Africa - INTER PRESS SERVICE

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari receives a dose of COVID-19 vaccine in Abuja, Nigeria, on March 6, 2021. First batch of COVAX vaccines arrived in March, country aims to inoculate 70% of 200 million people by 2022. Credit: Africa Renewal

By Leon Usigbe*
UNITED NATIONS, May 4 2021 (IPS)

Since the COVID-19 vaccination began in the US in mid-December 2020, Africa had been looking forward to its turn. For Nigeria, that time came on 2nd March 2021 when the first batch of 3.9 million doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine arrived in the country from the Serum Institute of India.

The delivery is part of a first phase of arrivals in Nigeria that will continue in the coming days and weeks. It is part of the COVAX facility arrangement, which is spearheaded by GAVI and the World Health Organization (WHO), to ensure fair and equitable distribution to all countries. It marks a major step towards ensuring equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines globally.

In total, Nigeria is expecting 84 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson. That should cover about 20 per cent of the country’s 200 million population. The AstraZeneca vaccine requires two doses per person.

Nigeria’s Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, says that, from its arrangements with African Export-Import Bank (Afrexim Bank), about 80 to 85 million doses of vaccines are guaranteed for the country.

The government is also mobilizing the private sector to support vaccine procurement. Recently, telecom giant MTN delivered 300,000 doses and other big companies are expected to follow MTN’s example. To ensure quality of the vaccines, these companies are encouraged to route vaccine donations through Afrexim Bank.

Local pharmaceutical manufacturers may be able to produce a COVID-19 vaccine within a year, says Boss Mustapha, chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, the country’s pandemic response coordinating agency. As a result, the government is mobilizing financial and logistical support for them.

70% coverage of 200 million people by 2022

The goal is to have enough vaccines for 70 per cent of Nigeria’s 200 million people by 2022, adds Mustapha who is also the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

Mustapha has sought to dismiss fears about Nigeria’s capacity to handle a vaccination campaign, pointing out the country’s long experience in handling mass vaccination programmes, especially with polio.

Women in Nigeria collect food vouchers as part of a programme to support families struggling under the COVID-19 lockdown. Credit: WFP/Damilola Onafuwa

Vaccine hesitancy, however, is strong among Nigerians according to a poll by the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, which showed that only 50% of the population would like to be vaccinated.

Despite government’s repeated assurances, many citizens still believe that the vaccines have long-term side effects.

Fighting hesitancy

To dispel such feelings and to prove its safety, President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo had their vaccinations televised live.

“I have received my first jab and I wish to commend it to all eligible Nigerians to do the same so that we can be protected from the virus,’’ Buhari said, moments after getting his first dose.

Because of the country’s unreliable power supply and the major vaccines’ need for ultra-cold freezers, the AstraZeneca vaccine with its warmer temperature requirement appears to have a leg up on the competition.

“Everything we are expecting from the COVAX facility is going to be of the AstraZeneca variety Dr. Ehanire explained to Africa Renewal. It has a good range in terms of storage for us because it uses just plus 2° degrees centigrade to plus 8° degrees centigrade of refrigeration. It doesn’t come with a new complication.”

Even more critical is the capacity of the local administration to handle vaccination. Distribution to the various States in the country began 24 hours after the vaccines arrived in the country. Prior to the arrival, the central government predicated access to the vaccines, with States satisfactorily meeting the conditions to keep them safe and potent.

“We will not be sending vaccines to States that have not fulfilled all of the criteria that will ensure that they are going to be safe,” Dr. Faisal Shuaib, the Executive Director of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, says.

The central government appointed vaccine accountability officers in the States and local government areas to closely monitor their management and utilization. These officers are also to ensure retrieval of vaccine vials for proper disposal.

The various States are not expected to release the vaccines to their local government area authorities unless they meet the minimum criteria for the successful conduct of the campaigns such as training, cold storage capabilities, availability of data-gathering tools and of transport and logistics for healthcare workers, adequate security for vaccines, among others.

Digital registration

Nigeria is currently registering people electronically for vaccination to ensure efficient and orderly scheduling of the date and time to receive the vaccine, Shuaib tells Africa Renewal. This is the first time Nigeria will pre-register people for vaccination.

All persons 18 years and above can register for the vaccination through an e-registration portal. The country relies on the media to promote this e-registration under an electronic immunization data management scheme.

The vaccination is then carried out in phases, according to predetermined classifications, Shuaib says. Frontline health workers are prioritized for the jab so they can safely care for others.

The primary health care agency uses its electronic database to track those who have received the first dose in order to know when they are due for their second dose.

“We input the date of the first dose and when they take the second. We have their names and addresses in the database,” Shuaib confirms to Africa Renewal.

Meanwhile, the rate of COVID-19 infections is alarming authorities. By the third week of March, the Nigerian CDC reported over 162,000 confirmed cases and about 2,000 deaths.

Source: Africa Renewal, United Nations

 

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The post COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout Kicks Off in Africa’s Most Populous Country appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Hiring women in supervisory roles can change the exploitative work culture of garment factories and promote gender equality in the workplace. Credit: Obaidul Arif/IPS

By External Source
May 3 2021 (IPS)

If you enter a garment factory in India, or any part of the world for that matter, you will see that the workforce is starkly female. The Indian textile and garment industry employs 45 million people, out of which more than 60 percent are women. This makes it the biggest formal employer of women in a country where 80 percent of them are not engaged in paid work. While that might paint a rosy picture of women’s empowerment at the first glance, a closer look reveals something different.

 

How did women come to dominate the garment factory floor?

Since the 1960s, women in developing countries have come to dominate the highly labour-intensive assembly lines of global supply chains. This is not without reason. Women’s unequal status in most societies makes them a cheaper source of labour as their work is often an additional or secondary source of income in most families.

While men are chosen because of the belief that they are best suited to be supervisors, there is little evidence to support this claim

Further, their labour is also considered to be easy to control. Research shows that women are preferred in these types of jobs because they are more willing to accept strict work discipline, less likely to join trade unions, and conditioned to take up tedious, repetitive, and monotonous work—all of which make them more productive.

In spite of this, very few working women in India climb the ladder in their careers because of reasons ranging from family responsibilities and restrictive social norms to lack of professional networks. This is true in garment factories too—while women dominate the frontline workforce, it’s majorly men who hold supervisory roles in factories.

 

Why are there so few female supervisors?

The garment industry has a long-standing reputation for a culture of abuse and stress. The cut-throat competition and highly time-sensitive nature of the work is one possible explanation for this.

Any bottlenecks caused by workers can generate acute losses to the firm. Hence, the factory floor runs on high stress, and supervisors are expected to maintain it.

Senior managers at garment factories tend to maintain antiquated beliefs that men are better at roles that involve leading and are trusted to be ‘strict’ and get things done. Since supervisor hiring largely depends on recommendations by the management, men are inevitably chosen for these roles.

A recent study among 24 garment factories in Bangladesh found that line chiefs—who are generally responsible for selecting supervisors—reported an average confidence level of 84 percent for male trainees. For female trainees, this number was almost 10 percentage points lower on average.

These gender biases reflect long-standing norms and power relations that make up the global garment industry in traditionally patriarchal societies like India. Rather than challenging long-standing gender norms and inequalities, the division of labour in workspaces often reinforces the association between women’s work and the definition of women as caring, gentle, self-sacrificing, and industrious. Men’s work, on the other hand, is expected to embody normative masculine behaviour: physical power, authority, and mechanical skills.

 

But are male supervisors really better?

While men are chosen because of the belief that they are best suited to be supervisors, there is little evidence to support this claim. In 2019, students of Centre for Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania undertook an internal study at Shahi Exports Pvt Ltd (India’s largest garment manufacturing firm that Good Business Lab works with) on female supervisors in the company’s factories.

Their analysis of administrative data of more than 160 sewing, finishing, and embroidery assistant supervisors found that female supervisors take 33 percent less unauthorised leave, have half the attrition rate (8.89 percent as opposed to 16.8 percent for men), and take 60 percent less overtime.

Similarly, an evaluation of a six-week operator-to-supervisor training programme to measure the effectiveness of female supervisors in relation to male supervisors showed that immediately upon returning from the training, male trainees outperformed female trainees.

However, this gap completely closed after a few months. Moreover, in simulated management exercises, female trainees outperformed male trainees on average.

What was interesting was that the female trainees underperformed while managing small teams that included a male operator. It was found that the male subordinate’s perception of the female supervisor’s competence also affected her performance due to the attitudes displayed by the subordinate based on their negative perceptions.

Hence, while there might be no evidence backing the perception that men make better supervisors, a strong belief in it by their peers, subordinates, as well as the management can affect women’s ability to be effective supervisors.

 

Making the case for women supervisors in female-dominated workplaces

If men don’t necessarily make better supervisors and if the gender of the team members plays a role in the effectiveness of the supervisor, then logically, we should have more women supervisors in female-dominated workplaces such as garment factories.

While we talk about diverse representation in Parliament and higher managerial roles in corporations, there are hardly any measures being taken to ensure representation at lower managerial levels in the sector which is the largest employer of women in this country.

Besides, there is evidence to show that female supervisors are better able to motivate female workers when compared to male supervisors. Male supervisors often use demonstrations of authority to get workers to keep their pieces moving, while female supervisors often sit down and demonstrate how to get things done and make sure things run smoothly.

Female managers are also more likely to engage in scut work, ie. the practice of voluntarily getting one’s hands dirty to perform subordinates’ routine tasks, which increases their engagement with the work. Not only does this increase productivity and contribute to improved organisational performance, but it also has the potential to help change the exploitative work culture of garment factories.

 

What are the hurdles to making women supervisors?

So while the benefits of having female supervisors in garment factories are clear, there are many barriers that prevent it from happening. A survey of more than 150 workers [operators, assistant supervisors, supervisors, and floor in-charges (FICs)] across 17 factories of Shahi Exports identified three major hurdles to women becoming supervisors:

1. Unsupportive beliefs: There was a perception that female supervisors are inferior. Seventy-four percent of male supervisors and/or FICs believed that males achieved higher batch productivity and 50 percent of all workers (including 60 percent of FICs) believed that male supervisors were better than their female counterparts.
2. Lack of support: In spite of the factory having only 20 percent female supervisors, more than half the male supervisors and FICs did not want there to be more female supervisors, indicating that even special efforts taken to bring in more female supervisors may not be supported or eagerly received.
3. Workload: Both male and female workers and supervisors of factories believed that supervisors must be able to work long hours. And long hours will make it nearly impossible for women—who typically juggle cooking, housework, and child and elderly care along with their day job—to take up supervisory roles.

 

How can firms overcome these barriers and hire more female supervisors?

The first and necessary step that firms can take to ensure better representation of women in supervisory positions is to use objective methods to hire them (rather than through recommendations made by the floor-in-charge or higher management, where biases are unavoidable). Skills and behavioural tests that are common in recruitment at the executive level may be used in supervisor hiring.

However, the barriers to having women supervisors extend beyond just hiring. They include addressing gender norms that dictate women’s roles in the workplace, the beliefs held by women (and men) about women’s abilities, lack of training, and a lack of support from the management among other things. We need stronger actions to overcome these complex factors.

Affirmative action might be one solution to this. In today’s world, it is not beyond the mandate of individual firms to implement equitable social welfare policies such as affirmative action. While we see a lot of projects being undertaken by corporates for gender equity and empowerment, most of these projects are limited to skilling their female workforce.

Though such projects are a means of empowerment at an individual level, they do not change the status quo in terms of power relations.

Researchers have highlighted how seeing more women in leadership roles positively affects women’s beliefs in their own ability and skills. Moreover, such initiatives also lead to positive spillovers into individual households and the broader society. Women who were promoted to managerial positions gained more say in intra-household decision-making (especially about their mobility).

The extra push provided by affirmative action promises to bring about these larger changes while breaking several barriers that lie in the way. Hence, we see a lot of scope for building evidence to support affirmative action in the garment industry to deal with India’s problem of the ‘sticky floor’—which is the opposite of a ‘glass ceiling’ and refers to gender inequality at the bottom rung of the workforce.

