Atashi Kitchen in Karuizawa operates a children's cafeteria (Kodomo-Shokudo), providing free or low-cost meals and distributing food to those in need.
By Karuta Yamamoto, Seiji Takano, Shun Shikii, Sota Yoshihara and Takeru Konno
TOKYO, Oct 10 2023 (IPS)
Have you ever seen a dried frog? We have, and it’s making us rethink our impact on the environment. Frogs are incredibly sensitive to dry conditions, and they are facing the threat of extinction due to global warming. Amphibians, like frogs, make up a significant portion of endangered species, with 41 percent vulnerable compared to only 25 percent for mammals like polar bears.
Frogs, as amphibians, require both land and water habitats, and their thin, specialized skin makes them highly susceptible to changes in humidity and temperature. Climate shifts can disrupt their breeding patterns, leading to population declines.
This sensitivity to heat and drought means that frogs can easily die on scorching days. What’s more, a decrease in the frog population can trigger a chain reaction in the ecosystem, affecting animals that rely on them for food, like owls, snakes, and raccoons.
Recognizing this, we’re reevaluating our lifestyles to reduce carbon emissions, a major contributor to global warming.
IUCN Red List
Frogs are sensitive, but with the right conditions, they can survive, as this X post shows.
These are pet frogs. One is colloquially known as a ‘crown horn frog,’ and the others ‘house mega frogs.’ Once, our crown horn frog faced a health issue. At first, we had it on a white electric mat, but we later discovered that an earthen floor was a better choice. Unfortunately, it turned out that the soil was contaminated and made the frog sick. This experience taught us that frogs are incredibly sensitive to changes in their environment.
Food Loss and Global Warming
Are you familiar with the term’ food loss?’ Discarding food that is still edible is not just about wasting food; it also contributes to the environmental issue of global warming. It is estimated that Japan discards approximately 5.22 million tons of food annually. To dispose of such a significant amount of food waste, incineration is necessary, which generates greenhouse gases and contributes to global warming. Another concern arises from the necessity of developing new final disposal sites for the ash produced from incineration, which often entails the destruction of sea and forest areas. This, in turn, exacerbates environmental issues.
Analyzing data from the World Resources Institute (WRI), an environmental non-profit, reveals that food loss contributes to about 8-10 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. Unfortunately, only one out of three people recognize its link to food loss. Similarly, Japan, although concerned about climate change, rarely sees articles connecting it to food loss.
Volunteer students at the Atashi Kitchen in Karuizawa. The kitchen operates a children’s cafeteria offering free or low-cost meals to those in need.
Student volunteers at the Atashi Kitchen in Karuizawa. Food loss contributes to global warming.
Students help prepare meals at the Atashi Kitchen in Karuizawa.
Driven by this realization, we decided to combat global warming by efficiently using surplus food, essentially functioning as food banks. Our search led us to Atashi Kitchen in Karuizawa, Japan, which operates a food bank as part of a children’s cafeteria (Kodomo-Shokudo), providing free or low-cost meals and distributing food to those in need.
On July 22, 2023, our group of eight Grade 8 students from Dalton Tokyo Gakuen Junior School volunteered at the children’s cafeteria. Witnessing the diverse array of food, from fresh vegetables donated by local farmers to meat from contributions and observing strangers sharing joyful conversations while enjoying their meals, we realized this place was about more than food; it was about sharing happiness.
The Ministry of the Environment reported that in 2020, Japan generated about 5.22 million tons of food loss, with businesses contributing 2.75 million tons and households 2.47 million tons. This data prompted us to search for environmentally conscious companies in Japan.
Group photo at the Suntory Odaiba Office
Hikari Kujime (Corporate Sustainability Department), Yusuke Sasaki (PR Department), Tomoyuki Ichida, and Tamon Koshino (General Manager, Corporate Sustainability Department) at Suntory Holdings are with the students learning about sustainability in business.
Suntory actively harnesses artificial intelligence (AI) to accurately predict sales, a practice that significantly reduces food waste. Additionally, at Meissen, their restaurant, Suntory, ingeniously repurposes leftover bread crusts as feed for pigs. What struck us most during our visit was Suntory’s wholehearted dedication to ecological sustainability, which aligned perfectly with our mission as teenage writers.
Beyond witnessing their sustainability practices, we seized the opportunity to engage in educational activities for elementary school students. These activities centered on the significance of water conservation, bird protection, and the crucial role played by mountain forests in ensuring clean water sources. This hands-on experience kindled our fervor for safeguarding water resources and passing on this invaluable knowledge to the next generation. It further solidified our unwavering commitment to environmental education and conservation efforts.
Food Safety and the Environment
Japan’s strong emphasis on safety and security, while commendable, inadvertently results in food loss. This has not only environmental implications but also economic repercussions for manufacturers. To address this issue, let’s consider the “one-third rule.” It dictates that the delivery deadline extends until one-third of the best-before date remains, and the sell-by date covers two-thirds of the best-before date. This rule aims to accommodate consumers who tend to be overly cautious about expiration dates. To combat food waste effectively, it’s essential to ensure consumers understand these dates, promote awareness of waste reduction, and shift the mindset away from avoiding products nearing their expiration date.
Maybe we can put it more straightforwardly: In Japan, food is often deemed expired much earlier compared to the United States or Europe. Here’s a comparison of delivery deadlines in these developed regions: In Japan, it’s one-third of the best-before date, while in the United States, it extends to one-half. European countries, like Belgium, allow up to two-thirds, and in the United Kingdom, it’s three-quarters. This clearly reflects Japan’s inclination to exercise greater caution concerning expiration dates.
Food expiry dates lead to food losses, too.
So, what does food loss mean to teenagers like us? For us, it signifies a mission to heighten awareness about the intricate interplay between food loss, global warming, the safeguarding of frogs and various other creatures, our deepened appreciation for the environment, and the responsible utilization of food resources.
In conclusion, our journey has taught us that small actions can lead to significant change. As teenagers, we often hear that we are the future, but we believe that we can make an impact in the present as well. The frogs drying up symbolize a larger issue – the delicate balance of our planet’s ecosystems. It’s a call to action, a reminder that our actions matter.
We, as young individuals, have a crucial role to play. By raising awareness about the interconnectedness of issues like food loss, global warming, and the protection of our fellow creatures, we can inspire change in our communities. We can choose to reduce waste, conserve resources, and make sustainable choices. We can advocate for policies that protect our environment. By embracing knowledge and taking action, we can be the driving force behind a healthier planet.
So, let’s continue this journey together, with the frogs as our inspiration. Let’s be the generation that not only stops the drying of our amphibian friends but also works towards a world where nature thrives and all creatures, including us, live harmoniously.
Remember, it all starts with awareness, and it’s our responsibility to pass on this knowledge to others. Together, we can create a more sustainable and compassionate world for all.
IPS UN Bureau Report
Note: Karuta Yamamoto and Seiji Takano were the team leaders
Edited by Hanna Yoon
IPS UN Bureau Report
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
IPS – UN Bureau, IPS UN Bureau Report, Youth Thought Leaders
Related ArticlesExcerpt:
In the third in our series by Youth Thought Leaders, the students write about the impact of human activity, including food waste, on the environment. They are positive that with incremental changes a sustainable and humane world is possible.David Obura, IPBES chair, has had a life-long career studying coral reefs and is the co-founder of CORDIO East Africa, a non-profit organization that conducts research, monitoring, and capacity building for corals and other marine life in mainland Africa and the Indian Ocean.
By Alison Kentish
SAINT LUCIA, Oct 10 2023 (IPS)
David Obura always knew that his life’s work would involve the natural world. As a child with a love of nature, he always knew he would become an ecologist. Growing up in Nairobi, Kenya, he recalls fondly that his mother would take the family camping at national parks. With these excursions came opportunities for hiking, mountain climbing, and exploration. The family events also took him to one of the earth’s greatest wonders – the sea.
Two years of schooling on the west coast of Canada and a foray into scuba diving led Obura to begin making the connection between the sea and biology. It also led to a life-long career studying coral reefs and co-founding CORDIO East Africa, a non-profit organization that conducts research, monitoring, and capacity building for corals and other marine life in mainland Africa and the Indian Ocean.
Obura’s expertise and interest in peoples’ livelihoods from nature led him to make contributions to major international environmental assessments by scientific organizations like the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).
Since 2012, IPBES has been bringing together leading biodiversity scientists, experts and knowledge-holders, producing reports that provide evidence and options for action on vital issues such as pollination and food production, land degradation and restoration, the sustainable use of wild species, and most recently, invasive alien species.
In early September 2023, Obura, who has been part of three IPBES assessments, made the move from the science and research side of the body to the policy side when he became IPBES’ first Chair from the African continent.
IPS spoke to Obura about the shift, the dual crisis of biodiversity and climate change, as well as his hopes for his three-year term.
==================
IPS: You’re wearing a new hat – IPBES Chair. How have things changed?
Obura: The reason I was attracted to doing assessments is because we are hoping that they will help provide solutions that stakeholders, governments and other actors are looking for, to understand how to act sustainably and how to build sustainable practices into what they do.
So, I have always been on that side of the aisle, scientists trying to bring a positive influence on policy. In some ways that can be very frustrating because all we can do is present the evidence, but it is really up to the policy and decision makers to choose what to do based on that information and other information that they have.
Often other things have a higher importance in their minds than science does, but we are trying to change that.
IPS: As Chair of IPBES, what are some of the areas that you would like to see receive urgent attention?
Obura: When the opportunity to run for the Chair of IPBES came up, it was a surprise because I had not planned to stand, particularly as I have always been on the research side of things. I came to understand, however, through discussion with colleagues, that in the informal rotation of Chairs at IPBES, which is still a very young organisation, Africa and Eastern Europe had not yet held that position. There was a really strong case for a good African candidate and there were many countries involved. There was also a desire for someone with a strong science background, like mine, as opposed to a purely policy perspective.
For me, it’s a somewhat unfamiliar role that I am still learning to fully navigate. There are, of course, limitations on the role of Chair. I am there mainly to represent the interests and mandates agreed by our member State, and to help steer the strongest-possible strengthening of the science-policy interface. Part of this is to ensure that the key messages and options for action of the IPBES Reports are taken up and have even wider impact around the world.
I also hope to increase the role that science plays to inform decision-making in all countries.
In broader communications and outreach, I want us to reach out to a broad spectrum of decision-makers, also in the corporate sector, to help them to make sustainable, tangible changes for people and nature.
One key goal is to promote the findings and options for action of past IPBES Assessments, and to further leverage the potential that they have to transform actions around the world.
IPS: In the face of the climate and biodiversity crises, the research community has been clamouring for more funding and attention to ocean-based solutions. This is an area that you have devoted decades to. What do you think can be done to put those solutions in the spotlight?
Obura: There is a lot still to be done. We really have reached planetary limits and I think interest in oceans is rising because we have very dramatically reached the limits of land.
What the world needs to understand is how strongly nature and natural systems, even when highly altered such as agricultural systems, support people and economies very tangibly. It’s the same with the ocean. It is therefore important for companies and businesses, for instance, to understand how dependent they and we are on these natural systems, in order to invest what’s needed to support the management necessary to keep these systems intact. Until we get to that understanding, we will not value nature and natural systems as much as we should.
IPS: Based on your personal research on coral reefs, does the state of coral provide a good window into what’s happening with climate change, and does it make an even more urgent argument for conservation?
Obura: Sadly, yes, it does. Coral reefs are really at the forefront of climate-impacted ecosystems because they are one of the most sensitive. Corals are a quite delicate symbiosis between the coral animal and single-celled plant cells within their tissue. They are tied to the environmental conditions that they have lived and evolved in and are extremely sensitive to temperature extremes. They are showing us how badly ecosystems can be degraded by climate change, particularly when combined with pollution, overfishing, extraction and local threats. Coral reefs are showing us some of the worst impacts that we can have on ecosystems and how quickly impacts can cascade.
In terms of my own focus on coral reefs, my Ph.D. in the early 1990s was on sedimentation impacts on reefs in Kenya, but from a university in the United States. When I was done and had returned to Kenya, the first global climate event on coral reefs drew the world’s attention in 1998. I have been looking at climate impacts ever since because they are increasingly trumping everything else.
IPS: IPBES has done some ground-breaking work, including a landmark collaboration with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which took a joint approach to climate change and biodiversity loss. What kind of support is needed to roll out initiatives like this?
Obura: That particular collaboration emerged rapidly due to the emergence of this as a real, fundamental problem – recognizing that we cannot deal with the biodiversity and climate crises separately. The challenge was because that was a workshop report, rather than a full, multi-year government-approved assessment, so it does not carry as much weight as a full assessment. Following it, we have held discussions with the IPCC for further collaboration to bring even closer alignment between the two bodies. There was a decision made at the recent session of the IPBES Plenary, and it will certainly be one of my priorities to advance that process.
I also believe that the Sustainable Development Goals provide an incredibly powerful policy framework for us to use. In that respect, biodiversity is directly in two of the SDGs – life on land and life underwater – and climate change is has its own goal. But nature underpins all the goals, and ensuring this support to each goal is assured is vital for achieving the goals together. From food production to human health and One Health, the work of IPBES is vital in helping decision-makers implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
IPS: IPBES is built on strong science and crucial research. How important is data and knowledge sharing?
Obura: Expanding the scope of open data and data sharing is critical. We have seen that very clearly in meteorological and weather services, because most primary data collected by any country, or any group are merged into common systems so that we can have amazing weather prediction happening now – all on the basis of open data. So, I think in the biodiversity fields, the more we can open up data and share them, the better the decisions we can make. Unfortunately, it is much more complicated with biodiversity – the data are much more diverse, often harder to obtain and until now, data have been tied up in the work of scientists, our publications and research projects.
I think we need to get to a space where data are seen as a public good. Of course, scientists and individual entities need to work on their priorities, but sharing data needs to come forward as an overarching priority. The more we can do that, the better we will be able to manage the existing crises of biodiversity loss and climate change.
IPS: Any closing thoughts on your new role?
Obura: It is a great honour to be in this position, realising that the critical challenge that we have on the planet is really one of equity among countries. IPBES has very strong principles on this through various Assessments that it has done. So, I really want to reinforce that cooperation among countries globally. We need equity across knowledge and decision-making, and this is something that I would like to bring to IPBES, especially coming from Africa.
IPS UN Bureau Report
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
IPS – UN Bureau, IPS UN Bureau Report, IPBES
Related ArticlesExcerpt:
The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) recently elected David Obura as Chair. The coral reef expert will serve a 3-year term that he hopes will underscore the need for science-led decision-making.Nafissa, 17 from Niger, was married at 16. Three months after marrying she became pregnant. She gave birth to a still born baby. Credit: UNICEF/Marieke van der Velden
The UN commemorates International Day of the Girl Child on October 11 -- an annual and internationally recognized observance that empowers girls and amplifies their voices.
