Africa - INTER PRESS SERVICE

In Gaza, every day is a struggle to find bread and water. Without safe water, many people will die from deprivation and disease. Credit: UNRWA

By Robert Misik
VIENNA, Austria , Feb 9 2024 (IPS)

A bloodbath is taking place in the Middle East, and yet, the world is embroiled in absurd debates. One is tempted to say, paraphrasing Marx: here the tragedy, there the farce. The German-speaking world – and Germany in particular – takes a decidedly pro-Israeli stance, while in other societies, an equally dubious anti-Israeli position prevails.

At the beginning of October, Hamas and other Islamist groups not only launched an attack from the Gaza strip but also carried out a cruel massacre. Over 1 200 people were killed, most of them civilians, young party people, including many peace activists: the majority of the inhabitants of the affected kibbutzim belonged to the Israeli left.

Horrific war crimes were committed, which cannot be justified as ‘collateral damage’ of legitimate resistance. Nor can we ignore the fanatical ideology of radical Islamism, which eliminates empathy and justifies acts of bloodshed.

However, due to the bloody history of at least 75 years of conflict and the recent history of occupation policies and the irresponsible escalation strategies of Benjamin Netanyahu’s radical right-wing governments, the attack met much approval within the Palestinian population. Fatah and the Palestinian Authority have been weakened for years, and their support is dwindling.

Rights and obligations

The Israeli government responded with massive military action and retaliatory strikes. This, on the one hand, was to be expected – no nation in the world could not have reacted to such an attack – but, on the other hand, the war immediately escalated in a horrific manner, which was, unfortunately, also to be expected. Around 27 000 people have now lost their lives in Gaza. Entire families have been wiped out by the bombardments.

Under international law, Israel has the right to respond to such an attack, but every country also has the duty to act ‘proportionately’. What is proportionate – in relation to threats or to defined, legitimate war aims – is a complicated legal debate.

But it is largely undisputed that the shrugging acceptance of tens of thousands of civilian casualties cannot be justified, even in the fight against a ‘terrorist’ organisation. And excessive force that literally razes Gaza to the ground, which destroys the livelihoods of the civilian population, the supply of food and the medical-care system, is itself a war crime.

Put quite simply: to a bestial war crime by Hamas, Israel has itself responded with war crimes. And the matter is made worse by the fact that leading members of Israel’s government have engaged in appalling rhetoric, from Manichean religious-war language to vile fantasies of mass expulsions and ‘ethnic cleansing’.

Just as the history of the conflict has for decades provided both sides with arguments for viewing the other as the perpetrator and their own side only as the victim, the same has been true in these recent months. Palestinian figures see Hamas’ actions as a justified reaction to oppression, while their Israeli counterparts see excessive (and criminal) military action as a legitimate response to terror.

Yet, that is precisely the problem. Those who paint a Manichean, black-and-white picture fall far short of the terrible complexities of this conflict. There are horrible pogroms in the West Bank by right-wing extremist settlers and members of the army, and violent expulsions of Palestinians and an expropriation of their land. And there are terrible acts of violence involving unspeakable cruelty by Palestinian militias.

But the world is increasingly sorting itself into vocal supporter groups of fans and followers. In many societies, this is obviously about their own history and identity. To be more precise: a complex reality is being accommodated to the apparent requirements of their domestic politics of remembrance — and if it doesn’t fit, it is being made to.

Manipulation strategies

Germany and Austria have adopted a decidedly pro-Israeli position. First, this can be explained by their own history, the fatal past of genocidal anti-Semitism which escalated under the Nazi regime into the Shoah against European Jews.

This is why Germany has been an ally of Israel for decades: the former chancellor, Angela Merkel, declared it an important element of the German Staatsräson (reason of state). This is why there is, properly, a strong sensitivity in Germany towards anti-Semitism and the threat to Jews and why the identity of Israel as a safe ‘home’ for all Jews is supported.

The extreme right in both Germany and Austria supports Israel today, on the one hand because Israel’s opponents are Muslims (whom it hates even more than contemporary Jews) and on the other because this is the best way to immunise itself against the accusation of being ‘Nazi’.

In addition, however, the Israeli right – above all the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his party, in alliance with right-wing Jewish lobby groups abroad – has sought in recent decades to denounce almost any criticism of Israeli policy as ‘anti-Semitic’ and thus morally eliminate it.

In German-speaking countries and some other societies with a very well-founded sense of guilt, this manipulation strategy has worked: nobody wants to expose themselves to the suspicion of being seen as a person with morally reprehensible opinions — in other words, as an anti-Semite.

Susan Neiman, a Jewish-German-American intellectual who is director of the Berlin Einstein Centre, recently wrote a major essay in the New York Review of Books in which she spoke of a ‘philosemitic McCarthyism’ that had taken on the characteristics of ‘hysteria’.

Things had gone so far that ‘non-Jewish Germans publicly accuse Jewish writers, artists and activists of anti-Semitism’. As in the early postwar campaign of denunciation of ‘anti-Americanism’ led by Senator Joseph McCarthy, dissenting views are silenced.

In extreme cases, this has had bizarre consequences. Conferences have been banned, at which large numbers of people with the most diverse views should have been exchanging them. In Kassel, an Indian art critic and curator lost his position because he had signed a (rather stupid) Israel boycott petition years ago, despite having unequivocally condemned ‘the terror unleashed by Hamas on 7 October’ as a ‘terrible massacre’.

A Berlin theatre removed from its programme a humorous play (The Situation) about the conflict of narratives by the Austro-Israeli playwright Yael Ronen — now that the situation ‘puts us on Israel’s side’.

‘Israel’ has become a ‘trigger point’ in the culture wars, as with ‘wokeness’ or similar themes elsewhere. ‘Part of a proper culture war is … to want to misunderstand the other side at all costs’, the critic Hanno Rautenberg wrote recently in the Hamburg weekly Die Zeit, about the German debates on Israel: ‘One wrong word or even just one unsaid word and you’re threatened with discursive excommunication.’

No doubt there are forms of criticism of specific Israeli policies that carry more than just anti-Semitic overtones, but in most cases, this is far from reality. As a result, German public opinion is oddly many times more ‘pro-Israeli’ than Israeli public opinion itself.

Good and evil, oppressor and oppressed

If there is one-sidedness in the discourse in the German-speaking world, this certainly exists in other parts of the world as well, and not only in Muslim or Arab countries such as Turkey, Iran, Jordan or Indonesia.

In the United States, Britain and other societies, significant sections of the public and the academic left cultivate their own one-sidedness. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is described in categories of imperialism and colonialism, into which it hardly fits.

The ‘post-colonial’ left has adopted theories, some of which are quite inspiring and have opened up productive new intellectual horizons, but it has radicalised them into Manichean delusions. The world is divided into oppressor and oppressed — and, in this simple-minded worldview, the person identified as the ‘oppressed’ is always right. Since oppressors can never even comprehend the experiences of the oppressed, the oppressed must always be proved right.

From there, it is only a small step to the final clicking into place: the Palestinians are black / ‘people of colour’, the Jews are white, and in Israel, they are beacons of ‘US imperialism’. Even if one cannot find everything Hamas does to be right, as an authentic expression of the resistance of the oppressed against the system of oppression it is ‘right’ in a higher way. Israel, on the other hand, is a ‘settler-colonialist’ project.

Since, in this perspective, the idea of free debate is a ‘bourgeois ideology’ only invented to support the ruling power, dissenting views should be delegitimised or, if necessary, shouted down, because what is deemed ‘sayable’ and what ‘non-sayable’ is merely an effect of power.

Just as in Germany, any criticism of Israel is labelled ‘anti-Semitic’ and thus compromised as morally culpable, so any defence of Israel’s right to exist is dismissed as an expression of ‘racism’.

Amid all this dogmatism, one gets the impression the whole world has gone mad. While Germany unconditionally supports Israel, as an imperative of its own guilt and exterminationist anti-Semitism, American, British and other discourses are also characterised by the imperatives of their own history: racism, the genocide of indigenous populations, the enslavement of black people, imperial exploitation, colonial oppression and exploitation. Fragments of the real are used arbitrarily and pressed into the scheme of one’s own politics of memory, for which ‘identity politics’ is then actually the opposite decryption.

Most of the time, all this has less to do with real Palestinians and real Israelis than who and what one wants to be — how one wants to see the world and oneself in it. One poses as a heroic fighter against anti-Semitism, or against racism and colonialism, while the external appurtenances of reality become at most the set for this show of the self, as props in a play— to whose script reality must be made to conform.

Source: Social Europe and International Politics and Society (IPS)-Journal, Brussels.

Robert Misik is a writer and essayist. He publishes in many German-language newspapers and magazines, including Die Zeit and Die Tageszeitung.

IPS UN Bureau

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');  

Credit: United Nations

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 9 2024 (IPS)

As the UN continues its never-ending saga on the reform of the Security Council (UNSC), one of the political anomalies that keeps cropping up is the absence of Africa, among the five permanent members (P5)—a privilege bestowed only on the US, UK, France, China and the Russian Federation.

The African continent, which has been shut out, consists of 55 states with a total population of over 1.4 billion people.

Providing a list of his “priorities for 2024”, Secretary-General Antonion Guterres singled out the reform of the Security Council— a lingering issue in an institution which is nearly 79 years old—when he told delegates on February 7, “it is totally unacceptable that the African continent is still waiting for a permanent seat”

Guterres said: “And indeed our world badly needs: Reform of the Security Council; Reform of the international financial system; the meaningful engagement of youth in decision-making; a Global Digital Compact to maximize the benefits of new technologies and minimize the risks and an emergency platform to improve the international response to complex global shocks.”

Responding to a question at a press conference during the South Summit in Uganda last month, Guterres was critical of what he called “a clear injustice, a flagrant injustice, that there is not one single African permanent member of the Security Council’.

And, he said, one of the reasons was that most of the countries of Africa were not independent when the UN institutions were created.

“But in recent public declarations, I’ve seen the permanent members being favourable to at least one African permanent member. United States said so, the Russian Federation said so, China has been positive in this regard, UK and France too”.

“So, for the first time, I’m hopeful that at least a partial reform of the UN Security Council could be possible for this flagrant injustice to be corrected, and for Africa to have at least one permanent member in the Security Council”.

But it is not guaranteed, he cautioned, because nothing depends on the Secretary-General. “It depends exclusively on Member States, on the General Assembly, but for the first time I think there are reasons to be hopeful.”

Meanwhile, the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region, which has over 670 million people, with 12 Latin American countries and 21 self-governing territories, mostly in the Caribbean, is also missing from permanent membership in the UNSC.

Martin S. Edwards, Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs, School of Diplomacy and International Relations, at Seton Hall University in New Jersey, told IPS: “I think that we should be talking seriously about issues of representation in the Security Council, but the challenge is how to move from rhetoric to a serious proposal”.

There are different ways to frame this, he pointed out.

“The G20 added the African Union (AU) as a member, and of course, we could also think about regional seats along the lines of the Human Rights Council. But this having been said, the key issue is what is the ask.”

The US position has been to increase regional representation without a veto. “I realize that this might not go as far as advocates would want, but since there is already a significant movement underway to delegitimize the veto, insisting on the veto would put those efforts at cross purposes.”

But the bigger and unaddressed challenge for all proposals for reform is that they do not respect the realities of US domestic politics.

The US Senate would have to approve any proposed change to the charter, and the window for any proposed reform is now largely shut because of the realities of the US electoral calendar, declared Edwards.

Responding to a question at a news briefing last month, UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the Secretary-General’s opinion is reflective of a lot of people’s opinion.

“That you have a whole continent, where in fact, a lot of the UN’s peace and security work is ongoing. And no Member State from that continent sits on the body that discusses and decides policies relating to peace and security”.

“And he’s talked about the injustice of those countries that were former colonies that were penalized twice — once by being colonized and second, by not even being at the table when the architecture of the multilateral system was discussed.”

“How Member States decide on Security Council reform, what that will look like, will be up to them. He’s made his feelings known, and I think it’s not the first time he’s said something like that. But in the end, it will be up to Member States themselves to decide. And whether or not they take into account the view of António Guterres is, we will see”, said Dujarric.

Purnima Mane, Past President and Executive Director, Pathfinder International and a former Assistant Secretary General (ASG) and Deputy Executive Director (Programmes) at UNFPA, told IPS the Secretary-General’s regret at the injustice of the absence of even a single African permanent member of the Security Council opens up a long-standing debate on the relevance of the original framework used in the appointment of permanent members of the Security Council.

She said the discussion on the relevance of the current permanent membership of the Security Council is not new but has not really gone anywhere. The issue of the relevance in the modern world of permanent membership based on historical reasons has been somewhat circumvented by establishing the possibility of non-permanent membership.

“The SG in his comments stated that each of the five current permanent members have expressed their openness to this change but when the rubber hits the road, coming to clear rules of implementation will not be easy.

She posed several pertinent questions: “Will the existing rules of the UN SC membership be altered entirely? How many such permanent positions will be created? And will this membership be limited to a specific country like the current membership, or based on regional allocation like Africa as the SG suggests? “

And what will be the process for determining which country gets this privilege and will it also be in perpetuity or a rotating membership like the non-permanent membership? asked Mane.

She said there will be lots of questions will come up, including the willingness of the five permanent members to act on what the SG refers to as their openness to having an African country join the cadre of permanent membership, and the response from other regions which are not represented in the permanent membership currently.

“Knowing how complex the processes in the UN can be, any change process in the membership model is bound to be long, complex and resisted by some countries. If the issue of justice and fairness is to be raised, UN member countries might well question the relevance in today’s world of the need for maintaining the historical reasons for the establishment of permanent membership of the Security Council” she argued.

This certainly opens the door for a broader definition of membership of the Security Council, challenging the hierarchy of privileges which might be seen as unjust in today’s world.

