Africa - INTER PRESS SERVICE

The UN Secretary General meeting with women’s groups in Nairobi on 10 July 2019. Photo: @UN

By Ambassador Amina Mohamed
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 15 2019 (IPS)

On 10 July 2019 I was honored to moderate a meeting with women’s groups for the UN Secretary General Mr. Antonio Guterres, whose aim was to better diagnose the role of women in the prevention or instigation of violent extremism.

The Secretary General remarked, “The women activists I met in Nairobi are among the many women across Africa who are leading the way in preventing the expansion of violent extremism from within their own communities. Women are on the frontlines of this fight: we must listen to them and support their efforts.”

Recent efforts to enlist the participation of women in activities to combat radicalization are encouraging, considering that for a long time, gender and security has been a blind-spot in counter-terrorism programmes.

Examination of the ever-evolving drivers of radicalization and terrorism has gradually morphed perspectives of the role of the women, spanning from victims, perpetrators and lately, preventers of terrorism.

As Yanar Mohammed, co-founder and president of the Organisation of Women’s Freedom in Iraq said during the UNSC’s open debate on Resolution 2242:‘Improving women’s participation in efforts to counter extremism and build peace is not just a normative concern about equality; including women’s insights offers a strategic advantage to those looking to build lasting peace and prevent conflict and violent extremism.’

For quite some time, the social construct of femininity was often expressed as one of subservience to men in the context of violent extremism. Media coverage of women affiliated to radical groups often portrayed female recruits as docile followers of their partners.This stereotypical portrayal of women as harmless undermined the accuracy of counter radicalization policies as well as operational responses and entailed a missed opportunity in the war on violent extremism.

In Kosovo, for example, women were the first to detect unusual patterns of behaviour and activity in their homes and communities, including stockpiling of weapons. These signs were reported well before violence broke out.

Despite the acknowledgement of the role women can play in preventing violent extremism, several current national approaches to violent extremism are not adequately gendered. More specifically, they are not systematically inclusive of women, nor are they substantively and sufficiently gender-specific or gender-sensitive.

In Kenya, there are encouraging signs that this narrative is changing. In Kwale County, itself a region that has been a recruitment reservoir, the county government has launched a strategic counter terrorism strategy that includes prioritizing meaningful inclusion of women in the development and implementation of CVE approaches aimed at addressing the driver of violent extremism. The plan also includes allocating funds to train small women-driven civil society entities in countering violent extremism.

To effectively harness the potential of women to prevent violent extremism, it is important to understand the drivers of violent extremism and how women can help tackle these drivers in the first place.

It must be understood that poor governance, marginalization, exclusion and corruption often result in economic and socio-political grievances. These grievances can degenerate into violent conflicts which lead to the breakdown of law and order, providing fertile ground for indoctrination and violent extremism.

Increasing the number of women in leadership positions is one way in which women can help in preventing violent extremism. A World Bank study indicated that the participation of more women in leadership leads to the prioritization of social issues such as child care, equal pay, parental leave, and pensions; physical concerns such as reproductive rights, physical safety, and development matters such as poverty reduction and service delivery.

Grievances about lack of the above services are among the leading reasons recruiters find a fertile ground in communities across the world in both the North and South.

That together with the anonymous spaces provided by the Internet for spreading extremist ideas need urgent attention. The use of school systems and curricula to counter indoctrination and promote egalitarian attitudes and mind sets, cultivate tolerance and respect for other cultures and religions and correct the distorted view of reality is critical.

There are also other ways to ensure that we do not give the upper hand to terrorists in taking advantage of gender roles. These include increasing the number of women in police forces. Currently, women represent less than one fifth of police forces around the world. That is a shame. It now proven beyond reasonable doubt that greater participation of women will improve governance and significantly neutralize the drivers of extremism.

In fact in this primary war of our time, it is time to place gender pivotal to prevent violent extremism and counter terrorism.

Ambassador Amina Mohamed, is the Cabinet Secretary for Sports, Culture and Heritage in the Government of Kenya.

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By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 15 2019 (IPS)

The world’s two most populous nations-– China and India—have been making steady progress in eradicating extreme poverty, but have fallen short in their attempts to eliminate extreme hunger, according to the Bangkok-based UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

In an interview with IPS, Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ESCAP said Asia-Pacific is on track to eradicate extreme poverty, which still afflicts 285 million people in that region, but that goal would be successful only “if current progress is maintained until 2030”.

“Both China and India are reducing extreme poverty faster than the regional average. And half the population lifted out of extreme poverty globally, since 2000, comes from China,” she said.

The Asia-Pacific region, the world’s most populous, comprises of 53 members and nine associate members, and is home to over 60 per cent of the world’s population.

This makes ESCAP the largest UN intergovernmental body serving the Asia-Pacific region.

Of the world’s 7.7 billion people, China ranks number one with a population of 1.42 billion followed by India with 1.36 billion, with the US ranking third with 329 million people.

A new report on a global poverty index, co-authored by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPDI) released last week, says of the 1.3 billion people worldwide who are multidimensionally poor, more than two thirds—886 million— live in middle income countries (also described as developing nations).

“To fight poverty, one needs to know where poor people live. They are not evenly spread across a country, not even within a household,” says Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator. “The 2019 global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) provides the detailed information policy makers need to more effectively target their policies.”

The MPI goes beyond income as the sole indicator for poverty, by exploring the ways in which people experience poverty in their health, education, and standard of living.

Alisjahbana said the ambition of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development goes beyond eradicating extreme poverty.

“It also focuses on reducing multidimensional poverty for all, and the Asia-Pacific region is lagging in other dimensions, such as provision of sustainable jobs and promoting equality. Inequalities of opportunity, and exposure to environmental degradation and natural disasters, which are widening within and between countries.”

With this challenge in mind, she pointed out, there is scope to significantly increase government investment in basic services, such as education, health and social protection, but also to strengthen our region’s resilience to natural disasters. This is essential to break the cycle of poverty.

“When it comes to eradicating hunger, progress has been too slow in Asia and the Pacific since 2015. While levels of stunting have been reduced in parts of the region, particularly in China, there remains work to be done across the region to support sustainable agriculture and reverse losses in biodiversity,” she declared.

Meanwhile, the targeted date for the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which will be up for review at a UN summit meeting of world leaders September 24-25, is 2030.

But how many of these goals are really achievable?

These are some of the issues, up for discussion, during a ministerial meeting of the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) in New York July 16-18. The theme: “Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality.”

Excerpts from the interview:

IPS: What are the countries in the Asia-Pacific region which have made the most progress on SDGs?

Alisjahbana: ESCAP takes a regional approach to the 2030 Agenda and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, but we conduct analysis of our subregions which is included in the Asia and the Pacific SDG Progress Report 2019. This indicates how different parts of Asia and the Pacific have their own distinct set of challenges and priorities.

For instance, East and North-East Asia has made the greatest progress towards poverty eradication but has registered a regression on several Goals focused on the environment. Urgent action is required to reverse course if the subregion is to build sustainable cities and communities and protect life below water and ecosystems on land by 2030.

South-East Asia and the Pacific have made the swiftest progress towards building a resilient infrastructure, promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialization and fostering innovation. Yet our analysis finds the subregion to be heading in the wrong direction when it comes to promoting just, peaceful and inclusive societies.

North and Central Asia made the most progress towards six Goals, while South and South-West Asia is ahead in its efforts to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.

IPS: Of the 17 SDGs, which are the goals which are most likely to be achieved by 2030 by all countries in the region?

Alisjahbana: Asia-Pacific governments have taken on the challenge of the 2030 Agenda with decisive leadership – making significant investments to enhance data and statistical coverage, scale up partnerships and promote people-centred policies and strategies. This however has yet to take full effect.

The region is making significant headway towards poverty reduction (SDG1), good health and well-being (SDG3), quality education (SDG4) and affordable and clean energy (SDG7), and partnerships for the goals (SDG17). On more than half of the 17 Goals, progress is stagnant, or the situation has deteriorated since 2000.

On our current trajectory, we need to accelerate progress towards all Sustainable Development Goals if they are to be met by 2030. Supporting this accelerated progress lies at the heart of ESCAP’s work, it guides our analysis, our intergovernmental work and our technical assistance.

IPS: The recent ESCAP report on concluded that, Asia and the Pacific will not achieve any of the 17 SDGs by 2030? What are the primary reasons for this and is this due to lack of funding or the absence of political will?

Alisjahbana: Our recent Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2019 estimates that developing Asia-Pacific countries need an additional annual investment of $1.5 trillion, or just under a dollar per person per day, or 5 per cent of the region’s GDP in 2018.

People and planet related interventions would account for most of the additional investment, with $669 billion needed to support basic human rights and develop human capacities, and $590 billion to be invested in our planet to support clean energy, combat climate change and strengthen environmental protection.

The remaining $196 billion is needed to support sustainable transport, improved access to ICT, and water and sanitation services.

While the level of investment required is within reach for many countries, the price tag is highest for those which can least afford it, including least developed countries and small island developing States.

Strong development partnerships and strengthened multilateral financing mechanisms will be essential. A shift in mindset is needed to look beyond economic growth and focuses on an economic philosophy which puts people and the planet first.

To help shape sustainable development policies and target our investments, work must continue to produce timely and reliable statistics. Currently only 36 per cent of the SDG indicators in the Asia-Pacific have sufficient data for progress to be accurately assessed. Improving data and statistics is a key area of ESCAP’s work. Non-traditional data pools such as geospatial information and big data need to be fully tapped help address data gaps in the region.

IPS: As far as the Asia-Pacific region is concerned, do you expect anything concrete to come out of the SDG summit in New York September 24-25?

Alisjahbana: The SDG Summit is an important opportunity to accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It can help ensure ongoing work is taken a step further in Asia and the Pacific to achieve the SDGs.

It is crucial it does, because the region’s sustainable development achievements and failures will have a strong impact on the rest of the world. We are home to two-thirds of the world’s population and have in recent years been the engine of global economic growth and poverty reduction.

In addition to the inter-governmentally agreed political declaration that has been negotiated over the past months, the SDG Summit is an opportunity for our leaders to identify ways, cross-cutting areas and critical multi-stakeholder action to accelerate progress.

I also look forward to the announcements of “SDG Accelerated Actions”, which are voluntary initiatives undertaken by countries and other actors and should raise ambitions to advance the Goals at the speed and scale required.

The writer can be contacted at thalifdeen@ips.org

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The post How NGOs in Rich Countries Control their Counterparts in Poor Countries..and Why they Refuse to Resolve it appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Paul Okumu is head of secretariat for the Africa Platform on Governance, Responsible Business and the Social Contract. He is also head of strategy at the Internet of Things Solutions Africa.

The post How NGOs in Rich Countries Control their Counterparts in Poor Countries..and Why they Refuse to Resolve it appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Caley Pigliucci
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 12 2019 (IPS)

Parliamentarians met in Laos last week to discuss violence against women and girls.

The meeting was organized by the Asian Population and Development Association (APDA) and hosted by the National Assembly of Laos.

It was a chance to push parliamentarians to continue developing programs to protect women. For the Members of Parliament (MPs) who participated, it was an opportunity to demonstrate how they are already increasing protections for women and girls who face physical and sexual violence, and to commit to doing even more for their security.

The discussions held by the APDA and participating organizations, (International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), Plan International, and UN Women) focused on the specific challenges and progress made within the region.

“A majority of the countries in the region have laws in place criminalizing violence against women, including sexual violence,” Sujata Tuladhar, the Asia-Pacific Regional Gender-Based Violence Programme Specialist at the United Nations Population Fund, formally the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), told IPS.

The meeting covered topics such as ‘Where Are We Now? The Current Situation surrounding Women and Girls: Progress and Challenges in the Region,’ and ‘Gender and ICPD PoA: Empowering Women and Achieving Universal Access to Reproductive Health.’

The subjects under discussion also included the prevalence of violence and progress made in limiting that prevalence within the region.

The National Assembly hoped the meeting would give knowledge and voice to violence against women and girls. They note that “Parliamentarians play a lead role in advocacy, policy making, and monitoring in relation to the prevention of violence against women and girls and other women-related laws and policies in their countries. They can hold governments accountable for the implementation of laws and policies.”

A Cambodian Member of Parliament, Damry Ouk, told IPS the meeting was a place where Cambodia could “share with other countries about the empowerment of women [both in and outside of Cambodia].”

Ouk articulated that the particular focus for Cambodia was on “labor, education, the decision-making process (public service and political participation) and the rights-based approach that promotes choice and access to social services including institutional health deliveries.”

In Cambodia, the Law on the Prevention of Domestic Violence and the Protection of Victims (September 16, 2005), is meant to aid women who are victims of domestic violence.

It states that “Domestic violence is required to be prevented in time effectively and efficiently and that it is required to take the most appropriate measures in order to protect the victims or the persons who could be vulnerable.”

This includes sexual aggression, which involves: “Violent sex, Sexual harassment, and Indecent exposures.” A further explanation of sexual harassment or violent sex is not offered. Marital rape is not specifically referred to, though it may be included in violent sex.

