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Some human coronaviruses cause seasonal colds or other mild symptoms. Others can be severe and even fatal. Credit: Unsplash

By External Source
BELLVILLE, South Africa, Oct 4 2022 (IPS)

It’s hard to imagine a time when “coronavirus” wasn’t a household word. But for a long time, this family of viruses had merited very little attention. Believed to be ubiquitous among animals and avian species, the first coronavirus to infect and cause disease in humans was only isolated and identified in the 1960s.

Seven human coronaviruses have been identified since then.

Most cause only relatively minor health concerns: the common cold and seasonal respiratory infections that come around every year. But the 2003 outbreak in China and other parts of Asia of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), caused by SARS-CoV (now renamed as SARS-CoV-1), propelled the virus onto the global stage. Coronaviruses gained further infamy when, in 2012, cases of the much more severe Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) were identified in Saudi Arabia.

Both outbreaks were relatively contained. Not surprisingly, the concern over coronavirus diseases largely faded from the minds of ordinary people. The same was true for virologists, who focused their time and funding on more pressing viruses. Then in late 2019 came SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19.

Fortunately, some researchers had retained an interest in coronaviruses. After all, viruses can mutate and reappear, causing new outbreaks. One such cohort, ourselves among them, works at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa. Our laboratory had, among other things, been studying some of the structural proteins that are the building blocks of coronaviruses. These proteins – named spike, nucleocapsid, membrane, and envelope proteins – have different roles, but are essential to how coronaviruses reproduce, spread and cause disease.

In our most recent paper, we examined what possibly sets the human coronaviruses that cause SARS, MERS and COVID-19 apart from the other human coronaviruses that cause milder diseases like seasonal colds. The answer, we argue, lies with the envelope protein.

 

Shedding light on the E protein

The envelope protein is possibly the most enigmatic and least-studied in the coronavirus-suite, owing to its small size and the difficulty of studying it in laboratory settings. In May 2019, two of us published a review paper on what was known about the envelope protein at the time.

The paper has racked up nearly 2,000 citations, most coming after the outbreak of COVID-19 – a testament less to our foresight than to the critical and previously understated role the envelope protein plays in human coronaviruses.

Even before the COVID-19 outbreak, based on what we had learnt from the SARS and MERS outbreaks, we were convinced that this protein – once written off as a “minor component” of the virus – was key to the development of disease. It is critical, for instance, in the final assembly of the virus, forming the envelope or wrapping that covers it when all its constituent components come together.

It also plays a role in the virus’s budding, when it exits from the host cell; and in the process known as pathogenesis, or the development and progression of the infection.

And it may hold a clue to either the severity or relative mildness of the disease.

Our ongoing research is beginning to suggest that the structure of the envelope protein may determine the severity of a coronavirus disease, or the difference between a blocked nose on the one hand, and collapsed lungs on the other.

 

The sting in the protein’s “tail”

This led us to our most recent paper. We collaborated with structural bioinformatics expert Ruben Cloete, of the South African National Bioinformatics Institute at the University of the Western Cape, to develop full-length, 3D models of the envelope proteins of five human coronaviruses: SARS-CoV-1 and -2, and MERS-CoV (responsible for the severe SARS, COVID-19 and MERS diseases); and HCoV-229E and HCoV-NL63, responsible for milder diseases. For this work, we relied on a modelling program known as MODELLER, allowing us to explore the proteins in some detail.

 

3D models of the envelope (E) protein for the human coronaviruses that cause SARS (SARS-CoV-1), COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2), MERS (MERS-CoV), and the more seasonal common colds (HCoV-229E and HCoV-NL63). Authors supplied

 

We then used a web server, HADDOCK2.4, to simulate how the envelope protein interacts with the human PALS-1 protein – an interaction already shown to be critical with SARS-CoV-1. Each of the envelope proteins could bind to the PALS-1 protein, but the coronaviruses causing SARS, MERS and COVID-19 appeared to bind more stably to PALS-1.

The answers, we believe, may lie in the conformation or shape of what’s known as the PDZ-binding motif, or PBM, which sits at the tail-end of the envelope protein. This PBM – essentially a distinctive sequence on a protein – acts like a one-of-a-kind key to a very specific lock (known as the PDZ domain) on a host cell protein. This ‘key’ allows the viral protein to interact with the host protein, making the disease worse.

We found that the more flexible, extended coil of the PBM of the coronaviruses behind SARS, MERS and COVID-19 viruses may well be what differentiates them from the more rigid PBM of the coronaviruses that cause milder diseases.

 

Inner workings

It is yet too early to draw definitive conclusions, as these findings will have to be confirmed with more studies – in the laboratory and in living organisms.

But it does shine some light on the inner workings of these coronaviruses and the still-enigmatic envelope protein. In so doing it could offer opportunities for the development of essential life-saving treatments and vaccines.

Dewald Schoeman, PhD Candidate, Molecular Biology and Virology, University of the Western Cape; Burtram C. Fielding, Dean Faculty of Natural Sciences and Professor, University of the Western Cape, and Ruben Cloete, Lecturer in Bioinformatics, University of the Western Cape

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

A video journalist covers a news event. Credit Unsplash/Jovaughn Stephens
 
Journalists and media workers are facing “increasing politicization” of their work and threats to their freedom to simply do their jobs, that are “growing by the day”, said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, marking World Press Freedom Day, May 2022

By Gypsy Guillén Kaiser
NEW YORK, Oct 4 2022 (IPS)

“This woman sitting next to me, Maria Ressa, is a Nobel laureate and a convicted criminal,” said barrister Amal Clooney, who co-leads the international legal team representing Ressa. The founder of news website Rappler, Ressa has been targeted with a barrage of legal charges intended to stop her journalism in the Philippines.

During a conversation hosted by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly high-level week, which concluded September 26, Clooney revealed that Ressa faces the possibility of imminent imprisonment in the Philippines.

“The only thing standing between her and a prison cell is one decision from the Philippines Supreme Court that could come as soon as in 21 days’ time,” said Clooney to an audience of news leaders, diplomats, and advocates.

She then appealed for prosecutors to drop the baseless charges and for newly elected President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to issue a pardon. In May, CPJ wrote to Marcos requesting that he urgently take concrete steps to undo former President Rodrigo Duterte’s long campaign of intimidation and harassment of the press.

The conversation, led by CPJ President Jodie Ginsberg, also explored the broader misuse of laws increasingly deployed to silence the press across the world. Clooney and Ressa are both past recipients of CPJ’s Gwen Ifill Press Freedom award for their extraordinary and sustained achievement in the cause of press freedom.

UNGA week also served to gather legal experts, diplomats, and activists to discuss the plight of journalists forced to flee their homes and the responsibility of governments to provide safe refuge through special emergency visas.

During a high-level side-event hosted by the Czech Republic, CPJ’s Ginsberg joined Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky and deputy chairs of the High Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom to make the case for these visas.

CPJ has advocated for such visas in the past in line with recommendations by members of the Media Freedom Coalition, a group of 52 governments that support press freedom.

Ginsberg’s message: Governments must create special emergency visas for journalists to allow them to quickly evacuate and relocate to safety. The visas should be granted to individuals who are at risk due to their work keeping the public informed.

As Ginsberg noted, across the world, from Afghanistan to Nicaragua and Belarus to Myanmar, CPJ has worked on hundreds of cases of such journalists seeking safe refuge. There is no time to waste.

Journalists forced to flee often try to continue reporting in exile. Panelist Roman Anin, an exiled investigative journalist who runs news website iStories, shared his story of moving his newsroom out of Russia.

“When the war started, we had a choice between three options, either stay in Russia and stop our work, stay in Russia, continue our work and end up in jail, or relocate the newsroom,” he said. Anin said that in spite of the hardship of the relocation, his newsroom has been able to reach Russian audiences with stories on alleged war crimes committed in Ukraine.

Anin’s experience, and CPJ’s own work helping many other displaced journalists, demonstrate how critical it is for governments to prioritize emergency visas for swift relocation and safety. Refusing to do so not only impacts the lives of individual journalists, it is a blow to free expression and access to information globally.

In solidarity,

Gypsy Guillén Kaiser is CPJ Advocacy and Communications Director.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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By Anis Chowdhury and Jomo Kwame Sundaram
SYDNEY and KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 4 2022 (IPS)

Central banks (CBs) around the world – led by the US Fed, European Central Bank and Bank of England – are raising interest rates, ostensibly to check inflation. The ensuing race to the bottom is hastening world economic recession.

Going for broke
New UK Prime Minister Liz Truss has already revived ‘supply side economics’, long thought to have been fatally discredited. Her huge tax cuts are supposed to kick-start Britain’s stagnant economy in time for the next general election.

Anis Chowdhury

But studies of past tax cuts have not found any positive link between lower taxes and economic or employment growth. Oft-cited US examples of Reagan, Bush or Trump tax cuts have been shown to be little more than economic sophistry.

Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisers chairman, Harvard professor Martin Feldstein found most Reagan era growth due to expansionary monetary policy. Volcker’s interest rate hikes to fight inflation were reversed. This enabled the US economy to bounce back from its severe 1982 monetary policy inflicted recession.

George W Bush’s 2001 and 2003 tax cuts also failed to spur growth. Instead, deficits and debt ballooned. “The largest benefits from the Bush tax cuts flowed to high-income taxpayers”. Likewise, Trump tax cuts failed to lift the US economy, with billionaires now paying much less than workers.

After Boris Johnson stepped down, UK Conservative Party leadership contenders started by promising more tax cuts. But The Economist was “sceptical that such cuts will lift Britain’s growth rate”. Instead, it worried tax cuts would compound inflationary pressures, triggering ever tighter monetary policy.

The Economist concluded, “It is hard to spot a connection between the overall level of taxation and long-term prosperity”. Unsurprisingly, The Economist sees Truss’ “largest tax cuts in half a century” as “a reckless budget, fiscally and politically”.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

While such tax cuts mainly benefit the very rich, the costs of such monetary and fiscal policies are borne by workers and other consumers. Workers are harshly punished by austerity measures, losing both jobs and incomes to interest rate hikes.

Tax cuts usually make things worse. Typically, these require cutting social protection and essential public services, ostensibly to balance the budget. So, already greater wealth and income inequalities will worsen.

Governments have to cut public investments due to ballooning budget deficits. Higher interest rates and public spending cuts will also derail efforts needed to transition to more sustainable, greener futures.

Class war
Policy fights over inflation have many dimensions, including class. Instead of helping people cope with rising living costs, increasing interest rates only makes things worse, hastening economic slowdowns. Thus, workers not only lose jobs and incomes, but also are forced to pay more for mortgages and other debts.

Unemployment, lower incomes, deteriorating health and other pains hurt workers. As workers want higher incomes to cope with rising living expenses, such austere policies are deemed necessary to prevent ‘wage-price spirals’.

As usual, workers are being blamed for the resurgence of inflation. But research by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and others has found no evidence of such wage-price spirals in recent decades.

Experience and evidence suggest very low likelihood of such dialectics in current circumstances, although some nominal wages have risen. Since the 1980s, labour bargaining power and collective wage determination have declined.

Policymakers should address stagnant, even declining real wages in most economies in recent decades. These have hurt “low-paid workers much more than those at the top”. Even the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development club of rich countries has “worryingly” noted these trends.

The IMF Deputy Managing Director has explained why wages do not have to be suppressed to avoid inflation. Letting nominal wages rise will mitigate rising inequality, plus declining labour income shares (Figure 1) and real wages.