The UN could certainly benefit from a discussion of this nature. Even if this discussion will involve lengthy and complex processes to come to any resolution, it is surely worth the effort in order to ensure that UN membership is seen as equal, in essence, in the eyes of all its members.

https://www.ipsnews.net/2024/02/reform-un-security-council-good-try-lost-cause/

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');  

Rwanda is using drone technology as an effective and innovative way of eradicating malaria in breeding sites. Credit: Aimable Twahirwa/IPS

By Aimable Twahirwa
KIGALI, Feb 8 2024 (IPS)

Experts recommend that the current prevention of malaria in highly endemic countries in Africa should integrate “locally appropriate” control measures to cope with the highest burden of mosquito-borne disease on the continent.

The latest 2023 World Malaria Report shows that the life-threatening disease remains a significant public health challenge, with both malaria incidence and mortality higher now than they were before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic on the African continent.

According to a World Health Organization (WHO) report, the effects of climate change and other issues pose a threat to the advancement of the disease-fighting effort.

Official statistics show that the African region disproportionally bore the brunt of the malaria burden in 2022, accounting for 94 percent of global malaria cases and 95 percent of all malaria deaths, which were estimated at 608,000, a nearly 6 percent increase since 2019.

WHO’s Africa office’s Tropical and Vector Borne Disease Lead, Dr. Dorothy Fosah-Achu, told IPS that vector control interventions in Africa have remained challenged, with bednets being one of the most effective vector control tools the continent is relying on.

“Most endemic countries [in Africa] are adopting new treated bednets to replace those having the issue with resistance, but these improved nets are more expensive, which makes it challenging for countries to cover large zones using this intervention,” Fosah-Achu said in an exclusive interview.

The latest WHO report on malaria places a special focus on climate change as a critical factor threatening progress in the fight against malaria. Climate-related disruptions, such as extreme weather events, may have exacerbated the spread of the disease.

Alongside climate change, other issues are threatening efforts to fight malaria.

The funding gap has grown, the report says. “Total spending in 2022 reached USD 4.1 billion—well below the USD 7.8 billion required globally to stay on track for the global milestones of reducing case incidence and mortality rates by at least 90 percent by 2030 (compared with a 2015 baseline).” This funding would include both control, diagnosis, preventative therapies, and treatment.

Growing resistance to available control tools, such as insecticides and antimalarial drugs, remains an increasing concern.

According to experts, most African countries do not have enough bednets.  They do have insecticides that can be used to spray homes at breeding sites, but those interventions are very expensive.

While the high proportion of the population without access to quality medicines for malaria in Africa continues to be another issue, Fosah-Achu is convinced that the consequence of high mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa is also related to the limited health facilities and hospitals that provide access to treatment in a timely manner to the population living in remote zones.

In addition, health experts say that any success of antimalarial interventions in endemic countries in Africa will require appropriate coordination of efforts in terms of fighting against the resistance of vectors to insecticides and the resistance of parasites to medicines.

According to experts, another challenge is that endemic countries in Africa have technical capacity gaps because their national health facilities are not equipped with the right human resources who are able to manage programs and monitor some of these biological threats, such as vector resistance.

The latest estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO) show that in Africa, an estimated 233 million cases of malaria occur each year, resulting in approximately 1 million deaths. More than 90 percent of these are in children under five. Official statistics show that currently the African region bears the heaviest malaria burden, with 94 percent of cases and 95 percent of deaths globally, representing 233 million malaria cases and 580,000 deaths.

Dr. Ludoviko Zirimenya, a medical researcher at the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI), told IPS that the changing climate across many endemic regions in Africa poses a substantial risk to progress against malaria.

“Africa is the most affected due to a combination of factors, the major one being climate change,” Zirimenya said.

In Rwanda, like other endemic countries across Africa, malaria is often found in rainy seasons, and meteorological factors and altitude are described by experts as the major drivers of malaria incidence on the continent.

Both Zirimenya and Fosah-Achu believe that the burden of malaria transmission on the continent can be reduced when countries put in place appropriate mechanisms to strengthen the data management system to ensure they have strong surveillance systems.

Public health experts observe that climate change is a growing issue, and countries in some endemic countries have little support to set up programmes to counter its impact.

The WHO report acknowledges this saying: “Equally crucial is the need to position the fight against malaria within the climate change/health nexus and to equip communities to anticipate, adapt to, and mitigate the effects of climate change, including the rise of extreme weather events. As you will see in the report, there are a range of actions—strategic, technical, and operational—that countries and their partners should begin to pursue now.”

Currently, numerous interventions to control malaria have been implemented across many African countries, but experts note that the incidence of the killer disease has increased in recent years.

“There are financial capacity gaps to be filled by some countries. Most African governments still need to learn how to mobilize resources and ensure that [malaria interventions] programs deliver on the plans that they have developed themselves,” Fosah-Achu said.

Despite these challenges, there have also been achievements. Recent progress includes the launch of the first malaria vaccine, RTS,S/AS01, and the endorsement by WHO of a second vaccine, R21/Matrix-M. Additionally, the use of new dual-active ingredient insecticide-treated nets and expanded malaria prevention for high-risk children have been crucial advancements, offering new avenues for combating the disease.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');   Related Articles

• Rwanda’s Biodiversity Conservation Gains Momentum With Bird Sounds Recording
• Restoring Indigenous Trees: New Mission to Combat Climate Change in Rwanda
• African, Asian Parliamentarians Debate How People-Centered Policies Aid Development of Women, Youth

Left: Rocky Dawuni, Singer and UNEP Goodwill Ambassador, promotes the SDGs. Credit: UN Photo/Mark Garten.
 
Right: Tendayi Achiume, Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, briefs journalists. Credit: UN Photo/Loey Felipe.
When empowered, people of African descent can make a difference!

By Sonya Beard
NEW YORK, Feb 8 2024 (IPS)

In 1977, a record-breaking mini-series carved its place in the milestone of US history. Based on Alex Haley’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Roots: The Saga of an American Family, the small-screen adaptation exposed the atrocities of the transatlantic slave trade and its impact on generations thereafter.

Suddenly overnight — eight nights, to be exact — the Emmy Award-winning Roots transformed the racial slur “Go back to Africa” into a call to action, an opportunity for African Americans to reclaim their stolen heritage.

Back to Africa

Nearly 40 years after the release of Roots, Diallo Sumbry went to Ghana to seek spiritual discipline. “Initially, I came to study manifestation and traditional African science,” the Washington, DC-based entrepreneur said.

Credit: Diallo Sumbry
The UN designated the International Decade for People of African Descent, from 2015 to 2024, to promote the recognition, justice, and development of African descendants worldwide. Through various programs, events, and awareness campaigns, the Decade seeks to create a platform for dialogue, understanding, and positive change in the lives of people in the diaspora. Africa Renewal, a UN publication, is publishing ‘In Search of Long-Lost Identities’ – a four-part series highlighting the journeys African Americans are taking to reconnect with Africa – the continent their ancestors called home.

Everywhere you go, people are talking about the diaspora.On a trip in 2016, Mr. Sumbry received a prophecy, that “if I moved to Ghana and decided to do business here, things would go well for me. I would fulfil my life’s mission, and Ghana would be my spiritual home.”

A dozen trips later, he found himself fulfilling that prophecy by reconnecting people in the African diaspora to the African continent.

As co-architect of Ghana’s “Year of Return,” Mr. Sumbry helped to facilitate an international campaign for the 400-year commemoration of the first documented arrival of enslaved Africans in America in 1619.

[The 2019 Year of Return was an initiative of the government of Ghana and the Adinkra Group, which sought to encourage African diasporans to settle and invest in the continent].

Visiting Africa can offer African Americans a high level of freedom. … You can be who you are.With more than 1.1 million international visitors, according to the Ghana Tourism Authority, the return may go down as the largest transatlantic African-American homecoming in history.

“The ‘Year of Return’ changed African tourism,” Mr. Sumbry said.

In 2020, the “Year of Return” campaign evolved into “Beyond the Return,” the tourism authority’s 10-year initiative. “Everywhere you go, people are talking about the diaspora,” Mr. Sumbry observed. “It sparked something, and we probably won’t see the full breadth of its impact for years to come.”

Respite from racism

Every person of African descent should visit the continent at least once in their life, according to Mr. Sumbry, who arranges trips through his firm, the Adinkra Group, where he serves as president and chief executive officer.

“The experience can offer African Americans a high level of freedom,” he said. “There is no racism here as we see it in America. You are more rooted here. You can feel your spirit and your ancestors. You can be who you are.”

His efforts may place the Sumbry name on the list of historical figures who championed ‘Back-to-Africa’ movements. He would be in excellent company.

In 1815, Massachusetts shipping magnate Paul Cuffe doubted whether he would achieve racial equality in his lifetime. The philanthropist convinced 38 other African Americans to settle in Sierra Leone, and he financed their resettlement there.

According to the White House Historical Association, Mr. Cuffe is believed to have led the first successful Back-to-Africa movement in the United States; his efforts served as inspiration for the American Colonization Society, founded in 1816 to establish Liberia and resettle African Americans there.

A century later, Jamaican-born Marcus Garvey moved to New York City and encouraged African Americans to board ships of his Black Star Line for the voyage back across the Atlantic.

Ghanaian President Kwame Nkrumah took inspiration from the Harvard-educated Pan-African scholar W.E.B. Dubois, who co-founded in 1909 what would become America’s longest-running civil rights organisation, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

According to the Constitutional Rights Foundation, Mr. Dubois renounced his US citizenship and became a citizen of Ghana, where he spent his final days. He rests in peace at a museum named in his honour in Accra.

In the early 1960s, poet Maya Angelou and her son also lived in Ghana among nearly 200 African Americans expatriates whom she referred to as the “Revolutionist Returnees.”

“We were Black Americans living in West Africa, where — for the first time in our lives — the colour of our skin was accepted as correct and normal,” Ms. Angelou wrote in her autobiography, All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes.

To this day, Ms. Angelou’s sentiments resonate with African-American mothers who have decided to repatriate to the motherland.

Peace of home

In corporate America, Ashley Cleveland was working her dream tech job with an executive title and a lucrative salary while management treated her as if she were in an administrative assistant role.

“Black women get brought into corporations, and they are celebrated at first,” the Boston native said. “Then they go through all these micro-aggressions, and finally they are let go.”

After three layoffs in five years, she checked into a psychotherapy treatment centre, only to find it filled with other senior-level Black women with similar stories. She took a year to reset her life: she traded visiting psychiatrists and using prescription medication for taking hikes and walking on the beaches of Tanzania in East Africa.

Initially, she doubted whether she should move abroad when her first child was born. Recently, the mother of two relocated to Johannesburg.

“We were Black Americans living in West Africa, where … the colour of our skin was accepted as correct and normal.”

When she is not working as head of growth for BrandUp Global, she echoes Ms. Angelou in telling other African-American families why they must relocate to the continent. “I explain the benefits that it provides Black children to live in societies where their skin colour is not an issue.”

Ms. Cleveland, whose children are learning Zulu and Kiswahili in primary school, said they are more well-rounded and intellectually challenged abroad. “They have a better childhood. We no longer worry about sending them to school and wondering if they’re going to make it back safely.”

“I have a sense of peace here [in South Africa.] Here, I’m a better mother.”

When asked whether she had any plans to return home, she answered: “Where? America? I have a sense of peace here that I shouldn’t have to give up. We don’t worry about getting pulled over by the police. I’m not operating with that anxiety as a parent anymore. Here, I’m a better mother.”

For Ms. Cleveland, Africa is home.

Sonya Beard is a writer and educator based in New York.

Source: Africa Renewal, United Nations

IPS UN Bureau

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');  

 
Woke, adjective; woker, wokest. Chiefly US slang – Being aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice). Disapproving: politically liberal or progressive (as in matters of racial and social justice) especially in a way that is considered unreasonable or extreme.
Webster’s Dictionary

By Jan Lundius
STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Feb 8 2024 (IPS)

“Woke” was for a century, especially among black people in the US, an inspirational concept. However, almost overnight it turned into a pejorative. Like using the term “politically correct” as an insult, calling someone “woke” came to imply that the referred person’s views are excessively ridiculous, or even despicable. Being “anti-woke” has become an indication that you do not belong to an assumed group of “do-gooders”, who at the expense of right-minded “ordinary” citizens assert the demands of interest groups, which declare themselves to be discriminated against due to their ethnicity/race, gender, sexual preference, and/or physical or psychological disabilities.

Originally being woked meant to be attentive to injustice, in a sense indicated by Martin Luther King Jr. in his 1967 book Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?

One of the great liabilities of history is that all too many people fail to remain awake through great periods of social change. Every society has its protectors of the status quo and its fraternities of the indifferent who are notorious for sleeping through revolutions. But today our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change.

In those days to be woke meant to be knowledgeable about and attentive to threats to tolerance, compassion and human rights. Or like the R&B group Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes sang in 1975: “Wake up everybody, no more sleeping in bed, no more backwards thinking, time for thinking ahead!” Martin Luther King’s statement and the R&B tune might be compared with opinions currently expressed by former US -, and maybe would-be, president Donald J. Trump:

… political correctness is just absolutely killing us as a country. You can’t say anything. Anything you say today, they’ll find a reason why it’s not good.

I don’t like the term “woke” because I hear, “Woke, woke, woke.” It’s just a term they use, half the people can’t even define it, they don’t know what it is.

Trump has repeatedly claimed that the Biden-administration is “destroying the country with woke”, accusations repeated by European right-wingers declaring that their nations also are destroyed by woke, like Hungary’s Orbán who stated that “we [the Hungarians] will not give up fighting against woke ideology”.

The “woke nightmare” of anti-woke activists might be compared to a futuristic short story Kurt Vonnegut wrote as a warning of threats to self-expression. Harrison Bergeron is a dystopian satire taking place in the year of 2081, 120 years after the story was written. According this nightmare a US, “politically correct” Constitution dictates that all Americans have to be entirely equal. No one is allowed to be smarter, better-looking, or more physically able than anyone else. Ruthless agents of a Handicapper General enforce equality laws by forcing citizens to wear so called handicaps, i.e. masks for those who are too beautiful, earpiece radio-transmitters for the intelligent, which blast out noises meant to disrupt their thoughts, and heavy weights for the strong and athletic.