According a report out of UNFPA in 2017, 33% of women in the region have experienced violence in the region of Kampong Cham, Cambodia.

The UNFPA and Cambodia have been working to combat this through the Partners for Prevention Regional Joint Programme that trains participants to share knowledge to caregivers and community members to prevent violence against women and girls.

But still, according to Tuladhar, not enough progress has been made in the Asia-Pacific region to combat violence against women and children.

“While most countries in the region prohibit domestic violence, many still do not include marital rape or violence by an unmarried intimate partner,” Tuladhar said.

She says that legislation in place to protect women in countries like Cambodia can be undermined by several factors including “limited awareness and knowledge of existing laws, barriers to reporting violence, bias, unresponsive or weak capacity among service providers (health, police, judiciary, shelter, psychosocial support providers), and legal systems and courts that are insensitive to the needs of survivors of violence.”

The UNFPA and participating countries are still working on the best way to prevent violence against women, and the meeting was only a continuation of efforts.

“The evidence base on what works to prevent different forms of violence against women is still evolving,” says Tuladhar, “UNFPA has initiated several programmes in the region to change these harmful social norms and promote healthier, happier and more equal and respectful relationships between men and women.”

She said UNFPA’s project Generation Breakthrough works with children aged 10-19 to promote healthy relationships and give children the tools to be knowledgeable about and have access to their reproductive health.

Drivers of violence against women (VAW) internationally are largely similar to those in the Asia-Pacific region.

Tuladhar sees the three main drivers as harmful social norms, toxic masculinity, and patriarchal societies, factors that most regions are not immune to.

Social norms in the Asia-Pacific region play a key role for the prevalence of violence against women in the region, and this role is changing.

The percentage of women who report experiencing physical/sexual violence from a partner varies widely across the region, being anywhere from 15% to 68%.

Tuladhar explains that “social norms that under pin and perpetuate this violence are embedded very early in life.”

She reports that the Partners for Prevention, a United Nations joint program on the prevention of violence against women, showed that “experiencing or witness violence in childhood and growing with and adopting inequitable gender norms, are among the key risk factors for men’s use of violence in adulthood.”

But Tuladhar says that the Asia-Pacific region faces even more trouble because it is so disaster prone.

“During emergencies, national systems and community and social networks weaken, increasing the risk of violence, exploitation and abuse – particularly for women and girls,” she said.

45% of the world’s natural hazards occur in the Asia-Pacific region. On top of this, the region is fraught with long-term conflicts that result in high levels of refugees.

Tuladhar says that for the Asia-Pacific region in particular, “all investments in addressing violence against women and girls need to ensure a resilience framework that makes the policies, provisions, systems and services adaptable to both humanitarian and non-humanitarian settings.”

For Cambodia, Ouk sees trafficking as a big problem still in need of being eliminated.

Ouk looks to the National Committee for Counter Trafficking in Person under the Ministry on Interior for prevention.

The goal there is “to collaborate together [with national and international non-governmental organizations] for combatting human trafficking in transparent, accountable and highly effective manner responding to the commitment of the Government to suppress trafficking in persons UNFPA remains focused on prevention and increased awareness,” she said.

The meeting in Laos was a reminder to parliamentarians across the Asia-Pacific region that despite progress, there is still a need to increase protections.

Moving forward, Tuladhar believes that action must take the form of “strengthen [ing] protection mechanisms for women and girls through improving quality and accessibility of services for violence against women survivors, while ensuring the survivor’s interest and wishes are the focus.”

The post The Fight to End Violence Against Women in the Asia-Pacific Region appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Bangladesh is one of many countries to be affected by the problem of climate-change-induced migration. Photo: AFP

By Sharaban Tahura Zaman
Jul 12 2019 (IPS-Partners)

(The Daily Star) – WE’RE running out of time on climate change. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) report released in October 2018, revealed that there are only a dozen years left for global warming to be kept to a maximum of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit). Reaching temperatures beyond that, even half a degree higher, will significantly worsen the risks of droughts, floods, extreme heat and poverty for hundreds of millions of people. Of course, we are already feeling these symptoms as the five hottest years on record, globally, all took place within the current decade. According to scientists at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2016 was the hottest, 2015 the second hottest, and 2017 the third hottest—2018 is currently on track to be the fourth hottest. Urgent changes are needed in order to keep global temperatures down.

However, the existing climate regulatory regime, built upon 27 years of negotiations, has already proven woefully inadequate to help the world reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are exacerbating climate change, and to remedy their consequences.

One of the key reasons behind such failure is that the existing, legally binding climate change agreements are designed without a mechanism of enforcement. Being non-punitive, non-adversarial and flexible in nature, existing legal mechanisms are failing to cope with the scale of the global issue and its wide-ranging impact on individuals, leaving climate change justice issues unaddressed.

In this context, there is a growing demand for the establishment of an international court which can address significant gaps in the current international environmental legal order. That sounds like a great idea! Though a number of challenges are rooted there. First, if the existing climate regime is non-punitive, non-adversarial and flexible in nature, how can we enforce it in an international court? Among other things, it involves challenges in identifying the “actionable rights” that will determine which climate change transgressions lie within the scope of the court, establishing appropriate standards for proving a legally cognisable causal link between greenhouse emissions and the relief sought, and developing methods for awarding remedies. Obstacles also lie with global cooperation, different priorities for the developed and the developing countries, the exercise of absolute sovereign power, anarchic nature of the world order, and thus the perceived unenforceability of international law.

Nevertheless, these obstacles should not be viewed as insoluble. We should expand our understanding of what is possible by reimagining the tools of international law. Establishing a new specialist International Court can be an effective way forward, depending on how we can design it.

First, the international court should not be structured in a traditional form where prosecutors will look to persuade a judge to punish polluters. That would be more in line with a criminal court and will discourage states to be party to this process. The international court should be a forum with a goal to elevate behaviours/actions in line with mutually agreed standards, rather than to punish.

Second, the judge of the court must be sufficiently specialised so that the judiciary is able to weigh competing interpretations of complex scientific evidence against salient geopolitical, and international economic and social development priorities.

Third, both state and non-state actors should have standing (be able to initiate cases) before the court.

Fourth, states should be bound by the decisions of the court (what is called compulsory jurisdiction). States that allow environmental degradation in contravention of mutually agreed international standards should be held accountable.

Fifth, the court should rely on clear, precise, and enforceable language, to be found in a new era of international environmental laws. Aspirational treaty language is insufficient to protect the environment.

So the overall purpose of the international court on the matter related to environment would be: to build trust among the international community; to clarify legal obligations; to harmonise and complement existing climate regulatory regimes; to provide access to justice to a broader range of actors; and to create workable solutions for enforcement of international standard.

However, on the matter of “compulsory jurisdiction” of the court, imagining an international court holding states accountable might seem overly optimistic, particularly when only 66 countries agree to the compulsory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). But then again, if we look to the effectiveness of the Dispute Settlement Body at the World Trade Organization, and arbitration under the international investment regime, we can clearly learn the lesson that compulsory jurisdiction is possible when the costs of non-compliance are deemed to be sufficiently high. The European Court of Human Rights, similarly, has demonstrated that compulsory jurisdiction can work for equitable public interest. Moreover, in the European Court of Human Rights, vast majority of cases are initiated by non-state actors which empowered non-state actors in enforcing global standards to change the politics of transnational adjudication.

An international court for the environment could be a better forum to overcome climate inaction, global cooperation, economic conflicts, and enforcement problems if we can construct it adequately with the aim to vigorously enforce mutually agreed obligations and standards. However, establishing an international court will require more support. Therefore, let’s start considering how to turn it into a reality in the interest of future generations.

Sharaban Tahura Zaman is lecturer of Environment Law, North South University and Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Climate Justice, Bangladesh.

This story was originally published by The Daily Star, Bangladesh

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Andrew Kanyegirire is Senior Communications Officer at the International Monetary Fund (IMF)

By Andrew Kanyegirire
WASHINGTON DC, Jul 12 2019 (IPS)

Claire Akamanzi spends her days working on innovative ways to bring more business to her country.

As CEO of the Rwanda Development Board (RDB), a multiagency governmental department billed as a “one-stop shop” for investors, Akamanzi has seen the country earn accolades for its business-friendly environment, recently winning the #2 spot regionally in the World Bank’s ease of doing business rankings.

Claire Akamanzi

Prior to her RDB role, Akamanzi served as head of strategy and policy for Paul Kagame, president of Rwanda. She was also Rwanda’s commercial diplomat in London and its trade negotiator at the World Trade Organization in Geneva.

Akamanzi holds a law degree and a master’s degree in international trade and investment policy.

She spoke with Andrew Kanyegirire, for Finance & Development (F&D) magazine, published by the IMF. Excerpts from the interview

F&D: What is the RDB’s role in getting the private sector to contribute to Rwanda’s development?

CA: Our vision is to transform Rwanda into a dynamic global hub for business, investment, and innovation. We are responsible for promoting investments and exports.

We provide services covering a range of issues faced by the business community: negotiating contracts with the private sector, helping investors to secure concessions, and settling disagreements. We are also in charge of the privatization of government assets and tourism promotion, including the management of national parks.

Since the RDB’s establishment in 2009, doing business in Rwanda has gotten easier, and the private sector has contributed more toward Rwanda’s economic growth. About 25 years ago, we were 100 percent reliant on aid, but today we are 86 percent self-reliant, which means that we depend on aid for only about 14 percent of our budget. On average, the private sector now creates about 38,000 jobs per year, many of which are targeted toward our young people.

F&D: How have you improved the business environment?

CA: Along with the Ministry of Economic Planning, we have spent a lot of time thinking about those sectors that require private sector engagement, what the challenges are, and whether these sectors can indeed help to generate wealth and jobs for Rwandans.

We took a very focused approach to this, and it is therefore not surprising that today the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Report ranks Rwanda the 29th easiest place to do business in the world and the second in Africa. A few years ago, we were ranked at 150.

This is the result of some concrete reforms put in place to simplify the processes for starting a business, registering property, filing taxes, and accessing tax-related information. Today, you can register a company in six hours. In some instances, digital solutions have played a key enabling role.

We have also focused on promoting Rwanda as a place to come and do business. Last year, by the time we closed our investment books, we had registered $2 billion worth of investments. In 2010, it was about $318 million. So, we have grown considerably in the space of eight years, which shows that the reforms that we are putting in place are working. Some of the investments are practical ones, and we are very proud of them.

For example, Volkswagen is assembling in Rwanda. We have a company from Latin America called Positivo that is assembling laptops. We have an American-Nigerian company, Andela, that is going to train about 700 local programmers.

And we have a company that has begun refining our coltan. If you break down the $2 billion that we have attracted, you realize that these are investments in sectors that can help transform the lives of Rwandans by providing jobs, incomes, and broader economic diversification.

F&D: What factors have most enabled you to push for reforms?

CA: One key factor has been the leadership’s concerted efforts to transform the country. You can call it political will. The Cabinet, a related steering committee, and the president himself have taken an avid interest in understanding the reforms that we are pushing for.

President Kagame has made himself available to us, and we have found this to be extremely important. Because without buy-in at that level, it can be difficult to try out new, bold, and even risky initiatives.

Let me give you an example. We wanted to automate our business registration system. That meant cutting out the revenue sources of some of the private players in that process.

To make it easier to start a company, we had to take out a step that requires every company to have articles and memoranda of association. We estimated that the cost for getting these documents done via a lawyer was about $400, and so it was quite clear to us that this cost was deterring potential companies from registering.

However, to eliminate this step also meant that lawyers were losing out on clientele. It was a bold decision—we needed political support to get it done. But we were able to show that if you make it expensive and difficult to set up a company, the private sector will not grow.

We were registering on average about 500 companies at the time, and today we are registering about 13,000 companies a year. Having that political will helped us to show that sometimes there is a short-term cost to be paid for longer-term gain.

F&D: How about the challenges?

CA: Here, there are mainly two issues. The first has to do with the fact that we are a landlocked country. The high cost of transportation, especially for imported goods, is evident in almost every sector of the economy. This is a challenge that creates an additional cost for Rwanda.

The second, related to the first, is that although we have done very well in removing red tape, we need to do more about cutting the overall costs of doing business. We need to bring down the costs of financing, energy, and infrastructure.

We have tried to put in place many reforms to mitigate these challenges, but these ongoing structural issues still must be dealt with.

F&D: What are you doing specifically to overcome these challenges, and how do they relate to the reforms you are pushing for?

CA: When we think about the Rwanda of the future, we consider the advantages and challenges that we have as a country. It is for this reason that we want to position ourselves as a knowledge and services hub, given that this sector does not rely heavily on transport and logistics.

We have also been promoting leisure tourism, such as the push to visit the mountain gorillas in the national park. In addition, we are promoting a new sector called MICE, which stands for meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions, and it is already accounting for about 10 percent of our tourism receipts.