Source: IMF, World Economic Outlook, April 2017

Profit margins had already risen, even before the Ukraine war and sanctions. US trends prompted the Bloomberg headline, “Fattest Profits Since 1950 Debunk Wage-Inflation Story of CEOs”. Aggregate profits of the largest UK non-financial companies in 2021 rose 34% over pre-pandemic levels.

Policymakers should therefore restrain profits, not wages. Recent price increases have been due to rising profits from mark-ups. Recent trends have made it “easier for firms to put their prices up” notes the Reserve Bank of Australia Governor.

Addressing inequality
The IMF Managing Director (MD) recently warned, “People will be on the streets if we don’t fight inflation”. But people are even more likely to protest if they lose jobs and incomes. Worse, the burden of fighting inflation has been put on them while the elite continues to enrich itself.

Raising interest rates is a blunt means to fight inflation. It worsens living costs and job losses, while tax cuts mainly benefit the rich. Instead, the rich should be taxed more to enhance revenue to increase public provisioning of essential services, such as transport, health and education.

The IMF MD noted raising taxes on the wealthy will help close the yawning gap between rich and poor without harming growth. Public provision of childcare and labour market programmes (e.g., retraining) will improve labour supply. Easing worker shortages can thus dampen price pressures.

The current situation requires addressing growing inequality. Redistributive fiscal measures – taxing high earners to fund expanded social protection and public provisioning – are time-tested means to address disparities.

Increasing top tax rates and tax system progressivity are also socially progressive, checking growing inequality. Meanwhile, as consumer prices spiral, rising profits and high executive remuneration have to be checked.

Supply-side policies
The World Bank and Bank of International Settlements heads have urged reducing the current focus on demand management to counter inflation. They both insist on addressing long-term supply bottlenecks, but do not offer much practical guidance.

Poorly coordinated ‘unconventional’ monetary policies since the 2008-09 global financial crisis have created property and stock market bubbles. These damage the real economy, worsen inequality and slow labour productivity growth, with the worst spill over effects in developing counties.

Addressing supply bottlenecks can involve tax incentives and credit policies. But discredited supply-side mantras – e.g., labour market deregulation – must be discarded. Related fiscal and monetary policies – e.g., tax cuts for the rich and inappropriate interest rate hikes – should also be abandoned.

Governments are losing chances to boost productivity, achieve low carbon transformation and cut inequalities. Instead, policymakers should pro-actively push desired economic changes by favouring less carbon-intensive and more dynamic investments.

This may also require checking CBs’ monetary policy independence to more effectively coordinate fiscal with monetary policies. But this should not undermine CBs’ ‘operational independence’ to foster “orderly economic growth with reasonable price stability”.

Governments must rise to the extraordinary challenges of our times with pragmatic, appropriate and progressive policy initiatives. To do this well, they must boldly reject the ideologies and dogmas responsible for our current predicament.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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China, the world’s most populous country is expected to be overtaken by India in 2023. Moreover, by 2060 India’s population is projected to be nearly a half billion more than China’s. Picture: Mumbai, India. Credit: Sthitaprajna Jena (CC BY-SA 2.0).

By Joseph Chamie
PORTLAND, USA, Oct 3 2022 (IPS)

While the world’s population of 8 billion is continuing to increase and projected to reach 9 billion by 2037 and 10 billion by 2058, considerable diversity in the population growth of countries is continuing in the 21st century.

At one extreme are some 50 countries, accounting for close to 30 percent of today’s world population, whose populations are expected to decline over the coming decades.

By 2060, for example, those projected population declines include 9 percent in Germany, 11 percent in Russia, 13 percent in Spain, 15 percent in China, 17 percent in Poland, 18 percent in Italy, 21 percent in South Korea, 22 percent in Japan, and 31 percent in Bulgaria (Figure 1).

 

Source: United Nations.

In terms of the size of those population declines, the largest is in China with a projected decline of 218 million by 2060. Following China are population declines in Japan and Russia of 27 million and 16 million, respectively.

At the other extreme, the population of 25 countries, accounting for nearly 10 percent of the world’s population, are expected to more than double by 2060. Those projected population increases by 2060 include 106 percent in Afghanistan, 109 percent in Sudan, 113 percent in Uganda, 136 percent in Tanzania, 142 percent in Angola, 147 percent in Somalia, 167 percent in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and 227 percent in Niger (Figure 2).

 

Source: United Nations.

 

With respect to the size of the populations that are projected to more than double, the largest is in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) with a projected increase of 165 million by 2060. DRC is followed by population increases in Tanzania and Niger of 89 million and 60 million, respectively.

In between the extremes of declining and doubling populations are 120 intermediate growth countries. They account for about 60 percent of today’s world population and are projected to have larger populations by 2060 to varying degrees.

Those projected increases in population size include 13 percent in the United States, 17 percent New Zealand, 20 percent in India, 24 percent in Canada, 29 percent in Australia, 38 percent Saudi Arabia, 58 percent Israel, 95 percent in Nigeria, and 98 percent in Ethiopia (Figure 3).

 

Source: United Nations.

 

Among the intermediate growth countries, the largest expected population growth is in India with a projected increase of 278 million by 2060. India is followed by Nigeria and Ethiopia with population increases of 208 million and 121 million, respectively.

The continuing significant differences in the rates demographic growth are resulting in a noteworthy reordering of countries by population size.

For example, while in 1980 about half of the 15 largest country populations were developed countries, by 2020 that number declined to one country, the United States. Also, Nigeria, which was eleventh largest population in 1980, was the seventh largest in 2020 and is projected to be the third largest population in 2060 with the United States moving to fourth place (Table 1).

 

Source: United Nations.

 

In addition, China, the world’s most populous country is expected to be overtaken by India in 2023. Moreover, by 2060 India’s population is projected to be nearly a half billion more than China’s, 1.7 billion versus 1.2 billion, respectively.

The major explanation behind the diversity in population growth rates is differing fertility levels. While the countries whose populations are projected to at least double by 2060 have fertility rates of four to six births per woman, those whose populations are projected to decline have fertility rates below two births per woman.

Europe’s current population of 744 million is expected to decline to 703 million by midcentury. By the century’s close the continent’s population is projected to be a fifth smaller than it is today, i.e., from 744 million to 585 million

About two-thirds of the world’s population of 8 billion live in a country, including the three most populous China, India and the United States, where the fertility rate has fallen below the replacement level of 2.1 births per woman. In addition, most of those populations have experienced low fertility rates for decades.

Also, many countries are experiencing fertility rates that are approximately half the replacement level or less. For example, the total fertility rate declined to 1.2 births per woman for China and Italy, 1.3 for Japan and Spain, with South Korea reaching a record low of 0.8 births per woman.

The population of some countries with below replacement fertility, such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States, are projected to continue growing due to international migration. However, if international migration to those countries stopped, their populations would begin declining in a few decades just like other countries with below replacement fertility levels.

In hopes of avoiding population decline, many countries are seeking to raise their fertility rates back to at least the replacement level. Among the countries with below replacement fertility close to two-thirds have adopted policies to increase their rates, including baby bonuses, family allowances, parental leave, tax incentives, and flexible work schedules.

Most recently, China announced new measures to raise its below replacement fertility rate by making it easier to work and raise a family. Those measures include flexible working arrangements and preferential housing policies for families, as well as support on education, employment, and taxes to encourage childbearing.

Despite the desires, policies, and programs of governments to raise fertility levels, returning to replacement level fertility is not envisaged for the foreseeable future.

The world’s average total fertility rate of 2.4 births per woman in 2020, which is about half the levels during the 1950s and 1960s, is projected to decline to the replacement level by midcentury and to 1.8 births per woman by the end of the 21st century. Consequently, by 2050 some 50 countries are expected to have smaller populations than today, and that number is projected to rise to 72 countries by 2100.

As many of those countries are in Europe, that continent’s current population of 744 million is expected to decline to 703 million by midcentury. By the century’s close Europe’s population is projected to be a fifth smaller than it is today, i.e., from 744 million to 585 million.

In contrast, the populations of roughly three dozen countries with current fertility levels of more than four births per woman are expected to continue growing throughout the century.

As most of those countries are in Africa, that continent’s population is projected to double by around midcentury. Moreover, by close of the 21st century Africa’s population is projected to be triple its current size, i.e., from 1.3 billion to 3.9 billion.

In sum, considerable diversity in the growth of populations is expected to continue throughout the 21st century. While the populations of many countries are projected to decline, the populations of many others are projected to increase. The net result of that diversity is the world’s current population of 8 billion is expected to increase to 10 billion around midcentury.

 

Joseph Chamie is a consulting demographer, a former director of the United Nations Population Division and author of numerous publications on population issues, including his recent book, “Births, Deaths, Migrations and Other Important Population Matters.”

 

 

A meeting of the Human Rights Council in Geneva. Credit: UN / Jean-Marc Ferré

By Meenakshi Ganguly
NEW DELHI, Oct 3 2022 (IPS)

The economic, political, and human rights calamity gripping Sri Lanka has made news around the world, but its roots go back years – or even decades. In September, the former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, underscored in her report on Sri Lanka that “impunity for serious human rights violations [has] created an environment for corruption and the abuse of power.”

The UN Human Rights Council will soon consider a resolution to address this issue. Countries in the global south that serve on the council, – —including Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Gambia, Namibia and Senegal, have an important role in supporting the people of Sri Lanka to address the current crisis and its underlying causes.

Between 1983 and 2009 Sri Lanka endured a devastating civil war between the government and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The decades of brutality against civilians and the government’s continuing attempts to shield those responsible from justice, have cast a long shadow over the country. Both sides committed widespread violations of international law.

“It is the inability to get truth and justice in Sri Lanka despite many efforts, and the subsequent loss of confidence and hope in domestic processes, that drive many Sri Lankans to Geneva”

Ruki Fernando, Sri Lankan activist

In the final months of the conflict in 2009, the LTTE used human shields, while tens of thousands of Tamil civilians were killed when government forces shelled no-fire zones and hospitals. As the war ended with the defeat of the LTTE and the destruction of its leadership, government forces were implicated in summary executions, rape, and enforced disappearances.

Since then, many Tamils have sought to learn what happened to those who did not return. In August, a group known as the Mothers of the Disappeared passed 2,000 days of continuous protests demanding to know the fate of their loved ones. Instead of receiving answers they have been subject to intimidation and surveillance by the government’s security apparatus. Nevertheless, representatives of the group have travelled to Geneva to ask the Human Rights Council to keep their hopes of justice alive.

Over many years, people from all of the country’s faiths and communities have taken their accounts of suffering and their search for justice to the Human Rights Council. As the prominent Sri Lankan activist Ruki Fernando recently wrote, “It is the inability to get truth and justice in Sri Lanka despite many efforts, and the subsequent loss of confidence and hope in domestic processes, that drive many Sri Lankans to Geneva.”

Successive Sri Lankan governments have appointed people allegedly responsible for these atrocities to high office, and blocked investigations, undermining the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law. In one rare case in which a soldier was convicted of murder, the president pardoned him.

Earlier this year, following years of mismanagement and corruption, Sri Lanka ran out of foreign exchange – meaning that it could no longer finance essential imports such as fuel, food and medicine, causing the government to default on its foreign debts. As inflation spiralled and people were unable to obtain basic necessities, massive protests broke out leading to the resignation of the prime minister in May and of the president in July.

On the streets, huge numbers of ordinary Sri Lankans called for constitutional reform and action to address corruption. A 2020 amendment to the constitution weakened human rights institutions and gave the president the power to appoint senior judges. It also undermined institutions such as the Bribery Commission that are responsible for combatting economic crimes.

