Africa - INTER PRESS SERVICE

Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki pushing hard for UHC in Kenya. Credit: MOH Kenya

By Felipe Jaramillo and Siddharth Chatterjee
NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 27 2019 (IPS)

Consider this. One million Kenyans fall into poverty every year due to catastrophic out of pocket health expenditures.

For the almost four in every five Kenyans who lack access to medical insurance, the fear that they are just an accident or serious illness away from destitution.

Ill health is easily the most destructive wrecking-ball to any country’s plans for sustainable development, which validates President Uhuru Kenyatta’s commitment to deliver Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by 2022, as part of his Big Four development agenda.

The number of Kenyans who continue to suffer from communicable diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB, as well as the increasing burden of non-communicable diseases like diabetes, cancer and hypertension, present formidable challenges to the country.

Among the poorest in Kenya, only 3% have health insurance, which is provided by the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF). Among the wealthiest, many who also have private cover, this rises to 42%, indicating again that the poorest are at risk of being left behind even further, and do not have an appropriate safety-net to fall back on.

Felipe Jaramillo

Investing in UHC is: 1) a moral obligation – it is not acceptable that some members of society should face death, disability, ill health or impoverishment for reasons that could be addressed at limited cost; and 2) a very smart investment – prevention of malnutrition and ill health will have enormous benefits in terms of longer and more productive lives, higher earnings, and averted care costs.

But delivering quality affordable healthcare for all comes at a cost. And this cost should certainly not be carried by those who cannot afford it.

The delivery of UHC requires robust financing structures. When people have to pay most of the cost for health services out of their own pockets, the poor are often unable to obtain many of the services they need, and even the rich may be exposed to financial hardship in the event of severe or long-term illness. Pooling funds from compulsory funding sources (such as mandatory insurance contributions) can minimise the financial risks of illness across a population.

Health Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki recently unveiled a team of experts to spearhead radical reforms at the NHIF. This new initiative will build on past efforts at reforming NHIF, which were only partially implemented. The team will analyse the financial sustainability of NHIF, oversee legal and regulatory reforms among other propose organisational reforms to reposition NHIF as a national social health insurance provider and ensure its accountability and transparency.

Siddharth Chatterjee

The realization of UHC in Kenya will only be achieved if the Government of Kenya will increase its budget allocation towards health and lead solid health system strengthening initiatives – as for example the NHIF reform – to increase efficiency, effectiveness and accountability within the health sector.

The health system strengthening initiatives currently on their way in Kenya are critical, yet exciting, and require “all hands-on deck” and much collaboration.

The Government of Kenya can count on the support of the World Bank, and United Nations family as its development partners.

Within the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) 2018-2022 for example, the human capital development pillar (which includes health) is receiving the largest share of human and financial resources – and rightly so, as we recognise the importance of supporting the Country to realise the vision of UHC by 2022.

The World Banks’ Transforming Health Systems for Universal Care Project for Kenya is improving utilization and quality of primary health care services with a focus on reproductive, maternal, new-born, child, and adolescent health services. Supporting health financing reforms is a key component of this project. Under the recently approved Kenya Social and Economic inclusion Project (with US$ 250 million IDA credit and US$ 70 million of DFID grant), the Bank is supporting the Government to systematically enrol and register National Safety Net Program beneficiaries in the NHIF through an established referral mechanism.

The Government of Kenya is aligning forces as well with the private sector. Through the United Nations’s SDG Partnership Platform, the Government has already been identifying and scaling up transformative primary health care partnerships through galvanising support from the private and philanthropic sectors.

The successful delivery of the NHIF reform will demonstrate Kenya’s ability to efficiently pool revenues to cover for a healthcare package with essential services for all Kenyans, at all ages. This again will enhance confidence to join and invest in NHIF and create opportunities within the health sector to develop new partnership models for the delivery of care which all will help the Country to make rapid strides towards the realization of UHC.

Kenya can lead the way in realising Universal Health Coverage – and we stand with Kenya to “Deliver as One” and leave no one behind.

Siddharth Chatterjee is the UN Resident Coordinator to Kenya.

Felipe Jaramillo is the World Bank country director for Eritrea, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, based in Nairobi

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Credit: Getty Images

By Richard Mahapatra
NEW DELHI, Mar 27 2019 (IPS)

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on January 16 declared that 2018 was the sixth- warmest year in the last 117 years or since 1901, when recording started. Pointing towards changing weather and climate parameters, it also noted that the last monsoon rainfall was the sixth-lowest since 1901.

“The 2018 annual mean land surface air temperature for the country was +0.41°C above the 1981-2010 average, thus making 2018 the sixth-warmest year on record since 1901,” said a release from IMD.

That India is witnessing consistent warmer seasons is clear from the IMD’s analysis that pointed out that 11 out of 15 warmest years were in the last 15 years (2002-2018). The last year was also the consecutive third-warmest year after 2016 and 2017.

“The past decade (2001-2010/2009-2018) was also the warmest on record, with anomalies of 0.23°C/0.37°C. The annual mean temperature during 1901-2018 showed an increasing trend of 0.6°C/100 years, with a significant increasing trend in maximum temperature (1.0°C/100 years), and relatively lower increasing trend (0.2°C/100 years) in minimum temperature,” said IMD.

Climate change impacts are likely to lower the living standards of nearly half of India’s population, says a new World Bank report.

According to the report titled ‘South Asia’s Hotspots: Impacts of Temperature and Precipitation Changes on Living Standards’, rising temperatures and erratic rainfall pattern could cost India 2.8 per cent of its GDP.

It says that almost half of South Asia, including India, lives in vulnerable areas and will suffer from declining living standards.

Approximately 60 crore Indians live in areas where changes in average temperature and precipitation will negatively impact living standards. These areas, called hotspots, were identified using spatial granular climate and household data analysis.

The analysis was done for two scenarios—one indicating a pathway where climate change mitigating actions were taken and the other where current trends of carbon emissions continued.

“We have attempted to identify how climate change will affect household consumption, and that is the basis of the estimation and hotspot mapping. The granular data is from the household level, which is aggregated to give larger level analyses at block, district, state and country levels,” Muthukumara Mani, lead economist, World Bank South Asia region told Down To Earth.

A warming trend is now witnessed in all seasons including the winter (January-February). “The country averaged season mean temperatures during all the four seasons, with the winter season (January-February, +0.59°C) being the 5th warmest since 1901 and the pre-monsoon season (March-May, with an anomaly of +0.55°C above average) being the 7th warmest ever since 1901,” said IMD.

Similarly, there is a declining trend for the monsoon as well. “The 2018 Northeast monsoon season (October-December) rainfall over the country as a whole was substantially below normal (56 per cent of LPA, 1951-2000 average). This was 6th lowest since 1901,” reported the IMD release.

The post Changing Weather Will Affect Living Standards of Half of India’s Population appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Richard Mahapatra is Managing Editor, Down To Earth, Asia's premier fortnightly on politics of environment and development published by the Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi, India

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A mother washes kitchen utensils in the Aguas Calientes River, while her children play. She told IPS that this small river, part of the watershed of the Lempa River - the longest in El Salvador - always had an abundant flow, but now due to climate change and the use of water for the irrigation of sugar cane, the water level is down. Credit: Edgardo Ayala/IPS

By Edgardo Ayala
SAN CARLOS LEMPA, El Salvador, Mar 27 2019 (IPS)

For nearly three decades, several communities in southeastern El Salvador have collectively and efficiently managed the water they consume, but monoculture production and climate change put their water at risk.

“These are the collateral effects of climate change, as well as deforestation and monoculture,” the president of the Lempa Abajo Community Development Association, Patrocinio Dubón, told IPS.

Dubón is a native of San Carlos Lempa, a village in the eastern municipality of Tecoluca where the offices of the association – which administers a community water project that emerged 25 years ago – are located

Like other nearby villages, San Carlos Lempa includes the name of the Lempa River, which runs across more than 440 km of this small Central American country before flowing into the Pacific Ocean. It is the longest in El Salvador and is vital to the life and agricultural activity of a considerable part of the local rural communities.

These coastal lands, former cotton plantations, were parceled out and distributed to part of the recently demobilised guerrillas after the end of El Salvador’s 1980-1992 civil war.

Because the indiscriminate use of agrochemicals in cotton and later sugar cane had polluted the aquifers, residents of San Marcos Lempa stopped using that water and instead sought a cleaner source, which they found in a well located 13 km further north.

With the support of international development aid, they set up the community water project, which now supplies 26 nearby communities comprising some 2,000 families who would otherwise find it difficult to have access to piped water.

According to official figures, 95.5 percent of urban households have access to piped water, but the figure drops to 76.5 percent in rural areas.

The beneficiaries of the water project pay 5.65 dollars per month for 15 cubic metres, the amount needed to supply a family of six. With the installation of water meters in each household, it is possible to verify if consumption has increased, and the cost is added to the bill.

To access this community network, each family had to pay 389 dollars for the installation and other costs of the system, but if they did not have the money, they were allowed to pay the amount in six installments.

Patrocinio Dubón, a former guerrilla fighter who lost his right arm in a 1989 battle during El Salvador’s civil war, is the president of the Lempa Abajo Community Development Association, whose water project supplies San Carlos Lempa and 26 other villages in the municipality of Tecoluca, San Vicente department, in eastern El Salvador. Credit: Edgardo Ayala/IPS

Currently, about 70 percent of local residents are connected to the system, and the rest get their water from neighbors who are hooked up.

Threats to the community water system

However, the sustainability of the project is now at risk because the impacts of climate change, deforestation and sugarcane monoculture have hit the country’s watersheds, and this region is no exception, Dubón said.

The water level in the well that supplies San Carlos Lempa, he noted, has dropped almost three metres from the optimum level it was at a few years ago, which has made it necessary to adopt rationing measures.

“We have been rationing it for the past two years, serving different communities on different days,” he said.

A technical study will soon begin to be carried out, and “we are going to ration it even more,” Dubón added.

The sugar industry, whose primary raw material is sugar cane, is a powerful sector with influence on the economy and politics of this Central American country of 7.3 million people.

The Sugar Association, which represents the industry, is made up of six sugar mills, the majority of which are controlled by influential Salvadoran agribusiness families.

The sugar sector generates some 48,000 direct jobs and another 187,000 indirect jobs, and generates more than 186.5 million dollars in revenue, according to industry figures.

However, the industry has been under constant fire from environmental groups due to the pollution caused by the expansion of the crop, whether through the indiscriminate use of agrochemicals, excessive consumption of water for irrigation, or other harmful practices for the environment.

These include the burning of sugar cane to remove the outer leaves around the stalks before harvesting, to make it easier and faster for the thousands of sugar cane workers to cut the cane. But the fires pollute the environment.

However, the most worrying thing is the intensive use of water to irrigate the fields.

Silvia Ramírez shows how the water level has dropped in small rivers around the village of San Fernando in eastern El Salvador, due, among other reasons, to the excessive use of water by sugarcane producers, who build small dams to divert the water to their crops, affecting the surrounding rural communities. Credit: Courtesy of Edgardo Ayala

In a 2016 article, IPS focused on the impacts of the sugar cane industry on the way of life of peasant farmers and onl local ecosystems. At the time, the industry downplayed the effects and claimed that it irrigated just 15 percent of the 116,000 hectares dedicated that year to sugar cane.

The problems faced by the San Carlos Lempa water system are no exception.

In the village of San Fernando, also in the municipality of Tecoluca, the water supply has been affected by the same issues.

“We are rationing it to take care of it,” Silvia Ramírez, administrator of the Santa Mónica Water Board, told IPS.