 

Eshan Fotedar is a research associate at Good Business Lab.

Nirupama V is a development communications professional working as a marketing associate at Good Business Lab, a labour research organisation

This story was originally published by India Development Review (IDR)

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Credit: UN Women/Olivia Owen

By Eugenia Shevchenko, Lotte-Marie Brouwer and Minji Kwag*
BANGKOK, Thailand, May 3 2021 (IPS)

The lockdowns and illnesses brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic have dramatically increased the need to care for children, the elderly and the sick. And in societies where gender inequality and biased norms persist, most of this burden has fallen on women, many of whom have had to leave their regular jobs with no idea of when they can return.

Actually, the pandemic has merely exacerbated the existing stereotypes about the role of women, who are reflexively expected to take care of their family members, house chores, and myriad other daily domestic tasks that are unpaid but vital to households, communities and economies.

Funded by the European Union, UN Women’s WeEmpowerAsia programme is responding to this chronic issue with the launch of the ‘UN Women Care Accelerator,’ an online group training and incubating programme for female entrepreneurs and businesses led by or supporting women in the care industry. The programme aims to create jobs and income for women by supporting new, creative solutions in the care sector – thus turning the unjust burden into economic opportunities for them.

Over a period of six months starting June 1, selected candidates from Asia and the Pacific will be provided with tailor-made training; paired with mentors; and connected with potential investors, partners and experts to develop and scale up their business models. Seedstars, an investment holding company, and Bopinc, a social enterprise, will co-lead the training, exchange and mentorship.

“Innovation will be crucial to address this ‘care emergency’ and turn the unjust burden into economic opportunities, boosting the number of women who lead and participate in business,” underscored Katja Freiwald, Regional Programme Manager of WeEmpowerAsia.

Even before the pandemic, women in the Asia-Pacific did on average 4 times as much unpaid care work as men did each day — in some countries up to 11 times more, according to a 2018 report by Asian Development Bank and UN Women. This has widened the gender gap in earnings and prevented women from fully participating in the economy.

In 2019, the labour force participation rate among men aged 15 and above was 76 per cent in East Asia and the Pacific, compared to 58.8 percent among women of the same age group. It was the only region in the world where women’s labour force participation had been decreasing even before the pandemic.

Credit: UN Women

As UN Women’s leading partner and donor, the EU has highlighted the importance of women’s economic empowerment and a more equal sharing of care responsibilities in its Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025: “women and men in all their diversity should have equal opportunities to thrive and be economically independent; women and men should equally share caring and financial responsibilities.”

“It’s about time we recognize the important role care work plays in our society. We must pay attention to the industry as a whole and empower entrepreneurs in the care sector by providing more growth opportunities. As a public-private sector partnership, we should prioritize investment in care work for a more equal and gender-inclusive economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic,” said Anurag Maloo, Head of Partnerships (Asia-Pacific) at Seedstars.

“Our initial research has shown an emergence of innovative business models that can (partly) address unpaid care work and acceleration of these innovative models is required to ensure they can grow and be replicated,” said Emile Schmitz, Managing Director at Bopinc.

“UN Women’s Care Accelerator is a great opportunity to bring entrepreneurs together and jointly scale entrepreneurial solutions to unpaid care work.”

Applications for the programme are being accepted from:

• Care businesses* led by women or benefitting women in the Asia-Pacific;
• Startups that aim to boost women’s participation in the care economy, or provide products or services, including child and elderly care, that make care more accessible and affordable to all or improve the quality of care;
• Enterprises that offer innovative ways to create a more gender-inclusive culture in the care industry and promote an equal share of responsibilities between men and women.

A total of 15 applicants will be selected for the programme. Applications close on May 10, 2021.

*Health-tech solutions will be taken into consideration only if they have a clear focus on care.

Find out more about the accelerator here: careaccelerator.seedstars.com.

Interested organizations who would like to take part and contribute may also reach out to Eugenia

*Eugenia Shevchenko is Acceleration Program Manager at Seedstars; Lotte-Marie Brouwer is Women’s Entrepreneurship Lead at Bopinc and Minji Kwag is International Communications Consultant at WeEmpowerAsia, UN Women

Bopinc [https://bopinc.org] is a social enterprise that aims to connect today’s low-income consumers with dignified choices of tomorrow by supporting organizations to design and deliver commercially and socially viable business models and solutions. It has offices in Bangladesh, Myanmar, Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Netherlands (HQ).

Seedstars [www.seedstars.com] is an investment holding company based in Switzerland. Founded in 2012, its mission is through the use of technology promote thriving entrepreneurial systems to help improve livelihoods in emerging markets, focusing on the vital “6%” (according to research by UK-based social impact charity NESTA).

 

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Women journalists in Kabul June 2019. Credit: UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA)/Fardin Waezi

By Thalif Deen*
UNITED NATIONS, May 2 2021 (IPS)

In the contemporary world of journalism, female reporters face a double jeopardy: they are increasingly targeted both as journalists and as women– particularly in repressive regimes and misogynistic societies.

As the United Nations intensifies its campaign for women’s rights worldwide—even as it annually commemorates World Press Freedom Day on May 3 — one of the questions lingering in the minds of women activists is: Is press freedom incompatible with gender empowerment?

Marianna Belalba Barreto, Civic Space Cluster Lead at CIVICUS, the global civil society alliance based in Johannesburg, told IPS the CIVICUS Monitor has documented many cases of women journalists facing online harassment and the gendered nature of it.

In its annual report: People Power Under Attack (PPUA) 2020, CIVICUS documented the use of intimidation as a tactic to deter journalists and human rights defenders (HRDs).

In particular, several cases of intimidation of women journalists were documented in the Balkan region, with threats often gendered in nature.

In North Macedonia, a woman journalist received messages via Facebook and Twitter containing verbal abuses and hate speech. She received dozens of messages threatening her with rape as well as death in response to her work.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina a woman journalist was threatened for reporting on an environmental rights story.

In Bulgaria, a woman journalist, whose story portrayed a far-right group in a negative light, had to flee the country with her family after allegedly receiving threats from unknown people against her and the family, with her personal information leaked online.

The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris and the Washington-based International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) conducted a global survey last year to assess the scale and impacts of online violence targeting women journalists, “and to help identify solutions to this pernicious problem.”

ICFJ says it is the most comprehensive and geographically diverse survey ever undertaken on the theme, having been offered in five languages and receiving responses from 714 women journalists* across 113 countries.

The top findings include: Nearly three in four women respondents (73%) said they had experienced online violence; threats of physical (25%) and sexual violence (18%) plagued the women journalists surveyed; and one in five women respondents (20%) said they had been attacked or abused offline in incidents seeded online.

Credit: UNESCO & the International Center for Journalists

Lucy Westcott, James W. Foley Emergencies Research Associate at the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), told IPS women journalists around the world face a number of safety hazards while reporting, and risk having their voices silenced for being both journalists and women in public life.

CPJ has spoken to women journalists across the world—including in many of the countries highlighted from the UNESCO-ICFJ report, such as Brazil, South Africa, the U.K. and the U.S.—who described dealing with threats to their safety while reporting, online harassment, misogynistic attacks, and threats of sexual violence and death.

She said women journalists are also at risk of physical attack while reporting in the field, especially if they are reporting alone. Freelance women journalists face a particular risk, as they lack the backing of a traditional newsroom and its support.

“Online harassment continues to be one of the biggest risks to the safety of women journalists globally, and online threats can and do spill over into a real-life setting. The impact of online harassment is far-reaching, and can also result in trauma and mental health difficulties, said Westcott, a former staff writer for Newsweek, and UN correspondent for Inter Press Service (IPS) news agency.

She added: “Journalist safety is a press freedom issue, and women journalists should be able to do their job and report the news without fearing for their safety and livelihoods. Editors need to be aware of the risks their female journalists face, and help them take steps to mitigate those risks.”

Credit: ICFJ

Tara Carey, Head of Media at Equality Now told IPS women journalists around the world are speaking out about their experiences of online violence and harassment, and studies are reporting a disturbing increase in misogynistic digital abuse targeting female journalists.

“Online trolling and psychological abuse manifests in various ways and is carried out to intimidate, stigmatize and silence women. It can range from sexual harassment, and threats of sexual and physical violence, including murder, through to privacy violations such as hacking, non-consensual dissemination of intimate images, and “doxing”, which involves personal information and contact details being leaked to the public.

“Trolling is sometimes part of an orchestrated campaign involving multiple attackers, and abuse is often worse when it intersects with other forms of discrimination, such as associated with race, nationality, religion, caste, ethnicity, and sexual orientation,” she said.

Online violence and harassment can take a heavy toll, leaving those who are targeted feeling stressed, scared, depressed, and in some instances, at greater risk.

Worryingly, digital abuse is closely associated with offline violence, with many women journalists confirming they have experienced threats, abuse or assault in face-to-face encounters whilst working, said Carey.

“This onslaught is curtailing women’s participation in the media and undermining our ability to engage freely in public debate, report on contentious issues or challenge discrimination. Some women are being pushed to censor what they say, withdraw from public online conversations and frontline reporting, or even abandoning journalism entirely.

“Online abuse against women journalists is an attack on freedom of speech and expression. A reduction in female representation in news reporting erodes gender diversity in public discourse and risks marginalizing gender-sensitive reporting on issues impacting women and girls,” declared Carey.

Meanwhile, on the occasion of International Women’s Day last March, UNESCO launched a campaign to highlight the specific risks faced by women journalists online.

Guy Berger, Director for Policies and Strategies, Communication and Information, at UNESCO, says, “this violence harms women’s right to speak and society’s right to know”.

“To tackle this increasing trend”, he adds, “we need to find collective solutions to protect women journalists from online violence”. This includes strong responses from social media platforms, national authorities and media organizations.

Belalba Baretto said CIVICUS also continues to document cases in different regions of the world, as indicated by the following examples:

1. Three women journalists in Lebanon, Dima Sadek, Luna Safwan and Mahassen Moursel, have been subjected to an intense hate campaign: https://monitor.civicus.org/updates/2020/11/03/year-october-revolution-human-rights-violations-continue-amid-lack-accountability/

2. Geri Scott, the Yorkshire Post’s Westminster correspondent, faced online harassment following her appearance on the Andrew Marr Show TV programme on BBC One. Following her appearance on the show, Scott was targeted by an “online trolling campaign”, when she received 52 Instagram follow requests and “abusive messages and even rape threats: https://monitor.civicus.org/updates/2020/12/15/peaceful-assembly-under-threat-crackdown-environmental-and-blm-protesters

3. In Brazil, CIVICUS documented several cases (https://monitor.civicus.org/updates/2020/03/28/journalists-under-assault-brazil-judicial-harassment-smear-campaigns-and-vilification/). In addition, a report published by the Associação Brasileira de Jornalismo Investigativo (ABRAJI) on violence against women journalists in Brazil, identified 20 attacks on Brazilian women journalists between January 2019 and February 2020, including misogynistic and sexist offences, smear campaigns and disclosure of personal information. Of the 17 cases recorded in 2019, 13 were carried out by members of the federal and state congress, ministers and President Bolsonaro himself. 84% of the journalists interviewed in the study also said they had faced gender-based violence at work.

4. News outlet Prensa Comunitaria and their women journalists were subjected to a smear campaign in conservative media and on social media for their coverage of the International Women’s Day march held on 8th March 2020 in Guatemala City: https://monitor.civicus.org/updates/2020/05/12/journalists-denounce-guatemala-government-hostility-towards-press/

Carey of Equality Now said: “Dealing with online abuse mustn’t fall on the shoulders of those being targeted. Media houses need to develop and implement gender-specific guidelines and training that incorporate anti-harassment policies. Women journalists should feel comfortable raising concerns about abuse and newsrooms should take responsibility for ensuring they feel safe and supported.

“Laws need to be updated and implemented to address this problem. Criminal justice systems should be providing support and redress to victims and punishing perpetrators. Justice being done, and being seen to be done, is important both for the individual and because consequences can act as a deterrent for others.