It is the fastest-growing segment of our tourism sector, and through this we are making Rwanda a hub for regional and global events. In this way, we have invested in service-based sectors to respond to our challenge of being a landlocked country.

This interview, which originally appeared in the F&D magazine, has been edited for length and clarity.

COURTESY OF THE RWANDA DEVELOPMENT BOARD
Opinions expressed in articles and other materials are those of the authors; they do not necessarily reflect IMF policy.

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Excerpt:

Andrew Kanyegirire is Senior Communications Officer at the International Monetary Fund (IMF)

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Nippon Foundation President Yohei Sasakawa and Socorro Gross, Pan American Health Organisation representative in Brazil, hold a press conference in Brasilia at the end of a 10-day visit to this country by the Japanese activist who is also World Health Organisation Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination. Credit: Mario Osava/IPS

By Mario Osava
BRASILIA, Jul 11 2019 (IPS)

“The ambulance team refused to take my sick friend to the hospital because he had had Hanseniasis years before,” said Yohei Sasakawa, president of the Nippon Foundation, at one of the meetings held during his Jul. 1-10 visit to Brazil.

His friend was completely cured and had no visible effects of the disease, but in a small town everyone knows everything about their neighbours, he said.

This didn’t happen in a poor country, but in the U.S. state of Texas, only about 20 years ago, Sasakawa pointed out to underline the damage caused by the discrimination suffered by people affected by Hansen’s Disease, better known as leprosy, as well as those who have already been cured, and their families.

“The disease is curable, its social damage is not,” he said during a meeting with lawmaker Helder Salomão, chair of the Human Rights Commission in Brazil’s lower house of Congress, to ask for support in the fight against Hanseniasis, the official medical name for the disease in Brazil, where the use of the term leprosy has been banned because of the stereotypes and stigma surrounding it.

The highlight of the mission of Sasakawa, who is also a World Health Organisation (WHO) Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination, was a meeting on Monday Jul. 8 with President Jair Bolsonaro, who posted a message on Facebook during the meeting, which had nearly 700,000 hits as of Thursday Jul. 11.

In the 13-and-a-half minute video, Bolsonaro, Sasakawa, Health Minister Luiz Mandetta and Women, Family and Human Rights Minister Damares Alves issued a call to the authorities, organisations and society as a whole to work together to eradicate the disease caused by the Mycobacterium Leprae bacillus.

A preliminary agreement emerged from the dialogues held by the Japanese activist with members of the different branches of power in Brasilia, to hold a national meeting in 2020 to step up the fight against Hanseniasis and the discrimination and stigma faced by those affected by it and their families.

The idea is a conference with a political dimension, with the participation of national authorities, state governors and mayors, as well as a technical dimension, said Carmelita Ribeiro Coriolano, coordinator of the Health Ministry’s Hanseniasis Programme. The Tokyo-based Nippon Foundation will sponsor the event.

Brazil has the second highest incidence of Hansen’s Disease in the world, with 27,875 new cases in 2017, accounting for 12.75 percent of the world total, according to WHO. Only India has more new cases.

The government established a National Strategy to Combat Hanseniasis, for the period 2019-2022, in line with the global strategy outlined by the WHO in 2016.

Brazilian Minister of Women, Family and Human Rights Damares Alves (L) receives a gift from Yohei Sasakawa, president of the Nippon Foundation, at the beginning of a meeting in Brasilia, in which the minister promised to strengthen assistance to those affected by Hansen’s Disease, including the payment of compensation to patients who were isolated in leprosariums or leper colonies in the past. Credit: Mario Osava/IPS

Extensive training of the different actors involved in the treatment of the disease and plans at the state and municipal levels, tailored to local conditions, guide the efforts against Hansen’s Disease, focusing particularly on reducing cases that cause serious physical damage to children and on eliminating stigma and discrimination.

Before his visit to Brasilia, Sasakawa, who has already come to Brazil more than 10 times as part of his mission against Hansen’s Disease, toured the states of Pará and Maranhão to discuss with regional and municipal authorities the obstacles and the advances made, in two of the regions with the highest prevalence rate.

“In Brazil there is no lack of courses and training; the health professionals are sensitive and give special attention to Hanseniasis,” said Faustino Pinto, national coordinator of the Movement for the Reintegration of People Affected by Hanseniasis (MORHAN), who accompanied the Nippon Foundation delegation in Brasilia.

“Promoting early diagnosis, to avoid serious physical damage, and providing better information to the public and physical rehabilitation to ensure a better working life for patients” are the most necessary measures, he told IPS.

Pinto’s case illustrates the shortcomings in the health services. He was not diagnosed as being affected with Hansen’s Disease until the age of 18, nine years after he felt the first symptoms. It took five years of treatment to cure him, and he has serious damage to his hands and joints.

His personal plight and the defence of the rights of the ill, former patients and their families were outlined in his Jun. 27 presentation in Geneva, during a special meeting on the disease, parallel to the 41st session of the Human Rights Council, the highest organ of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Pinto is an eloquent advocate of the use of Hanseniasis or Hansen’s Disease, rather than leprosy, a term historically burdened with religious prejudice and stigma, which aggravates the suffering of patients and their families, but continues to be used by WHO, for example.

Yohei Sasakawa (2nd-L), president of the Nippon Foundation, accompanied by two members of his delegation, took part in a meeting with Congressman Helder Salomão (C), chair of the Human Rights Commission of the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies, who pledged to support initiatives to eliminate leprosy in his country. Faustino Pinto (2nd-R), national coordinator of the Movement for the Reintegration of Persons Affected by Hanseniasis (MORHAN), also participated. Credit: Mario Osava/IPS

Discrimination against people with the disease dates back to biblical times, when it was seen as a punishment from God, said Sasakawa during his meeting with Minister Damares Alves, a Baptist preacher who describes herself as “extremely Christian”.

In India there are 114 laws that discriminate against current or former Hansen’s Disease patients, banning them from public transport or public places, among other “absurdities”, he said.

In India, they argue that these are laws that are no longer applied, which justifies even less that they remain formally in force, he maintained during his meetings in Brasilia to which IPS had access.

Prejudice and misinformation not only subject those affected by the disease to exclusion and unnecessary suffering, but also make it difficult to eradicate the disease by keeping patients from seeking medical care, activists warn.

His over 40-year battle against Hansen’s Disease has led Sasakawa to the conclusion that it is crucial to fight against the stigma which is still rife in society.

He pressed the United Nations General Assembly to adopt in 2010 the Resolution for the Elimination of Discrimination against Persons Affected by Leprosy and their Families.

He said these attitudes and beliefs no longer make sense in the light of science, but persist nonetheless.

Treatment making isolation for patients unnecessary in order to avoid contagion has been available since the 1940s, but forced isolation in leprosariums and leper colonies officially continued in a number of countries for decades.

In Brazil, forced segregation officially lasted until 1976 and in practice until the following decade.

With multi-drug treatment or polychemotherapy, introduced in Brazil in 1982, the cure became faster and more effective.

Information is key to overcoming the problems surrounding this disease, according to Socorro Gross, the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) representative in Brazil who also held meetings with the Nippon Foundation delegation.

“Communication is essential, the media has a decisive role to play” to ward off atavistic fears and to clarify that there is a sure cure for Hansen’s Disease, that it is not very contagious and that it ceases to be so shortly after a patient begins to receive treatment, Gross, a Costa Rican doctor with more than 30 years of experience with PAHO in several Latin American countries, told IPS.

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• Japan Boosts Complex Fight to Eliminate Leprosy in Brazil
• People Affected by Leprosy in Latin America Unite for Their Rights and Their Voice

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Richard Taylor, a Professor of Hydrogeology from the University College London (UCL) (far left) is the principal investigator in a project to study groundwater resources to understand more how to use the resource to alleviate poverty. Credit: Isaiah Esipisu/IPS

By Isaiah Esipisu
DODOMA, Tanzania, Jul 11 2019 (IPS)

Research scientists are studying groundwater resources in three African countries in order to understand the renewability of the source and how people can use it sustainably towards a green revolution in Africa.

“We don’t want to repeat some of the mistakes during the green revolution that has taken place in Asia, where people opted to use groundwater, then groundwater was overused and we ended up with a problem of sustainability,” said Richard Taylor, the principal investigator and a professor of Hydrogeology from the University College London (UCL).

Through a project known as Groundwater Futures in Sub-Saharan Africa (GroFutures), a team of 40 scientists from Africa and abroad have teamed up to develop a scientific basis and participatory management processes by which groundwater resources can be used sustainably for poverty alleviation.

Though the study is still ongoing, scientists can now tell how and when different major aquifers recharge, how they respond to different climatic shocks and extremes, and they are already looking for appropriate ways of boosting groundwater recharge for more sustainability.

“Our focus is on Tanzania, Ethiopia and Niger,” said Taylor. “These are three strategic laboratories in tropical Africa where we are expecting rapid development of agriculture and the increased need to irrigate,” he told IPS.

In Tanzania, scientists from UCL in collaboration with their colleagues from the local Sokoine University of Agriculture, the Ministry of Water and Irrigation and the WamiRuvu Basin Water Board, have been studying the Makutapora well field, which is the only source of water for the country’s capital city – Dodoma.

“This is demand-driven research because we have previously had conflicting data about the actual yield of this well field,” said Catherine Kongola, a government official who heads and manages a sub section of the WamiRuvu Basin in Central Tanzania. The WamiRuvu Basin comprises the country’s two major rivers of Wami and Ruvi and covers almost 70,000 square kilometres.

She notes that scientists are using modern techniques to study the behaviour of groundwater in relation to climate shocks and also human impact, as well as the quality of the water in different locations of the basin.

“Groundwater has always been regarded as a hidden resource. But using science, we can now understand how it behaves, and this will help with the formulation of appropriate policies for sustainability in the future,” she told IPS.

Already, the World Bank in collaboration with the Africa Development Bank intends to invest some nine billion dollars in irrigation on the African continent. This was announced during last year’s Africa Green Revolution Forum that was held in Kigali, Rwanda.

According to Rajiv Shah, the president of the Rockefeller Foundation, boosting irrigation is key to improving agricultural productivity in Africa.

“In each of the areas where we are working, people are already looking at groundwater as a key way of improving household income and livelihoods, but also improving food security, so that people are less dependent on imported food,” said Taylor. “But the big question is; where does the water come from?”

Since the 1960s, during the green revolution in Asia, India relied heavily on groundwater for irrigation, particularly on rice and wheat, in order to feed the growing population. But today, depletion of the groundwater in the country has become a national crisis, and it is primarily attributed to heavy abstraction for irrigation.

The depletion crisis remains a major challenge in many other places on the globe, including the United States and China where intensive agriculture is practiced.

“It is based on such experiences that we are working towards reducing uncertainty in the renewability and quantity of accessible groundwater to meet future demands for food, water and environmental services, while at the same time promoting inclusion of poor people’s voices in decision-making processes on groundwater development pathways,” said Taylor.

After a few years of intensive research in Tanzania’s Makutapora well field, scientists have discovered that the well field—which is found in an area mainly characterised by seasonal rivers, vegetation such as acacia shrubs, cactus trees, baobab and others that thrive in dry areas—can only be recharged during extreme floods that can also destroy agricultural crops and even property.

“By the end of the year 2015, we installed river stage gauges to record the amount of water in the streams. Through this, we can monitor an hourly resolution of the river flow and how the water flow is linked to groundwater recharge,” Dr David Seddon, a research scientist whose PhD thesis was based on the Makutapora well field, told IPS.

Taylor explains that Makutapora is known for having the longest-known groundwater level record in sub-Saharan Africa.

“A study of the well field over the past 60 years reveals that recharge sustaining the daily pumping of water for use in the city occurs episodically and depends on heavy seasonal rainfall associated with El Niño Southern Oscillation,” Taylor said.

According to Lister Kongola, a retired hydrologist who worked for the government from 1977 to 2012, the demand for water in the nearby capital city of Dodoma has been rising over the years, from 20 million litres in the 1970s, to 30 million litres in the 1980s and to the current 61 million litres.

“With most government offices now relocating from Dar Es Salaam to Dodoma, the establishment of the University of Dodoma, other institutions of higher learning and health institutions, and the emergence of several hotels in the city, the demand is likely going to double in the coming few years,” Kongola told IPS.

The good news, however, is that seasons with El Niño kind of rainfall are predictable. “By anticipating these events, we can seek to amplify them through minimal but strategic engineering interventions that might allow us to actually increase replenishment of the well-field,” said Taylor.

According to Professor Nuhu Hatibu, the East African head of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, irrigation has been the ‘magic’ bullet for improving agricultural productivity all over the world, and “that is exactly what Africa needs to achieve a green revolution.”

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The post Avoiding the Mistakes of the Asian Green Revolution in Africa appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Marco Funk
BERLIN, Jul 11 2019 (IPS)

When the Italian police recently arrested Carola Rackete, captain of the Sea-Watch 3 search and rescue vessel, the Central Mediterranean Sea suddenly entered the international limelight once again.