To many, this equality delirium is now becoming a reality. “Woke” is found at the epicentre on both the left and right side of the political spectrum. It has become a pervasive catchphrase for a wide variety of social movements related to issues concerning LGBTQ rights, feminism, immigration, climate change and marginalised communities. The woke concept is accordingly an abhorrence for people opposed to phenomena like the toppling, or besmirching of statues deemed to honour villains. Another “woke initiative” making opponents agitated are efforts to ensure an environment supportive of transgender and/or gender non-conforming individuals, by advising against using “gender identifying” terminologies like father/mother, male/female, brother/sister etc., while propagating for the installation of separate toilets for transgender people. Another alleged woke proposal, which tend to upset people, are attempts to rebrand religious holidays by recommending a “neutral terminology” and even decide against their open celebration. Related to this is the implementation of measures to please religious fundamentalists, like separate gender-based rules when it comes to dress, sports, education, etc. To large swaths of the general public such a development indicates “political correctness” gone mad.

However, the problem with assaults on “political correctness” is that they might go too far, emboldening obscurantists, who have been lurking in the shadows, to bring their hate speech into the light of day. Anti-wokes are also lowering the bar for what is considered to be an acceptable discourse among politicians and other leaders, while forcing them further to extreme positions. “Woke” has become a slur dividing the world in “us” and “them”, without exploring the reasons for different beliefs. Influencers have declared that what they call The Great Awokening has become a cult of “leftist social justice”. An almost religious, fundamentalistic sectarianism with followers demonstrating a fervour similar to that of born-again zealots, who want to punish heresy by banishing sinners from society, or coercing them to public demonstrations of shame.

One political pressure group infected by anti-woke feelings are Climate change deniers, who use pseudoscience to contradict a scientific consensus about the threat of climate change. Efforts are made to sweep legitimate concerns about this lurking danger under the rug. One of many examples of dangerous white-washing is the Fox Channel-promoted and influential Republican politician and Baptist minister Mike Huckabee, whose 2023 The Kids Guide to the Truth About Climate Change, falsely minimize fossil fuel emissions’ contribution to global warming.

Such storytelling might be considered in the light of President Trump’s environmental policies, which erased or loosened almost 100 rules and regulations concerning pollution in the air, water and atmosphere, as well as they were instrumental in the US withdrawal from the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. Such actions critically influenced and slowed down global efforts to reduce emissions and prompted other governments to downplay scientifically based warnings about the urgency of putting a stop to fossil fuel burning.

One of many indicators of a growing support to anti-wokers is the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC), which in October 2023 celebrated its first conference in Greenwich, London, featuring 100 speakers, attracting 1,500 delegates from 71 nations The event was labelled as “one of the largest gatherings of the global centre-right in recent British history”, an “anti-woke Davos”. The ARC is an international organisation, which purpose is to replace a “sense of division and drift within Conservatism and Western society at large, with a renewed cohesion and purpose”. The Conference was inaugurated with a speech by Philippa Stroud, “the Baroness Stroud” a Conservative Party Peer in the British House of Lords and leader of several conservative think tanks. She greeted the participants with the words: “You are all here because you are personally invited, since you are people with courage, vision and a transformative way of thinking.”

This was different from the Trumpist movements’ less unpolished and forthright anti-woke meetings. The ARC conference was more lavish, polished and academic, though even if the packaging was different the messages were similar. Conservative and liberal speakers were critical of what they considered to be a failed liberal social order, fomenting climate alarmism, totalitarianism, “cultural Marxism”, and lack of parental responsibility.

Climate change was not dismissed, but reporting on its dangers were described as misleading and dishonest. The climate change activist Greta Thunberg was described as suffering from a “histrionic personality disorder” and it was declared that the climate movement had similarities to narcissism and hysteria. The conference’s opposite and more “positive” message was that energy and prosperity are interconnected and that a continuous use of fossil fuels is decisive for lifting countries out of poverty. Climate change will reduce prosperity, but not eradicate it. A somewhat spurious assertion.

A double-edged message is common for most anti-woke affirmations and the ARC conference’s self-proclaimed “positive attitude” was an example of this. The individual’s value, personal responsibility and right to self-determination were emphasized and contrasted to “the woke culture’s” insistence on structural explanations for group adversity. Not a word was uttered about inequality and/or the State’s concern and responsibility for equal rights to education and health care, instead it was declared that “State interference is not the solution, but the problem”.

The nuclear family was described as a recipe for success. Mothers had to be encouraged to stay at home for at least three years, but it was not explained how this would be socio-economically realized. Nothing was said about the fact that not all families are happy, or the importance of a loving home where chores are shared, instead there were obscure statements about “conservative family values”, attacking abortion and same-sex marriages.

The anti-woke movement, as it emerged during the ARC conference, claims to be a revolt against the Establishment. However, many of the speakers were extremely privileged, or even millionaires, being representatives of the same elite, which the movement declares it wants to distance itself from. What made Donald Trump so successful was not that he was like his voters, but that he made them consider him to be one of them. It’s one thing to formulate a story, another to achieve it in reality. In many ways, the anti-woke movement appears to be a myth to live by, rather than a serious attempt to wake up to a threatening reality and do something about it. In many respects, the anti-woke movement appears to be more of a hankering for bygone times than a search for innovative visions for the future. On a wall in the conference room was a huge poster with a quote from the US social anthropologist Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” One might wonder – What kind of change?

Main sources: Ekman, Malin (2023) ”Petersons massmöte vill stoppa ‘woke-sjukan’”, Svenska Dagbladet, 12 October. Vonnegut, Kurt (1968) Welcome to the Monkey House. New York: Delacorte.

IPS UN Bureau

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');  

By Siddharth Chatterjee
BEIJING, Feb 8 2024 (IPS)

The Year of the Dragon is upon us.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in his message for this Lunar New Year, “The dragon symbolizes energy, wisdom, protection and good luck. We need these qualities to rise to today’s global challenges.”

Indeed, we do. Just consider some of the challenges from the past year.

The persistent drag of COVID-19.

Sluggish economies.

The hottest year on record.

Climate disasters, one after the other.

A rising tide of fake news, fake images, and hate speech.

Risks posed by the malicious use of AI, which grows in sophistication by the day.

Conflicts in Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine and elsewhere, leaving millions highly vulnerable, and sending shock waves all over the world.

Stalled global progress on the Sustainable Development Goals, the world’s to-do list for peace and prosperity. This means that more people will remain without water, electricity, education for their children, or food for their families.

Around the world, people feel despondency and despair.

If ever we needed the spirit of the Dragon, it is now.

Mr. Dennis Francis, President of the UN General Assembly, writes a message of blessing at the National Children’s Center in Beijing. Credit: China National Children’s Center

The Lunar New Year is a perfect occasion to return to the source of our strength. All around the country, people will clean their homes and decorate them in red. There will be fireworks, feasts, family gatherings, and dragon dances.

In these celebrations, the people of China can look to inspire governments everywhere to embody the qualities of the Dragon as we head into the new year.

We saw this at work in the surprise detente between Iran and Saudi Arabia, brokered by China in March 2023 following years of bitter rivalry, and at the COP 28 climate conference last year, when the need to phase out fossil fuels was acknowledged, and the Loss and Damage Fund was agreed upon.

We see this spirit when countries now advocate for trust-building initiatives and international collaboration. These are crucial at a time when so many people around the world are losing faith in global institutions and each other.

This energy will be needed at the Summit of the Future this September at the UN General Assembly in New York. The Summit is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to take stock of the state of the planet and its people. It is a chance to summon all our courage and compassion—together.

It is no longer viable, if it ever was, to address one crisis at a time. As soon as one war ends, another starts. A fire is extinguished in one part of the world, and another is ignited elsewhere. One humanitarian crisis here, and another one there.

To create lasting peace and prosperity, the countries and peoples of the world must come together. We must draw on our shared resources, refine our aspirations, and imagine our future. This is what the Summit of the Future will help make possible.

We at the UN in China look to work closely with the Government of China in preparation for this Summit.

China has an indispensable role to play. After all, China is a model for South-South cooperation, in which developing nations support other developing nations. China is also hard at work to deliver on climate action, having set the goal to achieve peak carbon emissions before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060.

Consider this. In 2023, China’s $890bn investment in clean-energy sectors was almost as large as total global investments in fossil fuel supply.

And the people of China are an inspiration for countless others around the world struggling to lift themselves out of extreme poverty.

The UN family in China thanks the country’s people and Government for their endeavours. You embody the spirit of the Dragon.

This year is auspicious for another reason as well. It will mark the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, an important milestone in the nation’s progress.

In honour of the many people who celebrate the Lunar New Year around the world, I am pleased that this year will mark the first time it joins the UN holiday calendar.

On behalf of the UN family in China, I extend our best wishes for the Year of the Dragon. May it be a time of great success, joy, and good fortune. May the Dragon remind us of our ability to create a more promising future for our own families, and the greater human family on the planet we all call home.

Chun Jie Kuai Le.

Siddharth Chatterjee is the United Nations Resident Coordinator in China.

A ship passes through the Pedro Miguel lock on its way to the Miraflores system to cross the Panama Canal. The infrastructure faces water shortages due to drought in the country, which limits the pace of maritime cargo transport through the bioceanic route that moves six percent of the world's maritime trade. CREDIT: Emilio Godoy / IPS

By Emilio Godoy
PANAMA CITY, Feb 8 2024 (IPS)

At the bar that Sandra manages in Panama City’s central financial district, the variety offered on the menu has shrunk due to delays in ship traffic through the Panama Canal, one of the world’s major shipping routes.

“We are out of stock of some of our foreign beers, because the shipment didn’t arrive. I hope it will get here one of these days,” the Panamanian bar-keeper told IPS, as she pointed to a half-empty refrigerator in the bar nestled between skyscrapers. "Above and beyond the ship traffic, the canal should provide raw water for the populations of (the provinces) of Panama and Colon. The difference is that now there is more traffic and the problem is that in the dry season the salt level rises and damages the raw water for potabilization." -- Óscar Vallarino

The delays have been repeated since drought took hold in this Central American nation throughout 2023, exacerbated by the effects of the climate crisis and the cyclical El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) weather phenomenon that warms the waters of the Pacific Ocean.

This mixture of phenomena has repercussions on the forested areas surrounding the canal and the Alhajuela, Gatun and Miraflores artificial reservoirs that supply it and provide water for more than half of the country’s total population of 4.7 million people.

Due to the lack of rain, the level of Gatun Lake, the main source of water for the canal inaugurated in 1914, dropped from its normal height of 26 meters above sea level to less than 24 in recent weeks.

Six percent of the world’s maritime trade, especially container trade, goes through the canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

In addition, the interoceanic waterway has lost volume through evaporation due to warming water temperatures, according to a 2022 study by the Netherlands Water Partnership (NWP), a network of 180 public and private organizations.

Oscar Vallarino, a former official of the state-owned autonomous Panama Canal Authority (ACP), founded in 1978 to manage the company, said the situation stems from including the canal in its current watershed and expanding it since 2016, which doubled its capacity and the volume of ships, in addition to leading to the prohibition of the construction of more dams.

“Above and beyond the ship traffic, the canal must provide raw water for the populations of (the provinces) of Panama and Colon. The difference is that now there is more traffic and the problem is that in the dry season the salt level rises and damages the raw water for potabilization,” he told IPS.

The cruise ship Queen Victoria, owned by the British company Cunard, prepares to lower the first eight meters in the Miraflores locks of the Panama Canal, heading for the Atlantic Ocean. CREDIT: Emilio Godoy / IPS

From the Bridge of the Americas, which connects Panama City with the western part of its metropolitan area, the ships lined up to enter the canal look like figures in a board game moving slowly over a blue board. The waiting time varies, mostly en route to a U.S. port.

But the slowdown stems from the crucial element of the infrastructure: water, whose scarcity means fewer commercial vessels can cross from one ocean to the other. The reservoirs that feed the canal have a capacity of 1,857 hectoliters and currently hold only 900.

At the same time, the demand for different activities is increasing, leading to greater competition for consumption and conflicts that will intensify throughout this century.

Law 93 of 1999, modified by Law 44 of 2006, establishes the limits of the canal’s watershed, which covers 343,521 hectares and is one of 52 in the country.

The rainy season in this tropical country runs from May to November, but the last quarter of last year recorded lower rainfall, and the drought will worsen in the first half of 2024.

The population of the provinces of Panama and Colon also depends on water from the canal. But the problem is aggravated by waste, the leakage of at least 40 percent of the water due to broken pipes and the lack of efficient infrastructure.

This is despite the fact that this nation ranks fifth in the world in annual rainfall, has six times the world average of fresh water per person, in addition to 500 rivers, in an area of only 75,517 square kilometers.

But on the other hand, it has the highest individual consumption in Latin America, with 507 liters per inhabitant. Panama has an availability of about 115,000 cubic meters per inhabitant/year, according to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

The consequences of the climate crisis and ENSO cloud the outlook for the water supply, since they mean that both excess and scarcity of water will create trouble for this Central American country. El Niño has reappeared in its strong phase, as meteorologists define the worst of its three modalities.

The ACP estimates that the basin captures almost 4.4 billion cubic meters (m3) annually, of which the canal consumes 70 percent for navigation and 15 percent for drinking water.

A view of Panama City, where population growth is driving up water demand. Drinking water for the city and the neighboring province of Colon comes from the Panama Canal and faces chronic management problems and infrastructure failures, now compounded by drought. CREDIT: Emilio Godoy / IPS

Victim of nature

In response to the crisis, the ACP adjusted the maximum draft, the daily traffic capacity and the reuse of diverted water.

As a result, it reduced the number of vessels crossing the 82-kilometer route to 24 per day from an average of between 38 and 40, which could drop to 18 this February, when traffic is expected to decline by one-third from its usual level.

In addition, it charges 10,000 dollars for water rights and auctions quotas for diverting water. Each passage requires 250 million liters of water per vessel, which is then returned to the system.