“There also needs to be better awareness and understanding amongst law enforcement agencies and social media companies, along with the adoption of zero-tolerance policies that involve duty bearers taking swift and appropriate action against perpetrators.”

*Thalif Deen, Senior Editor at the UN Bureau of Inter Press Service (IPS) news agency, is the author of a newly-released book on the United Nations titled “No Comment and Don’t Quote Me on That” available on Amazon. The link to Amazon via the author’s website follows: https://www.rodericgrigson.com/no-comment-by-thalif-deen/

 

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The post Is Press Freedom Incompatible with Gender Empowerment? appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

3 May is World Press Freedom Day. This is part of a series of IPS features and opinion editorials focused on media freedom globally.

The post Is Press Freedom Incompatible with Gender Empowerment? appeared first on Inter Press Service.

3 May is World Press Freedom Day. This is part of a series of IPS features and opinion editorials focused on media freedom globally.

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, May 2 2021 (IPS)

Have you ever heard of a workers’ strike or similar labour action for press freedom? And how long do you think it lasted? A day? A week? A month? And where and when do you think this happened?

Workers strike for press freedom
Six decades ago, in 1961, Said Zahari, the editor of the Malay language daily, Utusan Melayu, led a strike of journalists and other employees. The protracted strike, in both Malaysia and Singapore today, was for press freedom rather than employee welfare.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

Against all odds, the strike lasted over a hundred days! It also marked the end of the ‘honeymoon’ for the post-colonial government after independence. The historic strike was remarkable for many reasons, with two deserving special mention.

First, it involved ethnic Malay workers where such industrial actions had mainly been associated with ethnic Chinese and Indian workers, first brought to Malaya as indentured labour in colonial times.

Second, and perhaps uniquely, the strike tried to resist the imminent takeover of the previously independent anti-colonial newspaper to serve the propaganda needs of the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). UMNO was the dominant partner of the governing coalition after the first Malayan elections in 1955 under colonial rule.

In 1957, the Federation of Malaya became independent, but without Singapore with which it was closely integrated, economically, politically and even socially and culturally before the Japanese invasion in 1941-1942.

With the Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak, Singapore joined the expanded Malaysian confederation of British possessions in the region in 1963 before seceding less than two years later.

UMNO-led ruling coalitions ruled Malaysia until 2018 when it lost the general election despite great gerrymandering in its favour. But after a ‘palace coup’ in March 2020, UMNO joined the current ruling coalition.

Out of the frying pan into the fire
To break the strike, Singapore-born Said was banished by Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman from re-entering peninsular Malaya after visiting striking colleagues on the island.

In early February 1963, Said was arrested by Lee Kuan Yew’s government of Singapore, then still under British tutelage. This happened hours after he agreed to lead the left populist Parti Rakyat Singapura (Singapore People’s Party) when PRS allies were still very influential in the region.

Arrested with over a hundred other political dissidents in Operation Coldstore, he was incarcerated without trial for 17 years. In the early 1970s, Said’s poems were smuggled out of prison and published in Malaysia. Said’s resolute determination despite his ordeal inspired countless others.

Inspiration
Said’s memoirs, published at the start of the new millennium, reveal how he came to make heroic sacrifices for a better, more just and democratic post-colonial Malaya with no thought of personal gain or advantage.

His memoirs are not just political, but also personal, candidly sharing reminiscences, but without the cosmetic editing that ‘great men’ typically demand for their biographical narratives.

Born on 17th May 1928 in a rustic Singapore which no longer exists, the young Muslim Malay youth came of age under British colonialism, interrupted by the 1942-1945 Japanese Occupation. His working life began at the Utusan headquarters in Singapore.

The newspaper was published by Yusof Ishak, later Singapore’s first president, and edited by A. Samad Ismail, the doyen of Malaysian journalism. As independence for Malaya without Singapore became imminent, Said was sent north in 1955 to head the Kuala Lumpur office.

He arrived in time to cover the historic Baling peace talks between the electorally victorious Alliance and the communist-led guerrilla movement driven underground in mid-1948. Then Chief Minister Tunku confided to Said that he never wanted the talks to succeed, but had agreed to have them to gain political advantage.

Generosity of spirit
After his release in late 1979, Said remained humble and modest, always affable, even avuncular and generous in his dealings with all. Other Utusan comrades too came out of the strike with so much of their dignity and humanity intact despite losing their livelihoods and much else.

Despite his prolonged incarceration, his magnanimity and generosity of spirit contrast with so much contemporary political hypocrisy and petty vindictiveness. Some who had caused him much grief later sought to redeem themselves with him, often to the chagrin of comrades.

Yet, he always remained principled, defiant and uncompromising when it counted. Although he said little about it until his passing five years ago, despite his modest means, he sought to compensate his family for its ordeal. This must surely be one of the heaviest burdens he had to bear.

Many partook of his love for humanity, truth, freedom and other cherished universal values. His was truly a life of much sacrifice for values and principles which still move many, so many decades later.

One cannot but be inspired by the Utusan strike, for over a hundred days, for press freedom. Those of us who cherish freedom of the press owe the strikers a debt which can never be repaid.

The name Said Zahari deserves to be immortalised worldwide as symbolising the now universal struggle for press freedom. Today, on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, let us all salute Said Zahari and his Utusan comrades of 1961.

 

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The post Said Zahari: Unsung Mandela of Press Freedom appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

3 May is World Press Freedom Day. This is part of a series of IPS features and opinion editorials focused on media freedom globally.

The post Said Zahari: Unsung Mandela of Press Freedom appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Almost thirty countries are facing an imminent food crisis caused by COVID-19. Photo: Stefanie Glinski /FAO

By Mario Lubetkin
ROME, May 1 2021 (IPS)

More than a year after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, food and nutrition security continues to show its fragility.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) reported in 2020 that more than 690 million people suffer from hunger, and that the outbreak of the pandemic projected an increase of 130 million in the number of people affected by chronic hunger in the world, a fact that is gradually being verified.

This means that more than 10 percent of the world’s population is in a borderline situation, a fact that moves away from the objectives proposed by the international community in the platform of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015, consisting in eliminating poverty and hunger by 2030.

This situation is compounded by the existence of more than 650 million people who suffer from obesity problems, which determines that, along with hunger, malnutrition is another scourge in constant evolution.

In Latin America alone, 200 million adults and 50 million children and adolescents are overweight.

Although this difficult reality existed before the beginning of the pandemic, some of the reasons that determined this situation, such as conflicts, saw a significant increase during the last year.

The fragility of the health situation is compounded by the effects of the worsening economic conditions resulting from the same circumstance

Such is the situation in countries like the Congo, where according to a report prepared jointly by FAO and the World Food Program (WFP) in 2021, more than 27 million inhabitants (one in three Congolese) are in a situation of acute food insecurity. In another FAO and WFP report from the second half of 2020, both organizations predicted that more than 27 countries in all regions were exposed to an imminent food crisis caused by COVID-19.

The fragility of the health situation is compounded by the effects of the worsening economic conditions resulting from the same circumstance.

It is estimated that today, 35 percent of jobs related to the food system are at risk.

Some economists already define the situation that began in 2020 as the “lost decade”.

If we wanted to return to pre-pandemic levels, i.e., before 2019, and if we maintained the average growth of the last decade, which was 1.8 percent, only by 2024 would we reach the economic levels of more than a year before by 2024. However, if the growth average was that of the last six years, i.e., 0.3 percent, we would return to the situation of 2019 only in 10 years.

In 2020 imports were strongly affected, there were great difficulties in trade, border closures and transportation problems that have only been partially overcome in recent months.

In Latin America alone, the decrease in gross domestic product was 7.7 percent, with the closure of 2.7 million companies of all kinds.

Although the levels of contagion continue to grow, according to the global numbers, the beginning of the gradual but massive vaccination process has generated hope of overcoming the worst moments of the present situation.

If this difficult scenario begins a process of improvement in the second half of this year or towards the beginning of 2022, a situation still to be verified, the countries should prepare to heal wounds and face the existing crises in the health, economy and environment triangle, in the perspective of development.

According to the thoughts of many countries, specialists and international organizations, such as FAO, recovery accelerating instruments should be focused on innovation, technology, data management and other key aspects such as human capital, institutions, and governance.

It will be essential to prioritize investments, especially in infrastructure throughout the entire food value chain. It is necessary to improve the technology and infrastructure for the handling, storage and processing of food products, as well as increasing investment in the structure of agricultural production to reduce losses and waste.

Food security in the nutritional sector should also be improved, optimizing productivity and reducing greenhouse emissions, as well as increasing the protection of natural resources, reducing dispersions and losses, and optimizing the use of natural resources.

In parallel, trade must be improved, through diversification, increasing electronic commerce and increasing resilience in times of crisis.

For this to happen, new synergies must be generated between different players.

At the FAO level, a global coalition on food has recently been launched to try to overcome the solutions limited to the countries themselves, establish a fluid dialogue between them on the positive experiences developed in this first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and, in turn, prepare countries for the next phase of socio-economic and environmental recovery.

This coalition is based on four main axes: a global plan of humanitarian responses, economic inclusion and social protection to reduce poverty, the reduction of food waste and the transformation of the food system.

This is a great challenge, for which the individual action of governments is not enough. The private sector, civil society and the academic sector, among others, must also participate in this protection and effort to relaunch.

The coming months will indicate if we are on the right track in reducing the impact of this massive pandemic, and if countries will get back on track to absorb the effects of this dramatic crisis and project a reality that gives new perspectives to the next generations.

The post A Year Later, COVID-19 Continues to Show the Fragility of Food Security appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Mario Lubetkin is Assistant Director General at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

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By Sania Farooqui
NEW DELHI, India, Apr 30 2021 (IPS)

Every time a woman journalist receives threats of physical and sexual violence, cyber attacks and surveillence, doxxing, public humiliation, damage to her professional & personal credibility, the driving forces behind these intents are deeply rooted misogyny, sexism and abuse of power.

These online offenses are often organized, coordinated or orchestrated, which could include State-sponsored ‘sock puppet networks’, acts of patriotic trolling, networked gaslighting or involves mobs who seed hate campaigns.

According to a report published by The International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) and UNESCO, vicious online violence seeks to silence women journalists and discredit their reporting has become a growing problem. “Because of their race, sexual orientation and religion, some women face even more frequent and vitriolic attacks. Online violence against women journalists are often linked to disinformation and political extremism, designed to smear their personal and professional reputations,” the report says.

Saudi Arabia: ‘Toughest & Most Dangerous for Journalists’

Reem Abdellatif

Reem Abdellatif, a prominent Egyptian-American journalist now based in the Netherlands left the Middle East due to the challenges and abuse she faced while working as a journalist in Saudi Arabia. Speaking to me Reem says, “I worked with Saudi State TV, which controls the narrative in the Kingdom and the Middle East. I was constantly pressured into glamorizing the Kingdom’s non-existent tourism sector, economy, and investment scene. I was working in close proximity to the Kingdom’s ruling elite, and when I tried covering and flagging festering core issues, such as women and human rights, poor tourism infrastructure, diversity, equality, inclusion in the workplace, bullying and harassment, for them that is where I went wrong and became a threat.

“Women journalists face difficulties in this region because we call for accountability. Authoritarian regimes fear sovereign women, especially survivors who openly discuss their lived experiences because we are resilient and people can relate to us,” Reem says.

According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in its 2021 World Press Freedom Index, Middle East’s most authoritarian countries – Saudi Arabia (170th), Egypt (166th) and Syria (173rd) – have taken advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic to reinforce their methods for gagging the media and reaffirm their monopoly on news and information.

The report also mentions how authorities continue to use surveillance to keep an eye on Saudi journalists, even when they are abroad, as Jamal Khashoggi’s murder in Istanbul in October 2018 illustrated. “In this region, still the toughest and most dangerous for journalists, the pandemic has exacerbated the problems that have long plagued the press, which was already in its death throes,” the report states.