Media coverage of the most dangerous migration route in the world had previously been quite muted everywhere except Italy, where for months Interior Minister Matteo Salvini used every opportunity to publicly lambast the German NGO’s activities – despite low numbers of arrivals.

In fact, Captain Rackete became Salvini’s (and increasingly his voters’) enemy of choice well before her arrest. At the same time, she became a hero to those who support rescuing migrants at sea.

Yet despite the uproar, the row about NGO rescue ships represents only a small part of the complex geopolitical puzzle that drives irregular migration along this route. Carola Rackete’s arrest will have a very limited impact on the overall situation.

In order to truly understand what’s going on in the Central Mediterranean, one must retrace migrants’ steps all the way back to their countries of origin – often in sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East or even South Asia.

Some are refugees as defined by the 1951 Refugee Convention, others are not, but practically all of them have good reasons to leave their homes. This mixed migration flow typically crosses several countries before entering Libya, the main gateway to Europe.

EU efforts in Libya since the fall of Gaddafi have focused heavily on curbing migration to Europe. Some activities bend or even violate international law to keep migrants at bay.

African migrants crossing the Sahara Desert face dangers as severe as those at sea, with an uncounted death toll possibly far greater than that in the Mediterranean. Once migrants enter Libya, they find themselves in a comparatively wealthy country – Libya holds Africa’s largest oil reserves.

However, it is also a war-torn country in political disarray since the fall of ex-dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

The Libyan situation

At the moment, there are over 660,000 migrants in Libya according to estimates by the International Organization for Migration. Their conditions vary according to nationality and location.

Some long-term residents from North Africa or the Middle East are quite happy to stay in Libya, while more recent arrivals from sub-Saharan countries often face severe discrimination, exploitation and abuse.

As Libya never signed the 1951 Refugee Convention, refugees have no legal status in the country and cannot seek international protection there. In fact, undocumented migrants in Libya can be arrested and imprisoned at any time.

Local militias, acting as police in areas they control, also run detention centres where they extort money from migrants or sell those who cannot pay to smugglers and human traffickers.

Some of these same militia members are on government payrolls and are supported directly or indirectly by EU missions seeking to train and equip border police and coast guard officials.

EU efforts in Libya since the fall of Gaddafi have focused heavily on curbing migration to Europe. Some activities bend or even violate international law to keep migrants at bay.

But there’s no way to address the issue effectively without settling the ongoing power struggle between the Government of National Accord (GNA) headed by Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj and rival Khalifa Haftar, commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA), based in the east of the country.

While the internationally recognised GNA is officially supported by the EU and Italy in particular, its actual control of Libyan territory is limited to Tripoli and some areas of Western Libya controlled by allied militias.

Meanwhile, France backs the LNA, which controls the east and parts of the south of the country either directly or by proxy through local militias. Haftar launched an attack on Tripoli in April 2019, just days before a planned national conference to organise presidential and parliamentary elections to help solve the political crisis in Libya.

The conflict is currently at a stalemate, with Haftar’s forces fighting against the GNA on the outskirts of Tripoli.

The EU needs a common strategy

The EU’s split position isn’t just awkward but indeed counterproductive in finding a solution to the conflict, and by extension the migratory situation as well. Italy and France should agree on a common strategy and facilitate a peace deal between the GNA and the LNA by using their respective influence on each side of the conflict.

The EU could then step up its capacity building work, help professionalise Libya’s security sector, strengthen civil society and invest in projects that unlock Libya’s economic potential. Stability and prosperity in Libya would significantly reduce migratory pressure to Europe by making it safer and more attractive as a destination country for labour migrants – as it was before the revolution.

As the European Parliament and the European Commission start their new terms this year, migration should be back at the top of their agendas.

Stabilising Libya will certainly take time and may not even be possible because the conflict is so complex and involves a multitude of internal and external non-EU actors. The EU must therefore simultaneously work towards a sustainable search and rescue, reception and relocation mechanism for those who manage to leave Libya.

Italy’s decision to close its ports and criminalise NGOs attempting to bring rescued migrants to shore is certainly deplorable. Yet it’s also understandable given the lack of solidarity other EU member states have demonstrated long before Salvini was elected to government.

As a result, Malta now feels the cold shoulder of northern and eastern European indifference as it receives more and more arrivals diverted from Italy. The current practice of ad-hoc, case-by-case relocations for each boatload of migrants rejected by the Italian authorities is simply not sustainable.

Solving the question of asylum seeker relocation within the EU may even be more difficult than achieving peace in Libya, as the never-ending standstill in negotiations between the European Parliament and Council on the reform of the Dublin Regulation demonstrates.

But it must be done. There’s no other way to handle the arrival of migrants seeking asylum in Europe. The alternative is a political backlash in frontline member states that threatens the entire EU project.

As the European Parliament and the European Commission start their new terms this year, migration should be back at the top of their agendas. However, in contrast to the last terms, they should approach irregular migration through the Central Mediterranean not as an isolated issue, but rather as one element in an interlinked set of challenges requiring integrated policy responses.

Only then does the EU stand a chance at finding sustainable solutions that can withstand the inevitable migratory pressure facing Europe in the future.

This article first appeared in International Politics and Society published by the International Political Analysis Unit of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Hiroshimastrasse 28, D-10785 Berlin.

The post Migrants, Militias & the Mediterranean Sea appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Marco Funk is a Policy Officer at the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung EU Office, where he is responsible for the foundation’s Brussels-based activities related to EU migration and home affairs. He previously worked as a Policy Analyst for the European Policy Centre, where he focused on EU migration and asylum policy.

The post Migrants, Militias & the Mediterranean Sea appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Secretary-General António Guterres visits a Training Centre in Kamakunji, Kenya, and talked to youth about countering violent extremism, and preventing radicalization. (9 July 2019) Credit: UNEP/Duncan Moore

By Siddharth Chatterjee
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 11 2019 (IPS)

During the egregious Dusit attack, Kenya demonstrated remarkable, resilience, solidarity and stood firm against the terrorists.

Combined with a swift and highly efficient surgical response from the law enforcement agencies, Kenyans united together in empathy and all barriers came down in a collective show of humanity.

It is well known that for a long time all over the world, well-meaning counter-terrorism responses only ended up alienating some sections of society. Recent insights into drivers of extremism however are showing that forging partnerships with such communities, formerly subjected to profiling and hard-line policing, is a better option to challenge hateful extremism.

Globally, race, ethnicity, religion, dress, political ideology or any combination of these traits have all been used to single out people for attention. A whole-of-society approach is now offering communities an opportunity not just to stand up to stigmatization but to engage dialogue that could deal with the root causes of violent extremism.

During his visit to Kenya for the African Conference on Counter-Terrorism Conference in Africa, UN Secretary-General António Guterres had a chance to interact with a community in Nairobi’s Kamukunji suburbs, where grassroots level people have organized themselves to tackle the contentious issues that have made the area a target of radicalization.

In his interaction with the leaders, structural inequalities and alienation from terrorism response agencies were mentioned as important conversations that need to take place.

“Kenya is showing the way in pursuing cohesiveness and creating conditions where diverse people and can live and respect each other and stay alive to prevent manifestations of extremism, and in this the country has the full support of the UN,” said Mr. Guterres.

An important challenge in dealing with extremism and radicalization has been the varied and evolving nature of the drivers of violent extremism within communities, and countries.

The reality is that local communities are best placed to understand what these drivers are, why they change, and how best to address them. Yet, too often they have been excluded from policy dialogue on countering violent extremism.

A relatively common thread especially among the youth is that they simply want to be heard. Led by the area Member of Parliament, Yusuf Hassan, himself a victim of a grenade attack that confined him to a wheelchair for years, the Kamukunji community has identified appropriate interlocutors to lead in the process of countering radicalization at the local level.

This has involved developing trust between the different communities in the area, and between the communities and state actors in the war on terror, especially the police. Leadership has been exceptional in partnering with agencies such as the UN to unlock the potential of the community to develop tailored, local responses to the threat of extremism.

Kenya’s National Counter Terrorism Centre, together with the United Nations Country Team, among other partners, is working in counties and communities to develop county action plans on preventing violent extremism. These plans are notable for their inclusive approach, their attempt to be measurable, and responsive in an effective and efficient way.

For Kamakunji, that has had numerous terrorist incidences, there are very encouraging signs coming out of the area, of a community not just coming together to pick up the pieces after the attacks, but to strive to work together to make such occurrence less likely. The answer has been in taking the fight to extremists through community solidarity, trust, dignity, respect and good citizenship.

The emphasis now is on winning hearts and minds, while ensuring that the pillar of security is robust in countering violent extremism.

A fundamental pillar in the prevention of violent extremism are the youth of Africa. By 2050, there will be 2.3 Billion people in Africa, of which 830 million will be young people.

The way youth resilience manifests itself is highly dependent on their social, economic and political environments. When youth are empowered and provided opportunities for participation, they are most likely to capitalize on their resilience constructively. For this reason, youth are Africa’s most important asset in the prevention of violent extremism and peacebuilding. They are the very foundation of every community.

If Africa is to curtail the spread of violent extremism and achieve sustainable development, there must be determined focus on the empowerment, education and employment of youth- of a generation unlimited.

Siddharth Chatterjee, is the United Nations Resident Coordinator to Kenya

The post Community Action Is a Critical Weapon in the War on Terror appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Natalia Kanem

By Dr. Natalia Kanem
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 11 2019 (IPS)

Every year on World Population Day (July 11), UNFPA receives queries from journalists about the total number of people around the world. Numbers are indeed important because they help governments develop policies that respond to evolving needs for services such as education and health.

While global population is currently around 7.7 billion, what is perhaps more important than the numbers is the bigger story they tell–a story about sex: who has it, when they have it and under what circumstances. It is also a story about agency.

Oscar Wilde once said, “Everything in the world is about sex except sex. Sex is about power.” Whether a woman or teenage girl has the power to decide about sexual relations will have a profound impact on her life.

UNFPA statistics from 51 countries show that only three in five married women make their own decisions about intimacy with their partner, use of contraception, and their healthcare. In some of the least developed countries, it is only 1 in 14 women who have such power.

Lack of agency, or power, in these areas can translate into forced sex, unintended pregnancy, teenage pregnancy, and families that are larger than a woman wants. And with these consequences can come long-term harm to a woman’s health and the denial of her rights.

This is what a lack of agency meant for one young woman in Burundi: Charlotte was 17 when she was forced to marry and leave school, closing out opportunities for higher education, employment and economic independence.

Her husband deserted her after she became pregnant, and Charlotte was left to manage serious complications during delivery by herself. In the end, she lost her baby and fell into a coma for four days.

Unfortunately, she developed an obstetric fistula, a normally preventable condition, that caused urinary and fecal incontinence. Charlotte’s father then forced her to live in a brick hole in their backyard for nine years because he couldn’t bear the stench.

Thanks to UNFPA, Charlotte finally got the surgery she needed, but she will never get back the nine years she lost. A lack of agency early in life kicked off a calamitous chain of events that robbed her of her dignity and health and derailed her future.

Lack of agency in sex is often linked to child marriage. Every day, 33,000 girls become brides against their will and in violation of their rights. About 95 per cent of teenage births occur in developing countries, and 9 in 10 of these births occur within a marriage or union.

Millions of girls around the world pay a high price every day due to lack of access to comprehensive sexuality education and taboos around speaking openly about sexual and reproductive health.

There are 214 million women in developing countries who want to prevent a pregnancy but are not using contraception. Without family planning information and services, these women lack the power to make their own decisions about whether, when or how often to become pregnant.

And this amounts to a violation of their rights affirmed through international agreements and resolutions dating back as far as 1968.

We have ample evidence of how a lack of agency negatively impacts a woman’s health and well-being. But there is also abundant evidence of an economic impact as well.

Societies where women have the power to make decisions about the timing and spacing of pregnancies and in other aspects of their lives also tend to be more prosperous, equitable and resilient.

Twenty-five years ago, at the International Conference for Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo, 179 governments recognized the importance of agency in sexual relations and promised to empower women and girls in every aspect of life to enable them to chart their own futures.

Central to the ICPD’s Programme of Action was a commitment to achieve universal sexual and reproductive health and to protect every woman’s right to make her own decisions about the timing and spacing of pregnancies.

Since then, the world has made impressive gains in bolstering agency, particularly through expanding access to contraception. Still, there are hundreds of millions of women and teenage girls who have been left behind, especially in poor, rural or marginalized communities.

We cannot accept defeat. We must take action to fulfill the commitments made at the ICPD and achieve the world we imagined: one where every pregnancy is wanted, where people choose freely whom to marry as adults, where no one is subjected to gender-based violence, and all girls are protected from violence and the harm caused by practices such as female genital mutilation–a world where agency, especially when it comes to sex, is a reality for all.

This world can be a reality, but it requires more than hope. It demands conviction, courage, partnership and dedication from us all. That’s why this November, UNFPA and the governments of Kenya and Denmark are co-convening the Nairobi Summit on ICPD25 to finish the job we started in 1994.

