Africa

Three members of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, including its head, have been detained.

By Jennie Lyn Reyes
BANGKOK, Thailand, Nov 20 2020 (IPS)

While the COVID-19 pandemic has elevated public health to a top priority in every country in the world, it has left many poorly resourced governments receptive to any and all aid that can provide immediate assistance to help their people.

The pandemic pandemonium has provided unprecedented opportunities for the tobacco industry to boost its corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities to get closer to health and senior government officials.

Using charity to gain access to senior officials, foster good ties, and gain political capital to influence and interfere with public policies is a prominent tobacco industry tactic revealed in the 2020 Asian Tobacco Industry Interference Index.

Because of the deceptive and powerful influence of CSR activities exploited by the tobacco industry, the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) calls on Parties to the treaty to denormalize these activities and even ban them. Nearly all Asian countries are parties to this treaty.

The Index is a civil society report card that ranks 18 Asian governments on their efforts to protect health policies from the influence and interference of commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry in line with Article 5.3 guidelines of the FCTC.

Japan, Indonesia, and China top the report’s list with the highest level of tobacco industry meddling. These countries also have the largest smoking populations in the world. Brunei, Pakistan, and Nepal made the best progress to protect public policies from industry influence.

Banning the tobacco industry at any level or stage of health policy development is one of the key recommendations of the 2020 Asian Tobacco Industry Interference Index. Credit: SEATCA

Key findings:

• Health policy is undermined when the tobacco industry is included in the policymaking process. Participation and influence in tobacco control policies are revealed to be the highest in China, Indonesia, Japan, and Philippines.

• Tobacco industry buys influence through CSR activities. Industry-sponsored CSR activities remain common even in countries where restrictions are in place. Funding social causes, such as sports and disaster relief, allows the industry to promote itself as a “good corporate citizen” in the eyes of governments as shown in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Pakistan and Vietnam.

• Governments give benefits to the industry. With the exception of Brunei and ignoring the devasting harms of tobacco, many governments have been persuaded by the tobacco industry on its importance for economic growth and grant it preferential treatment such as tax breaks, facilitation of trade agreements, and delayed and weakened implementation of tobacco control measures. These are detrimental to tobacco control and tend to drain national coffers of tax revenues.

• Unnecessary interactions with the industry foster government endorsement. High-level government representatives participate in events organized by the tobacco industry. Activities related to combating smuggling are common where the tobacco industry works side-by-side with governments.

• Lack of transparency in interaction with the tobacco industry. The lack of transparency in government interactions with the tobacco industry remains a problem in almost all countries. Most countries do not have a procedure for public disclosure.

• Protective measures are needed. Only half (nine) of the countries included in the report have adopted policies to prevent tobacco industry interference as part of good housekeeping and governance.

The global tobacco industry is dominated by five tobacco companies all having a foothold in Asia – China National Tobacco Corporation (CNTC), Philip Morris International (PMI), British American Tobacco (BAT), Japan Tobacco Inc. (JTI), and Imperial Tobacco Group (ITG).

These transnational companies have already ventured into e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products that they are misleadingly promoting as safer alternatives to cigarettes.

Tobacco products contribute to the deaths of over eight million people every year, with low-and-middle-income countries bearing the brunt of its toll on public health and the economy. Tobacco use places smokers at an even higher risk of severe COVID-19 disease.

The ASEAN bloc of countries, home to 125 million tobacco users, is targeted by the industry to grow its profits. These countries are moving slowly, and in some instances, even regressing in their efforts to ward off tobacco industry influence.

There is light at the end of the tunnel as countries that have successfully protected their policies, such as Brunei and Thailand, are showing a decline in numbers of smokers, without suffering economic losses, as the industry typically claims.

A whole-of-government-and-society approach is fundamental to address industry interference. Governments and civil society must keep ahead of the many insidious ways the tobacco industry works. Constant vigilance and pro-active countermeasures remain vital.

About SEATCA
SEATCA is a multi-sectoral non-governmental alliance promoting health and saving lives by assisting ASEAN countries to accelerate and effectively implement the tobacco control measures contained in the WHO FCTC. Acknowledged by governments, academic institutions, and civil society for its advancement of tobacco control in Southeast Asia, the WHO bestowed on SEATCA the World No Tobacco Day Award in 2004 and the WHO Director-General’s Special Recognition Award in 2014.

 

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The post Tobacco Use Places Smokers at an Even Higher Risk of Severe COVID-19 Disease appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Jennie Lyn Reyes is the author of the 2020 Asian Tobacco Industry Interference Index and the Monitoring and Evaluation Manager of SEATCA.

The post Tobacco Use Places Smokers at an Even Higher Risk of Severe COVID-19 Disease appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Black Lives Matter protest in London May 31. Credit: Tara Carey / Equality Now

By External Source
Nov 20 2020 (IPS)

I’m part of a research team that has been following more than 800 Black American families for almost 25 years. We found that people who had reported experiencing high levels of racial discrimination when they were young teenagers had significantly higher levels of depression in their 20s than those who hadn’t. This elevated depression, in turn, showed up in their blood samples, which revealed accelerated aging on a cellular level.

Our research is not the first to show Black Americans live sicker lives and die younger than other racial or ethnic groups. The experience of constant and accumulating stress due to racism throughout an individual’s lifetime can wear and tear down the body – literally “getting under the skin” to affect health.

Black Americans live sicker lives and die younger than other racial or ethnic groups. The experience of constant and accumulating stress due to racism throughout an individual’s lifetime can wear and tear down the body – literally “getting under the skin” to affect health

These findings highlight how stress from racism, particularly experienced early in life, can affect the mental and physical health disparities seen among Black Americans.

 

Why it matters

As news stories of Black American women, men and children being killed due to racial injustice persist, our research on the effects of racism continue to have significant implications.

COVID-19 has been labeled a “stress pandemic” for Black populations that are disproportionately affected due to factors like poverty, unemployment and lack of access to health care.

In 2019, the American Academy of Pediatrics identified racism as having a profound impact on the health of children, adolescents, emerging adults and their families. Our findings support this conclusion – and show the need for society to truly reflect on the lifelong impact racism can have on a Black child’s ability to prosper in the U.S.