“I have faced gendered attacks and systematic online trolling because I spoke up against sexual abuse, harassment and government repression. I have received death threats, and the trolls have used profanity to intimidate me, Twitter has become their playground. There is no room to agree or disagree in the media scene in MENA and the Gulf region, and women journalists who are unaffiliated with the state have no place in the Middle East, sadly.

“I left the Middle East in March 2020 to live a dignified life, where I could speak openly and freely about my experiences as a woman and help young girls and survivors of abuse to reclaim the narrative,” says Reem.

Return of “Red-tagging” in Philippines

Meanwhile in the Philippines, which ranks 138 in the 2021 World Press Freedom Index, the government continues to develop several ways to pressure journalists critical of the summary methods adopted by “Punisher” Rodrigo Duterte and his “war on drugs”. The Persecution of the media has been accompanied by online harassment campaigns orchestrated by pro-Duterte troll armies, which also launched cyber-attacks on alternative news websites, including the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines.

“Red-tagging” also returned in force in 2020 in the Philippines and one such victim was Lady Ann Salen, co-founder of the alternative media network Altermidya and editor of the Manila Today news site, who was arrested on firearms charges. The local police claimed they found 45 pistols and four grenades during the search.

“The police clearly planted the evidence to incriminate ‘Icy’ Salem in an utterly shameless manner,” said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk.

Lady Ann Salem

Women journalists work under military surveillance in this country, says Lady Ann Salen. “Online publications are hacked if they criticise the government, journalists get arrested, have their equipment confiscated, they receive death threats, hate-trolling and are locked out of their Facebook accounts,” Lady Ann says.

“My arrest on planted evidence and trumped up charges came only 9 days after the nationally televised red-tagging at the Senate hearing.

“It was December 10th, 2020, around two am, when the condo building’s security guard knocked on my door, police barged in with SWAT with their long firearms and full battle gear – around 20 of them, they made me and my companion face the wall, tied our hands behind our backs and made us neel on the floor for an hour. We were not allowed to make any calls to our lawyer or family members.”

Detained for almost 12 hours, Lady Ann said the whole search was conducted inside her “bedroom” and not any other part of the condo. “The police found a grenade wedged in the small mesh pocket in my everyday bag, gun amongst my laptop and hard drives, as well as from under my pillow. They found guns inside bags that did not belong to us. We were detained in four facilities in two months and three weeks of incarceration.”

Red-tagging for a long time has been a prelude to human rights violations, and a way to condition the public’s mind that if there were irregularities in the arrest or killing of somebody red-tagged, those people had it coming or even deserved it. In June 2016, when Rodrigo Duterte was sworn in as president, he had said, “Just because you’re a journalist, you are not exempted from assasination if you’re a son of a bitch. Freedom of expression cannot help you if you have done something wrong.”

“Despite these attacks and threats, women journalists in the country continue to rise, resist pressures, defend their ranks and defend press freedom in the country. We must continue to serve the people with journalism and our work is best exercised when it can contribute to just and meaningful changes in the lives of the people in this country – because a lot still needs to change,” says Lady Ann.

Iran: Polarized Political Sphere & Strict State Red Lines

Iran’s media freedom rank is 174 out of the 180 countries in the latest press freedom index of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) 2021.

The RSF report says Iran is still one of the world’s most repressive countries for journalists subjecting news and information to relentless control and at least 860 journalists and citizen journalists have been persecuted, arrested, imprisoned and in some cases executed since the 1979 revolution.

The report mentions the Iranian authorities waged their fight against the freedom to inform beyond the country’s borders, putting a great deal of pressure on Iranian journalists working for international media outlets.

Negar Mortazavi

One such journalist is Negar Mortazavi, who has been living in the United States for almost two decades, but was forced into exile from Iran in 2009, during the presidential election and the green movement. She currently has an open case against her, and says “it is a big risk” returning back to the country.

“As an Iranian-American journalist and analyst, I have been covering both the human rights abuses of the Iranian government, as well as the negative impact of US sanctions and the dangers of military escalation between the two countries. I have been a vocal critic of the Trump administration’s policies towards Iran, as well as a critic of Iran’s repression against its own citizens. I have been a target of massive online abuse and harassment from various state-sponsored entities, both by the Islamic Republic, the United States government, as well as Saudi Arabian and Israeli online operations.

“They constantly try to discredit my work, post death and rape threats on a regular basis, incite others to attack me, they do everything they can to intimidate and silence me,” says Negar.

In 2019, Negar used her Twitter handle to draw attention to a series of inflammatory tweets that were trying to smear her work along with other American journalists and analysts on Twitter. Negar exposed the Iran Disinformation Project, a state department- funded initiative that claimed to “bring to light disinformation emanating from the Islamic Republic of Iran via official rhetoric, state propaganda outlets, social media manipulation and more.”

“In response to the complaints, the US State Department suspended the initiative’s funding, but some other projects and cyber armies still continue to smear journalists and analysts who are critical of US policies towards Iran. They specifically target women with a sexist and misogynistic discourse, to discourage us from participating in public debates.

“It is very challenging to cover Iran from a distance, and to cover US foreign policy towards the region in general. There are many powerful players in the Middle East and in Washington DC who do not like nuance, objective reporting and analysis about the region,” says Negar.

Violations of journalists’ rights in countries like Iran, which often arrest journalists on fabricated charges and subject them through unfair trials, long sentences, without proper legal support and medical attention while in prison, often have a strong gender element and a common thread to the abuse that is directed at women journalists.

“In traditional societies with strict state red lines, women journalists are always the top targets because the perception is, it is easier to intimidate and silence women. I know of so many female colleagues who have left social media temporarily or permanently because of the abuse. It is important for women in these times, to be bold, be brave, break these barriers, create alliances and find partners, to speak up and push against abuse and intimidation,” says Negar.

Sania Farooqui is a journalist and filmmaker based out of New Delhi. She hosts a weekly online show called The Sania Farooqui Show where Muslim women from around the world are invited to share their views.

 

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By External Source
Apr 30 2021 (IPS-Partners)

WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY: a reminder to governments of their commitment to press freedom. This year’s World Press Freedom Day theme: “Information as a Public Good.”

It serves as a call to affirm the importance of cherishing information as a public good.

It is vital to have access to reliable information – especially in an era of misinformation.

Today, journalism is restricted in well over two thirds of the globe.

The 2021 World Press Freedom Index: journalism is “totally blocked or seriously impeded” in 73 nations.

“The pandemic has been used as grounds to block journalists’ access to information sources, and reporting in the field,” Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Secretary-General Christophe Deloire

According to RSF, authoritarian regimes have used the pandemic to “perfect their methods of totalitarian control of information.”

‘Dictatorial democracies’ have used coronavirus as a pretext for imposing especially repressive legislation combining propaganda with suppression of dissent.

In Egypt, the government banned publication of non-government pandemic figures and arrested people for circulating figures larger than the official numbers.

In Zimbabwe, an investigative reporter was arrested after exposing a scandal related to the procurement of COVID- 19 supplies.

Tanzania, the former president imposed an information blackout on the pandemic before he died in March 2021. Even in Norway, journalists have faced difficulty accessing pandemic-related government information.

Thailand, the Philippines, Cambodia and Indonesia adopted extremely draconian laws in the spring of 2020 criminalizing any criticism of the government’s actions.

Press freedom in Myanmar has also become increasingly strained since the military deposed its democratically elected government in February.

Despite Africa being the most violent continent for journalists, but several countries showed significant improvements in press freedom, according to RSF.

Europe and the Americas are the most favorable regions for press freedom, according to RSF.

 

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Israeli authorities are committing the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution, Human Rights Watch said in a report released April 27. The finding is based on an overarching Israeli government policy to maintain the domination by Jewish Israelis over Palestinians and grave abuses committed against Palestinians living in the occupied territory, including East Jerusalem. Credit: Human Rights Watch (HRW)

By Mouin Rabbani
THE HAGUE, Netherlands, Apr 30 2021 (IPS)

Human Rights Watch’s 27 April report, A Threshold Crossed: Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution, could also have been entitled Better Late Than Never.

The evidence and analysis deployed in this 217-page report and its 867 footnotes, voluminous and sound as it is, has been at HRW’s disposal for years. Similarly, its conclusions have been common currency in the region, and often beyond, since before HRW was founded. It is thus not Israel, but rather HRW that has crossed a threshold.

The more pertinent question is why HRW chose this moment to formally recognize reality. HRW is the industry leader in its field. As an establishment institution that places a premium on access to the corridors of power, it generally avoids open conflict with US foreign policy.

And compared to its reporting on other states in the MENA region, it has until recently been extremely reticent about explicitly condemning Israeli conduct or unambiguously charging it with criminal conduct – unequivocal HRW denunciations have in fact traditionally been directed at the Palestinians and other Arabs rather than Israel.

Additionally, key HRW leaders such as founding Chairman Robert Bernstein and President-for-Life Ken Roth are known for their pro-Israel sympathies. Bernstein for example was a shameless apologist for Israel who never encountered an Israeli violation he wouldn’t justify.

It is common knowledge within the human rights community that HRW staff hold a rather different view of Israel and its conduct, and have been agitating for many years for their organization to hold Israel to the same standards it applies to others in the region.

When, particularly during the past year, Israeli human rights organizations, most notably B’Tselem, published major reports characterizing Israel as an apartheid regime, HRW’s continued silence on the matter became politically untenable and somewhat of an embarrassment.

As in other aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian relationship, the Americans follow the lead of their Israeli counterparts and almost never get ahead of them.

Similarly, HRW management has always been adept at divining the political winds, and it may be the case that it assessed the direction of the ongoing International Criminal Court (ICC) deliberations on Palestine, and saw benefit in getting on the right side of history and positioning itself to claim some of the credit.

A report by the world’s most prominent human rights organization accusing Israel of apartheid and calling for it to face real consequences for its policies is by definition a significant development. And precisely because of HRW’s history, and because it is a renowned US organization, this report acquires added importance.

For example, the campaign by Israel and its apologists to proscribe advocacy for Palestinian rights and delegitimize findings that Israel is an institutionally racist state has I suspect suffered a significant blow.

Whenever Israel is exposed as a racist state or compulsive violator of Palestinian rights it seeks to render such judgements irrelevant and delegitimize its critics – including, it should be noted, Jewish ones – with specious charges of anti-Semitism. It’s a well-worn playbook often augmented with other dirty tricks and propaganda such as denouncing critics as terrorists and fellow travellers. But the anti-Semitism canard remains the core of its response.

Similarly, authoritative reports by prominent Israeli and US organizations make it more difficult for Western media and officialdom to continue avoiding serious discussion of Palestinian rights and Israeli practices, and may empower those within such institutions seeking to promote greater debate about Israeli-Palestinian issues. Such reports can also serve as a valuable educational resource and assist in advocacy efforts.

The more interesting question is what if any consequences A Threshold Crossed and similar publications may have for Israel’s continued impunity in its dealings with the Palestinian people.

Apartheid is not a murder committed by a soldier who can theoretically be placed on trial, or a war crime commissioned by a commanding officer or government minister who can theoretically be held to account.

It is, rather, the intentional, consciously designed character of a state, and as such implicates not only the state itself but every participating leader, official, and bureaucrat. It will be interesting to see, for example, if such reports have an impact on the current deliberations within the ICC prosecutor’s office about the situation in Palestine.

It will be similarly interesting to see if such reports register within the United Nations system. In 2017, Secretary General Antonio Gutteres scandalously buckled to US and Israeli pressure, and disassociated the UN from, and tried to suppress, a report commissioned by UN ESCWA on this very subject.

This led to the resignation of ESCWA’s highly respected Executive Secretary, Rima Khalaf. Given that his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric recently refused to acknowledge the Armenian genocide on the spurious grounds that it transpired prior to the UN’s establishment (perhaps it is his view that the Nazi Holocaust commemorated by the UN this January was perpetrated during the 1970s), I am not particularly optimistic.