On this World Population Day, I call on all governments to join us in Nairobi, to look beyond the numbers, and to breathe new life into the global movement to achieve the world we imagine.

The post Let’s Talk About Sex – and Why Power Matters appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Dr Natalia Kanem is Executive Director of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA)

The post Let’s Talk About Sex – and Why Power Matters appeared first on Inter Press Service.

The United Nations has warned that drought, disease and war are preventing farmers from producing enough food for millions of people across Africa and other regions.Recurring droughts have destroyed most harvests in the Sahel. Credit:Kristin Palitza/IPS

By James Reinl
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 11 2019 (IPS)

The United Nations has warned of drought, disease and war preventing farmers from producing enough food for millions of people across Africa and other regions, leading to the need for major aid operations.

A report called the Crop Prospects and Food Situation by the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says that shortages of grain and other foodstuffs have left people in 41 countries — 31 of them in Africa — in need of handouts.

“Ongoing conflicts and dry weather conditions remain the primary causes of high levels of severe food insecurity, hampering food availability and access for millions of people,” U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters on Tuesday.

Southern Africa has experienced both dry spells and rainfall damage from Cyclone Idai, which made landfall in Mozambique on Mar. 14. The storm caused “agricultural production shortfalls” and big “increases in cereal import needs,” added Haq. 

Farmers in Zimbabwe and Zambia have seen harvests decline this year. Some three million people faced shortages at the start of 2019, but food price spikes there will likely push that number upwards in the coming months, researchers say.

In eastern Africa, crop yields have dropped in Somalia, Kenya and Sudan due to “severe dryness”, added Haq. 

According to the FAO, life for rural herders in Kassala State, in eastern Sudan, has been upended by a drought that has forced them to move livestock away from traditional grazing routes in pursuit of greener pastures.

“Life would be so hard if our livestock died. We wouldn’t have food or milk for the children,” Khalda Mohammed Ibrahim, a farmer near Aroma, in Kassala State, told FAO. “When it is dry, I am afraid the animals will starve — and then we will too.”

Droughts are getting worse, says the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). By 2025, some 1.8 billion people will experience serious water shortages, and two thirds of the world will be “water-stressed”.

In Asia, low yields of wheat and barley outputs are raising concerns in North Korea, where dry spells, heatwaves and flooding have led to what has been called the worst harvests the hermit dictatorship has seen in a decade, the report said.

More than 10 million North Koreans — or 40 percent of the country’s population — are short of food or require aid handouts, the U.N.’s Rome-based agency for agriculture said in its 42-page study.

FAO researchers also addressed the spread of a deadly pig disease in China that has disrupted the world’s biggest pork market and is one of the major risks to a well-supplied global agricultural sector.

China is grappling with African swine fever, which has spread across much of the country this past year. There is no cure or vaccine for the disease, often fatal for pigs although harmless for humans.

By the middle of June, more than 1.1 million pigs had died or been culled. The bug has also been reported in Vietnam, Cambodia, Mongolia, North Korea and Laos, affecting millions of pigs and threatening farmers’ livelihoods.

The FAO forecast a five percent fall in Chinese pork output this year, while imports were predicted to rise to almost two million tonnes from an average 1.6 million tonnes per year from 2016 to 2018.

Conflict is another worry, the FAO said. While Syria and Yemen have seen “generally conducive weather conditions for crops”, fighting between government forces, rebels and other groups in both countries has ravaged agriculture.

Violence in Yemen has triggered what the U.N. calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with 3.3 million people displaced and 24.1 million — more than two-thirds of the population — in need of aid.

Last month, the U.N.’s World Food Programme (WFP) announced a “partial suspension” of aid affecting 850,000 people in Yemen’s capital Sanaa, saying the Houthi rebels that run the city were diverting food from the needy.

Likewise, in Africa, simmering conflicts in the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan have caused a “dire food security situation”. In  South Sudan, seven million people do not have enough food.

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The post Drought, Disease and War Hit Global Agriculture, Says U.N. appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Credit: UN Environment.

By Baher Kamal
MADRID, Jul 10 2019 (IPS)

In case you were not aware or just do not remember: all you eat, drink, breathe, wear, take as a medicine, the cosmetics you use, the walls of your house, among others, is full of chemicals. And all is really ALL.

For instance, in your bathroom, formaldehyde often sits in your shampoo, microbeads in your toothpaste, phthalates in your nail polish and antimicrobials in your soaps, while your medicine cabinet contains a myriad of synthetic pharmaceuticals.

In your kitchen, a juicy strawberry may carry traces of up to 20 different pesticides.

The size of the global chemical industry exceeded 5 trillion dollars in 2017. It is projected to double by 2030. Consumption and production are rapidly increasing in emerging economies.

And the perfumed bin-liners and air fresheners contain volatile organic compounds that can make you nauseous and give you a headache. And the list goes on…

Who tells all these and many other shocking facts is one of the top world organisations dealing with the sources and dangers of pollution and contamination – the UN Environment, which on 29 April 2019 released its Global Chemicals Outlook.

 

Chemicals, chemicals, chemicals everywhere

See what Tanzanian microbiologist and environmental scientist Joyce Msuya, the Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, said in her introduction to this report:

“Chemicals are part of our everyday lives. From pharmaceuticals to plant protection, innovations in chemistry can improve our health, food security and much more. However, if poorly used and managed, hazardous chemicals and waste threaten human health and the environment.

“As the second Global Chemicals Outlook lays out, global trends such as population dynamics, urbanisation and economic growth are rapidly increasing chemical use, particularly in emerging economies.

“In 2017, the industry was worth more than 5 trillion dollars. By 2030, this will double.

“Large quantities of hazardous chemicals and pollutants continue to leak into the environment, contaminating food chains and accumulating in our bodies, where they do serious damage.

“Estimates by the European Environment Agency suggest that 62 per cent of the volume of chemicals consumed in Europe in 2016 were hazardous to health.

“The World Health Organization estimates the burden of disease from selected chemicals at 1.6 million lives in 2016. The lives of many more are negatively impacted…”

Referring to the agreed objective that, by 2020, chemicals will be produced and used in ways that minimise significant adverse effects on the environment and human health, Joyce Msuya warned “At our current pace, we will not achieve the goal.”

 

Key findings

The following are three key findings included in the report, among many others.

One is that the size of the global chemical industry exceeded 5 trillion dollars in 2017. It is projected to double by 2030. Consumption and production are rapidly increasing in emerging economies. Global supply chains, and the trade of chemicals and products, are becoming increasingly complex.

Another one is that, driven by global mega-trends, growth in chemical-intensive industry sectors (e.g. construction, agriculture, electronics) creates risks, but also opportunities to advance sustainable consumption, production and product innovation.

And a third one is that hazardous chemicals and other pollutants (e.g. plastic waste and pharmaceutical pollutants) continue to be released in large quantities. They are ubiquitous in humans and the environment and are accumulating in material stocks and products, highlighting the need to avoid future legacies through sustainable materials management and circular business models.

The Global Chemicals Outlook covers three broad inter-linked areas building upon the findings of existing and concurrent studies:

 

Production, trade, use and disposal of chemicals

Both the continuous growth trends and the changes in global production, trade and use of chemicals point towards an increasing chemical intensification of the economy.

This chemical intensification of the economy derives largely from several factors, such as the increased volume and a shift of production and use from highly industrialised countries to developing countries and countries in economic transition.

Another factor is the penetration of chemical intensive products into national economies through globalisation of sales and use.

Then there are the increased chemical emissions resulting from major economic development sectors.

According to the report, products of the chemical industry that are increasingly replacing natural materials in both industrial and commercial products.

Thus, petrochemical lubricants, coatings, adhesives, inks, dyes, creams, gels, soaps, detergents, fragrances and plastics are replacing conventional plant, animal and ceramic based products.

Industries and research institutions which are increasingly developing sophisticated and novel nano-scale chemicals and synthetic halogenated compounds that are creating new functions such as durable, non-stick, stain resistant, fire retardant, water-resistant, non-corrosive surfaces, and metallic, conductive compounds that are central to integrated circuits used in cars, cell phones, and computers.

 

Penetration of chemical intensive products 

The Global Outlook also informs that many countries are primarily importers of chemicals and are not significant producers. Agricultural chemicals and pesticides used in farming were among the first synthetic chemicals to be actively exported to developing countries.

Today, as consumption of a wide range of products increases over time, these products themselves become a significant vehicle increasing the presence of chemicals in developing and transition economies, the report explains, adding the following information:

 

• These include liquid chemical personal care products for sale directly to consumers; paints, adhesives and lubricants; as well as chemically complex articles ranging from textiles and electronics, to building materials and toys. Emissions from products pose different management challenges from those associated with manufacturing, as   they are diffused throughout the economy, rather than being concentrated at manufacturing facilities.

 

• Trade in articles has been identified as a significant driver of global transport of lead, cadmium, mercury and brominated flame retardants.

 

• It is often the case that electrical and electronic equipment, which contain hazardous or toxic substances, are purchased in developed countries before being disposed of or recycled in unsafe and unprotected conditions in developing states or countries with economies in transition.

 

• Products such as cell phones and laptops are being purchased and used in regions of the world recently thought to be too remote.

 

• Increasing consumer demand for electrical/electronic goods and materials, along with rapid technology change and the high obsolescence rate of these items have led to the increasing generation of large quantities of obsolete and near end of life electronic products.

 

• These trends contribute to global electronic waste generation estimated at 40 million tons per year.

 

Chemical contamination and waste associated with industrial sectors of importance in developing countries include: pesticides from agricultural runoff; heavy metals associated with cement production; dioxin associated with electronics recycling; mercury and other heavy metals associated with mining and coal combustion, explains the Global Outlook.

They also include: butyl tins, heavy metals, and asbestos released during ship breaking; heavy metals associated with tanneries; mutagenic dyes, heavy metals and other pollutants associated with textile production; toxic metals, solvents, polymers, and flame retardants used in electronics manufacturing, and  the direct exposure resulting from the long range transport of many chemicals through environmental media that deliver chemical pollutants which originate from sources thousands of kilometres away.

 

Credit: UN Environment.

 

Health and environmental effects

According to the report:

 

• Chemicals released to the air can act as air pollutants as well as greenhouse gases and ozone depleters and contribute to acid rain formation.
• Chemicals can contaminate water resources through direct discharges to bodies of water, or via deposition of air contaminants to water. This contamination can have adverse effects on aquatic organisms, including fish, and on the availability of water resources for drinking, bathing, and other activities.
• It is common for soil pollution to be a direct result of atmospheric deposition, dumping of waste, spills from industrial or waste facilities, mining activities, contaminated water, or pesticides.
• Persistent and bio-accumulative chemicals are found as widespread contaminants in wildlife, especially those that are high in the food chain. Some of these chemicals cause cancers, immune system dysfunction, and reproductive disorders in wildlife.
• In some countries, the runoff of pesticides and fertilisers from agricultural fields or the use of chemicals in mining in neighbouring countries, may leach into ground water, or run into estuaries shared across national boundaries.
• Fisheries, an important source of protein and of economic value for populations around the world, can be severely affected by chemicals. Persistent organic pollutants can accumulate in fish, especially those high in the food chain. As a result, the value of this otherwise excellent protein source is diminished or lost completely.
• Exposure to toxic chemicals can cause or contribute to a broad range of health outcomes. These include eye, skin, and respiratory irritation; damage to organs such as the brain, lungs, liver or kidneys; damage to the immune, respiratory, cardiovascular, nervous, reproductive or endocrine systems; and birth defects and chronic diseases, such as cancer, asthma, or diabetes.
• Workers in industries using chemicals are especially vulnerable through exposure to toxic chemicals and related health effects.

 

These include an increased cancer rate in workers in electronics facilities; high blood lead levels among workers at lead-acid battery manufacturing and recycling plants; flame retardant exposures among workers in electronic waste recycling; mercury poisoning in small-scale gold miners; asbestosis among workers employed in asbestos mining and milling; and acute and chronic pesticide poisoning among workers in agriculture in many countries.

In spite of these and other immense negative impacts on health and the environment, the more than 400 scientists and experts around the world, who worked over three long years to prepare the Global Chemicals Outlook, underscore that the goal to minimise adverse impacts of chemicals and waste will not be achieved by 2020.

“Solutions exist,” the 400 world experts emphasise, “but more ambitious worldwide action by all stakeholders is urgently required.”

Otherwise…

 

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

The post Today’s Menu: Pesticide Salad, Leaded Fish with Plastic, Chemical Fruit appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Yohei Sasakawa, president of the Nippon Foundation, is interviewed by IPS in the Brazilian capital, where he concluded a tour of the country aimed at promoting the elimination of Hansen's Disease, better known as leprosy, and also the stigma that make it the "disease of silence.” Credit: Mario Osava/IPS

By Mario Osava
BRASILIA, Jul 10 2019 (IPS)

Yohei Sasakawa has dedicated half of his 80 years of life to combating the “disease of silence” and is still fighting the battle, as president of the Nippon Foundation and World Health Organisation (WHO) goodwill ambassador for elimination of leprosy, formally known as Hansen’s Disease.

