Africa

Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania has received her second Oscar nomination.

Police say arrests are on the cards, following the six-year-old's disappearance on 19 February.

Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), briefs reporters at UN Headquarters.

By Naureen Hossain
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 6 2024 (IPS)

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini asked the UN General Assembly to urge member states to support the organization’s mandate during this period of unprecedented crisis for the region and the agency. He also called for member states to facilitate a “long-overdue political process” for the two-state solution for Israel and Palestine. Only then, in this context, should UNRWA be allowed to transition.

He was speaking at an informal session of the General Assembly on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). This was convened to discuss the ongoing situation with UNRWA’s capacity as a humanitarian and human development agency in Gaza.

Despite its existence for 75 years, UNRWA’s presence was always intended to be temporary. “It is a stain on our collective conscience that for 75 years, UNRWA has had to fill a vacuum left by the lack of a political solution and genuine peace,” said Lazzarini.

The ongoing hostilities in the Gaza Strip and the resulting destruction of UNRWA facilities, which have disrupted humanitarian services in the region, have led to calls to seek alternatives that can deliver on the scale of the agency or to raise concern about whether other agencies can deliver the necessary humanitarian aid.

“UNRWA is facing a deliberate and concerted campaign to undermine its operations and ultimately end them,” said Lazzarini.

Lazzarini argued that dismantling UNRWA during the current crisis would be shortsighted, given that the agency was designed to provide public services such as education and primary healthcare in a region without state authority. “The notion that the Agency can be dismantled without violating a host of human rights and jeopardizing international peace and security is naïve at best,” he said.

Speaking at a press briefing that same day, Lazzarini told reporters, “We can only feel that the worst is yet to come.” He remarked that since January, aid delivery to Gaza has decreased by 50 percent. Since then, famine has become all but inevitable.

Remarking on the dual investigations into UNRWA’s operations, Lazzarini stated that the investigations were necessary as an accountability measure. These investigations were announced after it was revealed that he had terminated the contracts of 12 staff members who were allegedly involved in the October 7 attacks. Lazzarini added that the “swift decision” to terminate the contracts, as well as the investigations, would likely reflect the agency’s ability to follow through on recommendations from a risk management review.

Lazzarini admitted, however, that he had not anticipated the swift action that 16 donor countries took to suspend their funding in the wake of the allegations, which he revealed were conveyed to him in an oral manner.  “I have no regret,” he said, referring to his response to the allegations, “but to be honest, I did not expect that… over the weekend, 16 countries would take that decision.”

The UNRWA chief also indicated that most donor countries would consider resuming their support. For those donor countries, the pressure to pull support came from domestic or public opinion that seems divided over UNRWA rather than foreign policy considerations.

There is some promise that UNRWA will continue to deliver on its mandate with the help of donor states, as was seen with the European Commission’s decision to continue funding the agency, starting with a pledge of 50 million euros. However, this will only go partway into filling the gap of 450 million USD left by the 16 donor countries. Lazzarini warned that without additional funding, the agency would be in “uncharted territory” and would have “serious implications for global peace and security.”

The atrocities that were committed on and since October 7 have only resulted in increasing devastation and tragedy. The international community, as embodied by the General Assembly on Monday, seems largely united in their calls for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza and for the safe release of all hostages.

Yet the ongoing hostilities in the region have prevented the UN and its agencies from fulfilling their mandate to safely provide critical emergency aid. Five months on, there is a seeming lack of forward momentum within the Security Council to deliver a ceasefire resolution. UNRWA has been contending with compounding existential questions about its survival as an agency from hostile forces in the Gaza Strip and beyond who call for its dissolution.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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By Dana Abed
BEIRUT, Lebanon, Mar 6 2024 (IPS)

Marking International Women’s Day as a mere day of celebration is to strip it of its true meaning, a stab in the back of the generations of feminists who fought to make it a cornerstone for gender justice.

This day is a call to action, a collective demand for substantive change. It must insist on our deepest reflection about how the patriarchy creeps into every aspect of our lives, including into the policies that govern our macroeconomics.

Beyond the flowers and tokenism of celebrating International Women’s Day lies a stark reality, which is the persistent struggle that women face within the confines of a neoliberal economic system. Recent statistics paint a grim picture of the dwindling financial flows that aim to advance gender justice.

According to the latest data, rich governments allocate only 4% of their Official Development Assistance to programs that have “gender equality” centered as their principle objective, with less and less of those funds going directly to the local feminist movements at the forefront of the fight towards gender justice.

There is a continuing alarming trend of governments privatizing public services and cutting away social protection. Along with their dwindling support for feminist and women’s rights organizations, this poses a direct threat to the lives and well-being of women, girls, and non-binary individuals.

The capitalist system is perfectly geared to funnel all the money into men’s pockets. Globally, men own $105 trillion more wealth than women. This is equivalent to four times the size of the entire US economy. The regional differences also showcase how women from the majority world are the most impacted under these exploitative neoliberal systems.

Women make up 75% of the global workforce, particularly in essential health care services, yet it would take 1,200 years for a female worker in the health and social sector to earn what a CEO in the biggest Fortune 100 companies earns on average in one year.

Meanwhile, of course, the sheer amount of unpaid care work that falls upon women’s shoulders hinder their engagement in paid work, and education, among many other spheres. Compared to men, who spend on average around 90 minutes a day on unpaid care work, women spend three times that, on average 4.5 hours.

Our governments around the world urgently need to build a feminist economy and invest in national care systems to address the disproportionate responsibility for care work done by women and girls and ensure access to public services and living wages for carers.

The system we live under is engineered by colonialism, run by capitalism, and supported by the patriarchy. And when those three actors conspire together, it is women in all their diversities, especially women of color who pay the highest prices.

On this International Women’s Day, we demand concrete actions to dismantle and reconfigure the economic structures that are perpetuating gender-based inequalities. It is time to pivot our advocacy towards three crucial asks that can drive substantive change.

First and foremost, international financing institutions and governments must shift power to centre feminist movements and promote the advancement of gender justice. We can do that by decolonizing aid and unconditionally supporting local grassroots feminist and queer movements.

Their voices, often marginalized, deserve amplified recognition and unwavering backing. Funding for these movements needs to be flexible and sustainable to ensure their continued leadership.

Secondly, we need a gender-transformative approach to how we fund the crucial areas of social protection and public services. These are incredibly important in the struggle for women’s equality.