 

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Excerpt:

The writer is Co-Editor, Jadaliyya, www.jadaliyya.com, an independent ezine produced by the Arab Studies Institute based in Washington DC/Beirut

The post Human Rights Watch: A Threshold Crossed appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Afghanistan marked World Press Freedom Day with speeches and the recognition of journalists for their work in covering key national and political issues. Credit: UNAMA/Fardin Waezi

By Michael De Dora
WASHINGTON, Apr 30 2021 (IPS)

When Myanmar’s military seized power from the elected government in February, one of its first actions was to further squeeze the already restricted free flow of information in the country. It obstructed news stations, temporarily shuttered phone and internet access, and blocked social media platforms.

Since then, things have only worsened, with dozens of journalists behind bars, news organizations charged with crimes, and military officials stating the shutdown will not be lifted anytime soon.

The result? At a time when it’s been desperately needed, independent information has been impossible to either publish or access. As the country experienced a rapid, unexpected shift in power, the majority of its citizens—and by consequence the world—have been left in the dark about the details.

The internet shutdown in Myanmar should be an example of what a government should never do. And yet is an example of what governments are doing—with disturbing frequency around the world.

All told, there have been more than 500 internet shutdowns across dozens of countries over the last three years.

As the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has documented, these shutdowns have serious consequences for press freedom. They leave journalists struggling to do their job effectively. Turning off or limiting access to the internet means that media workers are unable to contact sources, fact check data, file stories, or publish news to the online platforms they depend on for dispersal.

Internet shutdowns also leave the public deprived of the ability to access reliable information on what is happening in their community and their country—or even to phone their neighbor. If the press can’t publish, the public can’t read. It’s that simple.

And these shutdowns are not limited to autocraties or dictatorships. They’re happening in democracies, too.

Consider: in August 2019, millions of people living in Jammu and Kashmir awoke as news broke that the Indian government was planning to revoke a constitutional provision that granted the contested region’s governing autonomy and change it from a state to a union territory, essentially bringing it under federal control.

Except they couldn’t call their neighbors or read the news, because the Indian government had imposed an internet shutdown and communications blackout. This blackout extended well into 2020.

The situations in Jammu and Kashmir, and now Myanmar, are the tip of a largely unnoticed iceberg. In Uganda, the government suspended internet access during its January 2021 elections. In Belarus, authorities blocked local news websites amid protests in September 2020. In Ethiopia, also in response to protests, officials shut down the internet across the country (on the same day, police raided a news organization and detained journalists). In Iran, the government cut internet access for at least several days after protests broke out. In Indonesia, in response to civil unrest, authorities temporarily blocked the internet.

Why do governments engage in such behavior? For many reasons, but chief among them: to protect their power.

It is no coincidence that shutdowns are more likely to happen during times of conflict or unrest, or during an election period. When governments feel their power threatened, those in charge naturally rush to protect it. And the perception throughout history is that keeping a firm grip on what citizens can hear and see will aid authorities in maintaining control.

That explains why, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, government attempts to shutter internet access became an acute problem. Governments, particularly authoritarian regimes, sought to control the narrative about the scale of the outbreak or the quality of its response.

Unfortunately when paired with a public health crisis, internet shutdowns can have deadly consequences—keeping from people the information they need to keep themselves and their families safe.

The widespread impact and apparent uptick in internet shutdowns has forced news outlets and journalists to get creative in order to continue to perform their duties.

It’s also forced civil society to become more proactive. Organizations are joining together to urge governments to keep the internet on ahead of elections and crises, and providing advice and assistance to journalists operating in suffocating environments.

Governments committed to defending human rights and democracy must now follow suit.

These shutdowns violate foundational rights protected by both state constitutions and international treaties. Freedom of religion, belief, opinion, and expression depend on the ability to read, publish, and exchange information and ideas.

But they’re also counter-productive. In times of unrest and upheaval, it may appear that keeping the masses in the dark is an agent of stabilization. In reality it’s the opposite. It shows people that those in charge consider their power so weak that it cannot withstand discussion or scrutiny. And it puts on display for the world a government’s true colors—isolating it while also creating new reasons for the global community to apply pressure.

Internet shutdowns don’t stabilize societies. They crack open the facade of a government’s authority. If governments are looking to secure their countries in times of trouble, turning the lights off is not the answer. Instead, they should ensure the free flow of information. There’s no more stable foundation for a country than trust in government, and one way to achieve that is by protecting human rights for all.

 

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Excerpt:

The writer is CPJ Washington Advocacy Manager

 
3 May is World Press Freedom Day. This is part of a series of IPS features and opinion editorials focused on media freedom globally.

The post Internet Restrictions Harm the Press & Public Alike appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Credit: The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 30 2021 (IPS)

When the UN’s Beirut-based Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), released a landmark 2017 report on “apartheid” in Israel, the United Nations disassociated itself with the study and left it to die— unceremoniously and unsung.

According to a March 2017 report in Foreign Policy Journal, both the Israeli and the Trump administrations put “enormous pressure on UN Secretary-General António Guterres to withdraw the report”.

But the head of the ESCWA, Rima Khalaf, refused to withdraw it and resigned from her UN position in protest. Later, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced he will award Khalaf the Palestine Medal of the Highest Honor for her “courage and support” for the Palestinian people.

And now, more than four years later, the apartheid policies of Israel have come back to haunt the United Nations with the release, on April 27, of a detailed report which says Israel’s abusive apartheid policies towards Palestinians constitute “crimes against humanity.”

Authored by Human Rights Watch (HRW), a widely known international human rights organizations, the 213-page report, “A Threshold Crossed: Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution,” singles out “the overarching Israeli government policy to maintain the domination by Jewish Israelis over Palestinians and grave abuses committed against Palestinians living in the occupied territory, including East Jerusalem.”

Originally coined in relation to South Africa, “apartheid” today is a universal legal term, says HRW, pointing out that the prohibition against particularly severe institutional discrimination and oppression or apartheid constitutes a core principle of international law.

But whether the new report will have any impact on the UN is doubtful.

Asked whether the UN should re-visit its own 2017 report on Israel and apartheid, UN spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters April 27: “Well, again, without characterizing it one way or another, we have been getting the various facts out about the situation on the ground, including in the report, by the way, that you mentioned, which, I believe, the facts of the report were released, and we’ll continue to do that. Ultimately, it’s important to have a solid base of information about what’s happening, and that’s what we try to provide.”

Dr Richard Falk, professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University, who co-authored the 2017 UN report, told IPS the narrative of the apartheid discourse (extends) from the original smears at the UN to the B’Tselem Report, and now the HRW Report.

The Israeli Basic Law of 2018, which proclaimed Israel as an apartheid state without using the word, he said.

“The one large issue in which the critical discourse still lags behind what we argued in 2017 is the insistence that Israeli apartheid is best conceptualized by reference to the Palestinian people rather than land”

“We believed this is an essential element because Israeli apartheid unlike South African apartheid created a victimized Palestinian diaspora by way of ethnic cleansing, and still shout the slogan ‘less Arabs, more land,’ said Dr Falk, who served a six-year term as the UN Special Rapporteur on “the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.”

Palestinian refugees. Credit: UNRWA

Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, said “prominent voices have warned for years that apartheid lurks just around the corner if the trajectory of Israel’s rule over Palestinians does not change.”

“This detailed study shows that Israeli authorities have already turned that corner and today are committing the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution,” he added.

Dr. Ramzy Baroud, a journalist and Editor of The Palestine Chronicle, told IPS the HRW report was indeed historic, though overdue. “As pointed out by an equally earth-shattering UN report in March 2017, Israel is already an apartheid state”.

“In fact, we can take this further and claim that a country that is essentially founded on the racial supremacy of one group and racial discrimination against another, is, per academic definition at least, an apartheid state”, he argued.

What the HRW report has done is providing more than an intellectual argument regarding Israel’s apartheid status, but a legal one, he added.

“This is crucial, because Palestinians and the supporters of their struggle everywhere can now push for legally indicting Israel for its ongoing crime of apartheid, which should be added to the imminent International Criminal Court investigation of crimes committed in occupied Palestine.”

Even though the UN report in 2017 was pulled out under US pressure, Dr Baroud said, the legal arguments it contained remain valid.

Since then, two equally important voices were added to strengthening the argument of Israeli apartheid, a decisive and comprehensive report by the prominent Israeli rights group B’tselem in January and the just-released HRW’s report.

Judging by the evolution of the language considering Israel’s systematic racism and apartheid in Palestine, it is now a matter of time before the label, that of apartheid, becomes synonymous with Israel, as at one point in the past became synonymous with South Africa, before apartheid was dismantled, he noted.

“Despite its relentless efforts at winning the legitimacy war and launching smear campaigns against anyone who dares to criticize it, Israel is losing, not only the moral war, but the legal battle as well.”

This is good news for anyone who supports justice in Palestine, said Dr Baroud, a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA), Istanbul Zaim University, and at the Johannesburg-based Afro-Middle East Center (AMEC). www.ramzybaroud.net.

In its report, Human Rights Watch found that the elements of the crimes come together in the occupied territory, as part of a single Israeli government policy.

“That policy is to maintain the domination by Jewish Israelis over Palestinians across Israel and the occupied territory. It is coupled in the occupied territory with systematic oppression and inhumane acts against Palestinians living there”.

Drawing on years of human rights documentation, case studies, and a review of government planning documents, statements by officials, and other sources, HRW compared policies and practices toward Palestinians in the occupied territory and Israel with those concerning Jewish Israelis living in the same areas.

It also wrote to the Israeli government in July 2020, soliciting its perspectives on these issues, but received no response.

Across Israel and the occupied territory, Israeli authorities have sought to maximize the land available for Jewish communities and to concentrate most Palestinians in dense population centers, HRW said.

The authorities have adopted policies to mitigate what they have openly described as a “demographic threat” from Palestinians.

In Jerusalem, for example, the government’s plan for the municipality, including both the west and occupied east parts of the city, sets the goal of “maintaining a solid Jewish majority in the city” and even specifies the demographic ratios it hopes to maintain.

To maintain domination, Israeli authorities systematically discriminate against Palestinians. The institutional discrimination that Palestinian citizens of Israel face includes laws that allow hundreds of small Jewish towns to effectively exclude Palestinians and budgets that allocate only a fraction of resources to Palestinian schools as compared to those that serve Jewish Israeli children.

In the occupied territory, the severity of the repression, including the imposition of draconian military rule on Palestinians while affording Jewish Israelis living in a segregated manner in the same territory their full rights under Israel’s rights-respecting civil law, amounts to the systematic oppression required for apartheid.

Ambassador Gilad Erdan, Israel’s envoy to the US, dismissed the report as bordering on anti-Semitism. “When the authors of the report cynically and falsely use the term apartheid, they nullify the legal and social status of millions of Israeli citizens, including Arab citizens, who are an integral part of the state of Israel,” he said.

*Thalif Deen, Senior Editor at the UN Bureau of Inter Press Service (IPS) news agency, is the author of a newly-released book on the United Nations titled “No Comment and Don’t Quote Me on That” available on Amazon. The link to Amazon via the author’s website follows:
https://www.rodericgrigson.com/no-comment-by-thalif-deen/

 

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Produce. The Global Food Systems Summit is hoping to attract the commitment, technology and financing needed to feed all people sustainably, but organisers say managing scarce water resources will be critical to tackling hunger and achieving Sustainable Development Goals. Credit: Alison Kentish/IPS

By Alison Kentish
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 29 2021 (IPS)

As the United Nations prepares for its solutions-based Global Food Systems Summit in September, officials say resolving issues around water scarcity, pollution and wastage is crucial transforming food production and consumption.

The third Global Food Systems Dialogue was held virtually on Tuesday Apr. 27  with the event’s special envoy Dr. Agnes Kalibata calling on participants to contribute “game-changing ideas” to better manage the world’s water resources.

“Water is everything. Water touches all 17 SDG’s and so it is critical to everything that we do,” she said.

Noting that water systems are under stress from exploitation, pollution and drought, said it was time for action.