Because the beneficiaries also manage their consumption through water meters, the local families “have learned to use it rationally,” she said.

In other municipalities in the country, which receive water from the state-run water company, faucets often run dry, even in households connected to the main water grid.
to the main grid, they often have no water.

Salvadoran media regularly report roadblocks by angry residents in urban neighborhoods or rural municipalities complaining about the lack of water.

Controversial water bill

The water conversation efforts of rural communities contrast with the decisions that Salvadoran legislators are reaching with respect to a controversial water bill, especially the article that stipulates the creation of a National Water Authority (ANA).

The lawmakers in the Environment and Climate Change Commission in the legislature reached an agreement on Mar. 18 that the industrial and agricultural sectors should participate in the board of directors of the new water authority.

The agreement, which was given a green light by eight of the 11 members of the legislative commission, has not yet been discussed or approved in the plenary session. But it does have the backing of all of the political parties represented in the commission, except for the ruling Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front, which steps down from power in June.

This means that, if the bill moves on to debate in the coming weeks, there is already a preliminary agreement for these influential sectors, with interests alien to those of the general population, to not only participate in the water authority, but also to control the decisions taken regarding water supplies.

The social movement, which began with protest marches during the week of International Water Day, celebrated on Friday, Mar. 22, argues that only public bodies should participate in the water authority.

“If we include these private sectors, which are only moved by the profit margin, it’s like the fox guarding the henhouse,” activist Marielos de León told IPS.

The ANA would consist of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, city governments, citizen water boards and the University of El Salvador, in addition to the two private sectors in question.

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Gendarmerie officers stand guard on March 24, 2019, in Moroni, Comoros. Two journalists have been detained without trial in the country since February. (Gianluigi Guercia/AFP)

By Editor, CPJ
NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 26 2019 (IPS-Partners)

(CPJ) – Authorities in the Comoros should immediately release journalists Abdallah Abdou Hassane and Oubeidillah Mchangama, who have been held in pretrial detention on an array of charges for over a month, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

The journalists, who report for the Facebook news page FCBK FM, were arrested in mid-February and are detained in a prison in the Comoros capital, Moroni, while awaiting trial, according to their lawyer, Abdoulbastoi Moudjahid, who spoke with CPJ.

On February 12, the journalists were charged with defamation, disturbing public order, incitement to violence, offence against the head of state, insulting the magistrate, forgery, and use of false materials, according to their lawyer and FCBK FM; they have both pled not guilty.

While in detention, both journalists have been questioned multiple times about their FCBK FM posts, Abdoulbastoi told CPJ. The lawyer did not elaborate on any individual posts that the journalists have been asked about.

According to FCBK FM and Abdoulbastoi, the journalists frequently criticized the government in their posts and Facebook Live broadcasts, including making at least one call for President Azali Assoumani to resign.

The country held its presidential election on March 24 and has not yet released the results, according to media reports; the opposition alleges that the polls were rigged to secure Azali’s reelection.

“That these two journalists have been held in pre-trial detention so long suggests that this case is little more than a pretext to silence critical voices during an election period,” said CPJ’s Sub-Saharan Africa representative, Muthoki Mumo. “Authorities should free Abdallah Abdou Hassane and Oubeidillah Mchangama and drop the charges against them.”

Abdallah was arrested on February 9 at the supreme court in Moroni, where he had gone to report on a court decision that barred several opposition politicians from running in the presidential elections, according to Abdoulbastoi and FCBK FM.

Oubeidillah was arrested on the morning of February 11 at the entrance of the Moroni court where he was investigating Abdallah’s arrest, according to Abdoulbastoi.

CPJ reached out to FCBK FM via its Facebook page and did not receive a response.

Abdoulbastoi appealed the charges against the journalists on February 25 on the grounds that the original order for their detention was unlawful, but the presiding judge dismissed his case as “unfounded,” the lawyer told CPJ.

Protests have been staged in Moroni calling for the journalists’ release, according to news reports by French news agency RFI. The agency reported that the organizers of the protests feared that the journalists might be detained until after the presidential inauguration in May.

CPJ tried to reach Comorian Interior Minister Mohamed Daoudou via multiple calls and text messages but did not receive a response. Emails from CPJ to the ministry of foreign affairs and to the Comorian mission at the United Nations went unanswered.

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With approximately 90 percent of Guyana’s population living below sea level, the country says it needs to adapt and build resilience. But Janelle Christian, head of the Office of Climate Change in Guyana says unlocking needed financial support is a major challenge. Credit: Desmond Brown/IPS

By Desmond Brown
GEORGETOWN, Mar 26 2019 (IPS)

In 2008, the then president of Guyana, Bharrat Jagdeo, established within the Ministry of the Presidency the Office of Climate Change. Guyana became the first country in the region to do so. A year later, Jagdeo set out a vision to forge a new low carbon economy in the Caribbean nation.

Jagdeo’s vision was translated into a national strategy as outlined in Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) after more than a year of review and consultation within Guyana, coupled with input from climate change negotiations at the United Nations.

The aim of the LCDS was the achievement of two goals: transforming Guyana’s economy to deliver greater economic and social development for the population by following a low carbon development path; and providing a model for the world of how climate change can be addressed through low carbon development in developing countries, if the international community takes the necessary collective actions, especially relating to REDD+.

Head of the Office of Climate Change Janelle Christian told IPS that the office continues to fulfil its mandate even though there has been a change of administration.

“We have started the process for preparation of our national climate change policy,” Christian said.

“We have concluded work on the Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action for Greening of Towns.”

Excerpts of the interview follow:

Janelle Christian, head of the Office of Climate Change in Guyana. Credit: Desmond Brown/IPS

Inter Press Service (IPS): What is the government doing to develop national climate change strategies?

Janelle Christian (JC): When the government changed, back in 2015, the new government advocated the vision for Guyana to become a green state and so the Department of Environment has been working over the last two years to elaborate the Green State Development Strategy. That strategy is looking at low carbon development across all sectors. When compared to the LCDS, which is looking at our mitigation contribution through sound management of our forest resources, the Green State Development Strategy is looking at advancing what we have started under the LCDS but also looking to maximise our renewable energy potential through the full mix of the opportunities available in that field, and also to ensure that our future development as we proceed as a country would ensure that we pursue that development on a low carbon path.

IPS: How different are the strategies and plans being developed on the President David Granger administration compared with those under the Jagdeo administration?

JC: We have been, and continue to work in crafting and in some instances revising some of our existing strategies so that they’re aligned with the new vision. So, what we have been working on, specifically with support from many of our multilateral partners – we have started the process for preparation of our national climate change policy. We are in the process of revising our climate resilience strategy and action plan and the output will be our National Adaptation Plan (NAP) aligned with the Green State Development Strategy main pillars. We have concluded work on the Nationally Appropriately Mitigation Action for Greening of Towns. We’ve also completed our Technology Needs Assessment.

IPS: Who are some of the development partners you’ve been working with to get projects off the ground?

JC: We have largely been working with existing global facilities for the mobilisation of climate finance to not only address some of the gaps and strengthen some of our existing programmes, but mobilise resources for sector-specific initiatives. We have been engaging very closely with the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and have successfully been able to mobilise what is called readiness support. The first one that we would have implemented was what is called the NDA [National Designated Authorities] strengthening through the GCF and that was with the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre and that work has concluded. That really set the tone for further engagement and how we engage with the GCF.

Since then we would have successfully worked with the FAO [Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations] and we would have been able to mobilise some resources specifically through the GCF, again focusing on getting the agriculture sector ready and also working with the sector to develop a concept proposal for submission to the GCF for investment-type support to the sector given its priority. We received notice of approval from the GCF for readiness support for our energy sector – largely renewable energy and also some private sector support. Because, we know, for climate solution it requires both public and private sector investment.

IPS: What else do you have going on in terms of climate change adaptation and mitigation?

JC: We have advanced work for support of the president’s vision for Bartica, which was identified as a model green town. We have just concluded all of the baseline data-type studies that were required for Bartica as we get ready to plan and identify specific type investments for that community.

IPS: Going forward, what would you say are the main challenges facing Guyana and other developing countries in fighting climate change?

JC: Support…They talk about the developed providing support to developing. And when we talk about that support, we’re talking about financing, which is the top challenge because these interventions for adaptation to increase our resilience require lots of investments. So, financing. While they will tell you that there are lots of established climate financing mechanism, to unlock those resources is really a challenge in itself. So, then the capacity of the country to be able to understand the systems, the modalities; to be able to elaborate the proposals that would then be successful and allow for their approval – those allow you to implement.

So, the financing and then the capacity in-country to unlock the financing, or the capacity in-country to have the right skill set in specialised areas, and of course we need technology also. Of course, technology requires money again. But even when you have technical support for the deployment of technology, again you have to be able to use the technology correctly. Then as a country you have to ensure that you have the sustainability component incorporated into your national systems so that those can be successfully infused as part of your operation over the long term. Those are the main things I would say for countries such as ours. How do you make a decision when you have limited finance to address the realities of what is before you?

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The Paris’ Musée de l’histoire d’immigration has launched a thought-provoking exhibition about music and migration. Courtesy: Paris’ Musée de l’histoire d’immigration

By A. D. McKenzie
PARIS, Mar 26 2019 (IPS)

Amid the morass of Brexit and continuous debates on immigration, a French museum has launched a thought-provoking exhibition about music and migration.
The massive show at Paris’ Musée de l’histoire d’immigration (National Museum of the History of Immigration) “explores the close and complex relationship between migration, music, anti-racism and political activism”, according to the curators.

It comes at a time when “many European nations are turning inwards and succumbing to the temptations of closed borders,” they add.

The exhibition “Paris-Londres: Music Migrations (1962-1989)” runs until Jan. 5, 2020, and was inaugurated ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, observed annually on Mar. 21. The launch also preceded the fourth edition of a one-week “Grand Festival” in Paris against racism, antisemitism and anti-LGBT prejudice.

The show breaks new ground by linking artistic movements in England and France that demonstrate how “successive generations of immigrants in these two colonial powers used music to stake their claim to equal rights, affirm their presence in the public space, and contribute to the urban, economic and cultural transformations reshaping” both countries, the curators say.

Most music lovers are already aware of the influence that genres such as ska, reggae and rai have had on popular music, and the exhibition details this impact through an array of documents, videos and recordings. But it goes further by highlighting how immigrant musicians played a crucial role in fighting racism, with movements such as “Rock Against Racism” in Britain and “Rock Against Police” in France.

“These two stories have not previously been put together side by side in a postcolonial way,” says Martin Evans, a professor of modern European history at the University of Sussex, and one of the three international curators of the exhibition.
“We really wanted to look at how London and Paris reinvented themselves with the influence of the new arrivals from the Sixties to the Eighties,” he told IPS.

A “wealth of musical styles linked with successive waves of immigration transformed Paris and London into multicultural capitals” between the early 1960s and the 1980s. Courtesy: A. D. McKenzie

As the exhibition puts it, a “wealth of musical styles linked with successive waves of immigration transformed Paris and London into multicultural capitals” between the early 1960s and the 1980s.
A significant aspect of this immigration has been the global impact of Jamaican history and culture, Evans said, particularly through the contributions of dub poets such as Linton Kwesi Johnson, who was himself influenced by Martiniquais writer and statesman Aimé Césaire.

“In doing this exhibition, we discovered a lot of stories about links between artists and activists in France and Britain,” Evans said. “So, a very important aspect is uncovering these hidden stories”.
The curators showcase more than 600 documents and artworks “connected with music”, including instruments, photographs, concert posters, videos, costumes and other items – many of which are on loan from institutions such as London’s Victoria and Albert Museum and from the personal collections of well-known musicians.

Visitors to the exhibition are greeted by black-and-white footage of people exuberantly dancing, while a narrator explains the origins of the music that’s driving them into paroxysm of delight. “This is ska”, taking Britain by storm in the 1960s after its emergence “from the Jamaican sound systems of the late 1950s”.

Following this introduction, and the familiar lyrics of “Sammy Dead”, the show moves into the activist nature of music by London-based groups such as The Equals (the first major “interracial” UK band, formed by Guyana-born Eddy Grant), who used their song “Police on My Back” to highlight police harassment of immigrants.

Meanwhile, history lessons about the arrival and settlement of immigrants are included in the captions to memorable photographs, detailing how immigrants to England settled in the inner cities while those to France inhabited the outskirts or banlieues.

The Windrush generation (referring to Caribbean passengers on the HMT Empire Windrush in 1948 and their descendants) also feature prominently, with information about recent scandals regarding the British government’s treatment of individuals and historical documents.

In addition to the visual displays, the exhibition boasts a “killer playlist” that features ska, reggae, punk, makossa, rai, rumba, rock and other genres, and visitors will be seen dancing as they listen to music through headphones or stand in front of video clips of Millie Small singing “My Boy Lollipop” or Jimmy Cliff belting out “The Harder They Come” from the iconic 1972 film of the same name.

On the French side, one learns about African and North African musicians who changed the sound of French music: Manu Dibango, Salif Keïta, Noura and Khaled, among others. Meanwhile, the cross-border links can be seen in Serge Gainsbourg’s reggae version of France’s national anthem La Marseillaise – a recording that sparked outrage in certain quarters and earned the singer death threats.

“Gainsbourg used this music as a political vector,” says Stéphane Malfettes, the lead curator, who’s in charge of the museum’s cultural programming. “He went to Jamaica to record and was a big fan of reggae. In fact, France has always had a link with this music.”

According to Malfettes, concerts by reggae star Bob Marley and other artists drew thousands of fans in France in the 1970s and early 1980s and provided a spur for the later creation of France-grown reggae groups such as Danakil who perform political music.

Some visitors will find the political aspect of the music to be the most interesting part of the exhibition, which gives the background to Rock Against Racism – an activist movement sparked by the “rise of the far right and the spread of racism in political discourse”.

English musicians Red Saunders and Roger Huddle launched Rock Against Racism in 1976, following “murky racist proclamations from the likes of Eric Clapton and David Bowie,” the curators state. The first concert was held in Victoria Park in the spring of 1978 and attracted some 100,000 people, with groups including Steel Pulse, The Clash and the Tom Robinson Band performing – “revealing the often-overlooked solidarity between” rock, punk and reggae.

The movement influenced activists in France, where Rock Against Police grew out of a “proliferation of racist incidents and violence” in the late 1970s and early 1980s, “compounded by the success” of the far-right Front National in the municipal elections of 1984, according to the curators. The exhibition highlights the personalities and musicians involved, through footage, music, photos and articles.

As the exhibition nears its cut-off point (1989), visitors also learn about other landmark happenings that emphasised the “multicultural identity” of Paris and London. Two such events were the huge SOS Racisme concert held in June 1985 on the Place de la Concorde and the massive anti-apartheid show held at Wembley stadium to mark the 70th birthday of South African icon Nelson Mandela, in June 1988.

“All these stories push us to look at things differently,” says Malfettes. “We hope to reach people interested in the music, interested in the movements and those who may not know this background, especially young people.”

If there’s one drawback to the exhibition, it is in the sheer range of objects and information, which makes it difficult to absorb everything during a single visit; many visitors will feel the need to return for a second look, especially regarding the musical connections – the punk and dub-reggae productions of

John Letts, and the “Asian underground sounds” of Asian Dub Foundation, for instance.
An irony, too, is that this exhibition is taking place at the imposing Palais de la Porte Dorée – which houses the history museum. The building, with its ornately decorated façade, was constructed to host the Paris Colonial Exposition of 1931 and was used for many decades to showcase the “civilising influence” of French colonialism. It has now changed its focus.

(This article is published by permission of Southern World Arts News – SWAN. You can follow the writer on Twitter: @mckenzie_ale)

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Credit: UN Photo/Manuel Elias

By Virginia Dignum
UMEA, Sweden, Mar 26 2019 (IPS)

UMEA, Sweden, 26 March 2019 (IPS) — At this year’s Davos economic forum, US executives warned that China may be winning the so-called Artificial Intelligence (AI) race with Europe. In another recent article, Bloomberg pointed out that countries are rushing to not be left behind.

The author also correctly pointed out that there’s still a long way to go before AI will be commercially viable. In its vision for AI, launched last December, the European Commission has described its concerns with the position of AI in this race, which some have claimed Europe already lost.

In my opinion, speaking of a ‘race’ is both wrong and dangerous to begin with. It puts the focus on competition and brings with it a sense of gloom and despair. So let me make two arguments: firstly, there is no race and secondly, if there was, it would the wrong race to engage in.

There’s no race because of the very definition of a race: it’s a competition of speed, usually judged by an objective measure like a clock or to a specific end goal. In AI developments however, we don’t have an end point! Nor do we have a specific time to stop.

Virginia Dignum

Therefore, there’s no way to determine when and where someone will win this so-called race. Suggesting that it can be won assumes a moment after which we can stop developing technology, and advancing humankind.

It’s the wrong race

It’s even more important to understand why it‘s the wrong race to engage in. The US and China are betting on machine learning developments, and in particular on deep learning, as the approaches that will achieve true AI, and enable them to ‘win’ that so-called race.

These approaches rely on the availability of huge amounts of data and computational power, to enable machines to perceive, or learn, characteristics of a particular domain. This approach is used to recognise faces in pictures, to determine the credit worthiness of mortgage applicants, and to diagnose cancer cells in scans or X-ray images.

All of these are relevant and important applications, and the progress achieved in the last few years is truly remarkable. The goal is not to win races, it’s to ensure the well-being of humankind and the environment.

However, these approaches are focusing on one aspect of intelligence: the ability to perceive patterns and make predictions based on those patterns. True intelligence, on the other hand, includes more than that, like the capability to reason, interact and decide based on little, incomplete and contradictory information. In short, we need to explore alternatives to statistical approaches to learning.
In fact, just a few weeks ago, a study analysing 25 years of AI research has concluded that the era of deep learning is coming to an end. Europe has traditionally been strong on symbolic approaches to AI and on (social) robotics.

Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani

These are some of the areas that should be invested in and that will bring AI forward in the near future. Therefore, it would be a mistake to blindly follow US and China on their machine learning ‘race’ when we now have the opportunity to show the value of alternatives approaches, in which we Europeans may have an advantage.

The end of one kind of AI

Another reason why data-heavy approaches are not the way forward: they have a negative impact on human well-being and the environment. Any development that does not boost trustworthiness will ultimately not succeed.

There’s no business model for untrustworthy AI or unethical AI. The results and decisions taken by systems based on deep learning and neural networks are hard to understand and explain. Therefore they aren’t sustainable in areas where the trust of users and experts is crucial.

Moreover, current approaches are very environment unfriendly: the amount of (energy) resources needed to store and compute data are already comparable to the needs of a small city. This is not sustainable especially if this type of AI relies on exponential growth of data and computational power.

Europe is home to strong, world leading, fundamental research in AI, and known for a strong ethical background and respect for human rights. Putting these at the core of advances in AI will lead to breakthroughs that can really bring AI forward in ways that are both financially profitable and beneficial to human and environmental well-being.

But this will imply a new mindset when it comes to how we do business and how we create an inclusive decision-making process. Developing AI responsibly, grounded on ethical principles and human rights, doesn’t represent a burden on research and investment, but rather a stepping stone bringing this powerful technology forward.

More than a technical decision, Europe is the only place that, at the moment, can push for this vision and its required policies.

The goal is not to win races, it’s to ensure the well-being of humankind and the environment.

The post The Myth About the Race for Artificial Intelligence appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Virginia Dignum is a professor at the Department of Computing Science at Umeå University in Sweden. She heads the research group 'Social and Ethical Artificial Intelligence'.

The post The Myth About the Race for Artificial Intelligence appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram and Anis Chowdhury
KUALA LUMPUR and SYDNEY, Mar 26 2019 (IPS)

The World Bank has successfully legitimized the notion that private finance is the solution to pressing development and welfare concerns, including achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through Agenda 2030.

A recent McKinsey report estimates that the world needs to invest about US$3.3 trillion, or 3.8 per cent of world output yearly, in economic infrastructure, with about three-fifths in emerging market and other developing economies, to maintain current growth.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

The world financing gap is about US$350 billion yearly. If new commitments, such as the SDGs, are considered, the gap would be about thrice the currently estimated gap as available public resources alone are not enough. Thus, for the Bank, the success of Agenda 2030 depends on massive private sector participation.

Maximizing finance
The Bank’s ‘Maximizing Finance for Development’ (MFD) strategy marks a new stage. It presumes that most developing countries cannot achieve the SDGs with their own limited fiscal resources and increasingly scarce donor overseas development assistance (ODA).

Bank prioritization of financial inclusion presumes that fintech-powered digital financial inclusion would increase growth, create jobs and promote entrepreneurship in developing countries.

The MFD purports to respond to the G20’s April 2017 Principles of MDBs’ strategy for Crowding-in Private Sector Finance for growth and sustainable development. The G20 has offered the Roadmap to Infrastructure as an Asset Class for energy, transport and water inter alia.

The 2017 MFD strategy recycled the Bank’s 2015 Billions to Trillions: Transforming Development Finance, arguing that MDBs should increase financial leverage via securitization to catalyse private investment, thus promoting capital markets by transforming bankable projects into liquid securities.

Anis Chowdhury

The MFD presumes that public money should mainly be used to leverage private finance, particularly institutional investments, to finance the purported US$5 trillion SDG funding gap.

Financialization coalition
The MFD strategy seeks to enable financialization and transition to securities-based financial systems in developing countries, complementing other initiatives by the Bank, IMF and G20. Such initiatives are expected to encourage investors to use environmental, social and governance criteria to attract, mobilize and sustain needed financing.

The MFD presumes that public money should mainly be used to leverage private finance, particularly institutional investments to finance the funding gap. Government guarantees are deemed necessary to ‘de-risk’ projects, especially for public-private partnerships (PPPs).

Meanwhile, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a Bank subsidiary, is helping subsidize capital market involvement in infrastructure development; the MFD strategy envisages capital markets in ‘green bonds’, ‘social impact bonds’, infrastructure bonds and so on.

Securities markets are supposed to enable institutional investors to make desirable social and environmental impacts. MFD advocates claim that capital markets provide new solutions to development challenges such as inadequate infrastructure, and poor access to schooling, clean water, sanitation and housing.

The Financial Stability Board has also proposed measures to transform ‘shadow banking’ into securities-based finance, while the European Commission’s Sustainable Finance initiative seeks to similarly reorient institutional investors and asset managers.

Cascading financialization
The Bank’s ‘Cascade’ approach seeks to institutionalize this bias for private financing. It seeks to facilitate securities lending by enabling ‘repo’ market financing and hedging, and ‘rehypothecation’, i.e., allowing securities to be used repeatedly for new lending.