The implementation of progressive taxation, including a substantial wealth tax, is key to funding universal public services that cater specifically to the needs of women, girls, and gender non-binary individuals. This would be a game-changer.

Lastly, we need to guarantee living wages and protection across all sectors, particularly in the care economy. This too is a non-negotiable. This entails introducing fair taxes, including wealth taxes on those who made fortunes on the backs of the rest of us, and legislate them in favor of fair compensation for care work, prioritizing the well-being of communities within and beyond professional spheres.

This International Women’s Day, let us rally for these essential shifts, advocating not only for a day of celebration but one of tangible and equitable progress, too.

Dana Abed, Oxfam, Lebanon’s Influencing Lead in Beirut

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Excerpt:

The following opinion piece is part of series to mark International Women’s Day, March 8.

By Shihana Mohamed
NEW YORK, Mar 6 2024 (IPS)

Recently “Days of Our Lives” star Arianne Zucker sued former co-executive producer Albert Alarr, accusing him of sexual harassment on the set of the long-running daytime show.

The complaint, filed 7th February 2024 in California Superior Court, alleges Alarr repeatedly subjected Zucker and other “Days” employees to “severe and pervasive harassment and discrimination, including sexual harassment, based upon their female gender.”

Since the #MeToo movement began in 2017, workplace sexual harassment has received a great deal of media attention, but attention towards the diversity of the women victimized by sexual harassment is greatly lacking.

Sexual harassment survivors most often sourced in #MeToo-related stories by the media are wealthy white (Caucasian) women who made complaints against senior male executives in the entertainment industry or in politics—think of high profile coverage of Harvey Weinstein’s long history of sexual assault and harassment of women, including actresses Rose McGowan, Ashley Judd, Angelina Jolie, and Gwyneth Paltrow, as well as the news about Gretchen Carlson’s sexual harassment claim against Fox News.

However, these cases are neither relatable to the average American woman’s experience of workplace sexual harassment nor representative of the reality and the severity of sexual harassment as a widespread social problem.

In contrast, the women of color sexually assaulted by Weinstein, including Kenyan-Mexican actress Lupita Nyong’o and Mexican-American actress Salma Hayek, did not receive the same media coverage or public response as white women who made similar allegations. The result is that the public perception of sexual harassment is predominantly associated with white women from middle- and upper-class identities.

This perception was mainly created by the media with its focus on stories of white women, in addition to the lack of diversity in the movement.

Approximately 81% of women have faced sexual harassment in their lives. Despite these high numbers, the overwhelming majority (99.8%) of people who experience sexual harassment at work never file formal charges. Women of color are more likely to experience sexual harassment, yet less likely to report it.

There’s a long way to go until women feel comfortable reporting sexual harassment in the workplace and feel confident in their employers that repercussions will occur.

Historically, the media stereotyped women of color and created a public perception that the impact of sexual harassment on them was not as severe as on white women. To some extent, this perception has to do with the historical context of how women of color endured through slavery, colonization, world wars and conflicts throughout history and how they were portrayed by the media.

During the period of slavery in America, white society overtly believed black women to be innately lustful beings. After the Philippine-American War, World War II, and the Korean and Vietnam Wars, the US occupation of Asian countries propelled local sex industries and sex trafficking rings to serve soldiers.

The media has repeatedly represented East Asian women in a harmful way through its exaggerated portrayal of the China Doll and Dragon Lady to further exoticize and dehumanize East Asian women, ensuring the dominance of the West. Latinas historically endured rape as part of European colonialization of Latin American countries by Spaniards.

The stereotypical depictions of hyper-sexual Latinas in the media suggest that Latinas have a higher tolerance for sexual advances in the workplace. Meanwhile, historically, white women were portrayed as models of self-respect, self-control, modesty, and even sexual purity.

Media stereotypes have a direct impact on cultural perceptions of women of color. This aspect is further aggravated by how the media objectifies women of color in TV shows, movies, and advertisements. These stereotypes tend to justify sexual harassment of women of color in real life.

Racial bias in the media attention on sexual harassment is very harmful to women of color and women from minority groups. The US media’s lack of committed reporting on sexual harassment cases of women of color contributes to the silencing of its existence as well as preventing from tackling it.

This biased, non-inclusive approach of the media creates an environment that is conducive to continuing sexual harassment of women of color. It also silences those affected women of color and discourages them from reporting sexual harassment or asking for support through any available mechanisms.

During the period from 2018 to 2021, women filed 78.2% of the 27,291 sexual harassment charges received by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Of the 1,945 sexual harassment charges filed concurrently with a race charge, 71.2% designated Black/African American and another 4.8% designated Asian as the relevant race. Data from the EEOC reflects that 56% of sexual harassment charges are filed by women of color; yet women of color only make 37 percent of women in the workforce.

According to the survey by the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) in 2022, overall, in the last 12 months, a staggering 74% of AAPI women personally experienced racism and/or discrimination, 38% experienced sexual harassment, and 12% reported experiencing gender and/or race-based physical violence.

There is also another factor why the media is paying more attention to white women through #MeToo movement. This is because white women (and men) are far better represented in the US media than women (and men) of color. For instance, the proportion of all journalists who are white men and white women is 52.12% and 31.04%, respectively.

The comparable figure for black men and black women, respectively, is 3.02% and 2.62%, while the overall figure for non-white men and women (i.e. Black, Hispanic, American Indian, Asian, Hawaiian Pacific Islanders and others), is 8.58% and 7.95%, respectively.

One in five people in the US is a woman of color (i.e. women who identify as non-white) as women of color were 20.3% of the US population in 2021. However, their stories are rarely told in the media while women of color are underrepresented in the media.

It is now more than thirty years since Kimberlé Crenshaw critiqued anti-discrimination law for its failure to recognize intersectionality, the compounding nature of race and gender subordination. Despite this, the US media still considers the issue of sexual harassment as an individualized problem of inappropriate behaviour rather than a systemic issue of inequalities of gender, race, and power.

This is why the media sees that the sexual harassment cases of white women survivors are more newsworthy than those of women of color.

The media should be part of the solution rather than a problem in addressing and preventing sexual harassment in the workplace. The combined influences of race and gender on sexual harassment should be identified and addressed immediately by the media with greater attention to the experiences of women of color and women from minority groups.