“Water is life, but it is one of those sources of life around biodiversity, irrigation or whether it is the water we get from above through rain-fed agriculture, it is one of the elements of food systems that is most taken for granted. It is not appreciated for what it is worth.”

Dialogue participants discussed the links between food and water systems and explored action to tackle the water challenges that threaten food systems, protect waterways, conserve the resource and ensure water equity.

Stating that “when water is wasted, food is wasted and when water is scarce, food is scarce”, chair of the UN Water Partnership Gilbert Houngbo reminded the gathering that demand for food is rising – along with the world population.

“We know that in 2019, 690 million people went to bed hungry every night and very likely this year, the social report that is about to be released by the five agencies under the leadership of FAO, will certainly be confirming those difficult situations,” Houngbo said.

“In the past two decades, the annual amounts of available freshwater resources per person have fallen by roughly 20 percent and an estimated 3.2 billion people live in an agricultural area where water is scarce.”

Kent Falls, Connecticut, USA. The Global Food Systems Summit Dialogue on Water explored the interdependence of water and food systems and their links to SDG goals on energy, climate and the environment. Credit: Alison Kentish/IPS

In a March to July 2021 report, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN and the World Food Programme warned that acute hunger would soar in over 20 countries, in the absence of urgent and scaled-up assistance.

The report on early warnings on acute food security stated that already, over 34 million people are struggling with ‘emergency levels’ of acute hunger across the world. This meant that they were one step away from starvation.

The Global Food Systems Summit is hoping to attract the commitment, technology and financing needed to feed all people sustainably. Through its focus on water as the game-changer in this goal, the Global Food Systems Dialogue acknowledges that managing scarce water resources will be critical to tackling hunger and achieving Sustainable Development Goals.

“The kinds of food that we grow, store and eat, have a direct impact on water. The way in which water is used in agriculture is no longer sustainable. We know that irrigation accounts for more than 70% of global water withdrawals. Existing techniques such as rainwater harvesting or micro-irrigation can make a major difference, while new research in digital technology holds out an even greater promise for more sustainable water use in agriculture,” the UN-Water chair said.

The dialogue builds on existing global water-related goals, including those outlined in the UN Decade on Water and Sustainable Development (2018-2028). That initiative calls for urgent action to increase access to safe water and ease pressure on water resources and ecosystems.

The decade’s halfway mark will be observed in 2023 and officials are already planning for the event, as another opportunity to take stock of the world’s progress in achieving ambitious goals for water security.

“COVID-19 has again put into sharp focus, the indivisible nature of the sustainable development agenda and food and water security is at the very heart of this agenda. Water is essential when it comes to feeding our populations, with freshwater resources under increasing pressure, so are food systems,” said Yoka Brandt, Permanent Representative of the Netherlands to the UN. The Netherlands is one of the host countries of the 2023 mid-term review of the Decade on Water and Sustainable Development. 

The organisers of the dialogue say by bringing together the Global Food Systems Summit and the institutions taking responsibility for water, there is greater hope for joint solutions for change in the food and water sectors – two areas experiencing turmoil and intrinsically linked.

With intensifying competition for water and climate change hurting the water sector, creating tension and inequality among the world’s most vulnerable, including the rural poor, they say without water, there will be no food and ahead of the Global Food Systems Summit in September, this dialogue on water was an urgent one.

 

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The post UN Banks on Water as the ‘Game Changer’ in Food Production and Consumption appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

The Global Food Systems Dialogue on Water took place this week, with partnering stating that climate change and increased competition for water are widening inequality, especially for the rural poor

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Young Palestinians drive their boat along the coast near the Gaza Sea port, selling boat rides as a way to earn a living. Credit: Laila Barhoum/ Oxfam

By Laila Barhoum
GAZA, Apr 29 2021 (IPS)

We were able to keep the coronavirus at bay for five months in Gaza, the densely populated Palestinian strip of land surrounded by Israel that I call home. But the Coronavirus doesn’t respect walls or artificial borders. While preparations were made for the pandemic to inevitably breach a blockade so few Palestinians can, we waited for it to come for us. And it did.

In one of the most sealed off places in the world, we knew the virus now insidiously spreading in our community could be catastrophic. In the early days the realities of over two million Palestinians, trapped between a wall and sea in Gaza, became suddenly shared with millions more around the world who were unable to leave their houses and going short on basic supplies. “Dear World, how is the lockdown? – Gaza” was trending on Twitter.

Now, like in the rest of the world, the virus is ripping through our already suffering community with a new surge calling for renewed lockdown measures – and with Ramadan beginning. But you can’t wear a mask when you don’t have one.

You can’t social distance when you live in a crowded refugee camp, or share a small house with a big family. You can’t wash your hands for 20 seconds when you don’t have enough running water. In Gaza, it’s hard to take measures to protect ourselves from a pandemic when we are already struggling to survive.

And as many countries begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel as the long-awaited vaccination programme gathers pace across the world, Gaza is once again left behind.

While Israel was celebrated globally for the leading pace of its vaccination rollout, the first shipment of 2,000 doses of the vaccine, intended for medical staff working in intensive care rooms and emergency departments, was initially blocked by Israeli authorities from entering Gaza.

For every subsequent batch of vaccines destined for our small coastal enclave, it will be Israel alone who determines whether it can enter. This is what its ‘separation policy’ means, keeping us isolated from the rest of the world and unable to break free from many chains, including the virus.

But it gets worse. As over half of the Israeli population are fully vaccinated against the Coronavirus, Israel used surplus vaccines as diplomatic bargaining chips, making deals with Czech Republic, Honduras, and Guatemala in exchange for UN votes and embassies.

Despite Israel’s vaccination campaign being extended to Palestinians with permits to work in Israel and its settlements, this does not come close to ensuring recovery in the Occupied Palestinian Territory or even covering our priority needs.

The long passage at the Erez crossing that Palestinians use to pass in and out of Gaza, when permitted. Credit: Laila Barhoum / Oxfam

Once again, Israel is refusing to effectively protect all Palestinians under its control and ensure their access to the most basic of healthcare, including an urgent vaccination campaign, that is their legal and moral obligation to provide.

This tells me and all other Palestinians across the occupied territory what we have been told so often before: that my life is viewed as inconsequential compared to Israel’s political position.

Our rights are traded away all too often to accommodate Israel, and so it is again with COVID-19. While countries around the world begin to vaccinate their citizens, Palestinians must fight to qualify as human beings who warrant even the most basic human rights. We see no indication that the world considers us deserving of a vaccine that can save our lives.

The Palestinian Authority recently received its first shipment of doses through COVAX, which are intended for healthcare workers and elderly people in the West Bank and Gaza. In the absence of a transparent Palestinian Authority COVID-19 strategy, some doses of vaccines destined for frontline workers have ended up in the hands of so called “VIP’s” – government officials, presidential guards and the Palestinian national football team.

There have been over 65,000 cases of COVID-19 in Gaza. Two months ago, as we waited and hoped for a vaccine, I became part of the statistics. After I tested positive, I was scared and I lost my sense of time and place, and kept thinking, what if it gets worse?

For almost a year I had been sounding the alarm about the poor conditions of the health system in Gaza. It was terrifying that I might need to go to the hospital for care. As my breath became shorter by the hour, I asked my lungs not to fail me. We are already failed by so many things here.

But I continue to fight and recover from the disease. And I can’t help but think about how much we need this vaccine and how it is only fair to have free and just access to it.

A safe, effective, and universal COVID-19 vaccine is a public health necessity, an economic priority, and a moral imperative for all people everywhere. Including my grandmother. including my fellow Palestinians. Including me.

Vaccines should never be bargaining chips. No one should be prevented from accessing life-saving vaccines because of where they were born, where they live, or how much money they have.

Here in Gaza, we are still trapped. Even if we get through this pandemic, I am not sure what will follow. The decisions that most shape our lives are made not by us, but by policymakers in Jerusalem, and to a lesser extent in Ramallah, Washington, and Brussels. They usually serve to increase our misery, not benefit us. No amount of strength, smarts, or ambition can overcome the powerlessness of living without rights.

A year into your pandemic lockdown, you may begin to understand what ours has been like. But your lockdown will end in the months to come. Ours has been in place for 13 years with no end in sight.

 

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The post A Free & Accessible Vaccine is Just out of Reach for Palestinians appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

The writer is a Palestinian living in Gaza and a policy officer for Oxfam.

The post A Free & Accessible Vaccine is Just out of Reach for Palestinians appeared first on Inter Press Service.

3 May is World Press Freedom Day. This is part of a series of IPS features and opinion editorials focused on media freedom globally.

By Raghbendra Jha
CANBERRA, Australia, Apr 29 2021 (IPS)

Edmund Burke called the press the fourth estate, the fourth pillar of democracy, with an oversight role on the remaining three pillars – the legislature, executive and the judiciary. In an ideal world, this fourth estate would have unimpeded access to the other three pillars so that the citizenry could be kept informed at all times. This freedom was conceived to be so sacrosanct that many countries have included it as a fundamental right, e.g., the US Constitution enshrined it as the very first amendment.

Raghbendra Jha

While this is the ideal state of affairs, even under the best of circumstances press freedoms have faced considerable challenges. The traditional newspaper is threatened by shrinking readership and concentration of ownership and control which implies that profitable markets will be served first, viz. global or at best national audiences.. There has been a considerable void in news reporting, particularly on issues affecting local populations. Other forms of media are unable to fill the gap. Television combines news with entertainment – infotainment- and traditional radio has been swamped by satellite radios. Local issues areneglected and many local media outlets including newspapers and television and radio stations are facing dire conditions. There has been a steady rise in media concentration in the past few decades https://theconversation.com/factcheck-is-australias-level-of-media-ownership-concentration-one-of-the-highest-in-the-world-68437

At the same time, the emergence and now overwhelming dominance of the social media and the Internet have given rise to a sharp proliferation of media outlets. Many of these are driven by the pure short-term profit motive and are difficult to regulate. All these forms of media are facilitated by the frictionless distribution enabled by the Internet and the disruptive effects of digital transformation. There is no dearth of people active on social and regular media, including some who should know better, who will, when forming an opinion about an issue, first come to their preferred conclusion and then work their way back to selectively choose evidence to support their conclusion. The world still awaits a business model that pays for accurate content at competitive rates. The overburdening with information makes it difficult for people to use discretion in the absorption of news so that the primary objective of press freedom, i.e., keeping the citizenry informed at all times, is belied. Nevertheless, in many countries with very distorted ownership patterns of traditional media social media outlets have provided a breath of fresh air and independence, especially when elements of the traditional media are themselves accused of improper conduct and reporting.

This point brings us to the issue of pressing challenges facing journalism and press freedoms. https://orca.cf.ac.uk/94201/1/DG_FoJ-Risks%20Threats%20and%20Opportunities_JJ.pdf

The first one is personalized news feeds. Facebook and Twitter have created cultures of maximal tribalism and infinite personalization. Users can silo themselves in self-made realities while taking part in collective expression of tribal outrage that often seem bewilder outsiders. The fact that such personalization can mould the opinions of large numbers of people is particularly worrisome. Second, the 24-hour news cycle forces reporters to publish articles without proper fact-checking. Even allegedly responsible media houses have had to retract stories because of the lack of proper checking. This leads to a deeper concern. Whereas the privilege of helping the citizenry to form opinions about key public issues lies with journalists, there is an implied responsibility that the information and analysis provided by the journalist is accurate and verifiable. This does not always seem to be the case. Indeed, some journalists have been accused of spreading “fake news” by pursuing their own agendas when pursuing their vocation. There have been well-known instances of both traditional and social media outlets pursuing political advocacy. The distinction between “news” and “views” has broken down in many cases and the citizenry is often ill equipped to discern the difference.

During the on-going pandemic another very serious issue has disrupted. Violence towards journalists is an old issue but the promulgation of long lockdowns has led to explosion of serious domestic violence and mental ill-health concerns. This has been described as a pandemic within a pandemic https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2024046

Under ordinary circumstances, the explosion of these domestic issues would be an important news story. However, lockdown orders have meant that many such instances all over the world get unreported. Clearly, women are the worst victims here. In particular, it has become increasingly difficult for women journalists to report on such issues. It is ironical that although women journalists are most suited to report on occurrences of domestic and sexual violence, they are the ones with minimal access to the victims of such abuse.

