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Can Agricultural Apps Bring Indonesia’s Farmers Back to the Fields?

Thu, 12/10/2020 - 13:17

Farmers in Indonesia’s West Java province. Indonesia’s agriculture sector is facing two major issues – decreases in both the number of farmers and irrigated rice fields. Credit: Kanis Dursin/IPS

By Kanis Dursin
JAKARTA, Dec 10 2020 (IPS)

When his friends prodded him to use an agricultural app in July, rice farmer Mustafa reluctantly downloaded RiTx Bertani into his smart phone. Four months later, he feels happy to have given the technology a try.

“I started using the application in early September when I planted rice on 0.7 hectare of irrigated land,” the 41-year-old told IPS last month in a phone interview from Bondowoso regency in East Java, a one-hour flight east of the capital Jakarta.

“I cannot tell yet if it helps boost production or not, but I am very happy with the technology. It helped me detect and identify a rice disease in late September. We had always called rice diseases brown planthopper before and used the same medicines to control the disease. Thanks to the technology, we now know different rice diseases and can use appropriate insecticides to deal with them,” said the father of two.

Developed by start-up tech company PT Mitra Sejahtera Membangun Bangsa (MSMB), RiTx Bertani is designed to help farmers deal with climate change and other problems they may have through digital technology. RiTx comes from the words agriculture technology, while Bertani literally means farming.

Another farmer, Kurlufi, meanwhile, said he downloaded the application in 2018 but uninstalled it shortly after as he found it less helpful for his chilli crop. Earlier this year, he decided to reinstall it as the price of chilli suddenly dropped.

“The price of chilli has dropped sharply since the coronavirus hit the country in March. I looked for alternative crops when the application suggested that my field was suitable for cucumber,” the 42-year-old father of two told IPS from Banyuwangi regency, also in East Java.

The coronavirus pandemic, which has killed 18,366 people as of today (Dec.10) has forced people to work from home and plant vegetables at their backyards, driving down the price of food crops due to low demand.

Kurlufi owns 0.95 hectares of farm land. Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the country, he has planted cucumber on 0.6 hectares of his field for two successive seasons, harvesting eight kilograms of cucumber seeds in the first season and 18 kilograms in the second. Each season last for almost three months.

“I sold the seeds for Rp450,000 (US$32) per kilogram to a local company,” he said.

“I find the technology very useful for people who have no prior or little experience in farming. In my case, it helps me decide what crops to plant and when to hire workers to do the pollination as it provides weather forecasts for the next six to seven days,” Kurlufi added.

Mustafa and Kurlufi are two of 11,000 farmers in eight provinces in Indonesia using RiTx Bertani, one of dozens of agricultural apps currently available as the government promotes Smart Farming 4.0 or digitised agriculture.

MSMB project manager Rizal Dwi Prastyo said they have both hardware — in the form of on-field sensors, which are connected to the internet — and software — in the form of the RiTx Bertani app.

“Users have to submit detailed information about their fields, including the size, borders, latitude, and longitude for the sensors to locate. Once the sensors detect the fields, they immediately measure the soil’s moisture and air temperature and feeds those information to the internet,” Prastyo told IPS from Yogyakarta, a 50-minute flight east of Jakarta.

One sensor, which costs approximately $2,700, covers an area of 10 hectares of land.

Based on the soil’s current moisture, Prastyo said, agriculture experts at the company provide suggestions to farmers through the app on what crops suit their land best for the next planting season.

“Throughout the season, the sensors measure soil moisture and air humidity every 10 minutes and upload them into the internet. Users can read the feeds through the app under the sensor menu. Farmers need this kind of information to apply fertiliser or spray pesticides, if needed,” he continued.

The application, Prastyo said, also allows farmers to record all farming activity and save them under a record menu so they know exactly when next to apply fertiliser or spray pesticides or insecticides. Farmers can also ask for additional assistance through the online forum.

Activist Said Iqbal of non-governmental organisation People’s Coalition for Food Sovereignty welcomed the use of apps in farming but said he doubted that digitised agriculture would improve the welfare of farmers and help the country achieve food sovereignty in the immediate future.

“Digitising the agriculture sector is unavoidable now but the root of the matter is farmers find no incentive to boost production. Why? Because they control on-farm activities only, while upstream and downstream activities are controlled by big businesses. It has become a public knowledge that intermediaries or traders earn more than twice of farmers’ earnings,” he said.

He also said most farmers in Indonesia were small holders, with each owning an average of 0.2 hectares of irrigated land. “Because of that condition, many farmers choose to sell their productive land and work as cheap labour, further reducing irrigated fields, especially on Java Island,” Iqbal said.

Another activist, Tejo Wahyu Jatmiko of the Alliance for Prosperous Village, agreed with Iqbal, saying that Indonesia’s agriculture sector was facing two major issues – decreases in both the number of farmers and irrigated rice fields.

Quoting a report by the Central Statistics Agency or BPS, Jatmiko told a webinar in Jakarta that the country had only 33.4 million farmers in 2019, down from 35.6 million in 2015, while irrigated fields stood at 10.68 million hectares in 2019, down by 700 hectares from 2018.

These conditions have resulted in fluctuations in rice production, forcing the government to import rice to meet the needs of over 270 million people. BPS reports show that the country imported 444,508 tons of rice in 2019, down from 2.25 million tons in 2018, 305,270 tons in 2017, and 1.28 million tons in 2016.

However, in terms of sustainable agriculture, Indonesia has a score of 61.1 out of 100,where 100 is the highest sustainability and greatest progress towards meeting environmental, societal and economic Key Performance Indicators. This is according to the Food Sustainability Index, developed by the Economist Intelligence Unit and the Barilla Centre for Food and Nutrition.

In a bid to increase farmers’ welfare, since 2017 President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has promoted farmer corporation, where farmers are organised into business ventures, founded and financed by farmers themselves, with the aim of controlling both on-farm and off-farm activities in the agricultural sector.

Dr. Syahyuti, a researcher with the Indonesian Center of Socio-Economic and Agricultural Policy of the Ministry of Agriculture, said under the corporation concept, farmers are also involved in the provision of seeds, fertiliser, agricultural machines, and capital with on-farm activities, and buying, milling, and selling rice in off-farm activities.

Based on experiences in some sub-districts, Syahyuti said farmers corporations increased farmers’ income by 72 percent.

While the government is working to organise farmers into business groups, Mustafa is upbeat that digitised agriculture will help increase the number of farmers in Indonesia.

“I notice the number of people tilling land in the district has increased since [using] the RiTx Bertani [app]. Many of them are young and unexperienced. I get the impression that with the technology arming is no longer a dirty job, but a lifestyle that more and more people embrace,” Mustafa said.

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Categories: Africa

If Your Civic Space is Closed, your Human Rights Dissolve

Thu, 12/10/2020 - 10:16

Credit: Forus International

By Bibbi Abruzzini
PARIS, Dec 10 2020 (IPS)

On Human Rights Day, civil society calls for the protection of civic space as a fundamental freedom, as more than 80% of the world’s population live in countries where civic space is closed, repressed or obstructed.

Protecting civil society and fundamental freedoms means protecting the rights to associate and assemble, to express views and opinions. Civic space is the bedrock of any open and democratic society. When civic space is open, citizens and civil society organizations are able to organize, participate and communicate, claiming their rights and influencing the political and social structures around them. But this is not the case for most citizens around the world, new data unveils.

A recent study on Enabling Environment, with data from over 40 National NGO platforms, by Forus, Cooperation Canada, and AidWatch Canada, finds that 40% of NGO platforms continue to face high levels of impunity in the use of excessive force against human rights, gender and environmental defenders, in particular in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and Asia.

For 50% of NGO platforms, national laws and regulations are a key barrier to civil society activities in their country. In times of Covid, hurdles have multiplied, with 68% of NGO platforms noting that the health crisis was used to justify restrictions on their activities within the boundaries of legal and regulatory frameworks, and for 23%, the health crisis led to increased arbitrary restrictions.

“We’ve been really alarmed and we’ve spoken loudly through our megaphones, wherever we have been able to speak up, to say that governments should stop using the state of emergency to crack down on civil society,” says Sarah Brandt from Globalt Fokus, the Danish national platform of NGOs.

Some groups are more subject to harassment or interference by the government than others. In Cambodia, media outlets are particularly targeted. In Spain, the Occupy movement and those fighting against la “ley mordazas” or “gag law” introducing limitations on protests and imposing administrative sanctions against demonstrators both online and offline. In Colombia, Chile and Argentina, organisations representing indigenous, social leaders and trade unions are routinely scrutinized and attacked. In the UK, organisations that work with migrants, refugees, and the Muslim community face continuous pressures. In Denmark, the organisations being targeted include anti-establishment groups such as ANTIFA and Extinction Rebellion.

With increased surveillance, persecution and violence, only half of NGO platforms turn to national governments as institutional channels to promote accountability for attacks on civil society, while over two thirds use Human Rights Councils and the judiciary system. This shows the crucial role played by human rights institutions, which continue to be guardians of fundamental rights and never cease upholding democratic values.

Credit: Forus International

Carlos Andrés Orellana Cruz, joined ASONOG, the Honduran national platform of civil society organisations, to support local communities defending their territory from mining projects in one of the world’s most infertile lands when it comes to human and civil rights.

“The only way to protect ourselves is by protecting others. No struggle is or should be isolated, social change cannot happen in small groups of people seeking quotas of power, but in an active and mobilized citizen participation, with effective exchange of knowledge and commitment to principles of social justice and democracy,” Carlos explains.

In countries like Honduras, this is becoming increasingly difficult, as 2019 marked the deadliest year worldwide for frontline activists. In 2020, according to CIVICUS, attacks continued to target activists as well as journalists, and the Honduran government introduced a new criminal code enabling the criminalization of these actors. This dire context is coupled with the little support civil society receives from institutional channels. 42% of NGO platforms report examples of efforts by governments or other major development actor to actively discredit their work.

Lockdown has forced many protests off the streets, yet changes in the digital environment, including the implementation of new technologies, software and access to information, have positively contributed to an enabling environment for civil society, according to a third of NGO platforms interviewed in the study. In contrast, 40% have experienced mixed to negative impacts and 15% merely negative impacts, as online spaces exacerbate the risk of widening the digital gap, privacy breaches and crackdowns.

For activists like Yasmine Ouirhrane, former Young European of the Year and Founder & Podcast Host at We Belong, digital realms have opened new spaces for much needed cross-cultural dialogues. With her online platform and podcast she amplifies the voice of the “new daughters of Europe”, focusing on conversations with young women representing the diversity of the region, breaking stereotypes, navigating multiple identities, and challenging the conventional wisdom of what it means to “belong”.

“As Youth, we have been great advocates for our own rights. We have been outspoken: raising our concerns, tweeting our moods, demonstrating during Fridays for OUR future, even gaining seats at the decision-making table,” says Yasmine. “Yet, not all of us can speak up, not all of us are heard, not all of us are seen. Stories remain untold. The road for inclusion is still long and it’s time that we reflect on the invisible youth, the ones that have no means or hope to engage”.

The Forus Enabling Environment study calls for the inclusion of civil society in policy dialogues especially in rural and regional settings, in local languages and using diverse and locally appropriate technologies.

Only 7,5% of NGO platforms indicated that their governments effectively support civil society organisations with more limited capacities and resources.

This needs to change. Promoting a healthy civil society means protecting fundamental human rights, essential to the creation and maintenance of civic space, but more importantly of a healthy and just society.

The new report by Forus , Cooperation Canada and AidWatch Canada was produced with the financial support from Bread for the World and the French Development Agency.

The post If Your Civic Space is Closed, your Human Rights Dissolve appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Bibbi Abruzzini, Forus Communication team, Paris.

The post If Your Civic Space is Closed, your Human Rights Dissolve appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Categories: Africa

Reduce Military Spending – the Much-Needed Response to Violence Against Women

Thu, 12/10/2020 - 09:40

The United Nations is conducting a 16-day social media campaign from 25 November to 9 December for its 2020 Campaign: 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence. The 16 Days of Activism is a worldwide campaign calling for the elimination of all forms of gender-based violence (GBV). Credit: International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA)

By Maria Victoria (Mavic) Cabrera Balleza
NEW YORK, Dec 10 2020 (IPS)

The COVID-19 pandemic is NOT the biggest pandemic the world confronts at the moment, despite over 69 million cases and 1.5 million deaths worldwide.1 If it’s not COVID, what is it then? It is violence against women!

Globally, 243 million women and girls aged 15-49 have been subjected to sexual and/or physical violence perpetrated by an intimate partner in the past 12 months alone.2 The figure increases by 30 per cent if the violence experienced by women and girls in their lifetime is added.3

These numbers are likely underestimates, since many women do not report sexual and intimate partner violence due to stigma associated with it. The UN Women policy brief on COVID-19 and VAW points out that less than 40 per cent of the women who have experienced violence seek help.

Those who do, often turn to family and friends, and less than 10 per cent report to the police. This perpetuates a culture of impunity as perpetrators go unpunished.

The data clearly shows that violence against women and girls is a global emergency, which requires urgent action. It can take many forms, from human trafficking and sexual slavery, through rape and forced sexual acts, to bettering and sexual harassment—on the street, at workplace, school and online.

Harmful cultural practices – such as female genital mutilation and child, early and forced marriage are also forms of violence against women and girls. The list goes on.

Gender-based violence can happen to anyone, anytime, and anywhere. However, some women and girls are particularly vulnerable. Some of them are young girls and older women, women who identify as lesbian, bisexual, transgender or intersex, migrant, refugee and displaced women and girls, indigenous women and girls, women and girls from ethnic and religious minorities, women and girls with disabilities, and those living in situations of conflict and humanitarian crises.

The threat of violence faced by millions of women and men around the world has been compounded by the security, health, and economic crises caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many are trapped at home with their abusers, while women’s shelters and domestic violence hotlines are struggling to meet demands.

As the world grapples with COVID-19, it is also past time to take concrete action to address the shadow pandemic of violence against women and girls.

United Nations response

There is no shortage in UN campaigns, programs, task forces and initiatives that all aim to end violence against women and girls

Groups such as the Group of Friends for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Girls and the Action Coalition for Gender-based violence bring together civil society, Member States, UN agencies, international organizations, and philanthropies provide space for sharing lessons learned, coordinating action and mobilizing resources to end violence against women and girls.

The Spotlight Initiative, a global, multi-year partnership between the European Union and the United Nations launched in 2019 has committed a record €500 million to end violence against women and girls.