The Cascade approach seeks to accelerate financialization with measures to accommodate new asset classes, enable banks to engage in securities and derivatives markets with minimal regulation, deregulate financial institutions creating tradable assets from PPP projects, and facilitate capital flows ostensibly for development.

It presumes market imperfections and missing markets deter the private sector from financing sustainable development projects, and proposes to address such bottlenecks by ‘internalizing externalities’ and providing subsidies and guarantees to de-risk investments.

Tito Cordella notes that it prioritizes private finance even when a project is likely to be profitable if undertaken with public funds. He notes the tensions between maximizing private financing and optimizing financing for development, and some implications. Public options are only to be considered after all private options are exhausted or fail.

Thus, the Cascade approach presumes that the private sector is always more efficient, despite actual experiences. Clearly, it not only reflects an ideological preference for private finance, but also seeks to promote securities and derivatives markets, as market liquidity is among the core G20 Principles of MDBs’ strategy for crowding-in Private Sector Finance.

Hijacking development finance
The strategy would thus commit scarce public resources to ‘de-risking’ such financing arrangements to transform ‘bankable’ development projects into tradable assets. This means that governments will bear more of the likely costs of greater financial fragility and crises.

Such government measures will inadvertently undermine needed financial institutions such as development banks. There is no reason to believe that MFD will somehow create the capital market infrastructure to improve finance for SMEs or needed development transformations.

Once a project’s future revenue streams are securitized, the multilateral development banks’ environmental and social safeguards no longer apply. Contracts to repay securitized debt held by investors would be disconnected from the underlying project financed and its consequences.

Holders of these securities have no incentives to prioritize social or environmental goals. Private equity and hedge funds that have short-term incentives for profit-taking, including by asset-stripping, are not concerned with social, environmental or other public interests.

Not surprisingly, considerable doubt exists as to whether private capital markets and institutional investors can be incentivized to finance long-term public goods as these mechanisms serve the profit motive, not public welfare.

Anis Chowdhury, Adjunct Professor at Western Sydney University & University of New South Wales (Australia), held senior United Nations positions in New York and Bangkok.
Jomo Kwame Sundaram, a former economics professor, was Assistant Director-General for Economic and Social Development, Food and Agriculture Organization, and received the Wassily Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought in 2007.

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By GGGI
Seoul, Republic of Korea, Mar 26 2019 (IPS-Partners)

(GGGI) – The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) today announced the appointment of Susanne Pedersen as Assistant Director-General and Head of GGGI’s Investment and Policy Solutions Division (IPSD). Ms. Pedersen will be based in the organization’s Seoul headquarters and will assume her duties on June 3, 2019.

As Head of IPSD, Ms. Pedersen’s responsibilities will include strategic planning, implementation and delivery of GGGI’s projects and programs in Member and partner countries and the work of IPSD’s Thought Leadership, Green Investment Services, and 4 Thematic sector teams.

Susanne Pedersen

Serving as a member of the Management Team, Ms. Pedersen will play a key role in fostering an organizational culture that delivers strong performance and impactful outcomes.

“I see great potential in GGGI to deliver impact and make a difference in its Member and partner countries.” said Ms. Pedersen. “Throughout much of my career, I have supported emerging and developing economies in their transition to a low-carbon and sustainable future and am therefore extremely excited to help drive GGGI’s inclusive, environmentally sustainable, green growth agenda.”

A Danish national, Ms. Pedersen is currently the Managing Director at Climate-KIC Nordic Aps, where she is responsible for leading work within the Nordic Region under the Climate-Knowledge Innovation Community (KIC), which is Europe’s largest public-private partnership with more than 350 members addressing climate change through innovation.

“Sustainability and green growth have been an integral part of my focus areas and I look forward to contributing to GGGI’s thematic areas by leveraging my professional experience in urban transitions, technology development and innovation,” added Ms. Pedersen.

From setting up international daughter companies and establishing new service areas, to managing large-scale teams and projects, Ms. Pedersen brings a wealth of experience to GGGI.

“We are very excited to bring Ms. Pedersen on board and benefit from her more than two decades of work with international organizations, industry associations and the private sector as a manager, board member and strategic advisor,” said Dr. Frank Rijsberman, Director-General of GGGI.

About the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI)

Based in Seoul, GGGI is an intergovernmental organization that supports developing country governments transition to a model of economic growth that is environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive. GGGI delivers programs in over 30 countries with technical support, capacity building, policy planning & implementation, and by helping to build a pipeline of bankable green investment projects. More on GGGI’s events, projects and publications can be found on www.gggi.org. You can also follow GGGI on Twitter and join on Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn.

 

(GGGI Seoul HQ)
HeeKyung Son, Communications Specialist
+82 70-7117-9957
H.Son@GGGI.org

 

(GGGI Seoul HQ)
Daniel Muñoz-Smith, OIC Head of Communications
+82 70-7117-9961
Daniel.MS@GGGI.org

 

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One of the last 1,000 wild Bactrian Camels. Gobi Desert, Mongolia. Credit: mammalwatching.com

By Jon Hall
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 26 2019 (IPS)

Late last year the World Wide Fund for Nature released their Living Planet Report for 2018. WWF’s estimates were stark: populations of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians have, on average, declined by 60 percent between 1970 and 2014.

The Earth is estimated to have lost about half of its shallow water corals in the past 30 years. A fifth of the Amazon has disappeared in just 50 years, and 2018 marked the worst level of deforestation in history.

This is a tragedy for nature. And an unfolding tragedy for humanity: the destruction of the environment is threatening the planet’s life support systems that we all rely on every day for our air, water and food.

The impact on people’s lives is already apparent with 3.6 billion people facing water scarcity at least one month a year, and 3.1 billion people drinking water with a risk of contamination.

The 2019 Global Risks Report from the World Economic Forum identified “Major biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse (terrestrial or marine)” as both one of the most likely and most serious global risks with “irreversible consequences for the environment, resulting in severely depleted resources for humankind as well as industries.”

Fortunately, there is already a good deal of work underway to develop “nature-based solutions” that harness the power of nature to tackle social and economic challenges.

UNDP has been working around the world with partners to trial these ideas and many have significant implications for human development work. Environmental concerns often hit the poorest the hardest.

Not only are poor communities most vulnerable to crop failure or flooding, because of climate change for example, but they are also less resilient – or unable to recover from – such natural disasters.

Moreover, protecting nature is of critical concern to those who care about equity between generations, and it is clear from the data that the challenges faced by the current generation dwarf in comparison to those that the next generation will face if most environmental indicators continue their current trajectory.

For World Wildlife Day, the Human Development Report Office has released guidance to both inspire and assist UN country teams to investigate how nature-based solutions could help a nation’s human development.

The material looks at solutions that can help tackle climate change, improve the management of land and water (both fresh and marine), and help maintain biodiversity directly. We use case studies to show how nature-based solutions can help promote human development and help wildlife.

One example from Namibia looks at the broader development benefits national parks can bring to a country and those who live near them.

Namibia has some of the world’s most spectacular national parks and wildlife. Indeed, one-half of the country falls within national protected areas or communal or private conservancies.

But protected areas often struggle to receive adequate funding, often because there is an under-valuation of their economic benefits, resulting in under-investment by the government.

UNDP’s economic analysis indicated that the protected area (PA) system contributed up to 6 percent of Namibia’s GDP. And this was only counting park-based tourism without including the value of other ecosystem services.

The study showed that further investment in PAs could lead them to contribute up to 15 percent of GDP in the medium-term.

Namibia’s Ministry of Environment and Tourism used the figures to negotiate a 300 percent increase in the state budget for park management and development.

Working with UNDP, the government has strengthened the national park system in several ways and developed important national policies.

Perhaps the most important was the Tourism and Wildlife Concessions Policy, regarded as one of the world’s best models for protected area concessions, and probably the only one with such a strong emphasis on, and provision for, supporting the livelihoods of rural people living in and around protected areas.

Another example – looking at the importance of the bio-economy – comes from Colombia, a nation that shelters more than 10% of the planet’s biodiversity.

A Colombian company has begun extracting blue dye from the fruit of the Jagua Tree (Genipa americana). The new product is for many purposes better than chemical based dye.

The benefits are being shared with both the Colombian state and local communities who supply the fruit from which the dye was developed. And so the Jagua Fruit, a resource that used to have no economic use, began to generate income and improved livelihoods for local communities.

If the world is to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals there must be a greater focus on development that allows both people and the planet to prosper.

We hope that the next generation of national human development reports from across UNDP program countries will embrace and promote the nature-based solutions needed for that to happen.

*The HDialogue blog is a platform for debate and discussion. Posts reflect the views of respective authors in their individual capacities and not the views of UNDP/HDRO.

The post The Destruction of the Environment: An Unfolding Tragedy for Humanity appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Jon Hall is Policy Specialist at the Human Development Report Office, UNDP

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Maths and physical science teacher Peter Tabichi picture after the Keriko Mixed Day Secondary School teacher has won the one million dollar Global Teacher Prize at a ceremony in Dubai. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS

By Busani Bafana
DUBAI, Mar 25 2019 (IPS)

A maths and physical science teacher from an impoverished  school in Kenya’s Rift Valley, Peter Tabichi, has won the one million dollar Global Teacher Prize, becoming the first teacher from Africa to clinch the prize established to honour the profession.

Tabichi (36) emerged the winner from a top list of 10 nominees from Brazil, Georgia, Netherlands, United Kingdom, India, United States, Argentina, Australia and Japan.

“I cannot believe it,” Tabichi, told IPS at a press conference after he was named winner. “This is a motivation for teachers in Kenya, Africa and the world. It affirms that teaching is the best profession and I will continue to make a change by teaching.”

The Global Teacher Prize is the largest prize of its kind that recognises an exceptional teacher who has made an outstanding contribution to the profession but also to highlight the important role of teachers in society.

Actor Hugh Jackman announced that Kenya teacher Peter Tabichi was winner of the Global Teacher Prize. Courtesy: Global Education and Skills Forum – an initiative of the Varkey Foundation

Actor Hugh Jackman announced Tabichi’s name at a glittering ceremony that sent the packed hall into thunderous applause. Tabichi was recognised for his dedication, hard work and passionate belief in his students’ talent. Thanks to his efforts the poorly resourced Keriko Mixed Day Secondary School in Nakuru County, in remote rural Kenya, has emerged victorious after taking on the country’s best schools in national science competitions.

Citing his father as his inspiration for becoming a teacher, Tabichi, a member of the Franciscan Brotherhood, gives away 80 percent of his monthly income to help the poor students in his school, many of whom come from poor families–almost a third are orphans or have only one parent–with many going without food at home. The students have difficult experiences ranging from drug abuse, teenage pregnancies, early school dropout, young marriages and there have been cases of suicide.

The school itself has only one computer, a poor internet connection, and a student-teacher ratio of 58:1.

“Every day in Africa we turn a new page and a new chapter,” said Tabichi. “This prize does not recognise me but recognises the continent’s young people…as a teacher working on the frontline I have seen the promise of its young people—their curiosity, talent, their intelligence and their belief.”

The story of Africa, a young continent bursting with talent

Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta, congratulated Tabichi on winning the award in a special video message broadcast at the ceremony in which he described Tabichi as a shining example of what the human spirit can achieve, not just for Kenya and Africa, but also for the rest of the world.

“Peter your story is the story of Africa, a young continent bursting with talent,” Kenyatta said. “Your students have shown that they can compete among the best in the world in science, technology and all fields of human endeavour. All we need is to give them the right support.”

