consistently well with their market investments. Asset management funds have since mushroomed, with some becoming big business.

Housing
Two other areas where financialization has penetrated social life through securitization are housing and education, with illiquid assets transformed into liquid ones to be bought and sold.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

Thus, financialization has sought to marketize all products and services. Banks are supposed to provide credit for the wheels of industry and trade. But more and more banks have moved away from this to instead provide credit for personal consumption and investment or speculation.

Financing home mortgages is big money. Bank lending to the property sector in developed economies accounts for between 60% to 70% of total credit. Traditionally, banks provide collateralized long-term loans to finance housing. These loans sit on the books of banks until the mortgages are paid off.

Financial innovation
From the 1980s, with financial liberalization and deregulation, ‘innovative’ new products were introduced, with the most impactful being loan securitization. Illiquid bank loans were consolidated and packaged as securities to be traded, making illiquid assets liquid.

Banks could then sell off these securities to investors, thus reducing illiquid assets on their balance sheets and freeing up capital to book more loans to be repackaged and sold off. This process can be repeated ad infinitum.

Non-market finance has thus been transformed into market-based financing involving ‘slicing and dicing’. One option to increase profitability is by ‘slicing’ loans by credit quality into tranches to be sold to investors with different risk appetites.

In this structure, loans with weaker credit quality are mixed with better ones before ‘dicing’ them to be sold on, betting that defaults will only be limited to tranches with weaker credit ratings and by understating the problem of contagion. All these became known as collateralized debt obligations (CDOs)

In other words, ethereal financial products with weak or vague links to actual underlying assets have been created. CDOs have been used as underlying assets, and even repackaged for the next level of CDOs, referred to as CDO2, or CDO-squared, and after another round, as CDO3.

The CDOs business soon proved lucrative and quickly became popular. The total volume worldwide increased 23-fold in eight years from US$23 billion in 2000 to US$544 billion in 2007, when they imploded; the rest is history.

Besides CDOs, there are credit default swaps (CDSs). These CDSs are ostensibly innovative new forms of insurance written by financial institutions and sold to buyers who take a different view of the default risk of the CDOs. For an investment banker, it is all about “taking a view”, i.e., betting on a financial product that has been created.

Human ‘capital’
The same story goes for education once principally provided by the state to all citizens, often free of charge at elementary and secondary levels, and sometimes or partly at tertiary level. But more and more education is now seen as ‘human capital investment’.

With cutbacks in state funding, expansion of private schools, and fee escalation, education has become an expensive investment, with many forced to take student loans. Student loans form the second largest category of loans just behind housing mortgages. This again offers opportunities for profit making.

Many student loans have been securitized into student loan asset-backed securities (called SLABS) to be traded. In 2019, total US student debt amounted to US$1.5 trillion involving 44 million borrowers. The average US college student now has US$34,000 debt hanging over his or her head.

Dr Michael LIM Mah Hui has been a university professor and banker, in the private sector and with the Asian Development Bank.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram, a former economics professor, was United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development, and received the Wassily Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought.

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Rhoda, 23, speaking on behalf of her community, at the Joint Parliamentarian Committee meeting in Kasungu, Malawi. This work was made possible with UK aid from the British people. Credit: WaterAid/Dennis Lupenga

By Mercy Masoo
LILONGWE, Malawi, Jun 4 2019 (IPS)

Giving birth is a life changing moment for women. It can be – when women have a safe and caring environment, positive and empowering – a moment to find a previously untapped inner strength.

But for too many women around the world, a lack of basic facilities mean that their lives and those of their babies are put at risk, risking death when they are bringing life into the world.

My fellow Malawian Rhoda, from Kasungu used her own lifechanging birth experience to help fight for the lives of future mothers and babies.

She was one of the women who bravely stood up and delivered an emotional speech at a community gathering attended by local politicians about her experience of giving birth on a roadside during the 25 kilometre walk to her nearest health centre.

Through co-ordinated advocacy, Rhoda and women like her succeeded in making their voices heard and convinced their elected representatives to dedicate resources to open a local hospital in their area.

She is one of a growing number of women who together are claiming their right to health and commit to challenging the status quo. With this growing momentum, things can really change for the better.

Rhoda said: “My experience giving birth on the way to the hospital was the last straw that made us demand this health centre. It was a frightening experience. We told the Member of Parliament that we were tired of empty promises. It was time to deliver.”

Rhoda’s experience could have so easily seen her join the heartbreaking maternal death statistics of Malawi where, 634 women die during or after birth for every 100 000 babies born alive. This is nearly three times the global average of 216 maternal deaths for every 100,000 live births.

Mercy Masoo, WaterAid Malawi Country Director at the Joint Parliamentarian Committee meeting with the people of Kapyanga, Kasungu, Malawi. Credit: WaterAid/Dennis Lupenga

Fortunately, both survived the traumatic, dangerous and undignified experience but many others who also have to give birth in unhygienic conditions are not so lucky. Even those who manage to reach a midwife and a healthcare facility often face appalling infection risks.

Recent UNICEF-WHO data showed that 45% of healthcare facilities in least-developed countries (LDCs) do not have a source of clean water on site. Without clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene, it’s impossible for medical staff to deliver quality care.

A lack of these necessities results in the lives of patients being put in danger and contributes not only to the spread of diseases but also the rise of drug-resistant infections as more antibiotics are needed to battle illnesses that good hygiene might have prevented.

Life is changing for many communities here in Malawi as more and more raise their voices, share their experiences of hardship and discrimination with those in power and demand provision of basic needs such as accessible health centres with clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene.

Shockingly, one in nine people around the world still don’t have access to clean water close to home and one in three don’t have a decent toilet of their own. It is no secret that in areas where water is scarce it’s nearly always women and girls who face the hardship of walking long distances to collect what little water they can find.

A situation that makes them miss out on education and economic opportunities, and sometimes leaves them at risk of sexual assault and harassment. I know it’s possible for these shocking statistics to be turned around.

We need to hear women’s voices calling for water and sanitation in part because not having these basic rights disproportionately impacts women and girls

Without toilets, women’s freedom and dignity is compromised. Many spend their days worrying about where they will be able to find a toilet, often resorting to the bush or waste ground.

That is why, this week, WaterAid is joining with over 8,000 others at the Women Deliver conference in Vancouver. We want governments, the corporate sector and civil society to know that the voices and lives of women and girls matter.

We can’t and won’t achieve gender equality without addressing the lack of access to the basic human right that is water, sanitation and hygiene which millions of women and girls face worldwide.

Women like Rhoda are shining examples. And it is my hope that we will see more and more women standing in their power and advocating for their rights, despite unspeakable difficulty. Because when women and girls are given an active role in decision-making, transformation happens.