Advocacy and communications campaigns such as the UNiTE by 2030 campaign managed by UN Women, call on governments, civil society, women’s organizations, young people, the private sector, the media, and the entire UN system to join forces in addressing the global pandemic of violence against women and girls.

There is also the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee), all of which have specific but related mandates that address violence against women and girls.

How effective is the UN response to violence against women and girls? The effectiveness of the UN response was put to a major test by the outbreak of COVID-19. The massive increase in the incidence of violence against women and girls is an indication that the response is ineffective—or at best—insufficient.

While one could argue that the weakness of individual Member States both in managing the pandemic and addressing violence against women and girls cannot be attributed to the UN, the shortcomings brought to light by the pandemic beg the question: how can the UN improve Member States’ compliance with and implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the International Labour Organisation’s Violence and Harassment Convention, and the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security and its supporting resolutions?

All of these are powerful international laws that call on the UN and Member States to take concrete actions on this issue. However, the pandemic has demonstrated that actions taken to date have barely scratched the surface of the complex and pervasive issue of violence against women and girls. An effective and sustainable response requires structural changes, and a re-evaluation of global priorities!

The UN Secretary-General’s call

The current global priorities are most clearly visible if we follow the money. USD $1.9 trillion! This is how much the world spent to run military institutions in 2019, the largest annual increase in military expenditure since 2010.4 Let that sink in!!!

Meanwhile, women’s shelters are underfunded, many women—including victims of sexual violence—do not have access to quality healthcare, including maternal and reproductive health, and many women’s rights organizations are struggling to stay afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic.

To end violence against women, Member States and donors need to put their money where their mouths are. It is not only the right and necessary choice—it is also a smart investment.

According to the World Bank, violence against women is estimated to cost countries up to 3.7% of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP)—more than double what most governments spend on education.5

UN Women estimates that cost to be approximately $1.5 trillion6 – almost at the level of the record-high military expenditures. Preventing violence against women and girls first and foremost saves lives—but it can also save money.

In his 2020 report on Women and Peace and Security, the Secretary-General drew attention to the stark difference between soaring rates of military spending and the strains in social protection systems including the unavailability of necessary health care that disproportionately impact women and girls. It also underlined how bilateral aid to women’s organizations in fragile or conflict-affected countries has stagnated at 0.2 per cent of total bilateral aid ($96 million on average per year).

The Secretary-General’s report marks the 20th anniversary of Resolution 1325, arguably the most important international law that address violence against women and girls in conflict situations. It presents five goals for the next decade.

It called on the international community to “Reverse the upward trajectory in global military spending with a view to encouraging greater investment in the social infrastructure and services that buttress human security.”

Moreover, the Secretary-General urged Member States to ratify the Arms Trade Treaty, control the availability of armaments; to promote the participation of women in all arms control and disarmament processes and forums; and to reduce excessive military expenditures.

The current context calls for renewed efforts to curb military spending, which has been a chief strategic objective of the women’s movement for peace, he further stressed.

Complementing his call for reduced military spending, the other goal presented by the Secretary-General is to galvanize the donor community for universal compliance with a minimum of 15 per cent of ODA to conflict-affected countries dedicated to advancing gender equality, and the remaining 85 per cent to integrate gender considerations, including multiplying by five the direct assistance to women’s organizations.

The reduction of military spending does not only represent the possibility of financial resources that could support women and girls who are victims of gender-based violence as well as predictable core funds to women’s rights organizations.

It is also an opportunity to generate stronger political commitment to disarmament and arms control and eliminate the threats posed by the estimated one billion small arms that are circulating globally. It can also lead to preventing the use of arms to commit or facilitate serious acts of violence against women and girls.

We, in the women, peace and security community as well as all actors working on gender equality, human rights, and the elimination of violence against women and girls must waste no time.

Let us all come together and seize the moment to present our evidence-based analysis, and policy recommendations in order to influence policy outcomes and decisions that divert weapons spending to fund civil society’s initiatives to end violence against women and girls, and COVID-19 response and recovery.

1 Worldometer, “COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic”, Updated 9 December 2020. Accessed from https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries
2 UN Women, “COVID-19 and Ending Violence Against Women and Girls”, 2020. Available at: https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/library/publications/2020/issue-brief-covid-19-and-ending-violence-against-women-and-girls-en.pdf?la=en&vs=5006
3 World Health Organization, “Global and Regional Estimates of Violence Against Women: Prevalence and Health Effects of Intimate Partner Violence and Non-Partner Sexual Violence”, 2013. Available at: https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/85239
4 Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, “Global military expenditure sees largest annual increase in a decade—says SIPRI—reaching $1917 billion in 2019”, 27 April 2020. Available at: https://www.sipri.org/media/press-release/2020/global-military-expenditure-sees-largest-annual-increase-decade-says-sipri-reaching-1917-billion
5 World Bank, “Gender-Based Violence (Violence Against Women and Girls)”, 25 September 2019. Available at: https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/socialsustainability/brief/violence-against-women-and-girls
6 UN-Women, “COVID-19 and ending violence against women and girls”, 2020. Available at: https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/library/publications/2020/issue-brief-covid-19-and-ending-violence-against-women-and-girls-en.pdf?la=en&vs=5006.

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Excerpt:

Maria Victoria (Mavic) Cabrera Balleza is Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Global Network of Women Peacebuilders

The post Reduce Military Spending – the Much-Needed Response to Violence Against Women appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Categories: Africa

Human Rights Must Be at the Heart of the COVID-19 Recovery

Wed, 12/09/2020 - 18:51

Credit: Defenders Coalition

By Siddharth Chatterjee
NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 9 2020 (IPS)

On 10 December every year, we celebrate Human Rights Day, marking the anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Universal Declaration guarantees a spectrum of human rights that belong to each of us equally, and unite us as a global community and upholds our humanity.

This year, 2020, has been one of unprecedented challenges and has underscored the need for renewed action to promote and protect human rights. The COVID-19 pandemic has tested societies across the globe, and set back human rights gains and progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. In Kenya, the multi-faceted impacts of the pandemic – on gender equality, health, education, livelihoods, rule of law and the economy – have tested efforts by the Government, United Nations, development partners and civil society to deliver on the 2030 Agenda, Vision 2030 and the Big 4 development agenda, and challenged us to ensure that we leave no one behind.

The crisis has hit the poorest and most vulnerable communities the hardest, and entrenched existing inequalities, discrimination and human rights challenges. Gender-based violence has skyrocketed; loss of employment and livelihoods have put further strain on families; the right to education is at risk for many children, particularly girls; and inequalities in access to water, adequate housing and health services have heightened vulnerabilities.

In this context, the theme of Human Rights Day 2020 is “Recover Better – Stand Up for Human Rights”, highlighting the need to build back better from the COVID-19 crisis by putting human rights at the heart of recovery efforts. This is a call to action and for unity of purpose to tackle discrimination, address inequalities, encourage participation and solidarity, and promote sustainable development for the benefit of all.

As the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. António Guterres, once remarked, “The pandemic has demonstrated the fragility of our world”. The crisis has exposed and exacerbated deep inequalities, entrenched discrimination and gaps in human rights protection. Only measures to close these gaps and advance human rights can ensure we fully recover and build back a world that is more resilient, just and sustainable.

COVID-19 has created an opportunity to build back a more equal and sustainable world – based on a “new social contract” that respects the rights and freedoms of all, and addresses the inequalities exposed by the pandemic. This “new social contract” – uniting Governments, the people, civil society and private sector – is the only way that we will meet the Sustainable Development Goals.

In this Decade of Action to deliver upon the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, it is imperative to prioritise participation and inclusion, to ensure that we leave no one behind. Successful COVID-19 recovery efforts require the robust participation of civil society and inclusion of communities, to ensure the voices and priorities of the most affected, vulnerable and marginalised inform the recovery efforts. Public participation is a key tenet of the Constitution of Kenya, and has a key role to play in the COVID-19 recovery.

It is clear that this pandemic cannot be surmounted by a single actor. It is against this backdrop that the United Nations Country Team and the Government of Kenya, in line with the motto Umoja ni Nguvu (Unity is Strength), have identified strategic areas of cooperation and engagement under the United Nations Development Assistance Framework, as well as the Socio-Economic Response Plan, that target COVID-19 recovery needs and continue the trajectory towards the Sustainable Development Goals. This is underpinned by a human rights-based approach that prioritises equality and non-discrimination, participation and inclusion, and accountability.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that we are all in this together – and solidarity is the only way forward. Everyone has a role to play in building a better post-COVID world for present and future generations, and we must harness the active participation of communities, civil society, private sector, Government and the international community.

On this Human Rights Day, let us all commit to Stand Up for Human Rights to build back a more equal and sustainable society that advances the rights and freedoms of all. This unity of purpose will pave the way to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals and delivering upon Kenya’s Vision 2030.

Siddharth Chatterjee is the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Kenya

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Categories: Africa

Escazú: Historic Step Towards Protecting Human Rights Defenders in Latin America and the Caribbean

Wed, 12/09/2020 - 16:25

The Escazú Agreement is the first binding instrument of its kind in the world to include provisions on environmental defenders. Credit: David Paniagua / Amnesty International.

By Graciela Martinez
MEXICO, Dec 9 2020 (IPS)

The global health crisis that has marked 2020 did not put an end to another pandemic that has been plaguing Latin America and the Caribbean: murders and attacks against environmental defenders.

While COVID-19 may have eclipsed the momentum built up by young activists globally around the climate emergency in 2019, their efforts – together with those of organizations and coalitions from all over the region – have resulted in a positive outcome in this most difficult of years: more than 11 countries have now ratified the Escazú Agreement, meaning it will finally enter into force. Another 21 countries in the region have yet to join, however.

UN representatives have emphasized that the pandemic should be seen as a wake-up call to reconsider our relationship with the environment rather than as an excuse to bring progress towards protecting our planet to a halt. This is why the Escazú Agreement is more important now than ever.

In March 2018, governments from Latin America and the Caribbean agreed the region’s first binding treaty to protect the rights of individuals and groups in relation to accessing information, participation and justice in environmental matters.

Graciela Martínez. Credit: Credit: Courtesy of the author.

Costa Rica and Chile were at the forefront of these negotiations in the run up to its adoption. Costa Rica, however, is still in the process of ratifying the text, which is tabled before its Legislative Assembly, and Chile has yet to sign it. This latter’s failure to do so is all the more surprising and contradictory since it has, in the past, been a leading international force in environmental protection, even chairing the COP25.

The Escazú Agreement is innovative, for one thing because it is the first binding instrument of its kind in the world to include provisions on environmental defenders. The agreement recognizes the importance of such people’s work and obliges states to ensure their protection by establishing guidelines on appropriate and effective measures that can be taken to ensure they are able to work in safety.

These provisions are in response to the hostile climate faced by environmental defenders in Latin America and the Caribbean. Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras are some of the most dangerous countries in the world in which to defend land, territory and environment, according to the latest report by the international organization Global Witness.

It is no coincidence that virtually none of these countries have yet ratified the Escazú Agreement (the Mexican Senate approved its ratification just one month ago). Furthermore, according to this same report, Honduras – which suffers the highest per capita number of murders of environmental defenders – has not even signed it.

Two other major countries that have yet to ratify it and where Amnesty International has documented attacks against people defending the land and the environment in recent years are Peru and Paraguay.

There are a number of cases that can be used to illustrate this context, some of them better known than others, but all of which we have been working on in recent years.

The indigenous Lenca defender Berta Cáceres was murdered in Honduras in 2016 as a result of her opposition to the Agua Zarca hydroelectric dam project. She was coordinator of the Civic Council of Popular Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH).

Then there is the indigenous Rarámuri defender Julián Carrillo, murdered two years ago in the Sierra Tarahumara, in northern Mexico, after expressing his opposition to a mining concession in his community’s territory because of its social and environmental impacts. Both families are continuing to seek justice.

There are others who are still alive but either in prison or displaced from their homes. In Guatemala, Bernardo Caal Xol, indigenous leader of the Q’eqchi’ Maya people and prisoner of conscience, has been unfairly incarcerated for more than two years now for defending the rights of the communities of Santa María Cahabón, which have been affected by the construction of the OXEC hydroelectric plant on the Oxec and Cahabón rivers.

Danelly Estupiñán, defender of the rights of Afro-descendent communities in Colombia, was forced to leave her home after receiving threats and harassment.

Almost all of these people had been granted some form of protective measures in their respective countries but these have not managed to address the structural causes of the violence they face. It is also no coincidence that all these individuals come from the different cultural backgrounds that make up Latin America and the Caribbean’s diversity.

It is precisely this diversity that the Escazú Agreement recognizes and, although it does not explicitly refer to the right to free, prior and informed consultation as recognized in International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 169, the two instruments are clearly complementary.

This point is really important because behind many of these socio-environmental conflicts lies a lack of information and inclusion in the decision-making process on the part of those affected and a lack of effective mechanisms for accessing justice.

This is most evident in the case of indigenous and tribal peoples, whose exclusion is historical. The right to access information on environmental matters, key to the Escazú Agreement, is part of the informed consent of indigenous and tribal peoples, as is effective participation through legitimate representation and the incorporation and facilitation of traditional decision-making methods.

Of the 33 countries in the region, 24 have already signed the Escazú Agreement and 12 have ratified it. Argentina and Mexico still have to deposit the instrument with the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) to make it official. Once one of them does so, the agreement will enter into force 90 days later.

Countries that have not yet ratified it can still continue the process. The period for depositing signatures closed on 26 September but the nine countries that have not yet signed can now adhere to the agreement.

There is still a long way to go before we even consider what implementing the Escazú Agreement will mean for each country. But today, on the 22nd anniversary of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, when the International Day of Human Rights Defenders is commemorated, Latin America and the Caribbean can celebrate the fact that the region has this year taken an historic step and, unless there are any last minute surprises, will soon finally have an instrument in response to at least one of the region’s pandemics.

Graciela Martinez is Amnesty International’s campaigner for human rights defenders in the Americas

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Categories: Africa

Education Is a Fundamental Human Right and the Priority of the 21st Century

Wed, 12/09/2020 - 14:43

Yasmine Sherif

By Yasmine Sherif
NEW YORK, Dec 9 2020 (IPS)

Education is not a privilege. It is a fundamental human right. Yet, education is undervalued even at the best of times. We often fail to connect the dots between the right to education and the realization of all human rights. As noted by the Nobel-winning economist Amartya Sen, we have failed to give ‘this massive potential in transforming human lives’ the attention it deserves.

This is true especially in times of crisis. When conflicts, forced displacement and natural disasters occur, education is generally the first service interrupted and the last to be resumed, receiving the least amount of funding in humanitarian settings. Between 2010 and 2017, less than 3% of humanitarian funds were allocated to education. In an active crisis, education is lifesaving. It brings an element of protection from violence, provides mental health and psychosocial support and provides nutrition. In protracted crisis settings, the development of the child or adolescent is just as important. Still, educational needs tend to be put on the backburner, overshadowed by other sectors. This is not to say that water and shelter are not important. However, with humanitarian crises lasting for years, the lack of a quality education inevitably removes the foundation for human rights and real empowerment becomes elusive.

Education is a fundamental human right. It is the key to unlocking all other human rights – be it social, economic or cultural rights, or political and civil rights. The right to employment, the right to health, freedom of expression, the right to a free and fair trial, and the overarching prohibition against discrimination – all of these rights rest on the foundation of a quality education: to be able to claim, enjoy, protect and respect these rights. This is ever more important in countries affected by armed conflict, where the rule of law often is replaced by the rule by force.

Education’s impact on poverty is a prime example. According to the UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report: ‘171 million people could be lifted out of extreme poverty if all children left school with basic reading skills’, while ‘educational attainment explains about half of the difference in growth rates between East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa between 1965 and 2010’. Poverty is a violation of human dignity. Education offers an economic improvement to the lives of individuals, while also restoring their right to dignity.

The International Labour Organization estimates there are 152 million child labourers, and 73 million of them work in hazardous conditions. The ILO views education, alongside social protection and economic growth, as indispensable measures in reducing child labour.

Increased literacy rates have been shown to increase political engagement too. UNESCO’s Institute of Statistics writes: ‘Participation in adult literacy programmes is correlated with increased participation in trade unions, community action and national political life.’ Alongside literacy and numeracy skills, appropriate education ensures a broad set of life skills — the ability to make well-balanced decisions, to resolve conflicts in a non-violent manner, to develop good social relationships and critical thinking. Such skills are pivotal in creating a tolerant and aware community to prevent persecution, discrimination and violent conflict resolution. In crisis affected countries, education serves as a tool for young people to be prepared to re-engage with their political system, bolster their right to assembly and participate in creating a stable and accessible government, which is accountable to its people.

UNICEF credits education in playing ‘a critical role in normalising the situation for the child and in minimising the psychosocial stresses experienced when emergencies result in the sudden and violent destabilisation of the child’s immediate family and social environment.’ As noted by a UNHCR-led conference on the protection of children in emergency settings, education has a ‘preventive effect on recruitment, abduction and gender-based violence’.

Prior to COVID-19, an estimated 75 million school-aged children and youth were deprived of a quality education due to armed conflict, forced displacement and natural disasters. Today, they face the double blow inflicted by COVID-19, all while the numbers are growing. According to a recent report by the Norwegian Refugee Council and the Global Protection Cluster, experts estimate that an additional 15 million women and girls would be exposed to gender-based violence for every three months of Covid-19 lockdown globally.

Education Cannot Wait (ECW) was established in 2016 to increase financial resources and accelerate delivery of quality education to those left furthest behind in conflict, forced displacement, climate-induced disaster and endemics. A global fund hosted in the United Nations and serving as a pooled funding mechanism, ECW was also tasked to support humanitarian-development coherence in the education sector.

In so doing, ECW brings together host-governments, UN agencies, civil society and private sector to deliver on Sustainable Development Goal 4 in some of the harshest circumstances on the globe. The Fund has mobilized over US$650 million and delivered quality education to close to 4 million children and adolescents.

Since WHO declared COVID-19 as a pandemic, ECW has invested in over 100 grantees (partners) across 35 different countries/contexts in multiple phases through our First Emergency Response. The second phase was dedicated exclusively to refugees, internally displaced and their host-communities.

Still, education is a development sector requiring sustainability and thus emergency assistance is not enough. Working with host-governments, and through established coordination mechanisms designed for humanitarian contexts, ECW invests in Multi-Year Resilience Programmes (MYRPs) that are designed and implemented jointly by both humanitarian and development actors. As a rights-based global fund, these investments place a strong emphasis on protection and gender, human rights and humanitarian principles.

The UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, stated at the launch in August 2020 of his Policy Brief on Education: “Education is a fundamental human right, the bedrock of just, equal and inclusive societies and a main driver of sustainable development.”

As a human rights lawyer, I have hope that the international community of the 21st century will recognize that an inclusive quality education is the foundational human right for all other human rights. As we commemorate the International Human Rights Day, we all need to remember that children and adolescents enduring conflicts and forced displacement know all too well the consequences of inhumanity. By investing in their education, we still have a chance to restore their hope in humanity.

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Excerpt:

Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait

The post Education Is a Fundamental Human Right and the Priority of the 21st Century appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Categories: Africa

US Presidential Election Part 4: The Legacy of Slavery and Racism

Wed, 12/09/2020 - 11:18

"Intensifying the racial divide has been another negative legacy of the Trump presidency, which will take a long time to put right". Credit: UN Photo/Evan Schneider.

By Farhang Jahanpour
OXFORD, Dec 9 2020 (IPS)

In a powerful address at the Hungry Club Forum on 10 May 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. spoke about US’s so-called “three original sins”, the evils of slavery, poverty and war or, more generally, racism, materialism and militarism.

He said: “There can be no gainsaying of the fact that racism is still alive all over America. Racial injustice is still the Negro’s burden and America’s shame. And we must face the hard fact that many Americans would like to have a nation which is a democracy for white Americans but simultaneously a dictatorship over black Americans. We must face the fact that we still have much to do in the area of race relations.”

Great strides had been made in the United States in combating racism since those words were uttered, but the events of the past year have shown that there is still a long way to go and the gains are still fragile.

Lenin’s old maxim, ‘There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen’, seems to apply to the events since George Floyd’s death. The gruesome killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on 25 May 2020 gave rise to an unprecedented campaign against police brutality in the United States, and in turn has acted as a fuse for a worldwide uprising against racism and inequality.

On average every year US police forces kill between 1,000 and 1,400 people, nearly half of them black, although black people constitute only around 13% of the population. In comparison, in the United Kingdom the average number of people killed as the result of police shootings is three

George Floyd was arrested, handcuffed and pushed face down to the ground while a white police officer pressed his knee on his neck for almost nine minutes, despite Floyd’s pleas saying that he could not breathe, until his body became motionless.

Floyd’s killing triggered massive demonstrations in more than 350 cities in the United States and around the world, and started a movement that goes well beyond the civil rights movement of the 1960’s and may prove to be a turning point in the campaign for racial equality.

What is remarkable is that those who took part in those massive demonstrations were not all black and ethnic people, but they were joined by millions of white people who reject the legacy of slavery and are determined to help their fellow human beings to achieve the dignity and equality that they deserve. They know that a society that is built on exploitation, discrimination and inequality diminishes all its citizens.

Many Americans may be unaware of the full horrors of slavery, but it has been one of the major unresolved problems in US history. Although some form of slavery had existed from the beginning of human history, with the rise of European powers and the need for cheap labor in the New World, slavery assumed industrial proportions, involving millions of people being grabbed and uprooted from their homes and shipped across the world to work in inhumane conditions on plantations.

Before it was over, millions of Africans would be killed for the profit of white colonialists. Armed with superior weapons, slave merchants would invade some African countries, pull young men, women and even children out of the embrace of their loved ones, put them in chains and transport them to the other side of the world to be sold as slaves. The “voyages of discovery” were not as benign as they have been made out, but were money-making enterprises with the natives and black slaves paying the biggest cost.

The infamous Zong massacre provided just one example of the cruelty involved in the transportation of African slaves. The killing of more than 130 enslaved Africans by the crew of the British slave ship on 29 November 1781 became notorious as it involved claims of insurance payment for the slaves that perished. According to the crew, when the ship ran low on drinking water following navigational mistakes, the crew threw enslaved people overboard into the sea, starting with women and children because they fetched less money in the slave markets.

According to official UN estimate, the number of black people killed during the slave trade exceeded 17 million but, according to other estimates, the number was as high as 60 and 150 million.

Even the lowest figure is too awful to contemplate. A main reason for the high death toll among the slaves was the tidal wave of war and desolation that the slave trade unleashed in the heart of Africa. While both Europe’s and Asia’s populations nearly doubled between 1600 and 1800, Africa’s population dropped from 114 million in 1600 to 107 million in 1800.

Out of those captured Africans, between 12,000,000-15,000,000 survived the ordeal of forced migration to become plantation laborers in North and South America and the Caribbean. But after having survived the ordeal, life on plantations was far from ideal.

In order to get an idea of the way the slaves were treated on plantations one has to read Charles Dickens’s “American Notes” which provides the details of what he saw with his own eyes during his trip to the United States. Charles Dickens visited North America from January to June 1842. In his book, he quotes some advertisements published in some US newspapers for recapturing the slaves who had fled. Here are just a few examples:

‘Ran away, a negro man named Henry; his left eye out, some scars from a dirk on and under his left arm, and much scarred with the whip.’

‘One hundred dollars reward, for a negro fellow, Pompey, 40 years old. He is branded on the left jaw.’

‘Ran away, a negro woman named Rachel. Has lost all her toes except the large one.’

‘Ran away, my negro man Dennis. Said negro has been shot in the left arm between the shoulder and elbow, which has paralyzed the left hand.’

‘Ran away, my negro man named Simon. He has been shot badly, in his back and right arm.’

‘Detained at the police jail, the negro wench, Myra. Has several marks of lashing, and has irons on her feet.’

‘Ran away, a negro girl called Mary. Has a small scar over her eye, a good many teeth missing, the letter A is branded on her cheek and forehead.’

While many other nations have admitted their guilt and apologized for past atrocities, the dreadful evil of slavery has not yet been properly admitted or compensated. On the contrary, discrimination against the children of the slaves still continues.

In the United States the laws generally favor policemen over black people. All a policeman has to say is that the victim had threatened him, so he or she had to be shot, and the law protects the policeman. They can even say that the victim had resisted arrest, and again they are covered by law.

To provide just a simple example of the grotesque disparity between the behavior of police forces in the United States and in other democracies, it is enough to point out that on average every year US police forces kill between 1,000 and 1,400 people, nearly half of them black, although black people constitute only around 13% of the population. There is a similar disparity in the number of people jailed in the United States.

In comparison, in the United Kingdom the average number of people killed as the result of police shootings is three. The figures for the rest of Europe are also similar to those in Britain. In all European states and Japan the figures are in single digits or the low teens.

In other words, the US police shoot dead more people on a single day than the police in different European countries kill in a whole year.

Of course, a part of this huge disparity is due to the fact that most Americans have access to firearms while in Europe and other democracies the possession of firearms is strictly controlled.

Changing this grotesque history of discrimination against blacks and other ethnic groups requires humility, empathy and reconciliation. Unfortunately, President Trump’s approach to this issue has been marked by arrogance, apathy and antagonization. President Trump has repeatedly linked African Americans and Hispanics with violent crime. He launched his 2016 presidential campaign in which he spoke of Mexican immigrants: “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.”

Following a 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, that included members of the far-right, neo-fascists and neo-Nazis, when one counter-protestor died as the result of a vehicle-ramming attack and 19 others were injured, President Trump said that some of them were “very fine people”. In July 2019, Trump tweeted about four Congresswomen of color, three of them born in the United States: “Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came.”

On 1st June 2020, law enforcement officers used tear gas and other riot control tactics to forcefully clear peaceful protestors from Lafayette Square so that Trump could walk to St. John’s Episcopal Church and pose for a photo-op with a Bible in hand. He consistently condemned the protests and portrayed himself as a law-and-order president. In a morning conference call with US state governors on 1st June he told them: “You have to dominate, if you don’t dominate you’re wasting your time.”

Instead of trying to heal the wounds and calm the tempers, President Trump has deepened the wounds and created more hostility. As a result, the nation has become more divided than it has been since the Civil War. Intensifying the racial divide has been another negative legacy of the Trump presidency, which will take a long time to put right.

Farhang Jahanpour is a British national of Iranian origin. He is a former professor and dean of the Faculty of Languages at the University of Isfahan and a former Senior Research Scholar at Harvard. He taught Persian Literature at Cambridge University for five years and for more than 30 years he taught courses on the Middle East at the Department of Continuing Education at the University of Oxford. He also served as Editor for Middle East and North Africa at BBC Monitoring for 21 years.

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Categories: Africa

Drop in Remittances – a Financial Lifeline for 800 Million People – Could Impact Financial Stability of Numerous Countries

Wed, 12/09/2020 - 10:14

A landmark United Nations report is calling on governments to declare remittance transfer an essential service. Photo by Christine Roy on Unsplash

By Alison Kentish
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 9 2020 (IPS)

On Dec. 2 Gabriel Arias, 42, left a Washington Heights, New York, money transfer agency after sending money home to the Dominican Republic. For the past eight years, every fortnight he would come to this branch at 171st street after getting paid from his construction job. But things are different this year and he worries about his family back home. Arias lost his job in May, amid heightened COVID-19 restrictions in the state. He told IPS he has tried to work some odd jobs, but has barely earned enough for his monthly apartment rental. This early December visit to send money home was only his second since June.

“It has been hard because for a long time this year, I had no work. I came here speaking no English. I worked hard. Learned to speak and I took care of my mother and the family in the Dominican Republic. I had no job, no work since the COVID,” he told IPS.

Arias is not alone. A landmark United Nations report is calling on governments to declare remittance transfer an essential service and ensure access to humanitarian assistance, legal services and social protection for migrants and the displaced, as COVID-19 shifts the dynamics of global migration and hunger.

The report entitled “Populations at Risk: Implications of COVID-19 for Hunger, Migration and Displacement” is the first joint global report by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and World Food Programme (WFP) and analyses food security trends in the world’s migration hotspots during the pandemic. It warns that COVID-19 and measures taken to contain its spread have disrupted human mobility patterns, the consequences of which could been seen for years to come.

Earlier this year, countries across the globe instituted various tiers of entry requirements. According to the report, while those restrictions resulted in significantly reduced international migration in the first months of the pandemic, the ensuing dip in unemployment and food security led to a desperate need to search for work elsewhere – and a spike in migration due to necessity.

One of the areas hardest hit by the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns involves remittances. Globally, migrant remittances are a financial lifeline for around 800 million people. World Bank figures put remittances to low and middle-income countries (LMICS) at over $550 billion in 2019. For more than half of these countries, funds sent by migrant workers to their relatives in their home countries account for over 5 percent of gross domestic product. However, remittance flows have plunged drastically in 2020 and according to the report, over 33 million people are at risk of going hungry as part of the socio-economic impact of COVID-19.

“If efforts are made to channel remittances properly and ensure as well that you reduce the financial costs, this would have a greater impact on development. The idea is also that good management of the remittance services can help to speed up the recovery from the crisis,” IOM Senior Emergency and Preparedness Officer Rafaelle Robelin told IPS.

With remittances to LMICS expected to fall by about $100 billion in 2020 and 495 million full time job losses in the first quarter of the year, the report’s partners say it is possible that many migrants are sacrificing their own consumption and other needs, in order to send money to loved ones in their home countries. The report states that this is not a sustainable means of supporting families in the medium to long-term. It is also bad news for countries heavily dependent on remittances.

“Coupled with the 32 percent drop projected for foreign direct investments (FDI) in 2020, contractions in the prices of natural resources and a significant decrease in tourism revenues, the drop in remittances will likely impact the financial stability of numerous countries….poverty, food security, nutrition, health and educational attainment are all being directly impacted by mobility restrictions and the decline in remittances,” the report said.

While it confirms the importance of migrant work and its contribution to the economies of home countries, the report also highlights the inherent vulnerabilities that migrant workers face and notes that the pandemic has exacerbated those risks.

“It has been very clear since the onset of the crisis, that the impact of COVID on migration and mobility would be huge,” said Robelin, adding that, “migration has a positive impact from the remittance angle. The fact that many people lost their jobs who migrated for development means, means that in the long term, those benefitting from the positive impact of migration, may suffer.”

The IOM official says restriction of movement may have also pushed people to move under dangerous circumstances. Mobile and displaced populations also face new challenges such as increased exposure to work-related abuse and exploitation, the risk of losing residence status, the lack of funds to buy hygiene items and difficulties accessing COVID-19 tests, as well as restrictions on their general freedom to travel back and forth to their country of origin.

The IOM and WFP predict that partial or full lifting of travel regulations will result in more people leaving home to find work in order to feed their families. They are calling for well-governed migration to be a cornerstone of the global response to COVID-19. They believe that making remittance transfer an essential financial service can help families to meet their food and other needs. They are also advising the global community to ensure migrant access to health services including immunisation and mental health support. The partners are also recommending that government recognise the significant role played by migrants by ensuring they have access to social protection initiatives.

Some governments have implemented COVID-19 relief packages. They vary across countries and regions. IPS spoke to a family in Brooklyn, New York, who has opted to send home barrels of groceries, household and hygiene products to their loved ones in Saint Lucia. Lawmakers on the Caribbean island went to parliament in June and amended a bill that provides for late November to early January duty free concessions on barrels of items for household use. They announced that those tax relief measures would now extend from June 2020 to January 2021, in order to assist the most vulnerable and the thousands of Saint Lucians who lost their jobs.

“We took advantage of the duty-free and were able to send food home. We sent cleaning products and items like hand sanitisers, thermometers, masks and months of supplies that are expensive or not available back home,” one family told IPS.

Recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to be much slower than the 2009 global financial crisis. The report’s joint analysis has concluded that an effective response and recovery plan must take into consideration the link between food security and migration.

The post Drop in Remittances – a Financial Lifeline for 800 Million People – Could Impact Financial Stability of Numerous Countries appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

The International Organisation for Migration and World Food Programme’s first joint publication says restrictions to curb the spread of COVID-19 have limited human mobility and left 33 million remittance-dependent people facing hunger.

The post Drop in Remittances – a Financial Lifeline for 800 Million People – Could Impact Financial Stability of Numerous Countries appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Categories: Africa

Climate Action for Human Rights

Wed, 12/09/2020 - 09:30

School children in the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. Credit: Catherine Wilson/IPS

By Cameron Diver
NEW CALEDONIA, Dec 9 2020 (IPS)

Climate change and human rights are two key issues in international development and their interaction is increasingly in need of focus at national, regional and international levels. In the Pacific, where the 22 Pacific Island countries and territories are on the front line of both climate ambition and the ongoing effects of the climate crisis, climate change is recognised as the region’s single greatest threat. Urgent climate action is consistently called upon to protect the interests of youth and the most vulnerable populations, together with preserving the ‘shared needs and interests, potential and survival of our Blue Pacific and this great Blue Planet’.

At the Foreign Ministers’ Meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum in October 2020, member countries endorsed the proposal to seek the appointment of a Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Climate Change by the June 2021 session of the UN Human Rights Council.

Small island developing states, including many members of the Pacific Community, are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change due to their reliance on the ocean for resources, transportation and livelihoods. Shifts in biodiversity distribution as a result of climate change can have a devastating impact on coastal communities who are unable to adapt their way of living to compensate for the diminished resources and opportunities. For atoll nations, where thousands of people live on land that rises to a maximum of four metres above sea level, a rising ocean threatens their very existence. In this context, climate change has a profound impact on a wide variety of human rights, including the rights to life, self-determination, development, food, health, water, sanitation and housing, while also disproportionately affecting already marginalised groups. It is then, no surprise that the first intergovernmental statement to explicitly recognise that ‘climate change has clear and immediate implications for the full enjoyment of human rights’ was adopted in a small island developing state, the Seychelles, in 2007.

Cameron Diver

However, there is currently no specific legal right to seek refuge in another country due to climate change-induced displacement. International instruments, such as the UN Refugee Convention, apply generally to groups facing persecution from State or non-State actors but have not yet been legally extended to cover situations where people are seeking refuge in another country due to the onslaught of climate change. And while there is soft law reflecting human rights principles that can guide protection in this area for internal migration, such as the 1998 Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, and a considerable amount of work on potential legal solutions, the question is, given the current reality and projections around climate migration, if the law alone is sufficient to address the multifaceted nature of these issues.

The interface between climate change, human rights and migration would appear to require an integrated approach taking into account, among others, political, social, cultural, environmental and legal aspects. In the context of the climate crisis, it requires a whole-of-society approach, together with strong international cooperation, to identify and implement solutions that protect the rights of all persons, regardless of nationality. For both displaced populations and those that welcome them, these solutions will need to anticipate preservation of rights such as those related to culture, identity, freedom of religion, access to employment, land and resources, or self-determination. Should island countries become uninhabitable, they will need to anticipate the extreme hypothesis of a State in climate-enforced exile and the complex ramifications for sovereignty, nationhood and issues such as sovereign rights over land-based and marine natural resources.

Due to their particular vulnerability to global warming, Pacific Island countries and territories are regarded by some as ‘a barometer for the early impacts of climate change’, with studies projecting that between 665,000 and 1.7 million individuals could be displaced due to the ongoing effects of climate change by 2050. In other words, this many people in the Pacific Islands alone, through no fault of their own, may be driven from their ancestral homes, their sacred places, the land and oceanscapes to which they are so deeply bound and of which they are the traditional custodians.

While developing legal frameworks to recognise the status and protect the rights of those individuals remains essential, it should not be seen as the panacea. In reality, there must be a global understanding of the fact that greater mitigation and adaptation efforts are not only critical to stem the tide of biodiversity loss, keep global warming under 1.5°C, or improve the health of the ocean. They will also very directly enable populations in the Pacific region, small island developing states around the globe and many others to remain on their islands, on their land, in their homes and with their families. Personally, I can think of no better way to respect and protect their human rights, cultures, identities and sovereignty.

The post Climate Action for Human Rights appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Cameron Diver is the Deputy Director-General of the Pacific Community (SPC).

The post Climate Action for Human Rights appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Categories: Africa

What Indonesia’s Local Elections Mean for National Politics

Tue, 12/08/2020 - 15:59

Posters of rival tickets for mayor of Depok, a commuter city 40 minutes by train south of Jakarta where many of its 2.4 million residents work.Credit: Warief D. Basorie

By Warief Djajanto Basorie
JAKARTA, Dec 8 2020 (IPS)

In just over a day, on 9 December, Indonesia holds 270 simultaneous local elections for executive office. This involves nine of the republic’s 34 governors, 224 of 416 bupati (district chiefs) and 37 of 98 mayors. The polling was initially scheduled for 23 September but the independent KPU (General Elections Commission) put the date back to 9 December due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

In this batch of local polling, 105 million Indonesians aged 17 and above in this nation of 268 million people are eligible to vote.

Like the national election for president, local office elections are rigorously contested since the end of the 32-year authoritarian rule of President Soeharto in 1998.

During his prolonged regime, Soeharto appointed the country’s governors, mayors and district chiefs to maintain unopposed power through office loyalty. Many active military officers got such appointments in line with the-then dwifungsi (dual function) concept of the armed forces. Uniformed personnel concurrently had a military and a social-political role.

In post-Soeharto Indonesia, with the passing of a democratic election bill, the president no longer makes such arbitrary appointments. Moreover, the dual-function practice has ceased. Now, the run for legislative and executive public office is highly competitive.

Dynasty

What has aroused attention in this election-cycle is not so much how the coronavirus scourge affects the electoral process but more on who are in the running. The move of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s first son to enter the political arena has drawn public attention and apprehension.

Gibran Rakabuming Raka, the elder of Jokowi’s two sons, is running for mayor in Surakarta, Jokowi’s hometown in Central Java and where he himself was a mayor.

At present there are 117 heads and deputy heads of local government in Indonesia tied into a dynasty-making relationship.

The Constitutional Court permits politics by affinity, notes Khoirunnisa Nur Agustyati, executive director of election watchdog Perludem, the Association for Elections and Democracy.

“What must be done is that its bad effects must be prevented where the space for competition becomes unequal,” she stated.

Banner of Depok City elections commission calls on residents to vote for mayor 9 Dec 2020. Top middle line in Bahasa Indonesia reads: Let’s vote for Depok City. Credit: Warief D. Basorie

“It is not seldom when long-time party cadres must be bested by those who have a kinship with party elite. For sure, this is unhealthy for democracy. Internal party reform must be undertaken to allow for recruitment with integrity,” she asserted.

“The meritocracy principle with the aspects of worthiness and competence is an absolute condition to back a candidate of quality,” states political communication scholar M. Jamiluddin Ritonga at Esa Unggul University.

Party cadre development is important. Give at least 10 years before a party cadre becomes a candidate for an executive or legislative office, insists political communcation lecturer Emrus Sihombing at Pelita Harapan University.

Political corruption

Corruption is on watchdog radar screens.

Candidates may need as much as USD1.5 million to USD7.5 million for their individual campaigns, according to one estimate. Cash-short candidates may get help from political financiers. If the candidate wins, the financier demands pay-back in the form of business concessions.

Elected office-holders have been caught in political corruption. KPK (Corruption Eradication Commission) has detected and prosecuted 21 governors entangled in corruption from 2004 to July 2020. For the same period, 122 district chiefs, mayors, deputy district chiefs, and deputy mayors also got ensnared.

Stationary democracy

Single-ticket contests is also a searing issue. This is when a candidate faces no challenger. KPU identified 25 such tickets. The election law states a party or a coalition can field a candidate if they have at least 20% of the legislative seats won in the previous election.

Say, the candidate mayor garners the support of parties that jointly have more than 80% of the seats in the local legislature. Thus, any remaining parties together don’t have the minimum 20% seat-count to support a rival ticket. When this happens, that single ticket competes with a kotak kosong (blank box).

If the empty box wins the contest, the local KPU office would hold a new election that would have more than one ticket.

An empty box won the contest for mayor of Makassar in a 2018 local election. The KPU Makassar office is holding a second election this year with four tickets.

Single-ticket polling does not foster democracy as democracy thrives and throbs through competition.

With political party failure to promote meritocracy, corruption and unchallenged electoral contests, Indonesia’s democracy is not marching forward.

Significance

Indonesia’s democracy is imperfect. The local election process is wanting. However, the significance of Indonesia’s local elections is that they are a proving ground for national leadership. Surakarta city mayor Jokowi succesfully ran to be Jakarta governor in 2012. Two years later, in 2014 Jokowi stood for president and won.

Local election winners can stand for president in 2024. Front runners are Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan, West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil, and Central Java Ganjar Pranowo.

Competition would be tough with established national-level figures. One is Prabowo Subianto, Jokowi’s opponent in 2014 and 2019. Another is businessman and former Jakarta vice-governor Sandiaga Uno who was Prabowo’s running-mate in 2019. A third is DPR speaker Puan Maharani.

Puan is daughter of Megawati Sukarnoputri, general chair of the Indonesian Democratic Party in Struggle (PDI-P), the largest party in parliament. Megawati was the nation’s fifth president (2001-2004). Puan is also granddaughter of Indonesia’s founding father and first president, Sukarno. If Puan makes it, she would be a dynastic third-generation president in the making.

Warief Djajanto Basorie is Instructor, Dr Soetomo Press Institute (LPDS), Jakarta

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Categories: Africa

La Niña Weather Phenomenon Could Endanger Colombia’s Food Security

Tue, 12/08/2020 - 14:39

Family in a flooded village on the banks of the Atrato River in Chocó, Colombia. Credit: Jesús Abad Colorado/IPS

By Carmen Arroyo
NEW YORK, Dec 8 2020 (IPS)

After ten years without a strong La Niña weather phenomenon in Colombia, the climate pattern, coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic, could create a vacuum in food production and supply. Multilateral organizations, along with the Colombian government, are trying to implement measures to reduce malnutrition risk. Still, the population is already overwhelmed by a year of struggles that have deepened socio-economic differences.

Starting in March this year with the COVID-19 pandemic and followed by the hurricane IOTA in November, Colombia has seen its malnutrition levels rise dramatically. The pandemic has left over 37,000 deaths and an increase of 6.4% in unemployment in October compared to the same month in 2019. (This percentage doesn’t account for informal workers—47% of the population, according to the country’s statistics department DANE).

“[The socio-economic crisis] is coherent with a deepening poverty situation as highlighted by the latest official figures—35.7% of Colombian households were in poverty in 2019, already some 660,000 more than in 2018,” says Lorena Peña, the communications coordinator for the World Food Programme (WFP) in Bogota to IPS, going back to the numbers before the pandemic.

Those data points are likely to increase—especially in La Guajira, Norte de Santander and Bolivar,—as the country prepares for the expected La Niña-caused heavy rains, which the Colombian Weather Institute (IDEAM) estimates to last until May of next year.

According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), La Niña is a cooling of ocean surface temperatures that generates winds and rainfalls in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. In 2020-2021, the phenomenon is expected to be moderate to strong, as it was in the period 2010-2011. That time, La Niña claimed 300 lives and left an equal number of people injured.

This year, the phenomenon could lead to landslides, floods, diseases, and pests, say Jorge Mahecha, communications coordinator, and Martina Salvo, in charge of agricultural resilience, at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in Bogota to IPS.

A drawback in Colombia’s nutrition achievements

In the past five years, Colombia has established itself as the leading middle-income country in sustainable agriculture and food nutrition, according to the Food Sustainability Index, developed by the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition and the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Colombia achieved top performances in the use of land, air, and water in the ranking. It was second, out of 23 counties, in tackling nutritional challenges, such as undernutrition and hidden hunger, notes the report. It was also well above some of its peers, such as Mexico, regarding food nutrition indexes.

The Colombian flag flying over the castle San Felipe de Barajas in Cartagena de Indias, Bolívar, Colombia

However, the pandemic has meant a drawback for Colombia. Before La Niña, WFP was already estimating that 52.6% of the population had problems accessing food “of which at least some 3.5 million people [were forecast to be] severely food insecure,” told Peña from WFP to IPS. She added that food insecurity was more prevalent in Arauca, La Guajira, Norte de Santander, and Bolivar.

Now that La Niña is reaching Colombia, food security could further deteriorate, depending on the intensity of the weather pattern.

“The La Niña phenomenon tends to be associated with heavy rainfall in Colombia, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that the crops will be harmed,” says Carmen González Romero, country manager for Colombia in the ACToday (Adapting agriculture to Climate Today for Tomorrow) project. The project is led by the International Research Institute, part of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. “If the intensity of the rain is high enough, yes, it could destroy them.”

The impact could be felt throughout the food production system. “On the one hand, heavy rains could destroy the crops of subsistence farmers. This would not only impact their access to food in the present but also in the near future threatening their basic grain reserves,” explains González Romero. “On the other, large producers, associated with a guild and higher technological capacity, could also see their business endangered. This would generate a vicious cycle, laborers that work for them would lose their jobs and their income. Additionally, heavy rains could impact civil infrastructure, limiting the access to markets, which are essential for food security in the country.”

The FAO predicts that among the crops to be impacted by the torrential rains are the “pancoger crops [crops that meet a family’s nutritional needs] such as plantain, corn, yuca, and beans.” Other crops that Colombia exports, such as cacao and coffee, could also be harmed by the changing weather forecasts, add Mahecha and Salvo, from FAO.

Farmers and institutions prepare for La Niña

The Colombian government, its weather institutions, and farmers will have to face the consequences of La Niña soon.

Asked how farmers can prepare themselves for weather patterns, González Romero responds: “Farmers need access to climate services to optimize crop management and resources.” She adds that their capacity to prepare themselves for weather patterns also depends on their economic resources and the time they have to prepare.

Moreover, explains González Romero, there are financial instruments for climate risk transfers, such as index-based insurances, that could mitigate the harm of adverse climate events, be it floods or droughts. “They exist, but they are not widely available in Colombia, nor South America.”

At an institutional level, the government could create forecast-based financing systems that would trigger cash transfers to impacted workers if droughts or floods harm their crops, notes González Romero.

Multilateral organizations are also preparing for La Niña while they still try to alleviate the pandemic’s consequences. To ensure that malnutrition is not widespread, the FAO argues that food supply systems should be prioritized. However, some roads have become unusable, tells Peña from the WFP to IPS, adding that, for example, in-kind food transport to Alta Guajira was delayed in October.

The population that is expected to be impacted by La Niña is the most vulnerable, say the FAO representatives, adding that the same sector has also suffered the most during the pandemic.

The WFP is mobilizing “cash-based transfers where possible, and in-kind is also planned for areas where markets are not fully functional,” says the institution. They are working in Arauca, Bolívar, Chocó, La Guajira, and Norte de Santander, where food insecurity is widespread.

On its part, UNICEF is prepared to provide nutritional supplements to children under five years of age in the sites where WFP delivers food support.

As institutions and farmers try to grapple with the possibility of La Niña, stakeholders fear the weather phenomenon will deepen the socioeconomic differences already sharpened by the pandemic—especially in rural areas.

Still, it’s hard to predict the consequences of the phenomenon until it hits the country. “We have yet to see what La Niña brings,” concluded González Romero on a cautionary note.

The post La Niña Weather Phenomenon Could Endanger Colombia’s Food Security appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Categories: Africa

How Artificial Intelligence Could Widen Gap Between Rich & Poor Nations

Tue, 12/08/2020 - 08:48

At a joint meeting of the UN's Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and its Economic and Social Committee, a robot named Sophia had an interactive session last year with Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed. Credit: UN Photo/Manuel Elias

By Cristian Alonso, Siddharth Kothari, and Sidra Rehman
WASHINGTON DC, Dec 8 2020 (IPS)

New technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, robotics, big data, and networks are expected to revolutionize production processes, but they could also have a major impact on developing economies.

The opportunities and potential sources of growth that, for example, the United States and China enjoyed during their early stages of economic development are remarkably different from what Cambodia and Tanzania are facing in today’s world.

Our recent staff research finds that new technology risks widening the gap between rich and poor countries by shifting more investment to advanced economies where automation is already established.

This could in turn have negative consequences for jobs in developing countries by threatening to replace rather than complement their growing labor force, which has traditionally provided an advantage to less developed economies.

To prevent this growing divergence, policymakers in developing economies will need to take actions to raise productivity and improve skills among workers.

Results from a Model

Our model looks at two countries (one advanced, the other developing) that both produce goods using three factors of production: labor, capital, and “robots.” We interpret “robots” broadly, to encompass the whole range of new technologies mentioned above.

Our main assumption is that robots substitute for workers. The AI revolution in our framework is an increase in the productivity of robots.We find that divergence between developing and advanced economies can occur along three distinct channels: share-in production, investment-flows, and terms-of-trade.

Share-in-production: Advanced economies have higher wages because total factor productivity is higher. These higher wages induce firms in advanced economies to use robots more intensively to begin with, especially when robots easily substitute for workers.

Then, when robot productivity rises, the advanced economy will benefit more in the long run. This divergence grows larger, the more robots substitute for workers.

Investment-flows: The increase in productivity of robots fuels strong demand to invest in robots and traditional capital (which is assumed to be complementary to robots and labor). This demand is larger in advanced economies due to robots being used more intensively there (the “share-in-production” channel discussed above).

As a result, investment gets diverted from developing countries to finance this capital and robot accumulation in advanced economies, thus resulting in a transitional decline in GDP in the developing country.

Terms-of-trade: A developing economy will likely specialize in sectors that rely more on unskilled labor, which it has more of compared to an advanced economy. Assuming robots replace unskilled labor but complement skilled workers, a permanent decline in the terms of trade in the developing region may emerge after the robot revolution.

This is because robots will disproportionately displace unskilled workers, reducing their relative wages and lowering the price of the good that uses unskilled labor more intensively.

The drop in relative price of its main output, in turn, acts as a further negative shock, reducing the incentive to invest and potentially leading to a fall not just in relative but in absolute GDP.

Robots and wages

Our results critically depend on whether robots indeed substitute for workers. While it may be too early to predict the extent of this substitution in the future, we find suggestive evidence that this is the case. In particular, we find that higher wages coincide with significantly higher use of robots, consistent with the idea that firms substitute away from workers and towards robots in response to higher labor costs.

Implications

Improvements in the productivity of robots drive divergence between advanced and developing countries if robots substitute easily for workers. In addition, those improvements will tend to increase incomes but also increase income inequality, at least during the transition and possibly in the long run for some groups of workers, in both advanced and developing economies.

There is no silver bullet for averting divergence. Given the fast pace of the robot revolution, developing countries need to invest in raising aggregate productivity and skill levels more urgently than ever before, so that their labor force is complemented rather than substituted by robots.

Of course, this is easier said than done. In our model, increases in total factor productivity—which account for the many institutional and other fundamental differences between developing and advanced countries not captured by labor and capital inputs—are especially beneficial as they incentivize more robots and physical capital accumulation.

Such improvements are always beneficial, but the gains are stronger in the context of the AI revolution.

Our findings also underscore the importance of human capital accumulation to prevent divergence and point to potentially different growth dynamics among developing economies with different skill levels.

The landscape is likely going to be much more challenging for developing countries which have hoped for high dividends from a much-anticipated demographic transition. The growing youth population in developing countries was hailed by policymakers as possibly a big chance to benefit from a transition of jobs from China as a result of its graduating middle-income status.

Our findings show that robots may steal these jobs. Policymakers should act to mitigate those risks. Especially in the face of these new technologically-driven pressures, a drastic shift to rapidly improve productivity gains and invest in education and skills development will capitalize on the much-anticipated demographic transition.

The post How Artificial Intelligence Could Widen Gap Between Rich & Poor Nations appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Cristian Alonso is an economist in the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department; Siddharth Kothari is an economist in the IMF’s Asia and Pacific Department’ Sidra Rehman is an economist in the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia Department.

The post How Artificial Intelligence Could Widen Gap Between Rich & Poor Nations appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Categories: Africa

Urgently Needed Deficit Financing No Excuse for More Fiscal Abuse

Tue, 12/08/2020 - 08:22

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram and Anis Chowdhury
KUALA LUMPUR and SYDNEY, Dec 8 2020 (IPS)

Fiscal and monetary measures needed to fight the economic downturn, largely due to COVID-19 policy responses, require more government accountability and discipline to minimise abuse. Such measures should ensure relief for the vulnerable, prevent recessions from becoming depressions, and restore progress.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

They should help the most helpless, especially in the informal sector and casual employment. Efforts should also seek to accelerate structural transformation towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Progress was already falling behind before the pandemic, e.g., on mitigating global warming.

Unconventional measures
The pandemic and policy responses have created a most unusual situation, demanding extraordinary policy responses to mitigate threats to livelihoods and incomes. Bold initiatives are needed to overcome obstacles to sustainable development.

Unconventional solutions need to be considered as the conventional wisdom is part of the problem, especially since the neoliberal counter-revolution against Keynesian and development economics four decades ago.

In recent decades, counter-cyclical fiscal policies over business cycles have been replaced by annually ‘balanced budgets’ and ‘fiscal consolidation’. This has involved spending cuts for public, including social services, and social protection more broadly.

Taxation has become more regressive, with lower direct tax rates, on wealth as well as corporate and personal income, as indirect taxation, mainly on consumption, has grown. Such tax reforms and regressive government spending have worsened inequality.

Deficit financing inflationary?
Publics often presume that governments tax first in order to spend. In practice, they usually spend first, and then tax. Government spending typically requires more borrowing and debt, traditionally by selling bonds and other securities, including to the central bank.

Selling government treasury bonds to the central bank increases money supply, unless the monetary authority correspondingly reduces its other liabilities. Neoliberal critics insist that increasing money supply, popularly referred to by the media as ‘printing money’, must inevitably worsen inflation.

Anis Chowdhury

However, there is overwhelming empirical evidence to the contrary as the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan greatly increased money supply over the last decade. They mainly did so by buying private securities, and getting commercial banks to lend more at lower interest rates.

As such unconventional monetary policies, including ‘quantitative easing’ (QE), in the last decade did not raise prices, there is no reason to presume that central banks buying treasury bonds – to pay for relief, recovery and building a better future – will be inflationary.

Deficit spending ineffective?
Governments can also borrow from the public, e.g., by selling bonds to them. But according to neoliberal beliefs, borrowing from the public will raise the interest rate, ‘crowding out’ private borrowers who cannot afford the higher ‘costs of borrowing’. Hence, they claim, investments will fall, slowing growth.

But for Keynesians, government spending is not inflationary when economic resources are not fully employed or utilised, i.e., as long as there is idle excess capacity, e.g., unemployment.

Keynesians also reject the neoliberal claim that public investment will ‘crowd out’ such private spending. Keynesians stress that economic stagnation discourages private investment. By boosting demand and sales, government spending increases private profits and investment.

Declining private spending or demand thus requires government spending to boost aggregate demand. Government spending on infrastructure, health and education also improves productivity, and hence profitability, offsetting higher borrowing costs. Thus, government spending serves to ‘crowd-in’, not ‘crowd-out’ private investment.

Incoherent, unsupported objections
The ‘Ricardian equivalence’ objection is very different, claiming that when governments borrow, people spend less, in anticipation of higher taxes. This supposedly undermines the intent of greater government spending to raise aggregate demand. But again, there is no strong supporting evidence for this effect.

This argument is not only quite different from the earlier ‘crowding out’ and inflation objections, but also implies that the three neoliberal arguments against deficit financing are mutually contradictory and cannot be coherently sustained.

In contrast, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) found that “debt-financed projects could have large output effects without increasing the debt-to-GDP ratio, if clearly identified infrastructure needs are met through efficient investment”, accelerating recovery from the global financial crisis (GFC).

Similarly, in response to the pandemic induced recessions, the IMF argues that “increasing public investment … could help revive economic activity from the sharpest and deepest global economic collapse in contemporary history”.

‘Sound finance’, fiscal rules
Unfortunately, expansionary fiscal policies are often abused by ‘short-termist’ governments of the day, little concerned about the long- and even medium-term consequences of increased spending, borrowing and debt.

In response, neoliberals invoke ostensible ‘sound finance’ principles. Sound finance seems desirable when spending abuse, wastage and leakages are widespread. However, it has become a pretext for dogmatically opposing bold fiscal measures, however much needed. Neoliberals want fiscal rules to straight-jacket governments, obliging the authorities to balance budgets annually or keep fiscal deficits minimal. Many advocate independent fiscal boards, akin to politically unaccountable ‘independent’ central banks, ostensibly to minimise political influence on government budgetary decisions.

Even when fiscal rules or boards allow some flexibility in times of crisis, or in response to severe shocks, biases towards ‘fiscal consolidation’ and pro-cyclicality run deep, undermining development efforts. Hence, fiscal rules typically hinder, rather than help development.

Counter-cyclical, developmental ‘functional finance’
Instead, ‘functional finance’, proposed by Abba Lerner to mitigate prejudice against fiscal policy activism, is needed. Government spending and taxation policy should instead be consistent with counter-cyclical and developmental fiscal needs.

This was recognised by the Development Committee of the World Bank and IMF in Fiscal Policy for Growth and Development: An Interim Report which observed:
“the problem of fiscal policy design is a reflection of the choice of the fiscal deficit as the policy target. The fiscal deficit is a useful indicator …, but it offers little indication of longer term effects on government assets or on economic growth… There is clearly a need for fiscal policy to incorporate…the likely impact of the level and composition of expenditure and taxation on long-term growth while also maintaining a focus on indicators essential for economic stabilization”.