The media has the power to implement changes in whose stories are told. The US media should demonstrate a conscious and continued effort to provide equal representation in covering sexual harassment cases that is inclusive of all types of survivors, including women of color.

Shihana Mohamed is one of the Coordinators of the United Nations Asia Network for Diversity and Inclusion and a Public Voices Fellow with The OpEd Project and Equality Now on Advancing the Rights of Women and Girls.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/shihana-mohamed-68556b15/

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Excerpt:

The following opinion piece is part of series to mark International Women’s Day, March 8.

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
KATHMANDU, Nepal, Mar 6 2024 (IPS)

Viable, popular national economic alternatives require conditions to help build and sustain them. An independent, accountable government can ensure supportive institutions, including laws.

National economies
For the Global South, globalisation has often meant renewed foreign domination. While dating back to the age of empire, foreign domination is less evident in post-colonial times, making it more difficult to organise against it.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

National sovereignty and independence are necessary to develop and sustain viable popular economic alternatives. This requires addressing contemporary realities. Some unexpected opportunities may even emerge from the new challenges faced.

Cooperation among significant national social forces must be maintained for an alternative to be popular and sustainable. Negotiating, preserving, strengthening and ‘updating’ such collaboration is necessary to advance popular national interests.

This becomes challenging when those involved are not on a level playing field. After all, we live in a world dominated by powerful private interests, typically working through corporations, with transnational ones being the most influential.

Most people know that such domination is exercised via economic assets. But it has increasingly also involved control of the main means of communication. Global public discourses have thus been reshaped, even in multilateral institutions.

Thus, for example, the unrepresentative corporate-dominated Davos World Economic Forum sets agendas for multilateral conferences in the interest of the ‘lords of the universe’. More than seventy heads of government and state attended the last Davos event, many more than the UN General Debate.

Can developing alternative means of communication better shape our discourses, as our interests rarely coincide with those effectively in control?

Rule by law
Katarina Pistor has shown how law is hardly neutral but instead crucial to capitalism’s functioning. Thus, setting and enforcing rules privileges the interests shaping them.

Law is made by the powerful to legitimise their interests and practices, e.g., by enforcing contracts, property rights, etc. The legal framework defines how we operate, what is considered legal and illegal, and what is licit and illicit.

The African Union-Economic Commission for Africa study, chaired by former South African President Thabo Mbeki, recognised that many illicit practices are not illegal. Such massive illicit financial outflows characterise most of the Global South.

Such haemorrhage has worsened in recent decades as developing countries competed to attract foreign investments. In recent decades, they opened their capital accounts, believing economists who claimed finance would then flow ‘downhill’ into them. Instead, it flows ‘uphill’ from ‘capital-poor’ to ‘capital-rich’ nations.

Finance has transformed economies and communities in recent decades. The growing influence of such interests has increasingly constrained national monetary and financial authorities’ ability to manage interest and exchange rates.

Hence, only governments and multilateral financial institutions can create arrangements enabling preferential access to concessional finance. Inclusion and accountability can help ensure governments better serve the public interest.

Taxation
The Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation recommended a minimum universal corporate income tax rate of 25%.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen later proposed 21%, the current US rate, to minimise political opposition in Washington. However, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson cut this to 15% at the G7 meeting he hosted.

The OECD-G20 Inclusive Framework for Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) seems to share the OECD view that such tax revenue be distributed by the country of sale, not production.

Developing countries lose out as they generally produce much more than they can afford to consume. With foreign advice shaping developing countries’ policies, their tax rates and revenue shares of output have fallen for decades. Hence, indebted nations believe they have to cut government spending.

Unsurprisingly, most developing countries have supported the African group’s resolution to make the UN the sole legitimate body for international tax cooperation, thus undermining the Inclusive Framework’s pretensions.

Trade liberalisation bias
Trade liberalisation is a double-edged sword. It can enhance exports to earn more foreign exchange but also destroys economic capacities, e.g., for industrialisation and food security.

Rich countries – including the US, the world’s biggest agricultural exporter – have sustained food production with government support using protection and subsidies. But while such subsidies are allowed, developing countries have been stopped from using tariffs for food security.

The US subsidises maize production for corn oil to make bioethanol. Corn syrup and chicken feed also get subsidised in the process. Consequently, US chicken exports have wiped out many poultry farmers worldwide.

Food prices increased sharply for some months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Jayati Ghosh showed these food price spikes were mainly due to speculation and price manipulation rather than wartime supply disruptions.

Futures markets once reduced commodity price fluctuations but have had significant disruptive effects more recently. This is mainly due to the changed nature of commodity spot, futures and options markets, especially with massive programmed financial speculation using algorithms and artificial intelligence.

* Edited remarks to the World People’s Economic Forum at the World Social Forum in Kathmandu on February 18, 2024.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Syeda Shehrbano Naqvi, saved a woman falsely accused of blasphemy. Credit: ASP Shehrbano Naqvi

By Zofeen Ebrahim
KARACHI, Mar 6 2024 (IPS)

Since the start of the year, there has been very little to celebrate for Pakistanis. Disrupted social media, escalating electricity, fuel, and food prices, and newly-held elections mired in controversy. But then, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Syeda Shehrbano Naqvi, did something that brightened the days of despair.

The 31-year-old’s courageous overture and foresight in the face of a potentially explosive situation have given Pakistan a reason to stand among the countries on this year’s Women’s Day with pride.

Naqvi rescued a woman, wearing a dress with Arabic calligraphy, from a frenzied mob from Lahore’s Ichhra Bazaar late last month (Sunday, February 25), who mistook it for verses from the Holy Quran and accused her of having committed blasphemy.

“There must be approximately 150–200 people by the time I reached the spot where this incident took place, around 1.45 pm,” said the police officer, talking to IPS over the phone from Lahore. She spoke to the mob with authority: “You should trust us [police],” she was heard shouting to the crowd on a video clip gone viral. Prior to her arrival, police from nearby police stations had also arrived to manage the situation.

“We had to act swiftly and get her out, as an angry mob in a close space can mean the situation getting out of control quickly,” she told IPS.

A black abayaa (a loose-fitted, long-sleeved robe worn by Muslim women) was arranged for the woman to cover her dress, which had ignited the sentiments in the first place, and her face completely covered to protect her identity when she was led out and whisked away in the police vehicle.