His current emphasis is on combating the discrimination, prejudice and stigma that aggravate the suffering of people with leprosy, their families and even those who have already been cured. They also stand in the way of treatment, because people with the disease keep silent out of fear of hostility, he told IPS in an interview in the Brazilian capital.“I travel around the world and speak out against the discrimination that marginalises those affected by the disease. But these are prejudices that have existed for 2,000 years; they cannot be overcome in two or three years. Many share my viewpoint and accompany me in the struggle. One day the discrimination will end. It is more difficult to cure the disease that plagues society than the illness itself. My effort is to hold a dialogue with presidents and ministers, people in positions of leadership, so that my message acquires political strength and can lead to a solution.”

Sasakawa visited Brazil Jul. 1 to 10, as part of his activism aimed at reducing the prevalence and social impacts of a disease stigmatised since biblical times. In Brasilia, he mobilised President Jair Bolsonaro, legislators and health and human rights officials to promote more intense efforts against the disease.

The idea of holding a national conference on Hansen’s Disease emerged from the meetings, with the political objective of disseminating knowledge and bolstering the disposition to eradicate prejudice, and the technical goal of improving strategies and efforts against the disease.

Brazil is second only to India with respect to the number of new infections diagnosed each year. The country implemented a National Strategy to Combat Hanseniasis from 2019 to 2022, with plans also at the level of municipalities and states, tailored to the specific local conditions.

The Tokyo-based Nippon Foundation is funding several projects and is preparing to support new initiatives in Brazil.

Brazil and Japan abolished the word leprosy from their medical terminology, due to the stigma surrounding it, and adopted the term Hanseniasis to refer to the disease caused by the Mycobacterium leprae bacillus. Sasakawa used this name during his interview with IPS, even though the WHO continues to employ the term leprosy.

IPS: Why did you choose as your mission the fight against Hansen’s Disease and the different kinds of harm it causes to patients and their families?

YOHEI SASAKAWA: It started with my father, the founder of the Nippon Foundation, who as a young man fell in love with a young woman who suddenly disappeared when she was taken far away and put in isolation. My father was appalled by the cruelty and, driven by a spirit of seeking justice, he started this movement. No one discussed the reason she was taken away, but I sincerely believe it was because she had Hanseniasis.

Later my father built hospitals in different places, including one in South Korea, where I accompanied him to the inauguration. On that occasion I noticed that my father touched the hands and legs of the patients, even though they had pus. He hugged them. That impressed me.

I was surprised for two reasons. It frightened me that my father so easily embraced people in those conditions. Besides, I wasn’t familiar with the disease yet. I saw people with a sick, unhealthy pallor. They were dead people who were still alive, the living dead, abandoned by their families.

I was filled with admiration for my father’s work and immediately decided that I should continue it.

IPS: What are the main difficulties in eradicating Hanseniasis?

YS: In general, when faced with a problem specialists and intellectuals come up with 10 reasons why it’s impossible to solve. I have the strong conviction that it is possible, and that’s why I address the problem in such a way that I can identify it and at the same time find a solution.

The people who find it difficult generally work in air-conditioned offices pushing around papers, studying the data. The most important thing is to have the firm conviction that the problem can be solved and then begin to take action.

The president of the Nippon Foundation, Yohei Sasakawa (C) is seen meeting with the president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro (L), in an IPS screen capture from the video that the president broadcast on Facebook to raise public awareness about the importance of eliminating Hansen’s Disease, better known as leprosy, and eradicating the prejudice faced by patients and their families. Credit: IPS

Since the 1980s more than 16 million people have been cured of Hansen’s Disease. Today, 200,000 patients a year are cured around the world.

IPS: What role do prejudice, stigma and discrimination play in the fight against this disease?

YS: That is a good question. After working for many years with the WHO, focusing mainly on curing the disease, I realised that many people who had already been cured could neither find work nor get married; they were still suffering the same conditions they faced when they were sick.

I concluded that Hanseniasis was like a two-wheeled motorcycle – the front one is the disease that can be cured and the back one is the prejudice, discrimination and stigma that surround it. If you don’t cure both wheels, no healing is possible.

In 2003, I submitted to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights a proposal to eliminate discrimination against Hanseniasis. After seven years of paperwork and procedures, the 193-member General Assembly unanimously approved a resolution to eradicate this problem that affects the carrier of the disease as well as those who have been cured, and their families.

But this does not mean that the problem has been solved, because prejudice and discrimination are the disease plaguing society.

People believe that Hanseniasis is a punishment from God, a curse, a hereditary evil. It’s hard to eradicate this judgment embedded in people’s minds. Even today there are many patients who have recovered and are totally healed, who cannot find a job or get married. In spite of the new laws, their conditions do not improve, because of the prejudice in people’s hearts.

In Japan, several generations of the family of someone who had the disease were unable to marry. This is no longer the case today.

That’s why I travel the world and speak out against the discrimination that marginalises those affected by the disease. But these are prejudices that have existed for 2,000 years; they cannot be overcome in two or three years.

Many share my viewpoint and accompany me in the struggle. One day the discrimination will end. It is more difficult to cure the disease that plagues society than the illness itself.

My effort is to hold a dialogue with presidents and ministers, people in positions of leadership, so that my message acquires political strength and can lead to a solution.

IPS: How did Japan manage to eradicate Hansen’s Disease?

YS: One way was the collective action of people who had the disease. Long-term media campaigns were conducted to spread knowledge about the disease. Movies, books and plays were also produced.

In Japan, Hanseniasis ceased to be the ‘disease of silence’. The nation apologised for the discrimination and compensated those affected. But in other countries, people affected by the disease have not yet come together to fight. Brazil, however, does have a very active movement.

IPS: As an example of what can be done, you cite Brazil’s Movement for the Reintegration of People Affected by Hanseniasis, MORHAN. Are there similar initiatives in other countries?

YS: Morhan really stands out as a model. Organisations have been formed by patients in India and Ethiopia, but they still have limited political influence. The Nippon Foundation encourages such movements.

IPS: You’ve visited Brazil more than 10 times. Have you seen any progress on this tour of the states of Pará and Maranhão, in the north, and in Brasilia?

YS: On that trip we couldn’t visit patients’ homes and talk to them, but we did see that the national, regional and local governments are motivated. We will be able to expand our activities here. In any country, if the highest-level leaders, such as presidents and prime ministers, take the initiative, solutions can be accelerated.

We agreed to organise a national meeting, promoted by the Health Ministry and sponsored by the Nippon Foundation, if possible with the participation of President Jair Bolsonaro, to bolster action against Hanseniasis.

We believe that this would generate a strong current to reduce the prevalence of Hanseniasis to zero and also to eliminate discrimination and prejudice. If this happens, my visit could be considered very successful.

IPS: What would you emphasise about the results of your visit?

YS: The message that President Bolsonaro spread directly to the population through Facebook during our meeting, with his view addressed to all politicians, to his team and and to all government officials on the need to eliminate the disease. I feel as if I have obtained the support of a million people who will work with us.

Related Articles

• Japan Boosts Complex Fight to Eliminate Leprosy in Brazil
• People Affected by Leprosy in Latin America Unite for Their Rights and Their Voice
• In Latin America, the Term Leprosy Still Carries a Burden from Biblical Times
• People Affected by Leprosy Still Face Stigma in Latin America

The post A Lifelong Battle Against the “Disease of Silence” appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Mario Osava interviews YOHEI SASAKAWA, president of the Nippon Foundation

The post A Lifelong Battle Against the “Disease of Silence” appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Former United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon speaks at a programme on climate change in Dhaka on Wednesday, July 10, 2019. Photo grabbed from Facebook live video/ Ashraful Alam Khokan, Deputy Press Secretary To the Honorable Prime minister at Prime Minister's Office

By Star Online Report
Jul 10 2019 (IPS-Partners)

(The Daily Star) – Former United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon today said Bangladesh is the best teacher in climate change adaptation.

Ban Ki-moon said this while addressing the inaugural ceremony of a two-day international conference on climate change adaptation in Dhaka.

“We are here to learn from Bangladesh’s experiences and vision, when it comes to adaptation, our best teachers are opened doors who are on the front lines of climate change,” Moon said.

A few countries have more to teach the rest of the world than Bangladesh, Bangladesh is thus is the best teacher to learn about the adaptation, he said.

“If sea levels were to rise by just one metre, 17% of the country (Bangladesh) would be under water by 2050, he said.

“According to the IPCC, Dhaka itself could be engulfed by even or slight rise in sea level,” he added.

While the rest of the world debate climate change, for Bangladesh adapting to a warmer, more violent, less predictable climate is a matter of absolute survival, he said.

Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine, World Bank CEO Kristalina Georgieva and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina spoke on the occasion among other distinguished guests at a Dhaka hotel this morning.

Former United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon, Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina meet at a lounge at Hotel InterContinental in Dhaka on Wednesday, July 10, 2019. Photo: PID

Bangladesh will showcase its good practices on climate change adaption initiatives like water resilient crops, home solar system and climate trust fund.

The meeting will prepare a set of recommendations on climate change adaptation for placing it before the UN in September.

During their stay here, the international dignitaries are scheduled to visit the Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar to see environmental degradation caused by the Rohingya influx and settlement

This story was originally published by The Daily Star, Bangladesh

The post Bangladesh is our best teacher in climate change adaptation: UN ex-chief Ban Ki-moon appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Ethiopians read newspapers in Addis Ababa on June 24. Following what the government refers to as a failed attempted coup, access to the internet was cut and journalists were arrested. (Reuters/Tiksa Negeri)

By Muthoki Mumo
NAIROBI, Jul 10 2019 (IPS)

On June 22, Ethiopia was plunged into an internet blackout following what the government described as a failed attempted coup in the Amhara region.

In the aftermath at least two journalists were detained under the country’s repressive anti-terror law, part of an uptick in arrests that CPJ has noted in the country since May.

While internet shutdowns and anti-terror laws being turned against journalists are nothing new in Ethiopia, their use in recent weeks is in stark contrast to the Ethiopia that welcomed the international media community for World Press Freedom Day celebrations in May and whose prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, has been fêted as taking bold steps in opening up the space for a free press.

Yared Hailemariam, the executive director of the Swiss-based Association for Human Rights in Ethiopia, described the June 22 shutdown to CPJ as “a very wrong and old strategy of the government.” But it wasn’t the only blackout last month.

The country was hit by intermittent network disruptions affecting internet and SMS services between June 11 and June 18, according to the Open Observatory of Network Interference, a global open sourcing network for tracking blocks.

Several outlets, including Bloomberg and CNN, said speculation inside Ethiopia was that authorities cut internet access in those instances to prevent students cheating during examinations.

Alongside the blackouts, in the past two months authorities also arrested several journalists and, on July 8, Ethiopia’s Ministry of Defense said in a press conference that it planned to file charges against “individuals and media creating distrust between the public and the army,” the state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting reported.

All this leads to the inevitable question: did we celebrate the opening up of Ethiopia too early?

Most journalists and human rights defenders with whom CPJ spoke said there are concrete wins: journalists who had been imprisoned for years were freed in 2018 and the government is carrying out positive legal reform.

Haimanot Ashenafi, a senior editor at the weekly Addis Maleda, said journalism in Ethiopia today is different from the profession which for years was characterized by “shock and trauma”.

Zelalem Kibret, an Ethiopian academic and former blogger, saidthat he was “ambivalent” as to whether recent events were a case of “an old habit struggling to fade away or a renewed attack on the press.”

However, several of the people with whom CPJ spoke said they were concerned about the future for the media.

“It doesn’t look as bright as it was a few months ago. My optimism is dimming though I am still hopeful,” said Elias Kifle, the chief executive of the online news outlet Mereja TV. He added that the problems reflected polarization in the country.

Belay Manaye, an editor at the privately-owned Satellite Radio and Television (ASRAT) and co-founder of the newspaper, Berera, said, “The way we manage this political crisis will manifest which way we could go in the near future: are we getting back to the dark times or will we manage the crisis and move forward? I hope we can manage.”

Key to moving forward, the journalists said, is greater openness with the public and the media.

The government has not provided an official explanation for the internet shutdowns, which journalists say disrupted their work and made it difficult to communicate with sources.

When CPJ asked Billene Seyoum, a spokesperson in the Prime Minister’s office, about the disruptions she said only that connectivity had been restored. Cherer Aklilu, executive director of the country’s sole service provider, Ethio Telecom, did not respond to CPJ’s June 28 call or request for comment sent via text message.

Attempts to reach Cherer via phone on July 3 were unsuccessful. Ethio Telecom apologized for the shutdowns on June 18 and July 5 via statements posted to its Twitter account.