The canal already suffered an acute water crisis in 2016, but it has been aggravated now by a strong ENSO.

William Hugues, a member of the non-governmental National Front for the Defense of Social and Economic Rights, said the crisis was foreseeable and exposed the underlying aim of prioritizing the canal over the water supply to the local population.

“We issued a warning in 2006, when the expansion was being discussed, that larger locks would cause more salt water to enter Gatun. This demand would threaten the supply of drinking water. We have to accept that the canal has physical limits and we cannot respond to the dynamics of the international economy,” the economist, whose group includes social organizations, trade unions and other groups, told IPS.

Hugues, author of a book on the expansion of the canal traffic, pointed out that there is always a line of ships waiting to cross during the dry season and that the measures applied are the same as before the expansion.

Due to cargo demand, the expansion, undertaken in 2007 and completed in 2016, added two locks to accommodate the larger, heavier Neopanamax cargo ships, which need more water to transport up to 120,000 tons, especially gas cargo. But the expansion has had repercussions on the demand for water.

The use of the canal brings more than four billion dollars into the Panamanian coffers annually, approximately six percent of GDP. The drop in traffic could mean a financial loss of more than 200 million dollars a year and, therefore, will have an impact on the already stressed finances of this Central American nation.

Although it had promised to do so, the ACP did not respond to an IPS query about forecasts for canal activity in 2024.

The crisis has forced ships to take longer and more expensive routes, such as around Cape Horn, to the south of Chile, or to move cargo overland from coast to coast in Panama, before reloading it onto ships.

Drought has caused lines of ships waiting to cross the Panama Canal, where traffic could shrink even more in the face of the increasing scarcity of rain. Infrastructure managers are already limiting daily ship crossings to one-third of the usual number. CREDIT: ACP

Palliative measures

To face the recurring crises, the ACP is studying the construction of a dam and reservoir on the Indio River, west of Gatun, and the use of the Bayano dam, which would entail different costs.

The dam costs 800 million dollars and involves the flooding and displacement of some 1,900 people in an area of 400,000 hectares, while the use of the Ascanio Villalaz hydroelectric dam, owned by the Panamanian state and the private U.S. company AES Global Power, costs three times as much.

But the effects of the climate crisis may worsen, as several recent analyses suggest.

Between 1971 and 2020, Panama experienced significant drops in precipitation, although rainfall trends varied between regions.

Thus, the eastern and central Pacific provinces were significantly drier, especially during the summertime, while the western and central Caribbean provinces were wetter, particularly during the fall, according to the Panama climate risk study published by the World Bank earlier this year.

By 2050, precipitation patterns are expected to increase, when the Pacific territories should experience a jump in rainfall, mostly in summer and autumn, and the Caribbean/Atlantic should see no net change.

The study warns that the frequency of intense floods and droughts related to ENSO will become more common and are especially critical to monitor in the canal basin and the Dry Arc, an area in the west of the country characterized by scarce rainfall.

Meanwhile, the study by the Dutch organizations warns that the measures adopted are short-term and will only limit the canal’s customers in the long term, which will affect the national economy and global pollution.

In addition, several swaths of the country, including the capital and Gatun, are expected to be flooded by 2050.

Panama has an Action Plan 2022-2026 for the integrated management of water resources, composed of 35 actions, but its implementation is proceeding slowly.

The plan seeks to contribute to water security through the prioritization of concrete actions based on national priorities, climate change scenarios, the needs of the different sectors and the institutional and financial capacity for their implementation.

The ACP itself recognizes the need for long-term investments to meet the challenges.

The country has 56 water treatment plants, seven of which are located in the canal. The expansion of several facilities and the construction of two would add some 851 million liters to the flow.

According to Vallarino, a new reservoir and the use of the Bayano dam would eventually be needed.

“We have to ask ourselves if it is feasible. Studies projecting the future should be done, to assess the options. The population is a priority. If it is well managed, we may have some setbacks, but there will be enough water for the public,” he said.

Meanwhile, Hugues said that the canal’s mercantile development rate is unsustainable.

“With the expansion of the canal, shipowners will continue to expand ships, they’ll keep growing and growing. That means we would have to make the basin the whole canal. If they follow the thesis that the canal must continue to be expanded, there will never be enough water to meet demand,” he argued.

Under the circumstances, the canal must adapt, because if it does not, drinkable water will choke in the pipes and businesses such as Sandra’s will continue to have half-empty refrigerators.

Farmers checking the saffron flowers on their farm in Pampore, Kashmir. Credit: Athar Parvaiz/IPS

By Athar Parvaiz
SRINAGAR, India, Feb 7 2024 (IPS)

Saffron, the expensive spice from the Kashmir Himalayas, has been facing challenges for years, mostly related to yields and inadequate irrigation compounded by the climate crisis.

While the government launched the 4.1 billion rupee National Saffron Mission (NMS) in 2010 to mitigate these challenges and rejuvenate saffron cultivation in Kashmir, its efficacy remains questionable, farmers say.

Saffron is one of Kashmir’s major industries, along with horticulture and agriculture, supporting some 17,000 families in the region. India contributes 5% of the world’s total production, of which 90% is supplied from the Kashmir Himalayan region.

The spice has been cultivated since 500 AD in the Kashmir valley and reached its peak in the 1990s at an annual average yield of around 15.5 tonnes from 5,700 hectares (14,085 acres), but both the land farmed for saffron and yields have declined since then.

According to a study, prolonged periods of drought have caused significant concerns among saffron farmers.

“Since the crop heavily relies on rainfall, insufficient precipitation has resulted in the region experiencing its lowest saffron productivity in the past three decades,” the study says.

“In addition to the challenges posed by drought, the region is also facing issues related to urbanization and increasing population growth,” the study further says. According to Kashmir’s agriculture department, saffron land has reduced from 5,700 hectares in the 1990s to 3,715 hectares in 2016 due to land-use conversions.

Saffron farmers, who grow the “king of spices” in fields sprawling across several thousand hectares, mainly in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, have been complaining for years that lack of rainfall at crucial times has led to a decline in saffron production.

One or two spells of rain in September and October are vital for the crop to flower, farmers say. But in most years since the late 1990s, it either hasn’t rained in those months or has rained too much, damaging the crop, says farmer Mohammad Reshi, adding that farmers still rely on the weather in the cropping season.

“The sprinkle irrigation system, which the government claims has been put in place, should have been functional by now. But it is not working. You can see for yourself what has happened to these pipes and the bore wells. They are not serving any purpose,” Reshi tells IPS while pointing at the defunct sprinkle irrigation system in a saffron field in Pampore, where saffron cultivation is concentrated in Kashmir.

Though, Reshi says, tube wells have been dug and pipes have been laid in saffron fields for years now, “we are yet to see the water in saffron fields.”

According to him, the project was supposed to be completed years ago, but it still lingers. Denying the allegations of saffron farmers, Ghulam Mohammad Dhobi, Joint Director of Kashmir’s agriculture department, who is also the Nodal Officer for NMS, says that the government is trying its best to help the farmers get good yields.

“The farmers have not to wait for long to see the positive results of the irrigation infrastructure, as we are expecting its completion soon after it will function properly,” Dhobi tells IPS.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which has given saffron cultivation in Kashmir a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) status, “saffron cultivation has been facing severe challenges of sustainability and livelihood security, with an urgent need to adopt appropriate technologies to address water scarcity, productivity loss, and market volatility.”

Scientific research has established that irrigation plays the most important role in saffron cultivation in Kashmir. Firdous Nahvi, a former agriculture scientist at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, says that saffron yields have traditionally depended on rainfall in the crucial months from August to October in Kashmir, and saffron yields have fallen in recent years because of the irrigation problem.

According to Nahvi, until 1999-2000, Kashmir received well-distributed precipitation of 1,000 to 1,200 mm per year in the form of rain and snow, but that has now decreased to 600 to 800 mm.

“In any part of the world, farming is unthinkable without water,” Nahvi says and adds: “Creating irrigation facilities was the critical part of the project because we have observed in recent years that it doesn’t rain when the crop needs the moisture.” Nahvi was the expert who advised the NMS implementers about the need for installing the sprinkle irrigation system for saffron cultivation in Kashmir.

Solutions in Farming Methods

Bashir Allie, an agricultural scientist who heads Kashmir’s Saffron Research Station, says that he has also advised the agriculture and irrigation departments of the Kashmir government that creating drip irrigation facilities is crucial for improving saffron yields.

“But we are also working with farmers through our field awareness program to enhance saffron yield,” Allie tells IPS, adding that he and his team are telling the farmers to plant the optimum number of corms in the saffron fields rather than planting them haphazardly.

For example, Allie says, the farmers mostly plant up to 300,000 corms per hectare, “whereas we advise them to go for 500,000 to one million corms per hectare (or 50 corms per square meter).” This, he says, will help the farmers increase their yields, provided they uproot the old corms every four years and plant new corms.

“What we have also observed is that the farmers keep the corms in the fields for up to 20 years and leave them unattended,” he tells IPS, adding that this affects the yield as the older corms keep producing new corms, which increases the competition for nutrients within the population and the entire population underperforms (in producing flowers), thus affecting the yield.

“So, the solution we are offering to the farmers is to plant the optimum number of corms (50 corms per square meter) and replace the corms after every four years,” Allie informs.

To mitigate the impact of drought conditions on saffron crops, Allie says that he and his team have advised the farmers to start growing almond trees in saffron fields at a distance of four to five meters so that they provide shade and help the farmers retain moisture in their saffron fields.

“Once the almond trees produce branches, they will provide shade to saffron fields, as saffron is a shade-loving plant. Also, the moisture in the soil will be retained,” Allie says, adding that the almond trees, besides providing shade, will also produce almonds, thereby helping the farmers increase their income.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');   Related Articles

• This Doctor Helps Himalayan Women Ward off Cervical Cancer
• Human Trafficking: Women Lured by Promise of Jobs, Sold as Brides
• Flooding, Water Insecurity Looms as Indian Kashmir’s Titanic Water Bodies Shrink

Displaced Palestinians at a temporary shelter in the Southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah. Crerdit: OHCHR/ Media Clinic

By Daniel Larison
WASHINGTON DC, Feb 7 2024 (IPS)

The Biden administration continues to deny any connections between the war in Gaza and the ongoing conflicts involving U.S. forces in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen.

The White House’s position that these are all unrelated conflicts that are just cropping up at the same time can’t be squared with the evidence showing that the war in Gaza has fueled regional instability and violence, including the recent drone attack by an Iraqi militia that killed three American service members and injured more than 40 at a base in Jordan earlier this week.

As much as the administration might want to keep the conflict confined to Gaza, the truth is that it has spread to several other countries. It is a disservice to the American people and to American military personnel to pretend that U.S. support for the war in Gaza hasn’t already had serious negative consequences for regional stability and for American forces in the region when it clearly has.

When he was asked about this “same, larger conflict” at a press conference on Wednesday, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby dismissed any link between Gaza and the U.S. fight with the Houthis or the back-and-forth strikes between local militias and U.S. forces.

“I absolutely don’t agree with your description of the same, larger conflict. There’s a conflict going on between Israel and Hamas…and we’re going to make sure that we continue to get Israel the support that they need to defend themselves against this still viable threat,” Kirby said.

“There were attacks on our troops and facilities in Iraq and Syria well before the seventh of October, certainly in the last administration as well. As for the Houthis, they can claim all they want that this is linked to Gaza, but two-thirds of the ships that they’re hitting have no connection to Israel whatsoever. So it’s just not true, it’s a falsehood.”

Kirby’s answer is misleading and false. The umbrella group in Iraq that claimed responsibility for the attack in Jordan, the Islamic Resistance of Iraq, explicitly stated that its attack was connected to the war in Gaza.

The Houthi leadership has been emphatic that their attacks will continue for as long as the war does. The decision of other actors to jump on a cause’s bandwagon may be cynical or not, but there is no denying that they have jumped on the bandwagon.

Refusing to face the reality of the connections between these conflicts guarantees that the U.S. will pursue ineffective and counterproductive policies by ignoring that the key to defusing regional tensions is to bring the war in Gaza to an end as quickly as possible.

Kirby did not mention that militia attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria had ceased for several months prior to October 7 because of the understanding that the U.S. and Iran had reached in connection with the prisoner exchange deal. It was only after October 7 that those attacks resumed and then increased to record levels.

Local militias have additional reasons of their own for targeting U.S. forces that predate the war, but there is no way to understand the intensity of the attacks in recent months or their cessation during the pause in fighting in Gaza last year without recognizing that they are linked to Israel’s war.

The same goes for the Houthi attacks. The Houthis did not launch a campaign against commercial shipping during their war with the Saudi coalition, so this is not something that they have usually done since seizing power in 2014. The first Houthi attacks after October 7 were aimed at Israel itself. The Houthis shifted tactics to targeting commercial vessels, but it was clear that they were doing so in response to the war.

No doubt the Houthis are acting opportunistically and are launching these attacks partly to bolster their own political fortunes in Yemen, but that doesn’t change the reality that these attacks are happening now because of the war in Gaza. If that’s true, it also seems reasonable to conclude that the attacks against shipping could be ended with a ceasefire there as well.

The Biden administration has strong political incentives to deny links between these different conflicts. If they acknowledge a link, that makes it harder for them to justify their unconditional backing for Israel’s war because of the greater costs involved. It also undermines their argument for military action in Yemen against the Houthis.

The White House needs Americans to think that the costs of continued support for the war are lower than they are, and they also need Americans to buy that the strikes on Yemen aren’t related to their stubborn opposition to a ceasefire in Gaza.

Now that there are American fatalities from an Iraqi militia attack, the administration wants to compartmentalize each conflict so that the American people won’t conclude that U.S. soldiers are being killed because of a foreign war that the president chose to support without conditions.

The administration insists that it wants to prevent a regional war, but that won’t be successful if it fails to recognize the relationships between Israel’s campaign and what is happening elsewhere in the Middle East. Denying the link with Gaza in Yemen has already led to the blunder of escalation against the Houthis.