Following this incident, Manto, a clothing shop that uses a lot of calligraphic verses by poets and writers, put this notice on its social media pages. Credit: Manto

 

With permission from Masood Lohar, founder of the Clifton Urban Forest, who put up these AI-generated illustrations on his Facebook page. Credit: Masood Lohar/Facebook

 

Credit: Masood Lohar/Facebook

Naqvi knew exactly how to handle the situation, having dealt with similar situations in the past. But she admitted that the “five-minute walk to the police van was not without danger, despite the police forming a circle around us.”

Before the police arrived, videos posted on social media show a visibly terrified woman standing in the far corner of a restaurant with her hands covering half of her face.

The restaurant owner put his shutter down and locked it from inside to protect the woman, while others tried to calm the angry mob, who threatened to set the place on fire if the woman was not handed to them.

“Pakistanis spend so much of their time reading the Quran and reciting from it; then how can the simplest Arabic writing be mistaken for a holy verse?” asked Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy, an Islamabad-based physicist and author, referring to rote learning of the holy book by majority Pakistanis. “This episode reveals that the ability to read a foreign language without understanding it achieves nothing.”

“Fighting pressure, numbers, and situations, you upheld both humanity and law; I thank you, and we are very proud of you,” said a press statement issued from the newly-elected chief minister of Punjab province, Maryam Nawaz’s office, commending officer Naqvi.

“Shehrbano Naqvi has set a new standard for the police force,” said young Pakistani activist Ammar Ali Jan, secretary general of the left-wing socialist party, Haqooq-e-Khalq Party.

“This is the way to stand up to a mob; it’s never happened before and it will set an example for others to take similar action,” he said, especially if she’s rewarded.

The Punjab police chief has recommended Naqvi for the Quaid-i-Azam Police Medal for her gallantry.

Jan said the incident should be looked at through a gender lens. “It has highlighted the need for more educated and qualified women to be inducted into the state apparatus.”

However, for many, what happened after the rescue has left a bad aftertaste.

ASP Shehrbano Naqvi put aside her own safety and came to the rescue of a woman falsely accused of blasphemy. Her bravery has been recognized and some of the people involved are now under investigation. Credit: ASP Shehrbano Naqvi

Conceding the policewoman put up a brave act and prevented it from getting ugly, Farah Zia, director of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan asked: “Why was the rescued woman, under the same police watch, forced to seek forgiveness and declare herself to belong to the majority Sunni Muslim sect and thus can never think of doing anything to harm the sentiments of her fellow Muslims? Does it mean those belonging to minority faiths or sects can be expected to?”

Zia said it sent a signal that the government and the state are helpless and weak in the face of violent mobs.

The apology video, showing the woman sitting in between two bearded men who also put words in her mouth during the recording, was shot at the police station, but Naqvi insisted it had nothing to do with the police.

“It was decided between those nominated by the mob and the woman’s family that she would apologize,” clarified Naqvi and that the job of the police was just to “ensure law and order is maintained; there is no loss of life and no material damage.”

However, she added: “It is pertinent to remember that this incident either could have become a trauma in the life of the woman or we could have helped by placating the issue in a manner that puts an end to any further conversation that would ensue in the future. We decided to do the latter, despite criticism from various quarters. Given certain realities of our society, she now has a better chance of living a normal, healthy, and happy life,” pointed out Naqvi.

“The progressives among us may not like the tactical approach employed,” said Jan, referring to the apology coerced from the accused woman, but he explained: “The threat is real and potent, especially for someone who is marked.” He further added that the balance of forces in society is tipped in favour of extremists.

Hoodbhoy said the incident was reflective of an education system that “feeds religious fanaticism,” because of which Pakistani society and even its educated class have turned extremist.

“No longer can illiteracy alone be held responsible. The hyper-religiosity promoted through state institutions and the toxic education in our schools are not getting us admiration anywhere. Instead, it is producing a wild, uncontrollable population. Even our friends now fear us,” he lamented.

“Who in his right mind—apart from dedicated mountaineers—would want to vacation in a country where the population is ready to burst into flames at the slightest provocation?” he warned.

Blasphemy is punishable by death in Pakistan but as has often happened in the past, even before the case goes to trial, the accused is lynched.

According to the data collected by the Centre of Social Justice Pakistan, at least 329 people were allegedly accused of blasphemy in the year 2023.

“This is merely a list of cases reported in the press; the number can be higher than that,” Peter Jacob, executive director of CSJP, told IPS. Seven people were killed extrajudicially in 2023, he said.

At least 2,449 people have been accused of committing blasphemy between 1987 and 2023 and 95 people were killed extrajudicially between 1994 and 2023. No one has ever been punished except Mumtaz Qadri, who assassinated Punjab governor Salman Taseer in 2011.

Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi, chairman of the Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC), applauded the policewoman for showing immense courage in the face of such incidents; he said many others had buckled under similar circumstances in the past.

“She put her life in danger to save this woman and she should be commended for that,” he told IPS.

With “every political party and every political leader agreeing the law is misused and the accusations are false and have led to deadly consequences,” Jan said they need to come up with a grand national strategy.

“Begin by punishing those who falsely accuse others of blasphemy.”

Ashrafi wholeheartedly endorsed this. “Make it the test case,” demanded the PUC head, so that such incidents do not happen again.” He said all those who instigated this incident should be tried under the state’s anti-terrorist law.

Since the filing of this story, the Lahore police have lodged a First Information Report (FIR) against dozens of alleged miscreants so that the process of investigation can begin.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Excerpt:

This feature is part of a series to mark International Women’s Day, March 8.

Scientists believe the species hunted the oceans 66 million years ago with "teeth like knives".

A large group of people raided a warehouse full of food in the country's capital Abuja.

More than 70 children are missing following the raids by fighters linked to Islamic State.

More than 70 children are missing following the raids by fighters linked to Islamic State.

Nana Akufo-Addo says he will not assent to the anti-LGBTQ+ bill until a Supreme Court ruling.

An independent MP tables a bill in parliament to repeal the ban on female genital mutilation (FGM).

A student pilot and trainer crash in Nairobi National Park after colliding with a passenger plane.

Official photograph captured during the proceedings of the 8th Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) convened in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Credit: CELAC

By Mario Lubetkin
SANTIAGO, Mar 5 2024 (IPS)

The regional commitment to fight hunger and malnutrition in Latin America and the Caribbean has made significant progress thanks to the update of the Food Security, Nutrition and Hunger Eradication Plan of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) for the period 2024-2030, known as the CELAC FNS Plan.