The Global Teacher Prize, open to all working teachers, is part of the Varkey Foundation’s commitment to improving the status of teachers across the world. In their Global Teacher Status Index in November 2013—the first attempt to compare attitudes towards teachers in 21 countries—the study found that between a third and half of the parents surveyed would ‘probably’ or ‘definitely not’ encourage their children to enter the teaching profession. The Global Teacher Status index in 2018 showed for the first time a direct link between teacher status and pupil performance as measured by PISA scores.

“I want to congratulate Peter Tabichi for winning the Global Teacher Prize 2019. I hope Peter’s story will encourage others to enter the teaching profession and shine a spotlight on the truly inspiring work teachers do to make tomorrow brighter than today,” said Sunny Varkey, founder of the Varkey Foundation.

In an earlier interview with IPS Tabichi said if he won he would use the prize money strengthen the Talent Nurturing Club, the Science Club and inter-school science project competitions at the school.

He also planned to “invest in a school computer lab with better internet connectivity.” And said that he would also promote kitchen gardening and production of drought tolerant crops in the community at large.

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At the 63rd UN Commission on the Status of Women(CSW), which concluded last week, advocates called for girls and women to have more power and leadership in humanitarian action.

By Marcy Hersh
NEW YORK, Mar 25 2019 (IPS)

As a long-time advocate, I’ve been invited to speak at dozens of global conferences about the needs of girls and women in humanitarian emergencies.

And while I’ve had the opportunity to understand this issue in good depth throughout my career, there’s still one glaring problem: I’m not, and have never been, a woman affected by a humanitarian emergency.

As a native New Yorker, I’ve never known what it’s like to get my period in a war zone, where menstrual hygiene products are in short supply. As a new mother, I don’t know what it’s like to give birth in a refugee camp, where maternal health services are rarely available.

And as a women’s rights activist, I don’t personally know what it it’s like to advocate in places where even uttering words like “gender equality” can be a life sentence.

But I speak English, have an American passport, and know all the humanitarian acronyms by heart – so it’s much easier to invite someone like me to into humanitarian decision-making circles in New York and Geneva than to wrestle with visas and language barriers and engage the women bravely advocating in Syria, Lebanon, and beyond.

If we really want to better understand and address the needs of girls and women in these complex environments, it shouldn’t be this way.

That’s why I was pleased to see so many more representatives from women-focused civil society organizations (CSOs) take the stage at events surrounding the UN Commission on the Status of Women this month.

Women like Olfat Mahmoud, a Palestinian nurse and refugee who stands at the podium at an event called “Does Humanitarian Aid Need a Feminist Facelift?” – hosted by Women Deliver – where she gave an opening speech. And Diana Abou Abbas, a Lebanese LGBTQIA+ activist who confidently claimed a seat at the panel to share her own experiences.

They’re not who you’d expect to hold the mics at CSW, but they are who we need to hear from most.

“I’m really blessed to be here to speak with people like you, and to remind you that we exist,” said Olfat, who leads the Palestinian Women’s Humanitarian Organization (PWHO) in her speech to international dignitaries, donors, and decision-makers in a tightly-packed room.

In truth, I can’t help but feel that we are the lucky ones to hear from people like her. Women-focused CSOs like Olfat’s are leading activities that many international organizations deem too difficult at times of conflict and disaster, like expanding access to sexual and reproductive services for refugee girls and women.

Too often, these services – like access to contraception, maternal care, and emergency obstetrics – are rarely provided in first-line humanitarian responses, if at all. Grassroots women leaders prove that providing these services is feasible and life-saving in even the most complex environments.

“I was a nurse…and always called by other NGOs to raise women’s awareness on her children’s health or family’s health…but nothing about her [own health] as a woman. We started [PWHO] to fill the gap,” Olfat describes.

At the meeting, Olfat shares PWHO’s experience working with religious leaders to ensure access women’s health programs in refugee camps where they work. Soon after, Diana describes her work with Marsa Sexual Health Center – the Beirut-based health clinic that provides safe and non-discriminatory sexual health services to the hardest-to-reach populations in Lebanon, including LGBTQIA+ people, adolescents, refugees, and others.

Both organizations have documented research and best practices to show what works in these difficult contexts – lessons that would be invaluable to international organizations that have reached a standstill on these issues.

There is growing global recognition that hearing more from experts at women-focused CSOs like PWHO and Marsa Sexual Health Center is critically needed to make humanitarian responses more effective. For example, the Call to Action on Protection from Gender Based Violence (GBV) in Emergencies – a groundbreaking partnership which includes commitments from over eighty countries and NGOs to better address GBV – is working hard to enhance local leadership to help fuel more progress on this issue.

Partners are increasing looking to women-focused CSOs to develop roadmaps to help implement the Call to Action, including in Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where this work has already begun.

“Success requires investing in local organizations…and making this investment sustainable,” Diana describes at CSW. Globally, only 3% of humanitarian aid went to local and national organizations in 2017 – and much less to those focused on girls and women.

A key takeaway from CSW was the need to scale up flexible and long-term investment in women-focused CSOs, who know the context, entry points, and opportunities to deliver humanitarian assistance most effectively.

Put simply: building a more feminist humanitarian system requires handing over the mic and power to women-focused CSOs in conference rooms, press rooms, and boardrooms. It suggests letting go of some of our own power as international advocates to let women lead and set the agenda – and trust that our collective action for girls and women in humanitarian emergencies will be stronger because of it. It means relinquishing our speaking roles at international convenings so that the MVPs on the ground have a seat at the table.

After all, as Olfat so rightly put it: “Women are the backbones of our communities. They are the future. If we want strong communities, we need strong women.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

The post What They Need: Money, Resources, & a Seat at the Table appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Marcy Hersh is the Senior Manager for Humanitarian Advocacy at Women Deliver, whose Humanitarian Advocates Program elevates the voices of women, and the organizations they lead, to help ensure they have a seat at the decision-making table.

The post What They Need: Money, Resources, & a Seat at the Table appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Credit: Lalsu Nogoti

By Saahil Kejriwal and Rachita Vora
Mar 25 2019 (IPS)

The remarkable story of an Adivasi lawyer and social activist who has led peoples’ movements against state development policies, and sought redress for human rights violations of his people in conflict-ridden regions of Maharashtra.

Lalsu Nogoti is an independent elected member of the Zila Parishad in the district of Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. He is also the first lawyer from the Madia Gond Adivasi community in that district. A firm voice against large-scale diversion of forest land for numerous mining projects, Lalsu has also been part of several peoples’ movements against the state’s development policies. The focus of his work is on the effective implementation of laws that protect Adivasi rights.

He has been engaged in seeking redress for human rights violations of Adivasis resulting from the crossfire between Maoist insurgent and paramilitary operations in the district. His vision lies in ensuring that the Madia Gonds retain their rights over natural resources of the region. In 2017, he was selected for the Indigenous Fellowship Programme by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights.

In this interview with IDR, Lalsu highlights the importance of engaging with law and politics to bring about social change, and the important role that local self governance plays in securing the rights of Adivasi groups.

 

Could you tell us about your early life?

I think the first turning point of my life was when I was three or four, and my father passed away. I come from a remote village, Juvvi, in Gadchiroli which borders Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region. In our tribal community—we are Madia—there is a custom of remarriage, so my mother remarried and returned to her home state, Chattisgarh. The community looked after me. I would help with all kinds of chores, from guarding the farm from birds to grazing the cattle.

Later, the village elders sent me to Lok Biradari Prakalp, at Hemalkasa, so that I could get food and shelter. That was a project by Ramon Magsaysay Award winner, Dr. Prakash Amte. I went to school there. I could not write until I was in grade 5, and I understood very little, but I studied hard. Each year, I stood among the top five in the annual exams. When I topped my grade 10 exams, Prakash bhau offered to send me for higher studies.

Throughout my childhood, there were people who supported me along the way. I was raised by the community around me, and I was offered help at various points, which I never refused. While pursuing higher studies, I would do any work that came my way—chopping tree branches, sweeping, helping in the School for the Disabled, and working at Yuvagram.

One day, Dr Dhairyasheel Shirole, a trustee of Fergusson College, Pune, was visiting Anandwan. Bharati vahini, one of my guardians, asked him, “Here is a Madia boy who is good at his studies and is honest. Would you take him to Pune to study further?” Bharati vahini also told him that I was an orphan, and had no money.

My law degree may have given me technical knowledge, but working with the community, I learn new things every day. You can become literate and aware through formal education, but the knowledge of local challenges can only come from working with people.

Fergusson had an ‘earn and learn’ scheme—if I found work, I could earn money and pay for my education. So I decided to go. A few other Adivasi students from Hemalkasa were offered the same opportunity, but weren’t willing to travel so far.

This was a time of many firsts for me: my first time travelling by train; and the first time I was made aware of my Adivasi background. People made fun of me for not speaking Marathi. I never learned Marathi because Madia is my tribe’s language. No one in my village speaks Marathi even today.

But by the time I graduated college, I had a degree with a specialisation in Marathi literature. I then went on to study law.

 

What made you choose law as a career?

When I was in college, many Madias were becoming doctors, but not lawyers. I felt that fighting the issues we were facing needed a knowledge of the law, and so I enroled in ILS law college.

At the time, you would rarely find Adivasi students in these colleges; they were scared to go to such places. My roommate at Fergusson asked me why I wanted to study at ILS. He said, “You will fail. It’s quite hi-fi. You don’t know English.”

I was not afraid to fail. In fact, when I stood first and informed my community, they asked, “Is that a good thing or bad?” They were really not bothered.

Apart from completing law, I also got a master’s in sociology, a bachelor’s degree in journalism, and a master’s in communication and journalism.

In 2006 I returned from Pune to Nagpur, where I practiced law for one year. I had studied law to be able to help my people, but soon realised that the Nagpur Court was inaccessible for them. If I continued working there, I would have earned well but I wouldn’t have served the people for whom I studied law. I wanted to help my people directly, be with them, and discuss their issues face-to-face. And so, I moved to Aheri and worked at the court there.

In the years since, I worked with many organisations on issues relating to tribal rights, including Srujan, Tata Trusts, Ecotech, and Oxfam India.

 

In 2016, you entered politics by contesting the local election. What prompted you to do this?

I used to believe politics was a dirty game. But having been closely involved with local governance, I have come to believe that in addition to the law, politics is an important tool for social change. In fact, if we keep shying away from politics, no good person will ever enter this space.

The Lok Sabha or Vidhan Sabha are not going to work for the poor. And so we have to enter politics, so we can make laws that are useful for us. For instance, because I helped translate the Forest Rights Act from Marathi to Gondi and Madia, I was able to bring the issues of the Adivasis into those documents.

 

Can you tell us about your experience with using the gram sabha as a tool for local self-governance?

The gram sabha has emerged as an important local government body, one that can make laws and rules for the village. The seat of government in Mumbai is not the only government. The local government at the village level also has the same powers—for instance, managing the market and what goods can be sold freely, regulating or curtailing money lending activity, and deciding what village-level initiatives are introduced and how their funding is allocated.

The gram sabha’s role in local governance has been strengthened with the passing of two acts: The Forest Rights Act (FRA) and the Provision of Extension to Scheduled Areas Act (PESA). These have been important instruments of social change.

 

Credit: Lalsu Nogoti

 

Could you elaborate?

Let us first talk about the Forest Rights Act (FRA). Before it was passed in 2006, no law had ever mentioned that traditional forest dwellers and scheduled tribes have been subjected to historical injustice. This was the first time that the government acknowledged the injustice, saying that the Act was an effort to correct this.