By Divya Srinivasan
GENEVA, Switzerland, Oct 10 2023 (IPS)
Almost one third (32%) of women aged 20 to 24 in Eastern and Southern Africa – around 50 million – were married before 18 years old. To address this pervasive problem, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Parliamentary Forum has adopted the SADC Model Law on Eradicating Child Marriage and Protecting Children Already in Marriage, a legal framework providing a comprehensive, integrated approach to ending child marriage and protecting children already married.
New research reveals that while some SADC countries have taken commendable action to strengthen legal protections in this area, other Member States have made little or no progress.
These findings feature in new policy briefs produced by Equality Now in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC PF). Ending Child Marriage In Southern Africa: Gaps And Opportunities In The Legislative Frameworks and Domesticating The SADC Model Law On Child Marriage analyzes laws across the 16 SADC countries and identifies positive legal advances, best practices, and challenges.
A third brief, Ending Child Marriage in Eastern and Southern Africa: Challenges in Implementing Domestic Laws and the SADC Model Law on Child Marriage, examines the implementation of domestic and regional laws on child marriage, focusing on Malawi, Uganda, and Zambia as case studies.
While the SADC Model Law is having a positive impact, its success depends on effective implementation and enforcement by states. To assist governments, the briefs also provide recommendations on strengthening elimination efforts through good application of child marriage laws and policies.
SADC Model Law
Child marriage severely harms girls and exposes them to various human rights violations. It impedes their right to education, as marriage often entails being forced to drop out of school to assume adult responsibilities. This lack of education perpetuates a cycle of poverty, limiting girls’ opportunities for personal development and financial independence.
Early marriages increase the likelihood of early pregnancies, posing significant health risks to girls whose bodies aren’t mature. This can result in complications during pregnancy and childbirth and is associated with higher maternal and infant mortality.
Moreover, child brides are often subjected to domestic violence and marital abuse as they lack the power to assert their rights, and alternative safe spaces are rarely available.
The SADC Model Law defines a child as any person below the age of 18 and recognizes that child marriage violates children’s rights, including the right to education, health, and protection from harm. It calls for prohibiting child marriage, creating prevention and response mechanisms, and promoting birth registration. Other components include supporting child brides and their families and ensuring access to education and healthcare.
The Model Law sets 18 as the minimum age for marriage for both boys and girls without exception and is applicable to all types of marriages – whether under statutory, religious or customary law — with marriages involving a child declared null and void.
To address the complex root causes contributing to child marriage, the Law promotes a comprehensive, multi-sectoral approach based on coordination and collaboration between legal, education, healthcare, and social services sectors.
Inconsistencies and weak implementation of laws
It is important to recognize that some progress in reducing child marriage has been achieved in Eastern and Southern Africa. However, progress is too slow as the prevalence rate has only reduced from 39% to 32% over the past 25 years, while other regions have made much faster progress.
At the current trajectory, it is estimated that child marriage in the region won’t end until 2240.
Concerningly, most progress in Sub-Saharan Africa has occurred amongst the wealthiest families, while in poorer communities, there has been a rise in child marriage. This perpetuates an unacceptable and deeply entrenched divide along socio-economic lines and demonstrates how governments need to focus more on prioritizing elimination of child marriage.
Problems include a lack of adequate resourcing to programs addressing child marriage and a general lack of effective implementation of laws and policies, which feeds into low prioritization of decision-making and lack of action on child marriage.
Out of the 16 countries in Southern Africa, only six countries – DRC, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, and Zimbabwe – set 18 as the minimum age of marriage for both boys and girls, with no exceptions.
Five countries – Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Madagascar, and Namibia – set the minimum age as 18, but allow exceptions for customary and religious marriages and for marriage with consent from judicial or other government officials.
Statutory law in the remaining five countries – Eswatini, Lesotho, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia – provides for a minimum age ranging between 15 and 18. These are different for boys and girls, with the boys invariably having a higher age limit.
In addition, all five countries allow for judicial or parental consent to lower the age of marriage even further, and in Eswatini and Lesotho, there are exceptions for customary law that permit marriage from the age of puberty.
These domestic laws violate the international and regional human rights standards that SADC countries have signed on to. Deeply entrenched cultural practices, poverty, and limited access to education and sexual and reproductive healthcare are slowing progress and hindering reform efforts.
Such is the case in Tanzania. In 2016, the Tanzanian High Court gave a landmark ruling that struck down sections of the Marriages Act of 1971, which set the marriage age at 18 for boys and 15 for girls, with additional exceptions allowing marriage at 14 with court approval.
Despite the ruling being upheld by the Court of Appeal in 2019, Tanzania’s government has thus far failed to amend the law accordingly.
However, there is encouraging progress elsewhere.
In Zimbabwe, the Constitutional Court ruled in 2016 that child marriage is inconsistent with the Constitution. A new Marriage Act enacted in 2022 prohibits marriage for those under 18 in all cases, including for customary marriages, and allows up to five years imprisonment for offenders.
In addition, the country’s National Action Plan and Communication Strategy to End Child Marriage requires registration of all marriages.
In February 2023, the Constitutional Court of Uganda issued a ground-breaking decision in the case, Kirya Martins & Aboneka Michael v. Attorney General, striking down provisions of customary and religious law, including in Hindu and Muslim family laws, that conflicted with the minimum age of marriage set out in the Constitution.
Prioritizing legal reforms to end child marriage
Contradictory provisions in different laws on child marriage create confusion in the application of the law and the inconsistencies make jurisprudence difficult to interpret and implement. All SADC countries must prioritize legal reform and enact robust legislative and policy frameworks that comply with international and regional human rights obligations. This means setting the minimum age of marriage at 18, without any exceptions.
While legal reform is crucial, governments must close the divide between legal approaches and those aimed at influencing social and community norms. Prosecution and punishment of perpetrators should be accompanied by a multi-sectoral approach with an ample budgetary allocation.
Community awareness-raising is key and requires comprehensive sexuality education and behavior change campaigns that foster understanding about the negative impact of child marriage on girls and the wider society.
So too is the empowerment of girls through education and other opportunities that increase their agency and decrease their vulnerability to human rights violations.
Child marriage prevention must also be fully integrated into climate change mitigation and disaster response strategies. Africa is bearing the brunt of global warming, with extreme weather events, prolonged droughts, and food shortages intensifying economic hardships, conflicts, and forced migration.
Girls are especially vulnerable, as families may view marrying daughters as a strategy to cope with financial difficulties and as a way of protecting them from the heightened risks of sexual violence and exploitation found in unstable environments.
Having the right laws in place is the foundation upon which access to protection and justice is built. But only through a multifaceted approach championed by governments can we create a future where every child and young woman in East and Southern Africa can reach their full potential, free from the shackles of child marriage and early motherhood.
Divya Srinivasan is Global Lead for End Harmful Practices at Equality Now.
IPS UN Bureau
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
Hyolim Lee and Eunseol Cho with Sharon Park at the Songdo Grace Church, Incheon, South Korea. Park has established an association that aids lower-income women in South Korea called HER Period Dignity.
By Hyolim (Kelly) Lee and Eunseol (Rachel) Cho
BANGKOK & SEOUL, Oct 10 2023 (IPS)
Four acrylic panels stood like soldiers around the perimeter of my body, bolted upright by the men who installed them, light proudly bouncing off the inherent gloss on those walls as I sat on the toilet.
My backpack, rugged with zippers and the harshness of high school, chafed against the bare skin of my thighs–doughy in comparison. My hands were frantic – searching through every folder and handout and library book hoping for one thing. I could not spend any more time missing out on class. I could not lose the trust of my teacher, who had let me go to the bathroom.
Every second I spent rummaging through a compartment I had already looked at was another second I was wasting—but what other choice did I have? As my fingers foraged for a sanitary pad, the tactile familiarity of the delicate white plastic taped around it all, my breath got sharper and shorter. The enclosure of soldiers seemed to contract in accordance with my lungs, seemingly not wanting to release me until I found one, the walls cramming closer and closer…
Every month, humans, in the ridiculously bureaucratic world we live in, must do a myriad of things to continue living in normalcy.
As daughters living under the authority of adults, both of us (the writers of this editorial) have witnessed our parents get caught up in this whirlwind of paying their rent and going to the supermarket to buy groceries. But when we began the trials and tribulations of puberty, we realized that not only would our parents need to spend their cash on shelter and food every month, but also on menstrual products.
Hyolim Lee and Eunseol Cho interview Sharon Park at the Songdo Grace Church, Incheon, South Korea.
Hyolim Lee and Eunseol Cho participate in a campaign to ensure period dignity, seen here with The Pink Book, a Thai and English book written by a former member of HER Period Dignity ISB to educate girls on puberty and menstruation, and ensuring that free sanitary pads are placed in the ISB High School Bathroom, a result of the project Code Red.
From Scars to Stars, written by Sharon Park, and a pamphlet written by the Grace Academy on display.
And this isn’t a result of bureaucracy or self-indulgence – but rather the fated one of Mother Nature. The worst part is that periods are a biological cycle. So, unlike the other two tasks, purchasing menstrual products cannot be scheduled later. However, not only am I one of many who have experienced an absence of menstrual products, but we have also seen inconveniently high prices and inaccessibility.
“Period poverty results from limited access to menstrual products,” explain Ayaka Bijl, Sarisa (Monie) Sereeyothin, Julia Pugliese, and Kashvi Chauhan in an email interview with IPS about the organization they are officers for – HER Period Dignity. The writers of this piece are also involved in this organization.
The difference I have realized is that my experience is momentary – a product of forgetfulness, and theirs is enduring: a scarcity or a kind of “poverty” caused by financial and social barriers. Yet, in a world where we have found reliable information at our fingertips, and efforts to combat inequality and human rights violations are more shared than ever in our generation, the term and nuances of “period poverty” are still one that remains frustratingly shrouded in obscurity.
One of the most significant contributors to the fog surrounding period poverty, clouding it just enough for it not to immediately cross the minds of the upper echelon of society, is period stigma. It is a term for the discrimination menstruating people face, in which misleading cultural norms and beliefs regarding menstruation are utilized. While menstruation is a natural bodily process, numerous religious beliefs prompt denigrating misconceptions about period stigma, often assuming it to be unclean and unholy.
These surrounding misinterpretations of periods continue to invigorate feelings of shame and, therefore, avoidance among both rural and urban communities, especially for the girls and women who might even need to talk about it. Even as someone attending a culturally progressive international school, I still had to rely on a desperate tone of voice and the euphemism of simply “really needing” to go to the bathroom to end up there in the first place.
“Generally, we don’t view it as intrinsically negative, but we acknowledge that society indirectly attaches stigma to menstruation, which can shape how our classmates perceive it … it’s not necessarily a common topic,” states the HER Period Dignity club officers at the International School of Bangkok. Women shouldn’t have to rely on the tentative inferences of others to maintain reproductive hygiene. We need to combat period poverty because doing so means fighting period stigma–which would decrease discrimination and vitriol against menstruating people.
The ramifications of period poverty in a young, school-aged girl’s life are glaringly obvious. As someone just starting high school, I cannot help but think about the things I would not have been able to do had I been forced to stay home due to period poverty. With exams just around the corner, I would have been forced to catch up through vague instructions sent to me on a Google Document. Sweating alongside my teammates under the unabashedly fierce Bangkok sun would not have been an option. Instead of being hot on the heels of my passions at school, I would have been forced to sit still. My entire present would have been on pause, and my future questioned. But this is only the experience of someone standing on a pedestal in society.
For those without the economic privilege that I hold, the result of period poverty would have been so aggravated that hope would either be luxury or delusion. The World Bank estimates that broader society and national economies can profit from better menstruation management: with every 1 percent increase in the proportion of women with secondary education, a country’s annual per capita income grows by 0.3 percent.
But for those who “were not able to go to school in the first place due to economic poverty, not period poverty,” according to Sharon Park, who volunteered in Cambodia for the Songdo Grace Church, their potential would never be fulfilled. The future of the local Thai girls living in the slums next to our school would not be a question; it would be an answer to the generational poverty in their family: inheritance.
Nonetheless, something is more immediately destructive to the young schoolgirls currently experiencing this. Though I was lucky to find a new pad at the bottom of my backpack, for others, health issues are bound to occur when dirty rags and leaves become the new pads and tampons without proper menstrual products. Urinary tract infections and thrush can escalate to life-threatening degrees when left untouched, and continued use of such substitutions could hinder reproductive ability—rendering a woman “useless.”
As someone who faces enough anxiety at school regarding the leakage of period blood, I cannot imagine what these girls are going through without the safety net of a pad or tampon. The issue impacts mental health, too, with a Kenyan school girl committing suicide after facing humiliation in the classroom due to the lack of a pad. These are not isolated cases, with even 68.1 percent of U.S. college students who underwent period poverty monthly reporting symptoms consistent with moderate or severe depression. Period poverty is suppressive and life-threatening in every aspect for young female students.
The 50th Ms Korea candidate, Park, has helped girls who are beginning menstruation. She has established an association that aids lower-income women in South Korea by establishing the HER Period Dignity Club. The club is constantly finding ways to ameliorate the issue in Thailand through fundraisers, education, and collaboration with other NGOs.
Bijl explains why the club is crucial at her school. “Although our club’s primary focus is on period poverty, we also prioritize the normalization of period stigma.”
In a personal email exchange, the NGO-based club explains the process behind one of its most significant projects.
“We started by meeting the CFO of ISB and the Dean of Students and presented our idea through a formal proposal that detailed the way we would satisfy the needs of our community,” installing free pads in all the female high school and eventually middle school bathrooms. We chose the name ‘Code Red’ to evoke the sensation of surprise associated with experiencing your period unexpectedly,” say the leaders.
As an extension of this, they “went to speak in middle and elementary school classrooms about menstruation from a destigmatizing perspective.”
The club at the International School of Bangkok was first established after having “the opportunity to meet Pear (Manyasiri Chotbunwong), who leads the HER Period Dignity NGO,” at a service conference. Hearing about Pear’s
proactive efforts to address this issue motivated us to actively participate in her mission. Pear founded HER (Health. Equity. Respect.).
The NGO also provides “reusable pads [to] help individuals break free from the constant need to buy new ones, improving access to menstrual products,” says Bijl.
The ISB club can be found sharing awareness on Instagram (@herperioddignity.isb), and the HER Period Dignity NGO can be found as well (@herperioddignity).
From my mother to your daughter and her friends, from the waitress at a restaurant you are ordering at to the beautiful model posing in an advertisement at the bus stop, every menstruator deserves period products. We, the authors of this editorial, are members of a generation pushing for radical change in the overarching matters of our lives. This includes acting upon the philosophy above in this paragraph. The Code Red initiative has helped me breathe in the bathroom, knowing there was always a collection of pads in a basket next to the sink I could rely on.
“We hope that from here, it only continues to improve,” Bijl.