This update was approved and ratified during the VIII Summit of Heads of State and Government of CELAC, held on March 1 in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

This commitment evidence Latin America and the Caribbean’s significant contribution to accelerating the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals, aimed at achieving societies free of hunger, poverty, and inequality in the region.

Our latest estimates show that, in 2022, 6.5 percent of the population of Latin America and the Caribbean suffered from hunger; this represented 2.4 million fewer people than in 2021. But the situation remains critical; hunger continues to affect 43.2 million people in the region

Our latest estimates show that, in 2022, 6.5 percent of the population of Latin America and the Caribbean suffered from hunger; this represented 2.4 million fewer people than in 2021. But the situation remains critical; hunger continues to affect 43.2 million people in the region.

Likewise, limited access to resources and services, poverty, the aftermath of the pandemic, and conflicts as well as climate-related disasters, among other factors, are affecting the ecosystems on which food production and the livelihoods of farming communities depend and threaten efforts to ensure food security, nutrition and the sustainability of agrifood systems.

In this scenario, the CELAC FNS Plan 2024-2030 is a concrete initiative, reflected in a unanimous response from more than thirty countries, which, at a ministerial level, agreed to update this document to address the challenge of hunger and food insecurity in the region.

The new plan -developed in coordination with the Pro-Tempore Presidency, currently led by Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and the thirty-three CELAC countries, included broad participation and analysis with technical assistance from FAO, ECLAC, IICA, and ALADI- has become a benchmark for other regions of the world. Its implementation represents a milestone example of the consensus and political commitment of Latin America and the Caribbean.

This plan, structured into four pillars, includes a conceptual basis to guide the countries concerning legal frameworks, sustainable production, access to healthy diets, and agrifood systems resilient to climate change.

2024 could represent a decisive year for Latin America and the Caribbean to make progress in combating hunger and malnutrition and achieving more resilient and sustainable production systems. During 2023, we have consolidated a deep process of alliances, consensus, and dialogue that will soon be part of the FAO Regional Conference.

We are in the final stretch of preparation for our Regional Conference to be held in March in Georgetown, Guyana, where we will facilitate exchanges and discussions that will be essential to guide FAO’s technical cooperation in the design and implementation of plans and projects tailored to the needs of the countries, and in line with the priorities defined by governments at the highest political level.

In this regard, the reflections and resolutions arising from the updating and subsequent approval of the new CELAC FNS Plan also represent a significant contribution to the FAO Regional Conference.

The preparation of the Regional Conference includes an extensive consultation process involving different stakeholders, such as the private sector, academia, civil society, and parliamentary groups; and of course, the participation of government officials from the thirty-three FAO Member Countries; as well as the presence of Heads of State and Ministers of Agriculture and other sectors committed to the search for more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems.

We hope that the results of the Conference, translated into FAO’s mandate, will be consolidated as a tangible response. The success of these efforts will depend on the collaboration of all to make the hope of a world without hunger a reality.

Excerpt:

Mario Lubetkin is FAO Assistant Director-General and FAO Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean for Latin America and the Caribbean

Nathi Nhleko's resignation comes in the build-up to the general election in May.

Credit: ESCAP/Cindy Liu

By Cai Cai, Jonathan Wong, Channe Lindstrøm Oguzhan, Elena Mayer-Besting, Christina Morrison and Darshni Nagaria
BANGKOK, Thailand, Mar 5 2024 (IPS)

Ponny Lim runs a thriving aquaculture enterprise in Cambodia, growing her business with the support of a United Nations programme that guarantees loans to women entrepreneurs who are beyond microfinance but not yet ready for corporate finance.

Working in a largely male dominated sector, Ponny has used this additional capital to take her products to other markets, and is also now supporting other women in her community to tackle gender bias and run their own businesses.

Ponny’s example reminds us on this International Women’s Day that investing in women is not only a moral imperative to achieving a more just and equal world, but an economic necessity, crucial to fostering sustainable, inclusive and prosperous economies.

In Asia and the Pacific, an estimated $4.5 trillion would be added to the region’s GDP by tackling gender disparities in economic opportunities. Yet, globally, it is estimated that more than 1 billion women either do not use or lack access to the financial system.

This has far-reaching consequences for the well-being of women, not only impeding their ability to pay for household expenses and recover from economic shocks, but also constraining opportunities for women seeking to start and grow their own businesses.

While the role of women’s entrepreneurship in driving economic growth, job creation and innovation is well established, a $300 billion annual gap in financing has been identified for formal women-owned small and medium businesses. An estimated 70 per cent of women-owned MSMEs are either financially underserved or unserved.

Research by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) on a wide range of indicators related to women’s financial inclusion, asset control and ownership, financial resilience and entrepreneurship reveals a host of challenges faced by women and a resultant gender gap.

Where data is available, the upcoming report “Financial Resilience, Inclusion and Entrepreneurship: Is Asia and the Pacific close to Gender Parity?” shows that in most countries in the region, women have lower levels of bank account ownership, access to credit and access to pensions. Women also experience higher levels of stress related to their financial situation and women-owned MSMEs lack adequate access to financial services.

These gaps result from and contribute to entrenched discriminatory norms and practices that continue to hamper the use of financial services among women. Common obstacles include limited household decision-making power, time poverty and career interruption due to a higher burden of care responsibilities, lower incomes and lower participation in formal employment among women, digital exclusion, transportation barriers, a lack of demand driven financial products and discriminatory lending practices.

Notably, the broader structural challenge of women’s limited asset ownership and control, which is often both the result of financial inclusion and economic success and a prerequisite for access to finance and economic opportunities, is a significant obstacle that must be overcome to achieve women’s meaningful financial inclusion and economic participation in the region.

The fact remains that women are more likely than men to be living in poor households in the Asia-Pacific region, with deep-rooted discriminatory social norms preventing women from realizing their full potential. Women perform more than four times as much unpaid care and domestic work, which is one of the primary reasons why the female labour force participation rate continues to decline, to 44 per cent today from 52 per cent in 1995, and still well below the world average of 47 per cent.

Barriers to women’s integration into the labour market and overrepresentation in less profitable sectors of the economy are closely linked to women’s financial exclusion, which both contributes to and is perpetuated by women’s concentration in the informal sector and precarious forms of employment, without the assurance of social protection.

