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Settling the Middle East Vs West Asia Debate

Mon, 01/22/2024 - 20:23

By Ehtesham Shahid
ABU DHABI, Jan 22 2024 (IPS)

“Middle East” or “West Asia?” This somewhat divided nomenclature adds another layer to the region’s already “complicated” label. Is it the “Middle East” because it is in the “middle” of the East? Is it “West Asia” because it is in the western part of Asia? So, why is the region mostly called the Middle East? It is “geographically ambiguous” to some, as it is “East” only from the “West’s” perspective. The term West Asia has fewer challengers, but it isn’t used as much.

Ehtesham Shahid

According to Principles of Nomenclature and Classification, a fundamental problem for nomenclature is the existence of two or more names for the same taxon, for only one name can be considered correct or valid. Taxon is not so much of a contention in this case; a lack of unison exists. The names of geographical regions have had historical, cultural, and sometimes even linguistic significance.

Some region’s names are based on events that took place there. For instance, the “Balkans” in South-eastern Europe is named after the Balkan Mountains, which have played a significant role in the region’s history. Geographical features often influence names, too. North America’s “Rocky Mountains” are named for their rugged terrain, while the Amazon rainforest is named after the Amazon River.

Some regions have been named after prominent geographic features or valuable resources. For instance, the Sahara Desert is named after the Arabic word for “desert,” and Sierra Nevada means “snowy range” in Spanish. More importantly, political factors have played a role in naming regions with borders and administrative divisions, leading to new names, often for practical or administrative purposes.

The widespread perception behind the term “Middle East” is that it originated in the 1850s in the British India Office. It is also documented that the name was more widely used after American naval strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan used the term in 1902 to “designate the area between Arabia and India.” However, the term was used mainly in a Eurocentric context to refer to the countries and territories of the Ottoman Empire and the surrounding regions.

The Middle East is geographically situated on the western edge of Asia, bordered by Asia to the east and northeast. This geographical proximity and the interconnected history, culture, and trade between the Middle East and other Asian regions have contributed to its classification as part of Asia. Fortunately or otherwise, these terms have no strict, universally accepted definition, and their usage can vary depending on context and perspective.

“West Asia” is a more modern term that has gained popularity, especially in academic and geopolitical contexts, and is often seen as a more neutral and geographically accurate descriptor for the region. It is often used as an alternative to “Middle East,” avoiding some historical and cultural connotations associated with the region. Whichever way one looks at it, a nomenclature clash goes against the ethos of constructivism in international relations, which emphasizes the role of ideas, norms, and identities in shaping state behavior and global politics.

Another school of thought maintains that the term Middle East has been associated with the broader region’s cultural and historical ties to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Arab world and often implies a broader cultural and historical context. The exact boundaries of the Middle East or West Asia can vary depending on these perspectives. Moreover, both the terms have evolved and have historical, geopolitical, and cultural significance.

Some definitions may include specific countries, while others may exclude them. For example, Egypt and Turkey are sometimes included in the Middle East but are more accurately described as transcontinental countries. These terms are primarily geopolitical and do not necessarily reflect cultural, historical, or linguistic differences. Political considerations and regional sensitivities may also often influence the choice of terminology.

Both terms are widely used in practice, and their boundaries can be somewhat fluid. The choice between “Middle East” and “West Asia” often depends on the context, the specific focus of the discussion, and regional preferences. It only shows that naming countries and regions has often been a source of incongruities and anomalies due to historical, political, cultural, and linguistic factors.

Some examples from outside the region illustrate this argument. Geographic names can sometimes lead to anomalies when they do not accurately reflect the territory they encompass. For instance, the Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire) was named after its principal export, but it does not cover the entire country.

The legacies of imperialist powers have been the most potent factor behind incongruous names. These examples illustrate how a complex interplay of historical events, political power dynamics, linguistic diversity, and cultural identities has shaped naming conventions. Seen in its entirety, incongruities in nomenclature can persist and often reflect colonial legacy, territorial disputes, or changing political circumstances.

Ehtesham Shahid is an Indian editor and researcher based in the UAE. X: @e2sham

“The article first appeared in Khaleej Times.” (https://www.khaleejtimes.com/opinion/settling-the-middle-east-vs-west-asia-debate)

IPS UN Bureau

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Categories: Africa

Is Bangladesh Sleep Walking to Dictatorship ?

Mon, 01/22/2024 - 19:26

By Saifullah Syed
ROME, Jan 22 2024 (IPS)

The parliamentary elections held in Bangladesh on 7 January, 2024, has created much controversy in the country, terming it an “election of the Awami League (AL) government, for the AL government and by the AL government”, by many. Internationally, China and India have congratulated the government for victory and organization of a fair election. But, several western countries have termed it as unsatisfactory. However, irrespective of the diverse views, everyone agrees that it was not participatory elections. Voter turn out was significantly low and it was boycotted by the main opposition Bangladesh National Party (BNP).

Saifullah Syed

Prior to the election, the USA and several western countries indicated that failure to hold fair and free election will have consequences. As a result, Bangladesh’s policy analysts are concerned and discussing the likely implications of the election on the economy and in particular the garment industry.

While international push back are legitimate concerns, what is more worrisome is that Bangladesh may be unwittingly sleep walking to dictatorship under one party rule. Several commentators are suggesting that Sheikh Hasina is becoming an authoritarian ruler from being a champion of democracy and the AL is projecting itself as the sole guarantor of independence, sovereignty and secularism. Everyone else is out there to turn it into a hot bed of Islamic extremism. Such rationales alluding to moral right to rule are perfect ingredients for sleepwalking into dictatorship.

The one-party dictatorships are generally more stable and perverse and the elections legitimizes one party dictatorship by presenting an image of democracy.

History teaches us that one party rule or dictatorship goes against the basic foundation of Bengali values. However, successful moves to stop it can only be launched by understanding why and how it is emerging.

Democracy in Bangladesh

Bangladesh initiated non-party caretaker government (CGT) system for running elections as per demand of the AL in 1991. By all accounts the 1991 election was fair and the CGT worked satisfactorily to hold general elections also in 1996 and 2001. Interestingly, in 1991 the BNP won and in 1996 the AL won and in 2001 the BNP won again.

What went wrong thereafter ? The system ran into difficulties in 2006 due to BNP’s refusal to follow the rules governing the CTG . This led to political crisis of 2006-2008 and brought the military into power. However, a fair election was finally held in 2008 and the AL achieved overwhelming victory. Since then, the AL started getting emboldened and in 2011 it abolished the CTG system. Consequently, BNP launched movement to restore the CTG and started refusing to participate in elections unless it is done. The AL is adamantly refusing to reintroduce CTG, saying it is unconstitutional.

Therefore, it would seem that the core challenge facing our democratic system is two-fold: how to convince AL to introduce the CTG? or how to convince BNP to participate in elections under the ruling government? These challenges may appear easily resolvable through dialogue. Unfortunately, the two parties are mired in deep animosity. For AL, the founder of BNP is linked to the cruel murder of the founder of Bangladesh and his family and the current leader of BNP is accused of master minding the grenade attack on a AL rally on 21 August 2004, killing 24 people and injuring about 200. For the BNP, it has zero trust in AL and considers ditching of the current party leader, Begum Khaleda Zia – with the name Zia, as its existential threat.

Can the civil society or the international community mediate a solution ? Unfortunately, civil society is fragmented along party lines and partly lost its neutrality during the 2006-2008 crisis, when some components stepped into politics. The international community is also divided between the East and the West and a vast majority in the country believes that their call for democracy is motivated by geo-political interests.

Who will blink first ?

Judging from the past, neither is likely to give in under the present leadership. Hence, to save democracy in Bangladesh, everyone concerned needs to come out of hybernation and build a national consensus. BNP leadership must answer for the accusations and face the consequences. Its stalwart leaders should ensure that, instead of slavish subordination. The civil society should shade political color and influence of the ‘funders’, and the international community should accept local dynamics and realities. If all concerned fail to put the country first it will not bode well for democracy in Bangladesh.

The Bengali people will surely rise against one party rule. Success of rebellion will be shaped by the leadership it fosters. Any leadership tainted by criminal accusations and historical misdeeds will fail to obtain broad-based support. People may give the ‘benefit of doubt’ to civil crimes, but may not for criminal crimes, even if portrayed as ‘politically motivated’. Partisan support alone cannot bring down a one party dictatorship. A broad-based national movement is essential. It cannot happen under leadership tainted by criminal accusations. For a democratic Bangladesh, the country needs an opposition led by people who are not and cannot be tainted by criminal accusations and offer AL the moral high ground by default.

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

IPS UN Bureau

Categories: Africa

Scared of Sharps? This MAP Shows the Way to Delivering Painless Vaccines

Mon, 01/22/2024 - 17:28

A micro-needle patch (MAP) is an innovative method to deliver drugs and vaccines. Credit: QuadMedicine

By Busani Bafana
SEOUL, Jan 22 2024 (IPS)

If the fear of sharps makes a visit to the doctor dreadful, you need not dread it anymore.

A South Korean company’s invention of an innovative micro-needle patch could make you look forward to your next doctor’s visit.

The micro-needle patch (MAP) is a painless, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly way to administer vaccines and drugs in place of solid injections, its developers say.

The MAP system has the combined advantages of conventional patches and syringes. It has tiny needles whose tips are less invasive and almost painless when administering drugs, Chi Yong Kim, Research Coordinator at QuadMedicine, tells IPS.

“The feeling of the micro-needle is like a cat’s tongue. It’s like a scratch that does not cause pain,” Kim says of the MAP, which also delivers active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in the correct amounts.

QuadMedicine has patented the form of micro-needle patches that are separable MAPs, where the tips of the needle themselves are active APIs. In delivering the API, the tips of the micro-needle are inserted into the skin and break off, reducing delivery time and increasing delivery efficiency by almost 100 percent, said Kim.

Kim notes that the MAPS also offer the advantage of portability, and they are stable at room temperature, making them easy to carry, store, and transport before they are administered. Besides, the MAP can be recycled safely without generating much waste.

According to the World Health Organization, annually, an estimated 16 billion injections are administered worldwide, but not all of the needles and syringes are properly disposed of, making it necessary to ensure safe and environmentally sound management of health care waste.

Chi Yong Kim, Research Coordinator, QuadMedicine. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS

“Alternatively, we can also freeze dry forms of vaccines that use the same powder form of API,” he said, adding that lyophilized powder can be attached to the MAP.

The company is now investigating comparable vaccines and drugs, for instance, the messenger mRNA vaccines that can be used in the microneedle or patch platform. Plans are afoot to submit an IND filing for a clinical trial soon, and prototypes of the coated MAP and the separable MAP will be tested through Phase I to III clinical trials.

Kim said low- and middle-income countries as well as the premium market were targeted for innovation, which means vaccine-loaded MAPs will be affordable for global health. For example, certain vaccines, such as the influenza vaccine, have a dosage-saving effect when applied with a micro-needle. The same amount of antigen used for the intramuscular route with a syringe is no longer used, so the API amount can be reduced when loaded on the micro-needles.

While professionals like medical staff or doctors must currently inject vaccines, the goal with the micro needles or patches is that volunteers can give them to patients who need vaccinations.

“I have a fear of the sharps,” Kim said, explaining that each time he visited the hospital, nurses asked him to relax so that his muscles could not be punched.

“I took my kids to the family doctor, and there was one option, the solid micro needle,” he said, explaining that a personal experience with the fear of needles was a coincidental decision for him to specialize at QuadMedicine, which has been involved in the development of the MAPS and patches.

“We have been developing new platforms to deliver vaccines and drugs through coated MAP or dissolvable MAP, which is a possible alternative to solid needles and a better solution to deliver the correct amount of the drugs and vaccines for our body to make good immune responses.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

IPS UN Bureau, IPS UN Bureau Report, South Korea

Categories: Africa

The Birthrate Blues

Mon, 01/22/2024 - 17:11

In 2022, more than one hundred countries and territories, representing two-thirds of world’s population, experienced fertility rates below the replacement level with many governments bemoaning the birthrate blues. Credit: Shutterstock.

