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By Peter Paul van de Wijs
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, Jul 30 2019 (IPS)

We all know that the UN Sustainable Development Goals are ambitious and will take huge collaborative and international effort to achieve. Government action alone is not enough. So how can the private sector actively contribute – and what can be done to ramp up the participation of businesses around the world?

Finding answers to these questions is at the heart of a new initiative, launched this month by GRI, the sustainability reporting standard setter, and global power company Enel. Titled ‘Driving corporate action towards accomplishing the SDGs’, it will seek solutions by engaging businesses, policy makers and NGOs.

The project links two of the requirements that apply to all member states under the SDGs. These are to encourage companies to adopt sustainable practices and report sustainability information (set out within goal 12); and strengthening global partnerships between the private sector, government and civil society (goal 17).

From the inception of the SDGs, GRI has championed the participation of the private sector in measuring and achieving progress. In fact, we believe this is a crucial contributing factor to the overall success of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

That’s because, through engaging in reporting on the SDGs and embedding this within corporate disclosures, businesses are encouraged to adopt more sustainable ways of working. Yet we need to encourage more companies to get on board. While there are good examples from around the world, a complete picture is lacking. So, more needs to be done to strengthen collaboration and translate these partnerships into measurable impact.

Agreement on the pressing need to address these issues led to the partnership between GRI and Enel, with phase one now underway. At the center of this work are online collaboration forums where anyone can sign up to participate, free of charge. Each of these 90-minute sessions will be led by a diverse panel of experts, convened by GRI and Enel.

The forums will get under the skin of what is already happening to support business engagement in the SDGs – and where more help is needed. Taking place at times that accommodate those in different time zones, we are seeking widespread and international participation.

The online sessions will take place in October and November and are hosted by insights and strategy consultancy GlobeScan. The findings will feed into a series of regional events in 2020.

#ActNow for a better future for all

Participants in the forums will be asked to share their perspectives on the current state of affairs and help develop a vision on how companies and governments should work together.
Questions to be addressed will include:

• • • How has reporting by the private sector enhanced the implementation of the SDGs?

 

• • • What’s the role of the SDGs in contributing to business strategy?

 

• • • Has reporting increased the understanding of the opportunities and threats related to the topics covered by the SDGs?

 

• • How has involvement by businesses in the SDGs led to new partnerships or different ways of working?

Following each of the forums, a report covering the main outputs will be published so that a wider audience can engage in the trends, initiatives and challenges that have been discussed – with the aim of inspiring others to get involved.

Based on these reports, phase two of the project will see four regional events taking place around the world next year, where key findings from the research will be shared. These will focus on practical learning and action that encourage companies to engage in SDG reporting and make the transition to more sustainable business models by engaging in partnerships and collaboration.

All of this activity builds up to the pivotal 2020 UN High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, which will mark the five-year milestone for the SDGs when the world will take stock of progress made.

What is clear is that without the involvement of an engaged private sector, the SDGs will fall short. There is therefore both an urgent opportunity and necessity to increase the momentum and stimulate greater business engagement in the SDGs. That is why we need as many organizations as possible to get involved in the project.

At its heart, this work is about understanding how businesses, governments and other organizations each can play their part in contributing towards the success of the SDGs. Ultimately, this can help us navigate the route to a more sustainable future, which will benefit companies, communities and the planet.

The post Businesses Crucial to the Success of SDGs appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Peter Paul van de Wijs is Chief External Affairs Officer for Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the independent international organizations that helps businesses and other organizations understand and report their sustainability impacts.

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By Anis Chowdhury and Jomo Kwame Sundaram
SYDNEY and KUALA LUMPUR, Jul 30 2019 (IPS)

July 2019 saw the 75th anniversary of the historic conference of 44 countries held at the Bretton Woods (BW) resort in New Hampshire during July 1-22, 1944.

Conference
At BW, John Maynard Keynes, representing the UK, and Harry Dexter White, for the USA, both sought a new international monetary system following the Great Depression, which many attributed to the functioning of the gold standard before World War II.

Anis Chowdhury

Keynes wanted a powerful global central bank, to be called the Clearing Union, and a new international reserve currency, ‘bancor’, while White favoured a more modest lending fund and a greater role for the US dollar, instead of a new currency. The new BW arrangements were built around White’s plan, but he went into oblivion following accusations within the US administration of being a Soviet agent.

The Soviet Union, which had participated in the creation of the BW institutions (BWIs), was invited to be one of the ‘big five’ in the post-war governance system, mirroring the United Nations Security Council, but decided not to join.

Institutions
The principal goals of the two BWIs were to create conditions for a lasting peace by promoting international economic growth and stability for all by fashioning a new international monetary system with stable currencies, an efficient foreign exchange system and without competitive currency devaluations.

The BW conference created the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD). Hence, the IMF and the World Bank (WB) Group, including the IBRD, its largest part, are referred to as the BWIs.

The IMF would monitor exchange rates and lend reserve currencies, typically US dollars, to countries facing temporary balance of payments difficulties, while the IBRD would provide credit and other assistance to rebuild economies devastated by World War II, and to develop poor countries in the post-colonial world economy.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

Keynes also wanted a third body, the International Trade Organisation (ITO), to enable, regulate and promote trade, to ensure post-war world economic growth, transformation and stability. But this was later opposed by the US Congress, preferring to continue US protectionism from the 19th century.

Developed country domination
At the outset, the ‘basic vote’, of ‘one country, one vote’, accounted for almost half the total voting rights in the IMF. Over the decades, the ‘basic vote’ share has dropped to an eighth. Remaining voting rights have been determined by a complex formula perpetuating European dominance, thanks to greater intra-European trade over the decades.

As the largest single shareholder, the US dominates the BWIs, with the collective clout of Western Europe. The two agreed that the WB President should be an American, while the IMF would be led by a European, with an American second-in-command.

Despite some modest reforms, BWI governance remains biased towards this North Atlantic alliance, not even reflecting changing realities and emerging economic powers. While Europeans still have a third of IMF votes, China now has 6.09 per cent, Brazil 2.2 per cent and India 2.64 per cent — less than Belgium, Holland and Luxemburg.

Unsurprisingly, regardless of changing rhetoric and claims, policies that serve the interests of developed countries are still promoted by the BWIs, with poorer countries forced to adopt such policies to qualify for credit and other support.

Harmful conditionalities
Both the IMF and the WB have abused their conditionalities to stabilize, liberalize and privatize, resulting in the ‘lost decades’ of the 1980s and 1990s. While reforms were forced on developing countries, ostensibly to accelerate growth, their median per capita income growth was 0.0 per cent during 1980-1998, after 2.5 per cent in 1960-1979.

Developing countries experienced multiple crises due to “deficiencies in the design and execution of the reform strategies”, according to the World Bank’s own evaluation. Without China’s growth, global poverty would have increased significantly after two decades of IMF-WB reforms, while economic inequality has grown in many countries.

IMF mishandling of the 1997-1998 Asian crises is now well documented. The IMF response exacerbated the crisis, especially in Indonesia. Not surprisingly, policymakers in the crisis countries privately claim they will never seek IMF assistance again.

At the height of the Asian crisis, Japan called for an Asian Monetary Fund because the IMF “didn’t know Asia” and “its remedies were likely to do great damage to the Asian economy”, but the proposal was killed due to strong US opposition.

Political interference
The strategic interests of the major powers have influenced the disbursement of BWI financial resources, while regimes seen as hostile to the major powers have been deprived of loans on the pretext that they failed to meet the BWIs’ criteria.

Since their creation, the IMF and the WB have violated international pacts on human and labour rights, and have had few qualms about supporting dictatorships, e.g., in Chile, Brazil, Nicaragua, Congo-Kinshasa, Philippines, Indonesia and Romania, even though these regimes did not meet official criteria and violated human rights.

The WB’s 2018 Doing Business report manipulated Chile’s ranking to discredit the left-leaning government of Michelle Bachelet, in support of conservative billionaire Sebastian Pinera’s successful bid for a second presidency.

When the WB’s then chief economist, Paul Romer, apologized for this blatant political bias, he had to resign. Previously, Joseph Stiglitz had to resign the same post following his criticism of the IMF’s handling of the 1997-1998 Asian crisis. Both received Nobel prizes (Stiglitz in 2001 and Romer in 2018) after their resignations

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By Katja Iversen
NEW YORK, Jul 29 2019 (IPS)

It’s on all of us to make gender equality a reality – which means harnessing our collective power to build a gender equal world.

By empowering girls and women, realizing sexual and reproductive health and rights, tackling gender-based violence, and confronting the combinations of sexism, misogyny, racism, and colonialism, we can take steps towards true gender equality.

Coming off the heels of the Women Deliver 2019 Conference in Vancouver, we both explore the need to use – and share – power to deliver transformative change for girls and women.

Katja Iversen: At the Women Deliver 2019 Conference we focused on power, and how it can drive – or hinder – progress and change for girls and women, and therefore for all. How will you use your power?

Justin Trudeau: Power is a privilege and a responsibility. Ultimately, the best thing you can do with power is share it. As we saw at Women Deliver, grassroots advocates and activists are creating change on the ground. Young people, like Natasha Wang Mwansa, are not just the leaders of tomorrow, but the leaders of today.

We need to amplify the work they’re doing, pass them the microphone, and make sure there’s a seat at the table for people of diverse identities and perspectives.

Katja Iversen: In the lead up to and during the Women Deliver 2019 Conference, we have seen unprecedented energy and enthusiasm for advancing gender equality. How do we take that energy and commitment and turn it into action? From world leaders and business leaders to advocates and influencers, what is your call to action to keep up the momentum?

Justin Trudeau: At Women Deliver, we announced new steps forward on everything from funding for women’s health and women’s organizations, to support for women entrepreneurs and housing commitments that will benefit women.

We announced that Canada will increase our investment to $1.4 billion to support women and girls’ health globally, positioning us as a leading donor worldwide on comprehensive sexual and reproductive health rights. $700 million of this annual investment is dedicated to sexual and reproductive health rights.

We’re focusing on the most neglected areas of this field. This is a game changer. We welcome other leaders to join us.

Globally, and here at home, we are seeing attacks on women’s rights, whether it’s undermining a woman’s fundamental right to choose, or violence against Indigenous women and girls. We can’t take our foot off the pedal, not even for a moment.

There’s simply too much at stake. We all need to work together to move forward, and to build more sustainable, more inclusive movements. It’s on all of us to make gender equality a reality.

Katja Iversen: Over the last several years we have heard more world leaders and private sector executives make public statements about the importance of gender equality. This is certainly critical, commendable, and encouraging! But we also need to see these leaders “walk the talk” and move toward action.

This is something you have emphasized throughout your administration from appointing a gender equal cabinet to developing gender-responsive federal budgets – both of which are crucial for moving policies and programs to actual impact. What impact have these actions had in Canada and around the world and what will you do next to move the needle for girls and women?

Justin Trudeau: Our government has put gender equality at the heart of everything we do. This means grappling with interlocking issues like sexism and misogyny, racism and colonialism. These challenges are complex and layered.

We won’t always get it right, but we will always keep trying. We know that it’s time to put an end to violence against all women and transgender, non-binary, and two spirit people, which is why we launched the first ever national strategy on gender-based violence.

We know that advancing gender equality hinges on economic equality, too. We will continue to demand that women and men receive equal pay for work of equal value, that everyone has a safe place to live, and that parents can share equally in both the joys and the responsibilities of raising children.

That’s why we introduced historic proactive pay equity legislation, and created more flexible parental leave options. And it’s why we launched a housing strategy where a minimum of 25% specifically supports women, girls, and their families.

There is much more work to do, and Canada is in it for the long haul. We will keep fighting for gender equality and concrete change – not just when it is popular, but always.