Yet financial inclusion alone will not automatically reduce poverty or promote economic empowerment or financial resilience, nor will it eliminate structural inequalities faced by women. However, it is a vital tool which can contribute to enabling women to manage financial risks, attain financial independence, overcome traditional roles assigned to them, increase their incomes, accumulate assets, pursue entrepreneurial aspirations and grow their businesses.

Gender-intentional approaches and active collaboration between policymakers, businesses, financial service providers and civil society stakeholders is key to ensuring that financial inclusion leads to positive outcomes for all women, provide equal rights to asset ownership and inheritance, improve financial resilience and create a conducive environment for women’s entrepreneurship.

Our work at ESCAP includes the Catalyzing Women’s Entrepreneurship Programme, funded by Global Affairs Canada. The project has been building momentum for the movement to create an enabling ecosystem for women entrepreneurs across the region and close the gap in access to finance.

Since 2018, the programme has unlocked more than $89.7 million in capital for women-owned and led businesses, and directly supported more than 176,000 women entrepreneurs.

This type of activity highlights the fact that when women have equal access to economic opportunities, education, healthcare, work and representation in political and economic decision-making processes they can drive strong and inclusive economic growth.

And when we value the unpaid care and domestic work carried out by women and girls and invest in the care economy, we see how the multiplier effects uplift entire communities, improving the health, education and well-being of future generations.

The transformative effect of women’s empowerment is also evident in fostering more resilient and solidarity-based communities and societies. Women’s unique perspectives and leadership are essential in sustainably managing natural resources and crafting effective climate change solutions. Their engagement ensures that development initiatives are equitable and reach those most in need.

The path ahead is clear: In order to accelerate gender equality and women’s empowerment we must end poverty in all its forms. We must strengthen institutions. And we must be intentional at every juncture to provide sufficient financial resources to integrate a wholesome gender perspective throughout the implementation of our policies and programmes.

• Cai Cai is Chief of Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Section, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)
• Jonathan Wong is Chief of Innovation, Enterprise and Investment Section, ESCAP
• Channe Lindstrøm Oguzhan is Social Affairs Officer, ESCAP
• Elena Mayer-Besting is Programme Management Officer, ESCAP
• Christina Morrison is Consultant (Catalyzing Women’s Entrepreneurship Programme), ESCAP
• Darshni Nagaria is Consultant (Catalyzing Women’s Entrepreneurship Programme), ESCAP

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Excerpt:

The following opinion piece is part of series to mark International Women’s Day, March 8.

By Azza Karam
NEW YORK, Mar 5 2024 (IPS)

One of the most fascinating aspects of International Women’s Day is an odd subtext. That this is all about and (only) for women. Really? Since when are the realities of one part of humanity – the part that gives birth to the rest by the way – only relevant to that one part?

Would we ever think that if we had an international man’s day (which would be practically every day of the years of our lives) is all about and only for men? No, we would not.

What international women’s day is, is an opportunity to see the world through the eyes of those who have been systematically, systemically and deliberately, marginalized, silenced, scorned – and sometimes violently hated. But it is also an opportunity to celebrate the resilience, the determination, and the remarkable rebirth, survival, and yes, the relief, if not the joy, of thriving.

Look deep into the eyes of the girls and women of DRC, CAR, Ukraine, Russia, Ethiopia, Eretria, Palestine, Israel, Afghanistan, of the Indigenous peoples in North America, Asia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand – and countless other survivors of violence, in every corner of today’s world. Those are the eyes into the spirit of this earth.

International women’s day is but one of the 365 days of a year, to, perhaps, ponder the fact that our very earth is referred to, in many languages, in feminine terms.

Our earth is our very survival. Even, if and when, some of us succeed in living in Mars or on the moon, the majority of us will still need this earth to bear us, as it has borne our ancestors, and as it continues to, in spite of the deliberate destructions we levy against it, from each household, community, nation and region, in every corner of the world.

Our earth sustains nuclear tests which shred its very fibers from deep inside it. Even as it revolts in floods and roars back through erupting volcanoes, our earth still sustains the unending destructions of war, the piling up of human and other life forms, buried in it – and burned on it.

Our earth carries us and nurtures us on its oceans and seas and rivers, many of which we have choked with our human detritus which is killing the very same remarkable ecosystems that keep our waters clean, and help the air to heal.

Our earth tries to keep its own lungs functioning through the trees and oceans which are staying connected to one another, and to life itself, in ways many of us have no idea about. Every grain of sand, dew drop, branch, leaf, cloud – all feminine.

Come to think of it, our earth is being treated by humans, as so many girls and women are still being treated: taken advantage of, beaten, (ab)used, considered replaceable or profitable (or both), and when they excel, they are resented, including by some of their own kind.

We dare not speak of the woman-on-woman violence, right? That is not done, not even by the most stalwart of our feminist leaders. All the while this is happening though, poetry, prizes, even laws, are being enacted to ‘save’, commemorate, and ‘honour’ earth.

All faith traditions actually have a secret embedded within them: that that which is feminine, always rises again, to love, as it serves and gives birth, and to fight for the very possibility of life itself. As we commemorate this day, we would do well to remember that it is not about girls and women per se, it is about the power of the feminine that is earth itself.

None of us is born to be alone forever. We need one another. In fact, we are completely dependent on one another.

Our earth demands justice for life itself to be sustained. International women’s day is every human’s day, every life on this planet day, every living thing day, every star in the cosmos of creation day.

Can we honour that?

Azza Karam is a member of the UN SG’s High Level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism, and is the founding President & CEO of Lead Integrity, an International Management Consulting business, focused on creating a Roster, and making available, the expertise of women inspired by diverse faiths and serving in all professions, committed to leadership, integrity and competence.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Excerpt:

The following opinion piece is part of series to mark International Women’s Day, March 8.

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 5 2024 (IPS)

The UN Ethics Office, established in 2006, has promoted an organizational culture in the world body, including integrity, professionalism, respect for diversity and protection for whistle-blowers.

But the UN Pension Fund, whose assets amount to a staggering $88.3 billion, is accused of firing four of its staffers, including senior investment officers, for challenging the wisdom of the Fund’s investment policies.

The firings have been criticized by two Staff Unions representing over 60,000 UN staffers worldwide.