Even before the pandemic journalists- particularly women journalists – have been subjected to harassment and abuse.of several types: https://www.iwmf.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IWMF-Global-Report.pdf

On World Press Freedom Day (May 3) there is need to ponder on these and many other issues relating to the role of the fourth estate. Freedom of the Press is invaluable in society. However, as with any other freedom, constant vigil and action are the price of this freedom. If we want a robust press this price will need to be paid.

Raghbendra Jha, Professor of Economics and Executive Director, Australia South Asia Research Centre, Australian National University.

 

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The post World Press Freedom in an age of remoteness appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

3 May is World Press Freedom Day. This is part of a series of IPS features and opinion editorials focused on media freedom globally.

The post World Press Freedom in an age of remoteness appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Freelance journalist Hopewell Chin'ono before testifying at Harare Magistrate Ngoni Nduna on the state of conditions at Chikurubi Maximum Prison. Credit: Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights

By Sibahle Zuma
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Apr 29 2021 (IPS)

Access to accurate information is vitally important during the pandemic, so that people can understand how to protect themselves and their families, and to hold their governments to account for their response to the health emergency.

But it is clear that many governments are instead working to hamper the flow of information. Many governments have used the pandemic as a pretext to crack down on the ability of journalists to do their jobs.

While there is an understandable need to limit the spread of false information about the virus, claims of ‘fake news’ are often being used as a smokescreen to imprison journalists and censor independent media organisations critical of governments. Some worrying trends have been in Africa.

Just like the virus, the persecution of the press has no borders, affecting journalists in many countries across the region. In its latest global report, the CIVICUS Monitor, an online platform that tracks civic freedoms, documented that journalists had been detained in at least 28 African countries. This was the top civic rights violation recorded in Africa during the past year.

From Chad to Nigeria and from Somalia to Zimbabwe, journalists have been arrested for their reporting on COVID-19. In Zimbabwe, investigative journalist Hopewell Chin’ono has been arrested three times since July 2020.

The persecution began after he published an exposé alleging corruption in the Health Ministry’s US$60 million procurement of protective equipment. Hopewell was targeted even though his reporting led to the sacking and arrest of the Health Minister.

He was rearrested in November on spurious charges of inciting anti-government protests and then again in January for a tweet alleging police brutality in lockdown enforcement. He is currently out on bail, but faces up to 20 years in jail if convicted of ‘peddling falsehoods’. Other Zimbabwean journalists have also been arrested for their reporting on the pandemic.

Hopewell Chin’ono’s lead lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa tells journalists outside the High Court that she is disappointed by the court’s decision to dismiss her client’s bail appeal. Credit: Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights

Online freedom of expression for journalists has also been curtailed under the pandemic. In Nigeria, journalists have been charged under the country’s cybercrimes law for their reporting on the pandemic. In Somalia, a news editor was arrested for a social media post alleging that a hospital ventilator was transferred to the office of the Somali President.

Media outlets have been shut down, in another common tactic used to silence government critics and suppress critical reporting on state responses to the pandemic.

In Tanzania, where media outlets were regularly taken off-air or fined for not toeing the government line under the late President Maghufuli’s regime, the Communication Regulatory Authority suspended multiple outlets for their pandemic coverage, including for publishing death tolls. Tanzania’s official policy of pandemic denial under the late Magufuli saw the official counting of cases cease in the early days of the health crisis.

A similar trend was documented in Zambia, where the authorities have used COVID-19 as an opportunity to cancel the broadcast licence of the popular TV station, Prime TV, which was known for its critical coverage of the government. In April 2020, after the independent outlet’s coverage of the pandemic, the broadcast regulator cancelled the licence on public safety grounds and police prevented staff from leaving the building. The same station was suspended a year earlier for its coverage of parliamentary elections.

Instead of the repression, journalists should be recognised as key allies in debunking lethal disinformation. To make sure people are getting up-to-date, safe and relevant information about COVID-19, governments, independent media and civil society must work together to clearly define what qualifies as ‘fake news’.

Most importantly, to fight disinformation, governments must be more transparent and proactively disclose timely data on the state of the health emergency in their countries. The media must be able to access and interrogate such information.

On World Press Freedom Day, and over a year since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, it is critical that independent media are able to operate freely, without fear of reprisals or detention.

Journalists are part of the solution to controlling the virus and combating disinformation. They should not be behind bars for doing their job.

 

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The post Press Freedom Vital in the Fight Against the Pandemic appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

The writer is a researcher with CIVICUS, the global civil society alliance based in Johannesburg

 
3 May is World Press Freedom Day. This is part of a series of IPS features and opinion editorials focused on media freedom globally.

The post Press Freedom Vital in the Fight Against the Pandemic appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Journalists in the line of duty. Credit: Left - UNESCO/©Thomas Hawk; Right - UN Photo/Evan Schneider

By Jonathan Rozen
NEW YORK, Apr 28 2021 (IPS)

Spyware’s repeated use to target journalists and those close to them poses an existential threat to the privacy required for press freedom to flourish. Without the ability to privately communicate with sources, conduct research, and compile information, journalists are hampered in their ability to keep the public informed and hold the powerful to account.

“The spyware attack revealed to me that regardless of where I am and what citizenship I hold, if the Moroccan government wants to gather surveillance, they will…It prevents you from being able to do your work because you don’t want to put people [you speak to] at risk,” said Samia Errazzouki, an editorial board member with the Moroccan Mamfakinch news site with U.S. citizenship. Errazzouki was based in the U.S. when she and 14 other Mamfakinch staff were targeted with spyware in 2012.

In March, the Committee to Protect Journalists mapped dozens of incidents where members of the media were targeted with sophisticated, secret surveillance on nearly every continent. The compiled reporting details how spyware products sold by companies based in Israel and Europe have been allegedly used by governments to reach across borders and oceans into the devices of journalists and their associates to monitor their lives without their knowledge.

“It’s not just the fear or anxiety,” said Errazzouki, who now considers the possibility of being unknowingly recorded by her devices’ cameras and microphones. “It’s real, the way it changes your everyday habits. Not changing your clothes in front of your computer. Putting your phone in a drawer to have a private conversation.…[There’s] some degree of paranoia.”

The evidence of spyware’s use against the press uncovered by investigators, including from the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, Amnesty International, and Reuters, outlines a chilling threat to the privacy required for journalists to work freely.

Unbridled use of technology to access and conduct surveillance on journalists’ devices promotes fear and self-censorship, often accompanied by physical intimidation or arrests.

In 2020, Moroccan journalists Omar Radi and Maati Monjib were arrested after being targeted with spyware. Monjib was granted provisional release on March 23 following a 19-day hunger strike, but Radi remains behind bars. Another journalist in India, Anand Teltumbde, was also jailed last year following similar spyware targeting.

How the efforts to hack these journalists’ phones may have contributed to their arrests remains unclear, but their experiences illustrate the familiar, tandem nature of digital and physical threats.

In Nigeria, for example, police used call record data to lure and arrest journalists and in Ghana reporters worry that digital forensics tools will be deployed to access information on seized devices. They have reason after the Washington Post reported that Myanmar police leveraged the same technology to search the phones of two jailed Reuters journalists and the Nigerian military sought a “forensic search” for sources on editors’ phones and computers.

Without a robust defense of privacy from governments, corporate leaders, and citizens, journalists’ phones will continue to be converted from useful tools into grave vulnerabilities.

*A shorter version of this report was also published in the April 2021 edition of The Washington Post Press Freedom Partnership newsletter.

 

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The post Spyware Threatens Press Freedom’s Privacy Imperative appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

The writer is a Senior Africa Researcher with the Committee to Protect Journalists*.

 
3 May is World Press Freedom Day. This is part of a series of IPS features and opinion editorials focused on media freedom globally.

The post Spyware Threatens Press Freedom’s Privacy Imperative appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Across the world, several key mutant strains have emerged thanks to ongoing virus replication in humans.

By External Source
Apr 28 2021 (IPS)

With more than 300,000 new COVID cases a day and hospitals and crematoria facing collapse, Director-General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has called the situation in India “beyond heartbreaking”.

India’s government has blamed the people for not following COVID-safe public health directives, but recent data shows mask use has only fallen by 10 percentage points, from a high of 71% in August 2020 to a low of 61% by the end of February.

B.1.617, or what has been called the “Indian double mutation”, has drawn attention because it contains two mutations (known as E484Q and L452R) that have been linked to increased transmissibility and an ability to evade our immune system. Many experts in India now think this is driving the surge

And the mobility index increased by about 20 percentage points, although most sectors of the economy and activity had opened up. These are modest changes and do not adequately explain the huge increase in cases.

A more likely explanation is the impact of variants that are more transmissible than the original SARS-CoV-2 virus.

 

Variants in India

Viruses keep changing and adapting through mutations, and new variants of a virus are expected and tracked in a pandemic situation such as this.

The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG), a group of ten national laboratories, was set up in December 2020 to monitor genetic variations in the coronavirus. The labs are required to sequence 5% of COVID-positive samples from states and 100% of positive samples from international travellers.

The United Kingdom is currently testing about 8% of its positive samples and the United States about 4%. India has been testing about 1% altogether. INSACOG has so far tested 15,133 SARS-CoV-2 genomes. This means of every 1,000 cases, the UK has sequenced 79.5, the US 8.59, and India only 0.0552.

In the final week of December, India detected six cases of the UK variant (B.1.1.7) among international travellers.

The current second wave started in the northwestern state of Punjab in the first half of February and has not yet plateaued. One of the advisers to the Punjab government confirmed that more than 80% of the cases were attributed to the UK variant.

Significantly, the most affected districts are from Punjab’s Doaba region, known as the NRI (non-resident Indian) belt. An estimated 60-70% of the families in these districts have relatives abroad, mostly in the UK or Canada, and a high volume of travel to and from these countries.

B.1.617, or what has been called the “Indian double mutation”, has drawn attention because it contains two mutations (known as E484Q and L452R) that have been linked to increased transmissibility and an ability to evade our immune system.

Many experts in India now think this is driving the surge.

Even as India’s health ministry announced the detection of the mutants on March 24, it went on to add:

[…] these have not been detected in numbers sufficient to either establish or direct relationship or explain the rapid increase in cases in some states.

The head of the Indian Council of Medical Research said there was no reason for panic because mutations are sporadic, and not significant. That day, the states of Maharashtra and Punjab accounted for 62.5% and 4.5% of 40,715 new cases, respectively.

Across the world, several key mutant strains have emerged thanks to ongoing virus replication in humans. Both ability to replicate and transmit, and a better ability to escape our immune systems, led to the variants establishing themselves as dominant strains across geographies and populations.

The UK variant (B.1.1.7) is at least 30% more transmissible. At a recent webinar, Indian experts observed the “Indian strain” (B.1.617) is similarly transmissible to the UK variant, but there is little evidence so far of it being more lethal than the original virus.

 

Why higher transmissibility is so concerning

According to epidemiologist Adam Kucharski at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the conundrum is this:

[…] suppose 10,000 people are infected in a city and each infects 1.1 other people on average, the low end for the estimated rate of infection in England. After a month, 16,000 people would have been infected. If the infection fatality rate is 0.8%, as it was in England at the end of the first wave of infections, it would mean 128 deaths. With a variant that is 50% more deadly, those 16,000 cases would result in 192 deaths. But with a variant that is 50% more transmissible, though no more deadly, there would be 122,000 cases after a month, leading to 976 deaths.

In all likelihood, this is the current Indian scenario: a higher overall death count despite the variants being no more fatal in relative terms.

Setting up a genomic surveillance system and consistently testing 5% of the positive samples is an expensive but important tool in the journey ahead. This can help us identify emerging hotspots, track transmission and enable nimble-footed decision-making and tailored interventions.