That has done nothing to make commercial shipping more secure, but it has drawn the U.S. into another unnecessary, open-ended fight. The president is on the verge of making a similar mistake in response to the drone attack in Jordan.

The U.S. can choose to entangle itself ever deeper in Middle Eastern conflicts as it is doing now, or it can recognize the futility and folly of going down the same dead-end road it has traveled before. If Washington wants to avoid involvement in new conflicts, it must reject the path of escalation and it must stop fueling the war in Gaza that is one of the chief drivers of regional instability.

In the longer term, the U.S. needs to reduce its military footprint in the region to make it harder for other actors to hit American forces, and it needs to reassess and significantly cut back on its client relationships.

The public deserves an honest accounting of what our government is doing in the Middle East and why, and right now the White House isn’t providing anything close to that. If the president won’t change course, the very least that he can do is level with the American people about the full costs of continuing down the dangerous path that he has chosen.

Source: Responsible Statecraft

Daniel Larison is a regular columnist at Responsible Statecraft, contributing editor at Antiwar.com, and a former senior editor at The American Conservative magazine. He has a Ph.D. in History from the University of Chicago. He writes regularly for his newsletter, Eunomia, on Substack.

The views expressed by authors on Responsible Statecraft do not necessarily reflect those of the Quincy Institute or its associates.

IPS UN Bureau

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');  

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Feb 7 2024 (IPS)

Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) provisions in international trade and investment agreements – long abused by opportunists with means – are slowly being rejected by cautious governments.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

Developing country governments need to be much more wary of ISDS and its implications, and should urgently withdraw from existing commitments. They should expunge ISDS clauses in existing trade and investment agreements and exclude them from new ones.

ISDS ripe for abuse
ISDS allows a foreign investor to sue a ‘host’ government for compensation by claiming new laws, regulations and policies adversely affect expected profits, even if changed in the public interest. It involves binding arbitration without going to court.

ISDS provisions are included in many free trade agreements (FTAs) and bilateral investment treaties (BITs). These were invoked in 84% of cases before the World Bank Group’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), the most used arbitration forum. Investment contracts and national investment laws are also invoked.

ISDS decisions are made by commercial ‘for-profit’ arbitrators prone to conflicts of interest. Foreign investors can thus seek compensation amounting to billions of dollars via a parallel legal system favouring them.

ISDS provisions in such agreements enable foreign investors to sue governments for billions of dollars in compensation by claiming changes in national law or policy will reduce profits for their investments.

Neocolonial ISDS
During the colonial era, imperial authorities often used concession contracts to grant private companies exclusive rights to extract resources, such as minerals and crops, or conduct other economic operations, including building infrastructure and operating utilities.

Investments were protected by (colonial) law, and sometimes by investment contracts after independence. Companies might negotiate contracts with governments to get better terms. A tenth of the claims before the ICSID involved such contracts.

Thus, ISDS perpetuates a colonial pattern of privileging the interests of foreign capital. The World Bank’s Foreign Investment Advisory Service (FIAS) has long promoted including ISDS in domestic investment laws. Thirty of the 65 countries it advised enacted new laws providing for such arbitration.

Investment treaty arbitration started as a post-colonial innovation to protect the assets of former colonial powers from newly independent states. Investment arbitration rules deliberately privilege foreign investment over national law.

ISDS abused, biased and corrupt
ISDS encourages abuse and corruption. As legal fees and arbitration awards tend to be very significant for developing countries, when invoked, ISDS has a chilling effect intimidating host governments, often forcing them to concede or compromise regardless of the merits of the claims.

Nigeria was ordered to pay US$11 billion to a British Virgin Islands company, Process & Industrial Developments (P&ID). P&ID had used ISDS to claim compensation from Nigeria for allegedly breaking gas supply and processing contract.

When P&ID initiated ISDS proceedings in August 2012, it had not even bought a site for the gas supply facility. Yet, it claimed to be ready to fulfil its contractual obligations.

Six years later, in November 2023, the English High Court ruled the contract in dispute was obtained fraudulently via secretive practices allowed by ISDS. The Court also ruled P&ID had bribed Nigerian officials, including its legal team then, to get the contract.

Presiding English High Court Judge Knowles expressed “puzzlement over how the [ISDS] Tribunal failed to notice the serious irregularities” despite various “red flags” of fraud noted by others.

Elsewhere, Pacific Rim Mining Corp, a Canadian company, had proposed a massive gold mine in El Salvador using water-intensive cyanide ore processing. Later, it claimed the government had violated its domestic investment law by not issuing a permit for the mine.

The ICSID ultimately rejected the company’s claim, ordering it to pay two-thirds of the US$12 million El Salvador had spent on legal fees. But the company has refused to pay.

Wake-up call ‘down under’
The Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network (AFTINET) advocacy group has updated its brief supporting its call for the urgent review and removal of ISDS clauses in the country’s existing foreign trade and investment agreements.

AFTINET has specifically urged the Australian Joint Standing Committee on Treaties (JSCOT) to review and amend the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA).

The Australian Labor Party government, elected in May 2022, pledged not to include ISDS in new trade agreements, and to review such provisions in current agreements. Its brief focuses on ISDS provisions used by Australian mining billionaire Clive Palmer to sue Canberra.

Registering his Zeph Investments in Singapore, Palmer has used AANZFTA ISDS provisions to get compensation from Australia in two matters. The first is his application for an iron ore mining lease in Western Australia.

The second is against the authorities’ refusal of coal mining permits in Queensland for environmental reasons. Palmer has also made a third claim invoking the Singapore-Australia FTA, bringing his total claims to nearly A$410 billion.

Despite the government’s policy against ISDS, the provision was not reviewed in the amended AANZFTA. AFTINET is urging Canberra to urgently remove its exposure to ISDS cases as Palmer’s actions have made this all the more urgent.

ISDS abuses recognised
The Palmer case has increased concerns about ISDS, especially the abuse of lack of transparency. Arbitration processes are typically closed-door, preventing public, including forensic scrutiny of business transactions and practices.

AFTINET notes “excessive” ISDS claims have been growing, while Judge Knowles noted the “severe abuses” of ISDS in the Nigeria v. P&ID case “driven by greed”.

The huge compensations sought and awarded have encouraged even more “long-shot, speculative ISDS claims”. Such claims are typically based on “loose” book-keeping and dubious projections and other calculations, easily falsified by well-paid accomplices.

While the Australian government pledges no new ISDS commitments, but also wants to get rid of earlier ones, much more vulnerable developing country governments seem quite oblivious of the huge risks they are exposing their countries to!

IPS UN Bureau

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');   Related Articles

• Even Rich Nations Now Worried About ISDS
• ISDS Enables Making More Money from Losses
• Dispute Settlement Becomes Speculative Financial Asset
• ISDS Corporate Rule of Law

Third UN Conference of Landlocked Developing Countries will be an opportunity to address the issues these countries face.

By IPS Correspondent
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 6 2024 (IPS)

Landlocked developing countries need greater support from the international community so that they are no longer left behind when it comes to progressing with the SDGs, says the UN High Representative of the Least Developed Countries.

The Third UN Conference of Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDC3) is set to be hosted in Kigali, Rwanda, in June. A preparatory committee for the conference has been established and convened its first meeting on Monday. 

The overarching theme of the conference, “Driving Progress through Partnerships,” is expected to highlight the importance of support from the global community in enabling LLDCs to meet their potential and achieve the SDGs. The conference invites the participation of multiple stakeholders, including heads of state and government, the private sector, and civil society. Several senior leaders in the UN system, including Secretary-General António Guterres, are expected to attend the LLDC3 Conference.

Thirty-two countries are classified as LLDCs, 17 of which are also classified as Least Developed Countries (LDCs). Sixteen are in Africa, and the remaining are located across Asia, Europe, and South America. This year will mark the first time that the LLDC Conference will be hosted in Africa.

Rabab Fatima, Under Secretary-General and High Representative of the Office for the Least Developed Countries, and the Secretary-General of the LLDC3 Conference, remarked that this conference would be a “once-in-a-decade opportunity” for the global community to address the needs of the LLDCs in order to “ensure that nobody is left behind.”

“The 32 landlocked developing countries are grappling with unique challenges due to their geographical and structural constraints and lack of integration into world trade and global value chains. Their situation has been further exacerbated by the lingering effects of the pandemic, climate change, and conflict,” she said.

The lack of direct access to coastal ports means that LLDCs rely on transit countries to connect them with international markets. This can lead to high trade costs and delays in the movement of goods. In other cases, many of the LLDCs’ transit neighbors are also developing countries with their own economic challenges. According to Fatima, the average cargo travel time for LLDCs was twelve days, compared to seven days for transit countries.

As a result of the slow progress in development, twenty-eight percent of people in LLDCs live in poverty. At least a third of the people are at a high risk of or already live with some form of debt distress, and fifty-eight percent of people deal with moderate to severe food insecurity.

Enkhbold Vorshilov, Permanent Representative of Mongolia to the UN, noted that the conference would be a “critical juncture” for the LLDCs. He also serves as the co-chair of the preparatory committee along with the Permanent Representative of Austria. He added, “Despite our varied cultural and economic structures, we share common challenges that impede our development and economic growth.”

The Preparatory Committee will negotiate the details of the conference’s outcome document, which has been prepared to “encapsulate the challenges and aspirations of the LLDCs,” according to Gladys Mokhawa, Permanent Representative for Botswana and the Chair of the Global Group of Landlocked Developing Countries. Mokhawa expressed that the document has so far received general support from member states and that the final draft would be comprehensive and committed to addressing the challenges that LLDCs face “that align with their specific needs and aspirations.”

“A vision is clear: to transform the geographical challenges and to ensure that our landlocked status is nothing more than a detail of geography,” she said. “We believe that our collective efforts can and will make a difference.”

“Our goal is not merely to draft a document but to build positive, genuine partnerships that will empower landlocked developing countries to overcome their challenges and achieve sustainable prosperity,” said Vorshilov. He added that, along with support from neighboring transit countries, cooperation from development partners and financial institutions would be important to mobilize the resources needed to support the LLDCs.

The document is intended to serve as a guideline for the LLDCs for the next decade and will touch on several areas of interest. In addition to addressing transport and trade, it will focus on emerging issues, such as science, technology, and innovation, and improving capacity and resilience against issues arising from climate change.

Earlier meetings, including the first meeting of the committee, have seen delegations express solidarity with the LLDCs and support for the agenda of the upcoming conference. Ambassador Stavros Lambrinidis, Permanent Representative of the European Union Delegation to the UN, stated that the development challenges call for “more efficient allocation of financial resources on the path toward the SDGs” and that an “essential element” of their partnership would be the development of connections and transport corridors for the benefit of all peoples.

Speaking on behalf of the Africa Group, Ambassador Marc Hermanne Araba of Benin noted that Africa has faced the brunt of the challenges faced by the LLDCs and their neighboring transit countries. He added that the present moment was an opportunity to “chart a transformative agenda for the LLDCs,” and therefore it is important for the global community to reaffirm its’ commitment to address the LLDCs’ challenges together to “ensure that these countries are not left behind.”.

Fatima welcomed the media as a “key partner,” through which the voices of LLDCs would have a platform, and to bridge the gap between the conference and those communities who will be most affected by the outcomes by sharing their perspectives.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');   Related Articles

• Israel Could Face Further Legal Action For Non-Compliance of ICJ Ruling
• Funding for UN Palestinian Relief Agency is Threatened While Investigations Continue
• Gaza Health Workers Struggling to Save Injured Without Medical Supplies, WHO Expert Warns

Women’s rights organizations in Asia are calling for states to introduce much-needed laws to criminalize FGM, says Nawmi Naz Chowdhury, Global Legal Advisor at Equality Now.

By Nawmi Naz Chowdhury
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, Feb 6 2024 (IPS)

Significant advances have been made in Africa towards ending female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C). Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Asia, where FGM/C occurs in at least ten countries, but governments across the region are failing to take effective action. Women’s rights organizations are calling for states to introduce much-needed laws to criminalize FGM, provide national data on the extent and nature of the practice, and adequately fund efforts to tackle this regionally neglected problem.

Calls for governments in Asia to criminalize FGM/C

There remains a widely held misconception that FGM/C occurs primarily in Africa, and this low level of awareness about FGM/C in Asia is contributing to inaction.

Nawmi Naz Chowdhury, Global Legal Advisor at Equality Now, with members of the
Asia Network to End FGM/C at the 7th Asian and Pacific Population Conference.

In recent years, the UN, through its international human rights treaty bodies and other human rights mechanisms, has provided recommendations to Asian countries, such as India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, and the Maldives, to address FGM/C and pass specific laws for prohibition. Yet, nowhere in Asia has a law banning it.

At the 7th Asian and Pacific Population Conference (APPC), seven women’s rights organizations made joint recommendations to regional governments about introducing a zero-tolerance approach to FGM/C.

The APPC is a regional review mechanism that convenes every ten years to discuss critical issues of population and development in Asia and the Pacific. Held at the UN Conference Centre in Thailand on November 15–17, 2023, women’s rights activists convened a side event, Rights-Based Approaches as the Foundation to Achieving Just and Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific – where participants discussed harmful practices affecting women and girls, including FGM/C.

Lawmakers were advised to put in place robust legal and policy measures, and proposals were featured in the Civil Society Call to Action and the Youth Call to Action.

FGM/C is a global problem

FGM/C is a harmful practice involving the partial or total removal of external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.

Internationally recognized as a grave violation of women’s and girls’ human rights, FGM/C is done with the aim of controlling and curtailing the sex drive of women and girls. It can cause a range of lifelong physical and psychological problems, including infections and severe pain, emotional trauma, sexual dysfunction, reproductive health concerns, childbirth complications, and, in some cases, death.

An interactive data tool by the World Health Organization (WHO) revealed that, based on data from just 27 countries, the financial cost of health care for women with issues caused by FGM/C is USD $1.4 billion annually. The WHO also estimates that if FGM/C were abandoned, the savings in health costs would be more than 60% by 2050.