 

How we do the work

The Family and Community Health Study, established in 1996 at Iowa State University and the University of Georgia, is looking at how stress, neighborhood characteristics and other factors affect Black American parents and their children over a lifetime. Participants were recruited from rural, suburban and metropolitan communities. Funded by the National Institutes of Health, this research is the largest study of African American families in the U.S., with 800 families participating.
Researchers collected data – including self-reported questionnaires on experiences of racial discrimination and depressive symptoms – every two to three years. In 2015, the team started taking blood samples, too, to assess participants’ risks for heart disease and diabetes, as well as test for biomarkers that predict the early onset of these diseases.

We utilized a technique that examines how old a person is at a cellular level compared with their chronological age. We found that some young people were older at a cellular level than would have been expected based on their chronological age. Racial discrimination accounted for much of this variation, suggesting that such experiences were accelerating aging.

Our study shows how vital it is to think about how mental and physical health difficulties are interconnected.

 

What’s next

Some of the next steps for our work include focusing more closely on the accelerated aging process. We also will look at resiliency and early life interventions that could possibly offset and prevent health decline among Black Americans.

Due to COVID-19, the next scheduled blood sample collection has been delayed until at least spring 2021. The original children from this study will be in their mid- to late 30s and might possibly be experiencing chronic illnesses at this age due, in part, to accelerated aging.

With continued research, my colleagues and I hope to identify ways to interrupt the harmful effects of racism so that Black lives matter and are able to thrive.

Sierra Carter, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Georgia State University

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

The post Racial Discrimination Ages Black Americans Faster, According to a 25-Year-Long Study of Families appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Ibrahim Omer fled Eritrea as a refugee making his way to New Zealand and becoming the country's first African MP.

Sister Udaya, Mahila Shikshan Kendra, India – IDG 2020 South Asia Challenge Winner. Credit: UNICEF/UN061998/Vishwanathan

By Jean Gough and Yasmine Sherif
NEW YORK, Nov 20 2020 (IPS)

Girls are change makers and world shapers! When girls speak up, they are a powerful force to be reckoned with.

This International Day of the Girl 2020 we listened to girl-led and girl-centered organizations from across South Asia and heard about how they have been empowering girls in their communities and at the forefront of advocating for #GenerationEquality on #DayoftheGirl.

The potential of adolescent girls in South Asia is limitless, yet they are one of the most marginalized and under-served groups of children. During emergencies, either girls’ vulnerabilities can be exacerbated, or girls’ agency and opportunities can be promoted. Adolescent girls are a high priority group for Education Cannot Wait (ECW) and UNICEF. By investing, supporting, empowering, and listening to girls, we can build a more equal world.

Here are some of the ways we can take action to address the issues facing girls in South Asia and support girls in harnessing the power of their voices to make a difference.

Leaving no girl behind
Girls in South Asia continue to face barriers to accessing a quality education. The region has some of the highest rates of girls and young women who are not in education, employment or training (NEET). Even before COVID-19, nearly 1 in 3 adolescent girls from the poorest households had never been to school. At the secondary level in crisis-affected contexts in South Asia, there are significant disparities between boys and girl’s enrolment rates, with boys nearly three times more likely to enroll in school than girls.

It is essential we take decisive action, with intent, to reach and engage girls, in both crisis-affected situations and developing contexts where negative gender norms prevail. With strong affirmative action, we can break the status quo, and ensure that girls do not continue to be under-served and marginalized.

“Change is possible. We believe each girl is unique and has the potential to excel. We help girls improve their self-esteem to express their hopes to make decisions about their own lives. We are the voice for every girl, let’s create an equal future.”

Working together to build a more equal future
We cannot do this alone – girl-led and girl-centered cross-sectorial partners are key. When child protection, adolescent development and gender considerations are integrated into education and services they become holistic, safe, relevant and meaningful. Essential cross-sectorial work includes mitigating school safety risks; training all staff on gender responsive practices and gender-based violence; recruiting female teachers; providing unconditional cash transfers; offering life-skills groups tailored to adolescent girls; and, shifting the social norms that cause girls to be kept out of schools, which requires engaging with caregivers and religious and community leaders that have influence.

Building a versatile set of skills
Supporting adolescent girls to bridge the digital divide and gain 21st century skills is critical. This includes building life skills that can help girls to better navigate challenges and gain skills and support for employability. Transferable skills, such as stress reduction, emotional regulation, decision-making, goal setting, critical and creative thinking, conflict resolution and assertive communication help promote self-esteem and self-confidence that will last a lifetime.

In addition, adolescent girls must learn skills that match the demands of potential employers and the reality of the job market. Girls are far less likely to own digital devices, have access to internet or technology, and in turn have fewer opportunities to gain digital literacy skills. This also has significant implications for their employment prospects. For example, in the burgeoning ICT sector, which especially in South Asia is still dominated by men. In South Asia, young boys and men are five times more likely to access mobile technology than young girls and women.

Credit: UNICEF/UNI309817// Frank Dejongh

“The representation of women in technology is less, while there is a need for more professionals in the industry. Through some of our community education programmes such as career guidance, we received more support than expected which means there are interested young girls, who want to learn and build a career in this industry, and what they need is guidance and support.” Niuma, Women in Tech Maldives – IDG 2020 South Asia Challenge Winner

As we have seen during COVID-19 school closures, access to digital devices is crucial for accessing technology-based learning and online support services. While expanding access to low tech learning materials, more must be done to ensure that all children have access to the tools required to continue learning,

While getting girls online and ensuring access to technology is one goal, the work does not end there. We must ensure the technology they use is safe and the messages girls see online are enhancing and not harming their self-esteem or reinforcing negative gender stereotypes. We must ensure that adolescent girls have real life female mentors who can guide them through this.

We must make sure that while adolescent girls are learning skills, we are sending the message that they have the unlimited potential to do and be anything they want!