The post We Won’t Achieve Gender Equality Until We Address the Lack of Water, Sanitation & Hygiene appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Mercy Masoo is Country Director, WaterAid Malawi

The post We Won’t Achieve Gender Equality Until We Address the Lack of Water, Sanitation & Hygiene appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Roberto Savio
ROME, Jun 3 2019 (IPS)

The terrible feeling I had on waking up and seeing the Italian voting results at the recent European elections was that my country was suddenly full of strangers. How could the majority of Italians reconfirm a government which has been the most inefficient in history, quarrelling on everything every single day and looking with total indifference to the looming problem of how to establish the next budget without clashing with the European Union or squeezing Italian citizens? Its irresponsible debate on the Italian finances has now led to a spread (difference of value) of 290 points with the Germans.

Roberto Savio

What is more, the results have rewarded Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, who has spent a grand total of 17 days in nearly a year in his office (not of a marginal ministry … should it now be abolished?) and all the rest in an electoral campaign? Well, Italians doubled his votes, from 17% to 34%, while halving those of messy government partners the 5 Star Movement (whose leader Luigi Di Maio came to the post of Deputy Prime Minister with the only a job on his CV that of steward at the Naples football stadium). What has Salvini done concretely, beside blocking ports to immigrants, displaying rosaries, bible and crucifix in rallies, and mimicking Mussolini’s body language?

Then, of course, you realize that Salvini is not alone, and that probably my generation, which is based on the values enshrined in the Constitution (solidarity, social justice, equity, peace and international cooperation) is unable to understand today’s times. On October 31, 2017, Corriere del Trentino published an interview in which I claimed that we needed populists in government in Europe as soon as possible, so it would soon become evident that while their denunciations are correct, they would have no answer to the problems. And when the interviewer observed that the next elections to come were the Italian elections, I replied that as an Italian I was sad, but as a European I was happy, because the Italian populists would fail miserably.

Well, under normal logic, they have failed. The chaotic government has realised few points of its programme, and Italy is the European country close to 0% growth. But the majority of the Italian population has seen things otherwise … so this opens up a crucial question.

Those who are fighting for democracy (look at Poland and Hungary with the progressive elimination of checks and balances, courts, media, teaching system, etc.); for transparency and accountability (think of US President Donald Trump’s refusal to disclose his tax declarations); for social justice (today just 80 billionaires own as much as 2.3 billion people), peace (the arms race reached an unprecedented 1.7 trillion dollars in 2018), and so on, do they really understand why we are becoming a minority in many countries and globally?

Looking at Trump’s very probable re-election, at Marine Le Pen’s gains over Emmanuel Macron in France, are we sure that we understand the new politics, and that we can provide a valid answer? The question is all the more important because the tide is impressive. In the wings behind those in power (the Trumps, Orbans, Kaczynskis, Erdogans, Putins, Salvinis, Bolsonaros, Dutertes and so on) are those in waiting (like Marine Le Pen, Geert Wilders, Jussi Halla-aho and so on).

Of course, all those respond to different realities. If we call the new wave nationalists, we should then add Narendra Modi, Shinz? Abe, Xi Jinping and the very large majority of the world’s citizens.

But, at least in Europe, they call themselves sovereigntists. This makes it easier to understand them, as they basically share a number of points: a) nationalism, tinged with racism); b) xenophobia, within which they include minorities and LBGTs); c) use of moral superiority to depict the adversary as an enemy of the people, whom they represent; d) fight against any international treaty and structure, which they claim have taken away the sovereignty of their country; and e) echoing Trump: my country first. So, the fight is not between left and right, it is between those who are for their nation and those who are associated with globalisation.

This, by the way, is a gross manipulation. Nations are the basis on which we build international relations and are the basis for our identity. Nationalism is an extremism built on a legitimate concept. And the principles on which United Nations, for instance, was built was the concept of development, which is exactly the opposite of globalisation; the concept and strategy for eliminating national sovereignty to make the maximum use of free flow of capitals and investments and support the transnational system. Development was a concept based on the idea that, in the end, everybody taking part in it was going to be more: globalisation on the idea that, in the end, everybody would have more.

A world in which the cost of advertising per capita surpass that of education, and the financial system reaches volumes 40 times superior to those of production of good and services, is a world clearly against the concept of development. To have fiscal paradises with at least 40 trillion dollars, whose taxes – if paid to nations – would be more than the total cost of all long-term programmes of the United Nations, clearly does not fit with sovereigntism.

And let us also remember that before the economic crisis of 2008, created by a corrupt banking system, there were no sovereigntist parties in sight anywhere, except for that of Le Pen in France. Yet, the new political system has hardly fought against the dramatic power of finance: Trump’s first year of government had a cabinet with the largest participation of bankers in American history (later replaced by military figures).

But we have no space here for a conceptual debate. Just let us call the attention to the fact that voters seem to have reached a point where they disregard the most basic element of political action: do not trust those who have lied to you, regardless of any political inclination. I will take just three examples: Italy, Great Britain and Lithuania.

As already said, Italy is now in recession, with no growth in sight. The government has already tried to ignore the limit imposed by the European Commission that deficits should not surpass 3% of the budget deficit. This was in fact imposed by the Council of Ministers. It is worth recalling that the Council, formed by governments, is the body which takes the decisions, which are left to the European Commission to implement. The European Parliament was created to introduce the much-needed principle of checks and balances. But politicians from every side conveniently presented unpopular measures and law that they approved in the Council’s meeting as coming from the Commission.

Salvini and Di Maio have already had to make an ignominious retreat and cut the deficit of the Italian budget after trying to force the Commission to accept an unbalanced budget. Now Salvini claims that, siding with the other European sovereigntists, he will force the Commission to change the rules, to accept the next Italian budget, which ignores not economics but mathematics.

There was a recent TV debate between the recently appointed Deputy Minister of the Economy Laura Castelli, a young business administration graduate, and Carlo Padoan, a respected economist, university professor, member of the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank, the European Commission and the World Bank. When Castelli said that she would not fear it if the spread between Italy and Germany continued growing because that had no impact on the real economy and the growth of interest on the enormous Italian debt, a startled Padoan tried to correct her. After a while, the moderator tried to change the subject, observing that Padoan was a world authority on the subject. Castelli’s answer was emblematic of the distrust of the New Politicians with the elites: Why? Because he has studied more, does that mean he knows more than me?

Well, it seems Italians trust Castelli more than Padoan. After the elections, Salvini announced that he is going to allocate 30 billion euro for tax reductions, a clear gift to the northern Italy’s business sector. That means find at least 80 billion euro of income for the next budget. This is clearly impossible, without an increase in taxes and a serious cut in current expenses. As usual, education, research and health will be affected, unless the European Union agrees that the 3% rule be put aside.

Well, here is an easy prediction: Salvini will find out that his fellow travelling companions, the sovereigntists of Austria, the Netherlands, the Nordic countries, the countries of Eastern and Central Europe, not to forget Germany, will not agree to put their money to save the Italian budget. Will that show Italians that living in mythologies instead of realities is not helpful?