FGM/C is a global concern. Worldwide, the official number of women and girls undergoing FGM/C is estimated to be over 200 million. However, the true scale is far bigger. Academic and media reports, unofficial data collected by civil society organizations, and anecdotal studies based on interviews with survivors reveal that FGM/C is found in every continent except Antarctica.

Asian governments need to provide data on FGM/C

 

The United Nations call to action #HerVoiceMatters in leading the #EndFGM movement.

Indonesia and the Maldives are the only Asian states that share national-level FGM/C prevalence data; no official data is provided by any other Asian countries. However, academic research and survivor testimonies strongly indicate it occurs in Brunei, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.

Accurate, comprehensive national FGM/C data collection is vital to understanding how women and girls are directly impacted and at risk. It also provides crucial insights into what communities are involved, the types of FGM/C performed, and what the implications are for health, human rights, and bodily autonomy.

Data on FGM/C can be used to plan appropriate interventions and measure their effectiveness. Furthermore, reliable statistics are key to attracting funding and holding governments and other duty-bearers accountable.

Lack of data gives governments an opportunity to claim a basis for inaction. For example, in India, in response to a question on FGM/C in Parliament in 2023, the Ministry of Women and Child Development noted that while there may be a few instances of FGM/C in the country, “there is no credible data to establish its prevalent existence.”

Investing in community action to end FGM/C

Unlike elsewhere, in most of Asia, there are little or no large-scale government programs for community education and awareness-raising about FGM/C. Few resources are directed toward prevention and supporting grassroots activities, and it is difficult for local organizations to secure funding.

Collective actions, such as those led by the Asia Network to End FGM/C, are playing an invaluable role in shining a much-needed spotlight, supporting women and girls, and galvanizing collaboration within and across national borders.

FGM/C can only be eradicated with positive community engagement about its harmful effects, underpinned by laws and policies that punish perpetrators and meet the needs of survivors. To achieve this, governments in Asia need to work in partnership with civil society organizations, affected communities, and survivors to better understand FGM/C, develop and implement effective policies, and invest in social, legal, educational, and health service provisions.

Global commitments to eliminating FGM/C

February 6 was designated by the United Nations as the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation. How far we have come to ending FGM/C is gauged by the extent to which international commitments made by countries to end the practice are being met.

Various international human rights mechanisms have been put in place for countries to take robust measures. Sustainable Development Goal 5.3 and international human rights treaties on the rights of women and girls, such as the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) expressly prohibit FGM/C and call on states to take action.

International documents, such as the Programme of Action under the  International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD PoA), urge countries to eradicate FGM/C and contain steps to eliminate it. Recommendations include “… strong community outreach programs involving village and religious leaders, education and counselling about its impact on girls’ and women’s health, and appropriate treatment and rehabilitation for girls and women who have suffered cutting” (para. 7.40, ICPD PoA).

Ending FGM/C in Asia must be prioritized

2024 will mark 30 years since the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) was first held in 1994. The anniversary marks a significant milestone in the area of advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights for women and girls globally. Ending FGM/C is a key component of this, and to effectively implement global commitments to achieve this, global efforts must focus on Asia as a priority.

Unless Asian countries step up to resolve current challenges, it will be hard to instigate action, design and implement policies, and hold governments and other duty-bearers to account in advocating for the introduction and effective implementation of legislative measures to finally end FGM/C in Asia.

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');  

Asian women at a meeting. Credit: Unsplash/Christina @ wocintechchat.com

By Sara Danzeo and Elena Mayer-Besting
BANGKOK, Thailand, Feb 6 2024 (IPS)

In the bustling financial hub of Singapore, Rhea See, an early-stage fund manager, leads an accelerator platform dedicated to empowering women in technology.

She firmly believes that investing in women transcends the conventional paradigm of merely ‘doing good.’ For Rhea, it represents a strategic move towards smart economics and game-changing innovation.

“Many still view investing in women as a niche, impact-only endeavor and I want to shatter this stigma. Investing in women is not just about doing good, but it’s about smart economics and game-changing innovation; it’s about unlocking untapped potential and driving technological advancement and profitable returns,” shares Rhea.

As of July 2023, women accounted for only 17 per cent of all decision-makers at venture investors headquartered in South-East Asia. About 67 per cent (vs. 77 per cent in 2022) of regional investors do not have a woman in an investment decision-making role.

Evidence shows that diversity in venture capital firms not only fosters creativity and alternative viewpoints but also positively impacts financial performance. A study by Paul Gompers, a professor at Harvard Business School, found that venture capital firms with more diversity among their partners tend to be more profitable.

The study revealed that firms with at least one female partner saw improved financial performance, with returns increasing by approximately 10 per cent. This translates into a significant economic impact, as the median venture capital fund return moves from around 14 – 15 per cent to 16 – 17 per cent with the inclusion of female partners.

Additionally, having women as partners increased the success rate of startups supported by these firms. This research suggests that gender diversity generates alternative perspectives that can uncover new investment opportunities and help avoid blind spots

Starting a fund is no small feat. It requires a commitment of at least 15 years, a factor that might deter many. Additionally, the venture capital industry, particularly for women-led funds, embodies a complex mix of long-term relationship building, navigating biases and strategic networking.

Considering the demanding nature of the role and the need for substantial family support and background education, this may present significant obstacles for women in the Asia-Pacific region, who are traditionally considered the main caretakers in the family.

Women-led funds raised less than 2 per cent of the $166 billion raised by venture firms globally in 2022, indicating the significant gap that still exists.

Acknowledging the unconscious bias and additional hurdles that women fund managers face in the region to raise funds, 2X Global with the support of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) under the Catalyzing Women’s Entrepreneurship Programme, supported by Global Affairs Canada, together with Australian Aid, launched an introductory and acceleration programme for female-led or gender-balanced fund managers with gender smart investing strategies across the Asia-Pacific region.

The 2XI GP Sprint, which began in September 2023, is providing tailored coaching, practical exercises and network facilitation for GPs with the aim of accelerating their progress towards achieving their first close.

In November 2023, in Singapore, selected participants of the GP Sprint presented their investment thesis to LPs. During the presentations, the determination, qualifications and expertise of these women from the region were showcased.

These women are not just poised to become exceptional wealth managers; their investment theses, often environmentally and socially conscious, suggest a transformative impact on the region through strategic capital allocation.

The involvement of women in the investment field is more than a matter of equity; it makes business sense, while emerging as a strategic necessity for the sustainable and holistic growth of the investment landscape.

The Catalyzing Women Entrepreneurship programme by ESCAP has forged strategic partnerships with organizations such as 2X Global to empower female capital allocators and pave the way for a more inclusive and prosperous future in the Asia-Pacific investment landscape.

Sara Danzeo is Partnerships Specialist, Trade, Investment and Innovation Division, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)

Elena Mayer-Besting is Programme Management Officer, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)

IPS UN Bureau

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');  

After passing her secondary school certificate (SCC) in 2019, Sweety Akter went door-to-door to collect money to enroll in a college, but she wasn’t successful. Born to an extremely poor family in Fultala village under Baliadangi upazila in Thakurgaon district, Akter saw her dream of studying fading as she was unable to enroll in a […]

Soccer great Cristiano Ronaldo is on target again for Saudi Pro League side Al Nassr. The Saudi government has invested billions of its oil revenues in recent years in sport, including tennis, golf, boxing and, above all, football. Credit: Shutterstock

By Paul Virgo
ROME, Feb 5 2024 (IPS)

Argentina forward Lautaro Martinez scores as Inter Milan beat Napoli in the Saudi capital Riyadh to win the Italian Super Cup for the third consecutive time.

Soccer great Cristiano Ronaldo is on target again for Saudi Pro League side Al Nassr.

England’s Tyrrell Hatton becomes the latest golf star to sign up for the rebel Saudi-backed LIV circuit.

The World Snooker Tour announces a first TV event in Saudi Arabia in March, featuring seven-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan and current world title-holder Luca Brecel and a rule change that will make it possible for players to notch a maximum score of 167, instead of the traditional 147.

Human Rights Watch says the policy is primarily designed to “sportswash” Saudi Arabia’s reputation, hosting major sporting events that attract widespread, positive media attention to divert it away from the hosts’ abuses

If you have seen a news headline about Saudi Arabia recently, there is a good chance that the story is related to sport.

The Saudi government has invested billions of its oil revenues in recent years in sport, including tennis, golf, boxing and, above all, football.

Taken at face value, it is a way for the kingdom to splash its vast wealth on laying on lavish entertainment and boost its GDP in the process.

Critics, however, see something more sinister at play.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) says the policy is primarily designed to “sportswash” Saudi Arabia’s reputation, hosting major sporting events that attract widespread, positive media attention to divert it away from the hosts’ abuses.

It says that, by becoming the country where Ronaldo and Neymar ply their trade, and hosting events like Real Madrid versus Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup, it becomes easier to forget Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist brutally murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018, and his colleagues jailed, censored or harassed in Saudi Arabia, to not think about women’s and LGBT rights in the kingdom; and ignore the mass killings of migrants along the Saudi border with Yemen.

“Sports unite fans across the political spectrum, and – with due exceptions, such as when national teams of ‘rival’ countries compete against each other – are generally non-political territory,” Claudio Francavilla, HRW Associate Director, EU Advocacy, told IPS.

“They are seen as part of the entertainment industry, and attract media, sponsors, tourists and potential investments.

“When an abusive government hosts a major sporting event for sportswashing purposes, its goal is that media, sponsors and the general public focus on the game, often preceded and followed by flashy opening/closing ceremonies, appreciate the organization and hospitality provided by the host, and promote the hosting government as an open, advanced, great-to-visit-and-make-business-with country – everything but its human rights abuses, to be hidden from the public sphere and debate.

“In other words: look at the ball, look at the fireworks, forget the abuses”.

In May, Saudi human rights activists, and intellectuals released “A People’s Vision for Reform in Saudi Arabia”, a document calling for the release of all political prisoners, the respect of the rights to freedom of expression and of association, the upholding of the rights of women, migrants, and religious minorities, the abolition of torture and the death penalty, reform of the justice system, and a redistribution of the country’s wealth.

HRW says that, instead of complying with their human rights obligations and starting a dialogue with these civil society actors, the Saudi authorities have continued to repress dissent and invest in campaigns and events that whitewash or sportswash their reputation.

Indeed, having already secured the rights to host EXPO 2030 and the 2034 Asian Games, the Saudi government may soon secure the rights to host the 2034 men’s football World Cup and – gallingly, considering the country’s treatment of women – it is bidding for the 2035 women’s World Cup too.

Saudi Arabia is not the only country to indulge in sportwashing.

“The most prominent recent cases include Russia’s 2018 World Cup and China’s 2022 Winter Olympics,” said Francavilla.

“The UAE buying Manchester City FC has been characterized as sportswashing, as well as Bahrain’s Formula 1 Grand Prix and the Saudi acquisition of English Premier League club Newcastle United FC”.

Sportswashing does not always have the desired effect mind.

Before the recent Spanish Super Cup in Riyadh, Barcelona warned their fans of potential “severe penalties” regarding same-sex relations and “open displays of support for LGBTI causes, even on social media”, thus drawing attention to the issue.

The 2022 soccer World Cup in Qatar highlighted serious abuses against migrant workers there.

It could be argued that Saudi Arabia is only using sport in the same way that competitions like NBA basketball and Premier League soccer have long been part of the soft power of the United States and Britain, neither of which have unblemished human-rights records.

That said, while Human Rights Watch doesn’t rank countries in its annual report on abuses worldwide, other organizations, such as RSF with its press freedom index, do and States like China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain and India, rank considerably below the UK and the USA.

“The deliberate use of sports events by governments with abysmal human rights records as a tool to sportswash their reputations, instead of enacting human rights reforms that would do the same job, much more effectively and impactfully, and likely at a much lower economic cost, is particularly despicable,” said Francavilla.

He calls on sports federations, especially world soccer’s governing body FIFA, to take the lead on curtailing this phenomenon, whoever is guilty of it.

“In June 2017, FIFA adopted and published its Human Rights Policy stating that human rights commitments are binding on all FIFA bodies and officials,” he said.

“Human Rights Watch has long called on FIFA to apply clear, objective human rights criteria to all states for hosting both the men’s and women’s World Cup and other tournaments, and for any major commercial sponsorships, including labour protections, press freedom, non-discrimination and inclusion.

“Given past corruption and serious human rights abuses, including discrimination against LGBT people and the unexplained deaths of thousands of migrant workers who built the infrastructure for the 2022 World Cup, Human Rights Watch has requested FIFA to apply a series of measures for the 2030 and 2034 World Cup bids.

“Those measures would apply to any bidder, be it the US, UK, China or Saudi Arabia”.

 

A new UN Advisory Body is expected to make recommendations on international governance of AI. The members of the AI Advisory Body – launched October 2023 by Secretary-General António Guterres – will examine the risks, opportunities and international governance of these technologies. Credit: Unsplash/Steve Johnson

By Nandan Nilekani and Tanuj Bhojwani
BANGALORE, India, Feb 5 2024 (IPS)

India is on the brink of a transformation that could change its economic and social future.

Before the end of this decade, more Indians will use AI every day than in any other country in the world. What’s more, people in advanced economies will be surprised by the ways the country will use AI.

India is on the cusp of a technological revolution that could alter the trajectory of its social and economic future, and in this revolution. there are lessons for the rest of the world.

Our prediction hinges on three facts: India needs it, India is ready for it, and India will do it.

India needs it

The concept of “China plus one” has been gaining traction, with its admonition that global companies should not depend inordinately on China for their manufacturing and software needs.

India, with its growing infrastructure investments, favorable policies, and young working population, is the most likely beneficiary of this shift. It is perhaps the only country poised to match the scale of China.

With 1.4 billion people, India is closer to a continent than a country. Its population is almost twice that of Europe. But the average age in India is 28, compared with Europe’s 44, which means a higher share of the population is of working age. This is the starting point: India is a very large country of very young people.