By Joseph Chamie
PORTLAND, USA, Jan 22 2024 (IPS)

Increasing numbers of countries are experiencing a spreading demographic condition, below replacement fertility, with many governments bemoaning the birthrate blues.

Without compensating international migration, a fertility rate below the replacement level, which in most instances is approximately 2.1 births per woman, leads to population decline, a near universal fear among nations that have become addicted to population growth.

Fertility rates below the replacement level were relatively uncommon in the distant past with few if any countries experiencing the birthrate blues. Today, in contrast, many of the countries with sustained rates of fertility below the replacement level are facing demographic decline accompanied by population aging and as a result are suffering from the birthrate blues.

Largely as a result of sustained levels of below replacement fertility and the absence of compensating international migration, more than forty countries are expected to experience population decline over the coming decades of the 21st century

The fertility rate in Italy, for example, which fell below the replacement level in the late 1970s, continued to remain well below replacement and is now at 1.2 births per woman. During the 21st century, Italy’s fertility rate has been no less than a half child below the replacement level.

Expressing her nation’s concerns about its low birthrate at a population summit in September 2023, Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni remarked in her keynote speech, “In our view, demography is not just another of the main issues of our nation. It is the issue on which our nation’s future depends.”

Similarly, the fertility rate in China has remained below the replacement level since the early 1990s and is now nearly one child below that level. China’s population, which declined last year for the second year in a row, is experiencing the birthrate blues with fears about the impact of demographic decline and population aging.

Remarking about the country’s low fertility rate, Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged women to have more children and has said that it’s necessary to “actively cultivate a new culture of marriage and childbearing and strengthen guidance on young people’s view on marriage, childbirth and family.”

Even lower than the fertility rates of China and Italy, South Korea currently has the world’s lowest fertility rate at 0.8 births per woman, or nearly a third of replacement level fertility. Suffering from the birthrate blues, the Korean government has spent more than $200 billion over the past 16 years aimed at encouraging more people to have children. Despite those pro-natalist efforts, the country’s fertility rate is expected to decline even further to 0.7 births per woman in the near future.

Among those countries with below replacement fertility are Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, the United Kingdom and the United States (Figure 1).

Source: United Nations.

The expected percent declines in population size by 2050 are 5 percent for Germany, 8 percent for China and Russia, 12 percent for Italy, Hungary and South Korea, 12 percent for Poland and 16 percent for Japan. The projected percent declines in population size are considerably greater by the close the century, with declines of no less than 40 percent in China, Japan, Poland and South Korea (Figure 2).

Source: United Nations.

A number of other countries with fertility levels below the replacement level are not expected to experience population decline any time soon. They are projected to continue growing over the coming decades due to international migration.

Without international migration, however, countries with fertility rates remaining below the replacement level, such as Canada, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States, would also experience population decline in the coming decades. For example, whereas Canada’s current population is expected to increase by nearly 20 percent by mid-century, without international migration the Canadian population is projected to be 4 percent smaller by 2050 (Figure 3).

Source: United Nations.

In response to the birthrate blues, some 55 countries, including China, France, Hungary, Iran, Italy, Japan, Poland, Russia, South Korea, Spain and Thailand, have adopted policies and established programs to raise fertility, which are aimed at addressing demographic decline and population aging.

Most countries with low fertility, including those with no official policies to raise fertility rates, have adopted pro-natalist policies and programs promoting childbearing and child rearing. Among governmental efforts aimed at incentivizing childbearing are paid parental leave with job security, flexible work hours, subsidized child care, tax credits, baby bonuses, cash incentives and child/family allowances.

The birthrate blues have also led some governments to advance a “birth-friendly culture”. In addition to promoting childbearing and steps aimed at reducing the costs of raising children, the birth-friendly culture includes government-organized matchmaking events, public information campaigns emphasizing marriage and family building, and programs encouraging couples to have more babies.

Various economic, social and personal factors are believed to contribute to low fertility rates, which often result in the birthrate blues. Those factors include urbanization, reduction in child labor, higher education, women’s employment, difficulties in finding a suitable marriage partner, reluctance to get married, female subordination and discrimination, lifestyle choices, changing gender norms, economic concerns, financial stress, modern contraceptives, delayed childbearing, employment hindrance, career penalty, lack of affordable childcare, high costs of child rearing as well as concerns about climate change and the environment.

Attempts to counter those influential factors with pro-natalist government policies and programs have largely been unsuccessful in raising fertility rates back to the replacement level. Consequently, many countries are suffering the birthrate blues as they confront demographic decline and population aging.

In 1950 zero percent of the world’s population resided in countries with below replacement fertility and the world’s fertility rate was close to five births per woman. By 2000, that proportion increased to 41 percent and the global fertility rate fell by nearly half to 2.7 births per woman. Today the proportion of the world’s population living in countries with below replacement fertility stands at 67 percent and the fertility rate for the world is 2.3 births per woman.

United Nations population projections assume that the proportion of the world’s population residing in countries with fertility below the replacement level will continue to increase over the coming decades. By the close of the 21st century, 85 percent of the world’s population is expected to be living in countries with fertility below the replacement level and the world’s fertility rate is projected to fall to 1.8 births per woman (Figure 4).

Source: United Nations.

Also by the end of the 21st century, approximately 18 countries, representing 15 percent of the world’s population and located primarily in Africa, will maintain a fertility rate at or slightly above the replacement level. Among those countries are Angola, Cameroon, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Niger, Somalia, Sudan and Tanzania.

With their current fertility rates ranging from four to six births per woman, those African countries are expected to continue experiencing rapid population growth throughout the 21st century. For example, the population of the Democratic Republic of the Congo currently at 102 million and with a fertility rate of 6.1 births per woman is expected to more than quadruple by 2100, increasing to 432 million.

Based on fertility trends observed over the recent past as well as population projection assumptions about fertility levels in the future, several conclusions are warranted.

First, since the middle of the 20th century below replacement fertility has spread across countries worldwide and ushered in the birthrate blues. An important result of that demographic trend is that the world’s total fertility rate fell from 4.9 births per woman in 1950 to 2.3 births per woman in 2022.

Second, below replacement fertility rates are expected to continue spreading across the globe throughout the 21st century with additional countries suffering the birthrate blues. As a result of its spreading, the total fertility rate for the world is expected to decline to the replacement level by 2060 and further decline to 1.8 births per woman by 2100.

Third, once a country’s fertility rate falls below the replacement level, it tends to remain there. Few countries have experienced a reversal of that dominant fertility decline pattern.

Finally, while governments and others may wish to continue with pro-natalist policies and programs, countries are not likely to succeed in their efforts to raise fertility rates back to or above the replacement level any time soon. Accordingly, countries experiencing sustained levels of below replacement fertility and bemoaning the birthrate blues would be prudent to recognize demographic realities and prepare for and adapt to demographic decline and population aging.

Joseph Chamie is a consulting demographer and a former director of the United Nations Population Division. He is the author of numerous publications on population issues, including his recent book, “Population Levels, Trends, and Differentials”.

Categories: Africa

Turning Protracted African Conflicts into Sustainable Peace

Mon, 01/22/2024 - 09:44

By Patrick Devine
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 22 2024 (IPS)

Among East Africa’s dozens of pastoral tribes, major conflicts have erupted repeatedly, largely over land and water disputes.

Generational trauma and anger have built to create tensions and grievances that carry emotional weight even hundreds of years later.

Among some African tribes, warriors returning home from fighting are frequently greeted by women singing. And it is reported that some tribes have no name for an enemy tribe in their language; they simply substitute the word enemy.

These same people could tell you how many of their tribe had been killed by the other tribe, how much capital was stolen, and the exact day each event happened dating back as many as 60 years.

Such cultural and linguistic practices continually reinforce and perpetuate a lingering notion of otherness and violence. And they underline a key point: Each person involved and affected by conflict can contribute to its resolution and peacebuilding.

Founded in 2009 in the aftermath of Kenya’s disputed elections of 2007-2008, Shalom-SCCRR is a non-governmental organization created to help mitigate conflicts in eastern Africa. To date, the organization has initiated about 1,000 interventions in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda, among other countries.

Today, we confront religious ideological radicalization, extremism and conflict in both urban and rural environments and along the entire Kenyan coast. And the only answer to it is to truly empower local people.

SCCRR is committed to transforming conflict into social development and reconciliation, reflecting a belief that violence is fundamentally based on inadequately met human needs.

The aim of our team goes beyond the absence of physical violence to a deep-rooted positive peace where all parties are committed to each other’s well-being, uprooting the causes – not just addressing the symptoms – of conflict by creating transformative grassroot networks.

Trust in SCCRR is fostered in large part by our long term – 5 to 10 year – commitments to building local capacity for negotiation, mediation, and joint problem solving, and by involving community members who can then themselves build their own architectures of peace.

Our staff have, at minimum, masters level university qualifications. These highly-educated peacebuilding practitioners train local politicians and other key thought leaders – chiefs, elders, religious, education, women’s groups, youth and other community influencers.

SCCRR’s approach to reconciliation is based on four pillars:

Ending violence

We also advocate on behalf of communities with governments to develop and upgrade institutions to meet, for example, medical, legal or education needs (particularly interethnic or interfaith schools, and education equality).

Over the years, SCCRR has successfully trained over 28,000 community leaders in conflict transformation skills, leading to over 600 local community development projects, to the benefit of over 200,000 school aged children and many others.

While SCCRR can provide bricks and mortar, communities must provide the site, water, and labor, for example. And it is essential to success that a community owns a project themselves.

In recent times, women have made up 60% of the main beneficiaries of SCCRR interventions.

Extreme, systemic, inter-ethnic conflict has left countless people killed, injured or displaced, and debilitated many communities in eastern Africa.

And it is impossible to promote sustained development in places where humanitarian institutions are periodically destroyed or incapacitated. That is why conflict transformation is fundamental to social development and reconciliation.

Rather than seeking new places to live, communities need practical tools for self-sustainability that empower them to thrive where they are.

And as the world grapples with a global migration crisis, the success of SCCRR’s work takes on heightened significance, offering helpful insights and a template for action.

*Rev. Dr. Patrick Devine is International Chairman and Founder of the Shalom Center for Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation (Shalom-SCCRR). In 2013, he received the International Caring Award, whose previous recipients include the Dalai Lama, Bill Clinton, and Mother Teresa.

IPS UN Bureau

Categories: Africa

Death Penalty, Condemned by UN, Still in Force in US– but With a New Twist

Mon, 01/22/2024 - 09:33

An activist holds anti-death penalty signs outside the US Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C. February 2023. Credit: Unsplash/Maria Oswalt

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 22 2024 (IPS)

In a bygone era, public executions of condemned prisoners were common in certain parts of the United States where the death penalty, mostly with lethal injections, is still in force now.

The hangings, at the turn of the century, apparently were open to the public and the media.

As a prisoner was about to be hanged in the state of Louisiana in the 1950s, according to an anecdote, the Sheriff asked the customary question: “Any last word?” “No”, retorted the condemned man.

But the governor, who was also present at the hanging, wanted to extract some political mileage on his “tough-on-crime” policy, and chipped in: “May I then use your time to make a speech?”, he asked the prisoner.

“Hang me first,” retorted the condemned man, “Make your speech later.”

Although the moral of the story is that some people may rather die than listen to a politician’s drivel, it also points to the fact that the US is one of the few countries in the Western world that has continued to enforce capital punishment with a vengeance.

Last week the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said it was “alarmed” by the imminent execution in the United States of Kenneth Eugene Smith, through the use of a novel and untested method -– suffocation by nitrogen gas, “which could amount to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment under international human rights law.”