“72 per cent of girls [in our programme] have gotten their first jobs and are now earning more than the father and the brother of the family, combined. Now she has a say in the decisions, not just in her own life, but those of her entire family. This increase in self-worth and self-respect is what truly contributes to her healing.” Sonal, Protsahan Girls Champions, India – IDG 2020 South Asia Challenge Winner

Credit: UNICEF/UN0215358/Vishwanathan

Paving the way for a brighter future
Adolescent girls should be at the lead in making social change on efforts in returning to school post-COVID-19. To ensure their engagements are genuine and not tokenistic, they must be at the forefront of the design and monitoring of return to school efforts.

“Gender discrimination is embedded in my country, especially in terms of income, employment and politics. Though it is not highly prevalent, it does exist in a certain manner, where boys somehow take the lead by getting a social advantage. This is why, I am pitching my idea as a voice and representation of all Bhutanese women.” Pema, Cracking the code, Bhutan – IDG 2020 South Asia Challenge Winner

We must engage them in decision making and ask them questions: What do they want education to look like? What changes do they want to see in society? What do they want to learn — and how? We have the opportunity to build back more resilient education systems, and girls should be a part of the planning process.

COVID-19 has taught us that we must be flexible and offer alternative learning programmes that are tailored to the unique needs of marginalized and under-served groups. We must think outside of the box and use innovative tools and solutions to ensure that traditionally unreached children are offered new ways to engage in education.

Our commitment to listening and taking action!
Girls everywhere are breaking boundaries and challenging stereotypes. Whether she is leading the path as an entrepreneur or an innovator for a girls’ rights movement, girls are using the power of their voices to create a world that is unrestricted and inclusive for them and their future generations.

“We believe that every girl-led advocacy begins with listening. We believe that not only the future, but the present belongs to girls and they can take action now. This IDG 2020, let’s give girls a platform to share the causes that they are most passionate about, that they want to change, and to create a world and reimagine a future which is truly shaped by girls and for girls.” Riju, Nepal Scouts – IDG 2020 South Asia Challenge Winner

Adolescent girls should be at the lead in social change and COVID-19 return to school efforts. The International Day of the Girl 2020 South Asia Challenge provided inspiring examples of role models who are pioneering girl-led and girl-centered programming to change attitudes and stereotypes which prevent girls from achieving their dreams. It is time we listen and increase our actions by amplifying girls’ voices. We want you to know that at UNICEF and Education Cannot Wait we hear you and we are listening!

Joint opinion piece by UNICEF ROSA Regional Director Jean Gough and Education Cannot Wait Director Yasmine Sherif

 

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A selection of the week's best photos from across the continent.

Manipulated and false images with no relation to the crisis in Ethiopia are being shared online.

Sixteen people are killed in protests in Uganda over the arrest of presidential candidate Bobi Wine.

Eight players with Nigerian heritage are all set to play in the NBA next season after being picked in Wednesday's draft.

The army chief accuses the world's highest-profile Tigrayan of helping source weapons for the conflict.

Ahead of a G20 that promises to address the pandemic’s impact on developing countries, Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi is calling on the nations which are spearheading the global response to be just in their treatment of the most at-risk communities, including the world’s poorest and most marginalised children. Credit: Mahmuddun Rashed Manik/IPS

By Alison Kentish
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 19 2020 (IPS)

Heads of youth movements and student unions are challenging the world’s richest nations to correct an ‘incredibly unequal’ global response to COVID-19, by considering the plight of the world’s most vulnerable children and young people.

The youth leaders gathered for a global forum ahead of the 2020 G20 Summit, which Saudi Arabia is hosting virtually from Nov. 21 to 22. The online youth event, ‘A Fair Share for our Future’, was organised by the 100 Million Campaign, an initiative of Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi, which empowers young people and tackles issues such as child labour, poverty, access to education and violence against children.

Satyarthi, a longtime child rights advocate, has been pleading with world leaders to be particularly attentive to the needs of children during the COVID-19 pandemic. In September, he urged governments to hold large corporations to account for child labour. Ahead of a G20 that promises to address the pandemic’s impact on developing countries, Satyarthi is calling on the nations which are spearheading the global response to be just in their treatment of the most at-risk communities.

“The richest governments have focused heavily on bailing out businesses and economies as part of the global COVID relief. While this must be done, it cannot be done at the expense of the world’s poorest and most marginalised children,” Satyarthi said. “Ensuring a Fair Share for Children by allocating 20 percent of the global COVID relief to the 20 percent most marginalised children and their families, along with the immediate release of $1 trillion (just a fraction of the global response), can save over 70 million lives. I call upon the G20 members to prioritise the most marginalised children this year and save losing an entire generation.”

According to the official agenda, G20 leaders will focus on three main areas; empowering people, safeguarding the planet and shaping new frontiers. Leandra Phiri, a youth activist from Malawi, urged young people to hold the leaders accountable to their promise of opportunities for all.

“Provide solutions and prepare the future generations not to face the things that we are facing right now. We are facing insecurities, imbalances and exclusions. On behalf of my fellow youth, if they won’t let us dream – we won’t let them sleep,” she said.

Ankit Tripathi, an Indian international student in Canada, addressed the detrimental impact of COVID-19 on inherently vulnerable migrant populations. His comments follow a recent landmark joint global report by the International Organisation for Migration and the World Food Programme, which warned that COVID-19 and measures taken to contain its spread have disrupted human mobility patterns, the consequences of which could been seen for years to come. Tripathi said leaders must ensure migrant access to health and social services.

“Migrants are often the exception to many public services in countries. Living everyday lives that are the same or harder than others, yet access to public services is severely diminished.  Some of the wealthiest nations in the world are competing to increase international student populations in their countries for both financial and social capital, but when it comes to providing support, we don’t even receive lip service let alone any real policy support,” he said.

Another area of concern for the youth involves domestic violence made worse by the economic blow of COVID-19 including unemployment. Johannah Reyes of Trinidad and Tobago’s feminist organisation WOMANTRA issued a passionate plea to leaders to protect women and children from abuse. She reminded the summit that women and youth are bearing the brunt of COVID-19 related job losses in the Americas and need help.