In a letter to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the President of the Coordinating Committee of International Staff Unions and Associations, (CCISUA) Nathalie Meynet says the Unions are alarmed to learn about the recent dismissal of four senior investment officers, “with indications that more staff may be terminated.”

“As you know, during the tenure of the previous Representative of the Secretary-General (in the Pension Fund), a group of senior investment managers decided to blow the whistle on what the Office for Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) later found to be a “toxic work environment”. They first raised their concerns with their direct management.”

Feeling that the matter was not given the level of attention required, they also met with the Staff Union. Some, but not all, of those who are being dismissed, met with the US and Japan’s Permanent Missions.

This undoubtedly, the letter said, had an impact in terms of changing the leadership of The Office of Investment Management (OIM).

Subsequently these staff members were investigated, and their emails and WhatsApp messages scrutinized by OIOS, on the following charges:

• Meeting with the US and Japan’s missions, or being aware that some of the staff in the group were meeting with those missions, and that sensitive information would be disclosed.

• Raising concerns with the Staff Union and disclosing sensitive information.

“We are dismayed that staff should be formally disciplined for having raised alarm with their staff representatives. We are also very concerned that the Organisation has failed to uphold the Secretary-General’s Bulletin 2017/2/Rev.1 on Protection against retaliation for reporting misconduct and for cooperating with duly authorized audits or investigations,” the letter pointed out.

Under Section 4, such actions are permitted when the use of internal mechanisms is not possible because of either inaction, fear of retaliation or concealing of evidence. “We are further worried that your actions, in firing so many OIM staff at once and in preventing staff from raising genuine concerns, creates an unacceptable risk to the management of Pension Fund assets”.

The UN Principles for Responsible Investment states: “Effective whistleblowing mechanisms are a key feature of good governance and anti-corruption systems, as well as being reflective of a healthy corporate culture. They can help support companies to mitigate the risks associated with unethical or illegal conduct, which if left unchallenged can lead to significant corporate failures and loss of value.”

“We therefore ask that you reconsider your decision to terminate the Pension Fund’s senior investment officers on grounds of whistleblowing. “

At the time of going to press, the Pension Fund did not respond to our request for comments.

Meanwhile, in a letter to colleagues, Laura Johnson, Executive Secretary and Pablo Gonzalez Silva, Deputy Executive Secretary of the Staff Union of the UN Office at Geneva, share their concerns “regarding the recent firings of senior investment officers in the Pension Fund’s Office of Investment Management”.

As spelled in the letter sent by the staff union federation, CCISUA, to the Secretary-General, “these staff were fired for blowing the whistle. Their performance as investment managers is not in question”, the letter pointed out.

“We believe that these firings: go against the UN’s policy on whistleblower protection; lead to the loss of significant accumulated experience; and create a climate of fear among the pension fund’s investment managers that prevents them from voicing their own perspective on how investment policy is implemented.”

“The last point is especially important. The fund’s experienced investment managers must be able to voice their opinion, particularly when these contradict those of the head of the Office of Investment Management, a political appointment, known as the Representative of the Secretary-General. We strongly support this letter and will be discussing with other staff unions what further steps we can take.”

According to the Code of Conduct, the UN’s protection against retaliation policy is to ensure that the Organization functions in an open, transparent and fair manner and enhances protection for those who report misconduct (any violation of the Organization’s rules and regulations by staff members), wrongdoing (by any person that is harmful to the interests, operation or governance of the United Nations), or cooperate with duly authorized audits and investigations.

The reports and cooperation are considered “protected activities” under the policy. “In order to receive protection, any report should be made as soon as possible, in good faith and not later than six years since you became aware of the original misconduct.”

To be considered a protected activity, a report of misconduct must include information or evidence to support a reasonable belief that misconduct occurred. Under very specific and limited conditions, protection against retaliation may be extended to individuals who report misconduct through external mechanisms.

“Retaliation means any direct or indirect detrimental action that adversely affects your employment or working conditions, where such action has been recommended, threatened or taken for the purpose of punishing, intimidating or injuring you because you engaged in a protected activity. You must submit a request for protection to the Ethics Office within six months of becoming aware of the retaliation”.

Meanwhile, the Representative of the Secretary-General for the investment of the assets of the Fund (RSG), Pedro Guazo, reported on the progress made by the Office of Investment Management (OIM).

He informed the Board that as of 31 December 2023, the portfolio was valued at USD 88.18 billion, compared to USD 77.92 billion as of 31 December 2022. The Fund has been performing well with a real rate of return of 4.8 per cent over the 15-year long-term period ending December 31, 2023, and 5.2 per cent as of January 31, 2024, which is above the required minimum of real rate of return 3.5 per cent, according to the Pension Fund.

“It has also exceeded the market benchmark for the short-term (3 years) by 50 basis points as of December 31, 2023, and by 30 basis points as of January 31, 2024. In addition, the Fund demonstrated a 5-year return (2018-2022) of 4.2 per cent, outperforming both the global median of 3.3 per cent and the peer median of 2.7 per cent. The Fund’s assets-to-liabilities ratio, also known as the funding ratio, is greater than 110 per cent, indicating strong financial health,” the Fund said.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Abigail Hernández (left) appears at a press conference with journalist Wendy Quintero, a member of Independent Journalists and Communicators of Nicaragua at the headquarters of the Nicaragua Nunca Más Rights Collective. CREDIT: José Mendieta / IPS

By José Mendieta
MANAGUA, Mar 5 2024 (IPS)

Almost six years after the outbreak of the April 2018 protests, there are no signs left in Nicaragua of the violence that reigned in those days. There is no graffiti on walls or banners with demands or opinions against the leftist regime that has ruled the country since 2007.

Nor are there newspapers or opinion programs or debates on radio and television, let alone press conferences or public rallies."The Ortega and Murillo regime's repressive mechanisms have escalated to dramatic and unimaginable levels. A simple opinion issued on social networks or a criticism of the regime could land you in jail or exile." -- Martha Irene Sánchez

The city of Managua, the capital, is always bustling and active, with markets and shopping malls open at all hours; traffic is usually disorderly and police patrols roam the streets and avenues at all times.

At noon every day, on all radio and television stations, the tired, quiet voice of Vice President Rosario Murillo is heard giving the government’s news, social achievements and propaganda messages such as phrases of love and praise to God.