This demographic dividend, favorable global trends, and the unlocking of decades of suppressed potential are starting to show returns. Even as the macroeconomic projections for most of the world seem modest or bleak, India remains a bright spot. These young Indians are aspirational and motivated to use every opportunity to better their lives.

What really sets India apart from the West are its unique challenges and needs. India’s diverse population and complex socioeconomic concerns mean that AI there is not just about developing cutting-edge technology. It’s about finding innovative solutions to address pressing problems in health care, education, agriculture, and sustainability.

Though our population is just double the size of Europe’s, we are much more diverse. Indians, like Europeans, are often bi- or multilingual. India recognizes 19,500 dialects spoken by at least 10,000 people. Based on data from the Indian census, two Indians selected at random have only a 36 percent chance of speaking a common language.

This language barrier is complicated by the fact that the official literacy rate in the country hovers near 77 percent, varying vastly between states. This means that roughly 1 in 4 people can’t read or write. Even though the government tries to provide welfare assistance for its most vulnerable, it’s hard to spread awareness about the service and reach the last mile.

Filling out a simple form to access welfare can be daunting for someone who is illiterate. Determining eligibility for assistance means depending on someone who can read, write, and navigate the bureaucracy.

Actually. receiving services means assistance seekers must have an agent helping them who is not misinformed—or worse, corrupt. These barriers disproportionately affect those who need government assistance the most.

We have the ability to solve a lot of problems for our population, but the hard part has always been in the distribution, not the solution. In India, we believe that AI can help bridge this access gap.

AI enables people to access services directly with their voice using natural language, empowering them to help themselves. As Canadian writer William Gibson aptly said, “The future is already here—it’s just not evenly distributed.” Nowhere is this more glaringly evident than in India.

The rest of the world has been eyeing AI with curiosity, waiting for real-use cases. In India, we see potential today. While this may be true of many other developing economies, the other important factor is that.

The rest of the world has been eyeing AI with curiosity, waiting for real-use cases. In India, we see potential today.

India is ready for it

India’s population isn’t just young, it is connected. According to the country’s telecommunications sector regulator, India has more than 790 million mobile broadband users. Internet penetration continues to increase, and with the availability of affordable data plans, more and more people are online. This has created a massive user base for AI applications and services.

But where India has surpassed all others is in its digital public infrastructure. Today, nearly every Indian has a digital identity under the Aadhaar system. The Aadhaar is a 12-digit unique identity number with an option for users to authenticate themselves digitally—that is, to prove they are who they claim to be.

Further, India set up a low-cost, real-time, interoperable payment system. This means that any user of any bank can pay any other person or merchant using any other bank instantly and at no cost.

This system—the Unified Payments Interface—handles more than 10 billion transactions a month. It is the largest real-time payment system in the world and handles about 60 percent of real-time payment transactions worldwide.

With the success of these models, India is embracing innovation in open networks as digital public infrastructure. Take the example of Namma Yatri, a ride-hailing network built in collaboration with the union of auto-rickshaw drivers in Bangalore and launched in November 2022.

These drivers have their own app, with a flat fee to use it, no percentage commission and no middleman. The app has facilitated close to 90,000 rides a day, almost as many as ride-hailing companies in the city.

Unlike Western countries, which have legacy systems to overhaul, India’s tabula rasa means that AI-first systems can be built from the ground up. The quick adoption of digital public infrastructure is the bedrock for these technologies.

Such infrastructure generates enormous amounts of data, and thanks to India’s Account Aggregator framework, the data remain under the citizens’ control, further encouraging public trust and utilization. With this solid footing, India is well positioned to lead the charge in AI adoption.

India will do it

In September 2023, the Indian government, in collaboration with the EkStep foundation, launched the PM-Kisan chatbot. This AI chatbot works with PM-Kisan, India’s direct benefit transfer program for farmers, initiated in 2019 to extend financial help to farmers who own their own land.

Access to the program, getting relevant information, and resolving grievances was always a problem for the farmers. The new chatbot gives farmers the ability to know their eligibility and the status of their application and payments using just their voice. On launch day more than 500,000 users chatted with the bot, and features are being released slowly to ensure a safe and risk-managed rollout.

These steps are part of an encouraging trend of early adoption of new technology by the Indian government. But the trend extends beyond the government. India’s vibrant tech ecosystem has taken off as well, a direct offshoot of its booming IT exports—currently at nearly $250 billion a year.

Next to those from the US, the largest number of developers on GitHub, a cloud-based service for software development, are from India. This sector not only innovates but also widely adopts digital public infrastructure.

The effect is cyclical: start-ups feed the growing tech culture and, in turn, leverage the data to build more precise and beneficial AI tools. India’s dynamic start-up ecosystem, moreover, is actively working on AI solutions to address various challenges.

AI can be a game changer in education as well, helping close the literacy gap. AI technologies are uniquely positioned to help students learn in their native languages, as well as learn English. AI’s applications are useful not only for students; they extend to teachers, who are often overwhelmed by administrative tasks that detract from teaching.

As AI takes over routine tasks in government and start-ups, the roles of teachers and students evolve, and they form dynamic partnerships focused on deep learning and meaningful human interaction.

What India needs is a strategic plan to chase down the most important opportunities for AI to help. The trick is not to look too hard at the technology but to look at the problems people face that existing technology has been unable to solve.

And organizations such as EkStep have stepped up with a mission called People+AI. Instead of putting AI first, they focus on the problems of people. This has led to surprising new uses unique to India.

India’s emerging status as a technological powerhouse, combined with its unique socioeconomic landscape, puts it in a favorable position to be the world’s most extensive user of AI by the end of this decade.

From streamlining education to aiding in social protection programs, AI has the potential to deeply penetrate Indian society, effecting broad and meaningful change.

Nandan Nilekani is the chairman and cofounder of Infosys and founding chairman of UIDAI (Aadhaar); Tanuj Bhojwani is head of People+AI

Source: IMF Finance & Development

Opinions expressed in articles and other materials are those of the authors; they do not necessarily reflect IMF policy.

IPS UN Bureau

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');  

The road to COP29 has begun in earnest in the backdrop of a global climate report indicating that not only was 2023 the warmest year in a 174-year climate record, it was the warmest by far. Record-breaking temperatures, combined with El Niño, pushed vulnerable and poor nations in the Global South to the frontlines of […]

Passengers board a public bus in Havana. In recent years, some 40 hybrid buses (alternating diesel and electricity), a technology that saves 25 to 30 percent of fuel and generates less pollution, have been added to public transport in the Cuban capital. CREDIT: Jorge Luis Baños / IPS

By Luis Brizuela
HAVANA, Feb 5 2024 (IPS)

Jorge Sarmientos said he made a good investment when he bought an electric motorcycle to get around and avoid the anxiety suffered by the users of Cuba’s deficient public transportation system or the high prices of private alternatives.

“It was expensive, but I gained independence,” Sarmientos, a Havana-based accountant, told IPS. “Transportation has never been good here. When there is no shortage of buses, there are shortages of spare parts or fuel. Prices should be lowered or there should be facilities for more people to acquire electric vehicles.”"Transportation has never been good here. When there is no shortage of buses, there are shortages of spare parts or fuel. Prices should be lowered or there should be facilities for more people to acquire electric vehicles." -- Jorge Sarmientos

Official data indicate that half a million electric motorcycles are on the roads in this Caribbean island nation of 11 million inhabitants, a form of transportation that helps people and families get around.

Over the last decade, the use of electric vehicles has increased in Cuba, based on customs authorizations for their importation.

More recently, the domestic industry has begun to assemble different models, including electric bicycles and three-wheelers, using parts imported largely from China.

But the fact that they are mainly sold in foreign currency is a hurdle to expanding sales.

The cheapest models in state-owned stores exceed 1,000 dollars, while others go for as much as 6,000 dollars.

In Cuba, the average monthly salary is equivalent to about 35 dollars according to the official exchange rate, or about 16 dollars in the informal market.

According to reports, almost 40 hybrid buses (alternating diesel and electricity) have been added to Havana’s deteriorated fleet of public buses in recent years, a technology that saves 25 to 30 percent of fuel and is less polluting.

But the severe internal economic crisis and the shortage of foreign currency are hindering actions to increase the number of 100 percent electric vehicles in order to gradually decarbonize public transportation.

Some companies and institutions have acquired electric cars, which bring reductions in maintenance costs.

Electric three-wheelers or ecotaxis help alleviate transportation problems in the municipality of Boyeros, one of the 15 that make up the Cuban capital. CREDIT: Jorge Luis Baños / IPS

 

Local solutions

In the case of Havana, from 2019 to 2023 the Neomovilidad project was implemented, which among its objectives aimed to strengthen the regulatory framework for an efficient transition to a low-emission urban transportation system.

In addition to prioritizing variables such as a gender approach and the inclusion of different age groups, the project provided a pilot public bicycle rental station, run by a local development project led by young people.

It also created three routes of three-wheeled electric ecotaxis driven mainly by women in outlying neighborhoods of Boyeros, one of the 15 municipalities that make up Havana.

The three-wheelers are light, motorized vehicles with a capacity for six passengers in the back, similar to the autorickshaws or tuktuks that are common in Asia. Here they are also called motocarros or mototaxis.

“I think they are a great option for getting around quickly over short distances, and at affordable prices,” retiree Gloria Almaguer, a resident of the Fontanar neighborhood in Boyeros, told IPS. “The bad thing is that there are not enough to cover demand, they can carry only a few people, and there are certain times of day when they ‘vanish’.”

The Neomovilidad project was executed by Havana’s General Directorate of Transportation, implemented by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) office in Cuba and financed by the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

Other fleets of ecotaxis provide service in the capital’s municipalities of Old Havana, Central Havana, Guanabacoa, Playa and Plaza de la Revolución, also with UNDP support. These are all initiatives that contribute to the national commitment to mitigate climate change.

With routes ranging from two to four kilometers and low prices, a little more than a hundred of these vehicles help provide a solution for sustainable micro-mobility in urban areas.

In other Cuban cities, similar three wheelers with internal combustion engines are in service.

One challenge is that the vast majority of ecotaxis and electric vehicles depend on the national electric grid to recharge their batteries. The ecotaxis recharge during the night at their terminals in the parking lots of public entities, and privately owned vehicles do so at their owners’ homes.

This is because so far there is no infrastructure that would allow electric vehicles to be recharged in a network of service stations.

Around 95 percent of Cuba’s electricity generation relies on fossil fuels.

The government considers it a matter of national security to transform the energy mix, and aims for more than 30 percent of electricity to come from clean energies by 2030, a goal that will be difficult to achieve due to the need for a high level of investment.

Passengers try to board an old vehicle operating as a private cab in Havana. In the Cuban capital, around 25 percent of the estimated total number of passengers resort to private cabs with fixed routes, known as almendrones, which are heavy consumers of gasoline or diesel and are not affordable to everyone. CREDIT: Jorge Luis Baños / IPS

 

New fuel prices

A majority of the Cuban population depends on the public transportation system, based mainly on buses and other fossil fuel-consuming vehicles.

In Havana, home to 2.1 million inhabitants, “less than 300 buses are working, a city that in the 1980s had 2,500 buses and only four years ago had 600,” said Transport Minister Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila during a television appearance in October 2023.

The greatest impact falls on those with the lowest purchasing power, since buses are the most affordable means of transportation.

The panorama is similar in Cuba’s other 14 provinces. Alternative transport in urban, suburban and rural settlements includes modified trucks, traditional horse-drawn carriages and bicycle cabs which carry one or two passengers and are pedaled by the driver.

In Havana, estimates place the total number of passengers who use private transport at around 25 percent, generally in old U.S.-made cars, the so-called “almendrones” – private cabs with fixed routes – which run on gasoline or diesel and are not affordable for everyone.

Together with the deterioration of the vehicle fleet, the chronic shortage of spare parts, lubricants and other supplies, and the migration of drivers to sectors with greater economic benefits, the fuel shortage has been one of the main causes of the irregular public transportation service, which has been accentuated in the last five years.

“You can spend an hour waiting, or more. A lot of times I’m late for class, even though I get up very early. I can’t afford a private car every day. It’s increasingly difficult to get anywhere,” stressed architecture student Yenia Hernández in an interview with IPS, as she waited at a bus stop with dozens of other people in the Central Havana municipality.

 

A train travels along a railroad track in Cuba’s capital. A majority of the population depends on the public transportation system, based mainly on buses, trucks and trains, which consume fossil fuels. CREDIT: Jorge Luis Baños / IPS

 

Energy crises have become more recurrent since 2019, in parallel with the decline of the domestic economic situation and the lack of foreign currency.

According to the authorities, this situation has multiple causes, from breach of contract by suppliers to U.S. government sanctions that hinder access to credit and services from international banks.

In 2021 Cuba imported 126,000 tons of gasoline, in 2022 some 192,000 tons, and in 2023 around 203,000 tons. Despite the increase, the figure remains below the demand of about 360,000 tons, Energy and Mines Minister Vicente de la O Levy said in a televised statement on Jan. 8.

On the other hand, this island nation needs 1.8 billion dollars to cover its annual diesel needs.

“In 2023, 609,000 tons of diesel could be imported, for about 600 million dollars (one third),” added the Energy and Mines Minister.

As of Feb. 1, an increase in the price of gasoline and diesel was planned, in order to bring the selling price in Cuban pesos in line with the official rate of the dollar, regulate sales and sell a portion only through dollar-backed cards, in order to guarantee resupply with the foreign currency, according to the government.

But the measure was postponed until further notice due to a “cybersecurity incident” caused by “a virus from abroad” that affected the system of fuel sales, which is being investigated, official information said.

The strategy to eliminate subsidies projects, as of Mar. 1, an increase in interprovincial transportation fares, with hikes of almost three times the cost of bus fares and six to seven times the cost of train tickets.

While the fares for part of the public transport service will remain unchanged, in the case of Havana, the fare for electric three wheelers will rise from four to 10 pesos (0.03 to 0.08 dollars).

The increases in fuel prices and transportation fares are in addition to the package of provisions that includes tax and tariff modifications as of Jan. 1 and which, according to government officials, are aimed at “rectifying distortions” in the economy and boosting its recovery.