The Act has also been crucial because it recognises the rights of scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers over forest land. Over the years, these rights have been curtailed as a result of increasing state control over forests, as well as developmental and conservation activities. The FRA, with its provision of individual forest rights (for homestead and agriculture), community rights (for gram sabha rights over forest resources) and community forest resource rights (for gram sabhas to use, manage and protect forest resources), has guaranteed tenurial security over Adivasi peoples’ land and livelihoods.

The FRA also recognises ‘Habitat rights’ of the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG),1 a subcategory of scheduled tribes (ST) that is characterised by low literacy and nutrition levels, and subsistence level of economy. My tribe, Madia, was also declared a PVTG by Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs. This provision is among the most important within the FRA, as it extends beyond the administrative units of the household or the village, and recognises the rights of a larger clan of villages of the same community—in Bhamragad area for instance, there are 108 villages that form a habitat, or ilaka. This traditional structure, with its own traditional leadership, offers livelihood and resources, as well as being socially and spiritually important to the community.

In practice, there are many steps that the people must take to claim these rights (the overall process is controlled at a state level); there are also many Adivasi groups who are eligible to claim these rights but don’t know that they can. This is where the gram sabha’s role becomes even more important, because all initial claims must first be submitted to and verified at the village level.

 

And what about the PESA Act?

The PESA Act was passed in 1996. The right to forest produce is the most important part of it. For the first time, the people and the gram sabha can collect the tendu leaves on their own without the interference of middlemen. They can package it, and sell directly to companies. The Act lists many other items as well, including resin, honey, lac, timber, and bamboo. With PESA, more and more people in my area have been able to establish ownership rights over forest produce.

Where I work, the gram sabha is dealing directly with the company. These are new processes, not only in Bhamragad but in many places across the district. And there is much work that activists are doing across the district. The ownership rights over forest produce have resulted in higher incomes, and we are now seeing higher expenditure on education and health.

Adivasi culture and the forest are intricately linked. Where there is a forest, the culture remains alive. PESA thus looks after both.

Under PESA, the gram sabha has the authority to handle financial dealings of an area, and control or manage local trade. This helps the people regulate the sale of intoxicants like alcohol or tobacco, and curtail informal moneylending. Further, the PESA Act covers land acquisition and displacement. Now, if anyone wants to buy land for mining, they have to consult the gram sabha and take their consent after a public hearing.

FRA and PESA are very important tools to strengthen the gram sabha and ensure autonomy of the Adivasis. Using these laws, we can increase awareness among people, and give them the confidence to raise their voices.

We have now started a movement to spread legal literacy in Adivasi areas—about FRA, PESA, Biodiversity Act, RTI—and bring about societal change by law. We have also translated the constitution in Marathi.

 

What are some of the challenges associated with your work?

Given that we work in a Naxalite area, engaging with the law and politics can be especially challenging. The local police believe that if Naxalites support a law, the government must oppose it. Thus, for them, anybody who supports that law is assumed to be a Naxalite. The police ask people if they agree with, or support, the PESA act. If they do, they are branded as a Naxalite.

Another challenge is that the laws keep changing to suit the ruling government. When the ruler changes, the language changes. For our grassroots activists who believe in this law and support it, the challenge is sustaining that support, especially when someone sitting in the capital can change the law, or cancel it all together.

We also have limited resources, and limited connection with the outside world, especially people located in the corridors of power. Then, what is my strength? Sitting in Bhamragad, I can’t do much. Even still, it is important for me to stay here, and work for my people. My law degree may have given me technical knowledge, but working with the community, I learn new things every day. You can become literate and aware through formal education, but the knowledge of local challenges can only come from working with people.

Apart from challenges in carrying out my work, there are other, more deep-rooted challenges that Adivasis face, chief among them being language. Indian states are divided linguistically—Marathi is spoken in Maharashtra, Gujarati in Gujarat, Bengali in West Bengal. Gondi speaking people have been living in this country from the beginning, but have been scattered across different states, due to which they must learn different state languages. I am in a ‘Marathi cage’. My mother is in Chhattisgarh, where they have to learn Hindi; she’s in a ‘Hindi cage’. In this way, we are left unable to communicate with each other. Our own language has suffered because of this. Plus, we don’t have a formal organisation or structure. Our community is our area of work. There is no office. Our village—Gotul or local space—is our office. So how can we band together, work together on these cultural and political issues for our people?

Translated from Marathi into English by Anupamaa Joshi.

 

Footnotes

1. PVTG is a subcategory of scheduled tribes (ST), characterised by a pre-agricultural level of technology, stagnant or declining population, extremely low literacy rate and subsistence level of economy. There are 75 listed PVTGs in India.

 

Saahil Kejriwal is an associate at IDR. He is responsible for sourcing and editing content, along with online and offline outreach. He has completed the Young India Fellowship, a postgraduate diploma in liberal studies, from Ashoka University. Prior to that, Saahil worked as an instructional designer at NIIT Ltd. Saahil holds a BA in Economics from Hansraj College, University of Delhi. He spent his early years in Guwahati, Assam.

Rachita Vora is Co-founder and Director at IDR. Before this, she led the Dasra Girl Alliance, a Rs. 250 crore multi-stakeholder platform that sought to empower adolescent girls in India. She has a decade of experience, and has spent the past eight years working in the areas of financial inclusion, livelihoods and public health. She has led functions across strategy, business development, communications and partnerships, and her writing has been featured in the Guardian, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Next Billion and Alliance Magazine. Rachita has an MBA from Judge Business School at Cambridge University and a BA in History from Yale University.

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

The post Q&A: “The Knowledge of Local Challenges Can Only Come from Working with People” appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Dr. Arturo Cunanan is the Medical Centre Chief of Culion Sanitarium and General Hospital in the Philippines and one of the most experienced experts on Hansen’s disease, also known as leprosy, in the world today. Credit: Stella Paul/IPS

By Stella Paul
MAJURO, Mar 25 2019 (IPS)

His multiple awards and degrees aside, Dr. Arturo Cunanan is known as a people’s doctor; one who has profound belief in the human rights of every person affected by Hansen’s disease, commonly known as leprosy.
Considered one of the most experienced experts on the disease in the world today, Cunanan is currently the Medical Centre Chief of Culion Sanitarium and General Hospital in the Philippines. He is the first director of the hospital who is a direct descendant of people affected by Hansen’s disease who were isolated and segregated in Culion. The island of Culion, where the hospital is based, was originally set up as a leper colony at the turn of the 20th century, with the hospital been founded to solely treat patients with Hansen’s disease. However, from 1994, the Culion Sanitarium and General Hospital began general hospital services.

Currently in the Marshall Islands, in the northern Pacific, to review the national leprosy programme for the atoll nation, Cunanan tells IPS about the importance of viewing leprosy as an ordinary disease and how the failure to do so leads to continuous stigma.

“Integration of leprosy in the mainstream is important and it is also important to see that leprosy is treated as an ordinary disease and not as a special disease. Leprosy then becomes an ordinary disease. But if you treat leprosy as a special disease, then those with leprosy can become more stigmatised. People who have leprosy, can live a normal life. This is the message,” he tells IPS.

Recipient of several national and international awards, including the 2015 Gandhi Peace Prize, Cunanan earned his Masters in Public Health and Hospital Administration at the University of the Philippines and a Doctorate (PhD) in Health Systems and Policy at the National Institute of Health, University of Leeds as an International Ford Foundation Scholar.

He is also a consultant with the World Health Organisation and has provided his leadership in reviewing the National Leprosy programmes across the Micronesia region.

Cunanan is also the implementer of Sasakawa Memorial Health Foundation/Nippon Foundation’s projects in Culion and the Philippines that are related to leprosy and human rights, preservation of leprosy history, and various socio-economic projects that improve quality of life of people affected by leprosy and their families.
Excerpts of the interview follow:

Inter Press Service (IPS): Can you elaborate on how treating leprosy as a special disease leads to more stigmatisation and violates the rights of a person affected by it?

Arturo Cunanan (AC): Leprosy is one of the oldest known diseases in human history. It’s a biblical disease; there are instances of Jesus meeting men suffering from leprosy—men who were described as unclean and who became clean after Jesus touched them. The fear of leprosy and the social reaction to leprosy—both are are old.

In modern times, we have seen governments bring in laws that were built on the rule of detection and segregation. All of this only alienated a leprosy-affected person further.

But the truth of the day is: leprosy is curable. A person with leprosy can live a normal life. He can get treated—free of charge—for his disease. But, if we continue to treat leprosy as a special, extraordinary disease, it will perpetuate the alienation and it will also perpetuate the fear and stigma.

IPS: What happens when a leprosy-affected person faces stigma?

AC: First, they are socially, economically, and culturally isolated. People in their village, neighbourhood, society stop making contact with them and their families. But it ultimately violates their rights to respect and dignity.
Let me give you an example. In Culion, we get visitors. Some of them ask me if they can visit some leprosy-affected people. I tell them, look around you—everyone here has been affected by leprosy. But they look around and they do not want to believe what they see: normal people, with a normal physical appearance.

What these visitors are expecting to see is a person who has severe physical deformity, because in their minds, they [the visitors] have the image of a leprosy-affected person like that—a demonised image.
So, I tell them, these are people, no matter how severely they are affected by the disease—they are people like you and me, they have a right to a life of respect and dignity. How would you feel if someone looked at you in shock and fear, maybe disgust and gasp? This is what stigma and isolation leads to—the total denial of dignity.

IPS: How does this affect the treatment of leprosy?

AC: There are several reasons why a person affected by leprosy doesn’t seek treatment and social stigma is one of them. The person is afraid that once he has been confirmed as a person who has leprosy, the reaction of society will be severe towards him and his family.

They will not be included in any social or cultural events, nobody will visit them at their homes, and nobody will continue social relations with them. This will affect them economically also, they will not be employed like before. All of this discourages the person from going to the health centre and reporting his condition as he wants to avoid this social stigma.

IPS: You often say that Leprosy treatment needs to be integrated into the general health service system. What does that mean?

AC: This means that leprosy treatment can be made available at the local level. At every health centre, someone should be skilled enough to at least raise suspicion—if not fully detect—when he or she notices a possible case of leprosy.

For example, a person visits the health centre with a visible patch on his or her body which maybe numb. If a staff member at the health center can suspect that this could be a leprosy case, he could share this with the person and refer this person to a more skilled health worker to another clinic that specialises on leprosy. This way, a detection, confirmation and treatment could then begin.
But if the staff member is not capable of this, then he could simply give him an ointment for a skin rash and send him back home.

Especially in the islands, where people live a simple life, in close contact with the sun, sand and salt water, small skin marks like a patch would not usually make a person suspicious of his body or make him go to a leprosy clinic straightaway. But if even one person at the health centre can think that this might be leprosy, it could be a big help.

The third point is, even when the treatment begins, the person affected by leprosy may not take his medicines regularly or may not monitor his health conditions such as a sign of reactions etc on a regular basic and this could affect him adversely. But, if the staff at his local health center can communicate with him that he must report back if there is a reaction, he will do so.
So, it is key to have leprosy treatment integrated in the general health service, so there are skilled workers at every level of the health system.

Related Articles

• People Affected by Leprosy in Latin America Unite for Their Rights and Their Voice
• Q&A: Important to Treat Anyone Suffering from Leprosy as an Equal Individual
• Living with Leprosy on the Climate-Vulnerable Kiribati Island Atolls

The post Q&A: Why Treating Leprosy as a Special Disease Violates the Rights of the Person Affected by It appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

IPS Correspondent Stella Paul interviews DR ARTURO CUNANAN, one of the world’s leading experts on leprosy and Medical Centre Chief of Culion Sanitarium and General Hospital in the Philippines.