The new president, Ranil Wickremesinghe, has promised reform. But he has responded by suppressing dissent, using the military to disperse peaceful protests and arresting dozens of alleged protest organizers. He has used the notorious Prevention of Terrorism Act to detain three student activists for up to a year without charge.

The use of the this law shows that the government’s assurances to the international community on human rights cannot be trusted. As recently as June the then-foreign minister told the Human Rights Council that there was a moratorium on the use of that law, which has repeatedly been used to enable arbitrary detention and torture, and which successive governments have promised to repeal.

The resolution currently before the Human Rights Council extends the mandate of a UN project to gather and analyze evidence of war crimes and other crimes under international law that have been committed in Sri Lanka and to prepare them for use in possible future prosecutions. It also mandates the UN to continue monitoring and reporting on the human rights crisis in Sri Lanka. As people struggle for daily necessities and the government cracks down on dissent, that is more important than ever.

The Sri Lankan government has opposed these measures, falsely claiming that it is already acting to protect human rights. To support Sri Lankans who are calling for change and accountability, Council members from the global south should fully support the resolution.

Excerpt:

Meenakshi Ganguly is South Asia director at Human Rights Watch

Most cities are not able to meet the triple objective of being economically productive, socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable, according to the United Nations findings on the occasion of the World Habitat Day. Credit: Bigstock

By Baher Kamal
MADRID, Oct 3 2022 (IPS)

While cities are seen as a symbol of glamour and comfort for a number of their residents, over one billion people continue to live in overcrowded settlements with inadequate housing. And their number is rising every single day.

Yes, life in urban centres represents plenty of offices, constructions, job opportunities, shops, bars, restaurants, transport systems, and health and education services. So much that 2 of 3 people are forecasted to be concentrated in urban areas by 2050.

But this is only one side of the coin.

The other side is that the current fast and unplanned urbanisation of the world’s population has transformed cities into a major generator of pollution that is increasing and accelerating climate catastrophes.

Cities are responsible for 70% of global carbon dioxide emissions, with transport, buildings, energy, and waste management accounting for the bulk of urban emissions

Indeed, urban centres are now among the largest greenhouse gas emitters due to the excessive use of cars, trucks, airports, train stations, inadequate buildings, heating and air conditioning, noise and light pollution, housing shortage and too expensive rents.

 

Cities: 70% of CO2 emissions

Much so that cities are responsible for 70% of global carbon dioxide emissions, with transport, buildings, energy, and waste management accounting for the bulk of urban emissions.

This year’s World Habitat Day (3 October) looks at the problem of growing inequality and challenges in cities and human settlements, as a consequence of such a rapidly growing urbanisation.

The Day also seeks to draw attention to the growing inequalities and vulnerabilities that have been exacerbated by the triple ‘C’ crises — COVID-19, climate and conflict.

 

Inequalities

On this, it warns that the pandemic and recent conflicts have reversed years of progress made in the fight against poverty, resulting in the emergence of newly poor people — those who would have exited poverty in the absence of the pandemic but remain poor, and those who have fallen into poverty on account of the pandemic.

In fact, according to the 2022 UN-Habitat’s World Cities Report, the number of people affected was between 119 and 124 million in 2020, and between 143 and 163 million in 2021.

The report underlines that tackling urban poverty and inequality have become an “urgent global priority,” adding that “to prepare urban areas for future catastrophes, we need to start with cities.”

 

Exclusion

This very month also marks the 2022 World Cities Day on 31 October.

The Day warns that too often this is not the shape of urban development. “Inequality and exclusion abound, often at rates greater than the national average, at the expense of sustainable development that delivers for all.”

Urban October was launched by UN-Habitat in 2014 to emphasise the world’s urban challenges and engage the international community towards the New Urban Agenda.

See some facts:

• Until 2009, more people lived in rural areas than in urban areas.

• Today, around 55% of the world’s population lives in towns and cities, with the level of urbanisation projected to reach almost 70% by 2050.

• Much of the growth in urban populations will take place in Asia and Africa, especially in China, India and Nigeria where the fertility rates remain high.

• Cities are here to stay, and the future of humanity is undoubtedly urban, but not exclusively in large metropolitan areas.

• Urbanisation will continue to be a transformative, but uneven process that will require differentiated responses depending on the diversity of the urban context.

• The worst-case scenario of urban futures will have disastrous consequences for cities; thus, resulting in economic uncertainties, environmental challenges and exacerbating existing vulnerabilities.

• A business-as-usual approach will result in a pessimistic scenario of urban futures characterised by the systemic discrimination and exclusion of the poor in urban agendas.

• Any vision for an optimistic future of cities must embody a new social contract with universal basic income, health coverage and housing.

 

There is another oftenly unseen problem: every time a farmer migrates to an urban centre means one food consumer more. And one food producer less.

 

What is the future for cities?

In view of the above, if business continues as usual, the future will only worsen the past and the present situation.

Indeed, most cities are not able to meet the triple objective of being economically productive, socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable, according to the United Nations findings on the occasion of the World Habitat Day.

The world’s body also identifies the priorities that include ensuring access to a clean water supply, functional sanitation, and appropriate sewage and waste disposal.

Also providing sustainable and efficient mobility; promoting more compact, safe and healthy settlements; and enhancing resilience against climate change, extreme weather events and disease transmission.

 

Mega cities

Currently, Tokyo is the world’s largest city: 38 million residents, followed by Delhi (30 million inhabitants); Sao Paolo in Brazil (22 millions), and seven more mega urban centres which are home to 20 millions or more, like Cairo (22 millions), Dhaka (21 millions), and Beijing, with more than 20 millions, just to mention some.

 

Are cities the best place to live in?

Up to you to judge. But please remember that big urban centres, by attracting high numbers of people, also generate social tensions, deep inequalities, violence, and criminality.

And that fancy innovations like growing food in vertical gardens, on the roofs of buildings, do not seem to be enough to solve the many challenges facing such an urbanised world.

Nor is it the unstoppable growth of the “modern slums” such as the case of vast neighbourhoods being built and used mainly as “bedrooms.”

Are there any serious plans to improve the harsh living conditions in rural areas, instead of transforming them into vast industrialised and urbanised centres, surrounded by energy fields converging farming lands with solar panels, windmills, power and telecommunication towers and endless highways?

Protesters in Washington, DC, march against the alleged killing of Uyghur Muslims. June 2022. Credit: Unsplash/Kuzzat Altay

By Mandeep S.Tiwana
NEW YORK, Oct 3 2022 (IPS)

This week is a momentous one for the world’s premier human rights body. At stake is a resolution to decide whether the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva can hold a debate on a recently released UN report.

The report concludes that rights violations by China’s government in its Xinjiang region ‘may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity’.

Unsurprisingly, China’s government is doing everything in its power to scotch plans for a debate on the report’s contents. Its tactics include intimidating smaller states, spreading disinformation and politicising genuine human rights concerns – the very thing the Human Rights Council was set up to overcome.

The historic report, which affirms that the rights of Xinjiang’s Uyghur Muslim population are being violated through an industrial-level programme of mass incarceration, systemic torture and sexual violence, attracted huge controversy before it was released on 31 August 2022, minutes before the end of the term of the outgoing High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet.

The report was supposedly ready in September 2021 but so great was the pressure exerted by the Chinese state that it took almost another year for it to be aired. Absurdly, the 46-page report includes a 122 page annex in the form of a rebuttal issued by China, rejecting the findings and calling into question the mandate of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The Office of the High Commissioner has asserted that the report is based on a rigorous review of documentary evidence with its credibility assessed in accordance with standard human rights methodology. The report’s recommendations are pretty straightforward: prompt steps should be taken to release all people arbitrarily imprisoned in Xinjiang, a full legal review of national security and counter-terrorism policies should be undertaken, and an official investigation should be carried into allegations of human rights violations in camps and detention facilities.

Nevertheless, a proposed resolution to hold a debate on the report’s contents in early 2023 is facing severe headwinds. A number of states inside and outside the Human Rights Council, united by their shared history of impunity for rampant human rights abuses – such as Cuba, Egypt, Laos, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Venezuela – have already rallied to China’s defence in informal negotiations on the brief resolution.

What is most worrying is that China appears to be leaning on smaller states that make up the 47-member Human Rights Council by inverting arguments about politicisation of global human rights issues and projecting itself as the victim of a Western conspiracy to undermine its sovereignty.

If China were to have its way, it would be a huge setback for the Human Rights Council, which was conceived in 2006 as a representative body of states designed to overcome the flaws of ‘declining credibility and lack of professionalism’ that marred the work of the body it replaced, the UN Commission on Human Rights.

Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in his ground-breaking In Larger Freedom report, lamented that states sought membership ‘not to strengthen human rights but to protect themselves against criticism or to criticize others’.

Human Rights Council members are expected to uphold the highest standards in the protection and promotion of human rights. But our research at CIVICUS shows that eight of the Council’s 47 members have the worst possible civic space conditions for human rights defenders and their organisations to exist. In these countries – Cameroon, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Libya, Sudan, United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan – human rights are routinely abused and anyone with the temerity to speak truth to power is relentlessly persecuted.

Regimes that serially abuse human rights may be motivated to block findings of investigations being aired on the international stage, but the international community has a collective responsibility to the victims. Civil society groups are urging Human Rights Council members to stand firm on the call for a debate on the China report.

Human Rights Council member states that assert the importance of human rights and democracy in their foreign policy are expected to vote in favour. Nevertheless, the influence of regional and geo-political blocs within the Council mean that the issue will essentially be settled by the decisions of states such as Argentina, Armenia, Benin, Brazil, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Malawi, Malaysia, Mexico, Paraguay, Senegal, Ukraine and Qatar.

China will undoubtedly pressure these states to try to get them to oppose or abstain in any vote that seeks to advance justice for the Uyghur people.

The stakes are particularly high for China’s mercurial leader, Xi Jinping, who is seeking to anoint himself as president for a third term – after abolishing term limits in 2018 – at the Chinese Communist Party’s Congress, which begins on 16 October.

Recognition of the systematic abuses to which Xi’s administration has subjected the Uyghur people would be considered an international affront to his growing power.

If China were to prevail at the Human Rights Council, it would be another blow to the legitimacy of the UN, which is already reeling from the UN Security Council’s inability to overcome Russia’s permanent member veto to block action on the invasion of Ukraine. So much – for the UN’s reputation, and for the hope that human rights violators, however powerful, will be held to account – is resting on the vote.

Mandeep S. Tiwana, is chief programmes officer and representative to the United Nations at global civil society alliance, CIVICUS.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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The United Nations Staff Union is the Labor Union representing New York Secretariat Staff, Locally Recruited Staff in the field, and Staff Members of UN Information Centers.

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 3 2022 (IPS)

The United Nations is planning to introduce a new “mobility policy” under which staffers based in New York and other Western capitals will be mandated to serve in overseas missions and field services in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, including the UN’s 12 peacekeeping operations.

According to the proposed plan, the new policy will run in parallel with the staff selection system (vacancy management), which will continue to be the only way to progress to a higher level.

It covers all P (professional), D (Director) and FS (Field Service) staff in all functions. Only Assistant-Secretaries Generals and Under Secretaries-General (ASGs/USGs), plus staff in the Secretary-General’s office, staff on temporary appointments and a small percentage of posts designated as non-rotational, are exempted.

Currently, 93 percent of all posts are classified as rotational. The remaining seven percent includes project posts and those that are highly specialized and cannot be found in other duty stations.