The program, which has no specific name, is broadcast from Channel 4, the historical property of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), the ruling party, to which the other state media are linked. The private media outlets controlled by the presidential family are also connected, together with dozens of radio stations and portals on social networks.

It first emerged in 2007 as “a message from comrade Rosario, from the Communication and Citizenship Council of the People’s President.”

“Here we are, on Valentine’s Day, with love, friendship, and for us, love and peace, because it is with love and in peace that we can walk ahead, move forward, building the future of all, a fraternal future,” she said on Feb. 13.

Murillo has been Nicaragua’s vice president since she was appointed in 2016 by her husband, President Daniel Ortega, the veteran former guerrilla who has been in office since November 2006.

Murillo is also the regime’s spokesperson and the only authorized voice, among the population of 6.7 million inhabitants of this Central American country, who can speak publicly and freely about anything. No one else can do so.

Freedom of expression in Nicaragua is one of the most repressed and abused rights, said journalist Abigail Hernández, director of the Galería News platform.

Journalist and former political prisoner Lucía Pineda Úbau, together with Martha Sánchez, take part in a protest by Nicaraguan journalists exiled in Costa Rica. CREDIT: José Mendieta / IPS

Her opinion, tellingly sent via an encrypted messaging application, is based on experience: three years’ exile.

“The media and journalists are a good thermometer for measuring the quality of freedom of expression,” Hernández told IPS.

“When we have less and less access to sources of information, when they limit us from reporting from the streets, when we can’t take photos or videos freely, when we can’t do our work inside the country, it reveals that there is no freedom of expression,” she said.

She is part of a generation of 242 journalists who have had to go into exile since the 2018 protests, which began against Social Security reforms and ended in a bloodbath provoked by military and police forces, with more than 355 civilian deaths, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

Journalist Martha Irene Sánchez, director of the República 18 platform, holds similar views, also expressed from exile.

“The scenarios for exercising freedom of the press and freedom of expression in Nicaragua have not improved since 2018; on the contrary, we are encountering more and more hostility,” she told IPS.

She is also a member of Independent Journalists and Communicators of Nicaragua (PCIN), a union organization that emerged after the protests and all of whose members went into exile.

“The Ortega and Murillo regime’s repressive mechanisms have escalated to dramatic and unimaginable levels. A simple opinion issued on social networks or a criticism of the regime could land you in jail or exile,” Sánchez said.

A forum for the presentation of the report on freedom of expression and press freedom in Nicaragua, released in September 2023 in San José, Costa Rica. The panel included journalists from Nicaragua from the Connectas platform, including FLED director Guillermo Medrano, (second-right). CREDIT: José Mendieta / IPS

She cited the example of Victor Ticay, a local journalist in Nandaime, a municipality in the northwestern department of Granada, who went out one day to cover a procession during the Catholic Holy Week of 2023.

The event had not been authorized by the police, whose agents interrupted the religious ceremony and Ticay filmed the parishioners running away from the patrol cars through the streets of the town.

He was arrested, charged with treason and spreading false news and sentenced to eight years in prison.

Guillermo Medrano, director of the Foundation for Freedom of Expression and Democracy (FLED), explained to IPS that between 2020 and 2021, the Nicaraguan regime passed a series of laws criminalizing the practice of journalism and freedom of expression.

A study that FLED released in September 2023 in San José, Costa Rica, a country bordering Nicaragua and the center of the country’s exile community, documented 1329 press freedom violations, mostly perpetrated by state agents in the 2018-2023 five-year period.

The actions were taken against 338 Nicaraguan journalists and 78 media outlets, between April 2018 and April 2023.

They included the police intervention of several media outlets such as 100% Noticias, Confidencial, Trinchera de la Noticia, Radio Darío and La Prensa, the last newspaper circulating in Nicaragua until August 2022.

According to Medrano, the Special Law on Cybercrime, passed in October 2020, provides for prison sentences for the use of information “which in normal democracies should be freely accessible to citizens and the public.”

In theory, the main objective of this legislation is the prevention, investigation, prosecution and punishment of crimes committed by means of information and communication technologies to the detriment of natural or legal persons.

The press freedom advocate also pointed out that the Ortega-Murillo administration, which controls all state institutions and branches of power, as well as the security forces, established the Law for the Defense of the Rights of the People to Independence, Sovereignty and Self-Determination for Peace, effective since Dec. 22, 2020.

This law gives discretion to judges and prosecutors in terms of the crime of “treason”, which orders the banishment and denationalization of the accused, as well as life imprisonment through a reform of the penal system.

More than 180 people have already been prosecuted under these laws and at least 22 journalists were stripped of their citizenship and banished in 2023.

“Under these laws, freedom of speech and the press has become a high-risk constitutional right for those who exercise it within Nicaragua,” Medrano denounced.

A report by the regional organization Voces del Sur says that Nicaragua ended 2023 with new forms of repression and threats to press freedom applied through banishment, confiscations, illegal detentions and harassment and surveillance of the families of journalists working in exile.

The outlook, the report warns, is of greater silence about social issues.

Nicaraguan journalists conduct interviews under risk of persecution or criminalization, denounced several reporters in San José, Costa Rica, in August 2023. CREDIT: José Mendieta / IPS

According to the report, between 2018 and the end of 2022, 54 media outlets disappeared, including 31 radio stations, 15 television channels and eight print media outlets. Of that total, 16 media outlets were confiscated, including La Prensa, the country’s main daily newspaper.

“Sources, even under conditions of anonymity, are harder and harder to find, and the saddest thing is that the State, through its officials, continues to be the main victimizer of citizens’ rights of expression and journalists’ press rights,” Medrano complained.

The non-governmental Human Rights Collective Nicaragua Nunca Más, made up of human rights defenders and activists in exile, states that the Ortega-Murillo administration “has carried out an unprecedented attack on freedom of expression in this country.”

The organization reports that of 28 resolutions of precautionary measures for journalists in Latin America, which have been issued since 2018 by the IACHR on freedom of expression, 15 have been issued for Nicaragua.

However, it says that “none of the precautionary measures” have been complied with by the State and, on the contrary, harassment against the targets has increased.

“And that reveals to us the seriousness of the problem of a small country with disproportionate and unacceptable restrictions on fundamental freedoms,” said one of the agency’s advocates, on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

These complaints find no responses within Nicaragua, because with the exception of Murillo, no one is authorized to answer, but can simply repeat the official discourse: “Nicaragua lives in peace and security.”