The post Q&A: Why Treating Leprosy as a Special Disease Violates the Rights of the Person Affected by It appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Credit: David Symonds in The Economist, 24 July 2008

By Jan Lundius
STOCKHOLM / ROME, Mar 25 2019 (IPS)

These lyrics are from Fire, the only hit by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, which in 1968 sold over one million singles. Brenton Tarrant played it in his car while he triumphantly left the Al Noor Mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand. He had just gunned down around 100 unarmed worshippers and was on his way to another mosque to continue the slaughter before Friday prayers ended on 15 March. His murderous rampage finished by the Linwood Islamic Centre, where he could not find the entrance. He shut a man and his wife, whom he encountered outside the building and then shattered a window with a hail of bullets, killing five more inside, while he shouted that everyone had to leave the mosque. A courageous shop keeper rushed out and throw a credit card reader at Tarrant, who rushed back to his car followed by the shop keeper, who shattered the windshield with a handgun he had picked up from the ground. Tarrant run away, but was almost immediately restrained by police who had been able to trace him.

Tennant had by then shot and killed 50 individuals, aged between 2 and 71 years. He had used two semi-automatic rifles, two shotguns and a lever-action rifle, all purchased online from a local gun store. Tennant live-streamed the 17 minutes Al Noor Mosque massacre at Facebook Live. Nine minutes before initiating his killing spree he had posted links to a 73-page manifesto, The Great Replacement, on Twitter and 8chan and emailed it to 30 recipients, among them The Prime Minister´s Office and various media outlets.

Contrary to many Islamist terrorists, who are prepared to die for their beliefs, Tennant wanted to be taken alive and use his trial as an opportunity to appear as a martyr for his beliefs and use his deeds as propaganda for them. Exactly like another white supremacist before him, the Norwegian Anders Berling Breivik, who in June 2011 in cold blood slaughtered 77 totally unprotected and surprised individuals, most of them youngsters between 14 and 18 years. Breivik´s statements in court and his 1,500 pages long manifesto served as an inspiration for Tennant.

Condemnations and condolences arrived immediately after the horrific event. Almost every nation leader sent his/her “heart-felt” sympathies to the people of New Zealand and Muslims around the world. Donald Trump twittered: “My warmest sympathy and best wishes goes out to the people of New Zealand after the horrible massacre in the Mosques.” This was normal procedure, though Trump did three days after his first tweet post another one: “The Fake News Media is working overtime to blame me for the horrible attack in New Zealand. They will have to work very hard to prove that one. So Ridiculous!” Trump had before that declared that he did not view white nationalism as a rising threat: “I don’t really. I think it’s a small group of people that have very, very serious problems, I guess.” Perfectly in line with previously expressed views when Trump had assumed that any Muslim lone wolf slayer represented views of all Muslims: “I think Islam hates us”. This while any person who in the name of some whacky right-wing ideology had massacred people, like the Las Vegas shooter who killed 58 people, according to Trump represented no one else but himself. Such people are according to Trump just crazy: “The wires were crossed pretty badly in his brain. Extremely badly in his brain. And it’s a very sad event.” Trump´s line of thinking may thus be connected with the fact that his administration cut funding for the Department of Homeland Security’s Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) programme – except to address Islamic-inspired terrorism.

Trump seems to express inclinations towards extreme narcissism and cynical populism. He has during his presidency revealed a behaviour characterized by exaggerated feelings of self-importance, excessive need for admiration and a lack of empathy. However, there is apparently also a large dose of populism characterizing his way of expressing himself. Particularly in his cynical use of xenophobia. Trump has repeatedly whipped up fear off criminal elements and potential terrorists illegally crossing US borders: “They’re sending us not the right people. The US has become a dumping ground for everyone else’s problems.” Using vulgar expressions Trump has declared that many migrants come from places he defined as “shithole countries”.

Trump behaves like a performer blinded by his own success and like many others who use the Internet as a political platform he indulges in rude attacks on perceived opponents and enemies. He is fond of using offensive dubs and verbal barrage like an “extraordinarily low IQ person”, against people with other views than his own. Simultaneously he showers inflated praise on those who support him. Candace Owens, an Afro-American conservative commentator and political activist, who Tarrant in his manifesto declared to be the one who had “influenced [him] above all” has by Trump been acclaimed as someone who

is having a big impact on politics in our country. She represents an ever expanding group of very smart ‘thinkers,’ and it is wonderful to watch and hear the dialogue going on … so good for our Country!

Trump had of course been delighted by Owens´s declaration that “the left hates America and Trump loves it!”

It may be claimed that Trump did not create a maniac like Brenton Tarrant, who in his manifesto hailed the US President as “a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose.” However, opinion makers who use a derogative language, making fun of “political correctness” and subscribe to blatant generalizations, inspire others to do that as well.

An example of this is the Swedish “shock jock” PewDiePie, who due to his more than 89 million YouTube subscribers, in 2016 was listed among Time Magazine´s “100 most influential people”. PewDiePie, whose real name is Felix Kjellberg, makes millions of dollars annually. My high school pupils made me listen to him entertaining and impressing his overwhelmingly young listeners by his ridiculously exaggerated, puerile and fake melodramatic persona, pouring out expletives and pointless jokes, often precariously close to “forbidden” themes like racism and misogyny. An approach called memeing, i.e. expressing inane and dumb assertions while appearing as if you are serious about them. I did not find PewDiePie´s idiotic ramblings funny, only annoying, though Tarrant wrote in his manifesto: “Remember lads, subscribe to PewDiePie.”

By simply clicking “send” we may all reach any madman with our baseless generalizations. By setting up blogs, vlogs, Instagram – and Facebook accounts we may share our opinions and “facts” without realizing that with this power comes responsibility. A world leader like Trump cannot excuse himself from the fact that his statement about certain immigrants, even if they in this case were criminally charged members of the infamous MS 13 gang, might have grave consequences:

You wouldn’t believe how bad these people are. These aren’t people. These are animals.

Expressions like “we and them”, indicating a right to mistreat others, even innocent children, in the name of our own superiority, may convince ice-cold mass murderers like Anders Breivik and Brenton Tarrant that they have been doing humanity a service by annihilating “enemies to our way of life”.

No – Trump and PewDiePie, you cannot convince me that you are any innocent bystanders. Each and everyone of us is responsible for his/her own discourse and actions. Not any of us is an autonomous being. For better or worse, we are all connected to one another. Accordingly, our words have effects and do not for one second assume that hate speech is beneficial for human co-existence.

Jan Lundius holds a PhD. on History of Religion from Lund University and has served as a development expert, researcher and advisor at SIDA, UNESCO, FAO and other international organisations.

The post Words Matter: Trump and the Massacres in Christchurch appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

I am the god of Hell Fire

and I bring you fire.
I'll take you to burn!
Fire, I'll take you to learn.
I'll see you burn!
                 Jacob Louis Plant

The post Words Matter: Trump and the Massacres in Christchurch appeared first on Inter Press Service.

António Guterres, is Secretary-General of the United Nations

By António Guterres
BUENOS AIRES, Mar 25 2019 (IPS)

I see five issues that will be central to implementing the Paris Agreement on climate change and achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. South-South Cooperation can offer solutions to all of them.

First, rising inequality both between and within countries is eroding trust and deepening a sense of injustice. Globalization has enabled many people to escape poverty – but its benefits are not shared equitably and its costs fall disproportionately on the poor and vulnerable.

António Guterres

Cooperation can enable developing countries to learn from each other and grow more quickly, close income gaps and build inclusive, resilient societies.

Second, climate change is the defining issue of our time, and we are losing the race. 2018 was the fourth hottest year on record and natural disasters are impacting nearly every region.

That is why I am bringing world leaders together at a climate action summit in New York in September. I am calling on leaders to bring concrete, realistic plans that raise ambition on mitigation, adaptation, finance and innovation.

We must enhance nationally determined contributions by 2020, in line with reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 45 percent over the next decade.

We need fundamental shifts to support green financing and increase investment in climate action from billions to trillions.

The Green Climate Fund must become fully resourced and operational. And the pledge to mobilize 100 billion dollars a year by 2020 for climate action in the developing world, including mitigation and adaptation, must be implemented.

South-South cooperation will be vital to ensure mutual support and exchange of best practices, to enhance adaptation and increase the resilience of developing countries and communities facing the devastating impacts of climate change.

South-South Cooperation can also support the transformation of economies dependent on fossil fuels, with strategies that reinforce both sustainable development and environmental protection.

Third, infrastructure and energy needs are set to expand enormously, thanks to population growth and urbanization in the Global South.

Some 60 percent of the area that is expected to become urban by 2030 has yet to be built. If we get this wrong, we will lock ourselves into a high-emissions future with potentially catastrophic consequences.

But if we get infrastructure right, it will be an opportunity for development cooperation, industrial transition and growth, cross-border trade and investment, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and sustainable development.

Fourth, gender has been described as the docking station for the SDGs, since it offers opportunities to engage on different crosscutting issues. It must be at the heart of all efforts if we are to succeed.

We have seen significant progress for women over the past forty years. More girls are in school; more women are doing paid work. Harmful practices like female genital mutilation and child marriage are in decline.

But this progress is not complete; indeed, we are seeing a pushback against our efforts and in some cases the gender equality gap is widening.

This affects us all, because where women are better represented in politics, we see improved social protection and increased spending on development. When women have access to land and credit, harvests increase. When girls are educated, they contribute more to their communities and break cycles of poverty.

And let’s not forget that countries with the highest number of women in parliament, in national security institutions, and as farmers, are indeed in the Global South.

Fifth, the multilateral development system must be better positioned to support South-South cooperation and implement the 2030 Agenda.

South-South cooperation has evolved significantly over the last decades – but multilateral institutions, including the United Nations, have not kept up.

I am grateful to Member States for recognizing the role of the United Nations in the outcome document for the South-South Conference (in Buenos Aires). We will take up the mandates you are entrusting to us, and you can count on my personal commitment to make sure the ongoing reforms of the United Nations reinvigorate our support for South-South cooperation.

We also need to realign financing for sustainable development and unlock the trillions that will deliver the 2030 Agenda.

South-South cooperation can never be a substitute for official development assistance or replace the responsibilities of the Global North set out in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and the Paris Agreement.

South-South Cooperation must also involve young people, civil society, the private sector, academia and others, building innovative partnerships and extending the reach of initiatives. It must harness the potential of new technologies and digitalization that create opportunities and promote inclusivity.

South-South cooperation is a global exercise of all countries of the South to benefit everyone, including the Least Developed Countries. Every country, every partner has something to share or teach, whatever their circumstances.

This conference is a starting point.

Later this year, over the course of a week in September, Heads of State will gather in New York for the Sustainable Development Goals Summit and the Climate Action Summit. They will discuss Universal Health Coverage, Financing Sustainable Development and the Global Partnership to support Small Island Developing States.

All these meetings are aimed at accelerating implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement, which were born from a consensus on the common interests that bind us together.

Now is the time to stake out that common ground again and take bold and transformative action.

Together, we can achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, we can beat climate change, and transform the lives of people around the world.

I thank the Government and people of Argentina for hosting this Conference.

Forty years ago, the landmark international conference on South-South Cooperation resulted in the Buenos Aires Plan of Action for Promoting and Implementing Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries.

Since then, the Buenos Aires Plan of Action, known as BAPA, has been the foundation and reference point for South-South cooperation, based on principles of national ownership, equality and non-conditionality.