All staff subject to the Mobility policy will be required to move laterally to another duty station every 2 to 5 years (depending on the duty station’s hardship level). Staff not required to move in a given year may also join the annual exercise voluntarily.

The Mobility exercises will be annual. Staff who have reached their time limit at a duty station (2 to 5 years) will be placed in one of two compendia (one for P staff and another for FS), along with those who join the exercise voluntarily.

They must express interest in up to ten posts in their compendium at other duty stations. If they are not selected for any of the posts they requested, they may be matched to other positions.

A special constraints panel will be set up to consider appeals from staff members who cannot take part in the exercise or have reasons not to move to a proposed position or location.

There is no credit for past geographic moves. The first mobility exercise is expected to begin shortly, according to the plan.

Aitor Arauz, President of the UN Staff Union (UNSU) and General Secretary, UN International Civil Servants Federation (UNISERV), told IPS the Staff Union in New York is fully committed to a fair, viable and sustainable Mobility scheme that contributes to UN staff’s career development, rotation through hardship duty stations and better awareness of the organization’s range of operations and challenges on a global scale.

“However, precisely due to UN Secretariat’s diversity of roles and specializations, we are not convinced that all UN staff can simply be moved around at regular intervals without risking a loss of expertise and programme continuity”.

The cost-benefit analysis of such a huge disruption to people’s life and family plans just doesn’t add up at this time, he pointed out.

A fully rotational workforce needs to be supported by continuous learning (with dedicated resources for internal and external studies); robust knowledge-sharing platforms free of digital divides; genuine results-based management; and an atmosphere of trust and collaboration where colleagues on all levels are willing to share information and support each other’s learning and success, he argued.

Though efforts are being made, these conditions are far from being met across the board. Furthermore, meaningful rotation out of hardship locations will only be achieved by removing artificial barriers between the GS, F and P categories, he noted.

“We are working with the Administration to ensure the rollout of a Mobility scheme that remains voluntary for now, so we can get people moving while we iron out the issues that will inevitably arise and continue to build a conducive environment of genuine trust, collaboration and knowledge sharing across the Secretariat,” declared Arauz, who presides over a 7,500-strong Staff Union, including 6,000 constituents in New York and 1,500 more in other offices around the globe.

According to UN estimates last year, the total strength of its staff worldwide is more than 315,000 in over 56 overseas offices, with approximately 9,300 in New York.

A former UN staffer who served in New York and later in Africa, told IPS: “ If you are designated an “international civil servant” – as all UN staffers are – you cannot work all your professional life only in New York, Geneva, Rome or Vienna, which are not considered “hardship” stations.”

All staffers are also entitled to “hazard pay” –over and above their regular salaries—for working in “dangerous peacekeeping locations”.

Those who serve in the field– outside Europe and North America– get hardship pay, mobility incentive (depending on how many moves they have done in the past), and non- family allowance– if it is a location that you can’t bring your family to

Ian Richards, former President of the Coordinating Committee of International Staff Unions and Associations, and an economist at the Geneva-based UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), told IPS “To be clear, we support mobility. Staff join the UN to work in different parts of the world. But we should distinguish mobility from hyper-mobility.”

The Secretary-General, he pointed out, wants to force staff to another country every two to five years, which is more frequent than many diplomatic services.

“He twice asked our member states at the General Assembly to approve this package but they did not. He says he will go ahead with it anyway”.

“We are told this is to help staff in peacekeeping missions. But it will apply to all staff. I don’t understand how moving translators and their families back and forth across the Atlantic between New York, Geneva and Vienna will address the situation of colleagues in Mali. Nor if it is wise to completely change the staff of the regional economic commissions every five years”.

Richards said each move of a staff member and their family can cost the organization $75,000. With this policy in place, you could be looking at an extra $300,000 per staff member over their career.

With 20,000 international staff, member states are facing a liability of $6 billion just in moving costs. I’m not sure if they’re ready to pay for this right now.

“We have put forward sensible and cost-effective alternatives which we hope he will consider,” he declared.

The total UN budget for 2021-2022 is $4.8 billion compared with $4.4 billion in 2018-2019.

Dr Palitha Kohona, a former Chief of the UN Treaty Section who also served as a member of the Secretary-General’s Results-based Budgeting Group, told IPS: “This is a great idea of the Secretary-General– but not new”.

He pointed out that former Secretary-General Kofi Anan initiated the mobility program and implemented it in a modified form. Experience in the field was going to be made a requirement for promotion.

“I myself was nearly assigned to Baghdad with Sergio, but due to the bombing this movement did not happen”. (In August 2003, the top UN envoy in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, was killed when terrorists blew up the UN headquarters in Baghdad, also killing at least 14 others)

Two or three of my staff voluntarily went to Bosnia and performed well., said Kohona, a former Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations.

He said most national diplomatic staff get rotated every two to three years and acquire excellent experience and skills. No one is irreplaceable.

“You shouldn’t become an international civil servant so as to secure the privilege of living in New York and Geneva, acquiring real estate and sending your children to expensive schools at the expense of the taxpayer,” he declared.

A former senior staffer at the UN children’s fund told IPS: “UNICEF had a mobility program, which specified that NY was a five-year duty station and staff could be moved after 5 years. The exceptions were specialized positions which were New York-based, but even in these specialized posts incumbents could be asked to rotate’.

“I don’t know the UN policies, but if I recall, we work within UN regulations which calls us to work where needed. It’s time for New York staff to work in duty stations that require assistance,” he added.

Roderic Grigson, who worked at the UN Secretariat in the ‘70s and ‘80s as a technology innovations officer and later served in peacekeeping forces in the Middle East, told IPS: “Yes, my overseas assignment was voluntary. I arrived in 1974 and left for the Middle East in 1978, less than 5-years later, so that I would have met the program’s criteria.”

“I think it’s a good thing to do, although I can see why the Staff Union will protest. All the ‘fat cats’ in HQ who have never been in a humanitarian or conflict zone should experience what it is like living in those conditions. I do not doubt they will be the better for it.”

“I clearly remember when I came back a couple of years later to New York after serving in the Middle East, I was amazed at the lack of knowledge or sympathy my colleagues had for those of us working in the field.”

“They held themselves almost superior to those who often put their lives on the line and had to live in conditions worse than what you find in the worst slums in a big city,” said Grigson, a published author of three books, now working on a fourth.

“Frankly, it pains me to say this, but many segments of the world’s first-world population consider the UN almost irrelevant. If the UN wants to stay at the forefront of peace-keeping and humanitarian relief efforts, it must begin reforming itself from within and show the world that it can play an essential role in the future,’ he pointed out.

“What I am saying, in effect, is that they have to do a much better role in marketing themselves to their global constituents and change the way people view the organization as a whole. We are moving inexorably towards major big-power conflicts in Europe and Asia, which could shape the world in ways no one would have anticipated a few years ago”.

“I support the SG in trying to do something even as small as this, which would allow people to see the UN in a better light”.

“It might also attract a better calibre of people without political connections to take on essential jobs in the field where they are needed,” said Grigson, currently a retired corporate executive based in Melbourne, who works with local community organizations teaching refugees and new migrants how to use computers and employability courses.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Remarks to the Press by the Secretary-General of the United Nations on Russia’s decision to annex Ukrainian territory. Credit: UN Photo/Manuel Elías

By Antonio Guterres
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 30 2022 (IPS)

The Kremlin has announced that a ceremony will take place Friday in Moscow that will launch a process of annexation of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

In this moment of peril, I must underscore my duty as Secretary-General to uphold the Charter of the United Nations.

The UN Charter is clear.

Any annexation of a State’s territory by another State resulting from the threat or use of force is a violation of the Principles of the UN Charter and international law.

The United Nations General Assembly is equally clear.

In its landmark Friendly Relations Declaration of 24 October 1970 —repeatedly cited as stating rules of general international law by the International Court of Justice — the General Assembly declared that “the territory of a State shall not be the object of acquisition by another State resulting from the threat or use of force” and that “no territorial acquisition resulting from the threat or use of force shall be recognized as legal”.

And I must be clear.

The Russian Federation, as one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, shares a particular responsibility to respect the Charter.

Any decision to proceed with the annexation of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine would have no legal value and deserves to be condemned.

It cannot be reconciled with the international legal framework.
It stands against everything the international community is meant to stand for.
It flouts the Purposes and Principles of the United Nations.
It is a dangerous escalation.
It has no place in the modern world.
It must not be accepted.

The position of the United Nations is unequivocal: we are fully committed to the sovereignty, unity, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine, within its internationally recognized borders, in accordance with the relevant UN resolutions.

I want to underscore that the so-called “referenda” in the occupied regions were conducted during active armed conflict, in areas under Russian occupation, and outside Ukraine’s legal and constitutional framework.

They cannot be called a genuine expression of the popular will.

Any decision by Russia to go forward will further jeopardize the prospects for peace.

It will prolong the dramatic impacts on the global economy, especially developing countries and hinder our ability to deliver life-saving aid across Ukraine and beyond.

It is high time to step back from the brink.

Now more than ever, we must work together to end this devastating and senseless war and uphold the UN Charter and international law.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous addresses the inaugural meeting of the UNGA Platform of Women Leaders at UN Headquarters during the 77th session of the UN General Assembly, 20 September 2022. Credit: UN Women/Ryan Brown

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 30 2022 (IPS)

When the UN’s high-level meeting of world leaders concluded last week, the head count seemed lopsided: 190 speakers, including 76 Heads of State, 50 Heads of Government, 4 Vice-Presidents, 5 Deputy Prime Ministers, 48 Ministers and 7 Heads of Delegations—overwhelmingly male.

Among the 190 speakers, there were only 23 women, “a figure that represents around 10 per cent of leaders who participated this year”, according to the UN.

The President of the General Assembly Csaba Kőrösi of Hungary struck a note of political consolation when he said: “But though their numbers are small, women leaders “pack a punch”, to quote former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, who moderated this year’s first General Assembly Platform of Women Leaders”.

But the reaction from rights activists and civil society organizations (CSOs) was mostly negative.

Antonia Kirkland, Global Lead on Legal Equality at Equality Now told IPS “the dismal number of women leaders speaking at UNGA this year is very worrying given the regression on women’s rights in many parts of the world, including in the United States, where the UN General Assembly meets”.

There is a well-documented correlation, she said, between peace and security generally, economic development and women’s rights, which has an impact on everyone.

“The low number of female leaders speaking at UNGA is less than half the already low number of women parliamentarians worldwide (just over 26% according to IPU).”

“And as it becomes harder and harder for civil society to access the United Nations, women’s rights organizations have less of an opportunity to hold governments accountable to their legal obligations and commitments to ensure gender equality,” Kirkland declared.

The criticisms come amid longstanding complaints of how women are marginalized in the highest levels of the UN since its creation.

The male/female ratio for the Secretary-General stands at 9 vs zero. And the Presidency of the General Assembly (PGA), the highest policy-making body at the UN, is not far behind either.

The score stands at 73 men and 4 women as PGAs– even as the General Assembly elected another male candidate, as its 77th President, and who serves his one-year term beginning September 2022.

Since 1945, the only four women elected as presidents were: Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit of India (1953), Angie Brooks of Liberia (1969), Sheikha Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa of Bahrain (2006) and Maria Fernando Espinosa Garces of Ecuador (2018).

Meanwhile, women Heads of State and Government met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) High-level Week to discuss global issues in the newly created UNGA Platform of Women Leaders.

The event, under the theme of “Transformative solutions by women leaders to today’s interlinked challenges”, highlighted the fact that women’s full and effective political participation and decision-making are crucial to addressing global priorities effectively, decisively, and inclusively, according to UN Women.

