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Hundreds of thousands of people took part in protests across Slovakia in the weeks after journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kusnirova were killed, eventually forcing the resignation of the Prime Minister and Interior Minister. Credit: Ed Holt/IPS

By Ed Holt
BRATISLAVA, Apr 8 2020 (IPS)

Journalists and rights activists have welcomed the jailing of a man for the murders of Slovak investigative reporter Jan Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kusnirova, but say others involved in the killings must be convicted too if justice is to be fully served.

Self-confessed hired killer Miroslav Marcek, 37, was sentenced to 23 years in jail by a Slovak court this week.

At a hearing in January he had pleaded guilty to murdering the couple, both 27, in February 2018. He shot the pair at Kuciak’s home in Velka Maca, 40 miles east of the Slovak capital Bratislava.

But three other people – Tomas Szabo, Alena Zsuszova, and Marian Kocner – are also on trial over the murders and groups including the Slovak anti-corruption and rights movement Za slusne Slovensko (For a Decent Slovakia), which was formed in response to the killings, said it wanted to see everyone involved brought to justice.

“It is extremely important that the intermediaries and those who ordered the murder of Jan Kuciak are tried and punished….we await further convictions,” the group said in a Facebook post after Marcek’s sentencing.

The killings of Kuciak and Kusnirova shocked the nation and prompted the largest mass protests in the country since the fall of communism.

Prime Minister Robert Fico and Interior Minister Robert Kalinak were forced to resign, and the head of the police service later stepped down.

Police said that the murders were related to Kuciak’s work as an investigative journalist – Kuciak’s last story had exposed alleged links between Italian mafia and Fico’s Social Democracy party – and the subsequent investigation uncovered alleged links between politicians, prosecutors, judges, and police officers and the people allegedly involved in the killings.

At the centre of this was Kocner, a powerful local businessman with alleged links to organised crime, whom Kuciak had written about.

Charged with ordering Kuciak’s murder, for many he has become the central figure in the trial and a symbol of deep-rooted corruption at the highest levels of the state.

Following Marcek’s sentencing, attention has already turned to what sentence Kocner, if he is found guilty, will receive.

While some, including relatives of the murdered couple, said Marcek should have been jailed for even longer, others said that it was key that Kocner is seen to be given an even harsher sentence.

Pavol Szalai, head of European Union and Balkans Desk at press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF), told IPS: “I would not want to comment on whether Marcek’s sentence is long enough or not. What is important though is that if Kocner is found guilty he is given an exemplary sentence – a whole life sentence meaning he will stay in prison until the end of his natural life.

“For the mastermind of the murder, Marcek was dispensable, he was someone who was hired to kill. What is important is that if Kocner – who is allegedly the mastermind – had not ordered the killing, there would have been no murder of Jan Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova.”

Writing on the Slovak news website Aktuality.sk, where Kuciak was employed, comment writer Dag Danis, made a similar call.

He said after Marcek was sentenced: “The court should save the harshest punishment for Marian Kocner, who, according to prosecutors, ordered the ‘disappearance’ of Jan Kuciak in the naïve belief that it would silence other journalists.”

Kocner has denied the charges against him, as have Zsuzsova, who is accused of arranging Kuciak’s killing, and Szabo, who is charged with helping Marcek carry out the murder.

The court hearings are in their early stages and those following them are so far reluctant to speculate on the outcome.

In an editorial just before the start of the trial the Sme daily suggested that Kocner would probably not be found guilty. But some journalists who spoke to IPS said that the proceedings over the initial few days of hearings had led them to believe he may actually be convicted.

Whatever happens, local journalists have said the outcome of the trial will be a watershed in Slovak history, in terms of both restoring public trust in a judiciary which the Kuciak murder investigation has shown to apparently be riddled with corruption, and in showing that same judiciary can clearly punish crimes designed to silence journalists.

For some, Marcek’s conviction has gone some way to doing that.

Drew Sullivan, editor at the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, told IPS: “Impunity is the norm with the killing of journalists. Usually, less than 10 percent of these cases are solved and many of those don’t ultimately get to the person who ordered it. So far this case looks like a pleasant outlier.”

However, others point out that Marcek’s conviction alone is not enough.

Gulnoza Said, Europe and Central Asia programme co-ordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), told IPS: “The sentencing of confessed hitman Miroslav Marcek is an important step towards justice. We hope to see full justice through fair trial and punishment of all those involved in the assassination, including the masterminds.

“Unfortunately, we see way too often how killers get away with the murder of journalists. Ending impunity is crucial for the safety of all journalists.”

Related Articles

• Slovak Journalist’s Trial a Fundamental Moment to Prove if Country can Punish Crimes Designed to Silence Journalists
• Never Been a Worse Time to be a Journalist

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By Saleemul Huq
Apr 8 2020 (IPS-Partners)

The Covid-19 pandemic is still having severe impacts on many countries and it is not at all clear how long it will take to play out globally. However, the scale and rapidity of the crisis has already revealed a number of aspects of the global economy and governance that we used to think were unchangeable realities. After the crisis is finally over, we will be faced with a fork in the road. One path will be to try to go back to business as usual as it was before the pandemic. The other path is an opportunity to forsake the “business as usual” model as no longer fit for purpose and move towards a completely different, and indeed much better, future. However, the decision on which path we want to choose will be made now and every decision we make is important in choosing which future pathway we will be on.

I will describe some of the things that can be described as the “old normal” and indicate the kind of decisions that can take us to the new (and better) normal.

The first major shift in global power dynamics that we can see before our eyes in real time is the transition of global leadership from USA to China. This was always expected to occur some time in the next decade or two, but it has happened in 2020! To pick just a couple of indicators, we have seen how the US under Trump’s leadership has completely cut itself off from the rest of the world and withdrawn into a fortress cut off from everyone else. At the same time, we are already seeing China emerge from its lockdown and begin to support other countries with tackling the virus as it hits them. China has sent doctors and medical teams to countries like Italy and have been sending testing kits and other necessary items to countries like Bangladesh. They have even sent equipment to the US. On this dimension alone, we are seeing the emergence of a new global leader tackling a global emergency.

Another important disruption of the old normal is our dependence on oil and other fossil fuels to provide energy to the global economy. As the global demand for oil drops drastically due to the lack of economic activity, the price war between the oil producers is removing the veil that used to protect their cartel-like collusion to keep prices higher than would be if it was a truly supply and demand market based product that it claimed to be.

This also points to what the new normal can be—when the oil and other fossil fuel companies go hat in hand to their respective governments for a massive bailout, they should be refused a single cent of subsidy from the public purse. This also applies to the airline industry, who do not deserve such handouts as well. Any decision to provide subsidies to fossil fuel companies will lock us into the old normal, which is the wrong way to go.

The third revelation that is happening before us is the visible role of the sectors of society that have the greatest value for human survival, and it is quite clear that scientists, along with medical and health workers, are clearly much more valuable than billionaires and even millionaires. Even the hospital cleaners and supermarket shelves stockers are more important now than the richest people who are staying at home.

The fourth revelation is not exactly unknown but has become absolutely stark with each passing day; and it is that the poorest individuals and households living in the informal settlements in the world’s biggest cities are amongst the most vulnerable, not just to the virus but also to the measures of social distancing being made around the world. An important observation in this respect is that the groups who are most vulnerable to coronavirus and to social distancing measures are also the same people who are amongst the most vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change.

Hence in terms of next steps, we will need to put in place policies and investment strategies that support the most vulnerable communities in each and every country, whether developed or developing. This speaks to whether we genuinely agree that we are all in this together, or we revert back to each of us looking out only for ourselves, whether as individuals or as countries.

Finally, the destruction of biodiversity and the potential of viruses to jump from animals to humans (which we had so far ignored) has revealed how shortsighted our actions have been. If we ignore this particular revelation and go back to business as usual, we will have shown that we are beyond redemption.

So what decisions are needed to change direction from the old normal towards the new (and better) normal?

Number one is for the presidents and prime ministers of each and every country to recognise that they cannot ignore scientific evidence. This has been demonstrated by the Covid-19 pandemic and will be even more true about climate change, going forward. Every leader who listened to scientists was able to reduce considerably the number of their citizens who lost their lives due to the virus.

Number two is the way that the massive economic stimulus will be allocated. This is a golden opportunity to redirect investment away from large corporations and towards people who matter, which includes smaller companies and even individuals. The time may finally be ripe for the adoption of a basic human income.

Number three is how the lessons from tackling the Covid-19 virus can be immediately applied towards meeting the even bigger threat of climate change that is still to come. This includes a rapid shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy immediately by removing the subsidies that the fossil fuel companies have received so far.

In the context of Bangladesh, we need to take every precaution against coronavirus making a big impact on the health of our citizens, while also minimising the negative impacts on the poorest and most vulnerable from the social distancing measures that have been applied so far. While we still have many hurdles ahead, we must join together as a country where each and every one of us recognises and takes actions to help each other, not because our Prime Minister told us what to do, but out of a sense of solidarity with our fellow citizens.

I will conclude by focusing on the most important aspect of the possible new normal—which is a world where all countries and people from all walks of life, whether rich or poor, retain a sense of solidarity with each other that is many times stronger than any sense of otherness between groups, whether on grounds of religion, race or class.

Out of crisis comes the opportunity to do things differently, and making a change in our attitudes is perhaps the single most important step that each and every one of us can take in order to usher in the new normal that we all want.

Saleemul Huq is Director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development at the Independent University Bangladesh.

This story was originally published by The Daily Star, Bangladesh

The post The old normal is ending appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Credit: CPJ

By Avi Asher-Schapiro
NEW YORK, Apr 8 2020 (IPS)

Governments all over the world have been considering cellphone surveillance to help track and contain the spread of the coronavirus.

In Italy, Germany and Austria, Reuters reports, telecoms companies say they are turning over data containing location information to public health officials, though aggregated and anonymized to prevent individuals from being identified.

Other media reports say governments in South Korea and South Africa are monitoring individual cellphone locations, and Israel this month authorized security agents tracing the coronavirus infection to access location and other data from millions of cellphone users that The New York Times reports they had been collecting, previously undisclosed, since 2002.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the program would “maintain the balance between the rights of the individual and needs of general society.”

Separately, authorities in Iran, Poland, and India are among those developing apps to monitor whether people are observing quarantine or interacting with suspected COVID-19 patients, according to international news reports.

Although public health experts say strict limitations on movement are required to contain the coronavirus, journalists are acutely aware of the risks posed to their work when governments and technology companies monitor citizens’ cellphone activities.

In recent years, CPJ has tracked the journalist targets of Pegasus, a technology the Israeli surveillance firm NSO Group markets to help government agencies hack into individual phones. (The firm has told CPJ that it investigates allegations of abuse.)

CPJ has separately documented how intelligence officials can abuse access to cellphone networks to track and lure reporters and their sources.

CPJ spoke to Bill Marczak, a postdoctoral researcher at University of California, Berkeley, and a leading expert on cellphone surveillance technology, about the implications of coronavirus tracking measures for journalists and other targets of government surveillance.

Marczak, who is also a fellow at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab and helped identify and analyze the first known use of Pegasus spyware against a civil society target, told CPJ that surveillance powers and technologies that emerge during this crisis could be very tough to roll back—and could be turned against journalists in vulnerable settings.

His answers have been edited for concision and clarity.

Q: We’re at a moment now when a lot of governments are saying they need to ramp up cellphone surveillance to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Are you concerned about how systems may be built out?

A: Anytime when there’s a sense of urgency around proposals to collect more data about people, those are the times when we need to pay attention, because bad things can happen. Systems can be very quickly spun up without careful review, because there’s a sense they need to get done now. Privacy and security can become an afterthought.

What we know about location data from cellphones is that even if it’s assigned an anonymous identifier, it can be reverse engineered to see where people are—at home; at work; on their commute; walking up and down their block; and of course, journalists meeting with a source.

Q: We’ve seen lots of proposals for enhanced surveillance of cellphones during this crisis—how are you thinking about the range of what’s out there?

A: On one side of the spectrum, we see places like Israel, where the authorities come out and say, “Hey, so we’ve actually been collecting location metadata since 2002. We never told you about it. And now we are going to use it for public health.”