The UN Human Rights Office (HRO) called on Alabama’s state authorities to halt Smith’s execution, scheduled for 25-26 January, and to refrain from taking steps towards any other executions in this manner.

“Nitrogen gas has never been used in the United States to execute human beings. The American Veterinary Medical Association recommends giving even large animals a sedative when being euthanized in this manner, while Alabama’s protocol for execution by nitrogen asphyxiation makes no provision for sedation of human beings prior to execution”.

The protocol, HRO said, also refers to the odourless and colourless gas being administered for up to 15 minutes. Smith has also advanced, with expert evidence, that such an execution by gas asphyxiation, in his case, risks particular pain and suffering.

According to a report on Cable News Network (CNN) on January 21, Alabama is scheduled to carry out the nation’s first execution by nitrogen hypoxia, an alternative to lethal injection.

Kenneth Eugene Smith’s execution by lethal injection was abruptly canceled in November after the state couldn’t properly set the IV line before the warrant for execution expired.

He asked the state to be put to death by nitrogen gas rather than lethal injection after what he called a botched execution, said CNN.

Death by nitrogen hypoxia deprives the brain and body of oxygen, so the inmate would die by suffocation, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, a non-profit that monitors, analyzes and disseminates information about capital punishment.

Smith was convicted along with an accomplice for the 1988 killing of Elizabeth Dorlene Sennett in a murder-for-hire plot.

The death penalty has existed in the United States since colonial times and its history is intertwined with slavery, segregation, and social reform movements, according to the DPI Center.

The Office of the UN Commissioner for Human Rights said: “We have serious concerns that Smith’s execution in these circumstances could breach the prohibition on torture or other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, as well as his right to effective remedies”.

These are rights set out in two International Human Rights treaties where the United States is bound by – the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

The Human Rights Committee, the UN body charged with monitoring implementation of the Covenant, has also criticized the use of asphyxiation by gas as an execution method, the use of untested methods, as well as widening the use of the death penalty in States that continue to apply it.

“The death penalty is inconsistent with the fundamental right to life. There is an absence of proof that it deters crime, and it creates an unacceptable risk of executing innocent people. Rather than inventing new ways to implement capital punishment, we urge all States to put in place a moratorium on its use, as a step towards universal abolition”.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, 1,582 men and women have been executed in the United States since the 1970s, although executions have declined significantly over the past two decades. Most executions have been concentrated in a few states and a small number of outlier counties.

Last October, the UN Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Morris Tidball-Binz, and the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Alice Jill Edwards, reiterated their call for the complete abolition of the death penalty.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International, a leading human rights organization, says the death penalty breaches human rights, in particular the right to life and the right to live free from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Both rights are protected under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN in 1948.

The countries that currently maintain the death penalty include Singapore, Japan, the United States, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, the Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, Belarus, Malaysia, and Thailand.

In 2022, the five countries with the highest number of people executed were, in descending order: China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the US.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

The Ghost of Oil Haunts Mexico’s Lacandona Jungle

Sat, 01/20/2024 - 00:36

Lacandona, the great Mayan jungle that extends through the state of Chiapas in southern Mexico, is home to natural wealth and indigenous peoples' settlements that are once again threatened by the probable reactivation of abandoned oil wells. Image: Ceiba

By Emilio Godoy
MEXICO CITY, Jan 19 2024 (IPS)

The Lacandona jungle in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas is home to 769 species of butterflies, 573 species of trees, 464 species of birds, 114 species of mammals, 119 species of amphibians and reptiles, and several abandoned oil wells.

The oil wells have been a source of concern for the communities of the great Mayan jungle and environmental organizations since the 1970s, when oil prospecting began in the area and gradually left at least five wells inactive, whether plugged or not."The situation is always complex, due to legal loopholes that do not delimit the jungle, the natural protected areas are not delimited, it has been a historical mess. The search for oil has always been there." -- Fermín Domínguez

Now, Mexico’s policy of increasing oil production, promoted by the federal government, is reviving the threat of reactivating oil industry activity in the jungle ecosystem of some 500,000 hectares located in the east of the state, which has lost 70 percent of its forest in recent decades due to deforestation.

A resident of the Benemérito de las Américas municipality, some 1,100 kilometers south of Mexico City, who requested anonymity for security reasons, told IPS that a Mexican oil services company has contacted some members of the ejidos – communities on formerly public land granted to farm individually or cooperatively – trying to buy land around the inactive wells.

“They say they are offering work. We are concerned that they are trying to restart oil exploration, because it is a natural area that could be damaged and already has problems,” he said.

Adjacent to Benemérito de las Américas, which has 23,603 inhabitants according to the latest records, the area where the inactive wells are located is within the 18,348 square kilometers of the protected Lacandona Jungle Region.

It is one of the seven reserves of the ecosystem that the Mexican government decreed in 2016 and where oil activity in its subsoil is banned.

Between 1903 and 2014, the state-owned oil company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) drilled five wells in the Lacandona jungle, inhabited by some 200,000 people, according to the autonomous governmental National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH), in charge of allocating hydrocarbon lots and approving oil and gas exploration plans. At least two of these deposits are now closed, according to the CNH.

The Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve, in the Lacandona jungle in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, faces the threat of oil exploration, which would add to phenomena such as deforestation, drought and forest fires that have occurred in recent years. Image: Semarnat

The Lacantun well is located between a small group of houses and the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve (RBMA), the most megadiverse in the country, part of Lacandona and near the border with Guatemala. The CNH estimates the well’s proven oil reserves at 15.42 million barrels and gas reserves at 2.62 million cubic feet.

Chole, Tzeltal, Tzotzil and Lacandon Indians inhabit the jungle.

Other inactive deposits in the Benemérito de las Américas area are Cantil-101 and Bonampak-1, whose reserves are unknown.

In the rural areas of the municipality, the local population grows corn, beans and coffee and manages ecotourism sites. But violence has driven people out of Chiapas communities, as has been the case for weeks in the southern mountainous areas of the state due to border disputes and illegal business between criminal groups.

In addition, the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), an indigenous organization that staged an uprising on Jan. 1, 1994 against the marginalization and poverty suffered by the native communities, is still present in the region.

Chiapas, where oil was discovered at the beginning of the 20th century, is among the five main territories in terms of production of crude oil and gas in this Latin American country, with 10 hydrocarbon blocks in the northern strip of the state.

In November, Mexico extracted 1.64 million barrels of oil and 4.9 billion cubic feet of gas daily. The country currently ranks 20th in the world in terms of proven oil reserves and 41st in gas.

Historically, local communities have suffered water, soil and air pollution from Pemex operations.

As of November, there were 6,933 operational wells in the country, while Pemex has sealed 122 of the wells drilled since 2019, although none in Chiapas, according to a public information request filed by IPS.

Since taking office in December 2018, leftist President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has strengthened Pemex and the also state-owned Federal Electricity Commission by promoting the extraction and consumption of fossil fuels, to the detriment of renewable energy.

The state of Chiapas is home to hydroelectric power plants, mining projects, hydrocarbon exploitation blocks and a section of the Mayan Train, the most emblematic megaproject of the current Mexican government. Image: Center for Zoque Language and Culture AC

Territory under siege

The RBMA is one of Mexico’s 225 natural protected areas (NPAs) and its 331,000 hectares are home to 20 percent of the country’s plant species, 30 percent of its birds, 27 percent of its mammals and 17 percent of its freshwater fish.

Like all of the Lacandona rainforest, the RBMA faces deforestation, the expansion of cattle ranching, wildlife trafficking, drought, and forest fires.

Fermín Ledesma, an academic at the public Universidad Autónoma Chapingo, said possible oil exploration could aggravate existing social and environmental conflicts in the state, in addition to growing criminal violence and the historical absence of the State.

“The situation is always complex, due to legal loopholes that do not delimit the jungle, the natural protected areas are not delimited, it has been a historical mess. The search for oil has always been there,” he told IPS from Tuxtla Gutiérrez, the capital of Chiapas.

The researcher said “it is a very complex area, with a 50-year agrarian conflict between indigenous peoples, often generated by the government itself, which created an overlapping of plans and lands.”

Ledesma pointed to a contradiction between the idea of PNAs that are depopulated in order to protect them and the historical presence of native peoples.

From 2001 to 2022, Chiapas lost 748,000 hectares of tree cover, equivalent to a 15 percent decrease since 2000, one of the largest sites of deforestation in Mexico, according to the international monitoring platform Global Forest Watch. In 2022 alone, 26,800 hectares of natural forest disappeared.

In addition, this state, one of the most impoverished in the country, has suffered from the presence of mining, the construction of three hydroelectric plants and, now, the Mayan Train, the Mexican government’s most emblematic megaproject inaugurated on Dec. 15, one of the seven sections of which runs through the north of the state.

But there are also stories of local resistance against oil production. In 2017, Zoque indigenous people prevented the auction of two blocks on some 84,000 hectares in nine municipalities that sought to obtain 437.8 million barrels of crude oil equivalent.

The anonymous source expressed hope for a repeat of that victory and highlighted the argument of conducting an indigenous consultation prior to the projects, free of pressure and with the fullest possible information. “With that we can stop the wells, as occurred in 2017. We are not going to let them move forward,” he said.

Ledesma the researcher questioned the argument of local development driven by natural resource extraction and territorial degradation as a pretext.

“They say it’s the only way to do it, but that’s not true. It leaves a trail of environmental damage, damage to human health, present and future damage. It is much easier for the population to accept compensation or give up the land, because they see it is degraded. A narrative is created that they live in an impoverished area and therefore they have to relocate. This has happened in other areas,” he said.

Categories: Africa

Gaza Health Workers Struggling to Save Injured Without Medical Supplies, WHO Expert Warns

Fri, 01/19/2024 - 14:01

Wounded civilians at the Al Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip. Credit: WHO

By Naureen Hossain
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 19 2024 (IPS)

Gaza’s healthcare system is “on its knees” as ongoing hostilities force hospitals to operate beyond their capacity and displace their healthcare workers, according to a WHO expert.

On Wednesday, WHO Health Emergency Officer Sean Casey spoke with reporters in New York on the healthcare crisis in Gaza. Following a five-week visit to the region, Casey elaborated on the WHO team’s work during his visit and their findings on the hospitals that were still running amidst the outbreak of violence since October 7. During his visit, he visited six out of the 16 hospitals still operating in the Gaza Strip. He described them as either “minimally or partially functioning” with the limited medical supplies and personnel available to them. But without unfettered access to medical supplies or fuel to run generators in the facilities, the hospitals will not be able to stay open.

“Every time I went to a hospital, I saw again and again the simultaneous humanitarian catastrophe that’s unfolding—we see it every day in Gaza getting worse—and the collapse of the healthcare system,” he said.

The growing number of trauma patients impacted by the ongoing attacks is currently overwhelming the healthcare system. There are up to 60,000 injured people in the region that require urgent care. Yet, there is a backlog of patients in hospitals, which only increases with each passing day. This is causing hospitals in the field and in towns to essentially play catch-up with the previous days’ cases. Patients with specialized needs, such as mothers requiring maternal or natal care or patients undergoing dialysis treatments, have also been struggling to get the care they need.

Palestinian refugees flee the conflict. Credit: UNRWA/Ashraf Amra

There are not enough doctors or nurses in the hospitals to accommodate the ever-increasing number of patients. Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis is currently operating with only 30 percent of its staff, according to Casey. There are reportedly over 25,000 doctors and nurses in Gaza. However, a large number of them are no longer in their homes and are unable to travel to work. This includes specialists in other fields of treatment. Areas around hospitals have been evacuated, as it’s been observed that hospitals have been hit by gunfire and bombings, rendering them rubble.

Al-Shifa Hospital, one of the largest still open, has been operating beyond its 700-bed capacity. It now serves as a “trauma stabilization point,” according to Casey. Thousands of people, displaced by the loss of their homes, have taken refuge in the hospital, where there is nowhere else to go, filling up the operating rooms, corridors, and floors. For the patients, only five or six doctors and nurses are present.

“I saw patients in hospitals every day with severe burns, open fractures, waiting hours or days for care, and they would often ask me for food or water,” he said. “In addition to their injuries and illnesses, they’re crying out for the basic necessities of life.”

Constraints on security and access, as well as limitations on movement, have at times even prevented the safe passage of medical supplies and fuel. “The last week that I was in Gaza, we tried every single day for seven days to deliver fuel and supplies to the north, to Gaza City. And every day, those requests for coordinated movement were denied,” Casey said. Without a guarantee, fewer supply trucks are crossing the Rafah border. Meanwhile, needs are not being met adequately.

Rafah is currently hosting a million people, yet it does not have the health infrastructure to host so many internally displaced people. In order to address some of the care demands resulting from the hostilities, WHO is working to mobilize medical personnel and set up field hospitals.

The “rapid deterioration” of the healthcare system in Gaza is happening concurrently with the “dramatic humanitarian catastrophe” affecting the communities, Casey said. Due to the attacks, over 1 million civilians are now homeless and struggle with widespread food insecurity and a lack of access to potable water. For children, this will be particularly dangerous. UNICEF has warned that 10,000 children are at risk of dealing with child wasting, the most life-threatening form of malnutrition.

Casey remarked that a ceasefire would “provide immediate relief to the people of Gaza” and would allow for the UN and its partners to mobilize medicines, medical supplies, and other emergency resources.

More than a hundred days have passed since the beginning of the current humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The death toll has exceeded 24,000, and more than 60,000 have been injured.

Major leaders in the UN and its agencies, including Secretary-General António Guterres, have called for a humanitarian ceasefire to come into effect immediately to allow unimpeded aid to go through and to “tamp down the flames of wider war” that is threatening the region. “I am deeply troubled by the clear violation of international humanitarian law that we are witnessing,” he said to reporters on Monday.

The heads of WHO, UNICEF, and the World Food Programme (WFP) released a joint statement urging for the delivery of emergency humanitarian aid to mitigate the risk of famine and deadly disease outbreaks. UNRWA Commissioner-General Philip Lazzarini, in his statement to mark the 100 days, remarked that the current conflict in Gaza was a “man-made disaster compounded by dehumanizing language and the use of food, water, and fuel as instruments of war.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

Trapped and Trafficked—Fishers Tell of Forced Labor Horror

Fri, 01/19/2024 - 10:47

Workers take a break after unloading fish from the Sor Somboon 19 fishing vessel. Initial screenings conducted by Greenpeace revealed that the crew of this Thai trawler met internationally accepted definitions of forced labour. Credit: Greenpeace

By Ed Holt
BRATISLAVA, Jan 19 2024 (IPS)

“The thing is that when you come from an African country, they know that you’re basically trapped,” says Noel Adabblah.

“You have the wrong documents; you can’t go home because you’ve already borrowed money there to get here, and you won’t risk losing what work you have, no matter how bad, because of that. They know all the tricks.”

The 36-year-old is speaking from Dublin, where he has managed to make a new life for himself after becoming a victim of what recent reports have shown to be widespread and growing forced labour in fishing fleets across the globe.

Adabblah, from Tema in Ghana, and three friends signed up with a recruitment agency back home to work as fishers on boats in the UK. They paid the equivalent of 1,200 EUR to be placed in jobs and were given letters of invitation and guarantees by their new employers, who said they would be met in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and who agreed to take care of all their documents and visas. Their employment contracts stated the men would be paid 1,000 GBP per month and employed for 12 months, with an option to reduce or extend that by three months upon mutual consent.

But when they arrived in January 2018, they were taken to Dublin and later split up. In the following months, they were taken to do various jobs at different ports in Ireland, sometimes late at night with no idea where they were going.

“We thought we were going there to sail and fish, but when we got there, we saw the boats were not ready; they were in poor condition, and we couldn’t fish, so the owner of the boats got us to do other jobs instead,” Adabblah tells IPS.

A Cambodian fisher from the fishing vessel Sor Somboon 19 recovers from beriberi at Ranong Hospital. The crew met internationally accepted definitions of victims of forced labour. Credit: Greenpeace

“But after a few months, we said this is not what we came here to do. We had an argument over pay—he said he had no boats to fish with and wanted to lay us off, told us to go home. But we said no, that we had a 12-month contract we had signed for. He said he wouldn’t pay us, but could try to get us another job with someone else, but we said we couldn’t do that because the visas we had only applied to working for him. He told us if we didn’t like it, we could go home.”

It is at this point that many victims of forced labour often simply accept their fate and either go home or do whatever their employer wants. But Adabblah and his friends were determined to see the terms of their contract met, and they contacted the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF).

However, their problems deepened as they discovered they did not have the right documents for their work.

“We had no idea of the difference between Ireland and the UK. We thought the papers were OK. But when we went to the ITF, we realized they weren’t,” explains Adabblah.

At that point, the Irish police were obliged to open an investigation into the case.

Adabblah, who stayed in Ireland and has since managed to find work in the construction industry, says he heard nothing about the case until last year. “I heard that the police had said there was not enough evidence to pursue a conviction,” he says. Forced labour does not exist as an offense on the Irish statute books, so such cases are investigated under human trafficking legislation.

Regardless of the lack of a conviction in his case, he is clear that what he and his friends experienced was forced labour.

“They treated us badly. We worked 20-hour shifts some days. Once, when I was ill and couldn’t go on the boat, they said that if I couldn’t do the job, I could go home. They say stuff like that to threaten you,” he says.

Burmese fishers in temporary shelter in Ambon Port, Indonesia. Hundreds of trafficked workers are waiting to be sent back home, with many facing an uncertain future. The forced labour and trafficking survivors interviewed by Greenpeace Southeast Asia detailed beatings and food deprivation for anyone who tried to escape. The tuna fishermen on their vessels were forced to work 20–22 hours a day for little to no pay, often deprived of basic necessities like showers. Credit: Greenpeace

A commercial shrimp trawler is pursued by three Sea Lions near San Felipe.
Shrimp trawlers, often entering into marine reserves illegally, pose a great threat to the marine environment at the northern end of the Gulf of California, due to the variety of marine wildlife, including Sea Lions, that get caught in their bottom-trawling nets. Credit: Greenpeace

Adabblah’s experience is far from unique among workers in the world’s fishing fleets. A recent report by the Financial Transparency Coalition, an international grouping of NGOs, said that more than 128,000 fishers were trapped in forced labour aboard fishing vessels in 2021. Its authors say there is a “human rights crisis” of forced labour aboard commercial fishing vessels, leading to horrific abuses and even deaths.

They point out that many of these victims of forced labour are from the global South, something that the people behind these crimes use to their advantage, experts say.

Michael O’Brien of the ITF’s Fisheries Section told IPS: “Those employing vulnerable migrants in forced labour scenarios rely upon the vulnerability of the victim, the potential lack of legal status of the victim in the country where they are working, and the victim’s reliance on an income that is unavailable to them in their country of origin.”

Mariama Thiam, an investigative journalist in Senegal who did research for the Financial Transparency Coalition report, said fishers often do not know what they are signing up for.

“Usually there is a standard contract that the fisher signs, and often they sign it without understanding it fully,” she told IPS. “Most Senegalese fishermen have a low level of education. The contract is checked by the national fishing agency, which sees it, says it looks okay, approves it, and the fishers then go, but the fishers don’t understand what’s in it.”

Then, once they have started work, the men are so desperate to keep their jobs that they will put up with whatever conditions they have to.

“All the fishers I have spoken to say they have had no choice but to do the work because they cannot afford to lose their jobs—their families rely on them. Some of them were beaten or did not have any days off; captains systematically confiscate all their passports when they go on board—the captains say that if the fishermen have their passports, some will go on shore when they are in Europe and stay on there, migrating illegally,” she said.

“In the minds of Senegalese fishermen, their priority is salary. They can tolerate human rights abuses and forced labour if they get their salary,” Thiam added.

Adabblah agrees, adding though that this allows the criminals behind the forced labour to continue their abuses.

“The thing is that a lot of people are afraid to speak up because of where they are from, and they end up being too scared to say anything even if they are really badly treated. There are lots of people who are in the same situation as I was or experiencing much worse, but if no one speaks up, how can [criminals] be identified?” he says.

Experts on the issue say the owners of vessels where forced labour is alleged to have occurred hide behind complex corporate structures and that many governments take a lax approach to uncovering ultimate beneficial ownership information when vessels are registered or fishing licenses are applied for.

This means those behind the abuses are rarely identified, let alone punished.

“In Senegal, what happens is that the government doesn’t want to share information on owner control of boats. No one can get information on it, not journalists, not activists, sometimes not even people in other parts of government itself,” said Thiam.

Other problems include a lack of legislation to even deal with the problem. For instance, Thiam highlighted that fishers in Senegal work under a collective convention dating back to 1976 that does not mention forced labour.

O’Brien added: “In the Irish context, there has never been a prosecution for human trafficking for labour exploitation in fisheries or any other sector.

“There is a school of thought among progressive lawyers that we need a separate offense on the statute books of ‘labour exploitation’ to obtain convictions. In the case of fishers, some remedies can be obtained via the labour and maritime authorities, but these are lower-level offenses that do not have a dissuasive effect on the vessel owners.”

Victims also face difficulties seeking redress in their home countries.

Complaints to recruiting agencies in fishers’ home countries often come to nothing and can end up having serious consequences.

“The thing about the agency I dealt with at home and other agencies like it is that if you complain to them, they will just say that you are talking too much and you should come home and solve the situation there, and then when you get home, they just blacklist you and you won’t get any fishing work ever again; they will just recruit someone else,” says Adabblah.

Although Adabblah did not see the justice he had hoped for, he is aware his story has ended better than many other victims of forced labour. He, along with his three friends, have made new lives in Ireland, and he is hoping to soon begin the process of becoming a naturalised Irish citizen.

He urges anyone who finds themselves in the same situation to not stay quiet, and instead contact an organization like the ITF or something similar.

Doing so may not always bring victims a satisfactory resolution to their problems, but each publicized case may end up having a long-term positive effect on stopping others from being abused, said O’Brien.

“The ITF has significant resources but not enough to match the scale of the problem. The cases we take up like Noel’s are the tip of the iceberg. However, we use these cases, with the consent of the victims, to highlight the problem with governments and, in turn, campaign for changes in the law,” he said.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

Climate Change Is Taking a Major Toll on Agriculture. Here’s How to Support Farmers

Fri, 01/19/2024 - 09:45

A farmer tending to her vegetable field in Bangladesh. Women make up 58% of Bangladesh’s agricultural workforce. Credit: BRAC

By Asif Saleh
DHAKA, Bangladesh, Jan 19 2024 (IPS)

Half the world eats rice. In Bangladesh, everyone eats it. The small, densely-populated nation is the third-highest rice-producing country in the world.

For a nation of 170 million people which has suffered through some of the world’s worst famines, this ranking holds special significance. While Bangladesh is mostly self-sufficient in food now, its farmers face a new threat ¬– the climate crisis.

The impact of a changing climate on food security is a catastrophe shared by many countries in the Global South, from the Philippines, where biodiversity based rice farming is facing extinction, to Peru, where drought has devastated food systems.

Smallholder farmers produce one-third of the world’s food. In Bangladesh, agriculture makes up every second livelihood. The country has a population predicted to swell to 200 million people by 2050, and salinity intrusion is affecting an area larger than Lebanon.

A farmer in Bangladesh returning from the field with his harvest. Credit: BRAC

In 2022 alone, flooding destroyed crops that would have been enough to feed 10 million people for a month. The impacts of Cyclone Sidr, which struck Bangladesh’s coast 16 years ago, are still felt today, with salt residue rendering thousands of hectares of land non-arable for much of every year.