Katja Iversen: From driving Canada’s first Feminist International Assistance Policy to establishing the first Gender Equality Advisory Council to a G7 Presidency, you have led the way for political leadership toward gender equality – with an emphasis on improving girls’ and women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Why should world leaders like you prioritize gender equality and women’s right to decide on their own bodies on international agendas and what more do you plan to do? Please provide 1-2 specific examples.

Justin Trudeau: Women don’t have to imagine not being able to access healthcare when they need it. They don’t have to imagine being denied the right to choose what’s best for their health and their future. For far too many people, that’s their reality. And that’s unacceptable.

Governments need to stand with those on the frontlines as partners and as allies. Leaders should prioritize gender equality and women’s right over their own bodies because it makes our countries, our communities, our workplaces, our governments, and our families stronger.

When women are healthy, free to make decisions about their lives, and can equally participate in our economies, we all benefit.

Katja Iversen: From the hallways of power to the main stage of global convenings, what argument have you found to be most effective in converting more people – especially decision makers – to join you as gender equality champions?
Justin Trudeau: Gender equality is not only the right thing to do, but it is also the smart thing to do. It powers our economies, and changes our communities for the better. Everyone should be able to get behind that.

Katja Iversen: You have spoken about raising your sons with an awareness of power dynamics and to act as allies of girls and women. Part of this involves a shift in mindset, from the idea that boys and men are losing power to the idea that power is shared with girls and women, to the benefit of all.

Why is it so important to you and your wife – Mme Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, a Deliver for Good Influencer – to raise your sons as young feminists, and how have you encouraged them to be effective and supportive allies for gender equality?

Justin Trudeau: Sophie and I want to help our kids grow up to be strong allies and empathetic adults, who walk through the world with openness, compassion, and a commitment to justice. That’s why raising our kids as feminists is such a priority for us.

We want our daughter, Ella-Grace, to have the same opportunities as her brothers, Hadrien and Xavier. And we want our sons to escape the pressure to be ‘a particular kind of masculine’ that can be damaging to men and to the people around them.

We want all three of them to be confident in being themselves, to stand up for what is right, and to do so with pride. We try to instill in our children the notion that everyone should be treated equally, and that there’s work left to do so that everyone shares the same rights and freedoms. We hope our children learn that they have a responsibility – and the power – to shape our world for the better.

The post Power is a Privilege & a Responsibility: Q&A with Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

In a special conversation, Katja Iversen, President/CEO of Women Deliver speaks with Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, about Canada's role in taking action for gender equality at home and abroad and our collective and individual responsibility to share power to build a gender equal world.

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OECD

By Annegret Bendiek, Nadine Godehardt, and David Schulze
BERLIN, Jul 29 2019 (IPS)

The geopolitical significance of key digital technologies now takes centre stage in a new global conflict between the US and China. The dispute over the Chinese technology group Huawei exemplifies this situation. 

The US government perceives the Chinese telecom equipment provider as the Trojan horse of a hostile regime that stands for fundamentally different values. That’s why the US insists to show China its limits. But this extends far beyond a traditional American ‘containment’ approach. Instead, the US now pursues an ‘up to here and no further’ policy towards China.

We can detect this in an entire series of recent decisions. They include the signing of President Donald Trump’s executive order on 15 May 2019 to secure information and communication technology and service supply chains; adding Huawei to the sanctions list of the US Department of Commerce on 16 May; and including four more Chinese companies in the supercomputer industry on 21 June.

The confrontation between the US and China over Huawei has taken on a strongly geopolitical dimension. It’s emblematic of a fundamental break with the underlying rationale of a market economy and shows how foreign policy is deliberately conducted by economic pressures.

This basically amounts to an embargo on Chinese companies in the area of critical key technologies. The Chinese government strongly objects to such protectionist measures and interprets the exclusion from the US market as a hostile act directed primarily against its economically and technologically successful development.

As a result, the confrontation between the US and China over Huawei has taken on a strongly geopolitical dimension. It’s emblematic of a fundamental break with the underlying rationale of a market economy and shows how foreign policy is deliberately conducted by economic pressures.

To many, the convergence of markets no longer appears to be an opportunity for prosperity, but increasingly looms as a threat to public safety. Digital geopolitics is on the rise.

 

What’s digital geopolitics?

The notion of digital geopolitics brings together two opposing trends in international politics. On the one hand, digital geopolitics is based on the power politics of territorial units — for example, nation states such as the US and China or regional actors such as the European Union.

On the other hand, digital geopolitics involves decentralised transnational networks that consist of the connectivity between non-state actors and multinational companies, platforms, hubs, content and infrastructures, extending beyond politically fixed territorial units.

Neither of these developments is new, but they are often discussed separately. What’s new, however, is the increasing entanglement of these two trends, as is seen in the case of Huawei. This also reveals how power and order increasingly lie at the heart of digital geopolitics. Therefore, they require particular attention on our part.

The EU is well aware of its economic and technological dependence on China. For the EU, as for Europe as a whole, there’s the danger of being crushed between the two superpowers. European trade, economy, and production chains are inextricably connected to both Chinese and US technologies.

Unlike the US, however, Europe already has Huawei technology installed in its 4G mobile networks. In the future, this will most likely also be the case for the expansion of the 5G network.

The EU’s connectivity policy for Asia, released in September 2018, includes the goal of building constructive and fair EU relations with China. However, in March 2019, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, published a strategy paper that unexpectedly revealed areas of tension within the relationship.

Although China is still seen as a partner for cooperation and negotiation, the EU explicitly classifies the country as an economic competitor and system rival.

 

The EU is dependent on China

Unaffected by this sceptical assessment of the relationship — a perception also supported by the difficult negotiations between European leaders and China at the EU-China summit in April 2019 — certain member states are independently seeking closer contact with Beijing.

In March 2019, Italy was the first of the G7 countries to sign a Memorandum of Understanding to participate in the New Silk Road project (Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI). Thus, the Italian government has circumvented the attempt of other large member states to negotiate participation in the BRI initiative as a European bloc, rather than bilaterally.

The EU is well aware of its economic and technological dependence on China. Industrial policy, market access and data protection are central conflict lines in EU-China relations. However, the EU has recently decided against excluding Chinese companies from the internal market.

China has been deemed culpable for a multitude of cyber espionage incidents against European information and communication structures. Nevertheless, the close security cooperation with the US, including NATO, could lead to economic decoupling.

The bottom line is that Europe’s reconciliation of interests with China can only be successful across the EU and not across the individual member states.

The military use of 5G mobile networks or cyber sabotage incidents against digital infrastructures in Europe would provide significant momentum for pursuing strategic autonomy vis-à-vis China.

In extreme circumstances, such a scenario could lead to a global, technological form of trench warfare, in which any social and technical vulnerability would be avoided because of it might be a potential gateway to security risks. A world economic crisis and massive global arms race would be the result.

 

Divide and rule

If, in the areas of cybersecurity and Industry 4.0, the EU fails to establish lasting cooperative structures to build security and trust with China, then a second, equally negative, scenario of a worldwide ‘collapse of digital commons’ seems plausible.

Global challenges such as securing social peace and creating social justice under the (labour) conditions of digitisation are not addressed in this scenario. The EU also continues to accuse the Chinese authorities of pursuing an industrial policy that systematically promotes national subsidies to private and state enterprises to give their own producers a competitive advantage at the global level.

Conversely, Chinese companies and direct investment in Europe have an easy time because of technological dependencies. Member states are still pursuing only the idea of a ‘Europe of independent nations,’ while the single market is becoming the site of a technological proxy war between the US and China.

Political action is focused solely on cyber defence. Similar to the global financial crisis, the inability to regulate engenders political irresponsibility.

Prosperity and stability on a regional and global scale are crucially dependent on adherence to common minimum standards in IT security, norms regarding states’ conduct in cyberspace and the development of joint mechanisms.

In this context, it seems necessary to have strategically relevant foreign and security policy objectives in a comprehensive digital policy, especially at the EU level with regard to China. This can also be negotiated within the framework of the new EU connectivity strategy with China and other Asian partner countries.

The bottom line is that Europe’s reconciliation of interests with China can only be successful across the EU and not across the individual member states. The EU with its Digital Single Market can, as Wolfgang Kleinwächter writes in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, set an example of a ‘global multi-stakeholder pact for the protection of the public core of the Internet.’

The post The Age of Digital Geopolitics & Proxy War Between US and China appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Dr Annegret Bendiek works as a researcher in the research group EU/Europe of Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik; Dr Nadine Godehardt is a member of the Research Group Asia of Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik; David Schulze is research assistant of the research group Asia of Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik.

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Santals, evicted from their land in Gaibandha, are seen at a makeshift camp in Joypur. The attack on the Santal community on November 6, 2016 resulted in at least three deaths, more than 50 people injured and around 2000 families displaced. Photo: Anisur Rahman

By Mia Seppo
Jul 29 2019 (IPS-Partners)

On June 26, the world comme-morated the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture—an opportunity to uphold the dignity of life, access to justice, and freedom from torture, which is a right of all people, to be enjoyed without discrimination, regardless of their civil, cultural, economic, political or social position or status.

This International Day has deep and global roots, going back to the 1948 Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR), a global standard of customary international law, which recognises the inherent dignity and the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family as the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world. It also states that everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person. These vital points are echoed in Bangladesh’s constitution, which refers to the rule of law, fundamental human rights and freedom, equality and justice for all citizens. It guarantees the rights to life and personal liberty and provides safeguards in case of arrest and detention. Like the UDHR, the constitution stipulates that nobody shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Bangladesh and other countries have also committed themselves to guaranteeing the rule of law, good governance and effective institutions in their efforts to implement the 2030 Agenda and achieve its Sustainable Development Goals. Yet violations of human rights, abuse of power and impunity continue around the world and threaten the achievement of sustainable development.

Torture, and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, can occur in many places. These violations are not limited to criminal custodial settings such as detention centres or prisons but can take place in schools, hospitals, institutions that care for children, or for persons with mental disabilities. Torture or ill-treatment may also take place in the public domain, for example during demonstrations where there is excessive use of force by the authorities.

Torture and ill-treatment can take many forms. Violence against women and girls, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions have been classified as torture, especially where impunity and lack of due diligence reign, and no systemic action is taken to prevent or redress such acts.

Bangladesh has been a state party to the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) since 1998. The CAT’s monitoring body, the Committee against Torture, will be reviewing Bangladesh for the first time, in Geneva from July 30-31. It is a welcome step that the government has just submitted its first state report, 19 years overdue.

Every state has a responsibility to take effective measures against human rights abuses. It is commendable that the government of Bangladesh supported a recommendation from the Universal Periodic Review 2018 to investigate serious human rights violations, including torture, extrajudicial killings and disappearances. The United Nations looks forward to action in this regard. More preventative measures should be taken to make sure that no further cases arise.

The United Nations also appreciates that Bangladesh enacted the Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention) Act in 2013. However, very few cases have been filed, investigated or tried under this law. The media continue to report about people who have been victims of alleged excessive use of force, ill-treatment or torture at the hands of public authorities, or the latter’s collusion or inaction when non-state actors are the perpetrators. There have been very few cases of compensation being awarded to victims. Intimidation and harassment have been alleged against individuals who have sought justice. There must be no reprisals, or else fear will prevent people from seeking redress.

National institutions have investigated and intervened in a few cases of alleged torture and ill-treatment. For example, violence against the Santal community on November 6, 2016 resulted in at least three deaths, more than 50 people injured and around 2000 families displaced. The attackers also ill-treated people, looted the community’s homes and livestock and set fire to about 600 residences. Civil society and human rights activists raised serious concerns over inaction and alleged involvement of police in the unprecedented eviction drive. The National Human Rights Commission, together with the Parliamentarian Caucus on indigenous people, conducted a fact-finding mission and found that the eviction was mishandled, resulting in serious human rights violations, and recommended preventative measures and reparation. The matter is still sub judice.