“This unemployment disparity means that there is a decrease in the capacity of women and young people to protect themselves from abuse and also decreases their ability to participate in political processes and organise,” she said. “My organisation WOMANTRA has documented 20 femicides for the year thus far in Trinidad and Tobago. This heart wrenching list includes Trinidadian women, Venezuelan migrant women and a child born with a disability,” Reyes said.

The young activists say the pandemic has severely derailed the education of at-risk children. In many parts of the world, COVID-19 restrictions have resulted in a transition to online instruction, but millions of students with no access to the required technology are falling behind. Brazilian student union leader Rozana Barroso said for many students in her country, as the digital divide widens, hunger increases.

“[Brazilian President Jair] Bolsonaro ignores the digital exclusion of young people who don’t have access to the internet,” she said. “It has now been 7 months since some students have been able to attend school. Democracy means having access to internet and the fight against hunger. Many students have also been suffering from more hunger because some of them were only able to have their daily meal at school.”

In Malawi, grassroots activists are worried about the toll that COVID-19 disruption in classroom instruction is taking on young girls, particularly in rural areas. According to the United Nations Children’s Fund and the U.N. Population Fund, the reality of life in pre-COVID Malawi included high rates of child marriage, teenage pregnancy and maternal mortality. The Malawi National Students Union has been tracking the numbers and the union’s president Japhet Nthala said they have been rising since COVID lockdowns.

“From the closure of school which happened on Mar. 28 this year up to around June we have witnessed rampant cases of teenage pregnancies and child marriages. In the eastern region of the country we have witnessed about 7,274 teenage pregnancies and this came into effect because of students being idle and schools being closed,” Nthala said.

The youth leaders say from hunger and abuse to unemployment and lack of access to health services, the problems faced by the world’s most marginalised continue to be exacerbated by COVID-19. They are demanding that world leaders deliver an equal, moral and fair internationalist response to COVID‐19, that national governments uphold the fundamental human rights of their citizens and that they give special protection for the most vulnerable children and young people during the pandemic.

They say the G20 leaders have assumed the reins of the COVID-response and now must also take the charge for responding to the needs of the world’s most vulnerable people.

Related Articles

• Save 70 million Lives Through #FairShare of COVID-19 Response Fund, Youth Urge Governments
• Hold Corporates Accountable for Using Child Labour, Nobel Laureates Urge World Leaders
• COVID-19 Pandemic an Opportunity to Re-evaluate How we Treat World’s Starving Children
• Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi on Where to Find the $1 trillion Needed for Marginalised Children

The post Youth Demand a ‘Fair Share’ from World Leaders Ahead of G20 Summit appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Over 100 youth activists from around the globe met virtually ahead of the Nov. 21 summit of some of the world’s wealthiest nations. They called on the leaders to restructure the global response to COVID-19 and ensure aid reaches the world’s most marginalised people.

The post Youth Demand a ‘Fair Share’ from World Leaders Ahead of G20 Summit appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Say Samal and Trần Hồng Hà
WASHINGTON DC, Nov 19 2020 (IPS)

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted nearly every facet of our lives and delayed what was slated to be a landmark Conference of the Parties (COP26). This pivotal year marks the first due date for countries to submit revised national climate plans per the five-year cycle required by the Paris Agreement. Remarkably, countries are still moving forward with renewed urgency. And many countries are integrating green recovery into their COVID-19 responses, further contributing to climate action. While many countries have positive stories to tell, both of our nations, Vietnam and Cambodia, are sterling examples of nations taking strong, decisive action, particularly with support through the NDC Partnership. Just last month, the people of Vietnam submitted their updated national climate plan and, in short order, the people of Cambodia will do likewise.

Our success is a testament to our deep national commitment to climate action, which has been bolstered by support through the NDC Partnership and its Climate Action Enhancement Package (CAEP). CAEP is an enabling initiative that has helped to quickly match our climate ambitions to much needed support, at an especially difficult time for all countries and the global climate agenda. CAEP builds on and complements support from other development partners by delivering targeted, fast-track support to our countries, which enables us to enhance the quality, increase the ambition, and more effectively implement our nationally determined contributions (NDCs). Much like the current pandemic, CAEP’s strength is underpinned by its collaborative spirit and the need for multilateral cooperation. Through the technical and financial support of 46 partners, CAEP is currently supporting both our nations—and 61 others—to enhance NDCs in the lead up to COP26.

 
While this support came at a critical time, we’re mindful of the need for even greater support to effectively act on our robust climate commitments. Both our nations, like many others, live with climate impacts on a daily basis. The real and projected impacts on our populations and economies underpins the urgency with which we have acted and continue to act.

Vietnam

Vietnam’s potential climate hazards are expected to increase significantly under the impacts of climate change, such as sea level rise and saltwater intrusion. In fact, the Mekong Delta is one of the most vulnerable to sea level rise among the world’s deltas. In addition, agriculture, natural ecosystems, biodiversity, water resources, public health, and infrastructure are all at-risk sectors. The most vulnerable groups of people are the poor, ethnic minorities, the elderly, women, children, and people with disabilities. All these factors make addressing climate change a priority of critical national importance.

To meet our current and future challenges, Vietnam’s updated NDC identifies economy-wide mitigation measures for the period 2021-2030, spanning the energy, agriculture, waste, land use, land use change and forestry, and industrial sectors. The plan is distinct because it tackles greenhouse gas emissions by optimizing industrial processes and increasing our unconditional emission reduction target to nine percent below by 2030, combined with a change in baseline, this results in a 34 percent drop in emissions compared to our previous target. Moreover, Vietnam’s conditional emissions reduction target is now 27 percent (250.8 million tCO2e)—52.6 million tons of CO2e more than the emissions target in our first NDC submitted in 2015.

Vietnam’s updated NDC also includes robust adaptation components, directly linking to the National Adaptation Plan, and issues such as loss and damage, health, gender equality, and child protection. Alongside these strengthened mitigation and adaptation components, the updated NDC features new elements and significantly improves the means of implementation. As a people deeply committed to climate action, Vietnam is working to mainstream its national climate plan with socioeconomic development plans and strategies and draws overarching and discrete linkages with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Our climate achievements to-date were also strengthened by longstanding partners such as the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), primarily on mitigation and adaptation, respectively. Although the updated NDC takes effect next year, it is already informing our actions. By leveraging support through the NDC Partnership’s CAEP, delivered by the World Bank, the World Resources Institute (WRI), and the SNV Dutch Development Organisation, Vietnam is translating its NDC at provincial levels by mainstreaming targets in socioeconomic development plans. As part of these efforts, SNV is developing model approaches and a gender-sensitive framework for mainstreaming NDC targets and actions in these provincial plans.

This broad support is welcomed, and we’re banking on the support of all our government agencies, the private sector, and Vietnamese across communities to deliver on our commitments. This includes our 2021 target for incorporating the long-term, low greenhouse gas (GHG) emission requirements encouraged under Article 4 of the Paris Agreement.

Cambodia

Like Vietnam, its neighbor to the east, Cambodia is highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Our most affected sectors are agriculture, infrastructure, forestry, human health, and coastal zones. Rising temperatures are leading to increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events in an already fragile socioeconomic context.

While registering only a very small fraction of global GHG emissions, Cambodia’s emissions have been trending upwards in tandem with its development progress. At the same time, the impacts of climate change are expected to reduce Cambodia’s average GDP growth by 2.5 percent in 2030 and by 9.8% in 2050.

Cambodia is responding to this challenge. We have committed to lowering emissions and our updated NDC will reflect improved mitigation targets and adaptation actions. Our commitments will focus on a wide array of sectors, including agriculture, forestry and other land uses, transport and health, among others. Cross-cutting issues such as gender, youth engagement, and private sector involvement will be hallmarks of our strategy. Finally, an analysis on how the NDC can impact SDG achievement is also being undertaken.

CAEP support delivered through the Partnership by UNDP and the World Bank has ensured that Cambodia’s NDC update is robust and consistent with prevailing commitments. Our climate plan is now informed by progress made on current NDC targets, and reflect commitments made in national and sectoral strategies adopted since the approval of our initial NDC in 2015. We will also conduct additional analyses, including with the latest emissions data, and prepare cost estimates for proposed sectoral NDC targets and actions.

This truly Cambodian approach will also strengthen technical capacity for the Ministry of Environment, the National Council for Sustainable Development and other relevant ministries. This will provide critical support throughout the NDC updating process and help improve ministries’ understanding of how climate change can be better integrated into their work over the longer term.

The Cambodian people and government are proud to own this process, which helps secure our development goals. We will strengthen measurement, reporting, and verification arrangements to improve monitoring and reporting on NDC implementation, including by establishing an online portal. The online NDC tracking system spotlights information on mitigation, adaptation, GHG inventory, support received and needed, as well as baselines, targets, and indicators received from ministries. A similar online NDC portal is being set up by our neighbors, Vietnam.

As a unique country-driven initiative, the NDC Partnership’s work empowers countries like ours to meet our climate ambitions, which drives forward collective action. CAEP is one of our strongest sources of support to achieve our climate and development goals, and as we are seeing in both Vietnam and Cambodia, the program is producing strong impacts in helping our societies enhance climate ambition, going further than would otherwise be possible.

 

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The post Vietnam and Cambodia: Leveraging Support to Enhance Climate Ambition appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Say Samal, Minister of Environment, Cambodia

Trần Hồng Hà, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Vietnam

The post Vietnam and Cambodia: Leveraging Support to Enhance Climate Ambition appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Education Cannot Wait
Nov 19 2020 (IPS-Partners)

“For 75M children & young people trapped in conflict zones, #EducationCannotWait. A lost generation is one where hope dies in those who live. It is our responsibility to rekindle hope.” ~ Gordon Brown.

The post Gordon Brown – Education Cannot Wait appeared first on Inter Press Service.

International Volunteers Day (IVD) December 5, is an international observance that was mandated by the UN General Assembly in 1985. The Day is an opportunity to promote volunteerism, encourage governments to support volunteer efforts and recognize volunteer contributions to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at local, national and international levels. Credit: UN Volunteers (UNV)

By Simone Galimberti
KATHMANDU, Nepal, Nov 19 2020 (IPS)

The International Volunteer Day will approach soon and the 5th of December will become a day to celebrate the actions of millions of volunteers from all over the world, in the south as well in the north of the world.

Paradoxically but also tragically there has never been a greater time for volunteerism than in the last six months of the pandemic.

In Canada, as elsewhere in the world, volunteers have been on the frontlines, providing essential services from health care in hospitals and nursing homes to support for the most marginalized members of the society, offering an indispensable contribution when the country needed it the most.

As highlighted by the UN Deputy Secretary General Amina J. Mohammed during the Global Technical Meeting on Volunteering, organized in July by the United Nations Volunteers, UNV and International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, “the efforts of 1 billion volunteers is an important foundation at a pivotal moment for development to enable us to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic”.

Interestingly, like nowhere else volunteerism in Canada has been under the spotlight recently but unfortunately it was all for the wrong reasons.

A scandal involving a now disbanded high profile not-for-profit called “WE” that was very closely connected to the Government of Prime Minister Trudeau hijacked the entire public debate, overlooking the many essential contributions provided by volunteers during the pandemic.

The ongoing controversy centered on an aborted attempt by the Government to set up a national volunteering scheme called the Canada Student Service Grant, CSSG that would have helped students earn some money to navigate throughout the pandemic.

UN Volunteers celebrating International Volunteer Day in South Sudan where they serve the United Nations in peace-keeping, midwifery and human rights. Credit: UNV, 2018

The ongoing inquiry risks not only to overshadow the essential contributions played by volunteers during the pandemic but could also jeopardize the future of the sector for generations to come.

That would be a shame not only for those nearly 13 million Canadians that, as per data of Volunteer Centers, the real backbones of civic engagement and solidarity in the country, have been contributing their time and energies every single year but also because of the economic contributions the sector provides to the national economy.