Everyone deserves that continued normalcy in the beautiful yet chaotic world that we live in—which includes life with minimal hindrance from periods. In the future, Eunseol and I aim to further clear the fog of obscurity around the issue at school. As Park stated, “Change begins with the people, when we are aware.”
Note: Edited by Hanna Yoon
IPS UN Bureau Report
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
Excerpt:
In this, the second opinion piece in a series of four written by youth thought leaders, the writers tackle period poverty and send a clear message that everyone deserves normalcy in the beautiful yet chaotic world that we live in—which includes life with minimal hindrance from periods.Oil workers are busy on the banks of the Tiputini river, on the northern border of the Yasuní National Park, in Ecuador's Amazon region. CREDIT: Pato Chavez / Flickr
By Carolina Loza
QUITO, Oct 9 2023 (IPS)
The decision reached by Ecuadorians to put an end to oil production in Yasuní National Park, in a popular referendum in August, was a triumph for civil society and a global milestone in environmental democracy. But when it comes to implementation, the result is less promising.
Despite being a democratic decision, taken by the majority of Ecuadorians, who voted to halt oil exploration and production in the park, the authorities say the verdict is not clear."The referendum process sets a precedent because it is a way of establishing what is called an environmental democracy, where the people decide what to exploit and what not to exploit. These principles in practice are in harmony with the rights of nature that are mentioned in the Ecuadorian constitution, to protect nature above and beyond economic profit." -- Ximena Ron Erráez
During the Aug. 20 presidential and legislative elections, 59 percent of voters voted Yes to a halt to oil extraction in one of the most biodiverse protected areas in the world, part of the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest that has been a biosphere reserve since 1989.
At the same time, 68 percent of the voters of the Metropolitan District of Quito voted against continued mining in their territory, in order to protect the biodiversity of the Chocó Andino, a forest northwest of the capital that provides it with water.
In the midst of an unprecedented political and criminal insecurity crisis in Ecuador, the two votes were a historic landmark at a democratic and environmental level, in addition to demonstrating that Ecuadorians are increasingly looking towards alternatives that would move Ecuador away from the extractivism on which the economy of this South American country has depended for decades.
But the No vote, i.e. the answer that allowed oil extraction to continue in the Yasuní ITT block, won in the provinces where the national park is located: Orellana and Sucumbíos. This is one of the arguments of the current authorities to stop compliance with the referendum, arguing that the areas involved want oil production to go ahead.
Constitutional lawyer Ximena Ron Erráez said the Ecuadorian government cannot escape the obligation to abide by the result of the referendum.
“As far as the Ecuadorian constitution is concerned…..it must be complied with in an obligatory manner by the authorities; there is no possibility, constitutionally speaking, that the authorities can refuse to comply with the results of the referendum,” she told IPS.
One of the murals that still remain on the streets of Quito from the campaign for the August referendum on whether or not to keep the oil wealth underground in Yasuní National Park, to which voters decided “yes”: leave it untouched. CREDIT: Carolina Loza / IPS
Ron Erráez also complained about a lack of political will.
On Sept. 5, Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso, in a meeting with indigenous communities, described the referendum as “not applicable”.
A leaked video in which he made the statement drew an outcry from civil society groups that pushed for the referendum for more than 10 years. Yasunidos, the group that was formed to reverse the 2013 decision by the government of then President Rafael Correa (2007-2017) to begin oil drilling and production in Yasuní, has declared itself in a state of permanent assembly.
The Correa administration had proposed a project that sought to keep the oil in Yasuní ITT (Ishpingo, Tambococha, Tiputini), also known as Block 43, in the ground, on almost 2,000 hectares, part of which is within the biosphere reserve and the rest in the so-called buffer zone.
The initiative consisted of asking for international economic compensation for not exploiting the oilfield, which contains more than 1.5 billion barrels of reserves, in order to continue to preserve the biodiversity of the park and its surrounding areas. But the proposal did not yield the hoped-for results in international financing and the government decided to cancel it.
This is despite the fact that Yasuní, covering an area of 10,700 square kilometers in the northeast of the country within the Amazon basin, is home to some 150 species of amphibians, 600 species of birds and 3,000 species of flora, as well as indigenous communities, some of which are in voluntary isolation.
Environmental activists and organizations working in favor of keeping Yasuní’s oil in the ground say the management of the project showed the dilemma of finding alternatives to the extractive industry and the lack of real political will on the part of the political powers-that-be to come up with solutions.
View of one of the rivers inside the Yasuni park, in northeastern Ecuador, which preserves an incomparable biodiversity. CREDIT: Manel Ortega Fernández / Flickr
Ron Erráez mentioned an important fact: Lasso, in power since May 2021, will be an outgoing president after the second round of presidential elections is held on Oct. 15, and it will be his successor who will have to fulfill the mandate of the referendum on the national park.
One difficulty is that his successor, who will take office on Nov. 25, will only serve as president for a year and a half, to complete the term of Lasso, who called for an unprecedented early election to avoid his likely impeachment by the legislature.
Alex Samaniego, who participates in Yasunídos from Scientist Rebellion Ecuador, said it was clear from the start that the campaign for the Yasuní and Andean Chocó referendums was a long-term process, which would not end with whatever result came out of the vote.
“We know that we have to defend the result, defend the votes of the citizens and make sure that the referendums are fully complied with,” he told IPS.
According to the environmental activist, the democratic process behind the referendums will serve as an example for many countries, including Brazil, where communities are waging a constant struggle to combat climate change by seeking alternatives to the extractive industries.
Capture from a video of the Quito Free of Mining campaign, which triumphed in the popular referendum on Aug. 20. CREDIT: Carolina Loza / IPS
“We are told about all the money that oil brings to the economy, but very little money stays in the communities,” said Samaniego, who mentioned alternatives such as community-based tourism and biomedicine and bioindustries as economic alternatives to oil production.
Ron Erráez said “the referendum process sets a precedent because it is a way of establishing what is called an environmental democracy, where the people decide what to exploit and what not to exploit.”
“These principles in practice are in harmony with the rights of nature that are mentioned in the Ecuadorian constitution, to protect nature above and beyond economic profit,” she added.
Ecuadorian voters decided at the ballot box, and their decision should accelerate the possibility of a transition to alternatives for their economy. But what will the implementation look like?
The referendum on the Andean Chocó region covers a conservation area of which Quito is part, which includes nine protected forests and more than 35 natural reserves, in order to avoid the issuance of mining exploration permits, a measure that will be implemented after the vote.
There are contrasting views over the halt to oil exploration and production in Yasuni. The state-owned oil company Petroecuador highlights the losses for the State and presents figures that question the studies of groups such as Yasunidos.
The referendum gives the government one year to bring oil production activities to a halt. But Ron Erráez said it could take longer to dismantle Petroecuador’s entire operation in Yasuní ITT. Meanwhile, operations in Block 43 continue.
Sofia Torres, spokesperson for Yasunidos, said that despite all the talk during the campaign about economic losses, the vote showed that a majority of Ecuadorians question the country’s extractivist industry status quo.
In her view, although government and oil authorities insist that oil resources are indispensable for the country’s development, Ecuadorians have not seen this materialize in terms of infrastructure, social measures or services.
For this reason, they decided that “it is better to opt for the preservation of something concrete, such as an ecosystem that provides us with clean water and clean air and that is something like an insurance policy for the future,” she told IPS.
On Oct. 15, Ecuadorians will choose between left-leaning Luisa Gonzalez, the protegé of former President Correa, and businessman Daniel Noboa. It will fall to one of them to enforce the majority vote on the future of Yasuní and the halt to oil industry activity in the park.
As Key Note Speaker at the Dissemination of the World Mental Health Report, and National Mental Health Strategic Plan 2020-2030, Bangladesh, 2022. Credit: Jishan Sultana
By Saima Wazed
DHAKA, Bangladesh, Oct 9 2023 (IPS)
This year, three of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) six regions elect new Regional Directors (RD). The South-East Asia Region (SEARO) is composed of only 11 Member States, yet is home to over a quarter of the world’s population. Two SEARO Member States, Nepal and Bangladesh, have nominated their candidates to contest for RD.
I have the privilege of being Bangladesh’s nominated candidate.
The SEARO RD election has generated a surprising amount of attention and news coverage, and several prominent regional & international publications have published pieces expressing alarm at my candidacy, and doubts about my suitability for the role.
In building their argument these articles rely on damaging biases, and perpetuate harmful stigmas and stereotypes.
The first contention is that because my mother is the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, my nomination must be fuelled by nepotism.
While I accept it is inevitable that there will be greater scrutiny of me due to my mother’s position, what is unfortunate is the erasure of my years of work, study and accomplishments.
Despite being in the public domain, the articles avoid mentioning my work with Chatham House’s Global Health Program or their Commission for Universal Health.
They ignore that I have been an advisor to WHO’s DG on Mental Health & Autism, or that I have been a member of the WHO’s Expert Advisory Panel on Mental Health for almost a decade.
They do not mention that I am Chief Advisor to Bangladesh’s National Mental Health Strategic Plan, or that I was a Technical Expert for Bangladesh’s National Mental Health Act of 2018.
They ignore any of my teaching engagements, and do not inform their readers that the WHO awarded me in 2014 for Excellence in Public Health.
The articles also neglect to mention that I am currently finishing my Doctorate in Education (EdD) in Organisational Leadership. This is a practitioner-doctorate for complex problem solving to improve the performance of organisations and individuals.
As countless women around the world will attest, we are sadly used to differing standards when being compared professionally to men. The overt and intentional erasure of my experience, and the attendant reduction of me to being simply my mother’s daughter, is sexism and must be called out as such.
The articles proceed to cast doubt as to whether my chosen area of study and work – psychology – is a suitable specialisation for one vying for the role of RD.
When I started my career, I knew that a lot of work needed to be done to mainstream matters of mental health. The persistent stigma which dogged mental health was dangerous and damaging, and I set about to try right this. In the context of South Asian cultures, open and honest discussions about mental health were unfortunately taboo. Over many years of hard work, we have been able to change this somewhat – but I acknowledge that there is still much work to be done.
This stigma is what commentators feed in to when they insinuate that other aspects of medical science are preferable over mental health specialists in this election.
The WHO itself reminds us that it “continues to work with its partners to ensure mental health is valued, promoted, and protected,” and that “one in eight people globally are living with mental health conditions.”
Given this reality, it is highly irresponsible of these articles to continue to minimise the work of psychologists and other related specialists.
On behalf of my broader profession I would like to state loudly and unequivocally – mental health specialists are in no way inferior or unsuited for leadership roles in public health. In fact, I contend that it is desirable for one with such a background to have a seat at the leadership table alongside the existing technocrats and bureaucrats in the WHO.
Finally, some of the reporting on the SEARO RD election makes unfounded claims that Bangladesh is waging a political campaign of arm-twisting and coercion to ensure victory for its candidate.
Quite frankly, the lack of faith that these commentators have in the SEARO Member States is appalling. Each Member State has the agency and independence to assess the candidates and make an informed choice. No amount of scaremongering will change that.
Instead of political pieces focusing on individuals, a responsible writer would correctly frame the choice in this election as that of a policy choice between Bangladesh and Nepal’s candidates.
This would lead to a more reasonable consideration about which of these two countries has better public health outcomes, and therefore more likely to make better choices for the public health of the region. I am proud of the many public health successes of my country, and I am proud to be nominated by Bangladesh for Regional Director of WHO SEARO.
The reaction we are seeing in this campaign reaffirms two unfortunate truths. The first is that challenging the status quo in large established global networks and organisations always generates a partisan pushback. The second is that women competing for positions of power in major institutions face opposition laced with a vicious strain of sexism. In this campaign we have a toxic cocktail of both.
But I will not back down. I will continue advocating for the most vulnerable amongst us, I will continue telling my regional neighbours my vision for our shared future, and I will continue fighting for what I think is right.
My message to fear-mongering commentators is simple: do not be afraid of a woman or her experience, do not be afraid of mental health specialists, and trust the Member States to make the best decision for themselves.
Saima Wazed wears multiple hats including being the Chairperson of the National Advisory Committee for Autism and NDDs, Bangladesh, Chairperson of Shuchona Foundation, and Thematic Ambassador for Vulnerability for the Climate Vulnerable Forum. For more information, please visit www.saimawazed.info and www.shuchona.org.
IPS UN Bureau
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
Give girls an opportunity to lead by putting them in the forefront of change efforts; hearing their voices; responding to their asks; and welcoming them in decision-making spaces - it is one of the ways to invest in a future that believes in girls' agency. International Day of the Girl Child is an annual and internationally recognized observance on October 11 that empowers girls and amplifies their voices. Credit: UNFPA Burkina Faso/Théo
By Amy West and Aysel Madra
WASHINGTON DC, Oct 9 2023 (IPS)
In a year that is rapidly becoming the costliest on record for climate-related disasters, the International Day of the Girl Child appeals to the global community for greater investments for and with adolescent girls.
https://www.un.org/en/observances/girl-child-day
Mounting evidence continues to show that the wellbeing of our households, our communities, and our world, especially amidst climate change, hinges on how seriously we take this call-to-action for half of the world’s population.
Protecting the rights of girls is key to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. The Coalition for Adolescent Girls believes this prioritization of girls’ rights is all the more urgent among those who live in underserved and traditionally marginalized communities, many of which sit at the crossroads of poverty and climate fragility.
It is estimated that 80 percent of those displaced by climate-related disasters are women and girls. In the wake of cyclones, wildfires, floods, and earthquakes, adolescent girls have an even harder time accessing services and are often forced to forage for basic needs.
A direct correlation exists between natural disaster (climate-related or otherwise), girls’ inequitable access to education, skills training, and health and wellbeing supports, and increased exposure to sexual and gender-based violence.
Credit: UN Women/Ruhani Kaur
Further, the breakdown in family and community, as well as the loss of a key information and knowledge resources – namely, school or other learning centers – exposes girls to exploitative behaviors and multidimensional and intersecting vulnerabilities.
Thus, the notion of disaster preparedness and disaster response must evolve to include girl-centered protection solutions to reduce these increased risks and their ripple effect on larger social and economic development goals.
The recent earthquakes in Turkey, Syria, and Morocco have seen unprecedented levels of devastation, both in terms of human life and the infrastructure necessary for accessing public services and ensuring protection from sexual exploitation, abuse, and violence.
In the southeastern provinces of Turkey alone, 9.1 million people were affected by the earthquake there, 3 million displaced, and nearly 300,000 buildings were destroyed. Among this wreckage, an estimated 320,000 people or more continue to live in temporary shelters.
Initial reports observe that for adolescent girls there has been significant increases in domestic care and responsibilities, domestic abuse, sexual and gender-based violence, and child marriage along with reduced enrollment rates in school.
Committing to Girl-Centered Design
Girl-centered design is one protective and pro-active approach to finding new solutions to the challenges that international humanitarian and development sector practitioners struggle to address at scale.
This process thinks about how spaces, programs, and activities can be developed for and with girls based on child safety protocols and girl-led participation. It is applied to ensure that all girls, especially the most underserved, are recognized and engaged.