The upcoming review by the CAT will provide an opportunity for Bangladesh to showcase measures that it has taken or intends to take. This might include strictly enforcing existing policy and legal safeguards against torture, strengthening accountability of law enforcement agencies and other actors, capacity building and training, investigations of alleged perpetrators and bringing them to justice in fair trials, protection of witnesses and victims, making reliable data available to lawyers and policy makers, and information campaigns for the general public who may have limited awareness about their rights.

The United Nations Secretary General has urged all states “to end impunity for perpetrators and eradicate these reprehensible acts that defy our common humanity.” The UN stands ready to work with Bangladesh to make this a reality for torture survivors and everyone else.

Mia Seppo is United Nations Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh.

This story was originally published by The Daily Star, Bangladesh

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Felix Dodds is Adjunct Professor at the University of North Carolina and Associate fellow at the Tellus Institute

By Felix Dodds
NEW YORK, Jul 29 2019 (IPS)

As some of you will know I have a new book out Stakeholder Democracy: Represented Democracy in a Time of Fear.  (other contributors to the book were:  Jan-Gustav Strandenaes, Carolina Duque Chopitea, Minu Hemmati, Susanne Salz, Bernd Lakemeier, Laura Schmitz, and Jana Borkenhagen). 

The book’s theory of change is very simple involving stakeholders in the decision making makes better-informed decisions and that those decisions are more likely to be implemented with those stakeholder’s support either singularly or in partnership.

The book places Stakeholder Democracy within the spectrum of Representative to Participatory Democracy.

It argues that we need to strengthen represented democracy in a time of fear through engaging stakeholders. It recognizes that in many places politicians are no longer believed but they need to make difficult decisions. To help them do this engaging with the support of stakeholders can help them to have the political courage to address climate change or the wave of new technologies coming or migration or the many other difficult issues we will be facing in the next ten years up to 2030.

 

Two discourses

Since around 1992 we have had two different political discourses in play that of stakeholders and that of civil society.

Under the leadership of Maurice Strong, Chip Lindner, and Nitin Desai the Earth Summit moved away from the old NGO discourse. This was that in the UN everyone who wasn’t a government or an intergovernmental organization was an NGO as far as the UN was concerned.

The Earth Summit changed that. Agenda 21 recognized 9 stakeholder groups in society who should be involved in policy development and in helping to deliver Agenda 21 and the Rio Conventions. These were:

 

1. Women
2. Children and Youth
3. Indigenous Peoples
4. Non-Governmental Organizations
5. Local Authorities
6. Workers and Trade Unions
7. Business and Industry
8. Scientific and Technological Community
9. Farmers

 

By the way, these were enlarged in the development of the 2030 Agenda to include others such as older people and the disabled.

At the same time in the  World Social Summit (1995), the Financing for Development space (2002) and those around the Bretton Woods Institutions a different political discourse evolved that of civil society.

This discourse recognized only two different groups than government and intergovernmental bodies these two were industry and civil society. What did this mean?

 

Civil Society concept increases space for industry

We often hear in the civil society discourse of the increased space that industry has.

Well, the conceptual framework for civil society by its nature increases the space of industry from one of nine to one to two.

So let’s be clear the advocates for this by their own actions are giving up massive space for industry and reducing space for other stakeholders.

It also allows governments and intergovernmental organizations to just group anyone who isn’t industry into a catch-all group.

Who is Civil Society?

Well, there are many definitions out there and the book looks at some of them. But what it tends to be is a space dominated by NGOs…it does subjugate women, youth, community groups etc into this one space no longer having their individual and unique voices.

By doing this it dilutes the gender perspective – it reduces the voice of the next generation.

Civil Society also excludes a number of key stakeholders that includes academics and scientists, Indigenous Peoples – they are a “Peoples” and should, of course, have not to be subjugated to other views.

It excludes local and subnational government who is seen as a level of government but whose voices freedom found with their national government.

The book goes into examples where this course has resulted in the wrong people being at the table.

The Stakeholder discourse, on the other hand, requires an ongoing stakeholder mapping process to ensure the right people are at the table.

It gives them individual space to articulate for a gender perspective or youth a next-generation perspective. It enables new relevant stakeholders that have emerged over the last 25 years to be recognized and given space such as older people or people with disabilities.

 

Civil Society discourse is a lazy discourse

What amazes me is how groups that do not benefit from the civil society discourse seem to accept it without question.

I can only think it is because its easier than to argue for the individual voice of relevant stakeholders.

For governments and intergovernmental organizations, it makes their life much easier.

They don’t have to show what they are doing for engaging each of the stakeholders they leave it to a broad engagement with this catch-all group of civil society.

What it has done in many UN bodies that have adopted this reduces the staff support for stakeholders and increase it for industry – a good example of this is UNEP.

After all, now intergovernmental bodies would only be servicing two groups… resulting in the need for only a form of parity between civil society support and industry. Previously there needed to be evidence of support for women, youth, Indigenous Peoples etc.

You can hear from some of those lazy people the comments like…

“ahh how do you decide which stakeholder group you should be a member of”
”
They go on to say “what if you are a woman and a young person and work for an NGO.

Well, the engagement isn’t and shouldn’t be based on the individual it’s based on the organization in all cases. To be clear it should be based on what the organization’s policy priorities are. If the organization is focused on youth policies then it should engage with the youth caucus, if its work is gender then it should engage with the women’s stakeholder group and if it’s a mixture well work in a number of different stakeholder groups.

 

Who benefits from the Civil Society discourse?

I always like to look at who benefits to see if that has a bearing.

It’s clear that there is a number that benefit.

Governments and Intergovernmental organizations benefit as they don’t have to address the different voices and leave that coordination to whoever is organizing the civil society group.

Industry benefits as they gain a huge additional space vacated by key stakeholders one of 2 is so much better than one of 9 or more for them.

Also, large well organized northern-based NGOs benefit as they can assert a larger influence on one space than many.

So if you are happy with giving more space to industry, reducing space for women and youth and other key stakeholders, not recognizing Indigenous Peoples right for their own space, do not want academics and scientists to be able to represent their research then do continue to use the civil society concept but understand what you are doing.

You are actively taking part in reducing space for all other stakeholders.

 

The post Is Civil Society Arguing Itself out of Political Space? appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Felix Dodds is Adjunct Professor at the University of North Carolina and Associate fellow at the Tellus Institute

The post Is Civil Society Arguing Itself out of Political Space? appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Milagros Sánchez, coordinator of the urban biosystem that operates in a community soup kitchen in Ciudad Oculta, a poor neighbourhood on the south side of the Argentine capital, shows the vegetables and mushrooms grown using waste products in crates and drawers on the roof. Credit: Daniel Gutman/IPS

By Daniel Gutman
BUENOS AIRES, Jul 29 2019 (IPS)

On the outer edges of Buenos Aires proper, where the paved streets end and the narrow alleyways of one of Argentina’s largest shantytowns begin, visitors can find the En Haccore soup kitchen.

The community endeavor is using renewable energy and the circular economy in an effort to improve quality of life for local residents.

“We were overrun by trash, because the garbage trucks don’t always come. Thanks to a biodigester we are now converting that waste into biogas, which enables us to spend less on energy for cooking. It’s a dream come true,” Bilma Acuña, the founder and head of the soup kitchen, told IPS."In our view, the main environmental problem is the exclusion of the poor, and we can help take care of the environment by improving people's quality of life and facilitating their access to energy and healthy food.” -- Gonzalo del Castillo

She explained that she started the soup kitchen in 1993, after losing her job at a meatpacking plant, at a time that many others in the neighbourhood also became unemployed during the government of neoliberal president Carlos Menem (1989-1999), when the unemployment rate climbed to almost 20 percent.

She named it En Haccore (En-hakkore), the Aramaic name of a spring in the biblical story of Samson and Delilah. The soup kitchen is on the southern edge of the Argentine capital, a 15-minute drive from downtown, at the entrance to the overcrowded shantytown of 25,000 people known as Ciudad Oculta (Hidden City).

Today, in a country of 44 million people where 2.65 million have fallen into poverty since last year, according to official data, Acuña says there are more unmet needs than ever in her neighbourhood.

That becomes clear after walking with her for just a few minutes: local residents come up to her and ask for milk, rice, noodles or any food that they can take home. The soup kitchen serves lunch and a tea-time snack to 300 people Monday to Friday, but every day new people show up, asking for a meal.

Since 2017, an “urban biosystem” has been operating in En Haccore, whose aim is to replicate in an urban setting the workings of nature, where everything that is consumed is generated within the system itself and all waste is reused, as part of a circular economy.

Thus, the biodigester, which is an airtight container where the lack of oxygen leads to the appearance of bacteria that decompose organic matter, is not only used to produce biogas from the peels of dozens of kilos of potatoes or carrots that are consumed every day in En Haccore.

View of the biodigester that produces biogas, used for cooking in the En Haccore community soup kitchen in a Buenos Aires shantytown. The leftover waste is used as fertiliser and compost in the urban garden on the facility’s rooftop. Credit: Courtesy of CeSus

The waste is also used to produce compost and fertiliser for the urban garden growing on the rooftop of the soup kitchen.

In addition, there is a solar collector that heats water using thermal energy, making it possible to purchase less bottled gas, since in this poor part of the city there is no connection to natural gas pipes.

“In our view, the main environmental problem is the exclusion of the poor, and we can help take care of the environment by improving people’s quality of life and facilitating their access to energy and healthy food,” Gonzalo del Castillo, who is ultimately responsible for the initiative, told IPS.

“We want to debunk the idea that only those who already have their basic needs met can take care of the environment. On the contrary, we believe that increasing environmental quality helps people who face greater obstacles to develop their resilience, which is the ability to adapt to the problems of the environment,” he adds.

Del Castillo is the director of the Argentine Chapter of the Club of Rome, an international organisation founded in Italy in 1968 that brings together people from different backgrounds and areas and was one of the first voices to raise the challenges to human welfare caused by the destruction of the environment.

In Argentina, the local branch of the Club of Rome created the Centre for Sustainability for Local Governments (CeSus), which provides technical assistance to municipalities on environmental and social issues and was invited by the Buenos Aires city government to work in Ciudad Oculta.

Bilma Acuña is the founder and director of the En Haccore soup kitchen, located on the border between the city of Buenos Aires and the shantytown of Ciudad Oculta. The facility also has a network of mothers who fight drug use among young people. Credit: Daniel Gutman/IPS

The project seeks to counter the system by which food and fuel produced in rural areas are consumed in urban areas, while the resulting waste is often dumped back in the countryside.

Del Castillo explains that the idea in En Haccore was to build “an integrated system, where solar energy reduces the consumption of gas for cooking, while the waste produced in the soup kitchen feeds the bidiogester and this generates new energy in the form of biogas, while leaving other waste that is used to fertilise the organic garden and the machine that makes compost.”

The garden is simply crates and drawers filled with soil on the cement roof, where vegetables and mushrooms are grown using waste like coffee grounds, as well as hydroponic crops, which do not use soil but depend on the efficient use of water.

There is also a collection point for used vegetable oil, which is periodically picked up by a foundation that uses it to make biodiesel.

“Cooking oil was a very serious problem here, because it was often dumped into pipes or wells and altered the entire system, due to the precariousness of the sanitation infrastructure, which is informal,” the coordinator of the project in Ciudad Oculta, Milagros Sánchez, told IPS.

View of the entrance to the Ciudad Oculta shantytown, within the larger informal neighbourhood of Villa Lugano on the south side of the Argentine capital, a 15-minute drive from downtown Buenos Aires. Credit: Daniel Gutman/IPS

The experimental project includes key participation by the community through training workshops, because the aim is for it to continue when CeSus pulls out.