According to a paper prepared by Robin Wisener for Volunteer Canada, “the economic value of volunteering contribution are at around $14 billion dollars, equivalent to 1.4% of Canada’s GDP”.

With the Liberal Government hard pressed on resetting its agenda, it is paramount not to lose the focus on the importance of investing on volunteerism in Canada.

The concept of “building back batter” that has been espoused by the Liberal administration is central in rethinking the role volunteerism plays in the society, not only as a means to help disadvantaged groups but also as a platform to reinvigorate grassroots levels of community engagement,

Volunteerism, if properly promoted and supported could be so instrumental in cementing local civic engagement, breaking down the chain of disenchantment many citizens are experiencing with the system not only in Canada but also elsewhere.

This is the reason why the government should include provisions to leverage on the great work being delivered by the volunteerism sector across the country, helping local communities particularly hit by the pandemic and its economic fallout, to re-start functioning with the vibrancy and the dynamism that only volunteers can unleash.

To start with, the Canada Service Corps that initially Prime Minister Trudeau wanted to entrust with the administration of CSSG program should be greatly expanded and turned into a national flagship program with commensurate resources and adequate levels of accountability and transparency.

Because it is essentially based on partnerships with not-for-profit organizations across Canada, strengthening their work on the ground, the program has the potential to be a truly game changer in the way people perceive volunteerism, helping more citizens from all the age groups, rather than just only youth, to embrace service according to the diverse circumstances locally in place.

Expanding the Canada Service Corps will require broad consultations and this should happen as a part of a broader discussion aimed at re-launching and re-energizing volunteerism in Canada.

Surely any effort to build a stronger volunteering infrastructure across the nation should build on the existing endeavors, especially on the work being tirelessly carried out by the Volunteer Centers.

Indeed, one stronger centrally funded and locally delivered program should not come at the expenses of smaller initiatives that are already on the ground that, if provided with the right financial and technical support could expand their outreach and improve their effectiveness.

Partnering with and investing in Volunteer Canada, the not-for-profit national peak body of the sector, would be crucial not only in order to rebuild trust but also to draw on the invaluable expertise of those delivering volunteering programs since decades.

For example, an expanded Canada Service Corps could also thrive if aligned to a better equipped and much more visible and attractive Pan-Canadian Volunteer Management Platform currently managed by Volunteer Canada in partnership with the Volunteer Centers.

Importantly, as also indicated by the Global Technical Meeting on Volunteering, volunteerism should be promoted also in its more informal and part time forms where the vast majority of volunteers serve across the world without any organizational affiliation.

Therefore, the time is ripe for the Government of Canada to embark on a comprehensive, long term strategy formulation of the sector, an exercise that will engage not only the small and big not for profits but the Provinces and Territories as well as the Municipalities.

Very crucially, the representatives of the First Nations should have voice and resources to design locally suitable service programs that build on their ancient traditions of self-help.

In such strategy, schools and universities should be fully involved because they also have a key responsibility in helping creating the foundations of a more engaged society where volunteering, besides being a propeller for personal and professional development, becomes a habit, a truly Canadian way to foster locally owned development solutions and democracy at the same time.

Inclusion and flexible arrangements to fit a diverse constituency should be an essential feature of any new strategy.

For example, a “National Volunteering Mission” translated on the ground through a mix of interventions funded federally, full time as well as part time, could help many disadvantaged and disenfranchised youth, including many First Nations, to find a new meaning at life while learning new skills applicable to the job market.

Certainly, there is a great need.

A recent report released by UNICEF on the 3rd of September, as reported by The Philanthropist, confirms the urgency for the Federal Government to invest on youth wellbeing especially in view of the high number of suicides and the worrying mental health status experienced by many of them.

Easier and more accessible volunteering opportunities even through intergenerational partnerships with retirees could be one of the ingredients that could be offered to all Canadian youth so that they could be better prepared to deal with their emotions and their personal growth.

As a part of a national conversation on volunteerism, the Federal Government could even think of creating a body mandated to promote volunteerism similar to the Corporation for National and Community Service in the USA that works in partnerships with state levels volunteering commissions.

Options to reinvigorate the volunteering sector in Canada are as endless as are the opportunities provided by the transformative power of volunteering to regenerate interest in community engagement while helping solving local problems.

Moreover, Canadian organizations promoting volunteerism overseas like CECI and WUSC that for years have been successfully running the UNITERRA volunteering program in developing nations with federal money and others like CUSO could also contribute to the debate, bringing the expertise and know-how, sharing what they have learned from their local partners.

While volunteering is certainly not a panacea and should not be seen as a cheap alternative to other indispensable public policies interventions, there is more evidence, globally that it can be an effective tool for, as Secretary General of the United Nations António Guterres said, “making the world more inclusive for people left farthest behind.”

In Canada, the government and the opposition and civil society should unite in a new common cause that can bring Canadians closer towards a better, fairer and more sustainable future, one that puts the Agenda 2030 and the SDGs at the center of policy making.

The upcoming International Volunteer Day that will be celebrated under the banner “Together We Can through Volunteering” should be a day for some big announcement in Ottawa.

*The author can be contacted at: simone_engage@yahoo.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simone-galimberti-4b899a3/

 

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Excerpt:

Simone Galimberti* is Co-Founder of ENGAGE, Inclusive Change Through Volunteering, a not- for-profit NGO based in Nepal. A close observer of Canadian affairs, he writes on volunteerism, social inclusion, youth development and regional integration as an engine to improve people’s lives.

The post The Importance of Investing in Volunteerism appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Dozens of army officers are accused of links with the region's ruling party as federal troops advance.

A simple bag with a painful history for many Ghanaians is the subject of a photography series.

President Donald Trump at the UN Security Council (UNSC) when the US held the rotating Presidency of the Council. Credit: UN Photo/Cia Pak

By Farhang Jahanpour
OXFORD, Nov 18 2020 (IPS)

American democracy has survived a dangerous virus, and it has even come off the ventilator, but whether it will be restored to full health or will suffer for a long time (like a long Covid) from the negative effects of the virus of personality cult, chauvinism, populism, racism, militarism and, yes let’s say it, fascism, remains to be seen.