With the presence of President Katalin Novák of Hungary, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh, Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir of Iceland, Prime Minister Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa of Samoa, and Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja of Uganda, as well as Prime Minister Evelyna Wever-Croes of Aruba and Prime Minister Silveria E. Jacobs of St. Maarten, and former Prime Minister Helen Clark of New Zealand, the event was hosted by the Office of the President of the General Assembly and UN Women, in cooperation with the Council of Women World Leaders (CWWL).

Purnima Mane, a former Deputy Executive Director of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and UN Assistant-Secretary-General, told IPS that in June 2022, the UNGA passed a resolution commemorating the International Day of Women in Diplomacy which acknowledged the contribution of women globally at all levels of decision making who work for the achievement of sustainable development, peace and democracy.

“And yet, we recognize that women are grossly under-represented at most levels in the UN including national delegations and senior levels of the diplomatic corps.”

While women’s political representation at senior levels is on the rise in many countries over the last few years, especially women serving as heads of State, she pointed out, it still has a long way to go with only 28 of the 193 Member states having Women heads of State of government.

This low representation of women was evident in the recent UNGA session, she said.

Of the 190 speakers, 23 were women, a figure that represents around 10 per cent of the leaders who participated this year – a number that is still “woefully low”, said Mane, a former President and CEO of Pathfinder International

It is significant, she said, that many of this small group of women leaders “pack a punch” as stated by former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, who moderated this year’s first General Assembly Platform of Women Leaders.

At this newly launched General Assembly Platform of Women Leaders, the female heads of State of several countries like Aruba, Bangladesh, Hungary, Iceland, St. Maarten, Samoa and Uganda, addressed the group.

“Undoubtedly this comment from Former New Zealand PM Clark gives us pause to think. It is true that some of the women leaders like those of Finland and many other Member States, have caused the world to sit up and take notice of their achievements.”

Many of the countries with female leadership are making a difference at the country level, focusing on gender equity and ensuring laws and policies which foster these.

“These countries are also doing better in terms of development goals and making a difference in their region as a whole, also inspiring women around the world to recognize their potential. Imagine what the world would be like if this number of women leaders increased significantly, to the benefit of not just their countries, but also their regions and the world,” she added.

The actions these women leaders have taken speak for themselves – they are pioneering and have yielded much-needed benefits, said Mane.

“Data are plentiful to show what a difference these women leaders are making both domestically and internationally. Yet their numbers grow far too slowly”.

“While numbers do not tell the whole story, they certainly indicate the source of the problem, and the world loses out in moving faster towards development and greater equity,” she declared.

Addressing the meeting of women leaders, Sima Bahous, Executive Director of UN Women, said: “When more women lead in political and public life, everyone benefits, especially in crises”.

A new generation of girls see a possible future for themselves. Health, education, childcare, and violence against women receive greater attention and better solutions.

“We must find every possible way to amplify the assets women leaders bring. This Platform is an opportunity to do just that.”

Recent global crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, climate, and conflicts, have shown the positive difference women’s leadership and decision-making can make in executive positions, parliaments, and public administration, she said.

For example, the UNDP–UN Women COVID-19 Global Gender Response Tracker shows that governments with higher women’s representation in parliaments adopted a higher number of gender-sensitive policy measures in response to COVID-19, including policies aimed directly at strengthening women’s economic security.

Out of the 193 Member States of the United Nations, only 28 women serve as elected Heads of State or Government, she pointed out.

Whilst progress has been made in many countries, the global proportion of women in other levels of political office worldwide still has far to go: 21 per cent of the world’s ministers, 26 per cent of national parliamentarians, and 34 per cent of elected seats of local government.

According to a new UN report, at the current pace of progress, equal representation in parliament will not be achieved until 2062, said Bahous.

Katrín Jakobsdóttir, Prime Minister of the Republic of Iceland and Chair of the Council of Women World Leaders, said: “It is my strong belief that the world needs more women leaders and more diverse leaders, people with all kinds of backgrounds and life experiences”.

“The decisions leaders make affect all people in our societies. These decisions should be made by people who have a real and deep understanding of how most people live, of what their concerns are, and are therefore responsive to their needs.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Junwoo Na and Jeeyoon Na campaign to save street dogs.

By Junwoo Na and Jeeyoon Na
Bangkok & California, Sep 30 2022 (IPS)

When I started living in Thailand, I noticed something peculiar that I had never seen in other countries I had visited before. It was the stray dogs. I ran into so many stray dogs when jogging on the streets.

At first, I was scared of them because they might attack me, as I had read in news articles. Surprisingly, most of these stray dogs in Thailand seemed friendly. Unfortunately, since they slept on dirty streets and drank sewage water, they contracted various diseases such as rabies, babesiosis, inflammation of the lungs, canine monocytic ehrlichiosis, etc.

Woods, a little Bichon Frisé, is looked after at home, but stray dogs in Thailand live tough lives.

As a pet owner, I felt they were not supposed to be on the streets. Imagine, my Woods, a little Bichon Frisé, out on dirty streets bitten by ticks and getting rabies! It just breaks my heart. Every time I look at the stray dogs in Thailand, they look like my Woods. And I wondered, “Where do these stray dogs come from? And why do Thai people leave them on the streets?” Then I had a big awakening and decided I needed to help these stray dogs. This is how I began my public campaign and fundraising for stray dogs.

Before launching my campaign, I wanted to get some facts about health-related issues for stray dogs and found that they also affect Thai people’s welfare. Last year, I read a news article about a 39-year-old woman in Surin, Thailand, who died of rabies after taking care of stray animals.  A study revealed that almost 87.5% of dogs in Thailand have rabies and are not vaccinated against the disease. This was shocking to me, especially because getting a rabies vaccine for the dog is the first thing to do when adopting a dog in Korea, where I grew up. Knowing that humans rarely survive rabies infections, many Thai people are concerned about the stray dogs around them carrying rabies. I decided to organize a campaign to support rabies vaccination for stray dogs in Thailand because rabies affects the welfare of dogs and people.

Junwoo Na and Jeeyoon Na’s campaign included meetings with the founder of the Voice Foundation, Chollada Sirisant, and UZZUZZU MY PET’s CEO, Jongse Kim, and fundraising drives for stray dogs.

While organizing the campaign, I found something unique about Thai culture regarding the motivation for raising dogs. Unlike in South Korea, where dogs are treated as life companions for people, Thai people raise dogs to show off their status. As Thai royal families love dogs, many Thai people follow suit. But then, without having enough resources to maintain proper care for their dogs, people abandon these poor creatures onto the streets. And that’s how they end up having so many stray dogs. I realized that without changing Thai people’s minds about dogs, there would be more stray dogs would suffer. My ultimate goal is to spread the message that we have to be responsible for how these dogs become abandoned on the streets, and that, by doing so, we will be able to build a safer community where dogs and humans can happily coexist. The message is clear: Dogs are family. As we need proper health care, they need one too.

So let me talk about my campaign. To spread our message, we designed t-shirts with our slogan, ‘Dogs are Family.’ We also printed out a poster explaining that ‘Dogs’ Lives Matter,’ and that this campaign is for both people and dogs. Thanks to the support from a digital character company, ‘UZZUZZU MY PET’, we could use their characters as a mascot of our campaign.

We also had a very special interview with the founder of the Voice Foundation, Chollada Sirisant. In her interview, she explained that many Thai people are not aware of the money that it takes to keep a dog as a pet. Some people abuse the Buddhist beliefs that value the lives of all animals and abandon dogs at the Buddhist temples.

Even now, there are stray dogs that keep breeding and creating more stray dogs. This is a serious ethical problem, as more and more dogs wander around the streets, where they do not belong, and inevitably become susceptible to rabies. Due to the irresponsible behavior of humans, more dogs are getting in danger, eventually affecting us humans with the fear of rabies.

According to Chollada, adopting stray dogs isn’t always best for them because some of the rescued dogs wish to go back to the street. This means that so long as they get their rabies vaccine and get neutered, Thai people can coexist with stray dogs. Time will play a role in shaping the new ecosystem.  I have seen how animal farms in Korea were reported and brutally criticized on social media, ending the inhumane treatment of dogs in Korea.  I believe there is also hope for a change in Thai culture.

I look forward to seeing changes in how Thai people think of animal rights as more people get motivated and get involved in our actions via social media.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 Note: Junwoo Na was the team leader

Edited by Hanna Yoon

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Ricksani Alice, 19, who was married at a young age but is now back in school hoping to complete her education thanks to the Spotlight Initiative talks with UNFPA Gender Programme Officer Beatrice Kumwenda at Tilimbike Safe Community Space in Chiludzi village, Dowa, Malawi on November 2, 2020. Credit: UNFPA ESARO

By Cecilia Russell
Johannesburg, Sep 29 2022 (IPS)

Child marriage continues to be a scourge in many African countries – despite legislation and efforts of many, including parliamentarians, to keep girls in school and create brighter futures for them. This was the view of participants in a recent webinar held under the auspices of the African Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development (FPA) and UNFPA East and Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO).

The webinar, supported by the Asian Population and Development Association (APDA) and the Japan Trust Fund, heard how progressive legislation prohibiting marriage for adolescents under 18, and in one case, 21, was not enough to stop the practice.

Dr Kiyoko Ikegami, Executive Director, and Secretary General, APDA, noted in her opening address that the COVID-19 pandemic had affected child marriage prevention programmes and increased poverty and inequality, which was a driving force in child marriages.

Chinwe Ogbonna, UNFPA ESARO Regional Director a.i, said while there had been considerable achievements since the 1994 ICPD conference in Egypt – the work was not yet done.

She encouraged the parliamentarians to commit themselves to actions they agreed to at a regional meeting in Addis Ababa in June, which included “amplifying evidence-based advocacy.” In Africa, she said, teenage pregnancy and HIV prevalence are high. Gender-based violence was on the rise, and femicide and the harmful practices of child marriage, and female genital mutilation continued.

The webinar heard from members of parliament in various countries across the African continent.

Fredrick Outa, from Kenya, FPA Vice-President, told the delegates that while Kenya had made ambitious commitments, FGM was an area of concern. Kenya was committed to strengthening coordination in legislation and policy framework, communication and advocacy, integration and support, and cross-border cooperation to eliminate FGM.

Kenya aimed to eliminate GBV and child and forced marriages by “addressing social and cultural norms that propagate the practice while providing support to affected women and girls.”

An MP from Zambia, Princess Kasune, said it was of concern that the Zambia Demographic and Health Survey (ZDHS) of 2018 indicated that 29 percent of women aged 20-24 reported being married before 18. The country had various programmes to address this, including partnering with traditional rulers and civil society to fight early child marriage.

“Chiefs and headmen have made commitments in the fight against child marriage …. Traditional rulers are themselves champions in the fight against child marriage,” Kasune said.

She said the practice continues even though the Marriage Act prescribes 21 as the minimum age for marriage.

However, customary law differed, and there needed to be consistency in legislation.

The other crucial campaign against early marriages was to keep children in school. While the government had employed 30 000 teachers in rural areas, more was needed.

“Keeping children in school was critical to lowering the incidence of child marriage,” Kasune said.

Muwuma Milton, MP Uganda, agreed that culture played a part in eliminating harmful practices like child marriage. The country was applying a multifaceted approach to eliminating this – including school feeding schemes, providing sanitary packs for girls, and encouraging young mothers to return to school after delivery.

“A challenge is that the country has unmet needs for family planning services, which stands at 30%, and there is a culture that believes that once a girl reaches menstruation age, they are old enough to get married,” Milton said.