Salvini won on the fear of immigration. Well, according to the United Nations, the Italian population has been in decline since 2015. Last year, it lost 160,000 people, and projections say it will lose 1.8 million people by 2025. Italy now has 5 million foreigners, which includes 500,000 students, Italians born of foreign parents. There are an estimated 670,000 illegal foreigners, against whom Salvini took no real action: his winning electoral card was to close ports to immigrants. Yet, under the previous government, immigration was as low as 119,000 people in 2017 and 20,120 at mid-September 2018. Immigrants make up 7.5% of the total Italian population, which was estimated at 59.9 million (of which 71.8% urban) in 2018. According to the official statistics, Italy has 1,673 deaths per day and 1.353 births … and 22% are 65 or over, with only 13.5% under 15.

African and Arab immigrants account for 1.5% of the Italian population, and 2.5% are Europeans. Yet, according to a poll, Italians think that immigrants make up between 15 and 25% of the population. And they believe that the large majority are Muslim, when they are orthodox.

Clearly, without immigration, the Italian economy and the pension system are not viable. But this is unacceptable to say … and it does not help to say that in Japan, the country where identity and culture are defended as untouchable, the aging population and loss of productivity has obliged Abe to accept 230,000 immigrants this year.

The second example is Great Britain, home of the mother of parliaments, considered a politically civilised country. Well, everybody knows the Brexit saga. But what is impressive is that in the recent European elections Nigel Farage won more votes than the Conservative and Labour parties together. He created the Brexit Party just six months ago. He was fundamental in forcing the famous Brexit referendum in 2016. That referendum was based on much clearly false information, and Farage admitted so after winning. Among them, one made by Farage was that 76 million Turks were joining Europe and would invade Great Britain: Turkey has no chance of joining the European Union. Boris Johnson claimed that every week Great Britain was giving the European Union 350 million euro, which should go instead to reinforcing the country’s National Health Service: another figure that was so false he is being brought to court. The British gave Farage 31.6% of the votes (Labour 14.1% and Conservatives 9.1%) and Boris Johnson is in pole position to be the next Prime Minister. Of course, there are many explanations for that, but all exclude any consideration of the eligibility of proven liars.

The third example is Lithuania, which had general elections just before the European elections. Lithuania had 3.7 million people at the end of the Soviet Union. By 2018 this was down to 2 million because of steady emigration, especially by young people. The Farmers and Greens Union party brandished the anti-immigration flag and won easily. Last year, the “invasion” was in fact of 54.000 people, of whom 69% were returning Lithuanians. Of the real immigrants, all basically from Eastern and Central Europe, the Arab-Africans were a grand total of 208, of whom 120 have already left the country. As an excuse for the Lithuanians, we can say that they have a history of invasions, repression and resistance, and identity is a strong feeling, like elsewhere in Eastern and Central Europe.

By the way, eastern Germany is the heartland of the extreme Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) and it has few immigrants, unlike western Germany where the AfD did poorly). But, from any logical viewpoint, it is hard to believe that feelings and not reality could play such primary role. Of course, there are many difficult questions. Look at Ukraine, where 73% of the voters elected an untested comedian, Volodymyr Zelenksy. That shows that feelings are in fact reality. But then why in the United States, cradle of feminism, were 43% of Trump’s voters women, who elected a clear champion of misogyny and a well-known womaniser?

In other words, reality is no longer a factor in elections. Other factors like feelings are more important. And while we have no space to present a serious analysis of this, let us just offer some considerations on which to reflect.

1) Historians agree that greed and fear are probably the most important elements of change. If that is so, let us remember that with the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and ideologies declared dead, the winners introduced globalisation as the route for which there were no alternatives (TINA, Margaret Thatcher). This was embedded in the so-called Washington Consensus, which reduced the role of the State as much as possible to give free way to the movement of capital. Social costs were considered unproductive, then came elimination of the difference between deposit banks and investment banks (Clinton 1999), which gave birth to the finance that we now suffer from. Among other changes for unregulated greed, let us not forget Tony Blair’s Third Way, an acceptance of globalisation from the left, to give to it a human face and make it less damaging. The result has been a separation of the European left from its base, and the progressive disappearance of a value-based debate, which put humans at its centre, in favour of the new values: competition, individual success, wealth as the basis of social relations, markets as the centre of the international relations.

2) That was accompanied by a decline of multilateralism, peace and international cooperation. The United States was the main engine for the creation of the United Nations, with an engagement to provide its headquarters and pay 25% of the budget. But, in 1981, Ronald Reagan took a distance, declaring that his country could not accept having one vote like others, and it would not accept binding resolutions from a majority of smaller countries. And then Trump came with the last straw, with the ‘America First’ campaign, which means in fact ‘America Alone’, preaching that the United States had no friends or allies to limit its action. This was the final act against multilateralism.

3) In 2008, a world economic crisis spread worldwide from the US banking system, creating a wave of fear, unemployment, reduction in salaries, loss of jobs and precarity that the political system was largely unable to address because its global dimension went beyond national capacity of response, accompanied by a sharp decline in political competence. This was accompanied by a rise in corruption, as politics became short-term and directed towards administrative problems, without any ideological framework.

4) Trump has created a ripple situation, with the New Right (or Alternative Right, as Steve Bannon calls it), free from the moral and ethical considerations that emerged from the Second World War. The New Right can conduct politics based on greed, and much more fear, using immigrants and minorities as the enemy to fight, for defending national identities and histories. This narrative has created new divides: rural against urban, elite the enemy of real people, any international agreement as a straitjacket of the nation, recovery of a glorious past as the basis for the future. Trump has legitimised behaviour previously considered unacceptable, and during his very probable second term he will change even more the world that we have created from the ruins of the Second World War.

5) Internet has gone wrong. Instead of being the new instrument for horizontal communication and sharing, it has become a creator of fragmented and virtual worlds, where people group along partisan lines, no longer exchange views and ideas. It is an arena for insults and hate, run by false identities with fake news, and where citizens are sold as consumers by a number of logarithms, based on maximisation of profit. It has created the largest fortunes in human history, multibillionaires who do not feel accountable to social values and interests. This has helped to create the loss of quality in the political debate, and the use of feelings and guts, instead of political rationality. Trump has 60 million followers on Twitter, more than all American media combined. They do not buy newspapers, and believe whatever Trump says. This will lead to his re-election, unless some serious blunder occurs, but with the bar of tolerance being raised continuously.

Let us stop here. There are, of course, many more points of reflections. But whatever reflection we make, let us remember that political ideas come and go in history. Certainly, sovereigntism is not as structured as communism or fascism. It was normal for politicians to write books. Now, Trump even brags that he does not read them, to avoid having his ideas influenced. The New Right is basically content free, although expert in mobilising people’s feelings. So, this wave will also finish.

The question is: will humankind be able to create a values-based political system again? And, before that happens, will the New Right with its extreme nationalism lead to wars and blood? Looking at the mobilisation on climate change, led by a young girl from Sweden, a winning card in the European elections, there are reasons for hope (but now climate change has become a left-wing issue).