Rajib Dasgupta, Chairperson, Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health, Jawaharlal Nehru University

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

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The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated deforestation pressures and heightened the urgency of action to support sustainable forest management. The pandemic has the brought the importance of forests to global well-being into sharp focus. Pictured here forest in the Dominican Republic. Credit: Alison Kentish/IPS

By Alison Kentish
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 28 2021 (IPS)

A new global report on forests says that while the COVID-19 pandemic is the latest threat to achieving ambitious forest protection goals, it has brought the importance of forests to global well-being into sharp focus, and that this recognition must now be met with collection action.

The inaugural Global Forest Goals Report was launched on Apr. 26, as part of the 16th United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) session which runs until the end of this week. It is based on data and information submitted by 52 member states, representing 75 percent of the world’s forests.

The report concluded that while countries have taken action to protect their forests, those efforts must be accelerated to achieve ambitious global goals.

It tracks the progress of countries in meeting the ambitious goals set out in the UN Strategic Plan for Forests 2030. Under that plan, countries vowed to accelerate the pace of forest protection by upgrading an initial focus on achieving net-zero deforestation to increasing global forest area by three percent by 2030 and eradicating extreme poverty for all forest-dependent people.

While it acknowledged the work done by countries in areas such as poverty reduction for forest-dependent people, initiatives to increase forest financing and cooperation on sustainable forest management, it stated that there is a lot more to be done. Noting that Africa and South America lost forest cover during the reporting period, the publication stated that forests remain under threat.

“Every year, seven million hectares of natural forests are converted to other land uses such as large-scale commercial agriculture and other economic activities. And although the global rate of deforestation has slowed over the past decade, we continue to lose forests in the tropics – largely due to human and natural causes,” it stated.

United National Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed said the report is being launched at a crucial time for the world’s forests.

The report cites growing concern by some countries that the economic fallout from the pandemic will lead to reduced donor funding for forests. It states that Africa, the Asia-Pacific Region and some countries in Latin America are facing dwindling forest financing, as scarce public funds are being prioritised on immediate public health needs.

Mohammed said while the COVID-19 crisis has dealt a blow to poverty alleviation and sustainable development goals, it is presenting an opportunity to make peace with nature through a green recovery, with healthy forests as a solid foundation.

“We are at a make or break moment. 2021 provides us a unique opportunity to halt the rapid loss of biodiversity and ecosystem degradation, while addressing the climate emergency and desertification and making our food systems more sustainable, with the sustainable development goals as our guide,” the deputy UN chief said.

UNFF Secretariat’s Officer-in-Charge Alexander Trepelkov presented a note on COVID-19’s impact on forests and the forest sector. It concluded that the pandemic has aggravated hardships for forest-dependent people and exposed systemic gaps and vulnerabilities.

It called for the integration of forest-based solutions into pandemic recovery, accelerated implementation of international forest-related targets and adequate resources for forestry.

Meanwhile, on the fringes of the event, a group of 15 international organisations launched a joint statement on the challenges and opportunities involved in halting deforestation. The Collaborative Partnership on Forests event was chaired by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO).

Director of the FAO’s Forestry Division Mette Wilkie told IPS that as ecosystems that are home to the vast majority of land biodiversity and 75 percent of freshwater, without forests, climate goals cannot be met.

“Forests also provide numerous products for everyday life – from the traditional use of wood to the masks, gloves and hand sanitisers that we all use during the current COVID-19 pandemic. They provide more than 86 million green jobs and support the livelihoods of many more people worldwide,” Wilkie said.

“As we increasingly encroach on forests and wildlife habitats to expand agricultural production, settlements and infrastructure, the risk of diseases spilling over from animals to people rises exponentially. It is evident that we cannot achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and the future we want unless we halt deforestation and forest degradation and increase our efforts to protect, manage and restore our forests.”

Wilkie, who chairs the Collaborative Partnership on Forests, told IPS that the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated deforestation pressures and heightened the urgency of action to support sustainable forest management.

“Lockdowns have led to disruptions in markets and supply chains and caused job losses, triggering reverse migration into rural areas and increasing pressure on forests to provide subsistence livelihoods,” she said, adding that, “on the other hand, investing in forest restoration and the sustainable management of forests can create green jobs and livelihoods, and at the same time create habits for biodiversity and mitigate – and adapt to – climate change.”

 

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By UNESCO
PARIS, Apr 28 2021 (IPS-Partners)

Investigative journalist and media executive Maria Ressa of the Philippines has been named as the 2021 laureate of the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize, following the recommendation of an international jury of media professionals. The Award Ceremony will take place on 2 May in Windhoek, Namibia, on the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day Global Conference, and be streamed online.

Over a career spanning more than thirty years, Ressa has worked as CNN’s lead investigative reporter for Asia and the head of ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs. She has also been involved in many international initiatives to promote press freedom. In recent years, she has been the target of online attacks and judicial processes relating to her investigative reporting and status as manager of online outlet Rappler. She has been arrested for alleged crimes related to the exercise of her profession, and has been subject to a sustained campaign of gendered online abuse, threats, and harassment, which at one point, resulted in her receiving an average of over 90 hateful messages an hour on Facebook.

"Maria Ressa’s unerring fight for freedom of expression is an example for many journalists around the world. Her case is emblematic of global trends that represent a real threat to press freedom, and therefore to democracy."

-- Marilu Mastrogiovanni, Chair of the Prize’s international jury, investigative journalist from ItalyThe $25,000 Prize recognizes outstanding contributions to the defence or promotion of press freedom especially in the face of danger. It is named after Guillermo Cano Isaza, the Colombian journalist who was assassinated in front of the offices of his newspaper El Espectador in Bogotá, Colombia, on 17 December 1986. It is funded by the Guillermo Cano Isaza Foundation (Colombia), the Helsingin Sanomat Foundation (Finland) and the Namibia Media Trust.

About the 2021 World Press Freedom Day Global Conference in Windhoek

The 2021 World Press Freedom Day Global Conference will take place from 29 April to 3 May and focus on the theme of Information as a Public Good. More than 40 online and in situ sessions are planned, looking at topics such as the transparency of online platforms and the importance of media and information literacy. The conference will also tackle ways to promote and support independent media struggling to survive a crisis worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic, at a time when national and local media everywhere face financial instability and other pressures threatening their survival and their journalists’ jobs.

Source: UNESCO

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By Sunil J. Wimalawansa
NEW JERSEY, Apr 28 2021 (IPS)

The SARS-CoV-2 infection (COVID-19) affected the entire world; many died, millions got sick, and the misery continues. Second and third waves of SARS.Cov-2 infection are devastating most countries.

Non-strategic lockdowns and curfews (as in Sri Lanka) further aggravated the peoples’ misery, sufferings, daily lives, and economies, more than that from the virus. The toxic combination of COVID-19 and curfews devastated local productions and supply chains, livelihoods, people welfare, food security, and the county’s economy.

Many viral diseases can control using natural and non-pharmacological approaches, adhering to public health standards, personal hygiene, and maintaining health: COVID-19 is not an exemption.

SARS.Cov-2 viruses enter humans mainly through the respiratory tract epithelial, causing predominantly immunological (cytokine storm), cardiovascular (clots), and multiple endocrinological abnormalities.

In some, the combined effects can be deadly. In addition to supportive therapies, preventing clots, cytokine storms, and providing oxygen, treatments should be geared to prevent complications in the mentioned systems.

Approximately a quarter of persons who develop complications develop an intractable “post-COVID syndrome.” This protracted disease mainly arises from the longer-term adverse effects in the central nervous system (mainly the brain) and must be prevented.

The combination of strengthening the innate immune system with nutrient vitamin D and vaccination significantly reduces this serious complication following COVID-19.

Governmental actions to control COVID-19

Sri Lanka’s President delegated full responsibility of COVID control to a handful of people and made government funds available. Nevertheless, the lack of systems thinking, focus, practical strategies, and misinterpretations of data preclude proper control of COVID-19 that led to a countrywide community spread, from May 2020.

Moreover, weak leadership and egotism led to improper and vague policies jeopardising the economy, people, and the country. Ineffective and harmful policies (some originated from WHO and CDC) led to contradictions, confusion and collectively eroded public trust. The lack of transparency and accountability of the government and its administrators further compromised COVID control.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is working closely with global experts, governments and partners to rapidly expand scientific knowledge on this new virus, to track the spread and virulence of the virus, and to provide advice to countries and individuals on measures to protect health and prevent the spread of this outbreak.

The lack of vision and practical strategies, inexperience in managing epidemics, and the refusal to consult experts with managing epidemics led to creating flawed policies that hurt the economy.

Despite the hard work of healthcare workers and other frontline personnel, the second wave of COVID began in August 2020; within weeks, it got out of control. In June 2020, the author predicted the impending second wave in August and the third wave in April 2021.

The inability to comprehend the viruses’ biology, failure to adjust an effective (living)strategy to control the spread, and failure to use acceptable means to enhance natural immunity, prevented successful control of the epidemic.

Besides misinterpreting statistics and consequently enforcing island-wide curfew inappropriately, refusing community PCR testing, and preventing conducting crucial prevention and treatment randomised controlled clinical studies, and the failure to incorporate emerging scientific data for better management of COVID-19 were few lost opportunities for Sri Lanka.

What should have been done

Conducting broader preventative actions, including prioritising humane “home” quarantining and local production of high-quality, reliable PCR kits, would have markedly reduced the government’s economic burden and peoples suffering.

The government had plenty of time to prevent hospitals and the healthcare sector burden. For example, increasing the populations’ innate immunity could have achieved through safe sun exposure advice and vitamin D supplementation. These would have prevented COVID-19-associated complications and deaths.

There was no rationale for military-style, forced quarantining of people. Those exposed to a person infected with COVID-19 and PCR positive asymptomatic persons could have better and cost-effectively managed in their homes, with oversights from the medical officer of health and public health inspectors.

Such simple measures would have improved the safety and well-being of people and markedly reduce government costs. Collectively, these approaches would have cost less than 10% of what the government spent (and continue to spend) on COVID-19 and associated significant opportunity costs.

Community spreads could have prevented through geographically limited lockdowns not exceeding two weeks while supplying essentials to the local community. Shutting down entire districts or the country was a colossal mistake. Consequently, small businesses and self-employed and daily wage-earners accounting for two-thirds of adults in Sri Lanka were worst affected.

Pitfalls of managing COVID-19 in Sri Lanka

Public trust and cooperation are essential in successfully managing an epidemic or any severe crisis. The loss of trust was detrimental for the governance, especially the belief that neither the administration nor law enforcement has genuine interests or intentions to control the COVID-19 epidemic and protect the public. These concepts entrenched following turning the COVID misery into a profitable business.

Ironically, the decision-makers who enforced draconian restrictions had all supplies for themselves and full salaries. Simultaneously, the lower-middle-class and the poor, two-thirds of the country, suffered the most.

Besides, inappropriate curfew also interrupted local travel and businesses, tourism, air travel, hotel industry, import and export trade, and all supply chains, causing significant food insecurity and financial burdens on over 80% of the population. It will take years to recover from the harmful effects of COVID, amplified by poor administrative decisions.

The lack of candour and commercialisation of COVID-19 is understandably worrisome for the local public, expatriates, and the international community. Boosting the supply-chain-related businesses by respective administrations during the LTTE war and COVID-19 are remarkably similar: achieved at the public expense. In both cases, a handful of the same set of companies allied with the government became rich.

Moreover, faulty actions in 2020 significantly increased poverty and malnutrition, worsen existing medical disorders, the disease burden, suicides and excess premature deaths, and increase healthcare costs.

Instead of strengthening the power base, militarisation, and environmental destruction, the government should focus on disease prevention, improving education and health, supply chain, exports, national security, re-establish law and order and freedom of speech, increase food security, and lower the cost of living. These would facilitate getting the country back on track for prosperity.

 

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Excerpt:

The writer is Professor of Medicine, Director, Cardio-Metabolic Institute, New Jersey, U.S.A.

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