Matthew Ngwale, an MP from Malawi, noted that his country adhered to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) protocol that condemns the marriage of people under 18. The Malawian constitution, Marriage, Divorce, the Family Relations Act (2015), and the Childcare Justice and Protection Act all reinforce this policy.

But, Ngwale said, despite “progressive legislation, Malawi has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world, where approximately 42% of girls get married before the age of 18, and 9% are below the age of 15. Approximately 7% of boys marry before the age of 18.”

He also noted that child marriage is higher in rural than urban areas. Rural girls are 1.6 times more likely to marry early than their urban counterparts.

Poverty is a clear driver, with women in the predominantly ‘poor’ south marrying at a slightly lower age than those in the ‘wealthier’ north and central regions.

“In Malawi, children from more impoverished families are twice as likely to marry early than those from wealthier families,” Ngwale said, and in a country where data shows that 51.5% of the people live below the poverty line, which is higher in rural areas at 60% compared to urban areas at 18%.

Traditional initiation practices, done as part of a rite of passage when a girl reaches puberty, encouraged early sexual activity, Ngwale said, and the prevalence of child marriage is higher among matrilineal than patrilineal groups.

“Due to food insecurity, child marriage often becomes a more likely coping mechanism as families seek to reduce the burden of feeding the family,” he said.

Climatic challenges, such as droughts and floods, have become more frequent and catastrophic.

Child marriage impacts secondary school completion rates. In Malawi, only 45% of girls stay in school beyond 8th grade.

“Most young girls who leave school due to child marriage have few opportunities to earn a living, making them more vulnerable to GBV. Child marriage lowers women’s expected earnings in adulthood by between 1.4% and 15.6%,” he said.

However, the Malawi government had created a conducive environment for civil society organizations to work with the government to end child marriage – including the official Girls Not Brides National Partnership.

Pamela Majodina, MP Republic of South Africa, told the webinar the country was committed to the objectives of ICPD25. It has passed laws, including the Domestic Violence Act, Children’s Act, Sexual Offences Act, and Child Justice Act, where it is a criminal offense to have sex with a child under 16 – regardless of consent.

Goodlucky Kwaramba, MP Zimbabwe, said her country was committed to reducing teenage pregnancies from 21.6% to 12% by 2030 and delivering comprehensive Family Planning services by 2030.

An MP from Eswatini, Sylvia Mthethwa, said her country, with 73 percent of the population below 35 and youth unemployment at 47 percent, was committed to ensuring that youth was front of mind. While senators were mobilizing financial resources, the National Youth Policy and National Youth Operational Plan had been developed.

Meanwhile, in Tanzania, some successes were already recorded Dr Thea Ntara, MP Tanzania, said rural areas were fully supported in the rollout of free ARVs, and adolescent and youth-friendly SRH services have been available in more than 63% of all health facilities since 2017.

Note: The webinar series is based on a recommendation of the African and Asian Parliamentarians’ meeting to Follow-Up on ICPD25 Commitments held in June 2022 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Two and a half hours’ drive north from Kakarbhitta, Nepal’s eastern-most border crossing with giant neighbour India, lies the hilly hamlet of Salakpur where lives Kaushila Moktan, a famed farmer of large cardamom. “I run a homestay for guests visiting our village, I also grow green vegetables and do beekeeping,” said Moktan. “However, our biggest […]

The FRACTAL project (Future Resilience for African Cities and Lands) engaged a trans-disciplinary group of researchers, officials and practitioners that worked across six cities in southern Africa between 2015 and 2021.Voices of the marginalized and at-risk people are crucial for generating appropriate locally owned solutions.

By Gina Ziervogel
CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Sep 29 2022 (IPS)

Equity and justice feature prominently in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 6th (IPCC) Assessment Report Working Group II, published in 2022. The report focuses on the impacts of climate change, as well as vulnerability and adaptation.

In its summary for policymakers, the report states: “Inclusive governance that prioritizes equity and justice in adaptation planning and implementation leads to more effective and sustainable adaptation outcomes (high confidence).” This is a welcome, albeit long overdue development.

The report offers widespread evidence in support of a focus on justice across different sectors and regions. It reflects rapidly mounting concern for climate justice — in both advocacy circles and in the public discourse — and a sharp increase in the volume of information on this topic.

Arguments concerning climate justice include the need to address historical inequities, contest established power, and consider diverse perspectives and needs in planning and delivery. Only by confronting these issues directly can we deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals and climate goals.

Gina Ziervogel

Africa’s cities need to respond better

As outlined in the Africa chapter of the IPCC, Africa is highly vulnerable to climate risk. The continent features strongly in discussions on equity and justice, which argue for low carbon development without interfering with the economic growth.

With their concentration of people and growth, African cities are particularly important places to focus climate action. They have been slow to develop adaptation and mitigation policies and practice, but there are ample lessons worldwide and within the continent from which to draw motivation.

Organisations such as 350.org and Climate Justice Alliance, are fighting for equity and justice locally and internationally. We can glean approaches by studying and understanding these efforts, but we need to make them locally relevant.

Across the globe, cities are rapidly integrating climate action in their plans to reduce emissions and the impacts of hazards, such as droughts, floods, fires and heatwaves.

A few African cities have made progress by building justice and equity into climate response programs. Kampala is converting organic waste into briquettes for cooking. This provides an alternative livelihood strategy, reduces the number of trees cut for charcoal, and decreases the amount of waste going to landfill.

In response to neighbourhood flood risk, residents in Nairobi have invested in reducing their exposure. In addition, they have mobilized youth groups to disseminate environmental information and engage in activities such as tree planting to stabilize riverbanks.

Some local governments are ramping up their climate change management efforts. Yet, city government responses are often sector-specific and can’t succeed by themselves — the challenge is too massive and urgent.

More projects and programmes are needed that use a collaborative or co-productive approach for meeting equity and justice goals. We must have innovative ways of bringing in different sectors and actors— to really hear their perspectives and explore potential solutions. Such an approach might require safe space for experimentation.

In addition, we have to develop methods for scaling urban solutions that ensure adaptation responses meet the needs of the most at-risk groups across cities and institutionalize strategies in city planning and implementation.

Epistemic justice

Epistemic justice refers to the extent to which different people’s knowledge is recognized. Scientific evidence abounds that solving complex problems benefits from multiple types of knowledge bases. Yet city governments provide little opportunity to integrate diverse viewpoints.

In the context of inequality, ensuring that the voices of marginalized and at-risk people are included is crucial for generating appropriate locally owned solutions.

The FRACTAL project (Future Resilience for African Cities and Lands) engaged a trans-disciplinary group of researchers, officials and practitioners that worked across six cities in southern Africa between 2015 and 2021.

FRACTAL exemplifies how city stakeholders and researchers can co-produce knowledge around climate impacts and potential adaptation responses in cities such as Lusaka, Maputo, and Windhoek.

Although climate science was an important part of the project, the initial stages provided time and space for participants to share “burning questions” in their cities and collaboratively decide how to address these.

Some cities developed climate risk narratives to guide future decisions. Others developed climate change planning documents and platforms that thought about adaptation projects through a holistic lens. Importantly, participants, built trust and capacity, for city actors to take this work forward collaboratively.

When prioritizing adaptation actions at the city level, local governments have tended to use criteria based on their frameworks and data, providing just one perspective. However, more bottom-up data is required to meet the needs of those most at risk.

Arguments concerning climate justice include the need to address historical inequities, contest established power, and consider diverse perspectives and needs in planning and delivery. Only by confronting these issues directly can we deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals and climate goals.

Such data can better capture challenges that citizens face, such as accessing water during droughts or recovering from flooding that might have washed away homes and possessions.

A recent project in Cape Town sought to do this. Local activists from low-income neighborhoods collected data on issues around water services and explored diverse ways, including film, comics and maps as ways to share this information with other residents and city officials.

Collaborations between NGOs, researchers and local governments can strengthen the type of data available and contribute to more nuanced understanding.

The National Slum Dwellers Federation of Uganda, for instance, collected local data that informed planning and the development of solutions to reduce climate risk with sustainable building materials and improving water and sanitation services. This work positioned them to negotiate effectively with local government to support further efforts.

Across the globe, cities are rapidly integrating climate action in their plans to reduce emissions and the impacts of hazards, such as droughts, floods, fires, and heatwaves. They also are rapidly expanding opportunities to access climate funding.

The time has come for African cities to determine how they will engage in the climate action and justice space to ensure they meet the serious challenges they are confronting.

Gina Ziervogel is Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental and Geographical Science at the University of Cape Town.

Source: Africa Renewal, United Nations, September 2022

IPS UN Bureau

 

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The villagers work in a forest they planted to save themselves from the ravages of climate change. Credit: Umar Manzoor Shah/IPS

By Umar Manzoor Shah
Meghalaya, India, Sep 28 2022 (IPS)

Some ten years ago, Sheemanto Chatri, a 39-year-old farmer hailing from India’s northeastern state of Meghalaya, was reeling with distress. The unseasonal rainfall had washed away all the crops he had cultivated after year-long labor in his far-off hamlet.

In 2013, this farmer had sowed a ginger crop on his half-acre land and was hoping for a profitable yield. However, providence had willed otherwise. In September that year, unseasonal rains wreaked havoc on Sheemanto’s village, destroying his crops beyond repair.

“We had not anticipated this. We were praying to God to grant us a good yield. But the rains destroyed everything – our hopes and our livelihood,” says Chatri.

Another farmer, only identified as Marwin, shares a similar predicament. He said that he had grown potatoes on his farm and was planning to sell them in the open market to settle a loan from the bank. However, says Marwin, the drastic change in the weather pattern affected farmers the most in the village.

“At times, it is draught and at times unexpected heavy rains. All this is unprecedented to the core. It affected our livelihood and would hit our families hard,” says Marwin.

He added that the entire village had been incurring losses in farming due to such an unprecedented situation, putting people in dire straits in more ways than one.

“We had absolutely no clue why this was happening. We even performed congregational puja (prayers) and offered sacrifices to our Gods, but nothing happened,” Marwin said.

According to another farmer, Arup Chater, a team of local NGOs with researchers came to the village in November 2014 and assessed the crop losses.  The team also studied the pattern of the weather changes in the area and said they believed deforestation was responsible for the situation.

After the team visit, the villagers – men and women, young and old congregated at an open ground to discuss the remedial measures. They realized how the ruthless chopping of trees from the nearby forests had affected their livelihoods.

“At the onset, we didn’t understand that any such thing would happen to us if we allowed the axing of trees from the nearby woods. Now we understood that nature works in unison, and it was now affecting our lives so drastically,” Chater told IPS.

At this moment, the inhabitants of this village decided to grow a forest.

The village head made a general announcement asking the households in the village to provide saplings so they could be planted in the community forests.

“A kind of roster was devised that divided works amongst the villagers. Every day, duties were distributed among the households for toiling in the woods, tendering it with natural fertilizers, irrigating the saplings, and taking care of the newly sown plants. Three labor groups were created – each given a task of their own: “longkpa” (men), “longkmie” (women), and “samla” (youths),” says Mattheus Maring, the headman of the village.

He adds that at present, there are more than 4000 saplings that are growing.

“This forest was our only hope of not witnessing the impact of climate change. This has grown into a full forest,” Maring told IPS. “There is the chirping of birds and the sounds of leaves everywhere. Gradually, the climatic conditions and water scarcity have subtly begun to improve.”

He says he believes that this forest building has made nature “kind.”

“For the last couple of years, farmers haven’t complained about losses. They get adequate rains on time and water supplies too. The economic conditions of our village also have begun to improve,” says Maring.