Haimanot told CPJ that while she believed a shutdown might have throttled “dangerous” speech online on June 22, it could not be the main solution to tackling misinformation. She said that during earlier blackouts that month, conspiracy theories emerged, some of which she had to debunk: a task made difficult because she could not communicate as easily with sources.

Befekadu Hailu, also from Addis Maleda, told CPJ he was disappointed at the shutdown which, he said, was unjustifiable and meant that “the government monopolized the narrative” about events, with the only information available coming from state media.

CPJ experienced the difficulties of reporting during a network disruption first hand. In the absence of a secure means of communication, and with news trickling out of Ethiopia through the diaspora community, misinformation sprouted, including at least one report of a journalist being abducted–a story later debunked by the Amharic service of the German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle.

Anti-terror law back in use

Over 200 people were arrested in the aftermath of the alleged attempted coup, Deutche Welle reported. Of those, at least two–ASRAT manager Berihun Adane and Getachew Ambachew, a volunteer at the station–were detained under Ethiopia’s anti-terror law.

The law was used to crack down on dissenting journalists under previous administrations. The Abiy government has prioritized its reform and Cabinet approved a draft law in May and referred it to parliament, according to media reports.

“I’m very concerned about its resuscitation in this delicate time for murky allegations against journalists,” said Zelalem, who was previously convicted under it.

On June 26, a court ordered Getachew, Berihun, who also works for Berera, and four others to be detained for 28 days, pending investigations on allegations of terrorism in connection to the unrest, according to Berihun’s lawyer Henok Aklilu, and the Addis Standard.

Neither the police nor the court specified evidence of the alleged terrorist activity and the journalists have not been charged, Henok and ASRAT editor Betre Getahun told CPJ.

Some of those detained alongside the journalists are members of the Balderas Council, a political movement founded by prominent Ethiopian journalist Eskinder Nega that claims to advocate for the rights of Addis Ababa residents, and is considered by some as controversial.

Eskinder, Henok, and ASRAT editor Betre Getahun said that the pair were not part of the council and that they thought the journalists’ arrests could be linked to the strident editorial line of Berera and ASRAT media. Both outlets are both pro-Amhara, which is one of Ethiopia’s largest ethnic groups.

Separately, a third journalist, ESAT television station reporter Amanuel Mengistu, told CPJ he was arrested from his home in Addis Ababa on June 24 and released unconditionally on June 26.

He said that security searched his home, saying they were looking for weapons, but did not interrogate him or tell him why he was arrested or whether it was connected with his work at ESAT. Before he became a journalist, Amanuel was a member of the Ginbot 7, a group that was previously banned by Ethiopian authorities.

Government spokesperson Billene told CPJ that she did not have specific details about the arrested journalists, but that authorities were investigating people “from various walks of life, professions and parts of the country” in connection to the events of June 22.

Even before the current crisis, authorities were harassing journalists with brief detentions.

Police on May 22 detained Mesganaw Getachew, a reporter with the Ethiopis newspaper, while he was reporting on the demolition of homes in the Arat Kilo neighborhood of Addis Ababa, his editor Eskinder, told CPJ. Mesganaw was released without charge on bail, Eskinder said, adding that police beat and slapped the reporter.

Two days later, Tamirat Abera, a journalist with the privately owned Ahadu FM, was arrested from the station’s office in Addis Ababa by police from the Oromia region, the journalist told CPJ. And Gettye Yalew, an online reporter, told CPJ that he was arrested on May 26 when he went to visit Tamirat in jail.

Both journalists were freed on May 27. Gettye’s release was unconditional, but Tamirat and three of his Ahadu FM journalists face prosecution in connection to their reporting on alleged misconduct in the courts, according to Tamirat, Gettye, and a Facebook post by Ahadu FM.

CPJ is investigating other reports of journalists being arrested and harassed in Addis Ababa and other regions of Ethiopia, including Ethiopis contributor and activist Elias Gebru

Government spokesperson Billene did not comment on specific arrests, but told CPJ that it was “not always directly related to their journalistic activities.” She said the government was committed to opening up the space for the media “at the highest level”.

Oromia regional government spokesperson Admasu Damtew did not respond to CPJ’s text messages in June and early July, requesting comment on Tamirat’s and Gettye’s case. When CPJ called on July 9, Admasu said he could speak in one hour but did not answer CPJ’s follow up call or text message.

The crossroads Ethiopia now finds itself at was reflected in an editorial published in the local publication The Reporter after Tamirat was detained. The editorial said the arrest “sent chills throughout the media industry” and that the government must ensure due process of the law and guard against a return to the past, when Ethiopia was “one giant prison for journalists.”

The post In Era of Reform, Ethiopia Still Reverts to Old Tactics to Censor Press appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Muthoki Mumo is Sub-Saharan Africa representative of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). She is based in Nairobi, Kenya, and has a master's degree in journalism and globalization from the University of Hamburg.

The post In Era of Reform, Ethiopia Still Reverts to Old Tactics to Censor Press appeared first on Inter Press Service.

FAO Director-General Elect Qu Dongyu. Credit: ©FAO/Alessia Pierdomenico.

By Daud Khan
ROME, Jul 10 2019 (IPS)

On 23 June 2019 Mr Qu Dongyu of China was elected as the new Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization. FAO is one of the largest UN specialized agencies with a budget for 2018-19 of  US$2.5  billion,  offices in over 130 countries and more than 11,000 employees.  

Mr Qu takes over from José Graziano da Silva who has been in the post since 2012 and completes two terms in July 2019.  Mr Qu has a doctorate in agricultural and environmental sciences from Wageningen Agricultural University in the Netherlands, and has held several senior positions including as vice president of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. His most recent job was that of Vice Minister of Agriculture. He will take over his new position on 1 August 2019.

In his speech to the Member States prior to the election, Mr Qu outlined some of his key priorities.  These include “a focus on hunger and poverty eradication, tropical agriculture, drought land farming, digital rural development and better land design through transformation of agricultural production”. Over the coming weeks Mr Qu and his team will be translating these ideas into action plans.  The article below provides thoughts on a few big issues mainly related to production and trade, which should have high priority on their agenda.

Mr Qu will need to mediate changes in the power relations underlying global trade. In doing this he will need to ensure that greater competition is generated, that the fears and apprehension of the smaller developing countries are allayed, and that mercantilist pressures in the USA and Europe do not impede this process.

With regard to the first set of issues related to production, Mr Qu and his team will need to develop a vision for global agriculture in the coming decades.  Climate change is bringing about new temperature and rainfall patterns across the world. At the same time, rising incomes and larger populations mean that demand for agricultural products will increase. This will be accompanied by shifts in demand patterns. In most countries this will mean a move away from staple foods, such as wheat, rice and maize towards higher-value food products, particularly livestock and horticultural products; as well as towards agricultural raw materials, including animal feeds.

Critical questions that need answers include: how these emerging demands will be met; what changes in production systems and technologies will be needed; how domestic and international trade patterns for agricultural inputs and outputs will develop; and what impact that this would have on soils, air and water quality. Within this context, the new Management will need to identify the roles of governments, private sector and civil society and to start a conversation with these actors at global, regional and country level about what role FAO could play to support these changes.

Although no blue-print may emerge from these discussions, it is likely that many of these issues will require smart, tech-based solutions. The ICT revolution in agriculture has barely started and in the coming years new approaches such as precision agriculture and “smart” value-chain logistics will play a leading role.

Mr Qu will doubtless be aware that much of the needed technologies are imbedded in machinery, inputs and software that have been developed in the rich countries of Europe and in the USA, and come at high cost with large profit margins for the companies that developed them.

In the short run these costs will need to be lowered – the kind of negotiations done by the World Health Organization with the big pharmaceutical companies to lower medical drug prices for poor countries provides a good model to follow. However, in the medium to long run alternatives sources of technology will need to be developed. Countries with large agriculture research systems such as Brazil, India and China must lead this. Equally complex issues surround the use of Genetically Modified Organism (GMOs).

GMOS have a massive potential but issues about its proper and safe use have become mired in a poorly informed political debate.  Mr Qu will need to draw on his technical knowledge and experience, as well as his instincts as a scientist, to develop new strategies and approaches for FAO.

With regard to international trade, the shift to greater and more diversified consumption will require specialization across countries and regions, and a rapid increase in international trade. Global food imports have already tripled since 2000 to US$1.47 trillion.

Strong growth will continue as production of field crops, particularly food staples and feed (particularly soybean), will likely shift to countries with abundant land areas such as in North and South America, and Russia & Eastern Europe.

However, many countries are apprehensive about increased reliance on food imports – and for good reason.  Currently, the bulk of world grains trade is handled by four companies – the so called ABCDs: ADM, Bunge, Cargill and Louis Dreyfuss.

These companies have been in the grain trade business for over a century and their network of silos, ports and ships gives them a virtual stranglehold on the business.  However, their dominance is now being challenged by the China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corporation (COFCO) and its international trading arm (COFCO International).

Mr Qu will need to mediate changes in the power relations underlying global trade. In doing this he will need to ensure that greater competition is generated, that the fears and apprehension of the smaller developing countries are allayed, and that mercantilist pressures in the USA and Europe do not impede this process.

If FAO has to play a catalytic role in the above mentioned issues, Mr Qu will need to articulate and start implementing a new HR and staffing strategy for FAO.  Mr Qu will need to rebuild the cohort of highly experienced technical staff who can dialogue on policy and programmatic issues with countries and in global forums.

They need to be able to lead FAO’s work related to standards setting, creation of global public goods and international surveillance of pests, disease and emissions related to agriculture.  As part of this he also needs to rebuild the rift that has developed between staff and management, and with the decentralized offices which often work in a fragmented and opportunistic manner with little strategic focus.  To do this, Mr Qu will need to draw his experience as a senior manager in the Ministry.

Mr Qu takes over at a time when the global order is changing rapidly.  As he moves forward, including on some of the issues above, there will be opposition.  Some of this will play on the fears of an emergent “non liberal” China. He will also likely be accused of being a puppet of the Government.  Mr Qu will need to rise above past these criticisms and courageously take on a dynamic agenda.

Good luck Mr Qu.

 

Daud Khan is a retired UN staff based in Rome and Pakistan. He has degrees in economics from the London School of Economics and the University of Oxford; and a degree in Environmental Management from the Imperial College of Science and Technology. At Oxford he was a Rhodes Scholar. 

 

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By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 10 2019 (IPS)

The nominations of Christine Lagarde of France as the first woman to head the European Central Bank (ECB) and Ursula von der Leyen of Germany as the first woman to lead the 28-nation European Commission, have been described as significant landmarks in the higher echelons of international institutions long dominated by men.

The two women, who broke through the glass ceiling, take leadership roles at a time when fiscal policies of some European countries, including Greece and Italy, are in disarray while there are growing demands for urgent economic reforms in the Eurozone.

As Lagarde once famously said: whenever the situation is really, really bad, “you call in the woman” (as they did when she was Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund for eight years beginning 2011).

But even in the most trying circumstances, the United Nations and the World Bank (WB), where leadership has been the exclusive privilege of men, have refused to “call in the women” – primarily for political reasons.

Asked whether the two male dominated institutions will follow in the footsteps of Europe, Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury, former Under-Secretary-General and UN High Representative, told IPS: “As a consistent believer in women’s equality of participation at all decision-making levels, I would always welcome when a woman is appointed or elected to a leadership position in an organization which has been a man’s prerogative so long.”

‘In the same breath, I would say that unless the organizational and institutional culture of patriarchic thinking is simultaneously overhauled, nothing would change substantively,” said Chowdhury, whose initiative in March 2000, as President of the Security Council, led to the adoption of the groundbreaking UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on the role of women in peace and security.

Chowdhury said the same thing happened when Lagarde was heading the IMF, an organization which continues its arrogant imposition of policy prescriptions to the vulnerable countries without any concern about their negative impact on common people.

“I have no comment on the ECB and Lagarde at its helm as she is in her home-ground,” he added.

Although the UN has lacked a woman Secretary-General, the current incumbent, Antonio Guterres, a former Prime Minister of Portugal, has been credited with achieving one of the world body’s long-term goals: increasing the number of women at senior levels.

Asked about the UN’s longstanding policy of gender parity, UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq told IPS: “Yes, we announced last year that there was an equal number of men and women in his senior management team.”

According to UN Women, the United Nations made significant strides in increasing women’s representation in UN leadership in 2018, with both the Senior Management Group at the headquarters and Resident Coordinators in the field, reaching gender parity for the first time.

Barbara Crossette, former UN Bureau Chief for the New York Times (1994-2001), told IPS the United Nations and the World Bank are in a sense separate and different cases.

“Geopolitics plays into choices in both and it seems that a qualified woman could run either, if she has the necessary background. Start with the expertise and not with the idea that being a woman is the most important factor”.

The UN, she pointed out, which covers everything, from peacekeeping and security to refugees, and climate change, as well as being a repository of treaties and other documents, may be said to need an administrator or manager more than a visionary or creative thinker.