Oppose abuse, not more spending
Poorly accountable governments often take advantage of real, exaggerated or imagined crises to pursue macroeconomic policies to secure regime survival and to benefit politically well-connected cronies and financial supporters.

Undoubtedly, much better governance, transparency and accountability are needed to minimise the likely immediate and longer-term harm due to ‘leakages’ and abuses associated with increased borrowing and spending.

There has to be much greater discipline and stricter scrutiny of government borrowings, spending and debt, as well as of government-guaranteed liabilities. Consistently counter-cyclical fiscal policy over the course of business cycles provides useful guidance.

Publics and their political representatives, especially in developing countries, must develop more effective modes of disciplining fiscal policy conduct to ensure space for responsible counter-cyclical and developmental spending. However, that task should not block the efforts urgently needed to finance relief, recovery and sustainable development.

Central banks must support governments’ fiscal stimulus packages for relief, recovery and building a better future. This requires complementary fiscal and monetary policies working in tandem for sustainable development.

The post Urgently Needed Deficit Financing No Excuse for More Fiscal Abuse appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Categories: Africa

Lopsided nature of global fashion industry and why change is needed

Mon, 12/07/2020 - 20:58

By Mostafiz Uddin
Dec 7 2020 (IPS-Partners)

The global apparel industry is broken and only urgent, drastic surgery can fix it. I am not talking about another initiative or another public relations exercise. I am talking about deep, systemic change to be agreed by all involved—by brands, by suppliers, governments, unions and NGOs.

Why do I think this? Let us look at the evidence. In the past week several news stories have made headlines around the world. All are interlinked and, together, they paint a picture of an industry which continues to serve one set of interests at the expense of another.

One story is when the latest lockdown ended in the UK, shoppers were said to be queuing in the middle of the night, in the freezing cold, in anticipation of fashion brands opening its doors. People are supposed to be struggling financially in the west, but the fast fashion industry marches onwards. The fashion brands and retailers have had a similarly positive response since reopening stores. Nothing seems to stand in their way.

Story number two concerns a company which I have worked with in the past—Arcadia, which owns British brands Top Man, Top Shop and Burton. Arcadia has this week gone into administration, as has department store, Debenhams. Both have been struggling for some time, and have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. The potential bankruptcy of these two companies will hit hundreds of garment suppliers in Bangladesh. When the liquidators come to pay creditors, suppliers will be way down the list. Many will be lucky to receive anything at all and will take a massive financial hit.

They may complain but they also know that this is just how it is in our industry. In Bangladesh we are at the bottom of the food chain, just like our garment producing compatriots in India, Cambodia, Myanmar and so on.

Taken together both the stories illustrate the completely lopsided nature of the global fashion industry—and tell us why something has to change.

How can it be that in one part of the world, shoppers are queuing through the night to purchase clothing while in another part of the world the manufacturers are suffering by not receiving their legitimate payment. How has our industry reached this state of affairs? The very people who are bearing the brunt are the most vulnerable group of the fashion supply chain—workers.

Failure does not seem to be an option for many western retailers and department stores. In recent years, we have also seen the likes of Sears Corp, Peacocks and Forever 21 in administration or undergoing restructuring. Why? Because they were not making money. They restructure and in that process a lot of their debts with suppliers—yes, that’s people like me—are written off. Then they return and the whole process starts again.

Nobody should begrudge apparel brands and retailers for their success. But we need to think very carefully about how we can ensure the benefits of this success are shared right along the supply chain. If an industry has one part in which companies are making huge profits while in another part, workers are going hungry, something has clearly gone very wrong. Something is out of kilter.

This brings me to the final point relating to Arcadia. When a brand goes bust—as several have during this pandemic—it is always the suppliers and their workers who suffer the most.

We can all also see why retailers are struggling, and they have my sympathy (in some cases). What I fail to understand, however, is how there is not some kind of protection in place for workers when a major brand goes bust. For some time now, there have been calls for some kind of fund or pot which brands would pay into as a part of doing business with garment factories in Asia. This fund would be used to ensure workers are paid severance and legally owed wages in the case of insolvency.

This may sound extreme but we have already seen that brands simply cannot be trusted to protect the workers in their supply chains through voluntary codes of conduct. Yes, there are many brands and retailers who are not only trendsetters but also pioneers in global business in responsibility and practicing ethics as well as taking care of every member including workers. But there are also many who do not care—some of the more glaring examples we have seen during this Covid-19 pandemic.

As suppliers, we cannot depend on the goodwill of brands. It has become clear now that our industry needs binding legislation and supply chain regulation to hold brands to account for respecting human rights in their supply chain.

We cannot as an industry keep talking about things and saying this or that will change in the future. We have been saying these things for decades. Words are all well and good but, sadly for garment workers, they don’t put food on the table.

Mostafiz Uddin is the Managing Director of Denim Expert Limited. He is also the Founder and CEO of Bangladesh Apparel Exchange (BAE).

This story was originally published by The Daily Star, Bangladesh

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Categories: Africa

A UN Power Monopoly That Cries Out for a Break

Mon, 12/07/2020 - 17:14

Ambassador Chowdhury presiding over a Security Council session. Credit: United Nations

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 7 2020 (IPS)

Will four strong contenders for permanent seats in the UN Security Council (UNSC)– Germany, India, Japan and Brazil—help break the monopoly now being held by the big five, namely the US, UK, France, China and Russia?

But if they do eventually succeed in their attempts—after more than 20 years of foot-dragging — they have to put up with what is best described as “second-class citizenship”, because the five, veto-wielding permanent members (P5) have given no indications that any new comers to their ranks will be offered veto powers.

Still, African leaders have long insisted they will not accept any permanent memberships in the UNSC, the only UN body with powers to declare war and peace, without veto powers.

And rightly so, because it entrenches political discrimination at the highest levels in a world body which preaches the virtues of equality to the outside world but refuses to practice it in its own backyard.

Speaking on behalf of the 54-member African Union, and addressing a General Assembly debate back in November 2018, the representative of Sierra Leone made it unequivocally clear “Africa demands no less than two permanent seats, including the veto power, if it remains, and five non permanent seats”.

But that position has not changed—and the deadlock over the reform of the UNSC continues—and perhaps will continue during the rest of the lifetime of the 75-year-old United Nations.

With the appointment of two new envoys — Ambassador Joanna Wronecka of Poland and Ambassador Alya Ahmed Saif Al-Thani of Qatar as co-chairs– there is a renewed attempt to resume the stalled Intergovernmental Negotiations on UNSC reforms.

In an interview with IPS, Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury, a former President of the Security Council (March 2000 and June 2001) held out a bleak prospect: “As a pragmatic, realistic UN watcher and practitioner for nearly 50 years, I believe the painstaking efforts for the SC reform has no prospect for a meaningful achievement and the status quo ante is doomed to continue”.

Asked if the current attempt is just another exercise in political futility, he said any worthwhile initiative to revive the repeatedly stalled efforts for the “Security Council reform” generally creates a nice feel-good ambience full of expectation, full of hope of the otherwise most-attainable success, full of preparations to finally breaking the deadlock.

Such an ambience was perceived in every such occasion of resumption, but unfortunately it ended in coming to a grinding halt with the formal closer of that exercise, said Chowdhury, who was Permanent Representative Bangladesh to the UN (1996-2001) and UN Under-Secretary-General (2002-2007).

However, in the true UN tradition, he pointed out, the agenda-item stays on and every President of the General Assembly (PGA) hopes against hope of a breakthrough.

In fact, resuming that multi-stalled effort for a quarter of a century has given subsequent PGAs a sense of glory and an aura of leadership – and also, many of us a feeling of déjà vu.

Excerpts from the interview:

IPS: Why do you think the exercise is doomed to fail?

Ambassador Chowdhury: What is the rationale basis for exploring “the possibility for the Intergovernmental Negotiations to start early in 2021 and to increase the number of meetings this session…”? Just for the cosmetics of the exercise because the “Security Council reform” is on the agenda of the General Assembly? It should be understood that the general membership of UN and all well-meaning, peace-loving people aware of global realities are not interested in the so-called reform of the Security Council.

There exist bigger challenges facing humanity which require more intense engagement of UN. The much-expected change in view of the Covid-19 pandemic has bypassed the needed change in the divisive negotiating atmosphere at the UN. It is still business as usual.

IPS: What are your thoughts on the expansion of membership of the Security Council?

Ambassador Chowdhury: If the past trends of the UNSC reform exercises are any guide, the reform is envisaging four tiers of Security Council membership – one, five permanent members with veto (known as P-5); two, new permanent members without veto; three, 2-year non-permanent members both existing 10 plus the new ones; and four, the rest of the UN membership who are not the Council members.

Such expansion would not help in any way except adding to lop-sidedness of UNSC work and satisfying the nationalistic aspirations of new permanent members. The lofty objective of the reform exercise to reflect the realities of the current expanded UN membership of 193 would lose all credibility if this is the intended outcome.

Also, it is absolutely fair to allocate two permanent seats to Africa as it is the largest regional group along with the fact that it did not have any permanent seat since the creation of the UN.

IPS: Do you think the closed, non-transparent decision-making by the Security Council is an area concern in the reform exercise?

Ambassador Chowdhury: By itself, the current SC decision making is not what the Charter had envisaged – role of P-5 occasionally joined by their “friendly” non-permanent members make a mockery of their responsibility for the maintenance of the international peace and security as the SC members.

The history of the Council decision-making makes it clear that its membership has been basically used for reflecting national perspectives and advancing the geo-strategic objectives of the P-5. Like many, I believe any meaningful reform of the Council has to start with the abolition of veto.

It is well-known to all keen UN watchers how the veto — or in most cases the threat of veto — has been used and abused during 75 years of UN’s existence to subvert the best interests of global peace and security.

IPS: In addition to the issue of expansion, the reform of the working methods is also being addressed. How this concern can be addressed properly?

Ambassador Chowdhury: Working methods reform would not work just readjusting the procedural functions – without changing the policy considerations, without coming out of the failed state-oriented security strategies and replacing those with more people-oriented human security-oriented strategies.

Reforming working methods without change of policy orientation would only be robotic in nature, without any focus on human dimensions of the Council’s actions.

IPS: Civil society has called, again and again, for an opportunity to present their thoughts on the SC reform. Is that deemed useful and necessary?

Ambassador Chowdhury: Though the “process is an intergovernmental one and thereby Member States-driven”, as PGA has reiterated, absence of civil society involvement would seriously undermine the role and contribution of “We the Peoples …”.

When civil society in general feels it has no role, no opportunity to share its points of view, I believe that such a narrow non-inclusive, non-participatory exercise is bound to fail. PGA himself has also asserted that “civil society is the pillar of democracy, and we must, after some time, find a way that civil society is (re)presented here”.

IPS: What are some of the biggest failures of the UNSC over the years?

Ambassador Chowdhury: I would not go into identifying the cases where the Security Council failed big — the global peace and security situation testifies for that. I would rather identify the reasons which caused those failures and would continue to do so in future, again and again.

Structural issues and leadership opportunities within the Council is a major impediment. P-5 is happy with the status quo – the way the Council works – because they have shaped it that way over the years to their advantage. All the substantive change initiatives have come from the 2-year tenure of non-permanent members.

The pro-active role and guidance of the Secretary-General to the Security Council, without being unduly mindful of P-5 “sensitivities,” can bring in marked change in the directions of the Council’s work. PGA has identified that “the Secretary-General is the engine and the transmission system”. After all, the Secretary-General has the moral authority and full mandate of the high office he holds.

IPS: Is big power rivalry, and protection of client states, one of the reasons for the frequent deadlocks in the UNSC over the years?

Ambassador Chowdhury: Not only big power rivalry has caused deadlocks, big power “collaboration” has also resulted in halting a positive initiative in the best interest of the Security Council from the non-permanent members. My own experience as the President of the Security Council in March 2000 explains that situation amply when I initiated the political and conceptual changes in the Council to recognize the equal participation and age-old contributions of women in global peace and security which finally resulted in the adoption of the most-widely acclaimed UN Security Council Resolution 1325.

Here, I would add that the only silver lining I find in the resumption of the reform negotiations is the fact that the two Co-Chairs (Ambassadors of Poland and Qatar) are both eminent women Permanent Representatives to the UN and, of course, fully qualified for this onerous and complicated responsibility.

The post A UN Power Monopoly That Cries Out for a Break appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Categories: Africa

Choice and Opportunity for African Farmers Will Transform Africa

Mon, 12/07/2020 - 11:13

Groundnut farm in Torit, South Sudan. Credit: Isaiah Esipisu/IPS.

By Agnes Kalibata
NAIROBI, Dec 7 2020 (IPS)

’A hungry man is not a free man. He cannot focus on anything else but securing his next meal.’ So proclaimed the late Kofi Annan.

In 2003, Kofi Annan and a like-minded group of African leaders recognized hunger as a complex crisis on the continent.

They saw the eradication of hunger as not just an end in itself – but the first step towards sustainable development and progress, requiring the transformation of African agriculture.

In order to address this, three momentous events occurred at that time. In 2003, the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) was launched to provide a policy framework for the transformation of African agriculture.

We need African solutions to African problems. When an African farmer has access to better technology and finance, they see improved productivity, food security and income. Most of the big mistakes in development have happened when external actors have foisted their ideas and ideologies on the continent

In 2006, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), the organization I lead, was established to turn these ideas into reality. We are founded on the belief that the only way to do this is at scale – and yet with a focus on the farmer.

And the Africa Fertilizer conference was held, to increase access to crop nourishment – identified as the weakest link in the farming chain.

These measures have reaped rewards.

Across Africa, we have directly reached millions of farmers with increased access to technology, investment in research, financial support or training.

Significant investment was put into access to inputs – especially improved seeds, and soil health management technologies.

For instance, we have helped establish over 110 African seed companies, with some 700,000 tonnes of seed now available to 20 million farmers. Countries like Ghana and Mali had no seed suppliers, and now have an average of six each.

Across our programme countries, a network of 30,000 agri-preneurs now serve farmers.

Healthy soil is fundamental to a productive global food system. However, many smallholder farmers do not have means to prevent or address soil degradation problems. As the world commemorates the World Soil Day, we are encouraged that our soil fertility management techniques are helping reverse decades of soil depletion wherever we work.

We have taken the lead in providing evidence to governments on the value and challenges of subsidies being used in agriculture. We advocate for national policies that benefit smallholder farmers. We support upgraded storage facilities, better market information systems, stronger farmers’ associations, and more credit for farmers and suppliers.