Bangladesh is small – its land size is just a little more than the US state of Mississippi – but surprisingly diverse in terms of topography and ecosystems, and the climate crisis is a cruel reminder of that diversity.

North-eastern Bangladesh floods regularly, central regions suffer longer dry spells, coastal areas are under attack by rising salinity, and farming communities along Bangladesh’s 600-plus rivers are constantly threatened by erosion.

A whole-of-society approach

Climate impacts are attacking smallholder farmers on every front. To support them on every front, we can’t tinker around the edges; we need holistic solutions at scale.

Bangladesh is an example that these approaches work – it has used holistic, large-scale approaches to take poverty rates from 80% to 18.7%, increase life expectancy by one and a half times and triple rice production – all in the last 50 years.

Farmers in Bangladesh weeding their rice fields a month after planting seedlings. Bangladesh produced 38.3 million tonnes of rice in 2023. Credit: BRAC

The starting point for such an approach must be the most fundamental – seeds, which Bangladesh has invested in for decades. One of the key reasons the country was able to become self-sufficient in food was because of widespread uptake of high yield varieties.

It turns out, however, that high yield crops are particularly vulnerable to climate impacts. There is also a lack of diversity – while hundreds of climate-resilient varieties are available in Bangladesh, 70% of the country’s Boro rice fields are cultivated with just two varieties.

The work needed going forward is not only in the development of climate resilient seeds, but also in working with farmers to encourage them to use them, as well as to try different crops altogether.

Rice, for example, the mainstay of the Bangladeshi diet, which covers 80% of cultivable land in the country, needs 3,000-5,000 litres of water to produce 1kg. Maize requires 30% less, and millets require 70% less. Methane from rice also contributes around 1.5% of total global greenhouse gas emissions. With many smallholder farmers living harvest to harvest though, getting them to change varieties is not easy.

Non-government organizations can help address this issue, because they work closely with communities and are trusted by them. BRAC works with a network of 7,000 smallholder farmers to produce seeds which are distributed to a community of 1.3 million farmers – and networks and communities like this exist across the Global South.

Access to finance is vital

To experiment with seeds though, farmers need access to finance. Most Bangladeshi subsistence farmers earn less than $2 per day, making it a constant struggle to eke out a living, let alone to invest in their livelihood.

Farmers in Bangladesh spray pesticides on their field to protect the corn crops from pests. Credit: BRAC

Farmers typically don’t need a lot of money – but they often need it all at once, at the start of the season. Customized microfinance loans for farmers are key in this. BRAC provides finance to approximately 10 million people, many of whom are farmers – and increasingly in the form of one-off loans to be repaid at harvest time. The default rate is less than 2%.

Crop insurance is also crucial, to support farmers to absorb increasing climate shocks. More than half the world’s countries have government agriculture insurance programmes, and most of those subsidize premiums.

Only four countries in Africa, however, have them. At BRAC, we recently piloted crop insurance, partnered with agri-advisories and localized weather predictions via SMS with 80,000 farmers. Even without subsidizing, more than half the farmers opted to continue the insurance after the pilot.

Importance of up-to-date knowledge for farmers

Farmers also need information at their fingertips, in a way they can understand. Government agricultural extension services provide this, and non-state actors can ensure it gets to particularly vulnerable communities.

One initiative being piloted in Bangladesh is adaptation clinics – one-stop service centres in climate hotspots run by agricultural graduates and farmers in those communities, offering other farmers access to a range of resources, from weather forecasts and market information to training, technology and produce storage facilities.

They also need to know they can sell their new produce. Sunflowers are a good example. Sunflower oil is used extensively in cooking in Bangladesh, and the country relies on imports to meet 90% of its demand for edible oil.

Sunflowers are also a naturally salt-tolerant crop. Even though the government put effort into promoting sunflowers for years, the crop was never taken up because of a lack of buyers.

Now with industrial oil producers showing interest and that market gap being addressed, there is a bloom of sunflower farming on the coast – and farmers are fetching up to five times as much as they would make from the crops they would previously have grown.

Challenges facing farmers only intensifying

Seeds, finance, information, and market linkage are just the start. With climate impacts anticipated to wipe out 30% of food production by 2050, the challenges farmers are facing are only going to intensify.

They need support which is equally comprehensive, that combines the technical strengths of state and private actors, with the confidence and localized direction on the ground from non-state actors to transition away from generations of tradition.

With a global population that is only getting hungrier ¬– 43 countries currently have alarming or serious levels of hunger – the stakes have never been higher.

This article was originally published in World Economic Forum Agenda blog which can be accessed through this link.

IPS UN Bureau

Excerpt:

Asif Saleh, Executive Director, BRAC

Categories: Africa

2024: A Year of Cautious Hope for African Economies Facing Worldwide Challenges

Fri, 01/19/2024 - 08:28

Betty Mtehemu, Deputy Chairperson of Fabric Clothes Sector, and Chairperson of the Women’s Union in Dar es Salaam’s Mchikichini Market.

By Franck Kuwonu
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 19 2024 (IPS)

As African economies look to the new year, countries across the continent are poised to make moderate economic gains but must navigate the maze of domestic and international challenges.

According to the UN World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) 2024, the continent’s economic growth is expected to quicken slightly, with average GDP possibly inching up to 3.5 per cent.

Yet, debt sustainability concerns, fiscal pressures, and climate change present uncertainties. The projected 3.5 per cent growth is a slight increase from the 3.3 per cent in 2023.

Major regional economies, such as that of Egypt, are anticipated to slow to 3.4 per cent from 4.2 in the previous year, mainly due to foreign exchange scarcities that may weaken import capacity and domestic demand.

In South Africa, the persistent energy crisis has limited the growth to just 0.5 per cent in 2023, and no significant change is expected in 2024.

In Nigeria, the country’s growth prospect points to a moderate increase, largely due to government reforms in the oil sector. The growth is forecast to be at 3.1 per cent.

Debt burden

High levels of debt are one of the main challenges African economies face going forward, the report noted. For instance, Zambia is navigating a debt-to-GDP ratio that soared past 70 per cent in recent years.

Yet, the country is not alone: “18 countries in Africa recorded a debt-to-GDP ratio of over 70 per cent in 2023, with many of them facing debt distress,” the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) said in a release accompanying the report.

Ghana’s financial health is also under scrutiny, with a staggering fifth of its tax revenue devoted to servicing debt. These instances are not anomalies but rather stark representations of the debt dilemma many African nations confront.

Fiscal health and inflation

Fiscal stability remains elusive, the report highlighted, with many countries wrestling to increase their tax revenue, a vital lifeline for economic sustainability.

Energy subsidy reforms in nations like Nigeria and Angola reflect attempts to recalibrate fiscal policies amidst pressing economic realities. At the same time, inflationary pressures are widespread, with countries like Nigeria and Egypt experiencing severe surges in food prices.

In response, Central banks across the continent have tightened monetary policies, trying to stabilize currencies and curb inflation. Yet, the effectiveness of these measures in the face of global economic turbulence remains a critical question.

Climate change

Climate change continues to be an unpredictable catalyst, significantly impacting agriculture-dependent economies. The Horn of Africa, repeatedly battered by droughts exacerbated by human-induced climate change, faces ongoing threats to food security and economic stability.

Southern Africa’s vulnerability was laid bare by Cyclone Freddy in March 2023, with losses mounting into hundreds of millions. These incidents underscore the urgent need for climate resilience strategies.

Trade

The global slowdown in trade has also slowed down economic growth in Africa. This is due to less demand from the main countries that buy Africa’s exports and the prices for raw materials and goods sold by the continent have stopped increasing.

Although overall intra-African trade remains relatively low continent-wide, hovering below 15 per cent, this general trend masks regional variations.

Notably, East and Southern Africa stand out with their relatively higher levels of intra-regional trade, where intra-African exports correspond to almost 30% of these subregions’ overall exports. These regions contrast with other parts of the continent, where trade is more externally oriented.

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) emerged as a central initiative intended to address these intra-African trade issues. Its goal is to enhance economic integration and increase trade flows within the continent by creating a single market for goods and services.

Yet, despite its potential, the actual impact of AfCFTA has been limited so far, the report said.

The 2024 UN World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) is produced by UN DESA in partnership with the five UN Regional Commissions, UNCTAD, UN-OHRLLS and UNWTO. It features the global economic outlook for 2024 and 2025, and regional growth forecasts for developed and developing economies, as well as economies in transition.

The full report is available at: https://desapublications.un.org/

Source: Africa Renewal, United Nations

IPS UN Bureau

Categories: Africa

Guatemala’s Chance for a New Beginning

Thu, 01/18/2024 - 19:54

Credit: Emmanuel Andres/AFP via Getty Images

By Inés M. Pousadela
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, Jan 18 2024 (IPS)

Guatemala’s new president, Bernardo Arévalo, was expected to be sworn in on 14 January at 2pm –the 14th at 14:00, as people repeated in anticipation for months. It was a momentous event – but it wasn’t guaranteed to happen.

One year earlier, Arévalo – co-founder of the progressive Movimiento Semilla (Seed Movement), a political party born out of widespread 2015 anti-corruption protests – was largely unknown, freshly selected as his party’s presidential candidate. He wasn’t on the radar of opinion polls. A long chain of unlikely events later, he’s become the first Guatemalan president in living memory who doesn’t belong to the self-serving elites who Guatemalans call ‘the corrupt pact’, which he has credibly promised to dismantle.

The fear this caused among corrupt elite that has long ruled Guatemala was reflected in a series of attempts to try to stop Arévalo’s inauguration. The huge and sustained citizen mobilisation that came in response can largely be credited with keeping alive the spark of democracy in Guatemala.

Last-minute delays

All the Guatemalan Congress needed to do on the morning of 14 January was certify its newly elected members so the body could swear in the new president. But this routine administrative procedure was dragged on for many hours. The Indigenous movement, at the forefront of the months-long protests that had successfully kept at bay successive attempts to reverse the election results, called on Indigenous communities throughout Guatemala to remain on the alert.

In the late afternoon the Secretary General of the Organization of American States, Luis Almagro, surrounded by members of numerous foreign delegations, read a declaration calling on Congress to hand over power, ‘as required by the Constitution’, to the president-elect. This signalled that the world was watching.

As tensions mounted, Semilla reached an agreement for one of its representatives to be elected as president of Congress. This allowed the certification process to resume, and Arévalo was finally sworn in shortly after midnight. Night-long celebrations followed.

A coup attempt in stages

Arévalo’s election was unexpected. He only made it into the 20 August runoff because several other contenders not to the elite’s liking had been disqualified ahead of the first round. His candidacy wasn’t blocked because he scored so poorly in the polls. People’s expectations were extremely low, and first place went to invalid votes.

But once Arévalo entered the runoff, his rise was unstoppable. Death threats soon poured in, and an assassination plot involving state and non-state forces came to light days before the runoff.

As soon as the first-round results were announced, nine parties submitted complaints about supposed ‘irregularities’ that had gone undetected by all international observers. Their supporters converged outside the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) calling for a rerun.

The Constitutional Court instead ordered a recount and instructed the TSE to suspend official certification until complaints were resolved. Following the recount, the TSE eventually endorsed the results two weeks later.

But meanwhile, Attorney General Consuelo Porras Argueta, an official under US sanctions for corruption, launched an investigation into Semilla for alleged irregularities in its registration process and had its offices raided. She also ordered two raids on TSE offices, and when the TSE officially announced Arévalo as one of the runoff contenders, she ordered Semilla’s suspension. The Constitutional Court however blocked this order and the runoff ran its course. Arévalo took 58 per cent of the vote, compared to 37.2 per cent for the pro-establishment candidate.

Efforts to stop Arévalo’s inauguration began immediately, with yet another attempt by the Public Prosecutor to have Semilla suspended. The Constitutional Court continued to receive and reject legal challenges until the day of the inauguration.