“The only thing I see is that some transportation will be more expensive, but there won’t necessarily be more vehicles, or more modern vehicles with better service,” Reynaldo Martín, an electrical engineer living in Old Havana, told IPS. “Wages remain the same and that means I can’t even dream of buying a bicycle.”

Related Articles

• Local Solutions Boost Sustainable Micro-Mobility in Cuba

Sa’ada, Yemen. Aftermath of a Saudi airstrikes. Credit: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad

By Melek Zahine
KABUL, Afghanistan, Feb 2 2024 (IPS)

Two months ago, an opinion piece I wrote, “The Cries of Gaza Reach Afghanistan,” was published with the hope of reminding American and other Western leaders of how quickly wars ON terror descend into wars OF terror because of their disproportionate impact on civilians and the unpredictability once unleashed.

The United States and its Western alliance of ‘forever wars’ since 9/11 were all entered under the pretext of defeating terrorism. Instead, they strengthened the political and military standing of those they aimed to destroy while simultaneously causing unimaginable suffering for millions of civilians, including their own citizens.

According to Brown University’s Cost of War Project and various other independent research groups, a catastrophic 4.5 million direct and indirect deaths are attributed to Western efforts to “defeat terrorism” since 9/11.

If Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Syria, and Libya have taught us anything, it should be this. Today, the Taliban once again rules Afghanistan, and Iraq, after years of sectarian violence resulting from the U.S. invasion has moved closer to the political influence of Iran. In Syria, Bashar al-Assad’s autocratic rule remains firmly in place. The U.S./European NATO-led air war to rid Libya of Muammar Qaddafi and usher in democracy in 2011 was so naively executed that no consideration was paid to how such a reckless, violent endeavor would ultimately trigger a civil war, terrorism, and mass migration. In Yemen, U.S. support for Saudi Arabia’s war against Houthi rebels has led to the deaths of more than 200,000 Yemenis and strengthened the Houthis to the point where, for the “first time in history, a naval blockade is being successfully enacted” by a non-state actor with “no navy and cheap, low-grade technology.”

The same hubris that has blinded the West’s addiction to answering terrorism with war since 9/11 is the same hubris and hypocrisy that fuels its unconditional support for Israel’s war against Hamas today. To be clear, the attacks of Hamas on October 7, like the attacks of Al Qaeda on 9/11, deserve the harshest global condemnation and a proportional, strategic response that respects international law. It does not justify the unconditional support and shielding of Israel’s punitive war on Gaza’s unarmed civilian population, its civilian infrastructure, and its cultural and religious heritage while further risking the lives of the remaining Israeli hostages held by Hamas. Moreover, this war serves no military objective for Israel and offers no strategic benefit for those aiding and abetting Israel’s war from Washington, London, and various EU capitals.

In seeking to wipe out Hamas, all that Israel and its supporters led by the United States are doing is wiping out Gaza. In 100 days, Israel has succeeded in decimating 4 percent of Gaza’s population. Ninety thousand men, women, and children in the Gaza Strip have been killed, seriously injured, or disappeared. 75% of those killed are women and children (Source: Euro-Med Monitor), not Hamas fighters.

If Gaza was called an open-air prison before this war, now it’s an open-air graveyard. A closer look at the 4 percent shows an even bigger tragedy unfolding by the minute. Unchallenged by those who are supplying it with arms and political cover, Israel is targetting Palestinian healthcare workers, humanitarian relief specialists, journalists, artists, poets, civil society activists, and educators, along with their families. As if the killing of Gaza’s children and its brightest wasn’t enough, Israel, through the collaboration of its Western allies, is also obliterating Gaza’s residential and public service infrastructure.

According to a Wall Street Journal satellite imagery survey, “Israel has bombarded and destroyed 70 percent of homes in Gaza.” According to the W.H.O., “none of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are functioning,” and universities, including its primary medical teaching college, have been blown up by the I.D.F. Even places of worship, mosques, and churches, historically places of refuge during times of war, haven’t been spared the wrath of the Israeli-Western assault on Gaza.

Investigations conducted by The Washington Post and Truthout state, “Israel has deployed over 22,000 U.S. produced bombs on Gaza including 2,000-pound ‘bunker bombs’ which experts warn are not meant for densely populated areas as well as white phosphorus produced by munitions manufacturer, the Pine Bluff Arsenal, in the U.S. state of Arkansas (source: Arkansas Times) and supplied to Israel by the U.S. government over the years. Despite massive protests in major U.S. cities calling for a cease-fire, President Biden has bypassed Congress on two occasions to get even more weapons to Israel. The U.K. and Europe, for their part, have also continued to supply key weapons to Israel since the start of the war (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute) despite loud calls from their citizens for an immediate cease-fire.

When asked about these atrocities, the only reply from Israeli, American, British, and European officials is, “Do you condemn Hamas?” The answer should always be yes, but Hamas’s crimes against Israeli citizens on October 7 are not a license for Israel and the West to kill, maim, and displace the entire unarmed civilian population of Gaza. Furthermore, Israel’s reasoning that Hamas is using the civilians of Gaza as human shields and, therefore, justified in deploying any form of military action it deems necessary is not war but a crime against humanity. It’s also a disingenuous argument meant to create a fog of war repeated with criminal negligence by countless U.S., U.K., and European leaders and government officials.

It’s hard to imagine today, but the suffering being inflicted upon two million Palestinians and the remaining 132 Israeli hostages in Gaza, fatefully connected by history, geography, and the tragic events of October 7, will eventually come to an end. Perhaps the historic ruling by the International Criminal Court of Justice (I.C.J.) will prevail, but this could take months. In the meantime, the atrocities being committed on Gazans will intensify, and the plight of the Israeli hostages will enter an even darker, more desperate stage.

The recent ruling of the world’s highest court, while legally binding, doesn’t have the power of enforcement. Furthermore, the court’s order to Israel to “take measures which prevent further harm on Palestinians” without actually ordering a cease-fire fails to take into consideration the entrenched and sick appetite for war that exists between the world’s political elites who are not providing their unconditional support for Israel’s war on the civilian population of Gaza, but participating and profiting from it.

According to EuroMed Monitoring, “Since the I.C.J.’s ruling, Israel has maintained its rate of killing in Gaza” with either no or muted reactions from Western leaders. The fury but also the inertia of powerful states, regardless of political governance and persuasion, is virtually impossible to stop once their war machines are set in motion. It’s no different for Israel.

It took the United States twenty years to end its war in Afghanistan and almost ten years in Iraq. It still maintains counter-terrorism operations with Saudi Arabia in Yemen despite the deadly impact on Yemeni civilians. Europe continues its unwavering support for continued war in Ukraine for no reason other than political arrogance. Russia, for its part, despite its upper hand in Ukraine, continues to fight with devastating consequences for both Russians and Ukrainians. So, why should Netanyahu and his war cabinet be counted on to rein in their war in Gaza? Like their militarily powerful peers, Israel’s warmongering has no bounds.

The entire population of Northern Gaza is now internally displaced, forced by Israel to move south towards Rafah on the Egyptian border. Despite the I.C.J.’s ruling, Israel has intensified its ground operation towards Rafah, where hundreds of thousands from the North of Gaza are already taking refuge on the outskirts of the city, living for weeks in a harsh desert landscape. If Israel continues its violent push into Rafah as it has warned Egypt it plans to do, the entire population of Gaza will be trapped in a tiny corner of the desert with no protection and no safe passage out.

Those who survive the daily air strikes are now dying of hunger, disease, and injuries left untreated because of the destruction of Gaza’s health care system. Two million people are now also forced to endure the extreme traumas of trying to survive without any viable shelter, food, clean water and sanitation, electricity, and safe passage while surrounded by constant air and ground bombardment, snipers, drone attacks, the cold and rain of winter and perhaps worse of all the inaction of world leaders who have it in their power to end Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza and, now it’s frightening assault on the civilian population of the West Bank, where Hamas isn’t even in power.

Only the United States, specifically President Biden, is uniquely positioned to pressure Israel to respect each of the I.C.J’s rulings. Perhaps, given its reliance on war as an answer to every foreign policy challenge since 9/11, the United States has forgotten it also has something called soft power- something it has sorely neglected the past twenty years.

The easiest way for President Biden to prove that he and the United States are still committed to international law is by announcing his personal support for an immediate cease-fire and showing proof that he’s pressuring Israel to do the same. He will also need to push for a robust and independent humanitarian assistance effort without any interference from Israel at either border crossing into Gaza.

Of course, all of this assumes that President Biden is willing to stop listening to the impenetrable wall of aides and advisors he’s created around himself and start seeing with his own eyes the scale of the suffering and the dire risks of a wider, regional war that is already endangering American lives.

According to a confidential source with extensive U.S. foreign policy experience, the deadly attack on U.S. troops on the border between Jordan and Syria this past week “exhibits how even the projection of U.S. military power serves to fuel conflict rather than mitigate it.” For totally preventable reasons, now the families of these American soldiers can join all the Palestinian and Israeli lives torn apart by the sheer insanity of this preventable war and unfolding humanitarian disaster.

Above all, President Biden needs to start hearing the calls of his fellow citizens, including the many thousands of Jewish Americans, who are demanding that their taxes and their nation not be used to wage yet another senseless war in their names. A failure to do so will have unimaginable consequences not just for Israelis and Palestinians but for the world.

IPS UN Bureau

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');  

Displaced families living in an UNRWA school-turned shelter in Deir al-Balah, Middle Areas, The Gaza Strip, January 2024. Credit: Mohamed Hinnawi/UNRWA

By Naureen Hossain
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 2 2024 (IPS)

South Africa’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Mathu Joyini, said the country would take further legal action should Israel ignore the provisional measures set out by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

She was speaking at the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People this week. The meeting saw the adoption of its agenda for 2024, for which the Committee will engage with member states and regional groups to support the realization of the rights and dignities of the Palestinian people. This has become all the more relevant in the face of the current humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.

The ICJ ruled that Israel should take all measures within its power to prevent a genocide in the Gaza Strip. It stopped short of ordering a ceasefire. According to the Hamas Health Ministry, 7,000 people have been killed and 66,000 wounded in Gaza since Israel started it’s military offensive in reaction to the October 7, 2023, attack.

The Permanent Representative of Senegal, Cheikh Niang, who was re-elected to his position as Committee Chair, lamented that the current war between Israel and Hamas spoke to a “collective failure” to realize the rights of the Palestinian people and expressed hope that the Security Council “will hear the many voices” that are calling for a ceasefire.

“It is time to begin to heal the wounds that have been reopened in so many places,” he said as he advocated for a two-state solution, wherein Israel and Palestine would co-exist in peace and security within recognized borders based on the pre-1967 border lines.

Secretary-General António Guterres convened the meeting and delivered the opening statement, beginning with reiterating his condemnation of Hamas and other extremist groups and calling for the safe release of the Israeli hostages while also condemning the ensuing violence that has afflicted the people of Gaza.

“There is no justification for the intentional killing, injuring, torture, or kidnapping of civilians, using sexual violence against them, or launching rockets towards civilian targets,” he said. “At the same time, nothing can justify the collective punishment of the people in Gaza.”

He reiterated his call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, warning that the “humanitarian system in Gaza [was] collapsing. The current hostilities have lasted over 120 days, and the casualties and devastation on the Gaza Strip and West Bank stand as a “scar on our shared humanity and conscience.”

Guterres also noted that the recent hostilities in the Red Sea, Iraq, and Syria signal the impact the ongoing violence has on the region and that this could trigger “broader escalation, risking regional stability.”

Gréta Gunnarsdóttir, Director of the UNRWA Representative Office in New York, appealed to the Committee and to donor states that had made the decision to suspend their funding of UNRWA.

“Every day, our staff is making a direct impact on the ground for the people of Palestine,” she said.

She added that other humanitarian organizations, including its UN partners, depend on UNRWA to deliver humanitarian aid. As the largest humanitarian agency in the region, it has been made particularly vulnerable. UNRWA facilities, notably schools, shelters, and health care centers, have not been spared from bombardments. Disease outbreaks and the risk of famine in the region are as likely to be the cause of deaths for civilians as gunfire and bombardments.

Gunnarsdottir warned that if UNRWA were to collapse, then all humanitarian operations in Palestine would collapse.

Recently, the agency has faced allegations that some of its staff were actively involved in Hamas attacks on October 7. As a result, at least 17 major donor countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, and the European Union, have suspended donations.

The dossier Israeli intelligence shared with the United States, which details the allegations, had not been presented to UNRWA, according to Gunnarsdottir.

She told the Committee that UNRWA’s Commissioner General has terminated the contracts of eight out of the twelve staff members accused; two were confirmed dead, one has not been identified, and one does not match with the staff lists.

Joyini accused Israel of continuing “to behave in a manner that is contrary to the court order” and said that if Israel did not comply with the court’s order, then South Africa would be willing to take legal measures to enforce that ruling.

Joyini asked the Committee to extend public support to South Africa’s case to strengthen it further in the ICJ through Article 63 of the ICJ’s Statute of the Court of Justice, which would allow member states to request permission from the court to intervene if the state holds an interest that may be affected by the decision of the court case.

Riyad H. Mansour, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine, noted that Israeli leaders and the military should “face justice… and accountability in every place possible, including the international legal system.” When speaking of the situation in Gaza, he remarked that the crimes were “beyond description,” adding that it was the international community’s “collective duty” to prevent any further trauma.

Mansour called for Palestine to become a full-fledged member of the United Nations, aligning with the demand for a two-state solution that the Committee and the Secretary-General have made. He proposed that an international peace conference should be convened, which would put the status of Palestine at the forefront. A draft resolution will be brought forward to the General Assembly with support from Nigeria.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');   Related Articles

• Funding for UN Palestinian Relief Agency is Threatened While Investigations Continue
• Gaza Health Workers Struggling to Save Injured Without Medical Supplies, WHO Expert Warns
• ICJ Orders Israel to Take All Measures to Prevent Genocide in Gaza