He adds that a regular water supply was created by planting 2,000 each of the Michalia champaca (Diengrai), Duabanga grandiflora (Dieng Mului), and 250 Drimy carpus (Dieng Sali) seedlings.

To enhance the water source coming from the roots of the trees, there was significant participation from the “longkpa” (men), “longkmie” (women), and “samla” throughout the day. To prevent wildfires, they make sure to clear and clean it. This activity aims to preserve the water supply for future generations while transforming it into a Nutri Garden by growing traditional veggies or wild delicacies.

Due to climate change, groundwater supplies, rivers, dams, streams, and others are all under stress. In India, rain-fed agriculture occupies 65% of all arable land, highlighting the industry’s vulnerability to water constraints. Since less groundwater is being used for agriculture due to depletion levels, several states of the country are already experiencing water shortages.

Recent studies have demonstrated that climate change-induced global warming enhances the monsoon’s oscillations, causing both brief bursts of intense rain and protracted dry spells. Since 1902, 2022 has experienced the second-highest number of severe events – a frightening scenario that gave rise to droughts and floods.

In India, as per government data, monsoon rains decreased in frequency but increased in intensity in the second half of the 20th century. These extraordinary shifts are severely impacting India’s hundreds of millions of food producers and consumers, raising questions about food security.

However, the inhabitants of this northeastern village are optimistic that their hard work will yield the results – if not today, then tomorrow for sure. “We will not allow the chopping of the trees as we used to in the past. We will be vigilant now and understand that nature is a two-way street. We have to tender it with care to expect it to care for our lives in return. This community forest will save us for sure and will make our lives, the lives of our children better in more ways than one,” says Maring.
IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Controlling the loss and waste of food is a crucial factor in reaching the goal of eradicating hunger in the world. Credit: FAO

By Baher Kamal
MADRID, Sep 28 2022 (IPS)

These are facts, not guesses: about 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted and lost… every single year, the equivalent of one ton per each of the one billion hungry people, many of them are those who produced the food.

The findings have been reported by the World Bank, whose recent study: What a Waste 2.0 also informs that the number of wasted calories “could fill hunger gaps in the developing world.”

On this, it reports on the breakdown of the number of calories wasted per day and per person –out of the recommended 2.000– : 1.520 calories in rich North America and Oceania –of which 61% are by their consumers–, and 748 wasted calories in wealthy Europe.

With a much bigger population than Europe, a similar amount of calories is reported as wasted in industrialised Asia (746), compared to 414 in South and Southeast Asia.

Subsaharan Africa and Central Asia register 545 wasted calories per person and day, and Latin America 453, according to the World Bank’s report.

For its part, the United Nations, on the occasion of this year’s International Day of Awareness on Food Loss and Waste Reduction, on 29 September, reports that reducing food losses and waste is essential in a world where the number of people affected by hunger has been slowly on the rise since 2014, and tons and tons of edible food are lost and/or wasted … every day.

 

How is the food of the hungry being wasted?

Two main reasons lay behind such food waste and loss. One of them is attributed to inadequate transport and storage facilities in developing countries.

But the major one is the rules imposed by the markets.

Indeed, the dominating marketing, the profit-making technique consists of selecting part of the crops while discarding great amounts of food, just because they are “ugly,” “not nice” in the eyes of the consumers.

This way, millions of tons of potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, lemons, apples, pears, peaches, grapes… are every day left in the field or thrown in landfills, while millions of litres of milk and millions of eggs are dumped in the sea just to reduce their availability in the supermarkets, therefore raising their prices, and this way make more money.

Another market rule is to attract consumers with “special” offers, such as “buy one, take two” or more, while advertising their products as natural,” biological, grown in the field, etc. Other foods are presented as gluten and lactose-free; zero added sugar, more Omegas, more healthy… and cheaper.

Add that they fix tight “expiration date” and this way, pushing consumers to dump the extra amount of food they are induced to purchase just to take advantage of such “special” offers.

 

The consequences

• Significant quantities are wasted in retail and at the consumption level, with around 14% of food produced is lost between harvest and retail.
• An estimated 17% of total global food production is wasted: 11% in households, 5% in the food service, and 2% in retail.
• Food that is lost and wasted accounts for 38% of total energy usage in the global food system.

 

Not only the food is wasted…

The International Day meanwhile reiterates that food loss and waste undermine the sustainability of the world’s food systems.

“When food is lost or wasted, all the resources that were used to produce this food – including water, land, energy, labour and capital – go to waste.”

In addition, the disposal of food loss and waste in landfills, leads to greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to climate change.

Food loss and waste can also negatively impact food security and food availability, and contribute to increasing the cost of food.

The world specialised body: the Food and Agriculture Oranization (FAO), reports these facts:

• Currently, 41.9% of the global population is unable to afford a healthy diet. That’s over 3 billion people.
• An additional 1 billion people around the world are at risk of not affording a healthy diet if a shock caused their incomes to reduce by one-third. What if there was a disaster or an economic shock?
• Furthermore, food costs could increase for up to 845 million people if a disruption to critical transport links were to occur.

In its report, FAO recalls that as the world’s population continues to grow, “the challenge should not be how to grow more food; but reducing food loss and waste” in a sustainable manner, is an immediate need if we are to maximise the use of food produced to feed and nourish more people.

Also, prioritising the reduction of food loss and waste is critical for the transition to sustainable food systems that enhance the efficient use of natural resources, lessen planetary impacts and ensure food security and nutrition.

And that reducing food waste is one of the most impactful climate solutions.

Having reported all that, who would dare to tell the one billion poor why they and their children go to bed hungry or undernourished, every single day, while the big business pundits are dressed in silky clothes, sitting in luxury offices, cashing skyrocketing salaries, and eating exquisitely selected food?

 

By Marty Logan
KATHMANDU, Sep 28 2022 (IPS)

Welcome to Strive podcast, where we chat with new voices about fresh ideas to create a more just and sustainable world. My name is Marty Logan.

Before we get to today’s episode, if you enjoy Strive I encourage you to share it with a friend so they can check out the show. If you’re listening in a podcast app just click on the share icon (the one with the up-facing arrow). Or you can share a post on our Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn channels.

Today we’re learning about what I think is a fantastic new tool for holding governments accountable to their human rights obligations. Actually the Human Rights Measurement Initiative is six years old, so it’s not brand new, but it was a revelation to me when I came across it recently.

What I like is how the Initiative’s Rights Tracker assigns a score to a government’s record on a specific right, let’s say the right to education, based on how other countries with roughly the same level of resources have performed. As a journalist I still believe in the naming and shaming approach but as today’s guest, Stephen Bagwell of the Initiative, and the University of Missouri, St Louis, says, too often governments respond to reports of rights violations by dismissing them as exaggerated or made up. It is much harder to brush off HRMI’s scores, which are largely data-based.

I also like a comparison Stephen uses to explain why human rights should be measured: the Sustainable Development Goals. There are all sorts of updates on progress toward the 2030 SDGs deadline, when in fact governments are not legally obliged to attain the goals. But hundreds of countries have ratified the various human rights instruments, like the Convention on the Rights of the Child or the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights — yet no one was systematically tracking their progress on meeting those obligations.

One note on abbreviations you’ll hear in today’s episode: ICCPR is the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, noted above, and the ICESCR is the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Both are bedrock human rights documents. The former is considered law in 173 countries and the ICESCR in 171 countries.

Resources:

Human Rights Measurement Initiative

Nepal page on HRMI’s Rights Tracker

 

IPS youth thought leader trainees Minseung Kim (team leader), middle, Henry Cho, right, Dongjun Lee in the interview with Seong Hoon Kim, Senior Director, Platform Development Division of Korea Social Security Information Service.

By Dongjun Lee, Henry Cho and Minseung Kim
Sep 28 2022 (IPS)

Have you watched Parasite? In 2021, everyone seemed to be watching it. But I wonder how many of them paid attention to the old man who found a little shelter in a hidden basement behind the kitchen of a mansion. However hidden it was, that’s where he could meet his basic needs. That was his little slum.

It may be a bit of a stretch, but I found that the movie Parasite exposed the core of South Korea’s unique slum culture. It’s hidden under the shadow of big skyscrapers and, more importantly, consists of seniors like the old man in the movie.

Korean slums are full of seniors. In 2020 alone, 388 seniors died home alone. There was a 29% increase in these deaths in 2021. Why? That’s what we will be talking about in this article.

First, South Korea is now an aging society. By 2025, over 20% of the Korean population will be seniors. Consequently, with the increase in the elderly population, the poverty rate among seniors has also increased.

Even though South Korea is famous for being the country that flourished rapidly after the Korean War in 1953, it has constantly encountered multiple financial crises. Many industries favor the younger generation to maximize the nation’s output, resulting in over 2 million elderly workers being unemployed and forcing an early retirement since the 1970s. With this trend, the elderly’s well-being diminished, and many experienced financial devastation – which threw them onto the streets and forced them to seek shelter. This explains the emergence of Korean slums made up of seniors.

There is another significant cause why older people fill Korean slums. The seniors in South Korea are a unique generation, sandwiched between the Korean war in their past and the YOLO (You Only Live Once) culture. They had to support their immediate and extended family (their elderly parents, brothers and sisters, and so on). On top of this, when they become seniors, their children, who live in YOLO culture (defined as the view that one should make the most of the present moment without worrying about the future), don’t support their parents. As a result, Korean families face a new crisis: abandoned seniors. Recently, there has been an increasing number of news reports about seniors abandoned by their children. Many of them die home alone without any family members. As of 2020, out of 1.8 million seniors living by themselves, 953 of them died home alone. Because of this social phenomenon, many proprietors refuse to rent their homes to seniors over 65.

To find a place to live, they go to the slums, which explains why Korean slums are uniquely full of seniors. Interestingly, these seniors have turned their slums into a silver town where they receive social welfare services and emotional support. Since they live together, charity organizations and social welfare services can easily locate and take care of them. Through these support systems obtained by living in slum areas, the seniors can feel a sense of belonging – they no longer feel alone.

IPS youth thought leader trainees with Executive Director of Concern Worldwide, Korea, Junmo Lee, and course founder Dr Hanna Yoon.

Concern Worldwide Executive Director Junmo Lee told IPS that they have to approach this issue with the importance of community in mind. Creating a community where these seniors are connected back to society is the key because the disconnection isolates them. Concern Worldwide is an international humanitarian organization that strives for a world free from poverty.

But how can this disconnection from their families and productive work be solved? We know that a single private organization can’t solve it. Then what is the solution?

Seong Hoon Kim, the Senior Director of the Platform Division at the Korea Social Security Information Service Team was able to give legislative views on the issue.

To create a community where seniors are reconnected to society, we need a communal contribution where all government, private humanitarian organizations, and family members work together as a team, Kim says.

There is a saying that it takes a whole village to raise a child.

Now, we want to say that it takes a whole village to care for seniors, especially those living in slums. We have to come as one family to support them.

However, our government needs to step up to bring the entire country together to form a community where these seniors are reconnected to their own families and society.

Henry Cho, Dongjun Lee, and Minseung Kim investigated why elderly people in Korea end up living in slums, and what can be done about it.

We are teenagers now. But we will grow old, too. We don’t want to live in slums because that’s the only option we may have. We hope to stay connected to our families and be productive until we die. To turn this hope into reality, we must start working on it now.

Living in slums after 65? It’s not just their story. It can be our and your story, too, if we don’t act now. We hope the Korean government will hear our voice and act upon it so we can live as happily as we can when we grow old. Is it not our right to pursue happiness even after 65?