In Pazarcık, and Antakya, Turkey—areas hardest hit by the February earthquake—adolescent girls, and their families, still live in temporary shelters. Several of these girls were asked recently, “if you oversaw international aid, what would you do differently?”
“I would have done something to meet the self-care and clothing needs of the girls here. Then, [when] the girls were cared for, I would send them to school,” said one 14-year-old from Pazarcık. Adds a 13-year-old from the same area, “There could have been classes. There could have been information for us. There is nothing here.”
Their counterparts in Antakya talk about music, painting, dance, and sports. One 13-year-old says these creative activities would not only occupy girls, but also make them “happy.” One 14-year-old girl states, “I would make girls feel valuable. I would find out what girls are interested in and organize activities to engage them.”
Recent targeted research by Suna’nın Kızları cites that girls spend the majority of their waking hours “pacing” and “waiting,” or else occupied with minding younger siblings or helping their mothers with household chores. Many girls yearn for and remark on the absence of “fun.”
Creating the Spaces for Girls to Occupy
With additional evidence on the intersection of wellbeing with outdoor activities, or the powerful learning and healing that occurs with ensuring girls’ right to play, there is a collective cry for doing better by them. Shelters should be constructed to include safe outdoor spaces for girls to play, strengthen the availability of the kinds of information they need, and provide access to basic services that support healthier prospects for their immediate and future needs.
To date, when such spaces or services are available, they are used predominantly by boys and men.
Adolescent girls inherently understand what it means to be a girl, to feel safe (or not), and to be valued as equals (or not). For the girls in Pazarcık and Antakya, investing for and with them means not only applying girl-centered design to expand the physical safe and green spaces in which they can learn, play and grow, but also the decision-making spaces where their voices and ideas can be heard and taken seriously.
And while there are some welcome signs in this direction, it is not enough. If prioritized, girl-centered design and girl-led solutions before, during and after disaster may reap the results that have heretofore eluded us.
Amy West is co-lead of the Adolescent Girls and Young Women Initiative and principal international technical advisor at Education Development Center and Aysel Madra is a research coordinator at Suna’nın Kızları (Suna’s Daughters). EDC. They are both active members in the Coalition for Adolescent Girls (CAG), a member-led and-driven organization dedicated to supporting, investing in, and improving the lives of adolescent girls.
IPS UN Bureau
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 9 2023 (IPS)
The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are returning to Africa, for the first time in decades, with the “same old failed message”.
“Cut your spending, sack public service workers, and pay your debts– despite the huge human costs” says Oxfam International’s interim Executive Director Amitabh Behar, following the release of new Oxfam report.
“They must show they can genuinely change to reverse the tide of widening inequality within and between countries,” he said.
The two Washington-based international financial institutions (IFIs) are holding their annual meetings October 9-15, this time in Marrakesh, Morocco, in north Africa.
In a new analysis released October 9, Oxfam says more than half (57 percent) of the world’s poorest countries, home to 2.4 billion people, are having to cut public spending by a combined $229 billion over the next five years.
On current terms, low- and lower-middle income countries will be forced to pay nearly half a billion dollars every day in interest and debt repayments between now and 2029. Entire countries are facing bankruptcy, with the poorest countries now spending four times more repaying debts to rich creditors than on healthcare.
“The World Bank says we are likely seeing the biggest increase in global inequality and poverty since World War 2, yet the Bank has no clear goal to reduce inequality.,” Behar said
For its part, the IMF claims to mitigate the worst effects of its austerity-driven loan programs through ‘social spending floors’ that ring-fence government spending on public services.
Credit: Glasgow Actions Team
However, Oxfam’s analysis of 27 loan programs negotiated with low- and middle-income countries since 2020 found that these floors are a smokescreen for more austerity: for every $1 the IMF encouraged governments to spend on public services, it has told them to cut six times more than that through austerity measures.
“The IMF is forcing poorer countries into a starvation diet of spending cuts, driving up inequality and suffering,” said Behar.
Anuradha Mittal, Executive Director of the Oakland Institute, told IPS Oxfam’s report demonstrates the urgent need for governments in the Global South to prioritize raising taxes on the wealthiest to ensure the financing of healthy economies, the provision of basic essential services to the population, and decisive action on climate.
“Instead, the World Bank and the IMF are orchestrating yet once again an ill-driven race to the bottom that favors wealth accumulation while punishing the poor and most vulnerable and making economies less and less sustainable,” she said.
Looking at the debt and climate crisis, the only sensible move is for coordinated global action to tax wealth and financial flows, Mittal declared
Meanwhile, the Glasgow Actions Team (GAT) formed around the UN Climate Conference in 2021 in Glasgow, said it is committed to pushing the world’s climate champions to go farther, calling out the blockers, and exposing the deniers.
“It’s all eyes on (the new World Bank President) Ajay Banga and Marrakesh,” said Andrew Nazdin, Director of the Glasgow Actions Team.
“We applaud President Banga’s words on transforming the Bank into a powerful force for good. Now’s his chance for those words to become actions, which start with phasing out fossil fuel funding and issuing debt relief.”
“As a Tunisian activist from the Global South, at the forefront of those affected by the policies of financial funds and the least responsible for climate change, I am here to express my anger at what is happening and protest to achieve justice,” said Raouf Ben Mohamed of Debt for Climate.
Meanwhile, going into these annual meetings, Oxfam said, two big issues are at the forefront: the debt crisis and the urgent need to generate more resources for sustainable development, climate adaptation and tackling poverty in low- and middle-income countries.
However, the solutions being discussed by the World Bank, IMF and their biggest shareholders are only going to turn the vicious circle into a vortex.
“Rather than cancelling unpayable debts, rich countries want to use the Annual Meetings to fiddle with the Bank’s balance sheet to squeeze out money for yet more loans,” said Behar.
“In the next room, poorer countries are still being told to slash spending on public services and social programs critical to fighting poverty, reducing inequality, and realizing the rights of women and girls. Their answer to the debt crisis is more austerity, and their answer to the financing gulf is more loans. True win-wins, like fairly taxing the rich, are being left on the table.” He pointed out.
While people living in poverty bear the brunt of public spending cuts and the cost-of-living crisis, the wealthy are thriving. In the Middle East and North Africa, where the annual meetings are taking place:
–The richest 0.05 percent saw their wealth surge by 75 percent from $1.7 trillion in 2019 to nearly $3 trillion by the end of 2022. The region’s 23 billionaires have accumulated more wealth in the last three years than in the entire decade that preceded them.
–A five percent wealth tax on fortunes over $5 million would allow Egypt to double its spending on healthcare, Jordan to double its education budget and Lebanon to increase its spending on both healthcare and education seven times over. Morocco alone could raise $1.22 billion at a time it is facing an $11.7 billion repair bill from the recent devastating earthquake there.
“Austerity is an ideological fiction that has wrought incalculable damage,” said Behar.
“Who will deliver babies and save lives later when nurses and doctors in public hospitals lose their jobs now? “
“The IMF and the World Bank must enable governments to pursue economic policies that redistribute income and invest in public goods to dramatically reduce the chasm between the rich and the rest.”
Footnote:
In 2021, low- and middle-income countries spent 27.5 percent of their budgets on debt service, which was twice their education spending, four times health spending and nearly 12 times social protection spending.
Link to Oxfam’s report “The MENA Gap: Prosperity for the Rich, Austerity for the Rest” and methodology note.
In July, more than 230 economists and inequality leaders, including Joseph Stiglitz, Jayati Ghosh, Thomas Piketty and four former World Bank Chief Economists, wrote to new World Bank President Ajay Banga, to adopt new goals and indicators to redouble efforts to address rising inequality.
IPS UN Bureau Report
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
PRESIDENT KASSYM-JOMART TOKAYEV: ‘In this atmosphere of tension and increasing geopolitical turbulences, it is vitally important to develop new approaches to strengthening inter-civilizational dialogue and trust.’ Credit: Office of the President
By Kassym-Jomart Tokayev
NEW YORK, Oct 6 2023 (IPS)
It is not a secret that the world is witnessing rising international tensions and erosion of the global order that has been in place since the establishment of the United Nations. Divisive blocs, which have not been seen since the Cold War, are making a swift return. As a result, our planet is facing severe threats, including a new global arms race, the threat of the use of nuclear weapons, and the proliferation of wars in all formats, including hot, hybrid, cyber, and trade.
In this atmosphere of tension and increasing geopolitical turbulences, it is vitally important to develop new approaches to strengthening inter-civilizational dialogue and trust.
Diplomacy is, undoubtedly, key to facilitating cooperation. Kazakhstan has always supported solving disputes exclusively at the negotiating table based on the UN Charter. Our country has consistently promoted principles aimed at achieving lasting peace, security, and sustainable progress across the world.
Despite best efforts, conflicts remain ubiquitous in many regions of the world.
To build a new system of international security, the world requires a new global movement for peace. I believe the role of religious leaders will be indispensable here. Approximately 85% of the world’s people identify with a religion, making it a significant factor in our lives.
Religious leaders therefore have a significant influence on global affairs. Moreover, the sacred value of human life, mutual support, and the rejection of destructive rivalry and hostility are a set of principles shared by all religions. As a result, I am convinced that these principles can form the basis of a new world system.
Pope Francis delivering his inaugural keynote speech at the Seventh Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in the Kazakh capital on September 14. Credit: Katsuhiro Asagiri, INPS Japan President
How can religious leaders help push for world peace?
How can this work in practice?
Firstly, religious leaders can contribute to healing the wounds of hatred following an enduring conflict. Syria is a case in point. Kazakhstan welcomes the fact that hostilities have all but ended in that country. We are glad to have contributed to this through the Astana Process peace talks, which since 2017 facilitated negotiations between representatives of the Syrian government, the opposition, as well as Turkey, Iran, and Russia.
Yet while the hot phase of the conflict is over, the divisions within the country remain. Spiritual leaders can play an important role in healing Syrian society through the power of religion.
Secondly, human nature is contradictory. There will always be provocations and hatred. Recent actions to burn the holy Quran in a number of northern European countries are negative trends that undermine the culture of tolerance, mutual respect, and peaceful coexistence. In this regard, the targeted communication of religious leaders in preventing such situations and trends is crucial.
Thirdly, new technologies are radically changing all spheres of human life. These changes are mostly for the better, including improved healthcare, unlimited information online, and ease of communication and travel. At the same time, we observe how societies are being fragmented and polarized under the influence of digital technology.
In the new digital reality, it is also necessary to cultivate spiritual values and moral guidelines. Religion has a key role to play here, too, as all faiths are based on humanistic ideals, recognition of the supreme value of human life, and the aspiration for peace and creation.
These fundamental principles should be embodied not only in the spiritual sphere, but also in the socioeconomic development of countries and international politics.
Without reliance on humanistic ideals and ethics, the rapid scientific-technological revolution can lead humanity astray. We are already witnessing such debates with the advent of general artificial intelligence.
Ultimately, moral authority and the word of spiritual leaders is crucial today.
That is why I am proud that for 20 years, Kazakhstan has been hosting the triennial Congress of Religious Leaders. Established in 2003 in direct response to the rise in interfaith disagreements and extremism following the 9/11 terrorist attack in the United States, the Congress has strengthened interfaith dialogue by bringing together religious leaders.
It has enabled meaningful dialogue on ways to combine efforts to promote better understanding between representatives of different cultures and religious communities.
Prior to becoming the president of Kazakhstan in 2019, I had the honor to serve as head of the Secretariat of the Congress.
I observed how the Congress promoted tolerance and mutual respect in contrast to hatred and extremism.
Last year, our country held the Seventh Congress of Religious Leaders. It was attended by delegations from 50 countries, including representatives of Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Shintoism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, and other religions. I was honored to welcome Pope Francis, the second visit by the head of the Catholic Church to Kazakhstan following the visit by Pope John Paul II in 2001.
Over the past two decades, the Congress became a platform for inter-civilizational dialogue at the global level. I believe it made a significant contribution to Kazakhstan’s success in forging a stable and harmonious society from a population made up of more than 100 ethnic groups and 18 confessions that live in peace in our country today.
Through its commitment to religious tolerance and human rights, Kazakhstan sets an example for the world, showcasing the importance of interfaith dialogue in creating a more peaceful and harmonious global society.
As the world continues to be embroiled in political uncertainty, a bridge of rapprochement between cultures and civilizations is required more than ever. I am determined to ensure that Kazakhstan facilitates global dialogue between religions and nations, including through the work of the Congress of Religious Leaders, thus contributing to mutual understanding and respect in societies.
The writer is the president of Kazakhstan.
IPS UN Bureau
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
Afghan women's resistance and resilience to the Taliban takeover are featured in the new After August website – a collaboration between UN Women Afghanistan, Zan Times, Limbo and independent storytellers. Credit: UN Women/Sayed Habib Bidell
By IPS Correspondent
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 6 2023 (IPS)
The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan on 15 August 2021 has devastated millions of Afghanis. But women and girls have been particularly affected by progressively restrictive decrees that have created a virtual system of gender apartheid.
The stories of more than 50 women living in Afghanistan are featured on the new After August website – a collaboration between UN Women Afghanistan, Zan Times, Limbo, and independent storytellers. These unvarnished stories capture the fear, hardship, and sense of loss that shapes their lives, but also their strength, resistance, and resilience.
A few excerpts:
Credit: UN Women/Sayed Habib Bidell
“I sold my daughter out of poverty and desperation. I sold her so that the rest of the family wouldn’t starve to death… If I do not receive any aid, I will have to sell another daughter. I have a one-year-old daughter. I will take her to the city and auction her off in front of the Central Mosque. The older girls are sold off for 100,000 Afghani. I will sell my baby daughter for 50,000.” —Belquis, a mother from Ghor
Credit: UN Women/Sayed Habib Bidell
“Every day, I hugged my two children. I was afraid that the Taliban would take them from me. But consciously, responsibly, and honestly, I went to the streets every day to fight even harder than the day before … The Taliban surrounded us many times and tried to stop us with electric shocks and pepper spray, but we picked up their rifles with our bare hands and continued marching.” —Adela, a teacher and protester from Kabul
Credit: UN Women/Sayed Habib Bidell
“In the past, I used to share my feelings on social media with my friends, but today the atmosphere of fear and mistrust has deepened so much that I cannot share my pain with my friends. I have never felt so alone. Many times, I have decided to end my life, but I think about the fate of my son.” —Hira, a former public servant from Kunar
Credit: UN Women/Sayed Habib Bidell
“It is natural that fighting in the current situation also brings risks, but my life is sweeter as a woman who takes risks and has made sacrifices, even if this leads to my isolation and loss of neutrality. Changing society can only happen with our own awareness and efforts. I want a free life, the right to choose clothing, the right to choose a profession, the right to choose a field of study, the right to work.” —Amina, an engineer and activist from Langman
Credit: UN Women/Sayed Habib Bidell
“Afghanistan has become the graveyard of buried hopes. This past year was one of the most challenging years of all for people living here, particularly for women and girls. They have turned thousands of young people’s hopes and dreams into ashes, especially women and girls, and I am one of them.” —Ghotai, a computer science student from Baghlan
Credit: UN Women/Sayed Habib Bidell
“When we were children, children would hit animals and dogs with stones and harass them. Now this is the situation for women in my country. Being insulted and humiliated is the biggest change that we women see in our lives.” —Amina, a psychotherapist from Zabul
Credit: UN Women/Sayed Habib Bidell
“I am standing up for my sisters who have no support and whose men cannot raise their voices because they fear the Taliban. I want to raise the voices of these innocent women to the international community so that it no will longer just monitor and react, but instead act. Act for the benefit of the brave women of my country, because we do not get anything from reaction!” —Fatana, a protester from Nuristan
Echoing the words of Fatana, this collection aims to raise awareness and incite an international audience to reflect and, hopefully, to act.