For 100 days, two different visions of Guatemala wrestled with each other: people eager for change protested nonstop while corrupt forces linked to organised crime strove to preserve their privileges at any cost.

Democracy on life support

Guatemala has long been classified as a ‘hybrid regime‘ with a mix of democratic and authoritarian traits. Under outgoing president Alejandro Giammattei, civic freedoms steadily deteriorated. State institutions grew even weaker, ransacked by predatory elites and coopted by organised crime.

One of the last acts of Giammattei’s predecessor and ally, Jimmy Morales, was to end the work of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). Charged with supporting and strengthening state institutions to investigate and prosecute serious crimes, CICIG helped file over 120 cases in the Guatemalan justice system and its joint investigations with the Attorney General’s Office led to over 400 convictions.

Under Giammattei, the Attorney General’s Office dismantled all anti-corruption efforts and criminalised those in the legal profession who’d worked alongside CICIG. Impunity flourished. Transparency International’s 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index found evidence of strong influence by organised crime over politics and politicians, with some crime bosses seeking and securing office.

It’s no wonder that Guatemalans’ trust in state institutions hit rock bottom. According to the latest Latinobarómetro report, in 2021 satisfaction with the performance of democracy stood at a meagre 25 per cent.

Challenges ahead

Arévalo came to the presidency on a credible anti-corruption platform. But dismantling dense webs of complicity, rooting out entrenched corruption and rebuilding state institutions are no easy tasks.

Among the many challenges is a highly fragmented Congress in which 16 parties are represented, with Semilla on only 23 out of 160 seats. A large majority of Congress remains on the payroll of the interests Arévalo has promised to take on, along with most of the justice system. The 14 January events made clear that the ‘corrupt pact’ will do anything it can to stop Arévalo.

Arévalo’s to-do list is long, ranging from reducing political spending and improving social services to reversing laws that criminalise protest and establishing an effective protection mechanism for human rights defenders. At the top is forcing the resignation of Attorney General Consuelo Porras, the highest official presiding over a judicial network set up to ensure the impunity of the ‘corrupt pact’.

Arévalo can’t remove the Attorney General unilaterally, and so will have to negotiate her departure. This will be a key early test of the hope invested in him to keep democracy alive. Many more are sure to come.

Inés M. Pousadela is CIVICUS Senior Research Specialist, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.

Categories: Africa

Centuries-Old Rituals Are Slowly Fading Away in Cambodia

Thu, 01/18/2024 - 15:37

“What on earth are you going to do in Tropeang Krohom?” The driver of the minivan turns his head and gives me a puzzled look. Few passengers want to be dropped off in a settlement between two provincial towns. Tropeang Krohom or ‘Red Pond’ is located at a junction of the main road. The name […]

Categories: Africa

Hindu Woman Doctor Confident of Election In Pakistan Polls

Thu, 01/18/2024 - 09:54

On the campaign trail: Dr Saveera Parkash, a nominee for the Pakistan People’s Party. She is the first Hindu woman to run in Pakistan's general election Credit: Ashfaq Yusufzai/IPS

By Ashfaq Yusufzai
PESHAWAR, Jan 18 2024 (IPS)

A woman medical graduate from the Hindu community is making waves, as she is the first minority woman to contest the Pakistan Parliamentary election for a general seat, and she does so in the face of deep-rooted religious traditions and wealthy political opponents.

Dr Saveera Parkash, a nominee of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) for the February 8 polls, is sure of her victory despite her religion.

“I have been witnessing the support that I am getting from the Muslim-dominated district of Buner in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province,” Parkash told IPS in an interview.

“My slogan is addressing issues of pollution, women’s empowerment, gender equality, female representation, and their health issues, in addition to ensuring respect for all religions,” she elaborated.

Born to a Christian mother and Hindu father, she has lived in a Muslim-dominated community; therefore, interfaith harmony is on her wishlist.

“Interfaith harmony is extremely significant because we have seen enmity among different religious sects on flimsy grounds.”

“We have to inculcate a sense of brotherhood among all schools of thought and pave the way for lasting peace in the area. We have to respect our religious places and shun differences, as all religions advocate peace and harmony,” she says.

Candidates in Buner, one of the 36 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that remained thick with militants from 2007 to 2010, are likely to witness a hard contest as the women and youngsters have shown support for the first-ever minority female candidate.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, one of Pakistan’s four provinces, has 145 elected members, 115 regular seats, 26 reserved for women, and 4 for non-Muslims.

Pakistan is home to 4.4 million Hindus, which is 2.4 percent of the total population.

Her father, a medical doctor and late leader of the PPP and twice Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated by militants in December 2007 in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, inspire her, she says.

“While my ideal is Mother Teresa, my main focus will be women’s education. The overall literacy rate is 48 percent, but only 25 percent of females are literate; therefore, I want to spread awareness about the importance of women’s education,” she says.

Additionally, it is very important to end favoritism and nepotism and ensure merit in the appointment of teachers, especially women.

After completing medical education in July 2022, she saw the issues women visiting hospitals faced and decided to enter politics instead of continuing her career as a doctor, as she believed issues needed to be resolved at the policy level.

“We need more women doctors, nurses, and paramedics to encourage female patients to visit hospitals. Currently, the number of female health workers is extremely low, due to which most of the women don’t come to hospitals because they don’t want to be seen by male doctors,” she says.

“My big advantage is that I belong to a middle-class family, and the people will vote for me because I am approachable to my electorate.”

The promotion of women’s rights is her main objective.

“We have to scale up awareness regarding women’s rights to property inheritance and their right to education. I sense victory in the polls, as I know the people listen to me and would reject opponents for their bright future.”

So, how does she feel the run-up to the election is going?

“In our district, 75 percent of voters are under 30, and they are well-informed about the issues they are facing. I may be lacking wisdom and knowledge compared to senior politicians, but my sincerity will lead to my success,” says the 25-year-old, who routinely wears a headscarf.

Because she is trying to reach a young electorate, her campaigning includes the wide use of social media, apart from the traditional approaches of public meetings and house-to-house canvassing.

Highlighting corruption is also part of her election campaign.

At the moment, she is concentrating on a smooth run-up so she can win popular support in her constituency

“Voters in my constituency call me ‘sister’ and ‘daughter,’ which gives me immense strength,” she said.

Parkash said she wanted to follow in the footsteps of her father, Oam Prakash, a retired doctor, and serve the people.

Securing a space for women is vital for development, as they have been suppressed and neglected in all areas.

She said “serving humanity is in my blood” due to her medical background, highlighting that her dream to become an elected legislator stemmed from having experienced poor management and helplessness in government hospitals as a doctor.

Most people in the area endorse her candidacy, regardless of her Hinduism or political affiliation. Voters appreciate her bravery for challenging traditional policies

The Election Commission of Pakistan makes it mandatory for all political parties to award 5 percent of seats to women in general seats.

Political analyst Muhammad Zahir Shah, at the University of Peshawar, said that Parkash has created history by contesting the general election.

“We have been seeing women becoming members of the assembly on reserved seats. They don’t contest elections but are nominated by parties on the basis of the seats they win in the election,” Shah said.

In the past, some women have fought elections, but they were Muslim; therefore, they don’t draw as much media and public attention, but the case of Parkash is unprecedented.

She is well educated and belongs to the Hindu community while standing for vote in an area where 95 percent of the voters are Muslims.

“She is contesting on the PPP’s ticket, which isn’t a popular political party, but it seems that she will make her presence felt during the electioneering,” Shah said. Already, she has hit headlines, and if the election takes place in a fair and transparent manner, there is a greater likelihood that she will emerge victorious,” he said.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

The Global Femicide Epidemic

Thu, 01/18/2024 - 09:10

An activist raises a mock blood-stained hand and shows a mock hand-shape bruise on her face during a protest on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. From Italy to South Africa, femicides are increasing. To counter this, we must confront ingrained norms and demand swift legal action. Credit: DPA picture alliance

By Theresa Beckmann
BRUSSELS, Belgium, Jan 18 2024 (IPS)

‘Per Giulia e per tutte’ (‘For Giulia and for all’) echoed through the streets of Italy in mid-November 2023. Thousands of women, activists and supporters gathered to protest and show solidarity with the 22-year-old student Giulia Cecchettin, who was killed by her ex-boyfriend on the night of 11 November 2023.

The outrage over the murder of the young student unleashed a wave of protest that was audible far beyond the country’s borders in the weeks after the incident.

Browsing through the page Women for Change on Twitter/X triggers a wave of emotions which constantly sways back and forth between disbelief, grief and anger. The South African NGO is dedicated to women’s rights and documents all the cases of murdered women in the country. South Africa’s femicide rate is five times higher than the global average; on average, nine women were murdered there every day in 2022.

A quick glance reveals a seemingly never-ending series of posts titled ‘In Memory of’, each featuring a portrait of a smiling women — a tribute to all the woman and girls whose lives were abruptly cut short. One of them is Nombulelo Jessica Michael, a social worker who was attending a gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) case in court on the last day she was seen alive.

The deaths of Nombulelo and Giulia account for a series of murders of women all over the world — femicides. The term describes the most extreme form of gender-based violence. In 2022, the UN registered 89 000 cases of intentional killings of women and girls worldwide. Fifty-five per cent of these murders are committed by (former) intimate partners or perpetrators from the victim’s own environment.

Despite general homicide rates decreasing, femicide cases have been rising continuously in the last two decades. And still, these figures only paint a fragmented picture of a blunt reality: a significant number of femicide victims (around 40 per cent) remain unaccounted for in the UN report, as they are not categorised as gender-related killings due to variations in criminal justice recording and investigation practices across nations.

With the start of the new year, it is high time to highlight the pressing need for continuous advocacy initiatives and policy implications aimed at promoting societal transformation and confronting the fundamental factors contributing to gender-based violence.

But the challenge requires a multifaceted approach that acknowledges the intersection of underlying power dynamics in the form of a patriarchal society, racism and structural inequalities.

Dismantling the roots

Giulia and Nombulelo were two different women, on different continents, who became victims of the same alarming global crisis of gender-based violence, affecting women and girls in diverse cultural, economic and political contexts.

In patriarchal societies, the omnipresent grip of traditional gender norms reinforces a culture where violence against women is normalised. This norm transcends borders and adapts to different cultural contexts while maintaining its oppressive nature.

Those stereotypes and prejudices continuously foster expectations of femininity and masculinity, weaving dangerous narratives of victim blaming. As a result, it is common for the public discourse surrounding gender-based violence and femicides to be marked by the inappropriate behaviour of a young woman who is drinking alcohol and is walking home alone at night, rather than being centred on expressions of grief, condolences and righteous indignation.

In this regard, media portrayals and narratives must shift and tell the stories from the victim’s point of view, avoiding stylistic instruments drawing from love tragedies and sensationalism.

But what other causes are there for the rise of femicide cases? The Covid19 pandemic, which forced people to stay locked up at home, intensified the extent of violence against women immensely. It also pushed people into financial uncertainty and economic distress, which became a crucial driving factor for gender-based violence.

Government authorities, women’s rights activists and civil society partners worldwide were reporting significantly increased calls for help to domestic violence helplines during that time. Disrupted support systems, the intensification of pre-existing tensions, overwhelmed healthcare systems and restricted mobility made it challenging for victims to seek help and support.

More than this, food insecurity is also intertwined with women’s exposure to domestic violence. The economic roles of women, especially as full-time unpaid caregivers, are associated with a higher likelihood of experiencing violence, as highlighted in a UN report.

Additionally, women with income experience a greater sense of safety and reduced perception of violence (except for those who out-earn their partners) — portraying the harmful power dynamics perpetuating femicides and gender based-violence and their connection to women’s economic dependence.

Consequently, we need to prioritise initiatives that enhance financial independence, providing women with the resources and support needed to escape abusive situations, such as shelters and other help centres: in 46 European countries, 3 087 shelters provide 39 130 beds for women and children, but because of capacity and space issues, it is impossible to provide accommodation for all those seeking help.