“The UN bends under intense political pressures from governments and regions seeking to grab good jobs — sometimes, it seems, whether or not a candidate has the requisite experience,” she declared.

There are many women around the world with very strong management skills and instincts, and Christine Lagarde at the IMF is an exceptionally good example, said Crossette, a senior consulting editor and writer for PassBlue and the United Nations correspondent for The Nation.

Chowdhury said: “If I am asked about Ms. Lagarde’s move from IMF to ECB opening the door for women to lead the United Nations or the World Bank, I would only say “not so fast”. “

“Well, the decision-making for the choice of heads of these two organizations are controlled by UN’s veto system and WB’s veto-like voting system”, he pointed out.

So, the bottom line is that all depends on one country which enjoys control of both. It is therefore a reality that only that country’s backing a woman candidate for either or both posts would make that happen – not because Ms Lagarde has been moved from IMF to ECB, he added.

Chowdhury said it is significant to keep in mind that the appointments of the WB and IMF heads are shared by US and Europe respectively as part of a post-World War II deal which needs a major overhaul in view of the widespread change in global political and economic scene.

Arancha González, Executive Director of the Geneva-based International Trade Centre (ITC), told IPS the recent nomination by European leaders of two women for its four most senior posts – head of the European Commission and European Central bank – is clearly a step in the direction of a more equal world.

“It adds to concerted efforts by the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to achieve gender-balance across the UN’s top leadership.”

Momentum is there, she said, adding that “this trend is not something we should take for granted”.

“We will have to continue working – every day – to ensure that women are treated on an equal footing to men, and not only in the leadership positions in international organizatons, but at every level and in every country,” she added.

Crossette said development is more central to the Bank’s mandate in research and work, and is thought have a staff with greater expertise, independence and analytical skills in the field.

Politics aside, it may be much less difficult to find a woman for the World Bank who is very much focused and experienced in social and political development in this disruptive, bombastic global environment where people don’t see their lives getting better.

“The question is why there has not already been a female Bank president’,” she said.

At the UN, Crossette argued, the current UN secretary-General was perhaps chosen over a group of female candidates because the political, geopolitical and security aspects of the job were seen as ‘too important’ for a woman — an old-fashioned, out-of-date concept at best, bringing the P5 (the five permanent members of the Security Council, namely the US, UK, France, China and Russia) to the fore, and handing them the final say on who would be the most pliant servant of the powerful.

“Maybe the Europeans can change that now”, she declared.

Sascha Gabizon, Executive Director of ‘Women Engage for a Common Future’ (WECF), told IPS Lagarde is looked at critically by some parts of the banking sector for not being “an economist”.

“My take is that it will be quite a difficult job, especially with Italian populists wanting to go heavily into debt, but that Lagarde is a highly experienced leader, and a feminist, and she understands the social dimensions of monetary policies. So, she’s a good choice”

“We will have two women in leadership roles, both from conservative party backgrounds, who have worked in typically male dominated ministries/positions, and both are able to manouvre international difficult environments,” she added.

Besides Guterres, the men who have headed the UN include Ban Ki-moon of South Korea; Kofi Annan, Ghana; Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Egypt; Javier Perez de Cuellar, Peru; Kurt Waldheim, Austria; U Thant, Myanmar (formerly known as Burma); Dag Hammarskjöld, Sweden and Trygve Lie, Norway.

While the head of the IMF has traditionally been an European, the Americans have held onto the presidency of the World Bank, including Jim Yong Kim, Robert B. Zoellick, Paul Wolfowitz, James D. Wolfensohn, Lewis Preston, Barber Conable, Alden Winship Clausen, Robert Strange McNamara, George David Woods, Eugene Robert Black, John Jay McCloy and Eugene Meyer.

The writer can be contacted at thalifdeen@ips.org

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By Luis Felipe López-Calva
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 9 2019 (IPS)

Transparency is a critical element of making governance more effective. By making information available, it creates a foundation for greater accountability to citizens.

In recent decades, transparency has been on the rise across Latin America and the Caribbean. According to data from the Global Right to Information Rating, 23 countries in LAC have laws securing citizens’ right to information.

Colombia was the first country in the region to pass such a law in 1985, and Saint Kitts and Nevis was the most recent country to do so in 2018.

While transparency is a necessary condition for promoting accountability, it is not a sufficient condition. We can think about transparency as a first step.

While transparency makes information available, we also need publicity to make information accessible, and accountability mechanisms to make information actionable.

Information, per se, is nothing without publicity and accountability. If information does not reach the interested audiences, its effect is negligible. Similarly, even if information reaches the public, if it does not lead to consequences, its effect is not only negligible but potentially harmful.

For example, we have seen, unfortunately, many cases in our region where people can access detailed information about corruption cases, but nothing happens to those who are responsible. This leads to frustration and destroys trust.

Luis Felipe López-Calva

We can think about this progression from transparency to accountability as the “information value chain.” Recently, one way in which the information value chain has been broken in Latin America and the Caribbean is the intentional creation and spread of false information (what is known as “disinformation”).

In many cases these pseudo-facts are created for political purposes and target specific audiences, with the intention to induce certain outcomes (for example, by influencing voting behavior).

This system has been called the “fake news” industry—a term widely used by politicians in recent times. It’s important to note that false information can also be spread unintentionally (what is known as “misinformation”).

The rise of disinformation and misinformation has been facilitated by the rise of technology. Technology—particularly the rise of social media and messaging apps—has reduced the cost of disseminating information to massive audiences.

This has made the “publicity” industry more competitive and created a new social dynamic in which people often take access to information as equivalent to knowledge.

While knowledge is difficult to build and constantly update, information has become easy to get, and public debates are increasingly based on false—and often deliberately false—information.

Indeed, a recent study by scholars at MIT found that false news spreads much more rapidly than true news—and this effect is particularly salient for false political news (in comparison to false news about topics such as terrorism, natural disasters, science, urban legends, or financial information).

According the 2018 Reuters Institute Digital News Report, citizens in LAC countries are facing high exposure to false information, and are very concerned about what news is real and what news is fake on the internet.

In each of the four LAC countries included in the study (Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Argentina), over 35% of respondents stated that they were exposed to completely made-up news in the last week—reaching as high as 43% of the sample in Mexico.

Moreover, over 60% of respondents stated that they are very or extremely concerned about what is real and what is fake on the internet when it comes to news—reaching as high as 85% of the sample in Brazil.

This high level of concern is consistent with recent experiences with political disinformation in the region—for example, the use of automated bots to influence public opinion in Brazil, Argentina, and Venezuela.

This problem carries with it the concern for broader potential consequences such as deepening political polarization or the erosion of trust in the media. Indeed, over the past few decades years, the dissemination of false information by political parties and levels of political polarization are increasing in tandem in LAC.

This is a challenge not only in LAC, but in many regions around the world. This global preoccupation was reflected in the theme chosen for this year’s World Press Freedom Day—which focused on journalism and elections in times of disinformation.

Several of the countries in Latin America are holding presidential elections later this year: Argentina, Bolivia, Guatemala, and Uruguay. There is a concern in the region about how disinformation campaigns, coupled with microtargeting of political messages and sophisticated online advertising through social networks and online platforms, could affect the outcome of elections.

There is a lot we can do in this area to protect the information value chain and the quality of elections—such as “clean campaign” agreements between political parties, the creation of independent fact-checking services, greater enforcement by social media companies, and the promotion of information literacy among citizens.

In Latin America, these initiatives are still nascent, but they are growing. It is important to recognize, however, that combatting the challenge of disinformation campaigns will require the coordinated action of multiple stakeholders such as electoral courts, the media, civil society, academia and tech businesses (such as Facebook, Google, WhatsApp, and Twitter).

Without a strong coalition of actors, it will be difficult to successfully repair the information value chain and achieve accountability.

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Excerpt:

Luis Felipe López-Calva is UN Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean

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By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Jul 9 2019 (IPS)

For decades, the two Bretton Woods institutions have rejected the contribution of industrial policy (IP), or government investment and technology promotion efforts, in accelerating and sustaining growth, industrialization and structural transformation.

Finally, two International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff members, Reda Cherif and Fuad Hasanov, have broken the taboo. They embrace industrial policy, arguing against the current conventional wisdom that East Asian industrial policies cannot be successfully emulated by other developing countries.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

Miracle economies not miraculous
They argue that IP has been key to East Asian ‘miracles’, offering valuable lessons for sustaining ‘catch-up’ growth. For them, appropriate IP interventions have been key to successful entry into more sophisticated industrial activities, early strong export orientation, and fierce competition with strict accountability.

For over half a century, especially following Asian and African decolonization after World War Two, developing countries have gone their separate ways with very mixed results, with all too many falling behind. Meanwhile, very few economies have caught up with some of the most advanced economies and firms.

Between 1960 and 2014, 16 out of the 182 economies they study achieved high-income status, underscoring the difficulties for middle-income countries reaching high-income status within two generations. They distinguish three types of countries which have ‘succeeded’, namely the East Asian miracles, those discovering considerable oil and gas, and those that benefited from joining the European Union.

Cherif and Hasanov insist on the key role of industrial policy in the Asian miracles, and for the US after the Civil War, Germany under Bismarck, and Japan after the Meiji Restoration. They argue that East Asian industrial policies have much in common despite their many differences.

The conventional growth formula — of improving macroeconomic stability (typically through anti-inflationary policies), strengthening property rights, and providing physical and social infrastructure and basic services to address government failures — was not enough .

Drawing useful lessons from varied country experiences is fraught with difficulty, especially considering the exogenous and conjunctural factors affecting growth, including luck. In contrast with the conventional empirical approach emphasizing averages, their analysis of long-term cross-country growth experiences underscores the value of studying the ‘tails’ or exceptions instead.

Technology and innovation policy
Contrary to earlier formulations of industrial policy as primarily involving investment and technology, Cherif and Hasanov propose three key principles constituting ‘true industrial policy’, summarized as technology and innovation policy (TIP), namely:

• State interventions to overcome constraints to the early emergence of national producers in more sophisticated industries, beyond conventional notions of ‘comparative advantage’.
• Export orientation, not import substituting industrialization (ISI); this contrasts with providing effective protection in the national or regional market on condition of early export promotion to achieve export competitiveness.
• Ensuring both national and international competitiveness with strict accountability.

Hyundai vs Proton
Cherif and Hasanov also contrast the cases of Malaysia’s Proton with South Korea’s Hyundai in support of their three principles. They argue that Proton did not export enough, reflecting failure to build sufficient managerial and engineering skills as well as an innovative automotive cluster.

Hyundai, by contrast, has successfully created a global brand. Cherif and Hasanov insist that allowing several South Korean industrial conglomerates or chaebols to develop rival auto industries and the push to export were key to its success.

Governments have directed capital and labour into industrial ventures that firms probably would not have undertaken without appropriate incentives, but market competition, market signals, and private sector accountability are also recognized as important.

Without conclusive evidence, Cherif and Hasanov claim that due to the government’s push to export, Korean automakers ‘moved first, then learnt and adjusted’. In exchange for very low real interest rate loans, Korean chaebols had to quickly secure foreign market shares, while accountability was enforced by firing senior managers who failed to reach export targets.

Pressure to compete and export forced Hyundai to increase its R&D effort and technology upgrading, producing its own engine in 1991, and later, its first electric car. Korean encouragement of several chaebols in the automotive industry later forced them to restructure, with few surviving.

But would fostering more than one automotive firm have ensured Proton’s success in light of Malaysia’s smaller domestic market and more modest industrial capabilities? And what were the economic costs of Korea’s arguably wasteful automotive industry competition?

Three development policy options
Cherif and Hasanov emphasize the importance of government ambition, accountability and adaptability. Government ambition is seen in terms of a feasible or pragmatic level of sophistication of new sectors and domestic ownership of industrial technology.

Government policy implementation must be subject to accountability, not only for firms, but also policymakers and senior managers responsible. As conditions change and new knowledge becomes available, policy interventions must adapt to continue to be effective and feasible.

* Low gear: The conventional approach to growth — of improving the investment environment, key institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic stability, investments in education, and minimizing other government interventions — is likely to result in relatively slow ‘snail’s pace’ growth.

Such policy interventions typically address government failures, but not necessarily market failures, especially to develop more technologically sophisticated sectors beyond conventional understandings of comparative advantage.

Middle gear: This approach mainly relies on attracting FDI into more technologically sophisticated industries to participate increasingly in global value chains, or by improving the technological level of existing industries. This may accelerate growth for middle-income countries, but is unlikely to lead to sustainable development or ‘high-income status within two generations’ owing to limited national capacities and capabilities.

High gear: The East Asian miracle economies are said to be using a ‘moonshot approach’ for governments to create competitive national firms in frontier technologies, and more sophisticated industries with homegrown technologies, creating conditions for high, sustained long-term growth.

The speed and extent of the leaps to more sophisticated industries and technologies created by national firms are crucial for sustaining long-term development. Countries that manage this process well have better chances of soon becoming relatively advanced economies.

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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