Note: These first-person accounts have been anonymized, with names and locations changed to protect their identity. The photographs of women have also been randomly matched to stories.
**The views expressed in these stories belong to the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of UN Women and/or any affiliated agencies.
IPS UN Bureau Report
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
The voices of young people played an important role in shaping the country’s long-term development trajectory. Credit: UNICEF Timor-Leste
By Riccardo Mesiano
DILI, Timor-Leste, Oct 6 2023 (IPS)
In 2002, a group of young people in Timor-Leste were asked to look ahead into the future and write down on a postcard what they hoped their country could achieve by the year 2020.
Twenty years later some of these postcards were retrieved from the time capsule, revealing the hopes and ambitions of a previous generation of young voices across Timor-Leste.
From visions of a peaceful and just country, to demands for strong democratic institutions, improvements to homes and living standards and an expansion of job opportunities, these young people had firm beliefs on where their country could and should be by the year 2020.
17-year-old Jose Marcal, for example, wrote that by 2020 he hoped “to erase corruption, collusion and nepotism and domestic violence, create job opportunities for young people and construct new schools for students so that we can focus on our study, because we are the future to build this country’”
Today, Timor-Leste has made significant progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and is working to realize the aspirations set out by young people two decades ago, on the restoration of the country’s independence. Yet their voices continue to play an important role in shaping the country’s development trajectory.
Credit: UN Timor-Leste
Timor-Leste’s second Voluntary National Review (VNR 2023)– an annual report which takes stock of and assesses national progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, incorporates the voices of young people as an important accountability tool in the implementation of the SDGs and the 2030 agenda.
The report, which was presented at the UN High-Level Political Forum in New York in July, was not only guided the aspirations young people made 20 years ago but also by the perspectives and recommendations from todays’ young generation.
To gather these critical contributions and support the Government prepare for the VNR process our Resident Coordinator’s Office (RCO) in Timor-Leste played an indispensable coordination role; mobilizing both financial resources and expertise from the UN resident and non-resident agencies to help gather data and facilitate stakeholder engagement.
As well as coordinating the first general consultation with government representatives and other stakeholders, our office also supported the government hold intergenerational dialogues and conversations to capture the essence of young peoples’ aspirations and ensure they feed into more targeted and inclusive policy making going forward.
As the Head of this Office, my role in leveraging our team’s leadership and coordination capacities was key to ensuring the UN’s support to Timor-Leste’ VNR was as coherent as possible, and vital to ensuring the voices of young people could shine through during that process.
Youth supporting peace and partnerships for the Goals
Drawing on youth insights from the country’s first ever VNR last year was another important step. The 2022 presentation showed that SDG 16 and SDG 17, which focus on peace, justice, strong institutions, and partnerships for the goals, were viewed by young people as crucial underpinnings for development in Timor-Leste.
Aside from this emphasis on strengthening justice systems and institutions, young people pointed to SDGs 4, 5, 8, 9, and 10, encompassing quality education, gender equality, decent work and economic growth, industry, innovation, and infrastructure, and reduced inequalities, as key catalysts to meeting the targets of the 2030 agenda.
From a youth perspective, Timor-Leste’s most significant successes from national development efforts over the past few years, lay in the areas of poverty reduction (SDG1), eradicating hunger (SDG2), improving access to clean water and sanitation (SDG 6) affordable and clean energy (SDG 7), reduced inequalities (SDG 10) and building safe, inclusive and sustainable cities (SDG 11).
Speaking ahead of the 2023 presentation of the VNR, a representative from the Government of Timor-Leste explained that they spotlighted young people’s voices in the SDG review process because it offers an important, ground-up perspective on key development issues and shows their expectations for the future.
As the postcards from the time-capsule clearly show, Timor-Leste’s journey towards a sustainable future is a shared one. Two decades later, and the Government of Timor Leste, together with the UN, and civil society partners remain committed to ensuring young people, their needs and desires are accounted for in the country’s progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.
Riccardo Mesiano is Head of the Resident Coordinator’s Office in Timor-Leste.
Source: UN Development Cooperation Office.
IPS UN Bureau
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
With decisive leadership and the support of civil society Kerala was able to the spread of COVID-19 down. Picture Supplied
By Ranjit Devraj
NEW DELHI , Oct 6 2023 (IPS)
When COVID-19 claimed millions of lives across India, Kerala state at the southern tip of the subcontinent stood apart for low mortality rates that experts attribute to good governance, a robust public health delivery system and strong civil society support.
Kerala, a state of 35 million people, has consistently ranked above the rest of India on the Human Development Index (0.84), with literacy, life expectancy, and human rights records comparable to that of developed countries. It enjoys an infant mortality rate of 12 per thousand live births and a female literacy rate of 92.07 percent.
One reason for Kerala’s high development indices is its remittance economy, with large numbers of its people finding work abroad — an estimated four million are known to be working in the oil-rich Middle Eastern countries alone. Remittances to Kerala averaged 715,789,912 million US dollars annually during the 2004—2023 period.
However, the same expatriate workers became a liability during the pandemic. As they streamed back home, the state government mounted tight monitoring at its four international airports at Kannur, Calicut, Kochi, and Thiruvananthapuram while following up with quarantine, source tracing and tracking to prevent the virus from spreading in the densely populated state (860 people per square kilometre).
“There are many layers to the measures ordered by the state government, extending to individuals, community, public health systems and private hospitals,” said Jaideep C Menon, professor of adult cardiology and public health at the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi.
Voluntary Agencies
“Everybody pulled together. Community kitchens run by panchayats ensured essential supplies of grains, vegetables, fruits, petroleum products or drugs,” said Jaideep Menon. Additionally, he said, there were awareness creation programmes run by government-backed self-help groups like ASHA and the women’s voluntary agency Kudumbasree.
“There were instances of essential drugs like Factor VIII for haemophilia, cancer care medicines, etc., being sent through the police networks to remote public health centres (PHCs) during lockdowns. Radioisotopes — supplied to hospitals solely by the Babha Atomic Research Centre — were flown in on specially chartered flights and moved to recipients with police help,” Jaideep C said.
According to Jaideep Menon, the police force proved to be an effective arm of the government’s COVID-19 response, not only for facilitating the movement of essentials but also for providing effective policing that was needed to implement contact tracing and quarantine during the first wave of the pandemic that ran from March to November 2020.
Groups such as the Distress Management Collective India networked influential Malayalis (as Kerala natives are called) living around the world to source medicines, vaccines, and equipment such as oxygen concentrators for COVID-19 patients in dire need.
“On receiving the oxygen concentrators, we delivered them to people with breathing difficulties in remote places of Kerala,” says Anil Jabbar, a local coordinator in the state for the DMCI. “The instructions on how to calibrate and use the equipment were then provided over smartphone videos to protect ourselves from getting infected.”
Coordination expertise came from Vinod Chandra Menon, a founder member of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and former Asia regional director of the International Emergency Management Society, Oslo.
“The odds in Kerala were tremendous because of a moving population – in fact, the first recorded Covid case in India was that of a female medical student in Wuhan who flew back home to Kerala on 23 January 2020,” said Vinod Menon.
“What was instructive was the professional way in which the authorities handled the case,” said Vinod Menon. “She had no symptoms but based on her travel history in China, she was placed in an isolation room, and her throat swab and blood samples were flown to the National Institute of Virology in Pune, where the samples tested positive for COVID-19.”
“It was clear from the start that early detection and early response was the way to go, and Kerala averted a major disaster by simply following the standard operating procedure that was laid down from the start,” said Vinod Menon.
“Unlike in most of India, Kerala’s interdepartmental coordination was excellent and meshed together with voluntary agencies and women’s help groups thanks to backing from the highest levels of government right down to the villages.”
While the number of COVID-19 fatalities in India remains contentious, with some estimates placing it above 5 million, calculations based on National Survey Data indicate that between 1 June 2020 and 1 July 2021 alone, there were 3.2 million deaths from the virus.
In contrast, Kerala’s data, even after the second wave between April and March 2021, suggested “relatively limited spread, fairly effective mitigation and better surveillance of both infections and deaths than in most parts of the country,” according to Murad Banaji a lecturer in applied mathematics at the University Oxford with an interest in analysing the pandemic in India.
It helped that Kerala had been primed up for community participation, interdepartmental coordination, participation of local self-governments and social mobilisation by voluntary agencies through the experience of responding to a massive flood that devastated the state in 2018 and a Nipah virus epidemic in 2018—2019.
Said Sandhya Raveendran, who is both a surveillance officer for Kollam as well as the deputy medical officer for the district: “We hit the ground running. Even before the first case was identified, we were ready with mock drills and rapid response teams, thanks to the legacy of handling a Nipah virus outbreak.”
Sample collection teams, consisting of a medical officer, a nurse or laboratory technician and a driver, all equipped with PPE kits, fanned out daily along predetermined routes after prior intimation to sites that were due to be visited, said Sandhya Raveendran.
“Key to containment was the early setting up of sentinel surveillance using RT PCR tests followed by the setting up of laboratories capable of performing accurate tests,” said Raveendran. “What became clear after four rounds of tests was that most of the cases were imported and that there was no community transmission.”
The laboratories were linked to an ‘integrated health information platform’ for real-time reporting of detailed results so that action could be rapidly taken at the field level and epidemiological investigations could be carried out by special rapid response teams.
By early March 2020, the state had the highest number of active cases in India, but using the trace, quarantine, test, isolate and treat strategy, by June 2020, Kerala managed to keep the basic reproduction number (transmission per primary infected person to the secondarily infected persons) at 0.454 against the India average of 1.225.
Decisive leadership
“What worked was decisive leadership from the top in setting up command centres in various districts under the district collector (chief administrator), following directives from the chief minister and the state health department,” said Jaideep Menon. “This led to health taking centre-stage for a prolonged period in both print and audio-visual media.”
“In sum, Kerala’s proactive approach to quarantine, infection prevention and control, the state’s strong public health system that could reach every household, and an empowered and literate community pulled together to combat the pandemic.”
He says the key lesson for the rest of India is that a robust disaster management plan must be instituted with clarity on who does what, adding that while all the states had voluntary agencies and local self-governments, they were not harnessed towards quick and effective intervention in the way Kerala did.
“Pandemics like COVID-19 are a distinct possibility in the future, and that’s why it is important to clearly define the role and mandate of each implementing agency by governments.”
Note: This article was supported by the Sabin Vaccine Institute and Internews.
IPS UN Bureau Report
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
By Jan Lundius
STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Oct 6 2023 (IPS)
Some time ago I watched the Indian blockbuster RRR (Rise, Roar, Revolt). It received universal praise for direction, screenwriting, cast performances, soundtrack (which won an Oscar) and thrilling action sequences. RRR is filled with gore; bodies beaten, pierced and torn apart. An overblown combination of Quentin Tarantino and Bollywood, far away from Satyajit Ray’s emotionally moving films, as well as Bollywood’s romantic comedies and mythological dramas. RRR never pauses for breath. The two male protagonists are supermen, not exposing many recognizable human traits, even if they might occasionally sing and talk about love. Hard to understand, since the few women of the story are cut-out clichés.
This to date most expensive Indian movie is actually a jingoistic show of patriotic pomp. A quasi-historical tale hiding the fact that the Republic of India (Bhārat Ganarājya) is a multi-faceted conglomerate, including concepts like Bhakti, love and devotion and Ahimsa, non-violence applied towards all living beings. Instead it appears to be a tribute to “Modi-land”, a politically constructed ideal chimera, based on the concept of Hindutva (Hinduness),where Hindu identity is considered as the essence of Bharat (India).
India was on 20th April declared as being the world’s most populous nation with 1,428 million inhabitants, of which more than 80 percent define themselves as Hindus, making religion a useful tool for political campaigning. However, the Hindu faith has countless variants and the nation is a subcontinent with 20 official languages and a plethora of customs and cultures.
The RRR movie fits well into the current Prime Minster Narandra Modi and his Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, BJP’s embrace of its interpretation of Hindu Pride, Hindutva, was strengthened and supported by a growing economy. Nevertheless, there are cracks in the political fresco depicting a harmonious India, not the least widespread anti-Muslim prejudice. From fear of Muslims and neighbouring Pakistan many people take their refuge in BJP. Almost 15 percent of the Indian population are Muslims, meaning that The Republic of India has the third largest Muslim population in the world.
Playing the religious card and claiming an unprecedented economic growth Narandra Modi is now probably the most popular leader in the world. In the 2014 general elections BJP became the first Indian political party since 1984 to win a majority and becoming able to govern without the support of other parties. The G20 summit coincided with Modi’s aims to raise New Delhi’s global clout following nearly a decade-long tenure in power in which he has positioned himself as a leader intent on shedding the country’s colonial past – emphasizing the need to “liberate ourselves from the slavery mind-set.”
A view apparent in RRR, which is rooted in a vision of a genocidal racism of British colonialists. The British Governor of the Princely State of Hyderabad (today’s Telangana) might be equalled to any murderous Nazi-SS officer and is together with his sadistic wife flaunting dehumanizing prejudices against indigenous people. Muslims act as treacherous collaborators with the British and their subjugated Deccan Mughal Prince is an enthusiastic supporter of the Britsh Raj. To liberate a girl kidnapped by the villainous Governor-wife, the Hindu hero Raju disguises himself as a loyal Muslim officer serving the British Raj and as such he does not hesitate to kill and torture fellow Hindus, while planning a Hindu revolt and liberating the confined girl.
All this fits well into BJP’s efforts to depict the Indian subcontinent’s 4 500 year long history as being developed within a Hindutva frame. This in spite of the historical presence of thousands of kingdoms, diverse peoples, different religions, being the birth place of at least three world religions, and with the powerful presence of Christianity, Parsism, and not the least Islam – blending into the creation of a unique and rich Indian culture.