There is still much to do, however. There are approximately 45 million farmers on the continent – African governments and investors must reach all of them if we are to see an end to poverty and hunger.

There are also new challenges. Climate change has the potential to reverse the continent’s hard won gains.

Desertification threatens productive lands. Locusts, armyworm and diseases like the Maize Lethal Necrosis wipe out the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands. Currently, COVID-19 is pushing tens of millions more into malnutrition, while farmers see their choices diminished.

As a proud African, I share Kofi Annan’s optimism and conviction. Africa will prevail, it can eliminate poverty.

I know that a major way of making this happen is through smallholder farmers. I have personally seen smallholders change at scale in Rwanda when government puts its weight behind transformative programs.

As a catalyst for change, AGRA is on track. The eleven countries we support have all advanced in the last ten years through hard work and investment. With ten years to go to meet the Sustainable Development Goals, it is important now to reflect on progress, and positioning for future gains.

Inclusive agriculture transformation is not a quick fix. It requires a long-term focus. We estimate US $25-35 billion a year of investment is needed to transform the continent’s agriculture, while an unparalleled coalition for change is required.

Ultimately, we need African solutions to African problems. When an African farmer has access to better technology and finance, they see improved productivity, food security and income.

Most of the big mistakes in development have happened when external actors have foisted their ideas and ideologies on the continent. This is why AGRA focuses on its unique position as an African institution.

African farmers deserve the same opportunities enjoyed by farmers in Europe and North America. They do not want to be stuck with 40-year-old seed varieties. When given the chance, we have seen adoption rates of 90% of new seeds in countries like Nigeria and Burkina Faso.

On a recent visit to Kiambu in Kenya, women farmers explained to me how they are happy to spend more on seeds that mature in half the time, increasing yields.

In these difficult times, there has never been a greater need for agricultural transformation. Through COVID-19, our farmers have shown great resilience, and AGRA has been on hand to support this.

To achieve Kofi Annan’s vision, we certainly need further support and investment for farmers. We must also learn as we go forward and be humble.

Our focus must always be on the needs, capabilities and choices of smallholder farmers themselves – this must be our ‘North Star’ objective, for agriculture is nothing without the farmer.

Dr. Agnes Kalibata is the President of The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), and UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for the Food System’s Summit

The post Choice and Opportunity for African Farmers Will Transform Africa appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Categories: Africa

Mexico Sticks to Natural Gas, Despite Socioenvironmental Impacts

Mon, 12/07/2020 - 09:55

"I use gas", announces a minibus driving along a street in Mexico City. Natural gas is becoming increasingly widely used as fuel for public transportation in Mexico, coming mainly from the United States where it is extracted through hydraulic fracturing or fracking, a technique that requires high volumes of water and toxic chemicals. CREDIT: Emilio Godoy/IPS

By Emilio Godoy
Mexico City, Dec 7 2020 (IPS)

In his community of small farmers and ranchers in northern Mexico, Aristeo Benavides has witnessed the damage caused by the natural gas industry, which has penetrated collectively owned landholdings, altering local communities’ way of life and forms of production.

“They leave us nothing,” the farmer told IPS over the phone. “They tell us it’s for progress, but it’s their progress. We always lose out. When they drilled gas wells, they didn’t fence in the areas, they didn’t provide maintenance, the wells aren’t well cared for. There is a lot of underground water here that can be contaminated.”

Benavides lives 500 metres from the Los Ramones II Norte gas pipeline, which runs through five states and was sold in 2017 by the state oil company Pemex to two private entities: Infraestructura Energética Nova, a subsidiary of the U.S.-based Sempra Energy, and BlackRock, a U.S. investment fund.

The community of Benavides Grande and Benavides Olivares, with an area of 65,000 hectares and some 6,000 inhabitants, covers five municipalities in the state of Nuevo León, about 750 km northeast of Mexico City.

The members of the community, whose spokesman is Benavides, have been fighting for years against what they consider harassment and invasion of their collectively owned land by the oil and gas industry, and have achieved some victories in the courts.

In the vicinity of their land, Pemex drilled two gas wells in 2013 using hydraulic fracturing or fracking, a drilling technique that requires large volumes of chemicals and water to extract natural gas embedded in deep shale.

Academics and environmental organisations opposed to fracking argue that it pollutes water tables, induces earthquakes and emits greenhouse gases responsible for global warming.

In 2019, both wells experienced gas leaks, and the community demanded that Pemex seal them. “We talked to them several times, it took them a week to repair the leaks. And they haven’t come back to examine them. Besides, people steal gas from the pipeline, and a tragic accident could happen,” Benavides said.

Despite the social conflicts and environmental consequences, Mexico has stepped up the pace of the gasification of the country, laying pipelines and building power plants, supported by cheap imports from the United States and encouraged by the energy reform of 2013 that opened the industry to private national and international capital.

This gas well drilled by means of fracking near the Benavides Grande and Benavides Olivares community in the state of Nuevo León in northeastern Mexico suffered a leak in 2019. CREDIT: Courtesy of Aristeo Benavides

In the northern state of Sonora, the Yaqui people, one of the 67 indigenous groups living in Mexico, managed to block the construction of the private El Oro-Guaymas gas pipeline since 2017, in a campaign that generated friction among native communities and left people wounded and dead, as well as causing material damage.

The construction project “was analyzed, a consultation for public input was held, the damage was assessed and work was done to repair and mitigate the effects,” Tomás Rojo, a Yaqui spokesman, told IPS by telephone from the community of Vícam. “Seven towns gave their approval, but one did not. They felt it was a risk, and I don’t think the company wants to commit violence against the people.”

In 2017, residents of the village of Loma de Bácum dug up pipes and prevented the completion of the 330-km-long mega-project, 18 of which run through that community.

In August, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador signed an agreement with the Yaquis to divert the route of the pipeline to skirt that area, making it possible to finish laying the pipeline.

Still an oil-producing country, but on the decline

Mexico is the world’s 12th largest oil producer and 17th largest natural gas producer. It ranks 20th in terms of proven oil reserves and 37th in proven natural gas deposits. But its position in the oil industry is declining due to the scarcity of easily extractable hydrocarbons.

An ad for household gas at a bus stop in Mexico City. The Mexican government promotes the exploitation, distribution and consumption of natural gas, despite the social conflicts and environmental impacts that the industry causes. CREDIT: Emilio Godoy/IPS

Since he took office in December 2018, left-leaning President López Obrador has been promoting fossil fuels. But domestic gas production is on the decline, from 6,401 million cubic feet per day (mpcd) in 2015 to 4,853 in September, as the emphasis has been on crude oil.

Exports fell from 2,700 mpcd in 2015 to 1,000 in September, and imports from 1,415 mpcd in 2015 to 843 in September, because the state-owned Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) is burning fuel oil again.

A network of gas pipelines, with 27 state-owned and private lines covering 18,889 km, has been deployed for distribution throughout the vast territory of this country of 130 million people.

In addition, the CFE is building a section in the southeastern state of Yucatan, and three others are planned to carry the fuel to the south and southeast, while another three have been blocked by opposition from local communities.

The gas is received by 48 thermoelectric, combined-cycle plants – which burn gas to generate steam for electricity – and turbogas units, both state-owned and private. And another 10 combined-cycle plants are under construction.

Another indication of the emphasis on natural gas is the number of permits for transporting gas granted by the government’s Energy Regulatory Commission. There are 276 gas transport permits, of which 230 are already operational, 263 for transfer by pipeline (218 active) and 13 for semi-trailers (12 in operation).

All this is reflected in the public budget for the sector. In 2020, the CFE allocated more than 2.0 billion dollars to transport gas, and for 2021 it projects a total of 2.65 billion.

The construction of gas pipelines has generated conflicts with communities opposed to these mega-projects, as well as generating methane. The image is a screenshot taken by IPS from a video of the construction of the Los Ramones gas pipeline in Tamaulipas, in northeast Mexico. CREDIT: Video by the government of Tamaulipas

Natural gas consists primarily of methane, which is 86 times more powerful as an agent of global warming over a 20-year period than carbon dioxide (CO2). The National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change calculated a natural gas emission factor for six areas of Mexico of 2.27 kg of CO2/m3, although it is lower than the emission factors for coal and fuel oil.

Atmospheric problem

With more gas being sourced and flared, the country faces a growing problem with methane. In 2019, the country vented 4.48 billion m3, the ninth largest amount in the world.

In terms of intensity, the proportion reached 7.21 m3 per barrel of oil produced, higher than the previous record of 5.39 set in 2014, according to figures from the Global Gas Flaring Reduction Partnership, promoted by the World Bank with the goal of eradicating routine flaring by 2030 and made up of 17 countries, 12 oil companies, the European Union and two financial institutions.

Fossil fuels are behind methane emissions. The International Energy Agency, an intergovernmental organisation of the world’s largest consumers, estimated a total of 724,000 tons of methane from hydrocarbons – including 155,000 tons from gas – in 2019.

In addition, the López Obrador administration has kept fracking on its agenda, despite constant claims that it is not using the technique.

Sergio Sañudo, a professor in the biological and earth sciences departments at the private University of Southern California, told IPS that “there has been a setback under this government. Mexico continues to do the same old thing. It generates complete dependence on the United States, and when the U.S. closes the valve, what will Mexico do? Mexico ties itself to hydrocarbons and that serves as an outlet for the gas.”

The solution, he continued, lies in the United States abandoning fracking so that Mexico would not import more fuel and would promote renewable energy sources.

Benavides says his community is very aware of the climate crisis, because it has seen the changes. “There have been hailstorms, temperature changes, there is little rain,” he said. “These are things we haven’t seen before. For everything that happens, the earth will get back at us. For how many months did that gas go into the atmosphere, because of the leaks?”

Sañudo urged Mexico to distance itself from natural gas. “It is not a fuel for the energy transition to cleaner sources. It is not the panacea it was thought to be. It can no longer compete with renewables,” he argued.

The post Mexico Sticks to Natural Gas, Despite Socioenvironmental Impacts appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Categories: Africa

Biden’s Opportunity To End Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Mon, 12/07/2020 - 08:09

Time is running out fast. Thousands of jobs could be lost if the financial situation of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) doesn't improve promptly, says Philippe Lazzarini, the organization's commissioner-general. Credit: United Nations

By Alon Ben-Meir
NEW YORK, Dec 7 2020 (IPS)

Recently I had an opportunity to brief a group of European diplomats and journalists on a variety of conflicts, with a focus on the Middle East. During the Q&A I was asked which of the region’s conflicts Biden should tackle first.

Without much hesitation I said the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, not only because it is over seven decades old, but because it is an increasingly intractable, explosive, and destabilizing situation, which reverberates throughout the Mideast, and several regional powers are exploiting it to serve their own national interests, which sadly contributes to its endurance.

It is expected that Biden will support a two-state solution given his past position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, albeit a growing number of Israelis and Palestinians no longer believe that such an outcome remains viable.

I disagree with this belief: the Palestinians will never give up their right to establish an independent state of their own, and the one-state solution, which is being floated as an alternative, will never be accepted by the Israelis, because that would compromise the Jewish national identity of the state and undercut its democratic nature.

Due to the inter-dispersement of the Israeli and Palestinian populations, the two independent states, however, will have to fully collaborate in many areas, especially on security and economic development. This will lead to the establishment of the framework for a confederation, which will be the final outcome after several years of peace and reconciliation.

For Biden to succeed where his predecessors failed, he must repair the severe damage that Trump has inflicted on the entire peace process and restore the Palestinians’ confidence in a new negotiation that could, in fact, lead to a permanent solution.

To that end, he must take specific measures before the start of the talks and establish rules of engagements to which both sides must fully subscribe to demonstrate their commitment to reaching an agreement.

Preliminary Measures

Reestablish the PLO mission in DC: Biden should allow the Palestinian Authority (PA) to reestablish its mission in DC. This would immediately open a channel of communication which is central to the development of a dialogue between the US and the PA and to clear some of the initial hurdles before resuming the negotiations.

Resuming financial aid: It is essential that Biden restore the financial aid that the Palestinians had been receiving from the US. The Palestinian Authority is financially strapped and is in desperate need of assistance. The aid given should be monitored to ensure that the money is spent on specific program and projects.

Prohibiting territorial annexation: The Biden administration should inform the Israeli government that it will object to any further annexation of Palestinian territories. It will, however, keep the American embassy in Jerusalem and continue recognizing Jerusalem as its capital, leaving its final status to be negotiated.

Freezing settlement expansion: Given the intense controversy about the settlements and their adverse psychological and practical effect on the Palestinians, Biden should insist that Israel impose a temporary freeze on the expansion of settlements. This issue should top the negotiating agenda to allow for a later expansion of specific settlements in the context of land swaps.

Invite Hamas to participate: The Biden administration should invite Hamas to participate in the negotiations jointly with the PA or separately, provided they renounce violence and recognize Israel’s right to exist. If they refuse, they should be left to their own devices and continue to bear the burden of the blockade.

Appoint professional and unbiased mediators: Unlike Trump’s envoys who openly supported the settlements and paid little or no heed to the Palestinians’ aspirations, Biden’s envoys should be known for their integrity, professionalism, and understanding of the intricacies of the conflict, and be committed to a two-state solution.

Invite Arab and European observers: The Arab states and the EU are extremely vested in a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Saudi and German officials will be ideal observers who can render significant help in their unique capacity as leading Arab and European powers.

Rules of engagement

Establishing the end game: No negotiations succeed unless the parties involved agree on the nature of their desired outcome. For the Palestinians it is establishing an independent Palestinian state, and for Israelis it is maintaining the security and independence of a democratic Jewish state. Before embarking on new negotiations, the Biden administration should insist that both sides unequivocally commit to a two-state outcome.

Acknowledging historical and psychological impediments: Both sides have paid little heed in the past to the need to understand each other’s historic experiences—the Holocaust for the Israelis and the Nakba (catastrophe) for the Palestinians—which they subconsciously use as protective shields. Acknowledging each other’s respective traumatic experiences would help mitigate the psychological impediments which continue to feed into the mutual distrust and hatred.

Ending public acrimony: No negotiations can be conducted in good faith in an atmosphere of mutual public acrimony, as had been the case in all prior peace talks. An integral part of any negotiating process is to build trust, which cannot be nurtured while denouncing each other publicly. Leaders on both sides must end acrimonious statements, as their respective publics will have no faith in negotiations under such an atmosphere.