 

 

Note: Minseung Kim was the team leader for this project.
Edited by Dr Hanna Yoon

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Credit: Pexels

By Robert Misik
VIENNA, Sep 28 2022 (IPS)

With no shortage of catastrophes in the past 15 years worldwide — the democratic left is stepping up to provide stability amid the storm.

Throughout the history of mankind, there have been catastrophes. In modern times, there have also been media representations of catastrophe, including worked-up or even imagined catastrophes.

More than 60 years ago, the German author Friedrich Sieburg wrote about the ‘lust for doom’, which, strangely enough, has a tremendous appeal especially in eras perceived as stable: ‘The everyday life of democracy with its dreary problems is boring, but the impending catastrophes are highly interesting.’

Now that we have had no shortage of real catastrophes in the past 15 years, we no longer have to conjure them up. First came the global financial crisis, which threatened to topple banks and other financial institutions — even states — as if houses of cards.

Later the pandemic arrived and then the military invasion of the second largest country in Europe by the largest. Its shockwaves are devastating half the world, with energy crisis, broken supply chains, price explosion, food shortages, impoverishment and destitution.

Robert Misik

And all the time comes the onrushing climate catastrophe, whose consequences are already apparent and which intersects with the current geopolitical crisis. The global electricity markets are going crazy because there is a lack of gas from Russia, but also because the rivers are drying up, the hydroelectric power plants are empty and nuclear power plants have to be shut down because the cooling water in the rivers is becoming too scarce — even the coal-fired plants are having problems where coal can no longer be shipped.

In any case, disaster is not now something we frivolously imagine because we are bored. It is there — very real for many and at least felt by most. Not only does it colour political debates but an atmosphere of pessimism, insecurity and fear has settled over most societies.

This is so even, perhaps especially, in the affluent societies of the west, which had become accustomed to stability and relative prosperity. A sentiment is spreading: the whole machinery no longer works, it is broken — and the political elites have no plan.

The left choosing stability

Against this backdrop, while the left is trying to develop programmes and instruments to master the crises, to stem the decline in prosperity and the social costs for ordinary people, those on the hard right are betting on things getting even worse, playing up catastrophe.

They hope this will benefit them, that they can thereby achieve electoral success — as with the right-wing radicals in Sweden recently or the right-wing bloc in Italy over the weekend.

It’s no surprise, then, that the far-right contenders paint the ‘elite’ and its networks in dark colours. They rummage through supposedly suppressed news and hidden secrets. They identify, to their satisfaction, how the powerful secure their dominance and say all this is connected. They imagine themselves as if detectives smugly putting pieces of the political puzzle together, in the manner of a latter-day Hercule Poirot.

It is not a completely new phenomenon to offer such a fundamental critique of ‘the system’. What is astonishing is that the far right has hijacked what used to be a prerogative of Marxist intellectuals — and of those activists who imagined a terminal catastrophe would some day issue in a socialist millennium.

Right-wing propaganda has appropriated elements of left-wing critical thinking — the questioning of the conventional and familiar, of the all-too-obvious, and the healthy suspicion of power. Amazingly, the motifs of the enlightenment have been subverted to serve conspiracy theories and fanaticism, in the cause of authoritarianism and nationalism.

The democratic left, in sharp contrast, sees its task today, grosso modo, as providing stability amid the storm. Of course, this is true where it is in government. But it in most cases it also has this reflex of responsibility where it is in opposition.

This has consequences. The left sometimes finds itself defending the status quo, against its deterioration. It knows it cannot score points with simple answers but has to work out complex plans whose realisation is tough.

This liberal left has always stood for freedom, democracy, the rule of law — for social equality and against hierarchy and fascist temptations. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has however drawn his country back into despotism in recent decades, aligned with an ideology of expansionism.

While the radical right (and some pro-Russian hard leftists) propose to kneel to Putin, the democratic left supports Ukraine’s right to self-defence and an independent path.

Russia’s imperialism has been met with sanctions from liberal Europe and north America, rebutted in turn in an economic quasi-war with the help of the ‘weapon’ of gas and oil. Yet in a multipolar and chaotic world where not all are on their side, progressives find themselves having to balance decisiveness and prudence.

Now their own economies must be stabilised and protected, and their societies, because the supply of energy and the functioning of the critical infrastructure has a much broader social centrality. This includes changes in the design of energy markets, which simply no longer function when panic on the markets leads to price explosions of 600 or even 1,000 per cent.

The colonisation of lifeworlds by market ideology has however meant that even the essential goods of everyday infrastructure have been left to the mercy of the markets. Energy suppliers which get into trouble have thus to be bailed out by governments.

The dangers of ‘politics without a project’

The effects of inflation are also different from what we know from economics textbooks. Classic inflation occurs when there is a boom, an economy reaches the limits of its capacity and there is more or less full employment. Then asset owners lose, while borrowers gain. But above all, workers and employees do not really lose out: prices rise but so do wages.

Classical inflation is characterised by a wage-price spiral in which real wages rise along with them. Historically, wage earners lost out primarily because of anti-inflationary policies, not because of inflation.

Today, however, inflation is not the result of a boom but an economic shock: it is imported, primarily due to higher energy prices and supply problems. Many companies too are groaning under their energy overheads, as they cannot fully pass on the cost increase to consumers. This in turn will mean workers will not be able to make up fully for price increases through wage rises.

The unions will fight but it will be very difficult to avoid real wage losses. Low wage increases lead to impoverishment and a decline in aggregate demand but high wage increases would lead to more bankruptcies and thus more unemployment.

The most likely result will be a combination of misfortune — a marked recession plus high inflation. Government will have to intervene with price controls, by dramatically accelerating the shift to renewable energy, by providing payments to the most vulnerable segments of the population, by accepting further budget deficits.

None of these solutions will be perfect. We must be careful not to enter a new era of depoliticised pragmatism — a ‘politics without a project’, to borrow an old formulation from a famous German book edited by the legendary Suhrkamp publisher Siegfried Unseld 30 years ago. But there will tend to be no grand design to policy, just muddling through.

Public debates will be characterised by a certain confusion, as we are already observing. On the one hand, most citizens want clear and focused plans, but at the same time they know that there are no easy, simplistic answers.

A pandering left-wing populism is therefore not an attractive alternative. It is not only a too-narrow preaching to the converted but also there is a broad swath of potential support among liberal and left citizens for a politics of reason and responsibility.

In times of such uncertainty, we do not need trumpeters and bullshiters. We need people who can be trusted to do the best they can to sort things out.

Robert Misik is a writer and essayist. He publishes in many German-language newspapers and magazines, including Die Zeit and Die Tageszeitung.

Source: International Politics and Society is published by the Global and European Policy Unit of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Hiroshimastrasse 28, D-10785 Berlin.

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Soo Hyoun Lim's classmate doing a campaign inside the Yongsan International School’s cafeteria with the poster.

By Soo Hyoun Lim and Hyeonuk Hwang
Seoul, Sep 28 2022 (IPS)

During my summer break this year, I read a news article about five school cafeteria workers who had died of lung cancer. Due to these incidents, a union of cafeteria workers, wearing their aprons and holding their lunch trays, held a protest in front of the President’s office on a scorching summer day. And it made us think about the devastating working conditions for the school lunch employees. Isn’t it so disheartening that we eat our school lunch at the expense of their health?

Did you know that one cafeteria staffer has to provide 150 student servings in a substandard kitchen with poor ventilation systems? That’s why they get lung cancer. While cooking, they inhale gasses, known as cooking fumes or cooking smoke. This substance contains “carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and several toxic volatile hydrocarbons,” which has caused 3.8 million people to die prematurely from this “indoor air pollution”. So installing a proper ventilation system in a school cafeteria is crucial to protect the kitchen staff.

Soo Hyoun Lim (right) and friend campaign for safe working environments for cafeteria workers at Yongsan International School’s cafeteria.

But why isn’t there a proper ventilation system in the first place?  Initially, South Korea did not have a school cafeteria. All school children brought their lunch boxes from home until 2011. Those who could not afford their lunch box received free lunch from school. But imagine it: Johnny is flashing out his fancy lunch box next to Jane, who is eating free lunch from school. What would Jane feel about this? Well, Korean politicians thought that no child should be left behind in terms of school lunches. So for the sake of equality, the Korean government launched a “Free School Lunch for All” program in 2011. The real problem was that they launched this free lunch program without installing a proper kitchen ventilation system to save on the budget. Basically, for the sake of political populism, they overlooked the serious problems a substandard kitchen environment would bring to the health of school cafeteria workers.

What about other countries that offer free school lunches? In Japan, for example, schools are built with a free school lunch program in mind from the beginning. So proper ventilation systems are built in. And they constantly renovate their school kitchens for the sake of the health of both cafeteria workers and students, which is a stark contrast to Korean schools.

Is there anything I can do as a student?

Hyeonuk Hwang holds the poster in public to raise awareness of the dangers school cafeteria workers face.

I strongly believe that spreading the news of the devastating working environment for school cafeteria ladies using social media is a good place to start. So I made a poster and posted it on my Instagram. The result was phenomenal. We got lots of ‘Likes’ and comments from people thanking us for raising awareness of this dire situation in Korean school cafeterias. And we will continue to design new posters and post them on social media. People may wonder what difference a small media post can make. Confucius said, “The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” Our post may be a small stone. But wait until we have a huge collection of posts about this issue. We may move a mountain. You never know.

What else can we do as students? Well, we are writing this opinion editorial to suggest creative solutions which may reach the ears of the policymakers in South Korea. That’s something! For the answer, we thought of using clean and renewable energy: cook with the sun! Have you ever used a solar oven before? Basically, a solar cooker consists of a system of reflectors and a cooking pot. The setup converts the solar energy into heat energy to bake, boil, or steam food. In a solar oven, you can cook anything that you can cook in a conventional electric or gas oven or stove without producing toxic cooking fumes. Well, browning is unlikely in a solar oven due to lower temperatures. On the bright side, this means that we don’t need to worry about our food getting dried out or burned.

Most importantly, no deadly cooking fumes! We may not get crisp French fries or caramelized steaks, but there are huge collections of recipes designed specifically for solar ovens. If we can eliminate the harmful cooking smoke for our cafeteria ladies’ health, we will be happily satisfied with the solar cooker food.

Soo Hyoun Lim and Hyeonuk Hwang took their campaign to Instagram.

But will it work for a large crowd of people? According to Mason Terry, director of the Oregon Renewable Energy Center, multiple solar ovens were functioning superbly years ago at a refugee camp in Nepal. You may not know this, but Nepal is home to over 40,000 refugees. If it worked for such a large number of hungry people in Nepal, I’m sure that South Korea could find ways to utilize this earth-friendly oven for their students at school. Since the budget was the issue for installing proper ventilation systems in Korean schools, they can save a lot of gas and power bills by using solar ovens. And with that money saved, they can install proper ventilation systems! Again, we ardently hope that this sustainable solution reaches the ears of South Korean policymakers.

Posters on social media and talking about solar ovens. We know. They are small steps. Perhaps too small to change the current Korean cafeterias. Perhaps too weak to save the lives of our cafeteria ladies. But however small and weak these steps may be, the important thing is that we are leaving our footprints on this issue. Wayne Gerad Trotman once said, “We are not helpless. We all can make this world a better place. We can start with small steps, one day at a time.” So take a small step with us today. Tomorrow we will be a step closer to bringing changes to Korean school cafeterias.

Note: Soo Hyoun Lim was the team leader for this project.
Edited by Dr Hanna Yoon

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