BAPA transformed the dynamics of international cooperation.

It highlighted the value of a different form of cooperation, based on the exchange of knowledge and appropriate technologies among nations facing similar development challenges.

Across the global South, we have seen remarkable advances since BAPA. Thanks in part to South-South cooperation, millions of women, men and children have been lifted out of extreme poverty. Developing countries have achieved some of the fastest economic growth rates ever seen and have set global standards for sustainable development.

As we gather again in Buenos Aires, we recognize and celebrate the long journey we have walked together.

But we also recognize our common challenges.

Today, we are here to ensure that South-South cooperation remains responsive to the evolving realities of global development and the changing needs of developing countries as they implement the 2030 Agenda.

We have an opportunity to develop and strengthen frameworks for South-South cooperation; improve systems and tools; increase transparency; and strengthen accountability.

*Extracts from a keynote address by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to the Conference on South-South Conference in Buenos Aires on March 20, 2019.

The post South-South Cooperation: a Path to Implementing UN’s 2030 Agenda appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

António Guterres, is Secretary-General of the United Nations

The post South-South Cooperation: a Path to Implementing UN’s 2030 Agenda appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Participants taking part in the colloquium "The role of communication in the challenge of South-South cooperation", organised in Buenos Aires by Inter Press Service (IPS) Latin America, within the framework of the Second High-Level United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation. Credit: Daniel Gutman/IPS

By Daniel Gutman
BUENOS AIRES, Mar 24 2019 (IPS)

Communication can be a key tool for the development of cooperation among the countries of the global South, but the ever closer relations between them do not receive the attention they deserve from the media.

This conclusion arose from the meeting organised by Inter Press Service (IPS) Latin America in Buenos Aires on Mar. 22, during the third and final day of the Second High-Level United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation, which brought together representatives of almost 200 countries in the Argentine capital.

“The role of communication in the challenge of South-South cooperation” was the colloquium that brought together journalists, political analysts and officials from international organisations in Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia."There is little coverage on what progress has been made in trade, technology or health cooperation among the countries of the South, which may seem very different among themselves but are quite similar in terms of their needs." -- Mario Lubetkin

The colloquium, organised by the regional branch of the international news agency IPS, was one of the parallel meetings to the conference and the only one dedicated to communication.

“Forty years ago, when the first conference, also held in Buenos Aires, approved the Plan of Action that forms the basis of South-South Ccoperation, there was awareness that communication was key,” said Mario Lubetkin, assistant director-general of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

“However, that notion has been lost and communication has not kept up with the changes that have taken place since then. This creates a vacuum for our societies,” said Lubetkin, the moderator of the meeting.

“There is little coverage on what progress has been made in trade, technology or health cooperation among the countries of the South, which may seem very different among themselves but are quite similar in terms of their needs,” concluded Lubetkin, a former director general of IPS, an international news agency that prioritises information from the global South.

In front of an audience made up mainly of journalists and other media workers, the debate was oriented towards the most appropriate tools for developing countries to better disseminate news from the global South, the latest term coined to define the group of nations in Africa, Latin America and Asia.

The president of IPS Latin America, Sergio Berensztein, stressed that “today there is an opportunity for nations like ours, thanks to the fact that there is no longer the biloparity of the Cold War era, nor the unipolarity of the years that followed. Today we are in a time of what we call apolarity.”

Berensztein stressed that at a time when there is a renaissance of protectionism and nationalism in the world, it is necessary for journalists to reinforce the idea of cooperation and ensure that a plurality of voices is heard on the international stage.

“We are living in a moment of crisis in which the old has not fully died yet and the new has not yet been fully born. That is why it is a time of uncertainty and accurate information is an element that favors the peaceful resolution of conflicts,” said Berensztein.

View of the room where the meeting on the role of communication in promoting South-South cooperation was held in Buenos Aires, organised by Inter Press Service (IPS) Latin America. The participants agreed that media outlets in the global South must generate attractive content that will allow them to combat a news agenda imposed by the countries of the industrialised North. Credit: Daniel Gutman/IPS

The power of the large media based in countries of the industrialised North, which tend to impose their journalistic agenda on a global level, was present in the debate as a worrying factor and as evidence of the failure of initiatives aimed at bringing about a new and more balanced information and communication order.

“What is the best way to foment the mass circulation of information about the global South, in order to escape this problem?” was one of the main questions that arose during the two-hour debate, held at a hotel in the Argentine capital.

From the city of Lagos, in a videoconference, the news director of the Nigerian Television Authority, Aliyu Baba Barau, called for strengthened cooperation between media outlets and journalists from developing countries, through the organisation of trips and mechanisms that favour the sharing of resources.

“Nigerian TV permanently shares its resources with other countries,” he said as an example of what can be done in terms of cooperation in media projects in the South.

“The mechanism of South-South cooperation and its advantages need to be understood not only by those who lead our nations, but also by the global community,” said Baba Barau.

Media representatives from China played a prominent role in the exchange of ideas and reflected the strong interest in Asia’s giant in achieving closer ties with Africa and Latin America.

Participants included Zhang Lu, deputy editor of China Daily, the country’s largest English-language news portal; Cui Yuanlei, Mexico correspondent for the Xinhua news agency, which distributes information in several languages (including Spanish); and Li Weilin, team leader of the CCTV television network in São Paulo, Brazil.

Li said the media in emerging countries should not depend on the information distributed by the news networks of industrialised countries, and said journalism should be a way to share experiences.

He said, for example, that during the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, CCTV produced coverage for people in Kenya to see how Jamaica’s star runners were trained, and for Jamaica to meet the Kenyan runners who perform so well in the long-distance and medium-distance races.

Roberto Ridolfi, Assistant-Director General of FAO’s Programme Support and Technical Cooperation Department, stressed that the countries of the South “do not have a shared past, but they do have the same future.”

Ridolfi said communication has a key role to play in the arduous path towards Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which seek to improve the quality of life of the world’s population and bring the South into line with the level of development in the North.

“The media and journalists have the mission of attracting audiences with news linked to sustainability. The proliferation of plastics in the oceans, the devastation of forests or the problems plaguing food production are issues that should be on the agenda,” he said.

Like the other panelists, Ridolfi lamented that societies are unaware of the South-South cooperation mechanisms that have emerged in recent years and said journalists have a lot of work to do in that regard.

“We have yet to demonstrate to the world the real value and benefits of South-South cooperation,” the FAO official said.

The need for African, Asian, Latin American and Arab media to get to know each other better was recognised as a necessity.

The local participants were particularly emphatic about this, since Argentina is a country with deep cultural ties with Europe, where little is known about what happens in the countries of the regions of the South, beyond catastrophes and conflicts.

The challenge, now that new technologies have democratised communication but have also put it at risk, is to generate information from the South in attractive formats that allow a better understanding of the realities and opportunities in developing countries and between the countries and regions of the South.

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Traffickers held hostage a group of Bangladeshi fortune seekers in Benghazi, forced families at home to pay ransom

By Shariful Islam
Mar 23 2019 (IPS-Partners)

Mominur Islam had paid Tk 3 lakh to some manpower brokers in Naogaon to go to Malaysia as a worker.

The brokers, who were actually members of a human trafficking gang, sent him to Benghazi of Libya where he was confined to a den and tortured on a regular basis for ransom.

Mominur Islam

“Torture for ransom was an everyday affair,” 21-year-old Mominur, who recently returned home, told The Daily Star about his 13-day captivity.

“They used to slap and kick me, beat me with an iron pipe and even put out burning cigarettes on my body.”

On February 16, he along with eight other fortune seekers from Bangladesh was taken to the den where 30 other Bangladeshi youths were already confined for ransom, Mominur said.

He was lucky enough to get released and return home after police in Bangladesh had caught three members of the gang.

Saifullah of Begumganj in Noakhali was arrested in an Uttara hotel while two of his cohorts — Ehsan Russell of Bumna in Barguna and Gulzar Hossain of Raninagar in Naogaon — were held at Shahjalal International Airport.

Mashiur Rahman, deputy commissioner (north) of Detective Branch of DMP, said they arrested the trio upon receiving complaints from Mominur’s mother Bithi Akhter.

“Instructed by Saifullah, his associates in Libya released Mominur on February 28 and Mominur returned home on March 2,” he added.

Bithi filed a case with Airport Police Station on March 4 and the next day Mominur made a statement before a magistrate describing his ordeal.

DB Sub-Inspector Nasir Hossain, the investigation officer of the case, said, “The traffickers showed us live video of releasing the rest but we are not sure whether they were freed or taken to another den.”

Though there was no visa on the passport of Mominur, an officer of Airport Immigration Police officer said he first went to Sharjah on a tourist visa on February 12.

“The human traffickers are taking people abroad using such visas,” said the official on condition of anonymity as he is not authorised to talk to the media.

“We stopped allowing people to go to Dubai on tourist visa but we had to resume it after an influential quarter convinced the authorities,” he further said.

Mominur said he and other job seekers went to Libya from Sharjah en route to Tunisia.

After they flew to Sharjah from Dhaka by an Air Arabia flight, a person called Monir received them at the airport and took them to a hotel where they stayed for two days.

Monir arranged their air tickets for Tunisia to where they travelled without any hassle.

In Tunisia, another Bengali speaking man received them and arranged their tickets for a Benghazi-bound flight.

Mominur said after they landed at the Benghazi Airport on February 16, a trafficking ring member named Zahid took them to the den in Tukra area.

THE TORTURE CELL

Mominur said there were many rooms in the den guarded by Bangladeshi and Libyan people. “One of the rooms was used as torture cell,” he said.

“If anyone dared talk to other inmates, he would be tortured severely.”

Through video calls, they used to show the pictures of torture to the victims’ family members and even threaten to kill the hostages if ransom was not paid.

Mominur’s mother said she had given Tk 1 lakh to Abdus Sattar of Naogaon and his two sons Abdus Salam and Abul Kalam as their counterparts in Libya threatened to kill her son and dump the body into the sea.

“They again asked her to give another Tk 2 lakh to Shafiullah, Russell and Gulzar,” Bithi added.

This time she sought help from the Detective Branch of police.

Earlier on January 8, Mominur’s family gave Sattar and his sons Tk 3 lakh after they assured her of sending Mominur to Malaysia where his father is already working as a labour.

She said they decided to send Mominur, who passed SSC in 2017, to Malaysia to ease their financial hardship.

“We took a loan of Tk 3 lakh from a bank and relatives,” she said.

She borrowed Tk 1 lakh at a high interest rate from a lender without having a clue as to how she would repay the loans.

A HOTSPOT OF TRAFFICKING

According to the Police Headquarters data, 7,840 people fell victim to human trafficking between February 2012 and June last year.

The Rapid Action Battalion data shows they rescued 810 victims — 704 male and 106 females — and arrested 600 suspected human traffickers since 2006.

There are extensive reports on human trafficking gangs in Libya who kidnapped Bangladeshis seeking jobs abroad and held them hostage for ransom.

Some 24 Bangladeshis among 200 migrants from Asia, Africa and the Middle East died when two vessels carrying about 500 migrants, including 78 Bangladeshis, sank into the sea after leaving Zuwara off the Libyan coast for Italy in September 2015.

In November 2016, Libyan police rescued at least 65 Bangladeshis from a traffickers’ den in Tripoli.

This story was originally published by The Daily Star, Bangladesh

The post Tortured in Libya appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Traffickers held hostage a group of Bangladeshi fortune seekers in Benghazi, forced families at home to pay ransom

The post Tortured in Libya appeared first on Inter Press Service.