Renouncing and preventing violence: Both sides must commit not only to renouncing violence but to doing everything in their power to prevent acts of violence against one another. To be sure, nothing is more disruptive to the negotiations than a wanton act of violence.

To that end, both sides need to fully collaborate on all security matters and send a clear massage, especially to extremists on both sides, that violence will not be tolerated and perpetrators will suffer severe consequences.

Delinking and “banking” agreed-upon issues: What will be necessary in future talks is to commit to “bank” any agreement reached on a specific issue, delink it from all others, and not subject it to renegotiations should the talks stall or collapse. This would prevent the resumption of negotiations from ground zero and allow for the building blocks that could eventually lead to an agreement.

In that regard, five critical issues—the settlements, Jerusalem, the Palestinian refugees, national security, and borders—have been hashed and rehashed ad nauseum in past negotiations. The Biden team should identify any common denominator on these issues to prevent renegotiating certain elements over which both sides have already agreed.

Establishing a process of reconciliation: The negotiating process must simultaneously be accompanied by a process of reconciliation. Both sides must initiate widespread people-to-people interactions to gradually mitigate the deep animosity and distrust between them which cannot simply be negotiated away.

Israelis and Palestinians should engage in many activities, including sports, performing arts, tourism, development projects, and student interactions, to foster trust and confidence that peaceful coexistence is possible.

Keeping the public informed: Given that both sides will be required to make significant concessions, it will be imperative to keep their respective publics informed about the progress being made in the negotiations to engender support.

Keeping the public in the dark, as was the practice in past, prevented the public from developing any vested interest in the negotiating process and its successful outcome.

The failure of both sides to agree in the past to establish and be governed by the above rules of engagement clearly suggests that neither side negotiated in good faith. The Biden administration must insist that Israelis and Palestinians accept the above rules if they want to resume the negotiations in earnest. Otherwise, the new talks will be nothing but an exercise in futility.

Sadly though, the current leaders in Israel and Palestine are not in a position to enter into serious negotiations, and must leave the political scene before Biden resumes new talks. Prime Minister Netanyahu is on record opposing the establishment of a Palestinian state; he is also facing three criminal charges of corruption, and in spite of his impressive accomplishments, he may well have outlived his usefulness.

President Abbas too has taken a hard position in connection with the settlements, Jerusalem, and the refugees, and it will be nearly impossible for him to make any significant concession and survive politically.

He is also “too comfortable” in his position and does not want to leave the political scene accused of having sold the Palestinian cause. In the interim, Biden should reiterate the US commitment to Israel’s national security and his support for the establishment of a Palestinian state, giving a clear signal that only moderation will win the day.

The US remains the indispensable power that can bring both sides to an enduring peace, because no other power can exert the kind of influence needed to reach a breakthrough.

For the Biden administration to bring this about, it must play an active role by advancing its own ideas and put its foot down when necessary because neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians can have it only their way, and certainly not without direct US involvement.

As president, Biden has a momentous opportunity to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and both sides will do well to grasp the moment.

The post Biden’s Opportunity To End Israeli-Palestinian Conflict appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Dr. Alon Ben-Meir is a professor of international relations at the Center for Global Affairs at New York University (NYU) and teaches courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies

The post Biden’s Opportunity To End Israeli-Palestinian Conflict appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Categories: Africa

Safe at home or scared at home?

Sun, 12/06/2020 - 21:18

By Shaheen Anam
Dec 6 2020 (IPS-Partners)

If one is asked, where do you feel most safe and secure? The answer will invariably be “my home”.

Unfortunately, that is not true for millions of women around the globe who suffer domestic violence at the hands of intimate partners every day of their lives, living in constant fear of being beaten, sexually or verbally abused. As per a WHO study, 35 percent women worldwide suffer physical or sexual intimate partner violence and as many as 38 percent of all murders of women are committed by their partners. One in every four women have suffered domestic abuse at least once in their lifetime. What more evidence is required to prove WOMEN ARE NOT SAFE IN THEIR HOMES?

The scenario in Bangladesh is no different. The BBS reported in a 2011 study that 87 percent women have suffered some form of domestic violence out of which 65 percent faced direct physical abuse. The number came down to 80 percent in the 2015 survey with physical violence at 49 percent, but the report nonetheless states that on average almost two thirds (72.6 percent) of every-married woman in Bangladesh have experienced some form of partner violence in their lifetime.

By all accounts this is a damning indictment of the position of women in their families and the way they are treated. With already such high prevalence of domestic violence, the present pandemic and ensuing lockdown only exacerbated an already grim situation. As per a Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF) survey, from April to September, 37,512 women and children in selected locations suffered domestic violence ranging from physical, sexual and mental abuse. Early marriage increased as parents were eager to get rid of their “burden” when income came down and one can only imagine the sexual violence endured by these young girls during the lockdown. Across Brac’s 408 legal aid clinics, there was a 69 percent increase in violence against women and girls in 2020 compared to the year 2019.

Of all forms of violence, domestic violence is the most pervasive, carried out over a long period of time with little hope of getting justice. The much acclaimed Domestic Violence Prevention Act 2010 has been almost impossible to implement. Ten years after its enactment, only a few cases have been lodged (234 by ASK and 147 by Blast). The economic vulnerability of women prevents them from filing cases against their husbands, as one woman said, “Tare niya gele amra khamu ki?” (“what will we live by if he is taken away?”), proving that mere enactment of laws without appropriate structures of support does not ensure implementation.

Domestic violence has its roots in socio-cultural norms and practices. Condoned by religion and tradition it is another manifestation of patriarchy that thrives on unequal power relations within the family and stems from the pervasive belief that men are superior to women and therefore have the right to control every aspect of their lives. Discrimination starts from birth with male preference and continues throughout a woman’s life cycle. Even with gender parity in education, a girl is most likely to drop out from school during any crisis, financial, natural or health related. More than 50 percent of girls are married off before they reach the legal age of 18 and pushed into a physical and social relationship that they are not prepared for. Marital rape is not recognised in laws enacted to protect women from violence—I would like remind readers of the recent death of a 14-year-old girl from Tangail due to genital bleeding a month after her marriage to a 34-year-old man.

The social acceptance of domestic violence even by victims themselves is what makes it so dangerous and insidious. Another study revealed 34 percent women aged 14-59 believe that a husband hitting his wife is justified (UN & BBS ). A rural woman went as far as to say, “If my husband beats me and I bleed, that blood will go to heaven”. It is precisely this kind of brainwashing through sermons and misuse of religion over the years that has reinforced a husband’s right to use physical violence and has instilled in the minds of women that it is okay to be beaten by their husbands.

There is no doubt that women in Bangladesh have made great progress. However, women are not one homogenous group and while middle class educated women have negotiated for themselves a relatively better position, the majority of women continue to suffer discrimination and unequal treatment by family members and society at large. While we have attained gender parity in education, there are few options for employment for young girls who come out of schools as a mother once asked me: “I have taken great pains to educate my daughter till 8th grade, now you tell me what should I do with her?” The situation of women who stay home as homemakers is even worse. There is no recognition of their contribution as even their productive work is considered “household work”—of little value. During lockdown, a jobless man exclaimed, “I have fed you for so long don’t bother me anymore,” which means the woman supposedly did nothing but consume while he did all the work. Women get no respect for the countless hours they spend taking care of every need of the family and beyond, plus little recognition for the fact that the entire care economy depends on them.

The BBS report of 2015, that almost two thirds ( 72.6 percent) of ever- married women in Bangladesh have experienced some form of partner violence in their lifetime, is not only a shocking revelation for society but also an indictment of what we as women rights activists have been doing for several decades. Perhaps it is time to reflect on our strategies and interventions. Have we been able to convey the right message to men, boys or families? After all, these men who abuse their wives are members of the society that we live in. What makes them behave in such abusive ways? Is it something in their socialisation or it is our education system that does not teach respect for all human beings? The traditional image of women in their pre-determined roles is ingrained in the psyche of men, on the other hand, society’s expectation of men is to be tough, in control and if need be, brutal to prove their manhood. This lethal combination can only be addressed by challenging patriarchy which lies at the root of women’s unequal position.

Finally, our experience tells us that addressing domestic violence is the most difficult. The challenges are at various levels, cultural, traditional, religious and economical. However, we have seen changes over the years. What was considered a family concern has been brought out in the public domain. Women are willing to complain, talk about it and seek help. Many more men and boys are standing in solidarity with us and raising their voices. We have to amplify these voices, launch massive campaigns to change societies perception about women. Most importantly, raise our girls to be confident to resist violence and teach boys that abusive behaviour and actions are unacceptable, is against the law and will have consequences. Only then, someday perhaps, we will be able to say women are not living in constant fear and are safe in their homes.

Shaheen Anam is Executive Director, Manusher Jonno Foundation.

This story was originally published by The Daily Star, Bangladesh

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Categories: Africa

When Big Powers Clash, the UN’s Most Powerful Body Disappears

Fri, 12/04/2020 - 16:10

UN Security Council in session. Credit: United Nations

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 4 2020 (IPS)

At the height of the Cold War back in the 1960s, a Peruvian diplomat, Dr. Victor Andres Belaunde, characterized the United Nations as a politically wobbly institution that survives only at the will– and pleasure– of the five big powers.

Simplifying his argument in more realistic terms, he said: “When two small powers have a dispute, the dispute disappears. When a great power and a small power are in conflict, the small power disappears. And when two great powers have a dispute, the United Nations disappears.”

And more appropriately, it is the UN Security Council (UNSC) that vanishes into oblivion, particularly when big powers clash, warranting a ceasefire, not in some distant military conflict, but inside the UNSC chamber itself.

The only international body with the primary responsibility for the maintenance of global peace and security, the UNSC has often remained in a state of near-paralysis, particularly when the five veto-wielding members (the P-5)—namely the US, UK and France (in one corner) and China and Russia (on the other)— are determined to protect either their national interests, or the interests of political and military allies and client states.

As the New York Times pointed out last week, the world now has to cope with the new political realities of an “aggressive Russia” and a “rising China” which will continue to be reflected in the Security Council chamber.

After nearly 75 years in existence, one of the UNSC’s biggest single failures is its inability to end the Israeli occupation of Palestine—or even ensure the implementation of its own resolutions.

The UNSC has also remained either frozen or failed to help resolve some of the ongoing military conflicts and civil insurrections worldwide, including in Syria, Yemen, Libya, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Hongkong, Somalia, Western Sahara, and most recently, Ethiopia, among others.

Stephen Zunes, Professor of Politics and coordinator of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of San Francisco who has written authoritatively on the politics of the Security Council, told IPS perhaps the biggest failure has been the UNSC’s inability to effectively respond to the illegal expansion by some member states of their territory by force.

“It was such aggression by the Axis powers in World War II that led to the UN’s founding and the categorical prohibition of such invasions in the UN Charter. Yet Israel and Morocco, protected by the veto power of allies on the Security Council, continue their illegal occupation and colonization of territories (Palestine and Western Sahara respectively) they forcibly took over”. Similarly, he argued. Russia has effectively gotten away with its occupation of Crimea.

The Security Council, Zunes pointed out, was unable to enforce its resolutions regarding Indonesia’s conquest of East Timor and apartheid South Africa’s continued occupation of Namibia until global civil society campaigns forced them to eventually withdraw decades later.

If the Security Council cannot even prevent member states from invading and occupying other nations, something that the UN’s founders assumed the world body would insure would remain a historic anachronism, how can it be expected to address more complex problems? asked Zunes.

Meanwhile, after more than 20 years of failed negotiations, the current President of the General Assembly (PGA) Volkan Bozkir of Turkey is making another attempt at reforming the UNSC, including expanding its current membership of 15.

Ambassador Joanna Wronecka of Poland and Ambassador Alya Ahmed Saif Al-Thani of Qatar have been appointed co-chairs to continue with the stalled Intergovernmental Negotiations on reforming the UNSC.

Asked if big power rivalry, and protection of client states, were some of the reasons for the frequent deadlocks in the UNSC over the years, Zunes said the United States prides itself on the principle of the universal applicability of domestic law–that is, the decision to uphold certain legal principles should not be based on an individual’s politics, position, of personal connections.

However, when it comes to international law, the United States has pushed the United Nations to use force or impose tough sanctions towards adversarial nations regarding weapons proliferation, support for terrorism, and conquest of neighboring states while blocking the UN from taking any effective action towards allies guilty of the same offenses.

Meanwhile, he pointed out the United States and Russia have abused their veto power to protect Israel and Syria respectively from accountability for major violations of international humanitarian law.

Ultimately, the failure is not with the United Nations system. It is the failure of the United States and other P5 members to live up to their responsibility as Security Council members to enforce the Charter and related international legal statutes based on their merit, not on narrow geo-political interests, said Zunes, a columnist and senior analyst, Foreign Policy in Focus.

Bozkir said last month the early appointment of the co-chairs should allow for Member States to start their consultations in a timely manner – and he encouraged delegations to look into starting the intergovernmental negotiations early in 2021 and increasing the number of meetings this session.

He said dialogue among Member States is the most effective way to move this process forward and the membership and working methods of the Security Council must reflect the realities of the 21st century.

Brenden Varma, Spokesperson for the President, told reporters the President hopes that, through active engagement of Member States and pragmatic approaches, “we would be able to make meaningful progress on this difficult issue”. The President was committed to support this process in an impartial, objective and open-minded manner, said Varma

On the question of equitable representation and an increase in the membership of the Security Council, about 113 Member States (out of 122 who submitted their positions in a Framework Document), support expansion in both of the existing categories.

Currently, the UNSC has five permanent members and 10 non-permanent members who are elected to serve two-year terms on the basis of geographical rotation.

The potential candidates for permanent memberships include India, Japan and Germany, with South Africa or Nigeria (in Africa) and Brazil or Argentina (in Latin America). But any new permanent members are unlikely to have veto powers – a privilege only the P-5 countries will exercise as their “legitimate birthright”.

But, considering the deadlock, and the implicit opposition from the P-5, what are the chances of significant changes in both the composition and working of the UNSC?

Asked if the current attempt at reforming the Security Council is just another exercise in political futility, Zunes said: “There is no serious chance that the P5 will allow these reforms to go through any time soon”.

However, repeatedly calling attention to the undemocratic and unrepresentative nature of the Security Council is important to mobilize the world’s governments and global civil society to press harder to make the United Nations live up to its mission, he declared.

The writer can be contacted at thalifdeen@ips.org

http://www.ipsnews.net/author/thalif-deen/

The post When Big Powers Clash, the UN’s Most Powerful Body Disappears appeared first on Inter Press Service.

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