So far, President Trump has refused to accept that he has lost the election, and instead of conceding he has alleged massive fraud and vote rigging. Instead of conceding, on November 17the he fired Christopher Krebs, the director of the federal agency that vouched for the reliability of the 2020 election.

Trump continues to claim that the election was stolen from him. His personal lawyer Rudi Giuliani has been engaged in desperate efforts in the courts to prove his boss’s unsubstantiated claims, so far without success. As late as November 15th, Trump tweeted: “He [Biden] only won in the eyes of FAKE NEWS MEDIA. I concede NOTHING! We have a long way to go. This was a RIGGED ELECTION!” [Caps as in the original].

Whether ultimately Trump will be forced to concede and move on, his repeated claims of vote rigging and a stolen election have discredited US democracy and have undermined the US reputation as a law-abiding country with a smooth transition of power


In the midst of a deadly pandemic which so far has infected more than 11 million and killed nearly a quarter of a million Americans, the largest number in the world by far, Trump’s refusal to cooperate with the incoming administration to stem the tide of the infections and the resulting economic recession is highly irresponsible.

However, whether ultimately Trump will be forced to concede and move on, his repeated claims of vote rigging and a stolen election have discredited US democracy and have undermined the US reputation as a law-abiding country with a smooth transition of power. There have already been many clashes between Trump’s supporters and opponents, and tension may increase and result in violence before he leaves office.

Four years ago, when the reality TV star and property developer Donald Trump, who had never held any elected office, pushed all his competitors aside and elbowed himself into the White House, despite all the predictions and despite having received three million votes fewer than his opponent, many people were wondering whether the US Constitution’s famed checks and balances would work.

As he broke every rule in the book, blasted the media, sidelined Congress, appointed partisan justices to the Supreme Court, openly criticized the US security services, pulled out of many international treaties, alienated many democratic allies and cozied up with a bunch of authoritarian rulers, it seemed that checks and balances had failed.

The longstanding fear of Trump’s use of force to stay in power, his constant belittling and insulting of his opponent, his encouragement of his base to stick by him, and various attempts to outlaw or at least delegitimize postal votes had caused a great deal of concern among ordinary citizens and even politicians and pundits about a peaceful transition of power.

However, American voters took the matter into their own hands and by voting him out of office as one of only five one-term presidents over the past 100 years they have restored grounds for hope and optimism, but whether the next administration can repair all the damage that has been done to democracy and the rule of law will remains to be seen.

President Trump’s efforts to hold on to power have been unlike anything that Americans have experienced in recent memory, and they resemble the efforts of some rulers in third-world banana republics where the defeated candidates resort to force to subvert the will of the people. “What we have seen in the last week from the president more closely resembles the tactics of the kind of authoritarian leaders we follow,” Michael Abramowitz, the president of Freedom House, which tracks democracy, told the Times. “I never would have imagined seeing something like this in America.”

Apart from undermining democracy at home, Trump and his aides may also engage in some catastrophic adventures abroad before leaving office. According to a New York Times’s scoop, in a meeting with his senior advisors on November 12th, Trump asked them if there were options for a US strike on Iran’s civilian nuclear enrichment facilities.

Apparently, they opposed Trump’s course of action because it could kick off a major war in the last weeks of his presidency. The fact is that Iran has not engaged in an illegal activity and has carried out civilian uranium enrichment under the IAEA supervision in keeping with the Iran nuclear deal (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) which Trump violated, and as a part of his “Maximum Pressure”, imposed crippling illegal sanctions on Iran.

Therefore, not only would an attack on those facilities have constituted a war crime, it would also have resulted in massive casualties among civilians living near those installations. A 2012 study found that a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities would kill between 5,000 and 70,000 people from the release of 1%-20% of the uranium hexafluoride gas at the Isfahan facility. However, if 50% or more of the gas were released the radioactive fallout would be proportionately larger. Even contemplating such an attack shows the extent of his irresponsibility and even criminality.

Another cause for concern is that even if there is a peaceful transition, the long-term effects of the election are still unpredictable. The vote was not a clear, one-sided repudiation of Trump’s authoritarian tendencies and a return to the rule of law. Although the Biden-Harris ticket prevailed by an almost five million votes margin, Trump too received more votes than he did in 2016.

He continues to have a devoted base, and even after seeing the disastrous record of his rule during the past four years, nearly half of the voters voted for him again. This shows that although Trump was defeated by a small margin, Trumpism is still alive and well, and may pose a serious threat to democratic governance during the next four years.

The Democrats lost seats in the House and, contrary to predictions, failed to gain a majority in the Senate. The runoff elections in Georgia on January 5th may reduce the Republican majority in the Senate but the situation is far from ideal. So, it is still premature to predict the end of Trumpism and a return to political health.

The recent election has highlighted some flaws in the US’s electoral system. Although both Al Gore in 2,000 and Hillary Clinton in 2016 received more popular votes than their rivals they failed to be declared president on the basis of the number of Electoral College votes. This clearly goes against the principle of one-person one vote, and the majority vote deciding the outcome.

The Electoral College is a remnant of the debates in the summer of 1787. The Constitutional Convention debated three options about how to elect a president, election by Congress, selection by state legislatures and a popular election. It should be remembered that at that time the right to vote was generally restricted to white, landowning men.

The choice of the Electoral College was to provide a buffer from what Thomas Jefferson referred to as the “well-meaning, but uninformed people” who “could have no knowledge of eminent characters and qualifications and the actual selection decision.”

Surely, in the age of universal education and mass communication, those condescending arguments are no longer valid. The return to the principle of the majority vote will put an end to this anomaly among democratic countries.

 

Drop box outside the Maricopa County Recorder’s office in Phoenix, Arizona. Credit: Peter Costantini.

 

The whole system of voting also needs changing. At the moment, there is no uniform pattern of voting and different states have their own rules. As a result, there have been unnecessary disputes about postal votes, votes received too late, etc. In most other democratic countries there are clear rules of voting and the results are often announced shortly after the end of the election.