“Now I dream of having a biodigester and a solar collector to produce my own energy in my house,” said Alejandra Pugliese, a local resident who told IPS that her participation in workshops where she learned about urban gardening changed the way she sees life.

“I became aware that if you connect with the cycles of nature it is possible to improve quality of life even with few resources,” added Pugliese, who works caring for children and the elderly and has recently seen a drop in her income due to the recession that began in Argentina in 2018.

The urban biosystem is also being developed in another soup kitchen in Ciudad Oculta and in another shantytown in the south of Buenos Aires, Villa 21.

Some three million people live in more than 4,000 shantytowns or slums, known as “villas”, in this Southern Cone country, according to a survey carried out last year by the government in conjunction with social organisations.

CeSus is seeking support from the public sector to demonstrate that it is possible for urban communities, not only in “villas”, to apply the circular logic of natural ecosystems in order to become self-sustainable.

The circular economy consists, precisely, of replacing a model based on producing-consuming-disposing with one based on producing-consuming-recycling, and includes a transition to clean energy, with the aim of coexistence with the environment.

Related Articles

• Solar Energy Provides Hope for Poor Neighbourhoods in Buenos Aires
• Solar Collectors and Solidarity Change Lives in Argentina
• Buenos Aires Shantytowns, Caught Between Exclusion and Hope

The post Using Renewable Energy and the Circular Economy to Fight Poverty in Argentina appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Malaysia Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad says that the Rohingya should be treated as Myanmar nationals or be given a chance to form their own state. In this photo, he speaks during the opening ceremony of the 20th Asia Oil & Gas Conference in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia on June 24, 2019. File photo: Reuters

By The Star Online, Kuala Lumpur
Jul 28 2019 (IPS-Partners)

The Rohingyas should be treated as Myanmar nationals or be given a chance to form their own state, said Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

He said even though Malaysia generally does not wish to interfere with the internal affairs of other countries, it does so in this case due to the massacre or genocide that is happening in Myanmar.

“Myanmar, of course, at one time was made up of many different states. But the British decided to rule Myanmar as one state – and because of that, many of the tribes (were) included in the state of Burma.

“But now they should either be treated as nationals or they should be given their territory to form their own state,” he said in an interview with Turkey’s Anadolu Agency in Ankara during his four-day visit to the country. In 2017, more than 700,000 ethnic Rohingya were driven from Rakhine state following a military-led crackdown that a United Nations’ report said included mass killings and gang rapes.

Meanwhile, asked to comment on the plight of the Uighur in China, Dr Mahathir said Malaysia has always advocated for the settlement of conflicts through negotiation, arbitration or court of law.

“We should tell China (to) please treat these people as citizens. The fact that they have a different religion should not influence the treatment towards them. When you resort to violence, then it’s very difficult to find a good conclusion because there has been no case where violence has achieved the objective,” he said.

Meanwhile, on Turkey’s fight against the Fetullah Terrorist Organisation (FETO) both inside and outside the country, Dr Mahathir said Malaysia does not support insurrection in any country.

“It is our policy not to be used as a base for action taken against other countries. It is for that reason that when we find that there are some attempts to make use of Malaysia as a base for dissent against the Turkish government, we have taken action to close these (FETO-linked) schools” he said.

Copyright: The Star Online / Asia News Network (ANN)

This story was originally published by The Daily Star, Bangladesh

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By Luis Felipe López-Calva
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 26 2019 (IPS)

Gender inequality is about power asymmetries. In the late 1970s, Robert Putnam reflected on the status of women in policy decisions in his comparative study on political elites. Quoting Elizabeth Vallance, he concluded that, “where power is, women aren’t.”.

The challenge for achieving gender equity by rebalancing power has to be addressed in different spheres: the household, the market, and society at large.

Luis Felipe López-Calva

At the household-level, for example, women’s ability to make decisions about resource allocation or family planning are critical dimensions of empowerment; in the market, women’s access to economic opportunities, career advancement, and fair wages are of fundamental concern; at a society level, the main focus of this #GraphforThought, women’s capacity to influence decision-making is paramount to progress in terms of equity.

Fortunately, over the past several decades the face of politics has changed in many Latin American and Caribbean countries. Not only have women been elected to the highest office many times in Latin America and the Caribbean since 1990—but women representation is also expanding across multiple policy arenas from the national to the local level.

As shown in Graph 1, from (circa) 1997 to (circa) 2019 the share of women in important policy arenas, such as parliament, ministerial cabinet, and the supreme court, has nearly tripled.

However, as the graph shows—despite progress on average in LAC (the solid line) we are still well below parity level (the dotted horizontal line) and heterogeneity across countries within LAC remain substantial (by the individual country dots).

Moreover, it is important to note that while women’s representation overall has been increasing, minority women such as Afro-descendants and indigenous women remain systematically excluded from the policy arena.

Graph 2 shows that only fifteen countries in LAC achieved “gender parity” at some point in time in at least one policy arena in the past two decades. For example, two countries in LAC (Nicaragua and Grenada) have had gender parity in the Ministerial Cabinet; two countries (Suriname and Cuba) have had gender parity in the National Parliament; while only Dominica has had gender parity in terms of Local Mayors over the past two decades.

Why does it matter to have women in political leadership? Support of women’s leadership has a normative value in itself and should be a guiding principle in our societies. However, it also has instrumental value by helping to make the system more responsive to women’s demands and aspirations.

Evidence suggests that enhancing women’s representation in the policy arena can help to bring a gender-lens to policy—for example in issue areas such as travel mobility, starting a job, equal pay, marriage and divorce, parental leave, running a business, asset management and inheritance, and pensions.

For example, research on Brazil finds that women’s representation in municipal government leads to the adoption of more “women-friendly” policies in areas such as domestic violence and childcare.

Given the importance of women’s representation in the policy arena both intrinsically and instrumentally—what can be done to accelerate its progress?

Gender quotas (laws stipulating a required share or number of women in political positions) are an increasingly common solution, and perhaps one of the main drivers of why political representation has increased.

However, even where quotas exist, informal norms may clash with formal legal structures—leading to situations in which quotas remain unimplemented or strategically circumvented.

For example, in our region, we saw this in the case of the “Juanitas” and, more recently, the “Manuelitas” in Mexico, where women ran for office on the ballot in compliance with gender quotas—only to later renounce their position and cede it to a man. Cases such as this reveal the deeply entrenched discriminatory norms and beliefs still held by so many about women’s ability to lead.

Moreover, according to the World Values Survey, on average in Latin America, 23% of people still believe that “men make better politicians than women” reflective of the region’s historical machista culture.

While women continue to face both formal and informal barriers to entering the policy arena in Latin America and the Caribbean—the region represents a positive example of change in many ways.

Not only has the share of women in politics increased, but it has coincided with the improvement of more gender-equitable development outcomes (such as women’s attainment of higher education) as well as more gender-equitable rules of the game (such as gender quota laws).

These achievements have in turn respectively helped to redistribute greater de facto and de jure power to women, which further strengthens their voice in the policy arena and subsequently their ability to make the system more responsive to women’s demands and aspirations.

The post Women, Power, & Changing Face of Political Representation in Latin America & the Caribbean appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

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

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Lucky Choolwe, a field facilitator for Grassroots Trust in Zambia, which engages with land owners and policy-makers to regenerate eco-systems, conducts a practical session with farmers on FMNR. Courtesy: Friday Phiri

By Friday Phiri
PEMBA, Zambia, Jul 26 2019 (IPS)

Jennifer Handondo, a small scale farmer of Choma district in southern Zambia, plants food crops such as maize mostly for her family’s needs. Because of uncharacteristically high temperatures and low rainfall during the planting season in March, the divorced mother who single-handedly supports her three children, has not been able to harvest as much as she usually does. So she has diversified into selling seedlings of neem, Moringa and other medicinal trees.

“For me, trees represent money and a livelihood, but not in the wrong way through charcoal production but through these seedlings,” she told IPS. As a value add, she recently diversified into selling leaf powders such as Moringa Oleifera—a scientifically proven food and medicinal tree.

While she earned on average about 78 dollars from selling the excess crop her family did not use, she said she earns as much as 5,400 dollars a month currently from sales of the Moringa powder. She receives orders for the powder from large local institutions and explained that she usually has to collaborate with other farmers to fulfil these orders.

“My livelihood is based on trees,” she said.

Zambia’s rising deforestation threat

Zambia has a forest coverage of 49.9 million hectares, representing 66 percent of the total land area in this southern African nation and boasting at least 220 different tree species. However, with a deforestation rate of between 250,000 and 300,000 hectares per annum, this rich biodiversity is at risk of being wiped away.

A recent environment outlook report by the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA) showed that the country’s high levels of deforestation are not slowing down. The report points to various causes for this, among them illegal indiscriminate cutting of trees and the reckless collection of wood for fuel, charcoal burning, the harvesting of timber, clearing of large tracks of land for agriculture through slash and burn methods, urbanisation and new human settlements.

In addition, the country’s renewable energy connectivity figures are not impressive. It is estimated that only about 25 percent of the population of 17 million is connected to renewable energy sources.

Handondo’s story is different though. A grade nine dropout, she has returned to school and graduated in General Agriculture from the Zambia College of Agriculture. She is passionate and active in forest conservation, participating in tree-planting campaigns and awareness programmes since 2016.
So for her the link to selling seedlings and products from trees as a source of income was an easy one.

She is also a change agent and champion for the World Vision Zambia supported farmer-managed forest regeneration (FMNR) project, which is being implemented in southern Zambia. FMNR is the active regeneration and management of trees and shrubs from felled stumps, sprouting root systems or seeds with the goal of restoring degraded farmland and soil fertility, and increasing the value and/or quantity of woody vegetation on farmland.

“The main objective of FMNR is to empower the community with knowledge to reduce deforestation which has been very rampant in this country,” Shadrick Phiri, World Vision Zambia Agriculture and Natural Resource Specialist, told IPS.

According to Phiri, the technique is highly appropriate for rural communities and land that has been degraded to a point where the loss of perennial vegetation cover, biodiversity and soil fertility on farmland is diminishing livelihoods and quality of life.
“FMNR can take place either as an on-farm activity practiced by individual farmers, or in forest areas protected and managed by the community,” Phiri said, adding that the practice is also relevant to the regeneration of grazing lands.

“We have chosen to use a cheap but robust system of regenerating our forests naturally. We currently have 600 farmers under the four area development programmes in Southern Province currently practising FMNR. The figure currently stands at 2,600 households nationally across the 25 area programmes where World Vision is currently working.”

The FMNR project is one of several initiatives in Zambia targeting the restoration of degraded land. Other projects include:

•  the Community Based Natural Resources Management in Zambia with the World Wildlife Fund for Nature serving as secretariat;
• the Zambia Community Forests Programme implemented by Bio Carbon Partners;
• the Promoting Climate-Resilient, Community-Based Regeneration of Indigenous Forests in Zambia’s Central Province project by ZEMA;
• and the Zambia Integrated Forest Landscape Project supported by the World Bank.

Another intervention working to improve local livelihoods of farmers by revitalising degraded lands, is Plant A Million (PAM). Launched last year, PAM is a United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification-supported project under the Africa-led 3S initiative. It aims to plant at least two billion trees by 2021.

Emanuel Chibesakunda of Munich Advisors Group, a business and investment consultancy firm that developed the concept and is implementing the initiative, told IPS that since the launch an important milestone for rural farmers has been the partnerships with like-minded stakeholders.
Musika Development Enterprise, a non-profit company with a mandate to stimulate and support private investment in the Zambian agricultural market with a specific focus on the lower end of these markets, has been one of these partners.

“Musika provided both technical and financial support to PAM to set up a commercial nursery in order to strengthen rural livelihoods through domestication of indigenous fruit and non-fruit trees in Zambia. This proposed intervention will enhance Musika’s efforts in testing the ‘trees on farms’ concept as a business for the smallholder economy that has the potential to generate socio-economic return on investment and enhance environmental sustainability,” Reuben Banda, Musika’s managing director, told IPS.

The nursery sells readily-available seedlings at an affordable price.

Community centred approaches
At the Global Landscapes Forum held last month in Germany, leaders, experts and indigenous communities deliberated and adopted a rights approach to sustainable landscapes management and conservation.

The forum showcased evidence from around the globe that when the authority of local communities over their forests and lands, as well as their rights, are legally recognised, deforestation rates are often reduced.

In recognition that it is this generation who can and must recover the damaged land, governments, civil society and traditional leadership, are using community-centred approaches to achieve land degradation neutrality.

A unique feature of FMNR in Zambia is the targeting of traditional leadership as an entry point.

“As custodians of vast traditional land where most of deforestation activities take place, we believe their involvement is very important in reversing the damage,” said Phiri.
He explained that the community approach has been successfully implemented in Niger and Ethiopia, with millions of hectares of forests under regeneration, while Malawi is equally making steady progress.

At a recently-held community meeting in Zambia, traditional leaders resolved to form Community Forest Committees to enforce FMNR and all related forest management activities in their chiefdoms.

But to achieve this, they requested that the government consider strengthening their authority by giving them powers of enforcement with regards to laws that govern local offences and penalties.

“As traditional leaders, we are of the view that section 19 of the Village Act on offences and penalties be strengthened to give more power to traditional leaders to sternly deal with offenders in our local jurisdiction,” said Tyson Hamamba, a representative of Chief Choongo from Southern Province.

Hamamba said this was the only way to deter rampant charcoal making and deliberate bush fires among other destructive practices leading to alarming forest and land degradation.

According to current laws, chiefs cannot issue a penal sanction against offenders. Their only role is to facilitate arrest of offenders by state police and/or other legally authorised law enforcement agencies.

For Handondo, FMNR is important for the future of the country’s forests. She credits it as being key to the lush growth of her seedling business.
“As a small scale farmer, and a seedling grower for that matter, I have found this practice cheap and easy to undertake. I have noted that we have a lot of stagnant bushes that are not growing because they are overcrowded but when we prune through the practice of FMNR, we have seen that these shrubs quickly grow into trees forming the much needed forest cover because nutrient competition is reduced.”

Related Articles

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• Experts Decry Exclusion of Africa’s Local Farmers in Food Security Efforts
• VIDEO: World Day to Combat Desertification – Land Has True Value. Invest In It
• Report Reveals Mounting Pressure on Zambia’s Environmental Resources

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By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 26 2019 (IPS)

The United States is no exception to the practice of modern day slavery—a crime for which it is rarely held accountable at the United Nations.

A rash of hidden crimes widespread in US inner cities and border towns include forced migrant labour, human trafficking, sexploitation of minors and domestic servitude.

In its 2018 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report, the US State Department said that despite its global reach, human trafficking takes place locally — “in a favorite nail salon or restaurant; in a neighborhood home or popular hotel; on a city street or rural farm”
But four recent high profiles cases of human trafficking and commercialized sex have laid bare the growing problem in big cities and far corners of the US.

First, there is the ongoing investigation of a mega millionaire facing federal charges of running a sex trafficking operation luring dozens of underage girls, some of them as young as 14.

Second, the case of an African-American singer accused of engaging in illegal sex activities involving 10 women, eight of whom were minors, and paying them hush money to remain silent. But both have pleaded not guilty.

Third, the arrests July 25 of 16 marines from the US Marine Corps, one of the elitist services in the American armed forces, who are under investigation on charges of human trafficking, drug smuggling and transportation of undocumented Mexican migrants.

And last February, the New York Times ran a frontpage story about a billionaire-owner of a famous American football team who was charged on two counts of soliciting sex as part of a wide-ranging investigation into prostitution and suspected human trafficking in the US state of Florida.

These stories have been splashed across US newspapers triggering the question: how widespread is modern slavery in the US, a country frequently described by President Donald Trump “as the greatest in the world.”

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says every year, “millions of men, women, and children are trafficked worldwide – including right here in the United States”.

And trafficking can happen in any community while victims can be any age, race, gender, or nationality, says DHS.

In an interview with IPS, Romina Canessa, a human rights lawyer and program officer at Equality Now’s “End Sex Trafficking” team, said: “Unfortunately, we do not have any exact numbers on how widespread sex trafficking is in the USA”

“We do know that America is a source, destination, and transit country for trafficking. We also know that the majority of trafficking victims in the USA are from within the country and that the most prevalent form of trafficking is sex trafficking of women and girls,” she added.

Writing in the New York Times July 19, Elizabeth Melendez Fisher, co-founder and chief executive of Selah Freedon/Selah Way Foundation, says the sexual abuse and exploitation of vulnerable women and children have always occurred (in the US).

The positive aspect of recent cases in human trafficking “is that we as a society are finally no longer turning a blind eye.”

Urmila Bhoola of South Africa, the UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, told IPS last March that slavery was the first human rights issue to arouse wide international concern.

But it still continues today—“and slavery-like practices also remain a grave and persistent problem”.

She said “traditional forms of slavery have been criminalized and abolished in most countries, but contemporary forms of slavery are still prevalent in all regions of the world”.

In an oped piece for IPS last December, Romy Hawatt, a Founding Member of the Global Sustainability Network (GSN ) pointed out that a 2018 report by the Global Slavery Index estimated some 403,000 people being trapped in modern slavery in the U.S. – seven times higher than previous figures.

He said the pernicious persistence of modern day slavery is one of the reasons it is addressed by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) set by the UN General Assembly in 2015 building on many of the accomplishments of the original Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)– but which did not address human rights, slavery or human trafficking and were often criticized for being too narrow.

In particular, Goal 8 of the 17 SDGs is the goal to promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all, whilst Goal 8.7 specifically addresses modern day slavery and human trafficking, he added.

And it is worth noting, he argued, that SDG 8.7 is also supported by two other SDG goals. SDG 5 for example aims to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls, while SDG 16 seeks to promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels

Canessa of Equality Now said currently, there is no official estimate for the numbers of victims in the USA, nor are there reliable resources. There are statistics, for example, on the number of federal sex trafficking cases but this isn’t an accurate representation as many cases aren’t prosecuted or are prosecuted under different laws for various reasons.

She said cases frequently go undetected or unreported. “Many sex trafficking victims are prevented from seeking help, and it is also common for people not to self-identify as someone who has been trafficking”.

They may perceive themselves as offenders and fear being prosecuted by the authorities. This is one reason why Equality Now advocates against criminalizing people who sell sex, said Canessa, who served as an expert on developing global access to justice mechanisms, most notably helping to launch and implement the first alternative dispute resolution center in Kabul, Afghanistan

“There is just no good data on the true scale of sex trafficking anywhere in the world. Although accurate numbers aren’t available on what is occurring in the USA, we know the majority of victims are domestic, thanks to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and US TIP reports, which are both excellent resources.”

Under both international and US law, she said, movement is not required for trafficking although it can be included as one of the elements.

“All that is required is the act of recruiting, harboring, transporting, providing or obtaining a person for compelled labor or commercial sex acts through the use of force, fraud or coercion”. So, a person can be trafficked in their own hometown or even in their own home.

Any commercial sex act involving a child is trafficking, so no force, fraud or coercion is required, said Canessa, who has worked in Peru on anti-corruption, judicial and electoral reform projects, including promoting the role of women in politics.

Excerpts from the interview:

IPS: To what extent does sex trafficking involve migrants and refugees in the US?

CANESSA: Sex trafficking in the USA can involve migrants and refugees, and traffickers will often use an immigrant’s legal status as a tool for coercion. Trafficking can involve nail salons, spas, farms, but also involves a wide range of other industries, including: hospitality; traveling sales; janitorial services; construction; restaurants; domestic work; childcare and looking after persons with disabilities; retail; fairs and carnivals; peddling and begging; drug smuggling and distribution, amongst others.

Trafficking can affect anyone but certain dynamics can place people at higher risk. Factors that can increase someone’s vulnerability include being in foster care, a runaway or being young and homeless. Living in poverty, problems with immigration status, and being LGBTI are also risk factors.

IPS: Are there any international treaties or conventions against human trafficking?

CANESSA: Yes, the main international convention against human trafficking is the Palermo Protocol, which provides the definition of trafficking that is used in international law and the laws of many countries.

Most importantly, the Palermo Protocol establishes that any exploitation of anyone under 18 is considered trafficking (the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation shall be considered “trafficking in persons”).

Under both international and US law, a person under 18 who is exploited for sex is a victim of trafficking and rape and not a “child prostitute.”

The writer can be contacted at thalifdeen@ips.org

—————————————–
The Global Sustainability Network ( GSN ) is pursuing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal number 8 with a special emphasis on Goal 8.7 which ‘takes immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labour in all its forms’.

The origins of the GSN come from the endeavours of the Joint Declaration of Religious Leaders signed on 2 December 2014. Religious leaders of various faiths, gathered to work together “to defend the dignity and freedom of the human being against the extreme forms of the globalisation of indifference, such us exploitation, forced labour, prostitution, human trafficking” and so forth.

The post How Widespread is Human Trafficking in the US? appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

This is part of a series of features from across the globe on human trafficking. IPS coverage is supported by the Riana Group.

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Access to education is key to facilitate the promotion of peaceful and inclusive societies. Photo credit: Getty Images

By Blerim Mustafa
GENEVA, Jul 26 2019 (IPS)

Education constitutes an important building block to enhance inter-faith dialogue, cultural exchange between ethnic and linguistic groups, counter violent extremist narratives and promote peaceful and inclusive societies. The founder of Modern India, Mahatma Gandhi, once said:

“If we are to teach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on real war against war, we shall have to begin with the children.”

Yet current trends tend to be in denial of this reality. At no time has there been greater need than now for sensible strategies aimed at lifting the veil of ignorance that shapes public opinion. Ignorance and fear are leading to violence and social fragmentation. disrupting the harmony of diverse, multi-ethnic societies. The world is currently witnessing the proliferation of xenophobic populism and white supremacists in advanced societies, but also the rise of Islamophobic demagogery. There is also a wave of extremist violence in all parts of the world. The cause of these phenomena may differ but all feed on the rejection of the Other.

Of great concern is, of course, the exposure of frustrated or marginalised youths to terrorist and violent extremist groups. They lack religious or ideological awareness and fall easy prey to media and social media manipulations. The doubts and frustrations that they experience are not being addressed adequately and hit the wall of unresponsive societies. And, as in all social movements, there are individuals or groupings which take advantage of this latent anger for their own vested interests. They harness it with the objective to achieve positions of power through violence or through undermining national unity.

How can one counter extremist narratives through education? Is the latter the ultimate silver-bullet to address prevailing toxic narratives fuelling extremist and violent ideologies?

Indeed, moving towards social harmony starts with a first step: that of educating our youth. In times of community fragmentation, equal access to education can open vital spaces for inclusiveness, reconciliation and dialogue. Education is a particularly effective means for promoting inclusive and equitable societies, as it targets one of the most receptive and unbiased audiences: the youth. Mrs. Irina Bokova, the former Director-General of UNESCO, noted in this sense that “the risks and opportunities we face call for a paradigm shift that can only be embedded in our societies through education and learning.”

There are numerous paths for addressing this social ill that spreads in both advanced and developing countries. In countries affected by the surge of populism and extremist violence, special efforts should be made to improve the education system. Through education, youth and other vulnerable social segments of societies can be empowered to move beyond biases and preconceptions that they may have inherited. This will help to promote the immunity of youths against the rise of extremist forces that we see at present times. It will help the traumatized among them to come to terms with the horrors witnessed from foreign invasions or extremist violence. In rich and advanced societies, it will aim at rolling-back the devastating impact of hate speech. At the same time, we must recognize that the rise of populism responds in part to the inertia of established political parties that for much too long have failed to address social issues.

Communities should likewise celebrate both the commonality of values and the specificities of practices of diverse faiths as expressions of enrichment through pluralism. It is necessary therefore to explore models of education rooted in religious teachings and in inclusive secularity. Through their thoughtful intertwining, one can contribute to the emergence of a society that embraces religious plurality and harnesses unity in diversity. Archbishop and former Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu once said: “My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together. We are different precisely in order to realize our need of one another.”

Moreover we should call on religious authorities and lay leaders of different faiths and cultures who bear the responsibility to correct the unscrupulous misrepresentations of values and beliefs. They must unite and harness the collective power of religions and creeds for peace-building. Religious leaders can play an important role in providing counselling to address radicalist thoughts and to promote the values of tolerance, coexistence and dialogue. They must refute the stereotyping of caricatural differences between religions and cultures that breed hatred.

For a variety of historical and modern-day political reasons, emphasis has been put on the differences existing between faiths and value systems. It remains the duty of religious leaders to show that, in themselves, religions are not problematic. What is problematic is their distortion to serve political purposes and vested interests. The synergies of providing access to education built on common universal values makes a strong contribution towards the realization of social stability and peace. In the joint declaration on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together signed on 4 February 2019 in Abu Dhabi by HH Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al Azhar His Eminence Ahmed el-Tayeb, we are reminded of the “importance of awakening religious awareness and the need to revive this awareness in the hearts of new generations through sound education and an adherence to moral values and upright religious teachings.”

Indeed, the great religions of the world bear a unique fundamental message of peace, tolerance and compassion. Only through dialogue between populations and regions of all cultures and religious faiths can the bridges of understanding and tolerance be built.

Blerim Mustafa, Project and communications officer, the Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue. Postgraduate researcher (Ph.D. candidate) at the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Leicester (UK).

The post The Role of Education in Breaking down the Walls of Ignorance appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Promoting peaceful and inclusive societies through education

The post The Role of Education in Breaking down the Walls of Ignorance appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By IPS World Desk
ROME, Jul 25 2019 (IPS)

The darkest underbelly of human existence hides right in front of us – modern day slaves are the foundation of the third largest criminal economy on the planet.

As media consumption in the West is drawn to negative, sensational and explosive headlines, sinister realities escape our attention. This applies to reporting on human trafficking in the developing world, where stories center around organ trafficking, sweat shops and the sex industry.

The International Labour Organization estimates that 21 million men, women and children are enslaved and trafficked around the world today. Close to 70% of these people are exploited in industrial sectors like mining, construction, agriculture and domestic work, creating profits of $150 Billion annually.

3.7 million people are victims of of forced labour in Africa, but the Asia-Pacific region accounts for the largest number of modern day slaves in the world, at 11.7 million people.

 

 

In a digitally desensitized society, we fail to comprehend the scale of a problem that exists in plain sight.

According to the U.S. State Department, “human trafficking can be found in a favourite restaurant, a hotel, downtown, a farm, or in [a] neighbour’s home.”

In the United Kingdom, an estimated 136,000 people are exploited with poor wages and atrocious living conditions. The National Crime Agency finds victims predominantly from Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa, working in car washes, construction, farming and food processing. Disturbingly, it suggests that someone going about their normal day in the UK will come across a victim of human trafficking but will never recognize them as such.

A 2018 report by the Global Slavery Index found that almost half a million (403,000) people are trapped in modern day slavery in the United States – seven times more than previously reported. The index also highlights forced marriages, noting that women and girls make up 71% of people trapped in modern-day slavery today.

The persistence of this tragedy is at the root of its being addressed by the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations. The Global Sustainability Network, an international consortium that works closely with the Vatican and Church of England, is one of many organizations attempting to bring a seismic shift in awareness and a willingness to act to save human dignity.

With individuals, educators, charity institutions, businesses and Governments each taking incremental steps towards realizing The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, it will be possible to curb this nefarious business.

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(From left) African Union chairperson and president of Rwanda Paul Kagame, president of Niger Mahamadou Issoufou and African Union Commission chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat at the launch of AfCFTA in Kigali in March 2018. Credit: Office of President Paul Kagame

By Paul Okolo
ABUJA, Nigeria, Jul 25 2019 (IPS)

On 7 July 2019, Nigeria finally threw its weight behind the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) when President Muhammadu Buhari signed the treaty at a summit of African heads of state in Niamey. In normal circumstances, that shouldn’t have been big news.

But Nigeria sent shockwaves through the continent when it withheld approval for AfCFTA in March last year at a summit in Kigali. Nigeria’s action surprised many as the country was initially one of the drivers of the single African market idea. 44 African countries had signed the agreement nonetheless.

It’s obvious why Nigeria’s participation and endorsement matters. It’s not just Africa’s most populous country with some 200 million people; it’s also the continent’s largest economy with a GDP of more than USD 405bn. Based on that and its stature in international relations, Nigeria’s support was indispensable for its success.

The free trade area of about 1.2 billion people and a GDP of around USD 2.5 trillion promises to be the largest trading bloc in the world. Its advocates also say it gives hope of growing intra-African trade beyond its currently low level of around 17 per cent.

Tariff and non-tariff barriers (the many documents exporters must carry cause long delays at African borders) make intra-African trade costlier than Africa’s trade with other regions. In comparison, the levels of Africa’s trade with other continents have historically been much higher.

If the continent wants to achieve the socio-economic development encapsulated in the Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2030, AfCFTA could be a game changer.

A win-win situation?

“There is no doubt that AfCFTA will reduce or eliminate barriers to trade and harmonize standards on the continent,’ said Yinka Adeyemi, a senior adviser at the United Nations

Economic Commission for Africa. ‘It will also provide an overarching framework within which regions can address their peculiar challenges in a specific manner.’

For Nigeria, this could be a win-win. Some of the country’s banks are already doing business in more than a dozen African countries. Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, has multi-billion dollar cement plants operating across the continent.

Its booming movie industry, known as Nollywood, is already a household name across Africa. The country’s music industry too stands to gain from a single African market. The logic is that, when businesses thrive, more workers are hired who will then plough back their wages into the economy, thus boosting growth. That would ensure prosperity for millions of Nigerians working in those sectors.

But major Nigerian stakeholders, including the leading workers’ union and representatives of local chambers of commerce, are not convinced that these potential benefits would materialise, and asked the government to first consult at home before proceeding.

With presidential elections looming early in 2019, the government hesitated, not willing to risk losing the votes of millions of workers and unemployed people who fear more jobs could potentially be moved elsewhere.

“We at the Nigeria Labour Congress are shocked by the sheer impunity and blatant lack of consultation in the process that has led to this,’ Ayuba Wabba, president of the Congress, said early last year when it was apparent that the government was planning to sign the agreement alongside other African countries. He thinks that AfCFTA is an ‘extremely dangerous and radioactive neo-liberal policy’, inimical to the fortunes of Nigeria’s workers.

The workers’ body’s key objections were that AfCFTA would open the country’s borders to an influx of goods that would kill local industries. Nigeria’s porous borders have been a burden on the economy for decades.

In the once boisterous textile industry, more than 100 factories have collapsed, resulting in the loss of 500,000 jobs from the 1990s onwards because of cheap textile imports from China and other Asian countries. At its peak in the 1980s, the Nigerian textile industry was the second largest employer in the country after the government.

Will the implementation work?

For this reason, Nigerians want to ensure that under AfCFTA, foreign products will not be re-labelled as originating, for example, from the neighbouring Republic of Benin when, in reality, they have been shipped into the country from Asia.

Nigerians are worried that there may not be enough safeguards in the continental trade agreement to stop smuggled cars, motor bikes, vegetable oil, fruit juices and wines, imported through Benin’s port of Cotonou into the country for decades, from hurting the economy.

Yet, AfCFTA promises immense benefits for Nigeria in the manufacturing sector if it can improve infrastructure such as energy, roads, rail and air transport. Improved power supply to industries as well as its small and medium-scale enterprises will put Nigeria in a position to compete with producers from other countries. With a thriving manufacturing sector, Nigeria’s economy would also be diversified away from crude oil.

Finally, African countries must see that the anxiety caused by Nigeria’s initial delay in endorsing AfCFTA should be avoided in future. Under the democratic system that many of the countries now practise, wide consultations and consensus-building should be the norm.

There must be room for robust debates and the canvassing of ideas before any decisions are taken in the countries to ensure the buy-in of all. Ordinary citizens, the media, civil society and the legislature all must have their say in the process. No single group has the monopoly of wisdom to decide for everybody.

Now, signing the treaty is the easy part. Ensuring that it works is the hard one. Africa doesn’t have a good track record in implementing agreements made in the past. But what prevented earlier treaties from working must not be allowed to frustrate the implementation of AfCFTA.

*This article originally appeared in International Politics & Society, published by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung

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Excerpt:

Paul Okolo is a freelance journalist and communications consultant based in Abuja, Nigeria. He has worked for several news organization, including Voice of America, Bloomberg, Reuters and Inter Press Service (IPS) news agency, among others. He has a Master’s in Journalism from Cardiff University in the U.K.

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By Idriss Jazairy and Alfred de Zayas
GENEVA, Jul 25 2019 (IPS)

On 22 July 2019, Kenneth Roth published an article in Publico, Lisbon, entitled: “UN Chief Guterres has disappointed on Human Rights”.

This essay lampooning Antonio Guterres is not a voice “against the tide” but very much mainstream – and demonstrably skewed. Major NGOs headquartered in rich advanced countries and enjoying generous funding from the Establishment may not always think “out of the box” and are as likely, as are the interest groups which support them, to politicize human rights and therefore to disappoint rights holders in smaller or weaker countries. While they do contribute to exposing situations of human rights violations worldwide , they are not exempt from biases which reflect the structure of their central governing bodies or the cultural environment within which they operate. They cannot arrogate to themselves the sole legitimacy to speak in the name of the civil society of many countries , and when they claim to do so, they may disappoint rightsholders, particularly in the developing countries, whose priorities are frequently different from theirs.

Sober analysis and stocktaking are necessary to determine whether and to what extent the priorities and agendas of NGOs’s like HRW are set by the overall interests of the established power-structures and multiple elites in many countries. Kenneth Roth’s article expressing disappointment at the human rights performance of Secretary General Antonio Guterres fails to identify the root causes of human rights violations. His admonitions have little or no preventative value, and do not formulate constructive recommendations such as, for instance, the provision of advisory services and technical assistance to many countries that need it and have asked for it.

HRW’s “naming and shaming” strategy has been inconclusive at best because “naming and shaming” depends on the authority of the “namer” and the impartiality of the methodology. Kenneth Roth’s bludgeoning of the UN Secretary General in this regard is yet another expression of grandstanding and even of a measure of arrogance. HRW’s criticism of China, Russia, Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, would be more persuasive if the organisation addressed with the same intensity the egregious violations of human rights in many other countries. For instance, Mr. Roth does not mention the denial of the right of self-determination to millions of people, the retrogression in the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights (prohibited by the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights), the looting of natural resources and degradation of the environment by transnational corporations and their neocolonial schemes, the impunity enjoyed by politicians who engage in aggressive wars and by paramilitaries and private security companies, the devastating human rights impact of blockades by source countries and economic sanctions on the populations of Gaza, Syria, Iran and Venezuela, which have caused and continue to cause tens of thousands of deaths.