A common trait among leading BJP politicians seems to be that their chauvinistic Hindutva vision has convinced them that everything that do not conform with their simplistic view of “Bhārat culture” might be considered as intrusion/pollution of Hindu past and present. The splendours of the Mughal culture is exorcised from school books and Muslim rulers like Akbar are referenced as cruel invaders. The names of Muslim sounding towns are changed; Allahbad has become Praygray, Aurangabad is Chhatrapatri Sambhaji Nagar, and Osmanabad has become Dharashiv, while the official name of the Indian Republic now has been established as Bhārat Ganarājya.
Anything awkward in the history of this utopian Hindu Bhārat is swept under the carpet, or whitewashed, like the legacy of untouchability and exclusion, misogyny and intolerance. There is also an apparent discomfort with BJP’s rather tarnished history. For example, Nathuram Godse who murdered Mahatma Gandhi in 1948 was an esteemed member of the Hindu supremacist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) organisation, which still is the ideological fountainhead of the BJP. He killed Gandhi because the Mahatma’s insistence on a secular India, integrating members of all religions and castes (the entire caste system was declared to be illegal).
In spite of Modi’s popularity it is generally agreed that BJP is considered as a North Indian, Hindi-speaking and upper-caste party, even if BJP has declared that “the caste system is responsible for the lack of adherence to Hindu values and the only remedy is to reach out to the lower castes.” The major themes on the party’s agenda has been banning cow slaughter and abolishing the special status given to the Muslim majority state of Kashmir, as well as legislating a Uniform Civil Code in conformity with “Hindu values”. Most of the people living in Kashmir do not vote for BJP and neither do those of the Sikh dominated Punjab, while non-Hindi speaking people in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Kerala are reluctant to share BJP’s ideology and prone to consider the party as adhering to Ethnic democracy, meaning that it is supported by a prejudiced majority.
The RSS organisation was in 1925, founded on the claim that India was a Hindu nation and Hindus were thus entitled to reign over the Nation’s minorities. The RSS’s original base was higher-caste men, but in order to grow it had to widen its membership and lower-caste recruits were accepted, among them a young Narendra Modi, who soon became a pracharak—the group’s term for its young, chaste foot soldiers. He rose quickly in the ranks. RSS is by BJP often described as the party’s “scout branch”, but it is more than that – it is a uniformed paramilitary organisation in which young men obtain physical fitness through yoga, weapon- and martial arts exercises, taught Hindutva ideology, as well as partaking in activities encouraging civic awareness, social service, community living, and patriotism. Pracharaks are full-time functionaries, renouncing professional – and family lives while dedicating their lives to the cause of the RSS.
Modi rose in the RSS ranks and in 1987 he entered its political branch – BJP. When Modi joined the party it had only two seats in Parliament. It needed an issue to attract sympathizers and found one in an obscure religious dispute. In the city Ayodhya it was among local Hindus rumoured that a mosque had been built above an ancient temple dedicated to the god Ram, a Vishnu avatar. In 1990 a senior member of BJP called for the demolition of the mosque. Two years after, a crowd led by RSS partisans completely razed the mosque.
This happened when economic liberalization under the BJP’s regime was resulting in increased economic growth, urbanization, and consumerism. A new, affluent middle class developed, becoming the core electorate of the BJP. In a rapidly changing world persons were searching for an identity, several found one in Hindu nationalism, turning to gurus, and sectarian movements, participating in yoga classes and watching saffron-clad ideologists on TV. The Ayodhya incident and the following bloody clashes between militant RSS members and Muslims, triggered by press campaigns, and Pakistan supported terrorist attacks, enabled the BJP to capitalize on a growing Hindu nationalism. BJP membership soared, and already by 1996, it had become the largest party in Parliament.
Like his good friend Donald Trump, Narandra Modi has by his enemies been provided with several characteristics they consider to be dangerous. He is reluctant to give press conferences and in-depth personal interviews, but based on those and some knowledgeable acquaintances he has been described as a person having all traits of an authoritarian, narcissistic personality, and in addition he practices a puritanical rigidity, having a constricted emotional life, and an enormous ego, which apparently covers up an inner insecurity. Like Trump, Modi is also prone to reveal harmful conspiracy theories, like India being targeted by a global conspiracy, in which every local Muslim is likely to be complicit.
When Modi served as chief minister in the Gujarat state a train with pilgrims and RSS militants was returning from Ayodha. When it stopped at the station of Godhara quarrels erupted between the pilgrims and Muslim food vendors, resulting in a fire that burned 58 Hindus to death. Independent investigators deemed the tragedy to be a tragic accident, though RSS consider it to be a Muslim terrorist attack. Horrific lynchings of Muslim men and women followed, Narendra Modi was accused of condoning the violence that allegedly was supported by police and government officials accused of providing rioters with lists of Muslim property owners. Officially 1,044 persons were killed, while The Concerned Citizens Tribunal estimated that 1,926 persons had been lynched. Parallel to accusations of having been knowledgeable about politicians and administrators’ crucial role in the lynchings, Modi-collaborators were accused of corruption and even extra-judicial killings.
Apart from these unresolved incidents Modi’s reforms during his time as Gujarat minister have benefitted his political career. His regime supported the establishment of new industries, reformed the bureaucracy, and made huge investments in electricity and infrastructure. The state’s growth rate boomed as subsidies were provided to politically connected conglomerates and state-owned players.
The “Gujarat model” has been a prerequisite for Modi’s fame as India’s great modernizers. However, even if Modi after his election victory in 2014 pledged to add 100 million manufacturing jobs, India actually lost 24 million of those jobs between 2017 and 2021. COVID-19 was blamed for the failure, but 11 million jobs had already been lost before the pandemic hit. This might be compared with similar, but much smaller economies, like those of Bangladesh and Vietnam, which manufacture employment doubled between 2019 and 2020, while India’s share barely rose by two percent. Currently, Vietnam exports approximately the same value in manufactured goods with its 100 million people, as does India with its 1.4 billion. Modi’s huge investments in logistics and transport has so far not provided the expected results. Indian investors tend to offshore their profits and demonstrate a preference for financial assets. Private investment was in 2019-20 only 22 percent of GDP, down from 31 percent in 2010-11. One obstacle to investment is India’s profoundly unequal society. Modi’s economic strategy puts wealth before health. The Modi government is reluctant to prioritize investments in primary health care and education.
In 2019, the Modi government declared “war on pollution” but allocated a scanty USD 42 million. Female employment have been dropping for over three decades, with only 7 out of 100 urban women now employed. Modi’s tactics to blame minorities for economic shortcomings, social ills and other problems that could be amended by more effective policies may prove to be disastrous and lead to unmitigated violence. One example is his government’s crackdown on Sikh separatist movements and alleged extra-judicial killings of Sikh militants in Britain and Canada, which has reawaken and militarized Sikh opposition and soured diplomatic contacts with Canada. Likewise is the Government’s move to revoke the Constitution’s Article 370, which granted some autonomy for Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority state, likely to fuel Muslim anger and desperation and so is the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, making religion a criterion for obtaining Indian nationality. Only non-Muslim refugees from Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Pakistan are eligible for citizenship. Added to this are new laws passed to make interreligious marriages more difficult.
The extreme Hindu pride violence depicted in RRR might be more of a source for worries than admiration for its stunning visual effects and joyous patriotism. It is doubtful if Indian unity can be realised through State homage to an idealized Hindu past, combined with an obvious marginalization of minorities. Instead of being impressed by Indian moon landings, prosperity for the wealthy and adoration of “great” leaders, it might probably be more constructive to look into and address pollution, waste, inequality, poverty, poor health, and education. History proves that harassing minorities cause general human misery. It might be much more beneficial to study history through a scientific/objective lens than as BJP and RRR adhere to invented traditions, i.e. cultural practices and ideas perceived as arising from people in a distant past, though they actually are quite recent and consciously invented by identifiable political actors.
IPS UN Bureau
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
Credit: UNICEF Bangladesh/2018/Sokol
By Yasmine Sherif
NEW YORK, Oct 5 2023 (IPS)
We are in a race to deliver on our global promise of education for all by 2030 – especially for the 224 million girls and boys impacted by armed conflict, climate change, forced displacement and other protracted crises who so urgently need our support. At the frontlines of this movement are the inspiring, caring, brilliant teachers who work tirelessly to educate future generations.
As we commemorate World Teachers’ Day – along with key partners such as the International Labour Organization, UNICEF, UNESCO and Education International – Education Cannot Wait honours the sacrifice, compassion and dedication of the world’s teachers. We know you work long hours, with low pay. We know that after COVID-19, we face a massive learning and achievement gap. We know that world leaders have done far too little to support education or people like you on the frontlines, making learning happen day-in, day-out in classrooms around the world.
In the best of circumstances, being a teacher is a challenge. Now imagine what it is like for teachers in a crisis or conflict-hit area in Afghanistan, Colombia, Syria or Uganda. Imagine what it’s like teaching while being one of the millions fleeing wars, conflicts and disasters without any support. Teachers walk to school in fear of attack, bombings, abductions, and other forms of violence and threats. They see their schools swept away in floods and sometimes their family wakes up hungry because of climate change-related droughts. This is the reality facing millions of teachers in the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
We must do better. Education Cannot Wait, the UN global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, puts teachers at the forefront of everything we do. The teachers are themselves affected by conflicts and climate-induced disasters, and yet they have to serve as mentors and caretakers – inspiring their students to develop and reach their full potential. We cannot underestimate the heroic work carried out by teachers in the most difficult circumstances.
Through ECW’s joint programming, or Multi-Year Resilience Programmes, 100% of the teachers we support receive skills building and training to succeed in the work they do. Since inception, we have trained over 140,000 teachers. In 2022 alone, we recruited and provided financial support to over 22,000 teachers and school administrators. We place a special emphasis on recruiting female teachers, with about half of all recruited teachers being women.
Now we must also focus on the quality of the training we provide in order to elevate and deepen the quality of education provided. That means expanded skills training and continued education for students, it means smaller classroom sizes, it means enabling policies at the local and national level, it means climate resilience in the classroom, so when the next disaster strikes, we are ready.
Together, we can make a better world. Teachers everywhere deserve our respect and admiration. Teachers cannot and should not wait! Join ECW and our strategic partners in supporting teachers in the toughest humanitarian crises on the globe. Let us all bow to them. Let us contribute with funding and a donation today.
IPS UN Bureau
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
Excerpt:
Education Cannot Wait Executive Director Statement on World Teachers’ DayIndigenous leader and activist Vanda Witoto poses at her home in Manaus, Brazil, in October 2022. Credit: Michael Dantas/United Nations Foundation
By Farai Shawn Matiashe
BRASÍLIA, Oct 5 2023 (IPS)
Raffaello Nava, a youth and student activist, has fled his home at the peak of the global Coronavirus pandemic after receiving death threats from multinational companies that invaded his ancestral lands in the Amazon rainforest.
The 22-year-old, whose name has been changed to protect his identity, is seeking refuge in Manaus, a gateway city to the Amazon tropical rainforest.
“They killed two of my friends. I had to run away,” he says while speaking in Portuguese through a translator.
The powerful companies are linked to former President Jair Bolsonaro. He was succeeded by 67-year-old Lula da Silva, a Latin American leftist and a veteran in Brazil’s politics who won in the October 2022 elections.
Nava’s tribe is resisting the invasions from these companies who are cutting down trees for timber and clearing land for agriculture.
“Our territory is wanted by these people. Cattle ranchers have already taken thousands of hectares. My people are receiving threats,” he says. “I am here on the frontline. Fighting to protect our land and that of Brazil, I do not even know if I will go back home or not. I fear for my life.”
Over the years, the lives of indigenous community activists and leaders have been at stake throughout the Amazon.
In 2020 alone, more than 260 human rights defenders were murdered in Latin America, 202 of which occurred in countries of the Amazon Basin, Colombia, Brazil, Peru, and Bolivia, representing 77 percent of the cases, according to a report by the Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (Coica).
About 69 percent of these murders in 2020 were against leaders working to defend territory, the environment, and the rights of indigenous peoples.
A boat on the shores of Rio Negro in Brazil. Credit: Michael Dantas/United Nations Foundation
Brazil holds 60 percent of the Amazon, the biggest tropical rainforest in the world, with the other portion shared by nine South American nations, including Peru and Colombia.
Brazil and Bolivia have about 90 percent of deforestation and degradation in the Amazon, shows data from research titled Amazonia Against the Clock, which covers nine countries sharing the tropical rainforest released in September last year by scientists from the Amazonian Network of Georeferenced Socio-environmental Information (RAISG) in collaboration with Coica.
Indigenous organisations from the Amazonas are calling for a global pact for the permanent protection of 80 percent of the Amazon forest by 2025.
In the Amazon, land grabbers have been invading the land of indigenous communities to pave the way for mining and agriculture.
Agriculture is responsible for 84 percent of deforestation in the Amazon forest, and the amount of land given over to farming has tripled since 1985, according to the report.
The Amazon forest plays a significant role in absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, thus reducing the effects of climate change caused by gas emissions worldwide.
There are over 390 billion trees in the Amazon, helping it to retain some 123 billion tons of carbon dioxide.
But over the years, increasing deforestation and land degradation have been reducing the ability of the Amazon forest to absorb carbon dioxide and instead contributing to global warming through both human-caused and natural fires.
The tropical rainforest has also been experiencing droughts and floods, signs human activities are causing climate change.
During his campaign days, Lula promised to combat deforestation in the Amazon forest, which had worsened under Bolsonaro, who was President since 2019.
Bolsonaro backed farm and ranching expansion in the region due to his links to some of Brazil’s powerful agricultural industry leaders.
Another activist based in Manaus, whose life is in danger from powerful people, says deforestation in the Amazon worsened under Bolsonaro.
An aerial view of a scientific research station, Camp 41, in the Amazon in Brazil. Credit: Michael Dantas/United Nations Foundation
“His policies are of less protection. He also reduced the number of protected areas in the Amazon. He made laws that should protect the forest weaker,” he says in an interview in Manaus in October 2022 during Brazil’s elections.
He says during Bolsonaro’s era, there was an increase in the loss of vegetation due to deforestation, reduced biodiversity and a rise in cases of invasions of indigenous communities in the Amazon.
The activist says agro-businesses and those in the extractive industries use pesticides and chemicals that pollute and contaminate water bodies in the Amazon forest, putting many people and animals in danger.
Vanda Witoto, a Brazilian indigenous leader, says multinational companies and agro-businesses were funding illegal operations such as logging in the Amazon during the Bolsonaro era.
“I visited some communities in the Amazon. There was illegal gold mining. Sadly, there is less reporting because the locals are being threatened. Big companies are investing a lot in illegal mining and deforestation in the southern part of the Amazon,” Witoto says, toning down her voice and holding back her tears during an interview at her home in the neighbourhood of Parque das Tribos just outside of Manaus in October last year.
“I saw this with my own eyes. Some indigenous people work for these companies, pushed by poverty and unemployment. We are against this. We have always been fighting to stop it.”