We face a dramatic risk: if we fail, once the mythology of sovereigntism collapses in the face of an unsolved dramatic reality, people who have lost hope and trust in politics will tend to look for the way out of chaos in a Man of Providence, as Pope Pius XI called Benito Mussolini.

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.

The post The World Has Lost Its Compass appeared first on Inter Press Service.

A demonstrator in Buenos Aires wears a T-shirt with the slogan "my body, my rights," one of the slogans of the so-called green tide - the colour adopted by the movement for the legalisation of abortion, which is beginning to spread to other Latin American countries. Credit: Fabiana Frayssinet/IPS

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 3 2019 (IPS)

Abortion has long been a contentious issue across the world, and the debate is only heating up, prompting women to stand up and speak out for their reproductive rights.

In response to increasingly restrictive policies, civil society is taking action to help protect abortion rights.

“The failure of states to guarantee reproductive rights is a clear violation of human rights,” said President and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) Nancy Northup.

“The centre is committed to using the power of law to ensure that women and girls…are guaranteed access to sexual and reproductive health rights and services,” she added.

Human Rights Watch’s Senior Researcher Margaret Wurth echoed similar sentiments, stating: “No rape survivor should be forced into motherhood without the chance to consider a safe and legal abortion.”

Girls, Not Mothers

Latin American countries have some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world. For instance, Nicaragua has a complete ban on abortion while Guatemala has an exception only when a girl or woman’s life is at risk.

Though the risk of maternal mortality increases when pregnancies occur in girls younger than 14, still many girls are forced to give birth.

According to CRR, over 2,200 girls between the age of 10 and 14 gave birth in 2018 in Guatemala.

In Nicaragua, eight of 10 sexual violence survivors are girls under 13 and the country has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Latin America with 28 percent of women giving birth before the age of 18.

Fatima was only 12 years old when she became pregnant after being raped by a man in her community in Guatemala. Though the pregnancy was risky, health care providers never offered her a legal abortion.

After more than a year of abuse by her priest, Lucia became pregnant at the age of 13 in Nicaragua.

Fatima and Lucia are now young women and two of four women who have brought their cases to the United Nations Human Rights Committee with the support of organisations such as CRR and Planned Parenthood Global in order to seek justice and demand access to safe and legal abortion.

“Too many young girls in Latin America, and around the world, have been put in situations that threaten their rights and put their lives at risk because they are not able to access abortion care,” said head of Planned Parenthood Global Leana Wen.

“Forcing young girls to continue a pregnancy no matter their circumstances or wants, is not only cruel, but will have devastating impacts for them, their families, and their communities,” she added.

People around the world have since showed solidarity the four women, posting #NinasNoMadres—they are girls, not mothers.

U.S. regresses

Access to abortion has also become a point of contention in the United States as a total of 27 bans have been enacted across 12 states so far in 2019.

Most recently, Louisiana signed a bill banning abortions once a heartbeat is detectable, known as a “heartbeat bill.”

A foetal heartbeat can occur as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, often before many women know they’re even pregnant. The legislation does not include exceptions for rape or incest.

If the bill becomes law, any doctor who performs an abortion could face imprisonment for one to 10 years and/or a fine ranging from 10,000 to 100,000 dollars. 

Missouri has passed a similar bill with a penalty of up to 15 years in prison and the loss of a doctor’s professional license.

Missouri’s last and only abortion clinic was expected to close on Friday, but a judge granted a restraining order that temporarily allowed the clinic to continue. If the clinic had closed, Missouri would have been the first state in 45 years without access to abortion.

While abortion is still legal at the federal level, such moves threaten safe, accessible and affordable abortion care across the country.

“We are very concerned that several U.S. states have passed laws severely restricting access to safe abortion for women, including by imposing criminal penalties on the women themselves and on abortion service providers,” said UN human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani.

“We are calling on the United States and all other countries to ensure that women have access to safe abortions. At an absolute minimum, in cases of rape, incest and foetal anomaly, there needs to be safe access to abortions,” she added.

Not only does a complete ban on abortion drive women and girls to seek unsafe “back street” methods of termination, but a study found that women and girls are also more likely to experience short-term anxiety and loss of self-esteem, economic insecurity and poverty, and continued exposure to intimate partner violence.

But there is hope yet.

Organisations such as the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal have filed lawsuits to help protect abortion rights in the U.S.

And the UN can play a role globally too.

In 2001, a 17-year-old Peruvian girl know only as K.L. was denied an abortion after being diagnosed as having a foetus with anencephaly at 14 weeks.

The refusal had serious mental and physical consequences on her health as she was forced to continue her pregnancy and her baby, once born, only survived four days.

Working with human rights lawyers, K.L. filed a complaint with the UN Human Rights Committee, which concluded that Peru violated international human rights law and its actions constituted “cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.”

It was the first time a UN Committee held a country accountable for failing to ensure access to safe, legal abortion.

The committee also ordered financial compensation to K.L, who finally received it a decade later in 2015.

“In seeing justice delivered in K.L.’s case—watching it go from A to Z—we are part of an inspiring historic moment,” said Lilian Sepúlveda who directs CRR’s global legal programme and was one of the attorneys involved in the case.

“We are witnessing the results of advocates’ dedicated perseverance and the power of the UN and other international bodies to ensure our basic human rights to dignity, health, and freedom from ill-treatment,” she added.

Such efforts are more urgent than ever to ensure access to justice as well as safety and health for women and girls.

Related Articles

• The Fight for the Right to Abortion Spreads in Latin America Despite Politicians
• Draconian Ban on Abortion in El Salvador Targeted by Global Campaign
• Trump’s Global Gag a Devastating Blow for Women’s Rights

The post An Escalating War on Reproductive Rights appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Plant Biosecurity 'Champions' with facilitators in Brisbane this week for Crawford Fund Master Class in Communication after 4 weeks of biosecurity placements around the Australia.

By Caley Pigliucci
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 3 2019 (IPS)

The plant-life on the Pacific Islands is currently under threat as protections against diseases and pests are left in the hands of under-trained personnel with limited facilities.

Talei Fidow-Moors, the Principal Quarantine Officer at the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in Samoa, warned in a statement to IPS of an “increased potential of introducing regulated pests and diseases that pose a serious threat to agriculture, livelihood and fragile ecosystems.”

Plant biosecurity aims at protecting plants from these diseases and pests that non-native species bring into a region. The World Health Organization (WHO) calls biosecurity an “essential of sustainable agricultural development.”

Despite its importance, over a five-week training course with the Pacific Plant Biosecurity Partnership (PPBP) that finished on May 31, biosecurity ‘champions’ from countries across the Pacific Islands noted biological threats largely due to a lack in knowledge of biosecurity, which the training program attempted to begin to address.

IPS spoke with three biosecurity ‘champions’ from Kiribati, Samoa, and Vanuatu who were in training with the PPBP to increase biosecurity provisions.

Each representative identified a lack in knowledge as the main obstacle on the Pacific Islands that has thwarted attempts to achieve biosecurity aims.

The Pacific Islands have been experiencing an on-going increase in trade and tourism, but with this increase comes an increase in potential pests and diseases crossing the borders. These pests and diseases pose a serious threat to natural plant-life on the islands.

Tekataake Oromita, a representative from the Biosecurity and Plant Health Section of the Agriculture and Livestock Division of Kiribati told IPS that plant biosecurity is the “first line of defence against biological threat,” but one that often gets swept under the rug.

For Oromita, the main issue is in “the lack of appropriate facilities and specialised people in the Biosecurity field.”

Without proper training and facilities, the importing of diseases and pests becomes all too easy.

Sylvie Boulekouran, from the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Forestry, Fisheries and Biosecurity (MALFFB) in Vanuatu, told IPS that she worries that, “due to staff limited knowledge on inspection and early detection of weed seeds, imported machineries tend to enter the country without proper inspection.”

Boulekouran identified coconut rhinoceros beetles as a significant threat to biosecurity in Vanuatu.

The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in Vanuatu states that at least 75 percent of the population lives in rural areas and lists copra (dried kernels from coconuts) as the main cash crop of the region.

Coconut rhinoceros beetles cause damage to the palm trees that produce that cash-crop, and if not controlled, this could have severe effects for rural populations, and for the country’s economy as a whole.

She told IPS of her concern that combating coconut rhinoceros beetles and weeds proves difficult when “biosecurity Vanuatu plant health staff have limited skills and knowledge to carry out diagnostics and identification of pests intercepted at the Vanuatu borders.”

Not only are diagnostics difficult with limited training, but also with limited facilities.

Currently in Vanuatu, there are no facilities for identifying threats. Samples are sent to neighbouring countries like New Zealand, making the interception of pests and diseases time-consuming, and they often fail to do so quickly enough.

Oromita sees similar issues at the border of Kiribati.

She told IPS she would like to see “robust import conditions [that] will ensure that imported commodities are free from pest and diseases and enhance safe trade.”

She added that there is a need for “establishing and incorporate[ing] changes at borders to facilitate effective biosecurity inspection and identification of infested consignments.”

Adding to limited training and limited facilities is the major difficulty facing all three countries: climate change.

Climate change has been a constant difficulty for maintaining biosecurity in the region. In Samoa, increases in tropical cyclones and rising sea levels have added to food insecurity.

In Kiribati, Oromita noted that climate change makes plants even “more vulnerable to the impact of pest and diseases, hence threatening food security and the environment.”

With the forces of climate change bearing down on their countries, the representatives see a need to push for more training in identification of biosecurity threats, and more facilities with which to identify.

The representatives from the Pacific Islands all believe in the need for a conversation to take place at a global level about plant biosecurity.

Oromita said to IPS that at “an international level it would be helpful if we all take Biosecurity as [a] serious matter, whether we are making policies or providing financial grants.”

When asked by IPS what international bodies, like the United Nations, can be doing to help, Fidow-Moores replied: “The UN and its citizens can motivate countries of the world and people from all walks of life, providing everyone with a deeper understanding of nature, society, a better quality of life and a sustainable and healthy environment for present and future generations.”

But the representatives are not without hope.

While each biosecurity representative sees the difficulties in increasing provisions, they all return to their countries after the training session with optimistic minds.

Fidow-Moores told IPS: “It is a challenge which I believe is worth attempting to overcome, so as to exert positive changes for our small island nation.”

The post Limited Knowledge of Plant Biosecurity Increases Biological Threats appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Credit: Bigstock

By Baher Kamal
MADRID, Jun 3 2019 (IPS)

Perhaps the most direct way to introduce this tough issue is what the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, stated just one week ahead of the 5 June World Environment Day, which focuses this year on air pollution, caused chiefly by the use of fossil fuels both in transport, industry and even household cooking, heating, etc.

“Subsidising fossil fuels means spending taxpayers’ money to “boost hurricanes, to spread droughts, to melt glaciers, to bleach corals: to destroy the world,” the UN chief warned, adding that “We need to tax pollution, not people.” “End subsidies for fossil fuels.”

 

4.7 trillion dollars in global subsidies?

“Subsidising fossil fuels means spending taxpayers’ money to “boost hurricanes, to spread droughts, to melt glaciers, to bleach corals: to destroy the world,”

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres

A corporation that knows much about money –the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates that, globally, subsidies remained large at 4.7 trillion dollars (6.3 percent of global GDP) in 2015 and were projected at 5.2 trillion dollars (6.5 percent of GDP) in 2017.

Its 2 May 2019 Working Paper Global Fossil Fuel Subsidies Remain Large, updates estimates of fossil fuel subsidies, defined as fuel consumption times the gap between existing and efficient prices (i.e., prices warranted by supply costs, environmental costs, and revenue considerations), for 191 countries.

“The largest subsidisers in 2015 were China (1.4 trillion dollars), United States (649 billions), Russia (551 billions), European Union (289 billions), and India (209 billion dollars),” it reports.

And it adds that “about three quarters of global subsidies are due to domestic factors—energy pricing reform thus remains largely in countries own national interest—while coal and petroleum together account for 85 percent of global subsidies.”

For its part, the International Energy Agency (IEA) reports that the value of global fossil-fuel consumption subsidies in 2017 is estimated at more than 300 billion dollars, higher than the estimate for 2016, which was around 270 billions.

The Energy Agency also alerts that “higher oil prices led to a partial rebound in total subsidy value in 2017, but the 12% rise in subsidies was considerably less than the 25% rise in oil price.”

The IEA provides this breakdown:

•  In 2016, subsidies to electricity had overtaken those to oil, but in 2017 oil returned as the most heavily subsidised energy carrier.

• Oil subsidies accounted for 45% of the total, or nearly 137 billion dollars, covering an estimated 11% of global oil consumption.

• Natural gas subsidies were also significant, amounting to around 57 billion dollars, affecting the price paid for 23% of gas consumption.
• Coal subsides are relatively small, at 2 billion dollars in 2017.

 

The UK, Europe’s champion

Meantime, Sam Morgan on 15 January 2019 reported in EURACTIV.com that “the United Kingdom spends the most in the EU on subsidising fossil fuels, according to a new report by the European Commission, which also found that EU-wide payments have failed to decrease despite the bloc’s commitment to the Paris Agreement on climate change.”

“In 2016, the UK pumped more than 12 billion euro into fossil fuel support, closely followed by Germany, France, Italy and Spain. However, those countries actually then spent more on renewable energies like wind and solar than on coal, gas and oil.”

All in all, “fossil fuels enjoyed an estimated 55 billion euro in public funding across the EU, with the energy sector the biggest recipient, followed by the residential sector, industry and transport.”

 

Women and children are the primary victims of indoor air pollution in poor, rural areas of India. Credit: Athar Parvaiz/IPS

 

The air we breath

In addition to diverting such huge amounts of taxpayers’ money to sustain major causes of greenhouse gas emissions –at the very cost of devoting them to public health, education and vital social services– there is the dramatic fact that air pollution levels remain dangerously high in many parts of the world.

New data from the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that 9 out of 10 people breathe air containing high levels of pollutants.

Updated estimations reveal an alarming death toll of 7 million people every year caused by ambient (outdoor) and household air pollution, the world top specialised body reported ahead of the 5 June World Environment Day.

“Air pollution threatens us all, but the poorest and most marginalised people bear the brunt of the burden,” says Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO.

“It is unacceptable that over 3 billion people – most of them women and children – are still breathing deadly smoke every day from using polluting stoves and fuels in their homes. If we don’t take urgent action on air pollution, we will never come close to achieving sustainable development.”

 

Key findings

On this, the World Health Organization provides the following data:

• The highest ambient air pollution levels are in the Eastern Mediterranean Region and in South-East Asia, with annual mean levels often exceeding more than 5 times WHO limits, followed by low and middle-income cities in Africa and the Western Pacific.
• Africa and some of the Western Pacific region have a serious lack of air pollution data. For Africa, the database now contains PM measurements for more than twice as many cities as previous versions, however data was identified for only 8 of 47 countries in the region.
• Europe has the highest number of places reporting data.
• In general, ambient air pollution levels are lowest in high-income countries, particularly in Europe, the Americas and the Western Pacific. In cities of high-income countries in Europe, air pollution has been shown to lower average life expectancy by anywhere between 2 and 24 months, depending on pollution levels.

Add to all the above that UN Environment reports that 92 per cent of people worldwide do not breathe clean air, that air pollution costs the global economy 5 trillion dollars every year in welfare costs, and that ground-level ozone pollution is expected to reduce staple crop yields by 26 per cent by 2030.

 

Death

WHO also estimates that:

• Around 7 million people die every year from exposure to fine particles in polluted air that penetrate deep into the lungs and cardiovascular system, causing diseases including stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases and respiratory infections, including pneumonia.

• Ambient air pollution alone caused some 4.2 million deaths in 2016, while household air pollution from cooking with polluting fuels and technologies caused an estimated 3.8 million deaths in the same period, it explains.

• More than 90% of air pollution-related deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries, mainly in Asia and Africa, followed by low- and middle-income countries of the Eastern Mediterranean region, Europe and the Americas.

• Around 3 billion people – more than 40% of the world’s population – still do not have access to clean cooking fuels and technologies in their homes, the main source of household air pollution.

• Air pollution is a critical risk factor for non-communicable diseases, causing an estimated one-quarter (24%) of all adult deaths from heart disease, 25% from stroke, 43% from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and 29% from lung cancer.

 

 

Now, where does air pollution come from?

Regarding the major causes of air pollution, the United Nations reports that

• Household – The main source of household air pollution is the indoor burning of fossil fuels, wood and other biomass-based fuels to cook, heat and light homes. Around 3.8 million premature deaths are caused by indoor air pollution each year, the vast majority of them in the developing world.
• Industry – In many countries, energy production is a leading source of air pollution. Coal-burning power plants are a major contributor, while diesel generators are a growing concern in off-grid areas.
• Transport – The global transport sector accounts for almost one-quarter of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions and this proportion is rising. Transport emissions have been linked to nearly 400,000 premature deaths.
• Agriculture – There are two major sources of air pollution from agriculture: livestock, which produces methane and ammonia, and the burning of agricultural waste. Around 24 percent of all greenhouse gases emitted worldwide comes from agriculture, forestry and other land-use.
• Waste – Open waste burning and organic waste in landfills release harmful dioxins, furans, methane, and black carbon into the atmosphere. Globally, an estimated 40 percent of waste is openly burned.
• Other sources – Not all air pollution comes from human activity. Volcanic eruptions, dust storms and other natural processes also cause problems. Sand and dust storms are particularly concerning.

This scary information does not mean that taxpayers should stop contributing—everybody should continue doing it, sure.

But what about voting for those politicians who can hopefully show real, honest commitment to put an end to this mad practice of using public money to fund death?

 

Baher Kamal is Director and Editor of Human Wrongs Watch, where this article was originally published.

 

The post Watch Out: Your Money Is Being Used to Destroy the World! appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

How governments spend taxpayers money to subsidise fossil fuels that cause deadly air pollution – A reminder to mark 5 June World Environment Day.

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Minik, New York 1897.

By Jan Lundius
STOCKHOLM / ROME, Jun 3 2019 (IPS)

There are several means to make profitable use of other human beings, an endeavour that tends to turn others into tools by depriving them of their roots and self-respect. This happened in concentration – and work camps, where individuals were reduced to mere numbers.

Another form of objectification of fellow human beings has been to gain money by exhibiting them to paying audiences. The fate of Ota Benga is an example of this. He was a Mbuti man who in 1904, together with other “primitive people”, was exhibited at the Lousiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis and later in the Monkey House at Bronx´s Zoo in New York. Ota Benga had by the missionary Samuel Phillips Verner been purchased from slave-traders in the Belgian Congo, while Verner was searching for “exotic Africans” to be exhibited in St. Louis.

After newspapers had exposed the mistreatment of Mr. Benga, he was after six years released from the zoo. A supervisor of the Howard Colored Orphan Asylum in Brooklyn arranged to have Benga´s filed teeth capped while providing him with basic education and ”decent” clothes. Benga planned to return to his Congolese home, though when the outbreak of World War I ended cross-Atlantic passenger traffic, Benga did at the age of 32 build a ceremonial fire, chipped off the caps on his teeth and shot himself in the heart with a stolen pistol.1 By the beginning of the last century, Benga´s tragic fate was far from unique, people like him were brought from other continents to be exhibited at museums, circuses, and fairs. During the last decades, several books and movies have paid attention to some of these unfortunate individuals.

One example is the French film Black Venus from 2010. Directed by Abdellatif Kechiche it tells the true story of Sara Baartman, a Khoikhoi woman from South Africa who in the early 19th century was exhibited in several European countries. At that time, as well as after her death when her skeleton and a painted plaster model of her naked body until 1974 were exhibited at Musée de l´Homme in Paris, Ms. Baartman has figured in novels, poems, and artworks. She suffered from steatopygia, abnormally big buttocks, as well as protruding genitals. When she was exposed naked, both alive and as a plaster model, Sara was presented as a representative of the ”abnormality” and ”hypersexuality” of the ”black race”, an outcome of its ”unique physique”. Ms. Baartman died from ”inflammation” at the age of 25. 2

Another representative of abused indigenous people is Minik, who seven years old together with his father Qisuk and four other Inghuits, in 1897 by the US explorer Robert Peary were brought from the village of Uummannaq in northern Greenland to New York, to be exhibited at shows and at the American Museum of Natural History. However, all of them soon died of tuberculosis, except for one man who succeeded to return to Greenland and Minik who was forced to remain in New York.

Minik suffered from his father´s death and pleaded for a proper Inghuit burial. For the benefit of Minik, the museum staff staged a fake burial. Unknown to Minik the coffin had been filled with stones, while his father´s corpse was de-fleshed, his skeleton mounted and publicly displayed together with painted, plaster models. Through his classmates, Minik found out that his father´s skeleton was exposed together with casts of his and his father´s naked bodies. The press got hold of the story and after almost ten years in New York, Minik was brought back to Uummannaq. He had by then forgotten his mother language and much of Inghuit culture and skills. In spite of being welcomed by his people, reintegrated in their culture and becoming a skilled hunter, Minik never felt at home. In 1916 he returned to New York, where he after a few months died of pneumonia.3

Minik had been kept in New York under the pretext of acculturation, a process of social, psychological and cultural change through which a dominant society incorporates individuals from a differing culture. Forced assimilation remains a common violation of minority rights.

A Danish movie, premiering the same year as Black Venus – The Experiment by Lousie Friedberg – deals with the perils of acculturation. In 1951, with the intention of transforming them into “small Danes” by adapting them to “modern” society, Danish colonial authorities removed twenty-two, six to eight years old Inuit children from their parents. The children were “relocated” to Denmark and the movie follows their fate as they lose their original language and culture, while suffering the trauma of being separated from their families. More than half of them died before reaching adulthood.

There are several examples of such tragedies, disguised as benevolent efforts to secure a bright future for “native” children, one was the Canadian Indian residential school system, a network of boarding schools administered by Christain churches. During its hundred years of existence (1869 to mid-1960s) 30 percent of Canada´s indigenous children, around 150,000 individuals, were separated from their parents and placed in residential schools. Due to incomplete historical records, the number of school-related deaths remains unknown, though estimates range from 3,200 upwards of 6,000. 4

Acculturation has occurred in the other direction as well. Children and youngsters captured during raids by Native American warriors quite often received the name of a deceased member of their captor´s tribe, receiving his/her social status while becoming a member of the deceased person´s family. White settlers became astonished to find that “rescued” captives often preferred to return to their captors. In 1753, Benjamin Franklin observed:

… when white persons of either sex have been taken prisoners young by the Indians, and lived a while among them, though ransomed by their Friends, and treated with all imaginable tenderness to prevail with them, to stay among the English, yet in a Short time they become disgusted with our manner of life, and the care and pains that are necessary to support it, and take the first good Opportunity of escaping again into the Woods, from whence there is no reclaiming them. 5

Captivity Narratives soon became a sub-genre of American biographies, novels and movies. The phenomenon of settlers preferring to remain with their captors is as old as the first encounters between Westerners and Indigenous people.6 In his magnificent eye-witness account of Hernán Cortés´s conquest of México, the Spanish soldier Bernal Díaz del Castillo described a meeting between the priest Jerónimo de Aguilar and the former sailor Gonzalo Guerrero.

Eight years before the arrival of Western warriors these two men had been shipwrecked on the Mayan coast of México. Other members of their crew were almost immediately ritually sacrificed, while de Aguilar and Guerrero escaped. After being re-captured, they were instead of being sacrificed turned into slaves. de Aguilar kept his faith and remained a slave, while Guerrero became a ”war leader” in the service of Nachan Can, Lord of Chactemal and married his daughter, Zazil. When Cortés heard about the two Spaniards he paid ransom for them. His Mayan owner freed de Aguilar, who joined the Spanish troops, becoming their translator. When he arrived among the Spaniards, de Aguilar told Cortés that he had failed to persuade Guerrero to join him. Guerreo, who was not a slave, had answered his friend:

Brother Aguilar, I am married and have three children, and they look on me as a Cacique [lord] here, and a captain in time of war. Go, and God´s blessing be with you. But my face is tattooed and my ears are pierced. What would the Spaniards say about me if they saw me like this? And look how handsome these children of mine are. 7

Cortés soon learned that Guerrero led Mayan warriors in attacks on Spanish troops and he eventually died fighting his former compatriots. Guerrero´s story is proof of the fact that you are at home where you feel you belong and that no one can force such a feeling upon you.

1 Newkirk, Pamela (2015). Spectacle: The Astonishing Life of Ota Benga. New York: Amistad.
2 Crais, Clifton and Pamela Scully (2009) Sara Baartman and the Hottentot Venus. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press. It was common that indigenous individuals, brought from isolated areas to big cites in the US and Europe, died from contagious diseaes.
3 Cruchaudet, Chloé (2008). Groënland Manhattan. Paris: Delcourt.
4 Réaume, Denise G. and Patrick Macklem (1994) Education for Subordination: Redressing the Adverse Effects of Residential Schooling. Toronto: University of Toronto.
5 Isaacson, Walter (2005) A Benjamin Franklin Reader. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 157.
6 Turner III, Frederick W. (1977) The Portable North American Indian Reader. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, pp. 310-311.
7 Díaz, Bernal (1965) The Conquest of New Spain. Harmondsworth; Penguin Classics. p. 65

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 Exploitation and Acculturation appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

And it really doesn't matter if I'm wrong, or I'm right.
Where I belong I'm right,
where I belong.
                                           The Beatles: Fixing a hole

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Siva Sivapragasam is Executive Editor, Toronto-based ”Monsoon Journal”

By Siva Sivapragasam
TORONTO, Jun 3 2019 (IPS)

The boy who sold tea at railway platforms for a living has become the Prime Minister of world’s largest democracy for the second time. Narendra Dhamodaradas Modi, incumbent Prime Minister and leader of the BJP secured a second chance to be the Prime Minister at Indian elections which took place recently. The election was perhaps the largest held in any part of the world with 39 days of polling and involving as many as 900 million voters.

Narendra Dhamodaradas Modi

As the counting was nearing its end, it was crystal clear that Modi’s BJP and its allies were heading for a landslide victory and expected to have a clear majority in the Lok Sabha

Modi expressed confidence that the BJP victory was the common man’s victory. In his victory speech, he remarked that the win was “a guarantee of a bright future for the common people of this country. I want to bow my head before the 1.3 billion people of this country. This election was fought by the people. If anyone has won, it is India. We dedicate this victory to the people of India.”

Economic issues such as unemployment, price rise, poverty, wages and salaries, GST and demonetization seem to have not mattered much to the voters during this election. Bread-and-butter concerns seem to have counted for less than they did a few months ago, with priorities shifting from specifics such as unemployment to ‘Vikas’.

Modi was raised in a small town in northern Gujarat, and he completed an M.A. degree in political science from Gujarat University in Ahmadabad. During his time as head of the Gujarat government, Modi established a formidable reputation as an able administrator, and he was given credit for the rapid growth of the state’s economy.

The Congress party’s rule before Modi took over in 2014 was looked upon as a decade of decay. Modi’s criticism of the Congress rule was based on the corruption scandals, rise in prices, a weak foreign policy and family politics.