Then there’s these proposals for apps for people to download on their phones. Some do location tracking. Some claim they don’t.

In Singapore, for example, they’ve rolled out an app that claims to do proximity tracking. They use Bluetooth to ping nearby phones that have the app installed, to see which phones are near which people. And if someone is diagnosed, then the Ministry of Health can get that proximity data to map who might be exposed. These proposals sometimes don’t require the government to have a central database of everyone’s location history.

Proximity data could be problematic too, depending on where it’s stored. Even if it’s stored on the phone itself, [that phone] could be seized by authorities. You can imagine a situation where some governments can say, “This person is a journalist or activist, let’s see who they were meeting with, let’s grab their phone.”

So we do run into all of these troubling privacy possibilities with proximity tracking—though I would say there’s less potential for large scale abuse if the data is stored on a device itself.

Q: There’s some confusion about how governments get access to these cell phone records. How does it work?

A: From a technical perspective, all it would require is for the government to go to cellphone companies and say, “Hey, we need to access this data, can you please share it?” They could set up some sort of arrangement where the phone companies ship that data over to a government database. Or you could see a situation where it stays with the phone company and the government requests data over time.

But the bottom line is phone companies can—and do—receive and log this sort of information.

In the U.S., we’ve seen cases where bounty hunters have accessed people’s location through brokers who are reselling this data. I suggest an appropriate mental model of this is to assume phone companies are collecting and storing this data, and can be reselling and sharing it.

Q: We see some private companies coming in and making the case they can build a system to gather that location data, and perhaps make it useful for fighting the virus.

A: There was reporting that the NSO Group was possibly spinning up a “new system.” It wasn’t clear from the limited information disclosed how that monitoring would actually work. But you can imagine a situation where someone is diagnosed, you get their number, and the NSO Group starts doing location tracking on that number. This could be combined with CCTV or facial recognition technology to issue notifications when others come in contact with the infected person. But we don’t know. NSO has released no information about this.

[Editor’s note: CPJ emailed an NSO Group spokesperson in late March asking for more information about its coronavirus system but did not receive a reply before publication.]

Q: The private surveillance industry isn’t exactly known for its respect for human rights in general, and press freedom in particular. Last year, the U.N. special rapporteur for freedom of expression even called for a global moratorium on the sale of these technologies. Are you worried about these players stepping in now?

A: Given the urgency with which a lot of governments are understandably approaching coronavirus, you are going to see authorities reaching for off-the-shelf solutions—they will look to buy solutions from existing surveillance firms. It’s problematic that a lot of the companies in this space have track records of working with intelligence agencies and aren’t exactly above board. They’ve potentially helped spy on journalists and activists in the past. And that’s concerning to me.

There’s another thing I am concerned about. Once a government shells out a bunch of money for a new surveillance system for location tracking, justified by the coronavirus, what happens when the virus is over? How does it get used, how does it get repurposed? Once you implement a system to track a bunch of people—it’s not likely it’s going away in the future.

Q: In this moment where governments are reaching for more authority and technical capacity to monitor cell phones, how should journalists be thinking about these things? Should they be resisting?

A: I wouldn’t encourage people to subvert efforts to track them if they are infected. But when the crisis is over and life returns to normal, people should be aware that this tracking and tracing could be used beyond the length of the crisis. If you are forced to install something on your phone—and you can’t really say no—you are going to have to imagine you’ve entered a country where you have a police minder. Perhaps don’t contact a super secret source.

Q: What role can journalists play here?

A: We need journalists to dig into these new schemes. If the government says we are doing location tracking, or we are doing contact tracing, we need reporters digging into what exactly they are doing. What company did you buy that tool from? Who has access to the data?

Q: Are we at an inflection point here for cellphone surveillance?

A: It’s early, but this is how I am thinking about it. For governments looking for tools to hone their authoritarianism—regimes who want to get more control, or get more visibility into their citizens’ lives—the coronavirus is an issue like “fake news” or cybersecurity or terrorism that can been used to justify enhanced powers. For a sufficiently authoritarian government, the barrier to knowing where everyone is all the time is basically just cost.

In democratic contexts, it’s cost, plus getting over whatever oversight or checks are built into the system. We are going to hear more and more that we have to implement these tracking methods so we can go on about our lives.

*Avi Asher-Schapiro is also a former staffer at VICE News, International Business Times, and Tribune Media, and an independent investigative reporter who has published in outlets including The Atlantic, The Intercept, and The New York Times.

The post What Journalists Should Know About Coronavirus Cellphone Tracking appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Avi Asher-Schapiro,*Senior Global Tech Correspondent at Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), in an interview with Bill Marczak, a postdoctoral researcher at University of California, Berkeley, and a leading expert on cellphone surveillance technology.

The post What Journalists Should Know About Coronavirus Cellphone Tracking appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana is the United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ESCAP

By Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana
BANGKOK, Thailand, Apr 8 2020 (IPS)

The unprecedented public health emergency triggered by the COVID -19 pandemic and its multi-faceted impact on people’s lives around the world is taking a heavy toll on Asia and the Pacific.

Countries in our region are striving to mitigate the massive socioeconomic impact of the pandemic, which is also expected to affect the region’s economic health. In its annual Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2020 launched today, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)expectsgrowth in Asia-Pacific developing economies to slow down significantly this year.

Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana

Bold investments to sustain the region’s physical and economic well-being is imperative. The Survey advises policymakers to protect the economic health of the region with measures thatsupport affected businesses and households and prevent economic contagion.To tackle COVID-19 in developing Asia-Pacific countries, the Survey also calls for an estimated increase in health emergency spending by $880 million per year through to 2030. Fiscal support will be crucial in enhancing health responders’ abilityto monitor the spread of the pandemic and caring for infected people. ESCAP is also calling on Asia-Pacific countries to consider setting up a regional health emergency preparedness fund.

The pandemic is also an opportunity for us to rethink our economic growth path that has come at a heavy cost to people and planet. According to the latest ESCAP assessment on implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Asia and the Pacific is not on track to achieve any of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) by 2030, with regression on several environmental Goals.

This stands in stark contrast with the region’s impressive gains in material prosperity, which have been powered by intensive resource use. We are currently paying the price amida public health emergency in a region with 97 of the 100 most air-polluted cities in the world and 5 of the 10 countries most vulnerable to climate change.Economic policymaking is understandably focused on maximizing growth to reduce poverty and create jobs. Yet, we need to question this when the methods of growth undermine its sustainability over the long term.

The 2020 Survey is proposing a transition towards a growth path that ensures we bequeatha healthy planet to future generations. It is calling for a shift in the paradigm of production and consumption, which is at the core of all economic activities.

To bring about this fundamental shift in the way we produce and consume, we need to adopt the motto of ‘no more business as usual’ for all stakeholders in planetary well-being, namely governments, businesses and consumers. Policymakers should not lose sight of a looming climate crisis, but rather design economic stimulus packages with social inclusion and environmental sustainability built into every decision.

The Survey identifies challenges and constraints to making this switch for each group of stakeholders. The good news is that it is possible to take on these challenges and align the goals of all stakeholders with the 2030 Agenda’s goal of sustainability.

In particular, the Survey urges governments in the region to embed sustainability in policymaking and implementation, transition out of fossil fuel dependency and support the greening of finance. The region continues to provide $240 billion worth of annual subsidies to fossilfuels while investments in renewables remain at $150 billion.

Businesses can integrate sustainability by factoring in environmental, social and governance aspects in investment analysis and decisions. Carbon pricing will be a key tool to reduce emissions and mitigate climate-related risks. The region is already a leader in adopting the emerging sustainable business paradigms of the shared economy and circular economy.

All of us as consumers must understand the importance of switching to sustainable lifestyles. This will begin with increasing awareness of the impact of consumer choices on people and planet. Governments will have to play a significant role in encouraging consumer choices through positive reinforcements, small suggestions and eco-labelling of products.

Integrating sustainability also requires international collaboration, given the interconnected world in which we live. Asia-Pacific governments need to coordinate their climate action, particularly the development of climate-related standards and policies.Having achieved so much,yet also at the risk of losing so much, the Asia-Pacific region stands at a pivotal moment in its development journey. The next phase of its economic transformation should be more sustainable, with cleaner production and less material-intensive lifestyles.

With headwinds to the region’s development journey strengthened by the COVID-19 pandemic, let us heed the United Nations Secretary General’s call to mobilize for a decade of action to build a sustainable and resilient future.

The post Asia-Pacific Response to COVID-19 and Climate Emergency Must Build a Resilient and Sustainable Future appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana is the United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ESCAP

The post Asia-Pacific Response to COVID-19 and Climate Emergency Must Build a Resilient and Sustainable Future appeared first on Inter Press Service.

A man’s legs chained in a Christian rehabilitation center in Ibadan City, Oyo State, Nigeria, Ibadan City, Oyo State, Nigeria, September 2019. Women and men are chained and tied for perceived or actual mental health condition or intellectual disability. © 2019 Robin Hammond for Human Rights Watch.

By Emina Ćerimović and Kim Samuel
NEW YORK, Apr 7 2020 (IPS)

When Akanni’s mother died in early 2018, she stopped eating for three weeks. Her mood became unpredictable; she was often shouting or sulking angrily. Medicine from a local pharmacist didn’t help. At a loss for what to do to handle the trauma, Akanni’s father took her to a church in Abeokuta, Ogun state, in Nigeria. And then he left her there.

The evangelist in the church chained her in a room, where she was left on a bare floor for three days straight with no food or water. She stayed there with a man who was going through a mental health crisis. She felt alone. The staff gave Akanni a pot to urinate and defecate in, right in front of the man.

Human Rights Watch documented that thousands of people with actual or perceived mental health conditions across Nigeria are chained and locked up in various facilities, including state-owned rehabilitation centers, psychiatric hospitals, and faith-based and traditional healing centers

Akanni is still imprisoned in the church. She is deprived of food and water every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday until 6 p.m. The staff at church claim this is for fasting purposes as part of her treatment. When she resists, they chain her again.

“Sometimes if they say I should fast and I drink water or take food, they put me on chain,” she told our researchers. “The chaining is punishment. I have been put on chain so many times, I can’t count.”

Akanni is not alone. Human Rights Watch documented that thousands of people with actual or perceived mental health conditions across Nigeria are chained and locked up in various facilities, including state-owned rehabilitation centers, psychiatric hospitals, and faith-based and traditional healing centers.

Many are shackled with iron chains, around one or both ankles, to heavy objects or to other detainees, in some cases for months or years.

Chaining is a global human rights issue. Human Rights Watch has documented its use in numerous countries, including Indonesia, Ghana, Somaliland, and most recently Nigeria.

Like Akanni, people cannot leave these facilities, and are confined in overcrowded, unhygienic conditions, and forced to sleep, eat, and defecate within the same confined place. Many are physically and emotionally abused and forced to take questionable treatments.

People are chained for a range of reasons: when they behave outside what’s considered “the norm,” are going through trauma or grief, or even for getting upset. Like Akanni, who never had access to mental health professionals before her father abandoned her at the church, most Nigerians are unable to get adequate mental health services or support in their communities and rely on traditional and religious healers for support.

 

A woman’s leg tied tightly together in a Christian rehabilitation center for in Ibadan City, Oyo State, Nigeria, September 2019. Women and men are chained and tied for perceived or actual mental health condition or intellectual disability. © 2019 Robin Hammond for Human Rights.

 

Stigma and misunderstanding, specifically ideas that mental health conditions are caused by evil spirits or supernatural forces, drive relatives to take their loved ones anywhere the relatives think their loved ones could get help.

Signs of light are appearing. In October, President Muhammadu Buhari denounced chaining as torture, and the Nigerian police carried out raids in Islamic rehabilitation centers in the northern part of the country. Although the Nigerian Constitution prohibits torture and other inhuman or degrading treatment, the government has yet to outlaw chaining people with mental health conditions. The government has also yet to acknowledge that chaining is happening in government-run facilities as well as traditional and other religious centers that are not Islamic.

Today,  as the world  grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic, it is more important than ever to end this practice, free people from chains, and ban shackling.

Banning chaining is just the first step. It’s also necessary to monitor and meaningfully enforce the ban. Further, it’s essential to prioritize providing psychosocial support and mental health services as close as possible to people’s own communities.

Humane and accessible care need not be extraordinarily expensive. To give one example, cities and countries around the world are now following the Zimbabwean model of the “Friendship Bench,” a community-led initiative that trains and supports older women to offer talk therapy and make connections to vital social services and mental health care.

Article 5 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights is clear that “no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”

But this is more than a violation of the law. When asked what’s worst about being in the church, Akanni was unequivocal. “I feel lonely,” she said. Chaining represents the most extreme imaginable denial of our fundamental human rights.

It strips people of the basic need to belong, connect with community, have a home, learn, express oneself, have agency. It’s an affront to the essence of what makes us human.

Akanni told us she wants to go home, study accounting, get a job, and lead a healthy and joyful life. It’s up to President Buhari, leaders and civil society in Nigeria, and all of us who can exert pressure around the world, to see that she and countless others have a meaningful chance to realize these dreams.

 

Kim Samuel is founder of the Samuel Center for Social Connectedness, based in Toronto.

Emina Ćerimović is a senior disability rights researcher at Human Rights Watch.

The post Ending the Unthinkable Injustice of Human Chaining appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Andrés Cañizález
CARACAS, Apr 7 2020 (IPS)

All over the world, journalism is going through an era of uncertainty. It is not yet clear what the business model for the news field will be, and this is happening precisely at a time when information is a central issue in every person’s life.

The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted both dimensions. Citizens in preventive confinement consume much more news regarding the wide implications of COVID-19; but this, in turn, happens under a modality not necessarily lucrative for the news business. The scenario of a post-pandemic global recession is stirring fears in the news business field among many countries.

Citizens in preventive confinement consume much more news regarding the wide implications of COVID-19; but this, in turn, happens under a modality not necessarily lucrative for the news business

The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism published its report on the future and main trends expected in this field for 2020. This was released before the global spread of the coronavirus. However, the document is very relevant as it draws important lines on the future of journalism.

In this article, for reasons of space, the most significant aspects of the executive summary – just the tip of the iceberg – are included. For those interested in further detail, I recommend reading it in full here.

The study is based on surveys administered to executives in the journalistic world and leaders of digital projects in the media. A total 233 people in 32 countries were surveyed. The countries include the United States, Australia, Kenya, South Africa, Mexico, Argentina, and Japan.

Nevertheless, most respondents live in Europe: United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, France, Austria, Poland, Finland, Norway, and Denmark. It is very important not to lose sight of this fact, as it implies the viewpoints of people living in environments with no issues regarding connectivity, Internet speed, or access to smart phones. 

Below, a closer look at some interesting aspects:

Most media executives claim they are confident about the prospects of their companies; but they are much less certain about the future of journalism. This is usually the case in surveys: When people are asked if conditions in their country will get worse, to which they usually reply affirmatively, next thing they say – conversely – they expect an improved personal situation.

Andrés Cañizález

One of the significant issues about journalism resides in local news output. There are fears of loss of credibility impacting journalists and media in general; and this may be intensified by attacks on journalism from public officials. Furthermore, it may be the case that Donald Trump is turning into a role model of this form of attack for populist leaders of any ideological persuasion in their run for power.

Closely related to the above, 85% of the respondents agreed that the media should do more to fight fake news and half-truths, that is, addressing disinformation while keeping an eye on the fact that it can be encouraged or steered straight from the hubs of political power.

The global crisis generated by the coronavirus, leaving thousands of casualties behind, with no certainty about the effectiveness of the vaccines currently under evaluation, has been a hotbed for the spread of fake news. These not only increase in contexts of political tension, but also thanks to the uncertainty prevailing at this time.

How should journalism be funded? Media owners still rely heavily on subscription fees: Half of them assure it will be the main avenue of income. About a third of respondents (35%) think that advertising and income from readers will be equally important. This is a big change in the mindset of those running the media: Only 14% venture that they will manage to operate exclusively on advertising.

Without knowing exactly the global economic impact of coronavirus, news companies must brace themselves for the direct impact of a massive recession on the pockets of their readership base, as they, faced with the dilemma of paying for news or meeting basic needs, may end up choosing the latter.

On the other hand, there is much concern among publishers and media project leaders about the growing power of digital platforms providing social media to the public (Facebook, Twitter, Google). Although this concern is widespread, there is no consensus on what kinds of response should be given to this new power that has been consolidating.

It is feared that regulations approved by the legislative or executive branches of government will end up hurting instead of helping journalism (25% to 18% of respondents), although most consider that they will not make a noticeable difference (56%).

2020 will be the year of podcasts. Over half of respondents (53%) state that initiatives in this field will be important this year. Others point to text-to-voice conversion as a way of capitalizing on the growing popularity of these formats.

We are likely to see more moves from the media this year to customize digital covers and explore other forms of automatic recommendation. Over half of respondents (52%) state that such AI-supported initiatives will be very important; but small companies fear to lag behind. This is still practically a science fiction topic for readers in Southern Hemisphere countries.

Attracting and retaining talent is a major concern for media companies, especially for IT positions. Another concern relates to the way in which companies are taking action on gender diversity. In this area, 76% believe they are taking steps in the right direction.

However, although progress is being made on gender diversity within the news media, this is not the case for other forms of diversity – geographic (55%), political (48%), and racial (33%). There is remarkably less progress regarding decisions inside of news companies and, in some cases, these issues that are just not part of their agendas.

The outlook for the future of journalism, in general, is marked by questions rather than certainty. The world as it turns in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic may further trigger some of these questions, without any likely answers in the short term.

 

The post The Future of Journalism appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Andrés Cañizález is a Venezuelan journalist and Doctor of political science

The post The Future of Journalism appeared first on Inter Press Service.

A dated photo of a mother and her child from West Point, a low-income neighbourhood of Monrovia, Liberia. Advocates worry that there will be numerous kinds of impact on women’s access to sexual and reproductive health facilities around the world as countries and cities are under lockdown under the COVID-19 pandemic. Credit: Travis Lupick/IPS

By Samira Sadeque
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 7 2020 (IPS)

A little over half of women across the globe are able to freely make choices about their sexual and reproductive health, according to a latest report based on data from 57 countries. 

However, as much of the world has gone into lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic, with countries implementing social distancing and restricting the free movement of people, experts are concerned that even this small gain in sexual and reproductive health may suffer negatively.

“Globally, as COVID-19 has taken hold, access to sexual and reproductive health care services, from routine services and testing for STIs to antenatal care, contraception, and abortion, has suffered significantly,” Liza Kane-Hartnett, communications officer at the International Women’s Health Coalition (IWHC), told IPS.

“Sexual and reproductive health services are always vulnerable to falling to the bottom of the priority list because decision-makers (male, white, heterosexual, older, affluent) are not the people who will suffer from lack of access,” she told IPS.

The “Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights” report was launched by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) at the end of last week to highlight the various levels of access (or lack thereof) women have to sexual and reproductive health facilities. This includes a woman’s agency to choose her options for herself. 

UNFPA has three pillars to measure the level of autonomy women have in making their decisions regarding their sexual and reproductive health:

• the person involved in making decisions about healthcare for the women,
• the person making decisions on the contraception used, and
• if the woman is able to say no to her husband/partner if she does not want to have sex. 

The data for the report includes primarily sub-Saharan African countries on its list of 57 countries. The report states that “gaps still exist in women’s autonomy, even where high levels of individual decision-making are observed in some dimensions”.

While improvements need to be made, it’s especially difficult under the current circumstances. Advocates worry that there will be numerous kinds of impact on women’s access to sexual and reproductive health facilities around the world as countries and cities are under lockdown under the coronavirus threat.

“Sexual and reproductive health services are always vulnerable to falling to the bottom of the priority list because decision-makers (male, white, heterosexual, older, affluent) are not the people who will suffer from lack of access,” Kane-Hartnett said.

A question of access

Emilie Filmer-Wilson, Human Rights Adviser at UNFPA, says there’s a “myriad of factors” that determine a woman’s ability to access these facilities: on an individual level, institutional level, and community level. 

One of the most key determinants for a woman’s decision-making ability at this time is her education level, as well as that of her partner’s, Filmer-Wilson told IPS, adding that that will now be especially impacted given many are out of school at the moment. 

Beyond education, they are also expecting to see a risk at the institutional level, she says, that helps determine one’s ability to make the decisions and whether the institutions are affordable, accessible, and of good quality. 

For accessibility, she says, they usually take into account the geographic distance. But given the current situation of social distancing as a crucial measure to contain the coronavirus pandemic, this poses a difficult challenge. 

“In this context, it’s not only geographic, it’s also [that] there are issues that will impact that distance. Distance would be one of the risks that are involved in just going to a healthcare service center,” she told IPS. “So if these at the institutional, service levels are impacted, it’s going to [be] much harder for women.”

Kane-Hartnett of IWHC has noted similar concerns.

“Misguided attempts to control COVID infection – for example, by banning partners or doulas from accompanying women in labour – have also played a role, showing how little decision-makers value and understand women’s health and needs.”

Question over data

Meanwhile, the issue of access also means there are certain communities that will be disproportionately affected. 

“Already marginalised communities suffer the most,” says Kane-Hartnett. “Poor women, black women, indigenous women, rural women, LGBTQI+ individuals, adolescent girls, people with disabilities already struggle to access comprehensive health care services and social protection systems; the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated these existing inequalities. In the United States, COVID is affecting African-American communities particularly hard.”

In order to measure this impacts, it’s crucial to have proper data. However, data collection at a time of social isolation is further limiting opportunities for researchers to collect the information and generate data on how the pandemic is affecting the stakeholders. 

“We need to have the data pre-COVID and post-COVID in order to make this kind of comparison,” Mengjia Liang, Technical Specialist (Population and Development Branch) at UNFPA, told IPS. “

“Agencies that manage those international household surveys [are] very likely to delay their household planning survey as well,” she added. 

In essence, given the current circumstances, data collection in general might be taking a backseat, even though it’s at the core what helps researchers measure these impacts of something like the pandemic on women’s access to sexual and reproductive health facilities. 

The lack of data will be yet another salt to the wound.

Related Articles

• UNFPA Highlights Need to Address Sexual and Reproductive Health of Women in Crisis Areas
• A Key Role for 1.8 Billion Youth in UN’s 2030 Development Agenda

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By Linda Eckerbom Cole
KAMPALA, Uganda, Apr 7 2020 (IPS)

We are living in uncertain times. All of us are experiencing the Corona pandemic in various ways. For most it means quarantine and physical isolation. We worry about family members, loss of income and not knowing what the future will look like- or how long this will continue.

While the spread of Covid-19 across Sub-Saharan Africa is a few weeks behindwhat is happening in the US and Europe, the situation in Uganda and other east African countries has begun to shift dramatically in recent days.

A month back there were only a few cases, now the numbers are starting to increase. As a response the Ugandan government has ordered a complete shutdown of the country. International borders are closed, markets and trading no longer allowed, schools have shut, social gatherings banned, transportation has been severely restricted and only essential businesses and personnel are able to continue.

This has significant implications for AWR and all of the women in our programs. At the moment we are temporarily closing down the majority of our operations, except for some targeted agricultural activities to help ensure food security.

We are also redeploying a dedicated group of staff into Covid-19 response.

Many of the women in our programs live in remote and isolated areas. For them the biggest issue will not be fear of the virus but rather access to food. We are especially concerned about older women who are dependent on the income from trade to be able to buy food.

Children sharing a meal in Palabek Refugee Settlement camp in Northern Uganda. Close to 50,000 people from South Sudan live in close quarters in this camp. There are 11 camps in Northern Uganda, a country that hosts 1.4 million refugees. Credit: Brian Hodges for African Women Rising

Many of these women care for orphans and other dependents and the risk of hunger and malnutrition for those households is significant.

We are working together closely with local leaders as well as our staff that live in those communities to identify households that are at higher risk of vulnerability.

Our biggest worry is for all the refugees who live in the country. Northern Uganda currently hosts 1.4 million refugees. The cramped living conditions in the camps means that isolation and social distancing are next to impossible.

As of January 31, 2020, the United Nations has received only 9% of total funding needed to care for the refugees, the majority of whom have fled violence in their home countries. That means all services are under-funded.

There is a lack of food, health care, water and sanitation. A Covid-19 outbreakin these settings would be a disaster. Most of the South Sudanese refugees we work together with cannot afford soap. How to even begin talking about prevention when people are unable to wash their hands properly?

We are working together as part of a taskforce with the UN, the Ugandan government and other aid organizations to provide support, both to local communities and within the refugee camps.

Classroom in Palabek Refugee Settlement camp in Northern Uganda. Close to 50,000 people from South Sudan live in close quarters in this camp. There are 11 camps in Northern Uganda, a country that hosts 1.4 million refugees. Credit: Brian Hodges for African Women Rising

Given our long-term presence in and connection to these areas, AWR is in aunique situation for rapid response. Our work in the past has earned the trust of local government and community leaders, and we have a network of mobilizers and local contacts that can help identify and reach the most vulnerable.

So how are we responding and how can you help?

• Security and continued wellbeing of AWR staff– we are committed to paying all staff salaries for the next several months, even if we have to suspend operations. For those who continue to work we will ensure access to personal protective equipment (PPE) and knowledge on how to stay healthy
• Nutritional food support for vulnerable groups– contingent on resources, AWR will mobilize supplemental support for those most in need
• Covid-19 prevention in refugee camps– in collaboration with the taskforce, our team will provide information on how to keep refugee families healthy, identification of symptoms, what to do if someone becomes ill, and how to prevent spreading of the disease. Each household will receive soap.

If we have learned one thing from this, it is the realization that we are all connected and dependent on each other. Now is the time to step up – to show kindness and compassion beyond our own comfort zones.
This is a critical emergency situation and we have the opportunity to help change the outcome. We are counting on you to make that possible. Your donation today is pivotal.

The post Women in Africa Most Vulnerable to COVID-19 Pandemic appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Linda Eckerbom Cole is the Founder and Executive Director of African Women Rising. She shuttles between Santa Barbara, California and Uganda.

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By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Apr 7 2020 (IPS)

In 2006, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation jointly launched the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). The African Green Revolution Forum claims AGRA is the “world’s most important and impactful forum for African agriculture”.

The initial AGRA goals – to reduce food insecurity by half in at least 20 countries, to double the incomes of 20 million smallholder families by 2020, and to ensure at least 15 countries achieve and sustain a Green Revolution – have been revised to “increase the incomes and improve food security for 30 million farming households in 11 African countries by 2021”.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

In Eating Tomorrow: Agribusiness, Family Farmers and the Battle for the Future of Food, Timothy A. Wise argues that many millions of dollars spent on fertilizers and seed subsidies in Africa – and favoured by African politicians seeking rural votes – have not delivered their promised outcomes.

Without publicly available evaluations of its effectiveness by either AGRA or donors, Wise estimated cereal output rose by only 33 per cent in the 13 AGRA countries between 2006 and 2014. As land planted with cereals has increased, actual land productivity gains were more modest.

Agrarian reform or regression
Wise shows how transnational giants gain from farm input subsidy programmes. Without the subsidies, increased output rarely generated enough additional income to justify farmer purchases and application of commercial fertilizers and other inputs.

Subsidies have induced farmers to plant AGRA promoted crops, especially maize. After structural adjustment killed research in Africa in the late 20th century, promoting maize, well researched elsewhere, was tempting, butoften meant abandoning nutritious, drought-tolerant traditional crops.

But even where yields and net incomes rose, increases often diminished once soils were depleted. Julius Sigei, a newspaper agriculture editor, notes that Kenyan farmers produce only a fifth of US maize yields on comparable land and a third of Chinese levels as soils in Kenya are too poor to sustain higher yields while increased fertilizer application raises soil acidity.

Although water was crucial for the Asian green revolution and is necessary for effective fertilizer application in Africa – long subject to accelerating desertification, and increasingly to uncertain rainfall and droughts, due to global warming – AGRA efforts to improve water supplies have been modest.

Food and agriculture expert, MaterneMaetz cautions, “it is risky to use fertiliser if you don’t have cash and are not sure about rain”. Hence, in the African context, he favours ‘associating’ leguminous with other crops and developing neglected,drought-resistant, traditional food crops.

Dubious gains
Probably inspired by the neoliberal mantra of ‘vampire states’ exploiting farmers, and expecting markets to work better without governments, AGRA has promoted public-private partnerships, and may even have enabled land grabbing by the private sector.

Whereas Asian governments provided a broad range of crucial infrastructure and services – such as credit and agricultural extension – with AGRA, these have been less, with transnational agribusinesses getting millions of dollars in subsidies for synthetic fertilizers and ‘miracle seeds’.

Instead, Wise found that actual productivity and income gains were mainly in countries supportingtechnology adoption with government-sponsored agricultural input subsidy programmes(FISPs), and not those relying on large AGRA investments alone.

Experienced Malawian agricultural analyst Mafa Chipeta observes “what little increased yield comes from subsidised inputs is often lost as predatory buyers beat down weak and balkanised farmers on produce price. Unless governments intervene to stabilise markets, the subsidy programmes will not help farmers.”

Agribusiness transnationals
In some countries, transnationals have influenced national policies and laws in their favour, e.g., by seeking to outlaw farmers exchanging and selling seeds for planting. Such seed policies leave farmers with little choice but to purchase high-cost seeds and agrochemicals every season.

Thus, agribusiness transnationals, such as Monsanto and Yara, have not only benefited from subsidies from governments, official aid and philanthropies, but also abused their monopolistic perches in developing country markets, at the expense of farmers, consumers and governments.

In this connection, Chipeta astutely observes that “subsidies seem to help more the input sellers and the produce buyers, with farmers as mere conveyors for subsidies”. For Wise, the Green Revolution has become a “high-input treadmill” on which farmers and their governments are “running without getting anywhere”.

Although the input support programme and Food Reserve Agency in Zambia took 98 per cent of the government budget for poverty reduction, according to Wise, “78 per cent of family farmers are … in extreme poverty, living below $1.25 a day”. Clearly, “farmers and consumers weren’t the main beneficiaries of Zambia’s ‘poverty reduction’ programmes in agriculture”.

With trade liberalization and the retreat of the state accelerated by structural adjustment, Africa was transformed from net food exporter to net food importer, becoming more food insecure. Nevertheless, African family farmers still produce four fifths of the food consumed on the continent.

Despite its much smaller population, Africa is overtaking Asia as home of the most poor people in the world. Meanwhile, AGRA’s promised African green revolution has failed, while inducing subsidy dependence, andreducing crop, food and dietary diversity, butlittle for agricultural climate resilience.

Food systems approach
Meanwhile, following its World Food Summits from 1996, the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has promoted a comprehensive ‘food systems’ approach.

In October 2019, the UN Secretary-General announced that it would host a Food Systems Summit in late 2021to maximize the benefits of such an approach, embed food systems transformation initiatives around the world in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and promote growth on inclusive and sustainable pathways that address climate change.

Incredibly, the principal partner appears to be the World Economic Forum, with the UN’s Rome-based agencies serving as a pliant secretariat. Unlike FAO’s earlier summits, which had a unifying concept of food security, and built consensus among stakeholders on food systems for nutrition, the 2021 summit seems to eschew inter-governmental collaboration.

The Secretary-General’s decision to name the AGRA head as his Special Envoy for the Summit preparation process suggests an intention to make ita largely private sector-led affair. Civil society organizations working for years on these issues are understandably outraged with its likely implications.

As the ultimate owners of the United Nations, Member States may respond to such erosion of multilateralism and its remaining institutions,through various intergovernmental channels, to ensure that the Summit involves a truly inclusive and transparent process that effectively energizes initiatives to ensure food systems drive Agenda 2030.

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Dunga Papyrus Boardwalk tour guide Edgar Ochieng shows a handbook documenting birds found at Dunga Beach. Credit: Isaiah Esipisu/IPS

By Isaiah Esipisu
KISUMU, Kenya, Apr 6 2020 (IPS)

At around 11am on a Saturday, Luke Okomo arrives at Dunga Beach, on the outskirts of Kenya’s Kisumu City, and heads straight to what is known as the ‘Dunga Papyrus Boardwalk’.

He pays Sh200 ($2), the daily fee for local tourists and students, and then joins a group of five visitors already taking a tour of the boardwalk, which is elevated above a wetland swamp and surrounded by  papyrus reeds. He then takes a seat in an open café and orders a drink as he enjoys the view of Africa’s biggest fresh water body.

It’s a good spot for some bird watching.

It’s hard to imagine that just a few years ago, Dunga Beach, which is one of the most popular fish landing sites in Kisumu, used to be filthy and a source of pollution that spilled into Lake Victoria.

But two years ago the Dunga Eco Tourism and Environmental Youth Group, with financial support from the French Embassy in Kenya, came up with the idea to turn the marshland here, which extends into the Winam Gulf of Lake Victoria, into a tourist site.

“Our main aim was to generate extra income for the youth, apart from what we get from the fishing business, while at the same time conserving the aquatic environment,” Samuel Owino, the coordinator of the Dunga Eco Tourism and Environmental Youth Group, tells IPS.

Edgar Ochieng, a 28-year-old boardwalk tour guide, tells IPS that along the small museum onsite, the boardwalk has become a perfect tourism site for local and foreign visitors.

“Local visitors, most of them students from different parts of the country, come over the weekends during the day to learn from our small museum, which displays the traditional wares and crafts such as musical instruments, various functional artefacts, ornaments, costumes, all made by the local residents, most of them women groups,” Ochieng says.

The Dunga Beach Museum, which displays the traditional wares and crafts such as musical instruments, various functional artefacts, ornaments, costumes, all made by the local residents, is located on top of the boardwalk. Credit: Isaiah Esipisu/IPS

Owino points out though that many foreign visitors prefer visiting very early in the morning in the hope of catching site of the rare and threatened bird species that make their home here.

According to Birdlife International, the Winam Gulf is one of the most reliable sites in Kenya for viewing  the scarce and threatened bird species — the Papyrus yellow warbler (Chloropeta gracilirostris) — which is often seen along the lakeward side of the swamp.

One can also see the  white-winged swamp warbler (Bradypterus carpalis) and papyrus canary (Serinus koliensis) — all papyrus endemics.

Ochieng notes that the Dunga Eco Tourism and Environmental Youth Group has have identified 46 different bird species, which they have documented in a handbook called ‘Dunga Wetland Birds’.

There are also many snakes here too.

“During the early hours, there is an opportunity to see different types of snakes, but most importantly, many visitors are interested in seeing a huge python that lives in this swamp and the sitatunga antelopes,” says Owino.

Though the guides are quick to point out that the boardwalk, which extends about 50 metres, has been coated with waterproof material that also prevents reptiles from climbing it.

“This kind of innovation is a good thing for the lake ecosystem,” says Ken Jumba, a county environment officer at the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) in Kisumu.

“We encourage entrepreneurs from all other communities around the entire lake to learn from what is happening here in Dunga,”Jumba tells IPS.

The construction of the boardwalk in 2016 also resulted in establishing a protected area around the wetland. 

“When our proposal was approved for funding, we involved the county government who helped relocating the traders from the wetland, some of whom had erected pit latrines above the water so that the sludge drops directly in the lake,” recalls Owino.

Now small businesses, including food places run by local entrepreneurs, have moved away to the upper side of the beach, which has led to improvement of the lake’s biodiversity.

The boardwalk extends 50 metres into the Winam Gulf of Lake Victoria. Credit: Isaiah Esipisu/IPS

About 100 metres away, there is a huge biogas plant that has been welcomed. The plant, which produces some 50,000 litres of ethanol gas daily, makes use of the invasive water hyacinth that grows wildly on the lake as a key ingredient. 

• Agricultural activities in the lake basin has meant that fertiliser and agricultural chemicals have found their way into Lake Victoria through the rivers that feed it. This has resulted in the flourishing of the water hyacinth and algae, both of which put the aquatic ecosystem around the lake at risk.
• Water hyacinth or Eichhornia crassipes has been responsible for decreasing numbers of fish species found on Lake Victoria. It grows so rapidly that in some areas the water beneath cannot even be seen and boats are unable to pass through it.

“We usually shred the water hyacinth, which is considered to be pollution on the lake, and then mix it with all the inedible waste material from the fish to generate the gas,” Daniel Owino, the technical operator of the biogas plant, tells IPS.

Meanwhile, industrial activities around Kisumu and other towns in neighbouring Uganda and Tanzania–Lake Victoria also extends to these countries–have turned the lake into a health hazard.

It will take much more commitment and cooperation to ensure that the lake is saved. Though the creation of the Dunga Papyrus Boardwalk and the cleaning up of Dunga Beach can be considered a good start. 

Related Articles

• Investors Turn Kenya’s Troublesome Invasive Water Hyacinth into Cheap Fuel
• The Russian Government and the UN join to fight water hyacinth in Kenya

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By Daud Khan and Leila Yasmine Khan
AMSTERDAM/ROME, Apr 6 2020 (IPS)

What is likely to be the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on developing economies? In the first of this two part article  we looked at possible short term disruptions and discussed actions by the private sector and Governments.

These included mobilizing available public resources to augment what private citizens are doing to help the poor and vulnerable; working on some of the national macro-economic levers to sustain businesses; and discussing with international creditors about cancelling – or rescheduling – repayments, of some of their debts. 

This second part will look at possible medium to longer term developments. 

Clearly, it is too early to say how long this first phase of infections will last; if there will be return waves; how many people will be infected; and how many will have mild or severe symptoms. Most likely we will not get a precise number even for deaths.

Whatever its medical trajectory, the fear and anxiety it has generated is unprecedented and will most likely mean the end of globalization as we know it. It will very likely also accelerate the isolationist trends in the USA and Europe

This is partly due to a lack of accurate data, especially from developing countries that often lack adequate testing facilities; and partly as many victims may have pre-exiting conditions, and establishing the primary cause of death is difficult. 

However, we need to stay positive and believe that the COVID-19 outbreak will run its course as other pandemics have done.  Resources are being allocated to cure the sick, and both Governments and private companies are working together to find a cure, improve diagnostic tests and develop a vaccine.

Moreover, lessons from previous pandemics, as well as lessons from the current pandemic coming from China, South Korea and Singapore about early containment and social distancing are being mainstreamed in all countries. And there is a lot of international cooperation on all fronts.  

Provided that countries take the right steps, the number of deaths is likely to be much smaller than the three great pandemics of the 20th century – the “Spanish Flu” in 1918–1919 (20–50 million deaths); the “Asian Flu” in 1957-58 and the “Hong Kong Flu” in 1968 (1–4 million deaths each).

A first guess is that the death toll, at least for this year, could be similar to that for the 2009 “Swine Flu” pandemic which caused between 100,000–400,000 deaths worldwide. But whatever its medical trajectory, the fear and anxiety it has generated is unprecedented and will most likely mean the end of globalization as we know it. It will very likely also accelerate the isolationist trends in the USA and Europe.  

There is little doubt that the pandemic will result in a very large cut in international trade as a result of falling global demand, both for consumption as well for investments. Sectors such as travel, tourism and construction would be particularly hard hit.

There may be some recovery as Governments in the USA and Europe launch expansionary fiscal and monetary interventions to counter the expected recession, but the positive impact of these interventions on international trade may be limited. 

A key factor is that expansionary measures would likely favor domestic production and employment. In particular, Government support funds would be focused on employment intensive activities which have been hardest hit, such as the retail trade, catering and entertainment – which have limited import needs. 

Trade will also be affected by changes in production patterns. Over the last two decades the thrust for improved efficiency and productivity has driven manufacturing, as well as many service industries, towards minimizing costs.

Two key elements of this have been just in time delivery which meant firms holding minimum stocks and inventories; and outsourcing to reduce costs, which meant long supply chains.  The crisis has brought to the fore the vulnerability of both these processes.

With disrupted supply chains and low stocks, firms are already finding it hard to maintain operations. As time goes on, supply shortages will become a major constraint in Europe and USA. 

As firms make future investment decisions in the post-COVID world, diversifying risk is something that they will be obsessed with and this will mean a strong push to reduce dependence on suppliers in other countries. 

The countries most likely to be hit hardest by the changing international trade patterns are China and India, who are major suppliers of components and services to the international markets.

However, a number of other countries, irrespective of whether they are exporters of raw materials or finished good, from Viet Nam to Bangladesh, and from Nigeria to Mexico, will suffer as a result of lower export revenues and balance of payments difficulties.  

These trade problems will be exacerbated by developments on the monetary side. Falling sales and liquidity shortages are beginning to hit companies around the world.  Many risk having to lay off workers or even close down completely.

Central banks everywhere are trying to push money into the system and cut interest rate. However, its impact may be limited in the USA and Europe where base interest rates are already close to zero, and further cuts may not be enough to overcome pessimistic market sentiments. 

Nevertheless, banks and other lenders may maintain or expand lending as a result of Government guarantees or pressure, or a combination of the two. However, they will almost certainly curtail lending to firms in developing countries who may see even normal lines of credit being restricted and foreign direct investments drying up.

The combination of trade and monetary problems emanating from Europe and the USA will put severe strain on Governments in developing countries which are already battling with soaring medical costs, pressing demands to provide emergency assistance to the poorest sections of the population, and assistance to bail out faltering firms. 

It will also put tremendous pressures on banks and firms in these countries. With their backs to the wall, there is a serious risk of defaults. 

External debts of developing countries, by both Government and the private sector, have risen sharply in the last decade as a result of low interest rates, high commodity prices and availability of credit due to quantitative easing by developed countries.

For middle and low-income countries external debt (excluding China) now stands at around US$6 trillion – more than the combined GDP of France and UK.  The poorest countries (those with Gross National Income per capita of below US$1,175) have doubled external debt since 2008.

A World Bank report issued late last year pointed out their debt-vulnerability and stated  that “with increased access to international capital markets, many low- and middle-income countries shifted away from traditional sources of financing and experienced a sharp rise in external debt, raising new concerns about sustainability”.

If, due to problems caused by the COVID-19 crisis, there is widespread defaults among poor countries this would pose serious problems for the global economy. It is therefore imperative that requests for debt forgiveness or rescheduling do not fall on deaf ears. 

 

Daud Khan works as consultant and advisor for various Governments and for international agencies including the World Bank and several UN agencies. He has degrees in Economics from the LSE and Oxford – where he was a Rhodes Scholar; and a degree in Environmental Management from the Imperial College of Science and Technology. He lives partly in Italy and partly in Pakistan

Leila Yasmine Khan is an independent writer and editor based in the Netherlands. She has Master’s degrees in Philosophy and one in Argumentation Theory and Rhetoric – both from the University of Amsterdam – as well as a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy from the University of Rome (Roma Tre). She provided research and editorial support for this article. 

 

The post The Economic Impact of COVID-19 on Developing Countries – Part 2 appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Esther Ngumbi
ILLINOIS, United States, Apr 6 2020 (IPS)

During a crisis, such as the novel coronavirus, whose impact changes with every passing minute, the urge to listen to and watch the news, and get firsthand insights and real time updates can be constant. Indeed, millions of Americans are frequently checking the news. I know I am. What I’ve noticed on three of the major TV stations I’ve watched across the day is the absence of diversity in the experts commenting on the pandemic. This is inexcusable.

The United States is made up of people of many different races and ethnicities, many of whom are professional experts in fields relevant to the coronavirus, so why are those we are hearing from mostly people from one race-white?

The United States is made up of people of many different races and ethnicities, many of whom are professional experts in fields relevant to the coronavirus, so why are those we are hearing from mostly people from one race-white?

Further, countries in other parts of the world have faced pandemics before – pandemics like Ebola, Lassa Fever, SARS – and we should be turning to experts in those countries for insight into how to act now, but we aren’t. When I finally saw an article about what “Africa can teach the world about beating the coronavirus,” I shook my head to see the author was white.

As a scientist, a person of color from Kenya, I keep finding myself switching off the TV, or moving from one news channel after another, in search of an expert voice that looks like me. And it’s not just racial diversity that is lacking.

We also should be hearing from more experts who are women, people with disabilities and people from the LGBQT community. How is the pandemic affecting them? What can we learn from their experiences?

Not only are we missing out on important information by limiting the types of experts in the news, but it perpetuates the narrative that health experts are mainly white. To see such a glaring lack of diverse expert voices in 2020 is disheartening.

Of course, while the data shows that these minority groups are still underrepresented in health occupations and  fields like medicine, many still work in the health care as nurses, medical doctors, epidemiologists, disease spread modelling experts and so on.

In addition, many people of color are graduating with MD’s and PhD degrees. We also can call on experts from the African continent and other continents that have previously gone through previous pandemics including the Ebola virus. They have been through something like this and survived. They can help us.

It’s not too late to change who we see in the news. Going forward, expert voices from minority and underrepresented groups must be centered in the ongoing pandemic conversations. It matters who is featured. Failing to tap onto diverse expert voices hurts us all. It actively crops these voices out and reduces the chances that their views and takeaways will help inform the ongoing discussions.

Additionally, tapping into diverse expert voices sends a message to young people and the public at home, watching news, and aspiring young people that they, too, can be the expert voice on issues of our day.

In contrast, by not tapping onto different voices, we continue to perpetuate the narrative that only certain people can be experts. Only certain people get to comment on a global pandemic that is affecting all-rich and poor, black and white, young and old.

Furthermore, tapping on diverse voices helps to bring out the unique challenges, people of color and minorities are facing. For example, recently, Senator Kamala Harris was interviewed by CNN’s anchor Don Lemon.

During her interview, she raised several challenges that were not being discussed. She shared about the 3 million children of color that do not have access to broadband, and talked about how black women have pre-existing health challenges including asthma, blood pressure that put them at higher risk.

One of the approaches that can remedy this problem is to ensure that there are databases, containing a list of these diverse expert voices. These lists should also be made available to the media channels. She Source for example, has a database of female experts.

At the same time, news media channels and major newspapers also need to be proactive in setting policies and rules to ensure that diversity in experts being called upon to comment on the news is the norm. It is the 21st century, and we have a big pool of women and minority and underrepresented groups health experts.

Importantly, the news anchors must also take a stand on diversity and inclusion. For every segment they are running, they should do their best to bring out diversity. Imagine if all news anchors for major channels such as CNN, CNBC, and NBC would take a stand-in appreciation and support of qualified and competent health experts from minority and underrepresented groups that fail to be included?

During these unprecedented times, turning to diverse experts will go a long way in helping to solve the pandemic as well as showing aspiring future health experts that they, too, can be experts.

Evermore, news media channels must continue to tap on expert commentary from people of color and those from marginalized groups. As  CNN’s anchor “Chris Cuomo” always says—we are in these together, let us also be use the same phrase to showcase that the experts fighting this novel disease are equally diverse.

 

Dr. Esther Ngumbi (@EstherNgumbi) is an Assistant Professor at the Entomology Department and African American Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. She is a Senior Food security fellow with the Aspen Institute.

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Sustainable Agriculture Management Team, FAO

By Dr. Kakoli Ghosh
ROME, Apr 6 2020 (IPS)

Together with medical services and transportation, farming and food production have been correctly identified as ‘essential services’ by all countries under lockdown. The Covid-19 pandemic has not yet made a dent in the food supply and so far, there are no reports of shortage of essential food and agricultural goods. All cities and towns are actively coordinating with government agencies, farms, businesses and transport companies to maintain the supply chain and ensure full availability of food for the population,

Kakoli Ghosh

However, despite the efforts, farm gate prices have crashed, there is a drastic drop in demand and farmers recognize that they are facing a substantial economic loss as fruits, vegetables, fish or meat have to be discarded due to the lockdown. There are warnings about the shortage of labor to harvest seasonal fruits and crops due to the restrictions in movements, fear and uncertainty. Should the lockdown continue for long, one expects price fluctuation, food crisis and a further exacerbation of hunger around the world. A similar spike in food prices and food crisis was experienced in 2008, although that was for different reasons.

This is the overall situation and the basic fact is that no country, rich or poor, has ready capacity to handle an emergency that requires a ‘whole-of-country approach’ all at once. It is becoming clear that the ground reality is very different for different metropolis, cities, towns and villages. Therefore, in a relatively short period since the onset of the pandemic, a range of innovative approaches and targeted, strategies have been developed and being employed to ensure food production and supply across the value chain.

For instance, in Wuhan an efficient, closely monitored and executed food procurement and e-distribution strategy was in play through its food outlets, supermarkets and home deliveries. It was supported by a robust digital architecture for operation at scale and there appears to be no major hiccups in food supply for its 11 million inhabitants. In Rome, there is a spike in the online ecosystem- something that was a modest initiative before the pandemic. Local agri-preneurs have increased and expanded their range of e-services and door-deliveries of farm products through innovative ways. In Delhi, swift policy measures have been deployed to avert food hoarding and cash support for farmers, incentives to ensure staggered transport of harvests among others.Similar innovative measures and new ways of working are being used and can be widely adopted for long-term recovery.

By all counts, three points seem to be of utmost priority. First, the role of government agencies must be reinforced decisively. The pandemic is bound to hit crop cycle, availability of inputs, storage and the entire farm value chain and the governments will need to coordinate and monitor an efficient, flexible strategy to handle the fall out. Public sector agencies have to be empowered to be able to provide the administrative network and infrastructural support needed for operating at scale. This would include for disbursal of resources, engaging the private sector, regulatory support, and managing externalities in line with the national priorities.

Secondly, food security should be the top concern. Having access to nutritious basic food for all the citizens can become a challenge especially for countries that rely on imports, when shipments are halted or borders are closed. Overall, lack of labor, lack of inputs or lack of finance and subsidies can all lead to major disruptions in the production cycle. More emphasis can be on developing and sustaining local food production that can be a lifeline during and after the pandemic. Such efforts must be sustainable, built on good practices and expanded to provide income, occupation at least at the local level. Natural resources, especially soil, water and agro-biodiversity should not be degraded any further.

Finally, agriculture has to embrace digital tools more quickly. Although online applications have been influencing many aspects of the society, it has not yet been given a priority in the agriculture sector. The pandemic has shown the immense value of digital tools and agriculture cannot be left behind. Especially for countries where food production and supply involves many smallholder farmers systematic application of digital tools can support sustainable production, quality control, price support and timely supply. Estonia operates fully online and an example on how to manage the transition. Better connectivity can unlock wider opportunities for the governments and the farmers and smallholder communities. This is the path to the future.

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Excerpt:

Sustainable Agriculture Management Team, FAO

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President Uhuru Kenyatta leads the charge against Covid-19. He speaks to the nation fromHarambee House, Nairobi, March 14, 2020. Photo-State House

By Siddharth Chatterjee
NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 6 2020 (IPS)

Covid-19 infections continue to rise, bringing normal life to a virtualstandstill and causing countries to shut themselves off from the rest of the world.

Increasingly, governments are turning to ever more stringent measures including curfews and lockdowns, with police and military being used to enforce those measures.

Perhaps necessary as the velocity of the virus has already infected nearly 1.2 million people and killed nearly 65,000 people worldwide, wreaking havoc to the health systems of the most advanced countries of the world.

Frontline health workers, are succumbing to the virus as they selflessly treat those under their care, upholding the Hippocratic Oath. Italy and Spain have been among the hardest hit, with more than 25,000 dead and more than 250,000 infected. In Italy, 73 doctors have died treating patients affected by the virus.

Health workers are the real heroes in the fight against the deadly new Corona Virus.

China’s ability to turn the coronavirus corner is a result of what has been described by WHOas “China’s bold approach to contain the rapid spread of this new respiratory pathogen has changed the course of a rapidly escalating and deadly epidemic,” it says. “This decline in COVID-19 cases across China is real.”

But such effort will inevitably come at a cost, but should not at a cost to basic human rights and the rule of law.

For example in India, my home country, authorities have come under fire after videos surfaced on social media showing officers beating people on the streets to enforce the country’s 21-day coronavirus lockdown.

There is no justification for breaching human dignity and using corporal punishments to humiliate people.Scenes of such violence anywhere in the world, should deeply concern all who want to defeat this faceless enemy.

The way we respond to national challenges such as disease pandemics is an opportunity to hold up a mirror to ourselves as human beings and as societies.

Millions of people across the world are fearful of what the future holds.Those with jobs know they may very well lose them, while those without are already struggling to provide for their families in often desperate circumstances. Shops and businesses will close, transport will be interrupted and gradually vital supplies may be hard to come by.

For the poorest, coronavirus is an existential threat to their tenuous grip on survival.

So excessive use of force by police to enforce the curfew is counter-productive: it does not make people safer and increases the chances that people already struggling to meet basic needs will lash out in fear and frustration, could lead to social unrest.

The Ministry of Health in Kenya, is doing an excellent job in screening and isolating suspicious cases as well as stepping up measures for tracing and quarantining people. Kenya has imposed a curfew from 7pm to 5am and all international flights have been suspended.

These are sensible measures, given that Covid-19 is extremely infectious. People with no or only mild symptoms can spread the virus, unaware that they are even infected, and some epidemiological models suggest that a single source can lead to 400 infections within a month.

The curfew and perhaps lockdowns area painful but necessary measure that we must endure if we are to break the chain of transmission.

This is an all of society fight where every individual regardless of rank or station must observe the rules, of hand hygiene, respiratory etiquette, physical distancing and quarantining themselves.

However, forcing crowds of people to huddle together is wrong and dangerous, even to the police themselves.The enforcement of the curfew in Mombasa on 20 March 2020 was an aberration. I commend President Kenyatta for his public apology.

It is better to educate people, inform them of the risks and urge them to go home – as one police officer was captured on video doing in Baringo County on the first night of the curfew. A lesson for countless law enforcement agencies.

To ‘flatten the curve’ in Kenya, we must target resources at those who are most vulnerable, enabling them to take measures that will protect their families and communities – and to help those with the fewest coping mechanisms to ride out the crisis.

Kenya has an opportunity here to be a beacon for the world by modelling wise measures, sanely implemented. We the United Nations family are determined to do everything possible to support Kenya’s drive to flatten the COVID 19 curve.

There is much we still don’t know about the Covid-19 virus, but we do know that defeating it depends on the realization that we’re all in this together, regardless of social status, rank or station. The UN Secretary General, Mr Antonio Guterres has said, “ We are in this together – and we will get through this, together”.

Such cohesiveness can only be built and maintained through communication, cooperation and compassion, underpinned by human rights and dignity.

Siddharth Chatterjee is the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Kenya.

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Yusuf KanoteHuka has worked as miner for the last 30 years, in Mungama ridge, Taita-Taveta County. The majority of artisanal miners in Kenya use rudimentary tools which make the process laborious, dangerous and time-consuming. Yusuf was one of the 100 county artisanal and small-scale miners who participated in environment management & environmental protection trainings offered in 2018 and 2019 under the Environmental Governance Programme for Sustainable Natural Resource Management (EGP), supported by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, UNDP and Kenya’s National Environment Management Authority (NEMA). Credit: UNDP Kenya/Allan Gichigi

By the Kenya team of Young Environmental Journalists*
NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 6 2020 (IPS)

The mining sector in Africa is facing radical change as youth activists take action against the environmental degradation caused by mining industries. Tensions between activists and the mining industry have raised, however, concerns over human rights abuses.

Kenya’s National Coalition for Human Rights Defenders reported, for instance, cases of harassment and intimidation “against at least 35 environmental activists” in 2018. There are also legal maneuvers that still limit activists’ right to protest.

As conflict grows, some municipal governments are trying to enforce ambiguous legal measures, like unjustified arrests, to prevent demonstrations.

Undeterred, young activists are finding a way to make their voices heard all over Africa, including Kenya. An organization called Youth County Projects Kenya, led by social entrepreneur Mbiti, has been using surveys to collect data from over 100,000 young Kenyans on their biggest social concerns ranging from healthcare to corruption.

This provides young people with a safe platform to make their voices heard. They are able to hold people to account and put pressure on policy makers to address their concerns.

Similarly, Kaliki Paul Mukutu, a young Kenyan activist who is passionate about environmental justice, has been working with a global group called 350.org.

Their current campaign, “DeCoalonize”, pushes for more investment in renewable resources and away from the fossil fuel industry:“We do this by organizing community action, where we work with marginalized and local groups to create awareness and hear what they want in the communities and how they want it to improve their livelihoods as opposed to it being a more mainstreamed and government project”, says Mukutu.

Inspired by growing up near the Ukambani zone in Eastern Kenya, he was shocked at the destruction of the natural landscape caused by the mining industry. He shares the ideals of many young activists in Kenya, believing that people should work towards a better, cleaner world and the only way to achieve this is to push for change from current practices.

Many young activists are working towards the same goal: having their voices heard and their needs addressed. Through their determination and collaborative work, real strides are being made towards positive change.

Kaliki Paul Mutuku from Kenya joins AumeerRookayah from Mauritius in a press interview in Stockholm on June 2018, as part of the Stockholm Dialogue on Human Rights, Environmental Sustainability and Conflict Prevention, hosted by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency/Naturvårdsverket and the United Nations. Credit: UNDP/Francisco Filho

The African Youth Initiative on Climate Change (AYICC) is another youth-led network trying to raise awareness of environmental issues. Zelda Kerubo from AYICC explains that raising awareness among youths about the impact of mining is an important task but one that comes with challenges: people often discredit the young voices based simply on their age and young people are also forced to confront powerful individuals and large organizations.

But as she explains, they remain undeterred: “AYICC will continue raising awareness, continue reaching out to these communities, not only in Lamu and Kitui but also the society in general for us to be able to weigh in the benefits and the negatives of mining and so that we can be able to make an informed and a better decision that would be beneficial to all of us.”

She also believes one of the most important things is to create “a mental shift in all of us to understand that everyone can do something”.

Kaliki Paul Mukutu seems to speak for many other activists in Kenya when he said he believes that: “The youth in Africa are indeed comprising a huge fraction in their population, so it’s high time that we invest in them and try to give them the best years that they need in order to lead their country, be it in the mining sector or any other kind of an industry. We need to support youth inclusion and proper youth inclusion should be a focal point that everyone should consider as we develop as a nation.”

These organizations and their actions have all obtained extensive media coverage and initiated important discussions on the effects of the mining sector. Thanks to restless organizations, youths and other activists, the mining industry in Kenya is now under pressure to address its impact on the environment and on human rights.

While more work needs to be done to ensure that youth organizations can work without fear of intimidation and punishment, young activists have demonstrated that their voices can carry Kenya towards a more sustainable and just society.

*The Kenya team of Young Environmental Journalists comprises AkinyiChemutai; Charity Migwi; Patience James Adaka; Purity Nzioka; Hillary Kibet; Rachael Gachui; Fredrick Kamencu; MehnazShafquat; Sami el Geneidy; and Tun Pa Pa Kyaw. They are based in Nairobi, Kenya; Atlanta, United States; Bangkok, Thailand; Helsinki, Finland; Lagos, Nigeria

The Young Environmental Journalist pilot initiative is aimed at raising awareness and fostering youth engagement in environmental and human rights protection in the mining sector in four resource-rich countries: Colombia, Kenya, Mongolia and Mozambique. This initiative was organized by the joint Swedish Environmental Protection Agency – UNDP Environmental Governance Programme (EGP) in collaboration with the United Nations Volunteers’ online volunteering service.

The views expressed in this story are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the United Nations, including UNDP or the UN Member States.

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Dr Mah Hui Lim has been a university professor and banker, in the private sector and with the Asian Development Bank.
Dr. Michael Heng, Former professor in Management Science.

By Mah Hui Lim and Michael Heng
PENANG and SINGAPORE, Apr 6 2020 (IPS)

The Chinese word for crisis consists of two characters – “weiji”. Wei means danger and ji means opportunity. Every crisis is pregnant with danger and risks but also with opportunities – for some to make money, for others to learn valuable lessons, and for society to reorient or restructure its priorities, institutions and even the system.

Mah Hui Lim

Major crises are moments when classes in society contest for power to restructure the economy, politics and society. The failure of President Hoover to deal with the devastations of the Great Depression led to the election of President Franklin Roosevelt (1933-38) who introduced major structural reforms in the economic, financial and political spheres.

Hoover’s 3 Rs policies were relief, recovery and reforms. He implemented large scale public works to mop unemployment, introduced social security safety net which still exists today, tamed and regulated finance by separating investment banking from commercial banking, and set up regulatory watchdogs for the stock market.

The 3Rs led to the eventual recovery of the economy and most significantly to a well-regulated financial system that did not experience major financial crises for over 40 years. Government took on a bigger role in the economy.

The negative aspects of the crisis have been widely covered in the mass media, and would not be repeated.

If there is any silver lining to this dark cloud, it is found in some of the unintended positive consequences of this crisis – carbon emission choking the world is down significantly, traffic congestion has lighten up, crime rates have declined, the mountain of garbage generated has declined, communities have come together to help the afflicted, nature is reclaiming its space.

As one US celebrity who was infected said in his interview it is nature’s way of hitting back at what humanity has done to it. We were supposed to be the guardian and trustee of this earth but we abused it.

Deforestation and the destruction of natural habitat has reduced the space between humans and wild life opening more chances for new forms of virus and contamination. Epidemiologists have warned for decades the potential and dangers of new epidemic but they went unheeded. This is the most serious but, unfortunately, it may not be the last.

Michael Heng

This multiple crises – health, economic, financial and environmental – is a wake-up call for humankind to rethink its hyper consumerist economy that prides growth above all else, and one that benefits a tiny segment at the expense of the majority. It prompts us to think more seriously about restructuring society to one that is more socially and economically equitable, more respectful of nature and our environment, and restore a balance between non-materialism and materialism.

Since the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, there was a nascent effort to move away from the obsession with GDP growth as the measurement of a society’s welfare and wellbeing.

The small nation of Bhutan spearheaded the alternative concept of Gross National Happiness. But these movements were muted and side lined. This crisis offers us the opportunity to bring it to the fore. Prime Minister Ardern of New Zealand recently said she would prioritise her people’s wellbeing over growth.

Karl Polanyi 70 years ago published the Great Transformation. His great contribution was that markets has existed for thousands of years before the rise of industrial capitalism in 18th century. Markets, where goods and services are exchanged to meet social needs, were subordinated to social, political and cultural norms. But this arrangement was overturned when market was deified to become the only organizing principle in society. Markets in society became the market society.

Polanyi presciently predicted that policies inspired by market liberalism, if unchecked, would result in the destruction of human society, the natural environment, and even productive forces.

Classical market liberalism convulsed in the 1930s with the abandonment of the Gold Standard. But fifty years later, it was resurrected in the form of neoliberalism which has formed the basis of the government policies in many countries since late 1970s.

This crisis lays bare the myth of the invincibility of the market. Market has broken down in a big way and the state is asked to step in to solve this crisis – from bail out of companies, to paying wages of workers, to cutting interest rates, soft and loans to small business guaranteed by the state etc.

There are calls in the US for the President to invoke emergency authority to direct companies to produce vital health equipment needed to fight the epidemic. Once this is over, we should not be going back to business as usual.

Markets will continue to exist and play a part in the economy. But it must be subordinated to society, to be regulated by the state to serve a greater good. For market to function well as a public good, it must not only be free but also fair. Both attributes are equally important, like the two wings of birds. The new economy must prioritise people’s as well as nature’s wellbeing over profit making for a few.

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Excerpt:

Dr Mah Hui Lim has been a university professor and banker, in the private sector and with the Asian Development Bank.
Dr. Michael Heng, Former professor in Management Science.

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Congestion in public hospitals is frequent in Latin America even without epidemics. Long waits and the need to resort to out-of-pocket spending to obtain medical assistance are common in the region. CREDIT: Courtesy of Integralatampost

By Humberto Márquez
CARACAS, Apr 4 2020 (IPS)

Health systems in Latin America, already falling short in their capacity to serve the population, especially the poor, are in a weak position and face serious risks when it comes to addressing the COVID-19 pandemic.

Low levels of health spending and a relative scarcity of hospital beds are indicators that most countries in the region do not guarantee universal access to healthcare and risk being overwhelmed by the wave of the new coronavirus.

“Even in well-organised and robust health systems the challenges posed by a pandemic are felt swiftly, and this is even more true in weak ones like those in much of Latin America. In epidemiology, if you trail behind an epidemic, you are going to suffer havoc,” former Venezuelan health minister José Félix Oletta (1997-1999) told IPS.

Of the 630 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean, 30 percent do not have regular access to health services, mainly due to geographic or income issues, according to the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), an affiliate of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

That figure is in line with the proportion of people living in poverty, according to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), which counts 185 million poor people in the region, and reports that over 10 percent of the total regional population – 68 million people – live in extreme poverty.

The regional average for health spending is under four percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and only 2.2 percent is central government expenditure, according to ECLAC and PAHO figures.

In 2014, the region’s governments committed to raising health spending to at least six percent of GDP, but only Cuba (10.6 percent), Costa Rica (6.8 percent) and Uruguay (6.1 percent) have met that goal.

The most industrialised countries spend eight percent of GDP on health, between 3,000 and 4,000 dollars per inhabitant per year, compared to about 1,000 dollars per person in Latin America. Argentina, Chile, Cuba and Uruguay spend around 2,000 dollars per person, but Haiti, Honduras and Venezuela spend less than 400.

Out-of-pocket spending (the amount people spend directly on a service) is low in Cuba, Costa Rica or Uruguay (10 to 20 percent) and very high in others such as Venezuela (63 percent), Guatemala (54 percent) or the Dominican Republic (45 percent).

These out-of-pocket payments by individuals illustrate the inadequacy of public health provision, as well as of social security or private insurance, and the fact that the poor are the most vulnerable because they sometimes refrain from seeking care that they cannot afford.

Another indicator is the number of beds available in hospitals, which does not measure the quality of infrastructure, staffing or efficiency in these facilities: the regional average is 27 per 10,000 inhabitants. A portion, sometimes very small, are intensive care beds.

But “it is not enough to have hospitals and health centres. They must properly combine human resources, infrastructure and equipment, medicines and other health technologies, to provide quality care,” said PAHO Director Carissa Etienne.

If the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread in the region, Bolivia, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay and Venezuela are “the Latin American countries most at risk,” according to PAHO.

A view of the University Hospital of Maracaibo, the “oil capital” of Venezuela, in the west of the country. Large hospitals do not guarantee good-quality service in and of themselves, because skilled staff and adequate equipment and technology are also needed, says PAHO. CREDIT: SAHUM

IPS took a closer look at the situation in four countries to show the different weaknesses and strengths of health systems in the region.

Brazil, persistent inequality

Over the last three decades, the largest country in the region, with a population of 211 million, has developed a unique public health system, with programmes such as Mais Médicos, Farmácia Brasil Poupa Lar and Estratégia Saúde da Família. The latter is a strategy enabling a team of doctors, nurses and assistants to care for up to 3,000 people at a local level.

Mais Médicos deployed up to 18,000 doctors, more than half of them Cuban, in remote villages and isolated rural communities in Brazil. But since December 2018 the programme shrank after Brasilia severed relations with Havana and thousands of Cuban doctors were forced to return home.

The social gap is widening, since public health, with 44 percent of the hospital beds, must serve 75 percent of the population, while private clinics have more than half of the beds for 25 percent of the inhabitants.

In 2009, Brazil had 18.7 beds per 10,000 inhabitants, which dropped to 17.2 in 2017, half of them in four of its 27 states, in the wealthier southeast. It has 47,000 intensive care beds, but for every one in the public health system – 90 percent of which are occupied – there are 4.6 in the private health sector.

Brazil “is not prepared to face the coronavirus epidemic, not so much because of a lack of resources, but due to their poor distribution, the high level of inequality in terms of access to services, poor management and lack of equity,” epidemiologist Eduardo Costa, an international cooperation advisor at the National School of Public Health, told IPS.

Cuba, medicine for export

The Cuban health system, touted by the socialist government as one of the achievements of the revolution, is public and free of charge for the country’s population of 11.2 million, with 90 doctors for every 10,000 inhabitants, according to official figures.

Although there are no precise figures on how many of its 47,000 beds are for intensive care – and there are complaints from the public about delays for non-urgent surgical procedures – Health Minister José Ángel Portal said the island nation has 274 beds to treat seriously ill coronavirus patients and plans to add another 200.

One of Cuba’s flagship programmes is the international medical cooperation missions, which began in 1963 and have sent 407,000 doctors, technicians and assistants to 164 countries, providing free medical assistance to poor countries, under the format of cost-sharing to other nations, or as a source of income in some cases.

The annual income from this programme – 29,000 doctors worked in 65 countries in 2019 – exceeds six billion dollars. For the COVID-19 pandemic, Cuba is setting up 14 medical brigades with 600 members, more than half of whom are women.

Chile is prepared, although it’s never enough

In Chile, a country of 18.7 million people, health coverage is public for 14 million and private for three million, and there is a separate system for the 400,000 members of the armed forces, put in place by the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990), which has not been modified.

All workers are required to contribute seven percent of their wages to the health institution of their choice. Those who are covered by the public health system complain about long waits of weeks or months to see a doctor and of up to a year or even more for surgery.

These were some of the shortcomings that fueled the mass protests that broke out in Chile in October 2019 and raged for months until a referendum was agreed to allow voters to choose whether to replace the constitution inherited from the dictatorship.

Chile has 22 hospital beds for every 10,000 inhabitants. That is a total of about 32,000, with 3,300 for emergencies, which the government aims to increase to 5,200 in the face of the pandemic.

Nelly Alvarado, a professor at the Diego Portales University and a public health specialist, told IPS that “the health system’s capacity is never going to be enough in the face of an unexpected situation coming from the rest of the world.”

She pointed out that critical care beds “have never been abundant either in Chile or the rest of the world. They are expensive and highly complex, because sophisticated equipment and specialised staff are required.”

Venezuela, on the verge of collapse

Official health statistics became unavailable in Venezuela over the past decade. But studies by non-governmental organisations warn that the health care system is on the verge of collapse and that the country is experiencing a “complex humanitarian emergency.”

Venezuela, a country of 30 million people, is at the bottom of the regional charts in terms of health spending and the provision of hospital beds. The NGO Doctors for Health reported that during 2019 there were power failures in 63 percent of 40 large hospitals it monitors, and water supply failures in 78 percent.

Barrio Adentro, a programme launched in 2003 that brought thousands of Cuban doctors to low-income areas, has almost disappeared and most of its premises have closed.

“We are at the bottom of a PAHO list of 33 countries in the hemisphere in terms of preparing for COVID-19,” Oletta said. “And the pandemic follows setbacks in vaccination campaigns and containment of preventable diseases that have re-emerged, such as malaria, measles and tuberculosis.”

The health crisis is part of the general collapse of basic services that has accompanied the economic recession over the past five years and hyperinflation over the past three years, driving the exodus of almost five million of Venezuela’s 32 million inhabitants. Among those who have emigrated were more than 22,000 doctors, according to the medical association.

Latin America, lagging behind in health care and spending, should heed the call of Maria Neira, WHO Director for the Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health: “Something we have all forgotten is that investment in public health and health systems should not be regretted…it is always going to be a profitable investment.”

This article includes reporting by Ivet González in Havana, Mario Osava in Rio de Janeiro, and Orlando Milesi in Santiago.

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New cases daily for COVID-19 in world and top countries. Chris55 /wikipedia, CC BY-SA

By External Source
LONDON, Apr 3 2020 (IPS)

Suppose we wanted to estimate how many car owners there are in the UK and how many of those own a Ford Fiesta, but we only have data on those people who visited Ford car showrooms in the last year. If 10% of the showroom visitors owned a Fiesta, then, because of the bias in the sample, this would certainly overestimate the proportion of Ford Fiesta owners in the country.

Estimating death rates for people with COVID-19 is currently undertaken largely along the same lines. In the UK, for example, almost all testing of COVID-19 is performed on people already hospitalised with COVID-19 symptoms. At the time of writing, there are 29,474 confirmed COVID-19 cases (analogous to car owners visiting a showroom) of whom 2,352 have died (Ford Fiesta owners who visited a showroom). But it misses out all the people with mild or no symptoms.

Different countries may appear to have different death rates, but only because they have applied different sampling and reporting policies. It is not necessarily because they are managing the virus any better or that the virus has infected fewer or more people

Concluding that the death rate from COVID-19 is on average 8% (2,352 out of 29,474) ignores the many people with COVID-19 who are not hospitalised and have not died (analogous to car owners who did not visit a Ford showroom and who do not own a Ford Fiesta). It is therefore equivalent to making the mistake of concluding that 10% of all car owners own a Fiesta.

There are many prominent examples of this sort of conclusion. The Oxford COVID-19 Evidence Service have undertaken a thorough statistical analysis. They acknowledge potential selection bias, and add confidence intervals showing how big the error may be for the (potentially highly misleading) proportion of deaths among confirmed COVID-19 patients.

They note various factors that can result in wide national differences – for example the UK’s 8% (mean) “death rate” is very high compared to Germany’s 0.74%. These factors include different demographics, for example the number of elderly in a population, as well as how deaths are reported. For example, in some countries everybody who dies after having been diagnosed with COVID-19 is recorded as a COVID-19 death, even if the disease was not the actual cause, while other people may die from the virus without actually having been diagnosed with COVID-19.

However, the models fail to incorporate explicit causal explanations in their modelling that might enable us to make more meaningful inferences from the available data, including data on virus testing.

We have developed an initial prototype “causal model” whose structure is shown in the figure above. The links between the named variables in a model like this show how they are dependent on each other. These links, along with other unknown variables, are captured as probabilities. As data are entered for specific, known variables, all of the unknown variable probabilities are updated using a method called Bayesian inference. The model shows that the COVID-19 death rate is as much a function of sampling methods, testing and reporting, as it is determined by the underlying rate of infection in a vulnerable population.

Therefore, different countries may appear to have different death rates, but only because they have applied different sampling and reporting policies. It is not necessarily because they are managing the virus any better or that the virus has infected fewer or more people.

With a causal model that explains the process by which the data is generated, we can better account for these differences between countries. We can also more accurately learn the underlying true population infection and death rates from the observed data. Such a model could be extended to include demographic factors, as well as social distancing and other prevention policies. We have developed such models for many similar problems and are currently gathering data required for populating the kind of model that we outline in the above figure.

 

Random testing

In the absence of community-wide testing, only random testing applied throughout the population will enable us to learn about the number of people with COVID-19 who are asymptomatic or have already recovered. Only when we know how many people don’t show symptoms, will we know the underlying infection and death rate. It will also enable us to learn about the accuracy of the tests (false positive and false negative rates).

Random testing therefore remains the most effective strategy to avoid selection bias and reduce the distortions in reported statistics. Ideally, this should be combined with a causal model.

Currently it seems there are no state-wide protocols in place in any country for randomised community testing of citizens for COVID-19. Spain did attempt it. But that involved purchasing large volumes of rapid COVID-19 tests, and they soon discovered that some Chinese-sourced tests had poor validity and reliability delivering only 30% accuracy – resulting in high numbers of false positives.

Countries like Norway have proposed introducing such tests, but there is uncertainty around how to legislatively compel citizens to test – and what might constitute an appropriate randomisation protocol. In Iceland, they have voluntary sampling which has covered 3% of the population, but this isn’t random. Some countries with large scale testing, like South Korea, might get closer to being random.

The reason it is so hard to achieve random testing is that you have to account for several practical and psychological factors. How does one collect samples randomly? Gathering samples from volunteers may not be sufficient as it does not prevent self-selection bias.

During the H1N1 influenza pandemic of 2009–2010, there was a lot of anxiety about the disease that created “mass psychogenic illness”. This is when hypersensitivity to particular symptoms leads to healthy people self-diagnosing as having a virus – meaning they would be highly incentivised to get tested. This could, in part, further contribute to false positive rates if the sensitivity and specificity of the tests are not fully understood.

While self-selection bias is not going to be eliminated, it could be reduced by running field tests. This could involve asking the public to volunteer samples in locations where, even in a lockdown state, they might be expected to attend and also from those in self-imposed isolation or quarantine.

In any event, when statistics are communicated at press conferences or in the media, their limitations should be explained and any relevance to the individual or population should be properly delineated. It is this which we contend is lacking in the current crisis.

 

Norman Fenton, Professor of Risk and Information Management, Queen Mary University of London; Magda Osman, Reader in Experimental Psychology, Queen Mary University of London; Martin Neil, Professor in Computer Science and Statistics, Queen Mary University of London, and Scott McLachlan, Postdoctoral Researcher in Computer Science, Queen Mary University of London

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

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By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
PENANG, Apr 3 2020 (IPS)

Martin Khor Kok Peng passed away just after the end of the first quarter of 2020. He leaves behind an unusually rich legacy. Atypically for people mainly working in the worldideas, he was also a very practical and pragmatic activist who successfully built and sustained several important initiatives which will live on after him.

Martin Khor

Martin was widely well known,both in Malaysia and internationally,and will be remembered for his commitment to a variety of causes perhaps best summed up by the concept of sustainable development, adopted by world leadersat Rio in 1992, and reaffirmed in Johannesburg in 2002, Rio again in 2012 and, most recently, through the Sustainable Development Goals declared in 2015.

Born in 1951, Martin’s passing,less than a year after the demise of his mentor and close collaborator, the nonagenarian Mahathir contemporary, S M Mohammed Idris, suggests the end of an era, not only in Malaysia, but also beyond.

Already there are many pronouncements about the end of the Third World, of the solidarity of the global South, and most recently, about the related demise of multilateralism, especially as it was transformed in the 1970s when the United Nations committed to a New International Economic Order, thanks to the G77 caucus of developing countries at the UN.

Paths not taken
Reflecting on Martin’s career path, one cannot but be struck by the choices he made, and by paths not taken. Leaving his hometown of Penang, Martin wasa pre-university classmate of current Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Singapore, before going to Cambridge together.

Later, after a few months in Singapore’s civil service during 1974-1975, which almost surely would have led him to a cabinet position in Lee’s cabinet, Martin ‘broke his bond’ to return to Malaysia to start teaching for a pittance at the Science University of Malaysia (USM).

From there, he began his lifelong engagement with the Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) and Friends of the Earth, Malaysia (SAM), collaborating closely with Haji Idris, to wage efforts to protect Penang, and later the countryagainst ecological and other disasters in the name of development.

From local to global
Followingan international civil society solidarity conference in 1984,Third World Network (TWN) was born and rapidly developed by Martin to promote collective solidarity to protectdeveloping countries’ national interests as the global South came under siege with the neoliberal ascendance of the 1980s.

The South Summit in Kuala Lumpur in 1986 established the South Commission worked under former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh which recommended establishing the South Centre as an intergovernmental policy research and analysis institution for developing countries headquartered in Geneva and chaired by Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere. Years later, Martin took over the South Centre in 2009, strengthening its finances, capacities and impact, by creatively mobilizing resources.

The personal is political
Martin’s widow, Meenakshi Raman was a victim of Malaysian political repression in 1987. But without personal rancour, Martin worked closely with the Mahathir and subsequent Malaysian administrations, especially on internationalcauses, includingtrade, intellectual property, biopiracy and climate change.

Martin touched many, inspiring all by his tireless commitment. He was often more than happy for others to getcredit for his discreet efforts behind the scenes with relevant research and skilled drafting. His persistence was legendary, but everyone knew his efforts were not for personal gain.

Martin waswell known for his indefatigable energy and meticulousness in preparing policy and advocacy briefs on many key matters of concern to developing countries, often working late into the night as necessary. This reputation gained him access to many government and other leaders.

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A United Nations report states that the fact that women make up 70 percent of the global health workforce puts them at greater risk of infection. This is a dated photo of Catherine a nurse at Jinja referral hospital,in Uganda. Credit: Lyndal Rowlands/IPS.

By Samira Sadeque
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 3 2020 (IPS)

As the number of coronavirus cases continues to grow, concerns are simultaneously growing about the current and long-term effects this will have on certain demographics — specifically, women, the youth, migrant workers, and many employees around the world. 

This week, the United Nations launched a report “Shared Responsibility, Global Solidarity: Responding to the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19” that detailed how these communities are affected disproportionately by the current pandemic and quarantine. 

A burden on women

At the centre of it remains one demographic that likely bear the strongest brunt of it: women. 

“The fact that women make up 70 percent of the global health workforce puts them at greater risk of infection,” read part of the report. “The current crisis threatens to push back the limited gains made on gender equality and exacerbate the feminisation of poverty, vulnerability to violence, and women’s equal participation in the labour force.”

But just because women make up almost three-quarters of global healthcare professionals, does not mean they’re given the proper respect. According to a March 2019 report by the World Health Organisation, despite having such a crucial role in the public health industry, women continue to face various kinds of abuse or negligence in society, including but not limited to being attributed to a “lower status” or engaging in paid and often, unpaid roles, and being subject to gender bias and harassment. 

Meanwhile, given such a large percentage of the workers are women, the requirement of child-care can hinder a woman’s ability to work during the pandemic. According to the Centre for American Progress, currently millions of healthcare workers have a child under the age of 14, who might be struggling to manage between going to work and taking care of their children. 

“Because mothers’ employment is especially likely to suffer when they cannot find reliable child care, this finding suggests that millions of vital health workers currently could be struggling to secure child care, endangering their ability to work at a moment when the U.S. health care infrastructure is already spread too thin,” the report reads. 

At the launch of the report, U.N. secretary general António Guterres called for policies to not only address the pandemic and contain its spread, but also that would adopt measures to address the long-lasting impact of the crisis. He called for “designing fiscal and monetary policies able to support the direct provision of resources to support workers and households, the provision of health and unemployment insurance, scaled up social protection, and support to businesses to prevent bankruptcies and massive job losses.”

Plight of migrant workers, lack of connectivity further problems

Another demographic that is deeply affected as a result of the pandemic are migrant workers, according to the report.

“Migrants account for almost 30 percent of workers in some of the most affected sectors in OECD countries,” read the report. “Massive job losses among migrant workers will have knock on effects on economies heavily dependent on remittances, such as El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Tonga, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.” 

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in Nepal cites the government’s figure that estimates between 700 000 to 800 000 Nepali migrants workers in India. 

“With the outbreak of COVID-19 and measures by the GOV to mitigate the risks, country is in a national lock – down. Economic production has stopped and many seasonal Nepali migrant workers had to stop working,” Lorena Lando, Chief of Mission at IOM Nepal, told IPS.

“Thousands returned back to Nepal before the lock down, others are still in India but unable to work. Many of the migrant workers are daily wages earners, and now they no longer have an income to support their families. Even for those that return back home, job opportunities will be scarce, keeping in mind that was the first reason why they travelled abroad for work.”

“The economic impact of COVID-19 in countries such as Nepal will be much bigger than other countries, and while some actions to take are good for the short term, other will need be a socio economic recovery response in longer vision,” she added. 

Beyond migrant workers, International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates that the current crisis in the labor market could see between five and 25 million job losses. 

“The current crisis exacerbates the feminisation of poverty, vulnerability to violence, and women’s equal participation in the labour force,” the report noted, highlighting that even amid joblessness, women will be affected disproportionately. 

Furthermore, connectivity to the internet, especially at a time when all work and courses are moving online, is also of priority. The report states that currently an estimated 3.6 billion of the world’s population remain without connectivity, which means they may not have access to education, health information and telemedicine. 

As advocates had told IPS last week, digital access and internet connectivity is key at this time in order to ensure communication among communities.

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