When looking at the emergence of femicide and gender-based violence, it is also important to acknowledge that racism amplifies the vulnerability of women and girls — particularly those from marginalised communities. In the context of femicides, racial dynamics intersect with gender-based violence, creating compounded challenges for women of colour.

The Femicide Census, which documents women killed by men in the UK, reveals the ethnicity of only 22 out of 110 victims. This lack of data in the documentation of the victims’ ethnicity leads to insufficient conclusions and examinations, which disregard cultural circumstances, influences, as well as intercommunal disparities.

Experts suggest that women from ethnic minorities and indigenous groups may encounter discrimination due to factors like ethnicity, language and religion. This bias puts them at higher risk of various adversities, such as limited access to healthcare or higher risks of experiencing violence by strangers.

Finally, many women of colour fear engaging with the police in the first place due to concerns about discrimination or lack of support, hindering effective strategies to address the vulnerabilities faced by marginalised communities.

It is imperative that these issues extend to law enforcement. Legal and policy responses cannot be blind to structural inequalities that disproportionately affect marginalised communities. It is crucial to ensure that activist groups, NGOs overseeing femicide data processing, along with family members remembering victims and other stakeholders dismantling harmful narratives, gain increased visibility in the debate.

Legal change in progress?

From Italy to South Africa to America, in recent years there have been major efforts by feminist movements, NGOs and international organisations to put femicides on the political agenda. But how successful have these movements been?

As a study by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) suggests, the prevention of femicide is closely linked to legal responses to domestic violence. A societal rethink makes up only one part of the equation — legal consequences and political implications must follow.

When looking at Italy’s recent implementations, one strong deficit becomes apparent immediately: the government’s spending on countering gender-based violence was more than doubled in the last decade, however, the femicide rate has remained stable. The reason for this is that a large amount of money is put towards the treatment of the victims instead of the prevention of femicides.

In South Africa, the opposite has happened: the South African National Assembly recently passed the Gender-Based Violence and Femicide Bill 2023. The legislation aims to enhance the criminal justice system’s response to gender-based violence through improved law enforcement, police training and legal processes.

At first glance, this seems to be a progressive implementation, however, the initial optimism of advocates, supporters and activists was quickly dampened: the South African Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu squandered 100 million rands meant to assist survivors of gender-based violence by mismanaging the allocated money and transferring funds to nonfunctional civil society organisations without GBVF mandates — an example for the gap between legislative intent and effective implementation in reality.

However, one thing is clear: we should never stop telling the stories of Giulia and Nombulelo and all the other women and girls around the globe who were brutally murdered. Their stories should lead to collective action, which demands not just sympathy but systemic change and constantly amplifies the voices of the silenced.

Theresa Beckmann works at the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung EU Office in Brussels in the editorial team of International Politics and Society.

IPS UN Bureau

Categories: Africa

The Impact of Climate Migration on Developing Nations

Wed, 01/17/2024 - 09:21

Men on camels and donkeys travel through a dust storm in the desert near the western city of Mao, in the Kanem Region of Chad. Credit: UNICEF/UNI82205/Holt

By Sudip Ranjan Basu, Chen Wang and Monica Das
BANGKOK, Thailand, Jan 17 2024 (IPS)

As the world is still gearing up to welcome 2024, let us find a moment to reflect on some of the key trends of the past year and pursue now to embrace the path towards hope and promise for everyone, everywhere.

Deepening global inequalities are having enormous socio-economic implications across countries. Increasing income and social disparities are spreading around regions. Growing intensities of climate induced natural disasters, the uneven speed of post-pandemic recoveries, and cost-of-living crises from conflicts and geopolitical tensions are exacerbating inequalities and poverty traps globally.

The changing distribution of economic benefits vis-à-vis the rising prices of food and fuel are causing social unrest and protests. Citizens are voicing their frustration not only in the streets of capitals but through exponential engagement on social media platforms.

With the intensification of various external shocks, and the lack of economic opportunities for accelerating growth and productivity surges, multidimensional poverty indices are on rise. The inequality-poverty nexus is contributing to a new form of uncertainty for disadvantaged households.

A family displaced by prolonged drought in Ethiopia now live in a makeshift tent in Mogadishu, Somalia. June 2023. Credit: IOM/Muse Mohammed

Intensifying course of climate change

Intensifying hazards caused by climate change, such as floods, tropical cyclones, heatwaves, droughts and earthquakes, have impacted agricultural outputs and industrial sectors, especially through decreasing productivity growth and falling real wages. The widening gap between rich and poor in rural and urban areas has also been linked to extreme weather events due to the increasing frequency of natural disasters.

These inequalities are further aggravating extreme poverty, creating the vicious nexus of climate-disaster-inequalities among vulnerable groups.

Evidence from around the world indicates that climate change is likely to impact more severely on vulnerable groups and coastal communities, because they are more exposed to the uncertainties of weather patterns. Lack of adaptive capacity are often constraining the ability of these communities to build resilience and cope with the severity of these environmental shocks.

Widespread incidence of climate migration from low- to high-latitude areas and social mobility are increasingly impacting the social fabric of small island developing States and other developing economies.

With the exodus of young and skilled labour force, transfers of income and the wealth gap will further worsen inequalities in communities, raising concerns of greater socio-economic uncertainties.

From Fiji to Ethiopia, Bangladesh to Brazil, the exacerbation of inequalities due to climate change has been impacting socio-economic prosperity. Growth uncertainties are causing extreme poverty to increase, while causing hardship and hunger for households in rural areas.

Varying scales of COVID-19 pandemic

Socio-economic polarization has been on the rise since the global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to differentiated impacts of national lockdowns, pandemic restrictions and vaccination measures have had adverse impacts on the existing inequalities and multidimensional poverty indices.

As economic development stagnation persists, rural areas have seen rising impacts of extreme poverty and income divergence across households, leading to new episodes of income divergence within countries.

The post-COVID 19 recoveries are uneven. Rising levels of unemployment and stagnating real wages remain major indicators of corresponding economic growth deceleration. The differentiated policy measures to stabilize labour market distortions, social protection systems and sectoral productivity surges have not always achieved the desired outcomes in developing countries.

According to the labour force surveys in various countries, the majority of workers have been engaged in less paid work due to lack of dynamism in the labour market. Evidence suggests that the changes in work style and availability of types of jobs as well as their skills and profiles aggravate the income disparity within urban centres.

From several Latin American to African countries, the pandemic-induced policy measures have differently elevated the risk of vulnerability for the manual labor force. Similarly, the studies have shown that young, low-income and self-employed workers including women with limited education, have suffered greater job losses and earnings reductions than other groups in the workforce in the UK, USA, China and India, among others.

Changing forms of conflicts

Conflicts also go beyond borders, causing immeasurable human suffering on the global scale. With the volatility and uncertainties around supply chains, food and fuel prices spiral. Cost-of-living crisis spreads around countries as governments lose fiscal space for developmental expenditure, while debt burden mounts.

Conflicts cause people to lose hope and opportunities from East to West, North to Southern countries. With the lack of rule of law and property rights, households and communities fall into poverty traps, changing the face of socio-economic disparity.

As these conflicts are prolonged, countries often fail to overcome the existing structural constraints, maintain production streams, and improve lackluster infrastructure. A higher risk of falling into poverty traps and increasing scale of disparities is then the inevitable outcome. The polarization fears and lack of trust are now a reality.

Looking ahead

Today, as we look back at 2023, there is no doubt that in the end, common aspirations and outlooks remain our best hope to chart a new course to advance the Sustainable Development Goals. Evidence of successful policy coherence will provide valuable opportunities for policymakers to unite their priorities and lay the foundations for breakthroughs.

Sudip Ranjan Basu is Deputy Head and Senior Economic Affairs Officer; Chen Wang is Professor, Institute of Finance and Economics, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, China; Monica Das is Associate Professor, Economics Department, Skidmore College, New York

IPS UN Bureau

Categories: Africa

Mozambique Insurgency Significantly Decreased, Say Experts

Wed, 01/17/2024 - 08:12

Two years after the major attacks by non-state armed groups, a considerable number of forcibly displaced people have returned to Palma. Credit: UNHCR

By Kevin Humphrey
JOHANNESBURG, Jan 17 2024 (IPS)

There is cautious optimism regarding the conflict that has been raging in northern Mozambique, largely in the province of Cabo Delgado, since 2017. There are encouraging indications that the Islamic State (IS)-driven insurgency has significantly decreased thanks to the deployment of the Mozambique Defense Armed Forces (FADM), Southern African Development Community (SAMIM) forces, and a contingent of Rwandan troops (RSF).

Leleti Maluleki, a researcher at Good Governance Africa, told IPS: “With regards to the current state of the conflict, people are slowly moving back or returning to their villages and communities. It’s a sign of progress being made by the troops, and we hope it’s a sign of peace.”

There had been a decrease in the number of attacks by insurgents.

“That’s a good thing as well, but it does not mean that the insurgency is over. We need to remember that there were stories of insurgents infiltrating the communities, so they are still among the people; they might have radicalized certain individuals, and they might have recruited some citizens. But we are seeing fewer and fewer attacks on a daily basis.”

The insurgency has claimed over 4,000 lives and displaced 946,000 since it started. According to a report from the United Nations Security Council published in February 2023, the number of IS fighters in the field has decreased from a peak of 2,500 (prior to SAMIM and the RSF joining the fight) to roughly 280.

Last year, Vladimir Voronkov, Under-Secretary-General of the Office of Counter-Terrorism, said in August 2023 that counter-terrorism initiatives in Egypt, Mozambique, and Yemen had significantly limited the insurgents ability to conduct operations.

He warned, though, that “force alone cannot lead to changes in the conditions conducive to terrorism,” noting that it can fuel more violence and aggravate grievances exploited by terrorists.

At the same meeting, Domingos Estêvão Fernandes, Deputy Permanent Representative of Mozambique to the UN, pointed to the rising spread of terrorism in Africa, where fatalities linked to Al-Qaeda and Da’esh reached more than 22,000 over the past year—representing a 48 percent increase over 2022.

Fernandes it was important to address poverty, inequality, social exclusion, and discrimination based on religion and culture to address insurgency and recognize the risk of the misuse of emerging technologies.

He pointed to the achievements of the deployment of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) mission in Mozambique.

Amanzi Amade Bacar is a fisherman who has fled and returned several times from and to his house in Bagala, Mozambique. The 39-year-old husband and father hopes to return to his home and his original livelihood. Credit: UNHCR

“We must ensure predictable, flexible, and sustained funding for African Union peacekeeping operations,” Fernandes said, adding that government agencies and defense and security forces must partner with local communities to provide early warning systems.

Maluleki added that a new challenge is the insurgent’s use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), a tactic that works when the insurgents numbers are dwindling, which means decreasing the likelihood of insurgents getting up close to security forces. The use of these causes panic among civilians, which leads to further destabilization of the region regarding displaced persons and refugees.

When security forces reportedly killed Ibn Omar, the purported IS leader, and two of his followers, the anti-insurgency campaign also gained momentum. Mozambique’s president, Filipe Nyusi, recently made an announcement to this effect.

In terms of the future, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) heads of state at a summit in July 2023 laid plans for SADC forces to begin to leave northern Mozambique by December 15, 2024, and to complete the withdrawal by July 15, 2025. It was also noted that for this to happen, there was an urgent need for Mozambique’s defense forces to be capacitated to a degree where the removal of SADC troops would not compromise the gains of the past few years. Training and other help coming from the European Union and the United States to beef up the Mozambican forces were also mentioned at the summit.

Two years after the major attacks by non-state armed groups, a considerable number of forcibly displaced people have returned to Palma. Credit: UNHCR

Since the beginning of the insurgency, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated that one million people had been displaced in the region. More recently, the International Organization for Migrants (IOM) reported that in September and October 2023, about 8,000 Cabo Delgado residents had become displaced.