Adriano Karipuna, an indigenous leader, during an interview in October last year, said law enforcement agents in the Bolsonaro government were ineffective in arresting people committing crimes against his people.
“Our people have been struggling with deforestation. We have been reporting for the past years. But it worsened under Bolsonaro,” says Karipuna, who represents the Karipuna people, an indigenous group who have inhabited the Amazon rainforest for centuries.
“We have been receiving threats. Bolsonaro’s government has been taking our land and donating it to the invaders. Environmental criminals are going unpunished.”
Lula has just hit the ground running with his appointment of a veteran environmentalist, Marina Silva, as the Environment and Climate Change minister.
The 64-year-old Silva’s task is to rebuild Brazil’s environmental protection agencies and stanch the destruction of the Amazon rainforest.
Under Lula’s Presidency, Joenia Wapichana, the first-ever Indigenous woman elected to Brazil’s Congress, has been appointed leader of the country’s Indigenous affairs agency, the National Foundation of Indigenous Peoples, popularly known as Funai.
This is a huge achievement for the Brazilian indigenous communities whose role was suppressed under Bolsonaro.
Bolsonaro had to cut some of Funai’s budget, authority and number of staff, a move that crippled the agency when he assumed Presidency in 2019.
Witoto says she is hopeful that the predicament of indigenous people will change under Lula’s regime.
“We have to elect a person who respects the rights of indigenous people,” she says, speaking to IPS before Lula’s successful election. She added her people lived in fear from the violence perpetrated by Bolsonaro supporters for merely wearing Lula regalia during the election period in October.
A recent joint analysis by researchers at the University of Oxford, the International Institute for Applied System Analysis (IIASA) and the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) shows deforestation could fall by 89 percent by 2030 under Lula if he reinstates the policies introduced during his first term in office, saving 28,957 square miles of the Amazon rainforest.
Note: Reporting for this story was supported by the United Nations Foundation.
IPS UN Bureau Report
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
Communities across Cuba have participated in the UN “ACTNOW” campaign designed to inspire action for the Sustainable Development Goals. Credit: ONU Cuba
By Francisco Pichon
HAVANA, Cuba, Oct 5 2023 (IPS)
In 2015, 193 countries adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as “a shared plan for peace and prosperity for people and the planet.”
We are now halfway towards the target date for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and while the world has made some progress over the past seven years, many challenges remain.
The UN’s annual SDG Progress Report, which was published in July, triggered serious alarm bells. Of the 140 targets for Agenda 2030 for which data is readily available, 30% have remained static or even seen some backsliding.
In Latin America and the Caribbean, ECLAC estimates that two-thirds of the SDG targets require urgent policy action.
Boosting partnerships for the goals
In Cuba, where I have served as the UN Resident Coordinator over the last nine months, our team has been working closely with the Government and other development partners to close the remaining gaps in the country’s SDG targets.
Underpinning these efforts was the recent launch of Cuba’s first Integrated National Financing Framework (INFF); a system which brings together and aligns different sources of financing to boost sustainable development in the country.
Credit: ONU Cuba
The INFF, which was jointly prepared by five Cuban economic and financial institutions, together with the UN country team, offers a roadmap for development financing in Cuba through public policy recommendations, analytical tools, opportunities for new partnerships and strengthened capacities among key development partners.
Despite the challenging circumstances – including Cuba’s exclusion from international financial mechanisms and the severe external restrictions imposed on its economy– the INFF is bringing innovative ideas and creating space for meaningful engagement between government actors, academics and other national and international experts to make informed policy decisions.
In fact, our joint efforts to support Cuba’s INFF process recently received the ‘UN SIDS Partnerships Award’, which recognizes initiatives that boost partnerships for sustainable development in Small Island Developing States.
Next, we need to address complex development challenges in the most open and participative way possible. This also means developing innovative thinking and cultivating political will in the decision-making sphere.
This vision for the future of global cooperation was firmly set out by the UN Secretary-General in the ‘Our Common Agenda’ report launched last year. The report highlights the role of science, technology and innovation in overcoming development challenges, and delivering transformative change in the fields of renewable energy, green economies and inclusive education systems.
As head of the Group of 77+China over the past year, Cuba has actively contributed to giving voice to this kind of transformative vision. The countries in the Group represent two-thirds of the United Nations membership and 80% of the world’s population.
As such, they have found an epicenter in Havana for consensus-building in key areas such as education, culture and the environment. Last month, Cuba hosted the G-77+China summit– a milestone moment to address the central issue of bridging the North-South development gap, including through technology and innovation.
Soon after this meeting, all eyes turned to the SDG Summit at the UN General Assembly in New York in September, which offered a rallying point for Cuba, and the rest of the world to accelerate joint action to reach the targets of the 2030 Agenda.
Our UN team in Cuba is part of this movement; standing side by side with the national authorities and partners to advance the SDGs across the country. It is in this context that the process to start formulating Cuba’s new UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework– the roadmap which guides the UN’s joint development planning in the country over a five-year period- is about to begin.
The second half of the journey towards achieving the 2030 Agenda represents a decisive hour for sustainable development in Cuba and around the world. Our UN team is committed to supporting Cuba over this finish line.
Francisco Pichon is the UN Resident Coordinator in Cuba. This article was adapted from a version originally published in Prensa Latina.
Source: UN Development Coordination Office
IPS UN Bureau
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
The estimated number of foreign-born residents in the United States as of September 2023 is at a historic high of nearly 50 million. Credit: Shutterstock.
By Joseph Chamie
PORTLAND, USA, Oct 4 2023 (IPS)
America’s immigration has reached record-breaking levels having weighty consequences domestically and internationally.
Based on the Census Bureau’s 2023 Current Population Survey, the estimated number of foreign-born residents in the United States as of September 2023 is at a historic high of nearly 50 million.
The U.S., with 4 percent of the global population of 8 billion, is also the home to the largest number of immigrants in the world. Approximately 17 percent of the world’s total number of immigrants reside in America, followed by Germany at 5 percent, or about 15 million immigrants.
The current number of the foreign-born residing in America is substantially higher than the 44 million estimated at the time of its 2020 population census. Today’s figure is also five times larger than the number of immigrants residing in the country in 1965 when America passed the far-reaching Immigration and Nationality Act.
That Act created a new system that prioritized highly skilled immigrants and those who already had family living in the country. The legislation paved the way for millions of non-European immigrants to come to the United States.
In 1960 the five largest immigrant groups in America were from Italy followed by Germany, Canada, Great Britain and Poland. About a half century later, the five largest immigrant groups were from Mexico and then at considerably lower levels India, China, the Philippines and El Salvador (Figure 1).
Source: U.S. American Community Survey, 2021 and Census Bureau, 1960.
With a U.S. total population of 335 million, the estimated proportion of foreign-born residents in America stands at 14.9 percent, breaking the previous records of 14.8 percent in 1890 and 14.7 percent in 1910. In contrast, immigrants in 1970 comprised a record low of 4.7 percent of America’s resident population (Figure 2).
Source: Migration Policy Institute.
The number of foreign-born workers in America also reached a record high of 29.8 million in 2022, or 18.1 percent of the U.S. civilian labor force, up from 17.4 percent in 2021. In addition, the Biden administration in September granted nearly a half a million Venezuelan migrants an opportunity to work and live in the U.S. legally for at least the next 18 months under Temporary Protected Status (TPS).
Among the 50 million foreign-born residents in America, 38 million entered the country legally. The estimated remaining number of foreign-born, approximately 12 million, again a record high, consists of unauthorized or undocumented migrants.
It is noteworthy that during the past ten years, visa overstayers in the U.S. have outnumbered unlawful border crossings by a ratio of about two to one. In addition to the increasingly large numbers of people visiting America who choose to overstay their temporary visas, migrant apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border are reported to be on track to break all-time records.
During the past two and a half years, Border Patrol reported unprecedented levels of migrant apprehensions, including 2.76 million in FY 2022 breaking the previous annual record by more than 1 million. That high level of migrant apprehensions is on track to be matched in FY 2023. The surge in undocumented migrants crossing the U.S. southern border seeking asylum has created a humanitarian crisis.
The number of migrant encounters in September is record-setting, exceeding 260 thousand, and notably higher than the previous record monthly high of 252 thousand in December of 2022. Also in September, border agents processed more than 200 thousand migrants who crossed the U.S. southern border unlawfully, the highest level in 2023.
Record numbers of migrant families from various countries are streaming from Mexico into the United States. The U.S. Border Patrol arrested a record-breaking number of 91 thousand migrants who crossed the border as part of a family group in August, substantially exceeding the prior one-month record of 84 thousand set in May 2019.
The increase in migration to the United States is happening across the Western Hemisphere. Record numbers of people are on their way north to the U.S. across Central and South America and many then riding on the top of freight trains through Mexico. In August alone, more than 80,000 people crossed Panama’s treacherous Darién Gap, a monthly record high for a major migration crossroads for hundreds of thousands of migrants hoping to reach the United States.
Also, unprecedented numbers of migrants entering Mexico are coming from other continents, as the journey to the U.S.-Mexico border has become the largest migration corridor in the world. For example, the number of African migrants registered by Mexican authorities so far this year is already three times as high as during all of 2022.
Since President Biden took office the average monthly growth of America’s foreign-born population has been about 143 thousand. That figure is significantly higher than the 76,000 per month during Obama’s second term, and the 42,000 per month under Trump before Covid-19 pandemic began in March 2020.
The U.S. lacks the capacity to detain and process the growing numbers of unauthorized migrants at its southern border. Hundreds of thousands of people from around the world are crossing the Rio Grande with U.S. Border Patrol agents now encountering between 10,000 to 11,000 migrants each day.
The recent dramatic spikes in the numbers of unauthorized migration have further strained federal services and overwhelmed local resources. In some areas of Arizona, California and Texas, the U.S. Border Patrol recently released unmanageable large numbers of migrants into communities to prevent overcrowding in federal facilities.
The mayor of Eagle Pass, Texas, recently issued a disaster declaration, citing the record-breaking daily arrival of thousands of undocumented migrants to the city. Similarly, the mayor of El Paso said that the city was at the breaking point amid the dramatic jump in migration of more than 2,000 people per day.
Far from America’s southern border, the recent arrival of more than 100,000 migrants in New York City has overwhelmed shelters, services and local resources and fueled anti-immigration sentiment.
Also in other U.S. cities, including Boston, Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia and Portland (Maine), the arrivals of the large numbers of asylum seekers have swamped local government facilities and budgets as well as stressed volunteer groups.
It is also worth noting that the proportions foreign-born vary considerably across America’s states. California has the highest proportion with more than a quarter of its population being foreign-born. It is followed by New Jersey, New York, Florida and Hawaii with approximately a fifth of their populations being foreign-born. In contrast, less than four percent of the population is foreign-born in West Virginia, Mississippi, Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota (Figure 3).
Source: World Population Review.
The increases in unauthorized border crossings are creating political challenges across the country. In particular, the increases pose re-election issues for the Biden administration whose policies aimed at slowing down the unauthorized migrant flows.
Nearly 75 percent of Americans say the government is doing a bad job dealing with the large numbers seeking asylum. Also, a slight majority, 52 percent, indicate that it is very important to require people to apply for asylum before they travel to the U.S. southern border.
In addition, close to half of Americans consider illegal immigration to be a very big problem for the country. That view varies considerably by political party affiliation. Whereas 70 percent of Republicans consider illegal immigration to be a very big problem for the country, the corresponding figure among Democrats is 25 percent.
Over the coming four decades, America is expected to receive slightly more than one million authorized immigrants annually. If those levels continue as expected, the projected number of foreign-born residing in America in 2060 is about 69 million, or about 17 percent of the population.
However, that projected number of foreign-born does not take into account visa overstayers and unauthorized immigrants entering the U.S. southern border. If the projection took into account unauthorized migrants, the foreign-born population in 2060 is likely to be closer to 80 million, or about a fifth of America’s projected population.
In sum, America’s immigration has reached record-breaking levels and over the coming decades, those levels are expected to be even higher. As has been the case throughout its history, America’s immigration levels continue to have profound demographic, economic, social and political consequences domestically as well as internationally.
Joseph Chamie is a consulting demographer, a former director of the United Nations Population Division and author of numerous publications on population issues, including his recent book, “Population Levels, Trends, and Differentials”.
Credit: UNESCO / Teacher Task Force
By Heike Kuhn
BONN, Germany, Oct 4 2023 (IPS)
Once a year, on October 5, we celebrate World Teachers’ Day. Why is it so important to have a closer look on the teaching profession? What is so special about being a teacher nowadays?
World Teachers’ Day is an international day which was established to attract public attention on the work of teachers. The day was established in 1994, in commemora-tion the signing of the “ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers” in 1966, which focused on “appreciating, assessing and improving the ed-ucators of the world” and on providing a global opportunity to consider issues related to teachers and teaching (see Wikipedia, The Free Encycopledia, World Teachers’ Day).
With benchmarks regarding teacher’s rights and responsibilities, standards for their preparation when starting the profession as well as their ongoing training and em-ployment their profession got international attention. This is due to the fact that teaching and learning conditions are most important for the development of pupils and students everywhere.
Dr. Heike Kuhn
Education is also at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with a stand-alone goal: SDG 4 demands inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all. With a special target, SDG focuses on teachers, stating that by 2030, there is a need to substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers, including through international cooperation for teacher training in develop-ing countries, especially least developed countries and small island developing states (SDG 4c). The 2030 Agenda was signed in 2015 in New York, but was has happened up to now in order to reach this goal?Special attention was given to teachers during the UN Transforming Education Summit on September 19, 2022, with relevant recommendations stating that teaching should be an attractive and recognised profession, taking into account that teachers need autonomy, decent working conditions, support and lifelong learning opportunities.
However, a year later, reality is quite disillusioning as we can see from the theme for World Teachers’ Day 2023: “The teachers we need for the education we want: The global imperative to reverse the teacher shortage”.
How come that this profession has suffered from attrition? For decades, the educa-tion sector has been chronically underfunded. Already in 2016, data analysis from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) estimated that in order to meet the targets of the SDGs by 2030, nearly 69 million more teachers were needed. Most recent estimates by UNESCO and the Teacher Task Force (TTF) confirm this number today, revealing that in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia alone, an additional 24 million teachers are required.
So what are the root causes and what should be done? Starting with the most im-portant reasons: The COVID 19 pandemic and its long school closures have even worsened an already dire situation. Becoming a teacher is simply no longer attrac-tive: teaching many pupils, put together in crowded classes in not adequately main-tained buildings and not being reasonably paid for the often exhaustive pedagogic work does not come along with incentives for this ambitious profession.
Credit: Education Cannot Wait
Disillusioned by these working conditions, teachers leave their countries for better paid teaching jobs in other regions (e.g. Caribbean teachers move to the US) or – even worse – quit being teachers in order to pursue other jobs.