The politicization or as we now witness with concern, the“weaponization” of human rights is taking the world on a slippery slope. When the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)was adopted in 1948, Eleanor Roosevelt, Charles Malik, René Cassin and others spoke of human dignity and the inalienable rights of human beings, but article 29 of UDHR also reminded us that “everyone has duties to the community”. Indeed, what is most necessary is global education in human rights, including the human right to peace, education in empathy and solidarity with others – compassion, not predatory competition in “the human rights industry” on a “holier than thou” ticket.

Meanwhile, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres should not be expected to act as a Human Rights NGO. This high office is not that of an unaccountable activist. It is neither that of a general that can blast any state at will nor is it a secretary that has to be subservient to the prevailing powers that be. That high official must recognize the reality of the power balance that he cannot fundamentally alter but must strive with obduracy and at times courage to stretch the international community towards more compliance with the purposes and principles of the United Nations. Most importantly this means the promotion of peace through conflict-prevention, good offices, impartial mediation, disarmament and yes, human rights. When all diplomacy fails and only then may “naming and shaming” become an option. But it is a default option and a sign of diplomatic failure.

In the experience of both of us as Special Rapporteurs of the Human Rights Council, we have delivered on our mandates, not by openly challenging the authority of states or claiming to teach them lessons in human rights but by giving quiet diplomacy a chance . This is how one of us together with another Independent Expert facilitated a lifting of the sanctions on Sudan and this is how we are again currently engaging with protagonists of other conflicts. We have succeeded in confidence-building and contributed to the release of detainees. Persevering and discrete advocacy bears fruit.

We want a SG that puts values above politics in human rights matters and this is, in our opinion, what Guterres is doing. We have a Secretary General that can speak for truth and can at least listen to the narratives of the smaller and weaker states who have no access to the world media and whose action is distorted by biased reporting. Of course the murder of Khashoggi is a tragedy because beyond the tragic loss of a human life, it is the freedom of expression that is targeted. But Kenneth Roth does not mention the thousands of migrants whose lives end in the liquid graves of the oceans because saving them at sea is becoming a criminal offence in some « enlightened » nations. Are there different values attached to life according to the « exploitability » of its loss for political aims? We do not think that the Secretary General should go down along this road, even if this may cause disappointment in some quarters.

We would be really concerned if the Secretary general were to follow the path of selective indignation advocated implicitly by Mr Roth, because he would lose the moral leadership that we all, people of good will, can identify with across the world. THAT would be a major disappointment.

We welcome in Antonio Guterres a Secretary General who does not hesitate to call a spade a spade, a SG who promotes peace and does not stoke conflict, who challenges unilateral economic sanctions, who supports the Right to Development1 and places the Secretariat of the United Nations in its service. We welcome a SG who, together with the new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, are engaging all of humanity in the noble task – day by day – of implementing civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights in larger freedom – and in good faith.

Idriss Jazairy Special Rapporteur, UN Human Rights Council
Alfred de Zayas Former Independent Expert, UN Human Rights Council

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Amina Mohammed, right, the deputy secretary-general of the UN, signed a partnership agreement with the World Economic Forum, led by Borge Brende, left, to speed up progress on the Sustainable Development Goals. António Guterres, the UN secretary-general (behind Mohammed) and Klaus Schwab, the Forum’s chief executive, joined the ceremony in June.

By Barbara Crossette
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 25 2019 (IPS)

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are in trouble. United Nations officials are concerned and say so publicly. Secretary-General António Guterres joined in raising an alarm in mid-July when he introduced the most recent official UN report.

“It is abundantly clear that a much deeper, faster and more ambitious response is needed to unleash the social and economic transformation needed to achieve our 2030 goals,” he wrote. Separately, a mammoth, 478-page study by independent experts drove the message home with extensive data to illustrate the crisis.

The experts’ report, a joint project of the Bertelsmann Stiftung in Germany and Sustainable Development Solutions Network in New York, reveals some bleak findings: progress has been uneven at best, and in some cases has been reversed.

The study found that all nations were performing worst on addressing climate change, and no country has achieved a “green” rating. Many obstacles to success or the causes of reversals included tax havens, banking secrecy, poor labor standards, slavery and conflict.

Half the nations of the world are not on track to eradicate extreme poverty, a major — if not the primary — objective of the goals, the report found. Action on the SDGs, which were adopted in 2015 as the 2030 Agenda, are nearing their fifth year of implementation.

The most striking prediction of potential failure has, perhaps surprisingly, come from the top UN official in Asia. On July 18, the head of the Bangkok-based regional commission for Asia and the Pacific (Escap), Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana of Indonesia, warned in a UN News radio interview while attending a high-level UN forum on development in New York that her region was on track to miss all the goals.

The area covers a vast swath of the globe, stretching from the eastern Mediterranean to the Pacific rim, home to 60 percent of the world’s 7.7 people. China, India and Indonesia alone account for nearly three billion people. Alisjahbana, a UN under secretary-general, said that Escap’s latest survey showed some evidence that the region is going backward, particularly in water resources and environmental sustainability.

At UN headquarters, one controversial and much-debated response to the crisis has been to team up in a “strategic partnership” with the World Economic Forum. This institution, founded in 1971 by Klaus Schwab, a German economist and engineer, is best known for its annual star-studded, invitation-only get-togethers in Davos, a Swiss mountain resort, which attracts government officials, business leaders and celebrities.

In announcing the partnership with the UN in a broad statement of intent with few details, the World Economic Forum claimed that it can “accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”

It defines itself as “the international organization for public-private cooperation” and lists six areas where the UN partnership can boost the development goals: in financing the 2030 Agenda and in addressing climate change, health, digital cooperation, gender equality and education.

The Forum has been steadily expanding its international presence through convening “thought leaders” around the world on topical issues, to exchange ideas and build influential networks on economic, industrial and social initiatives.

Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed signed the joint framework agreement for the UN with Borge Brende, the Forum’s president. Guterres and Klaus Schwab, the Forum’s executive chairman, were onlookers at the ceremony on June 13.

Mohammed, who led the formulation of the SDGs, has dominated the UN’s development agenda, sidelining the UN Development Program.

She was a strong proponent of creating the SDG package on the advice and consent of governments — bottom-up from the field, not top-down as the Millennium Development Goals were written in 2000 by international development specialists in and around the office of Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Through the new UN-World Economic Forum, Mohammed is increasing her international roles. She will be taking part in numerous Forum initiatives and will review the possibility of linking the UN’s resident development coordinators in national capitals with Forum programs.

The theory underlying the creation of the SDGs, with governments as the key decision-makers, was a gamble. Human rights received no significant attention in the SDGs, reflecting numerous governments’ attitudes or demands on these issues.

Rapid social changes and their place in development were ignored: the burgeoning international movement for LGBTQ recognition and rights, new diversity in what may constitute a “family” and the rising tide of activist women challenging male domination in politics and society, to name a few.

The SDGs are unwieldy, as critics have pointed out since the adoption of the 2030 agenda. The 17 goals are burdened with 169 targets and 230 indicators for measuring progress.

The strategic partnership with the World Economic Forum is not the first UN approach to the private sector.

Stephen Browne, the author of a book that will be published later this year, “UN Reform: 75 Years of Challenge and Change,” worked for more than 30 years in the UN development system, including in Africa and Asia.

He has observed the trajectory of UN/private-sector cooperation, which has had some positive effects, he writes in the new book. With the creation of the Global Compact (which Annan introduced at the World Economic Forum in 1999), “relations with the private sector took on another dimension.”

Browne writes: “The timing was germane. Globalization was already raising anxieties about its inclusiveness and it was appropriate for the UN to be shown conveying some concern to the private sector. . . . Galvanizing private sector interest in UN goals has had the positive effect of enhancing interest in and comprehension of the world body, helping to improve its public image in commercial circles.

The UN has also become better known to the private sector through the many GC local networks which have been established in all the major emerging economies.

“But the GC [Global Compact] has also carried risks for the UN, leaving it open to accusations of associating with companies indulging in corporate malpractice. . . . The Global Compact cannot wholly avoid ‘blue wash’ [the UN equivalent to whitewash in the eyes of critics] but it restricts the use of the UN logo and establishes conditions for the selection of commercial partners. . . . Companies are in a large majority on the GC Board and are the principal contributors to the trust fund which supports the GC secretariat. Critics have claimed that the GC serves as a platform for the promotion of corporate interests at the UN, and not the other way round as originally intended.”

Annan’s successor, Ban Ki-moon, who asked all UN agencies and projects to stress overarching human-rights criteria in their work and publications, created several more narrowly targeted partnerships in, for example, stressing women’s importance in development, advancing sustainable energy and improving nutrition.

“There is a sense, however,” Browne writes in his forthcoming book, “that the UN perceived these initiatives as ends in themselves: any partnership being better than none. There has never been a rigorous attempt to evaluate the UN’s [multistakeholder partnerships] and determine whether they actually add significant value. . . . It is not even clear to what extent they have succeeded in mobilizing additional funding.”

Partnerships with corporations and rich foundations have drawn sustained criticism from various civil society sectors, especially when companies are producing and promoting goods — foods, for example — that are considered to have harmful effects on children or the general population.

In a message from Geneva, where he lives, Browne described his persistent qualm about reliance on private-sector agreements and compacts: “My real contention,” he wrote, “is that the UN goes into partnerships as if they are a desirable end in themselves, without having determined what real net human development benefits have flowed from them, or could flow.”

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United Nations are warning of another drought in the Horn of Africa. Eight years ago famine left more than 260,000 dead. Pictured here is a child from drought-stricken southern Somalia who survived the long journey to an aid camp in the Somali capital Mogadishu during the 2011 famine. Credit: Abdurrahman Warsameh/IPS

By James Reinl
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 25 2019 (IPS)

Humanitarian groups and the United Nations are warning of another drought in the Horn of Africa, threatening a repeat of the deadly dry spell and famine that claimed lives in Somalia and its neighbours eight years ago.

The British charity Oxfam said Thursday that more than 15 million people across drought-stricken parts of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia now needed handouts and warned of a hefty death toll unless donors stumped up cash fast.

“We cannot wait until images of malnourished people and dead animals fill our television screens. We need to act now to avert disaster,” said Lydia Zigomo, Oxfam’s regional director for the Horn of Africa.

According to an Oxfam report, donors were quick to dig into the pockets for a drought in 2017, helping to stave off a famine that could have been as deadly as the 2011 dry spell that left more than 260,000 dead, and many more hungry and sick.

But while the humanitarian response was well-funded back in 2017, donor governments have not raised enough cash yet this time around, added Zigomo, a human rights lawyer from Zimbabwe.

“We learned from the collective failures of the 2011 famine that we must respond swiftly and decisively to save lives. But the international commitment to ensure that it never happens again is turning to complacency,” said Zigomo.

“Once again, it is the poorest and most vulnerable who are bearing the brunt.”

Halima Adan, Deputy Director of Save Somali Women and Children, said in the Oxfam report that the slowness of the response to the drought “mean[s] women’s burdens and vulnerability are increasing. In often hostile environments, local actors are best placed to reach those most in need, where emphasis must be on reaching women and children”.

The U.N. refugee agency UNHCR has also sounded the alarm. Somalia’s recent April-June and October-December rainy seasons were drier than expected, worsening an arid spell that was already hitting farmers and herders across the turbulent country. 

Some 5.4 million Somalis were expected to be facing food shortages by September, and 2.2 million of them would need “immediate emergency assistance” UNHCR spokesperson Babar Baloch warned last month.

Donors had only handed over one fifth of the 711 million dollars that was requested in an appeal in May, added Baloch.

“The latest drought comes just as the country was starting to recover from a drought in 2016 to 2017 that led to the displacement inside Somalia of over a million people,” Baloch told reporters in Geneva.

“Many remain in a protracted state of displacement.” 

Last month, the European Union launched a 3.2 million euro scheme to manage water sources and agriculture and lessen the impact of drought, in cooperation with officials in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, and the northern breakaway region of Somaliland.