“When it comes to the issue of displaced individuals, a lot of people lost their homes and ran away for safety. People displaced by the conflict went to neighboring, safer communities. Host communities are faced with overcrowding, and basic services are under severe pressure so the security situation needs to improve so that more people can return to their villages and relieve the burden on these host communities,” said Maluleki

This increase in displaced persons occurred in the run-up to local government elections in the area and also when the €20 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, put on hold due to the conflict in the region, was being considered for being given the go-ahead. Fortunately, the October 11, 2023, municipal elections in Mocimboa da Praia went ahead, with four political parties taking part.

Nyusi has said it is safe to restart the Cabo Delgado liquefied natural gas (LNG) project that was halted in April 2021 after rebel attacks on civilians.

“The working environment and security in northern Mozambique make it possible for TotalEnergies to resume its activities at any time,” Nyusi said. TotalEnergies confirmed it was working on restarting the project.

There are, however, still concerns, especially for the civilian population.

“The deployment of troops was primarily in two districts, and this is concerning because these are the districts where the government has its own interests because they are where the LNG project is. Only two of the five or six districts that the insurgents heavily targeted have received adequate security. All districts affected by the conflict need to be secured so that we can reach a true level of peace and stability and address the root causes of the conflict,” said Maluleki.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

World Bank Enables Foreign Aid Theft

Wed, 01/17/2024 - 07:36

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Jan 17 2024 (IPS)

World Bank aid encourages governments to enable illicit financial outflows to offshore tax havens by reducing capital controls, thus draining precious foreign exchange and government resources.

Aiding elite wealth
Aid disbursements to highly aid-dependent countries coincide with sharp increases in bank deposits in offshore financial centres known for banking secrecy and private wealth management.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

Using Bank for International Settlements (BIS) data, Jørgen Juel Andersen, Niels Johannesen and Bob Rijkers found trends suggesting wealth accumulation abroad by national elites coinciding with World Bank aid disbursements.

Capital outflows follow aid inflows apparently captured by ruling politicians, bureaucrats and their cronies. In the 22 most World Bank aid-dependent countries, aid disbursements coincide “with increased deposits in foreign bank accounts in tax havens”.

National elites capture World Bank aid to poor developing countries. Such ‘leakages’ came to 7.5% of inflows, rising with aid-reliance. Earlier, ‘petroleum rent’ leakages to secretive offshore tax havens were estimated at 15%.

A modest share of all aid, World Bank disbursements averaged over 2% of low-income countries’ GDPs yearly. For Bank disbursements of at least 1% of GDP, leakages from 46 countries increased deposits in havens by 3.4%. But at a 3% of GDP threshold, leakages from seven countries rose to 15%!

Elites capture aid
The conventional wisdom is that aid promotes economic development in the poorest countries, while a few disagree. Many believe aid effectiveness depends on institutions and policies in receiving countries, with some warning corrupt elites may capture aid.

Many suspect elites who capture aid, or funds freed up by aid, hide their ill-gotten gains in private accounts in tax havens. Some countries receiving foreign aid are quite corrupt, with aid inflows captured by ruling politicians and their cronies.

There is much evidence that very high aid inflows foster corruption, with development projects failing due to greedy elites. The poorest countries supposedly receive the most aid but are often the worst governed. The study shows World Bank aid has been no better than others, further burdening poor countries and people.

Its data does not allow identification of those involved or the mechanisms used. Nonetheless, it concludes “the beneficiaries … belong to economic elites” with other research showing “offshore bank accounts are overwhelmingly concentrated at the very top of the wealth distribution”.

Illicit outflows enabled
Such aid capture by ruling elites helps explain its diversion abroad, how such funds end up in tax havens, and related surges in illicit outflows. Hence, large increases in offshore haven bank accounts coincided with aid disbursements.

Such abuses get worse when countries are more corrupt and have less effective checks and balances. Unsurprisingly, there are larger outflows to havens when projects fail, suggesting elite responsibility for such failures.

Conversely, there are less outflows to havens when procurement is from local contractors. When taxes can easily be evaded without using offshore accounts, and such abuses are unlikely to be penalised, outflows to havens become unnecessary and decline.

Foreign aid has also been used to get governments to reduce capital controls. Although assured by the International Monetary Fund’s Articles, the Bretton Woods institutions have eroded them since the 1990s. They claim doing so will ensure net inflows when all evidence suggests the contrary.

Reducing capital controls enables and boosts illicit capital outflows by reducing exit barriers. Such outflows have greatly exceeded World Bank aid inflows, draining precious government foreign exchange resources.

Study underestimates outflows
The study tries to minimise other factors influencing aid inflows and financial outflows. It excludes observations when wars, natural disasters, financial crises, oil price hikes and exchange rate volatility triggered such flows.

The study only covers World Bank aid leakages diverted to offshore tax havens. Spending on real estate, luxury goods, pet projects, and outflows using offshore intermediaries who help “hide and launder assets” are also not counted. Besides ignoring such outflows, it also rules out other possible causes.

International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ leaked data on offshore corporations, especially the Panama Papers, showing many secretive offshore havens used to hide illicit outflows, especially in Switzerland and Luxembourg.

Financial transparency has improved significantly, with more information on offshore financial centres from 2009. But more transparency has not stopped illicit outflows, including aid-derived wealth accumulation in havens.

Unsurprisingly, more corrupt countries, less local procurement and more failed projects have generated more outflows. But the study suggests more donor monitoring and control may have lowered leakage rates for aid compared to natural resource extraction.

Adding insult to injury
It is bad enough for the World Bank to enable the theft of scarce financial resources by influential elites. Worse, such enabling reforms have been required or advised by the Bank despite prior knowledge of their likely consequences.

To add insult to injury, the poor countries themselves are blamed for such abuses and their consequences. Unsurprisingly, the beneficiary elites are the political and economic allies of those who control the Bank and its policies.

These same elites have incurred much debt in the names of their countries and people. But much market-based debt dried up as the US Fed, European Central Bank and others sharply raised interest rates from 2022.

Thus, most poor countries face punishing market credit terms in the face of massive international economic contractions due to policies pursued by the US and its European allies.

IPS UN Bureau

Categories: Africa

Iran, Back to the Grim Normal

Tue, 01/16/2024 - 20:20

Credit: Mike Segar/Reuters via Gallo Images

By Inés M. Pousadela
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, Jan 16 2024 (IPS)

Iran’s time of public rebellion has ended. The protesters marching, chanting, and dancing under the ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ banner have long stopped. And shifting regional dynamics may play to the regime’s favour.

Protest wave repressed

The wave of protest against the theocratic regime started on 16 September 2022 and lasted far longer than anyone could have predicted. But by the one-year mark it had all but died down, its unprecedented scale and reach superseded by the unparalleled brutality of the crackdown.

The regime murdered hundreds of protesters, injured thousands and arrested tens of thousands. It subjected many to torture, sexual abuse and denial of medical treatment while in detention.

It weaponised the criminal justice system, holding express trials behind closed doors in ‘revolutionary courts’ presided over by clerics, with zero procedural guarantees. It sentenced hundreds – including journalists – to years in jail and handed out several death sentences. According to the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran, some of the human rights violations committed by the regime could constitute crimes against humanity.

Shortly after the first anniversary of the protests, on 6 October, it was announced that the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize had been awarded to Narges Mohammadi, an imprisoned Iranian woman activist with 20 years of struggle for democracy, human rights and women’s rights under her belt. Over the years, she’d been arrested 13 times, sentenced to 31 years in prison and 154 lashes, and been in prison three times. She received the news behind bars.

Ahead of the anniversary, afraid of protests returning, the theocratic regime put back on the streets the morality police whose intervention had resulted in Mahsa Amini’s death. Conservatives proposed a new ‘hijab and chastity’ law that would impose a stricter dress code and harsher penalties for violations.

The reinforcement of morality rules soon claimed its next victim. On 1 October, high school student Armita Garawand was left unconscious, reportedly assaulted by a hijab enforcer for not wearing a headscarf. She remained in a coma for several weeks before dying on 28 October. At her funeral mourners were assaulted and dozens were arrested, including well-known human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh.

Succession

Battered but unbeaten, the Iranian regime views upcoming legislative elections as part of its road to recovery. On 1 March, people will be called on to vote for all 290 members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly. The key battle will be over turnout, which was already down to 42 per cent in 2020 – the lowest since the 1979 revolution. That record could be shattered, as opposition and reformists call for abstention or boycott.

Along with parliamentary elections, in March Iran will hold elections for the Council of Experts, the body of clerics that appoints Iran’s Supreme Leader. The Council has recently faced criticism for its lax oversight of 84-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s performance, and might have to step in relatively soon.

In power since 1989, Khamenei is in a race against the clock. Bent on ensuring that the theocracy he largely built stands strong after he’s gone, he’s preparing his 54-year-old second son to succeed him. But the ongoing economic crisis may conspire against his plans. The cumulative impacts of international sanctions, fluctuating oil prices, mismanagement and rampant corruption have fuelled inflation and unemployment, and discontent runs high.

To prevent accumulated grievances from translating into mass protest, the regime will likely try to tread a fine line between displaying indestructible power and offering minor concessions.

Regional balance shifts

When the protests erupted international support poured in. People around the world showed solidarity with Iranian women and called on their governments to act. Early on, the USA imposed sanctions on the morality police and several senior leaders of the force and other security agencies. New sanctions by the European Union, UK and USA were announced on the eve of the anniversary of the protests.

On International Women’s Day in 2023, a group of Afghan and Iranian women launched the End Gender Apartheid campaign, which seeks recognition and condemnation of the two regimes as based on gender apartheid. They want the 1973 UN Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid, which so far applies only to racial hierarchies, extended to gender. The campaign wants this specific and extreme form of exclusion to be codified as a crime under international law so those responsible can be prosecuted and punished.

There was hope that such moves would foster action to hold those responsible to account. Civil society called for the creation of a dedicated accountability mechanism to work alongside the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran.

But on 7 October, as Armita lay in a coma, the paramilitary wings of Hamas launched their attacks into Israeli territory, and global attention shifted to this outrage and Israel’s murderous campaign of revenge. As a key source of support for Hamas, Iran was far from out of the spotlight – but condemnation of theocracy and gender apartheid now took a back seat to geopolitical considerations.

Khamenei publicly stated that Iran wasn’t involved in the 7 October attacks, and although he reiterated Iran’s political and moral support for Hamas, he reportedly told Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh that Iran wouldn’t directly intervene unless it was attacked by Israel or the USA. But Iran’s leadership of the anti-Israeli and anti-western ‘Axis of Resistance’ and the key role it can play in either expanding or limiting the scope of the conflict means it will be included in any attempt to redefine the regional order, and could well emerge stronger.

Amid the chaos and in the search for security, the international community might be increasingly willing to look the other way. Iran’s search for international respectability saw a milestone in November, when it took advantage of other states’ lack of interest to claim the chair of the UN Human Rights Council’s Social Forum. The result was a largely empty room – but it remains the case that Iran succeeded in occupying institutional space to whitewash its blood-soaked image.

This mustn’t be allowed to happen. Iranian women mustn’t be left to their own devices. Iranian pro-democracy and human rights activists, both inside and outside Iran, need the support of the international community if they’re to have any chance.

Inés M. Pousadela is CIVICUS Senior Research Specialist, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.

Categories: Africa

Humanitarian Cash Not Accelerating Aid Delivery in Nepal’s Earthquake Response

Tue, 01/16/2024 - 17:31

Delivering humanitarian assistance in the form of cash sounds great: recipients get to choose exactly how to spend their money and aid organizations can respond faster and better track their giving. But in Nepal, more than two months after a major earthquake killed more than 150 people and destroyed or damaged over 60,000 homes, what’s […]

Categories: Africa

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