These allegations combined and contributed to the downfall of the Congress Party. It was Modi’s mix of economic efficiency and hardline nationalism that mesmerized the voters in India in 2014 with a “Modi Wave” when they were looking for a change of leadership and Government.

Modi enjoyed massive support among India’s middle classes and business community who credit him with turning Gujarat into an economic powerhouse.

In the recent elections too, Modi campaigned as a passionate Hindu placing security of India as a top priority. Modi spent Saturday night and Sunday morning, the last day of the election, praying at a Hindu shrine and meditating in a remote Himalayan cave.

Despite economic woes and unfulfilled economy reforms, Indians have assumed Modi is better equipped to fix these problems than any other available alternative. Thus, a vote to BJP became more of a vote to Modi. Mahatma Gandhi once remarked his reason for selecting Nehru as India’s first Prime Minister – “India is safe in Nehru’s hands”. India in her millions have echoed in chorus, “India is safe in Modi’s hands”.

At the elections this time Modi styled himself as a ‘chowkidar’ (or watchman) taking care of the country’s interests Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalism, the security of India and the absence of a strong Opposition leadership coupled with a weakened Congress Party seem to have been the factors for the BJP victory.

The Opposition’s efforts to pin down the government on issues like demonetization, GST or the Rafale purchase seemed to have made no impression on the electorate, which backed his second-term campaign.

The voters were determined to support a party that would offer stability to the country and placed their faith in a strong leader like Modi. It is to the credit of Modi that he ended the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty politics to get the country’s top political job.

Although the BJP was able to obtain a landslide win in Northern India the party could not score enough seats in the Southern states where the Congress and regional parties beat the BJP. The Congress-led UDF notched up impressive numbers at the expense of the Left in Kerala, winning 19 of the 20 seats, while the DMK-led coalition demolished the AIADMK-BJP alliance in Tamil Nadu, winning 37 out of 39.

The Modi mantra for the elections was based on unity, integrity and security of India and these slogans paid him considerable dividends in the elections. He re-echoed this chorus at the oath taking ceremony when he remarked “Our Government will leave no stone unturned to safeguard India’s unity and integrity. National security is our priority.”

There is no doubt that these slogans will continue to be used by Modi to maintain the popularity of his government in the future. The election victory indicates that Modi’s political leadership has been accepted by the people of India.

“One thing we know for sure is that Modi remains incredibly popular despite everything that’s happened in the last five years,” says Milan Vaishnav, a South Asia expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

The post Modi Cruises with Ease as Prime Minister of India for a Second Term appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Siva Sivapragasam is Executive Editor, Toronto-based ”Monsoon Journal”

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The Amadiyya community centre in Pasyala hosts refugees and asylum seekers forced to leave their homes since the April 21 attacks in Sri Lanka. Credit: UNHCR/Caroline Gluck

By Caroline Gluck
NEGOMBO, Sri Lanka, May 31 2019 (IPS)

Thirteen-year-old Bariea, a Pakistani asylum seeker in Sri Lanka, is taking shelter at a mosque in the city of Negombo, where an uneasy mix of high anxiety and extreme boredom hover over the room.

“We just have a few small bags, mostly clothes,” said Bariea. “We thought we would only be here for a few days. But now it’s been weeks.”

“We want to leave. We don’t feel safe. Pakistan wasn’t safe either …. I know many people were killed and injured. But it was not our fault.”

Around 1,000 refugees and asylum seekers like Bariea, most from Pakistan, some from Afghanistan, have sought shelter in mosques and police stations in Negombo and Pasyala, near the capital Colombo, for the past month.

While many from the local community stepped in to try and help, they were driven out of their rented homes by others who accused them of being connected to bomb attacks on churches and hotels around the country on April 21 that killed 250 people and injured many more.

As they shelter in the city, which was the site of one of the church attacks, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is working closely with Sri Lankan authorities to find more suitable, temporary places to move the families so they can live in dignity and safety during this difficult time. But in the climate of fear following the attacks, it has not been easy.

Some of the people displaced from their homes in Negombo have already moved to safer areas. More will be relocated in the coming days.

Family’s like Bariea’s, who sought safety in Sri Lanka after fleeing violence, persecution, and extremism in their own countries, say they were made scapegoats. Bariea has not only had to leave her home with her family to shelter in the crowded mosque but, with her two brothers, forced to drop out of class.

“I really miss school; I worry about getting behind in class. Education is my future. I don’t think I can go to school now,” she says.

Afghan mother Anisa and family shelter with over 100 other refugees and asylum seekers at the police station in Negombo, Sri Lanka. Credit: UNHCR/Caroline Gluck

Her mother, Sehrish, 34, has many other worries. Her children have all been sick with coughs and fevers, and she is six months’ pregnant, like several women in the mosque and she is unable to sleep properly in the confined space.

She said she was grateful for the help they have received from UNHCR, its partners and local Sri Lankan groups, but also worried about what will happen next. “We are getting assistance but we cannot live here for much longer,” she says.

“People have been generous. Some groups have come and provided us with food and clothes.”

UNHCR’s head of office in Sri Lanka, Menique Amarasinghe, said: “Our top priority is to make sure these people are safe and well-protected, and to ensure they can access basic services.

“We’ve been extremely grateful to the Sri Lankan government who have acknowledged their responsibility to care for these people and have been doing everything they can in really very difficult circumstances.”

UNHCR has reinforced its staffing in Sri Lanka to respond to the emergency. It is working with the authorities and partner agencies to provide food, medicine, hygiene material, water and sanitation, and other basic support to refugees and asylum-seekers.

A short drive away from the Amadiyya mosque, around 100 Pakistanis and Afghans are sheltering in the semi open-air car park at Negombo’s police station. The police have provided security and assistance, but facilities are inadequate, with just a handful of toilets shared by the police and new arrivals.

It is so hot, that most people have broken out in skin rashes and their arms and legs covered in infected mosquito bites.

While some in the local community reacted in anger after the attacks, other Sri Lankans have rallied round the refugees and asylum seekers who they counted as neighbours.

“People have been generous. Some groups have come and provided us with food and clothes. Sri Lankan people have helped us,” said Anisa, an ethnic Hazara from Afghanistan, nursing her six month old daughter.

She has lived in Sri Lanka for four years and says people were friendly – but the attacks changed everything. “The owner of our house told us we could stay, but the neighbours said no. He said he wouldn’t be able to protect us, so we came here, a safe place.” Her niece, a confident English-speaker, 12-year-old Sadaf, chimes in.

“After the blast, people blamed us and hated us. It made us really upset.”

Sadaf used to study at a school supported by UNHCR. But right now she cannot go back to class. “I learnt lots of things. I need school for a better future and now I can’t go … it makes me sad. I think I won’t have a good future. Children like me are worried.”

The post Pakistani and Afghan Refugees Seek Safe Haven in Sri Lanka appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Caroline Gluck is Senior Regional Public Information Officer, UNHCR, the UN refugee agency. She is based in Bangkok, Thailand

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