“Water and land are critical resources for the Somali economy and people’s livelihoods but are also extremely vulnerable to natural disasters and climate change,” said EU diplomat Hjordis D’Agostino Ogendo.

“While access to water needs to increase, needed infrastructures are to be designed and managed in a sustainable way.”

Somalia has seen little but drought, famine and conflict since dictator Siad Barre was toppled in 1991. The country’s weak, U.N.-backed government struggles to assert control over poor, rural areas under the Islamist militant group al Shabaab.

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

Though droughts are complex and develop slowly, they cause more deaths than cyclones, earthquakes and other types of natural disaster, the UNCCD warns. By 2045, droughts will have forced as many as 135 million people from their homes.

“With climate change amplifying the frequency and intensity of sudden disasters … and contributing to more gradual environmental phenomena, such as drought and rising sea levels, it is expected to drive even more displacement in the future,” added Baloch.

But U.N. experts say there is hope. By managing water sources, forests, livestock and farming, soil erosion can be reduced and degraded land can be revived, a process that could also help tackle climate change.

Related Articles

• Drought, Disease and War Hit Global Agriculture, Says U.N.
• Desertification ‘More Dangerous and More Insidious than Wars’

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Seventy-two percent of trafficked victims in Canada are under the age of 25, and 51 percent of trafficked girls have been involved in the child welfare system. Courtesy: Dmitry Schemelev/Unsplash

By Nadia Kanji
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 25 2019 (IPS)

Human trafficking for sexual exploitation has been steadily increasing in Canada. The most recent statistics indicate that 2016 had the highest recorded rate of human trafficking, with one police-reported incident for every 100,000 people in Canada. Despite these staggering numbers, reported cases make up just a small part of a larger, secretive industry where most incidents of sex trafficking fall under the radar.

The effects of this are relatable for Rhonelle Bruder who, after facing discrimination and bullying in her small hometown outside of Toronto, Ontario, decided to drop out of high school and move to the city.

When she ran out of money, she started living in youth shelters and was later on introduced to a man who would become her trafficker.

Bruder told IPS that initially he was kind and attentive, and provided her with a sense of belonging. When the conversation came up about how she could make money to get back on her feet, he told her she would be able to buy a condo and travel if she danced for just a couple of months.

“He was pitching a dream, a dream I was desperate to believe because the reality of my life was unbearable. I was willing to believe almost anything he said because he provided me with both a sense of belonging and was a protective figure in my life,” she said.

Once women are trafficked, pimps typically enforce a debt trap, telling girls and women that they need to pay off their debt to them for things like entering the country or paying for motels.

This was true for Timea Nagy, another survivor of this industry. At the young age of 20, while living in poverty in Hungary and facing a large amount of debt, Nagy responded to an advertisement in the newspaper to work as a babysitter in Canada. What looked like a legitimate recruitment agency was, in fact, a way to lure her into the sex industry against her consent. 

“We were starved, sleep deprived, and threatened constantly,” she states in her newly-released memoir Out of The Shadows. 

Nagy also states that she was frequently sexually assaulted until she managed to escape with the help of two people at the club where she worked. Her trafficker was eventually charged with sexual assault but was found not guilty.

Law Enforcement

Nagy, now a social advocate who works to bring about changes in the Canadian Justice System around human trafficking, says that law enforcement is more lax in Canada compared to the United States. Convicted traffickers in the U.S. are given 155-year sentences, whereas in Canada, traffickers will get an eight-year sentence at the most for the same crime. 

Human trafficking is currently the third-largest crime in the world.

Both Nagy and Bruder state that there is too much of a focus on law enforcement to deal with this issue, and not enough on preventative measures and reforming services in vulnerable communities.

“A lot of the focus is on helping survivors which is important. But we also need to be educating young people so that they aren’t vulnerable to traffickers,” Bruder told IPS. “Had there been someone to talk to, or if I had guidance, maybe I wouldn’t have left home. There need to be interventions in young people’s lives before they go down these paths.” 

Many pointed to the child welfare system as being one of the most targeted places for sex traffickers. 

“The child welfare system is a trafficker’s Costco,” Nagy told IPS. “They know where the group homes are and that children don’t feel welcome. No one reaches out to them the way pimps do.”

Traffickers typically wait outside of youth shelters and target them as soon as they age out of the child welfare system, knowing that they are often vulnerable. Seventy-two percent of trafficked victims in Canada are under the age of 25, and 51 percent of trafficked girls have been involved in the child welfare system.

Bruder added that social media sites such as Facebook, Snapchat, and MeetMe are new recruiting grounds for traffickers.

“Young people post everything about their lives online, so it’s not hard for traffickers to identify the most vulnerable victims and begin the grooming process,” she said.

First Nations Women and Girls

This is especially true for Indigenous youth in Canada, where there exists a colonial legacy of separating First Nations children from their families and placing them in residential schools to forcibly assimilate them into a settler culture. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has acknowledged and apologised for this cultural genocide, but a closer look reveals that this has taken on a new form.

“There are currently more Indigenous children in the welfare system than there were in residential schools,” said Elana Finestone of the Native Women’s Association of Canada. “These are the intergenerational effects of residential schools, [basically] colonialism passed on through generations,” she told IPS.

Traffickers target First Nations youth in this way, by waiting outside shelters and nearby bus stops. Finestone added that First Nations’ communities are often over policed and under protected.

“If women report physical violence, the police might not take it seriously, assuming they are homeless and alone and no one cares.”

Canada’s National Inquiry to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women was released this past June and demonstrates the disproportionate impact of human trafficking on Indigenous youth. In 2016, nearly half of the trafficking victims were Indigenous women and girls, although they make up only four percent of the population. 

“The focus needs to be on accessible services for Indigenous women and girls, with Indigenous-led community services,” Finestone said. “We cannot forget the feminisation and radicalisation of poverty [and how it intersects with this issue]. People need more choices to earn an income.”

Other efforts have focused on providing resources to front line service providers. The Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking launched a multilingual hotline for trafficking victims across Canada this past May.   

The centre’s CEO Barbara Gosse said law enforcement is currently maxed out on this issue and under-resourced, which needs to change. The hotline, which is strictly confidential, was created to collect data on the incidence of human trafficking in Canada and assist victims and survivors with a localised response. 

Moving Forward

Through therapy, meditation, and mindfulness, Bruder says she is finally able to speak out about her experience. She is the founder of a grassroots organisation called the RISE Initiative which supports at-risk youth.

Nagy worked as a mobile care worker for six years with Walk With Me Canada Victim Services to help law enforcement approach victims. She left that position and is now focused on rehabilitation of survivors through a social enterprise called Timea’s Cause. She believes there needs to be a national trauma-informed employment program for survivors. 

—————————————–The Global Sustainability Network ( GSN ) is pursuing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal number 8 with a special emphasis on Goal 8.7 which ‘takes immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labour in all its forms’.

The origins of the GSN come from the endeavours of the Joint Declaration of Religious Leaders signed on 2 December 2014. Religious leaders of various faiths, gathered to work together “to defend the dignity and freedom of the human being against the extreme forms of the globalisation of indifference, such us exploitation, forced labour, prostitution, human trafficking” and so forth.

Related Articles

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• West Africa’s Fine Line Between Cultural Norms and Child Trafficking
• Women and Girls “Preyed on as the Spoils of War”

The post Hidden in Plain Sight: Sex Trafficking in Canada appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

This is part of a series of features from across the globe on human trafficking. IPS coverage is supported by the Riana Group.

The post Hidden in Plain Sight: Sex Trafficking in Canada appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Ambassador of Switzerland to Kenya Mr. Ralf Heckner (right) with UN Resident Coordinator to Kenya Mr. Siddharth Chatterjee sign the agreement for Switzerland’s support to strengthen the capacity of the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office in Kenya - Photo credit: UN Kenya

By PRESS RELEASE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 24 2019 (IPS-Partners)

The Government of Switzerland is pleased to announce support for the ongoing UN reforms implementation in Kenya through a two-year cost-sharing arrangement that will strengthen the capacity of the Resident Coordinator’s Office, with focus on coordination of the integrated cross-border initiative and the SDG Partnership Platform, expanding partnerships and diversifying financial modalities for realising the SDGs.

Switzerland is one of the strongest supporters of the push for reforms in the UN development system and we acknowledge the leadership of the Resident Coordinator system in helping UN Country Teams to become much more field-focused, well-coordinated and accountable,” said the Ambassador of Switzerland Mr. Ralf Heckner when he announced the support.

The United Nations Resident Coordinator Office supports the work of the UN country team in the UN’s strategic response to the Government’s development priorities as captured in the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF). The UNDAF describes how the UN country team will contribute to the achievement of development results based on a common country analysis and the UN comparative advantage.

The Resident Coordinators Office capability to spearhead UN reform in Kenya, continue lead and advance coordination, innovation and communication of results is essential for UN’s effective delivery of its total contribution to Kenya, the United Nation Development Assistance Framework, UNDAF, 2018-2022, signed by Government of Kenya and 23 UN Heads of Agencies, with an estimated budget close to USD 1.9 billion for the current 4-year period.

The Swiss Government support is in furtherance of UN member states’ desire to ensure that Resident Coordinator offices have sufficient capacities for coordination and strategic planning, economics, tailored policy support, results monitoring and evaluation, strategic partnerships and communications capacity.

Ralf Heckner
Ambassador of Switzerland

 

Reference from the UN

The Resident Coordinator’s Office leads, coordinate and incubate UN wide and joint actions on strategic policy, innovative approaches, expanded partnerships and diversification of investments, advancing the UN SG reform agenda and Kenya’s development strategies, at national and devolved levels, including a new partnership platform for expanding private sector and philanthropy in realizing SDGs and the Presidential Big 4 Agenda in Kenya. The platform under the Resident Coordinator coordinates efforts to diversify development financing tools, invest in SDG data development and nurture public, private partnerships, across the SDGs and UN agency mandates.

The Switzerland Government support will specifically strengthen the coordination of the ongoing cross-border initiatives between Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia, whose objectives are to prevent and mitigate the impact of violent conflict in these borderland areas, and to promote economic development and greater resilience.

The United Nations Country Teams (UNCTs) in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, in cooperation with the Governments of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), and with the financial support of EU and other development partners, have embarked on an innovative and area-based Cross-Border Integrated Programme for Sustainable Peace and Socio-Economic development and strengthening resilience of communities in Marsabit/Borana, and Omo/Turakana Clusters and Mandera Triangle. The geographical scope of the project is along three cross-border areas, including the Ethiopia and Kenya border, as well as Somalia. This encompasses the cross-border area of Southwest Ethiopia and Northwest Kenya (South Omo in Ethiopia, and Turkana in Kenya) and Kenya-Somalia-Ethiopia (encompassing Mandera, Gedo and Doolow). The project will also contribute to an already-existing UN-managed programme encompassing Marsabit County in Kenya and Borana and Dawa Zones in Ethiopia. The programme will also build on the experiences and lessons learned from the Marsabit/Borana Zone cluster and improve the design and implementation of intervention polices in the other two clusters.

Switzerland is also supporting the SDG Partnership Platform, a UNDAF flagship initiative that takes leadership on overarching facilitation, coordination and demonstration of how public private collaboration can effectively translate the SDGs into action on the ground and thereby guide and accelerate innovations, impact, maximize investments and optimize resource utilization in support of the realization of Kenya’s Vision2030 and the “Big Four”. Maximizing investments through innovative financing: support to raise required investments for the large-scale partnership initiatives through optimizing blended financing instruments and redirection of capital flows towards SDG implementation.

The post Switzerland announces support to UN Resident Coordinator function in Kenya to advance UN Reforms and contribution to national development priorities appeared first on Inter Press Service.