The third problem is the duration of transition from one administration to the next with the possibility of mischief by an irresponsible incumbent. In Britain, for instance, the outcome of the election is usually known by the following day when the transfer of power takes place, and the new prime minister moves into 10 Downing Street as the previous one leaves.

These are surely issues for consideration before the next presidential election. However, whatever happens, the fact remains that American democracy has been dealt a major blow as the result of Trump’s populist and authoritarian rule, and it will need a great deal of hard work, national unity and determination to reverse the trend. Sadly, the raging pandemic, the worsening economic recession and a divided society will make that task very difficult.

 

Farhang Jahanpour is a former professor and dean of the Faculty of Languages at the University of Isfahan and a former Senior Research Scholar at Harvard. He has also taught at Cambridge and Oxford universities. He also served as Editor for Middle East and North Africa at the BBC Monitoring from 1979-2001.

The post The Unprecedented US Presidential Election and its Consequences appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Ethiopia's federal authorities deny reports that civilians were targeted during airstrikes in Mekelle.

By Saul Escobar Toledo
MEXICO CITY, Nov 18 2020 (IPS)

As many have observed worldwide, the outcome of the US presidential elections has been, as expected – full of hope and fear. Many people had the bad feeling that if Trump were to be re-elected, the uncertainty, already enormous due to the pandemic and its effects, would jeopardize the economic recovery worldwide. The triumph of Democrat Biden does not guarantee great solutions, but at the least offers a little more of transparency, certainty, and stability.

Saul Escobar Toledo

For Mexico, the result could impact in different senses: the policy towards Latin America; pressures to stop undocumented migration; and the economic and commercial ties between both nations. There is, however, a special issue that deserves more attention because it has been less well known: labor relations in Mexico.

To understand the issue, it is worth remembering that to renegotiate NAFTA and the signature of the T-MEC or USMC (United States, Mexico, and Canada Agreement) anew labor chapter was introduced. It is Annex 23-A which is entitled “The representation of workers in collective bargaining in Mexico”. There is no doubt that this annex was agreed to try to prevent in Mexico the existence of “contratos de protección patronal” or protection labor contracts which favor employers as they are signed without the knowledge and of course the acceptance of the workers. In short, labor agreements are legally valid but fraudulent because there was no bargaining at all between employers and employees. This kind of contracts have made easier the permanent fall of wages of Mexican workers. The purpose for this has been to attract investments and companies from the US to Mexico.

As a result of the labor chapter agreed in USMC, Mexico had to reform its labor legislation, which happened in April 2019. The new administration headed by President Lopez Obrador was keen to these changes as he was convinced that companies have abused Mexican workers too much and too long.

The constitutional and law amendments gave light to a new labor model. The one that was in force for more than a hundred years was based on tripartite justice (government, employers, and workers); it is now supported by judicial courts. The old order gave the government the power to recognize and control the unions; the new is based on a broad freedom of association. For the first time in many years, Mexican workers will have a real chance to choose by secret, personal and direct vote their leaders and representatives; and join the organization of their choice.

Despite these reforms, the vote of the (new) Agreement in the Congress of the United States was a complicated matter. It was finally resolved when the bill HR- 5430 was adopted on January 3, 2020 by US lawmakers. In Title VII there is a “labor monitoring and enforcement “chapter. It includes an Interagency Labor Committee designed to monitor the implementation and maintenance of Mexico’s labor reform. The Committee will also have the task of establishing a web-based hotline, monitored by the Department of Labor, to receive confidential information regarding labor issues directly from Mexican workers.

The bill authorizes hiring of up to 5 additional full-time officers of the Department of Labor and assign them to the United States Embassy in Mexico. Their duty is: “Submitting to the Interagency Labor Committee on a quarterly basis, reports on the efforts undertaken by Mexicoto comply with its labor obligations”. The bill also established an ‘‘Independent Mexico Labor Expert Board’’, to be responsible for monitoring and evaluating the implementation of Mexico’s labor reform and compliance with its labor obligations. The Board will be composed of 12 members appointed by the government and both parties represented in Congress (Democrats and Republicans).

In summary, the Treaty contemplates a heavy bureaucratic apparatus that will monitor the conditions of Mexican workers , especially in industries such as: automobile assembly; auto part; aerospace; electronics; call centers ; mining and steel and aluminum. In case of finding violations and if they are not corrected, the goods produced in these companies would be detained at the border unable to enter the US and Canada, or rather receive a special tariff. This legal and institutional machinery is going to remain despite the political changes that take place in Washington due to the November 3 elections.

Meanwhile, in Mexico, things changed in more ways than one: the effects of the pandemic and the economic slowdown had a response from the government that consisted of maintaining its original program , planned since last year and, in addition , carrying out an adjustment to public spending . This austerity policy was confirmed in the draft budget sent to Congress for 2021.

Thus, the collapse of the employment, formal and informal, and the income of families have had no compensation, causing a huge social debt that is reflected in an increase of poverty and extreme poverty. It is also expected that the economic recovery will be much slower for the rest of the year and 2021. All this will undoubtedly make more difficult collective bargaining as companies will seek to cut staff, provide fewer benefits or freeze wages. In addition, while the health problem is resolved, the resumption of economic activities may cause more infections and deaths among industrial workers, as seems to be happening in the maquiladora industry along the northern border of the country.

Under these conditions, the implementation of the labor reform, with surveillance and in some cases direct inspection of US personnel could be the cause of disputes and controversies. Biden´s victory will probably put more pressure on Mexico. Labor unions in the US and Canada will support the “monitoring” is carried out effectively and on time.

The president and the Congress of Mexico cannot be indifferent and wait to see what happens. A decisive set of actions to curb poverty and unemployment, protect workers and revive the economy with lower risks is necessary and urgent. Only in this way can workers’ bargaining capacity be strengthened.

The future of the labor reform cannot depend on US pressure on Mexico. Even if we admit that the intentions are laudable,Mexican workers cannot become pieces of a mechanism at the service of a foreign country: nothing more and nothing less than the most powerful nation in the world.

saulescobar.blogspot.com

 

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Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah returns a second positive test for coronavirus while on international duty with Egypt.