With children dropping out of schools due to wars, conflicts or the ongoing climate crisis, teachers face new challenges all the time, their mental health is as endan-gered as the mental health of their pupils. And how can a child traumatized by war and escape, living in overcrowded refugee camps concentrate on school subjects? And what a challenge for teachers who might have made similar experiences but nonetheless try to convey hope and structure as well as a bit or normal life to the children in their lessons.
So what is teaching all about? It is about learning and changing your mind-set. Teachers can empower children of all sexes, can open perspectives for lives and therefore ignite change in millions of young pupils. Female teachers are often role models for girls, conveying self-esteem, questioning harmful gender norms. Teachers can educate green skills needed so much nowadays when we are taking the first steps, sometimes stumbling on our way to a green economy, no longer exploiting our planet.
Let me ask you: Do you remember when a teacher empowered you, believing in you? Hopefully you do and hopefully you could experience the power and the impact on your life.
This is exactly why we need qualified teachers so urgently, everywhere. Education is a human right that shall no longer be a privilege for few people, but an opportunity for all – including the possibilities of digitization and AI. All children and learners deserve it. And we need teachers to inspire all human beings, letting them thrive in order to restore and save the planet.
In my country, Germany, there is a saying: A teacher is much more important than two books. I firmly believe this is true.
Dr. Heike Kuhn is Head of Division, Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Bonn, Germany
Co-Chair of the Teacher Task Force (with South Africa), https://teachertaskforce.org/
Co-Chair of the Executive Committee of ECW (with Norway), https://educationcannotwait.org/
IPS UN Bureau
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
The students from Dalton Tokyo Junior assist with cooking and serving Watashi kitchen at Karuizawa. The students found that in Japan, many children and adults don’t get enough food to eat.
By Momoko Harada, Rei Sato and Shunki Sometaya
TOKYO, Oct 4 2023 (IPS)
Picture this: It’s the scorching days of summer, and kids are flocking to the nearby mall, eager to bask in the cool air and hang out with friends. But among the laughter and chatter, one girl stands alone in the food court.
It’s a scene we’ve heard of or, maybe, read about in an article, but it’s not until we meet R, a mother in her 30s from the northern Kanto region, that the stark reality hits. “At home, we don’t have air conditioning,” she explains. “So, when I head to work, my kids head out. They spend their days at the library or the local children’s center, keeping each other company until around 7 p.m. They play games, immerse themselves in comics, and for lunch, they share a 100 yen stick bread I bought from Daiso. Drinks? Well, they help themselves to the facility’s water cooler.”
Did you know that a staggering 20 million people in Japan struggle to put enough rice on their tables? Astonishingly, many are unaware of this stark reality, an issue often shrouded in the term hidden poverty, which has quietly become a significant problem in Japan. Furthermore, a troubling statistic reveals that 1 in 7 children in the country currently can’t enjoy three square meals of rice. When we hear “child poverty,” our minds might drift to images of undernourished youngsters in developing nations facing “absolute poverty” without homes or daily sustenance.
However, the poverty we discuss here is “relative poverty,” affecting children in households with less than half the median income. The implications of this kind of poverty often go unnoticed. While they might not go to bed hungry, these children frequently struggle to enjoy a balanced diet. Meat and vegetables become rare luxuries, and carbohydrate-heavy meals, like cheap instant noodles, become the norm. Some can’t even afford basics like school uniforms, bags, or gym clothes, making their lives considerably tougher.
Eight students from Dalton Tokyo Junior visited Foodbank Karuizawa and interviewed Yoko Komiyama at the Watashi Kitchen.
The students from Dalton Tokyo Junior prepare to assist with cooking and serving in the Watashi Kitchen at Karuizawa.
A Dalton Tokyo Junior student assisted with cooking at the Watashi Kitchen at Karuizawa.
A student from Dalton Tokyo Junior assists with serving at the Watashi Kitchen at Karuizawa.
Dalton Tokyo Junior School students interview Yuki Mitsuhara, the president of the NPO Keep Moms Smiling.
The students organized food bank donations.
Among these children, those from single-mother families face the harshest realities, with a surprising 50 percent of such households struggling in this way. The root cause can be traced to the wage gap between men and women, making it exceedingly difficult for single-mother families to make ends meet. Even when educational backgrounds match, a persistent gender pay gap persists, growing more pronounced with time. Shockingly, the annual income of female university graduates often parallels that of male high school graduates.”
Japan grapples with a substantial gender wage gap compared to other prominent OECD countries.
In 2021, the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare reported that 78.6% of men held regular employment, whereas only 46.8% of women enjoyed the same status. This stark disparity contributes to children in single-mother households often going without enough food. It’s natural to assume that Japan, as a prosperous nation, wouldn’t face such pressing issues with childhood hunger.
Yet, parallel to this, there’s been growing concern over food wastage, encompassing the squandering of edible items and supermarket discards due to approaching expiration dates. Reflecting on these issues, we pondered how to utilize surplus food effectively.
Why toss something when others can eat it? We decided to visit Watashi Kitchen at Karuizawa, a facility that uses food from food banks to provide free, delicious meals to children. In an interview with Yoko Komiyama, she shared, “Some Japanese children rely on school lunches, but during extended school holidays, some only eat two meals a day. We’re here to support them.”
Additionally, there’s Kodomo-Shokudo, which backs children’s cafeterias offering free or low-cost meals. These cafeterias are for everyone, not just underprivileged children, ensuring that no one feels embarrassed to use them. Thus, we envisioned a welcoming kitchen where anyone could gather, much like their own home kitchens. It’s become a vital community hub, bringing together low-income families, children, working adults, seniors, and solitary diners to share meals and conversations.
On July 22, 2023, we visited the Watashi Kitchen, which operates on the third Saturday of every month, to assist with cooking and serving. We even brought along a team-supplied collection of sweets for the children. The experience was incredibly rewarding. Witnessing people stand for three hours, cooking for 150 individuals, washing dishes, and relishing meals brought immense joy. With around 30 volunteers, all visibly enjoying their tasks, it dawned on me that lending a hand to others truly warms our hearts.
During the school year, children on welfare receive assistance for school lunches. However, when school’s out for holidays, a significant gap emerges, and it’s heartbreaking to hear stories of children returning to school after a break, visibly underfed and having lost weight. We couldn’t help but empathize with parents in these situations, the anguish they must feel as they struggle to provide nourishment for their children while longing to share in their happiness over a meal we often take for granted.
A survey conducted by the NPO Kidsdoor, focusing on disadvantaged households, reveals alarming findings. A staggering 49% of respondents reported cutting back on their own meals to ensure their children could eat. In fact, 17% of parents admitted to eating only one meal a day, while 47% managed just two. These statistics poignantly illustrate how parents prioritize their children’s well-being.
In light of this disparity, where some have the luxury of discarding food they could eat while others struggle daily to put enough on the table, we initiated a food collection drive. We reached out to schools, community members, and those with food items still within a month of their expiration date but likely to go unused. This food, once collected, is then directed to those who need it most.
As part of the Dalton team, in our quest to find a suitable food bank to contribute to, we encountered a non-profit organization called Keep Moms Smiling, doing exceptional work. Keep Moms Smiling is an organization that focuses on providing meals to parents with sick children who often find it impossible to sleep or eat while caring for their hospitalized little ones. Additionally, they collect surplus items from companies and restaurants, redirecting them to parents who find themselves in dire need.
According to Yuki Mitsuhara, the president of Keep Moms Smiling, “Parents don’t need to be at the hospital with their sick children, but due to the shortage of nursing staff, they often have to take on caregiving roles. While hospitals provide meals for patients, they don’t offer such provisions to caregivers, including beds or showers. Consequently, many parents fall ill themselves due to lack of rest and often lose their jobs as they stay long-term at the hospital.” Mitsuhara, drawing from personal experience, added, “I vividly recall the warmth of having a hot meal while my child was hospitalized for an extended period. I want to offer these parents a moment of joy through a good meal, one that renews their strength to continue caring for their children. With this mission, our restaurant chefs join hands to prepare and provide these much-needed, delicious meals to parents of sick children.”
In today’s world, it’s clear that the divide between abundance and scarcity is stark. We, as youth, aspire to be that bridge, connecting those who wish to prevent waste, extend a hand of hope, and share joy with organizations like ‘Keep Moms Smiling.’
We yearn for you to understand the potential that resides in each one of us. Together, we can spark a chain reaction of goodwill and empathy, proving that the youth can be formidable allies in tackling global issues. So, here’s our question: What will you do today to make tomorrow brighter for someone else?
Note: Shunki Sometaya was the team leader
Edited by Hanna Yoon
IPS UN Bureau Report
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
Excerpt:
Did you know that a staggering 20 million people in Japan struggle to put enough rice on their tables? Hidden poverty is a growing issue in Japan. In this latest article from IPS' Youth Thought Leaders they call on people to spark a chain reaction of goodwill and empathy and help them prove that youth are formidable allies in tackling global issues.This 14-year-old Ugandan girl was forced into marriage by her parents at 8 years old. Credit: UNICEF/Stuart Tibaweswa
According to the United Nations, at least 12 million girls are married before they reach the age of 18 every year, and more than 650 million women alive today were married as children. Around 257 million women globally face unintended pregnancies due to lack of access to contraception, abortion care, and counseling.
By Nandita Bajaj
ST PAUL, Minnesota, USA, Oct 4 2023 (IPS)
There’s an insidious new tactic emerging for selling right-wing ideology to wider audiences, evident in last month’s Budapest Demographic Summit for “family-friendly thinkers and decision-makers,” the upcoming pro-birth Natal conference in Austin, Texas, and the recent film “Birthgap.”
They all peddle pronatalism, a set of norms and policies that exhorts and often coerces women to have more children to raise fertility rates, often coupled with alarmism over alleged “population collapse.”
Pronatalism is on the rise to counter the growing push for gender equality, contraceptive access, and women’s educational and economic empowerment. It is connected to totalitarian policies dictating reproductive choices, the racist Great Replacement conspiracy theory, the religious anti-abortion movement, tech elite futurism.
Elon Musk, for example, is an avowed pronatalist who donated $10 million to population collapse “research” and liked the idea of denying voting rights to childless people. He wanted to attend the Budapest summit, but couldn’t make it so he met last week in Texas with Hungary’s President Novák instead to draw attention to the “demographic crisis.”
Lately, pronatalists are trying to pull a more appealing game face. The Budapest Summit says it wants to support the “psychological health and security of families,” so they can “plan for a secure future.” The Natal conference claims it “has no political or ideological goal other than a world in which our children can have grandchildren.”
The “Birthgap” film purports to help cure an epidemic of “unplanned childlessness” and proposes “re-engineer[ing] our societies to reduce [it so] many more people would go on to have…children just like parents naturally do.” It conducts tearful interviews with regretful women who lament that their natural drive to have children was thwarted by society, and now it’s too late.
Who could object to standing up for families’ health and security, and for the right of people who want children to have them? Yet behind this innocuous-seeming family-friendly rhetoric lurk unsavory connections to right-wing propaganda, manipulation, and straight-up lies.
The Budapest summit touts Hungary’s achievement of the “highest rates of marriage and childbearing in Europe, while divorce and abortion rates are falling,” a nice way of saying that its right-wing populist leader Viktor Orbán adopted and implemented the Great Replacement ideology, which motivated mass-shooters in the U.S., as state policy. “We do not need numbers, but Hungarian children,” he said. “In our minds, immigration means surrender.”
The Natal conference has demonstrable links to far-right eugenicists and racists. “Birthgap” filmmaker Stephen Shaw is feted by right-wing talk show hosts like Jordan Peterson, Neil Oliver, and Chris Williamson, and presented as a “renowned demographer” despite having no credentials in demography. Shaw and Peterson both gave keynotes at the Budapest summit.
But ad hominem objections to the people behind the conferences and the film aside, the assertions they make are discreditable and counterfactual. Decrying imminent “population collapse” while the global population grows by 80 million each year and is projected to hit 10.4 billion in the 2080s is absurd.
To make depopulation seem like a threat, “Birthgap” resorts to lying about data on the reasons for declining birth rates. It cites a 2010 study (which it calls a “meta-analysis”) by Prof. Renska Keizer which the film says indicates that just 10% of women chose not to have children and 10% can’t have them for medical reasons, which “leaves a whopping 80% of women without children childless by circumstance” as opposed to by choice.
But that’s not at all what Keizer’s research says. The 2010 study Birthgap cites is not a meta-analysis, not quantitative, and does not indicate 80% of childless women didn’t choose to be so. In fact a 2011 study by Keizer et al. analyzed a 2006 dataset surveying women in the Netherlands who were childless at age 45, and found that 55% of them were childless voluntarily, while 45% were childless due to medical or other reasons.
Other studies found similar results: 56% of those without children were voluntarily childless according to a 2021 Pew Research Center survey, 72% according to the CDC National Survey of Family Growth, and 74% according to a 2022 Michigan State University study. Researchers working on my organization’s fact-checking project Birthgap Facts found no credible data supporting the film’s claim that 80% of childless women were “childless by circumstance” as opposed to by choice.
What the data does show is that women exercising their right to choose if and when to have children results in delaying childbirth, smaller families, and a decline in teen pregnancy. Those outcomes are beneficial and should be celebrated, not stigmatized.
According to the United Nations, at least 12 million girls are married before they reach the age of 18 every year, and more than 650 million women alive today were married as children. Around 257 million women globally face unintended pregnancies due to lack of access to contraception, abortion care, and counseling.
At current levels of consumption, today’s population of eight billion is driving resource depletion, soil erosion, water shortages, species extinctions, and climate catastrophe. Over a billion children are already at “extremely high risk” from climate change.
High fertility rates and population growth undermine climate resilience and complicate efforts to end poverty and hunger and ensure basic services and infrastructure.
These are the real threats to the future, not some imagined conspiracy to stigmatize reproductive choices and hold fertility rates down. They make Shaw’s proposal of “social engineering” to reverse the imaginary threat of depopulation all the more reprehensible.
By distorting and lying about childlessness, he’s trying to manipulate young people and their governments into prioritizing procreation over education and career. This purports to avoid a dystopian future, yet it would actually usher one in.
Rather than manufacturing a crisis whose remedy entails “social engineering” to roll back progress on human rights and women’s control over their own lives, we should focus on the real crisis fueled by pronatalist pressures from family, religion, and governments that force millions into motherhood against their wishes, often by means of coercion and sexual violence.
The rhetoric of the Budapest summit, Natal, “Birthgap” and their ilk claiming they’re simply trying to help families and alleviate the heartbreak of “unplanned childlessness” is insidious, and we should recognize and call it out for what it is: another arrow in the pronatalist quiver, another weapon wielded against hard-fought gains in gender equality and reproductive autonomy.
Nandita Bajaj is the Executive Director of the NGO Population Balance and an adjunct lecturer at the Institute for Humane Education at Antioch University. Her research and advocacy work focuses on the combined impacts of pronatalism and human expansionism on reproductive, ecological, and intergenerational justice.
IPS UN Bureau
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau