Africa

Ululations and dancing erupted at the latest signing ceremony for peace, but will South Sudan's fighting end?

James Paul is former Executive Director of the New York-based Global Policy Forum and author of the recently-released “Of Foxes and Chickens: Oligarchy & Global Power in the UN Security Council”

By James Paul
NEW YORK, Sep 13 2018 (IPS)

Donald Trump, as we know, is first and foremost a showman. He is a person who loves theatrics and tries always to stay in the spotlight. In his habitual theater at the White House, however, the air has become tense, the audience unreliable, his efforts to attract an adoring crowd increasingly frought.

Donald J. Trump. Credit: UN Photo/Cia Pak

So the president has decided to come to New York—on September 25– for a venue always much appreciated by world leaders – the United Nations. Here, he will have the chance to “strut upon the stage” in full view of a global audience.

UN supporters will certainly shake their heads in wonder. They will say: how could he come to the UN when he has already done it so much harm? How can he face this audience of people committed to multilateral cooperation when his signature mantra is “America First!”

At first glance this does seem contradictory. Trump has grievously weakened the UN and multilateralism. Who can forget the withdrawal of the US from the Human Rights Council, the withdrawal from UNESCO, the demanded cuts to the UN’s core budgets, and the diminished US contributions to many of the UN funds and programs.

Also, there is the US rejection of the climate change agreement, the pullout from the Iran nuclear deal, the multiple trade wars, and the plan to destroy the International Criminal Court. John Bolton, Trump’s National Security Advisor, is famous for his hostility to the UN.

But the President comes – as they all come – not out of enthusiasm for the UN and multilateralism but to take advantage of the theatrical opportunity. For Trump in particular, it is a chance to reach for global grandiosity, to rail against foreign enemies, to “disrupt” the status quo and to bask in the limelight of the frenzied news media.

He will arrive, as US presidents always do, with a great show and a lengthy motorcade. At the UN, his receptions and meetings will be the go-to moments.

There will be the premier speech from the podium of the General Assembly. He will command world attention as he makes expectable or unexpected jibes, denounces enemies real or imagined and thunders about a feverishly imagined reality. Nations may shudder at the thought of what he may say.

Media trucks will jam First Avenue to broadcast this and his other doings. From the point of view of the President and his advisors, it will be a morality play – giving the world a much-needed lesson in good conduct.

Above all, there will be the meeting of the UN Security Council at which he is expected to preside. How did the other Council members agree to the inevitable theatrics? The US happens to be president of the Council this month and the US almost always gets its way in Council proceedings.

As theater, it will inevitably recall the meeting in February 2003, when Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, argued for Council action on Iraq. That, too, was pure theater, though with dire consequences.

When Trump calls the Council to order, public attention will be riveted, as it so often is, on this showman. P.T. Barnum, the circus impresario, would endorse the method. We can wonder whether there will be some bellicose announcement: a “final warning” to Syria or Iran, for example.

In between the moments of theater, will Trump slip away to meet privately with other leaders, to do deals out of the spotlight as so many of his predecessors have done? Or will he stick to the theatrics, glad to be in front of the global cameras and to escape for a short while from the difficulties in Washington?

As his New York visit proceeds, will he encounter awkward silences, or a smattering of unenthusiastic applause – insufficient enthusiasm from those who (he might expect) would show honor and the fullest respect?

And what if there is real push-back – if some nations decide that enough is enough and call him out for his outrageous breaches of the peace? Will there be whispered threats? Angry vengeful tweets? Raw power on immediate display?

Finally, thank goodness, the show will be over. Trump will depart for Washington. The media trucks will vanish. Hopefully, the damage will not be too heavy! Maybe the sun will shine.

The post Trump at the UN – a Dramatist Seizes an Opportunity appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

James Paul is former Executive Director of the New York-based Global Policy Forum and author of the recently-released “Of Foxes and Chickens: Oligarchy & Global Power in the UN Security Council”

The post Trump at the UN – a Dramatist Seizes an Opportunity appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Liberia President George Weah, 51, is the oldest player on record to play in a Fifa-recognised international game.

Moving tributes are paid to the first black African UN leader at his funeral in Ghana.

Zambia coach Sven Vandenbroeck is starting from 'year zero' as he aims to lead the 2012 winners to next year's Africa Cup of Nations.

Parched olive groves in northern Croatia, where West Nile Virus has already claimed one victim this year. West Nile Virus infections have sharply increased in Europe this year, the World Health Organisation says, largely due to a longer transmission season in the region which this year saw high temperatures and extended rainy spells followed by dry weather, helping mosquito breeding and propagation. Credit: Ed Holt/IPS

By Ed Holt
VIENNA, Sep 13 2018 (IPS)

Climate change and health experts are warning of the growing threat to public health in Europe from global warming as rising temperatures help potentially lethal diseases spread easily across the continent.

This summer Europe has had to contend with record temperatures, drought, and destructive storms caused by heat and wildfires as forests in turn are left parched.

It has also, though, seen a spike in cases of the West Nile Virus – which by early September had claimed 71 lives – and the dramatic spread of the potentially lethal vibrio bacteria in an exceptionally warm Baltic Sea. The West Nile Virus is a viral infection spread by mosquitos and can cause neurological disease and death. Various species of vibrio bacteria cause Vibriosis, which can sometimes lead to deadly skin infections or gastrointestinal disease.“We need to think about preventing health problems by dealing with the causes of climate change itself.” -- Anne Stauffer, Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL).

And there have been warnings that global warming has increased the risk of tick-borne diseases on the continent and that the geographical range of mosquitoes, which can transmit diseases like dengue, chikungunya, and Zika, is also expanding.

While disease experts are keen to stress that climate change is just one factor involved in the greater incidence of tropical diseases in Europe – increasing global travel, unplanned urbanisation and others factors are also involved – they do, however, agree that changes to temperature, rainfall and humidity make it easier for mosquitoes and other vectors to spread, survive and pass on infections.

Meanwhile, the incidences of vibrio infections – which can cause lethal illnesses in some people with compromised immune systems – reported in the Baltic Sea this year do appear to be directly linked to higher temperatures.

Jan Semenza, acting head of Section Scientific Assessment at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), told IPS: “The warming of the Baltic Sea is clearly related to global climate change and the increase in sea surface temperatures there is linked to [the increase in] vibrio bacteria.

“There seems to be a link with a warming climate and vibrio infections in the Baltic Sea.”

He added: “Climate change projections for sea surface temperature ….. indicate a marked upward trend during the summer months and an increase in the relative risk of  these infections in the coming decades.”

Groups dealing with the impact of climate change on health say that this year has been a watershed in European perception of climate change and its effects.

Anne Stauffer, director of Strategy at the non-profit Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) group which addresses the effects of climate change on human health, told IPS: “In terms of public awareness this summer’s heatwave has really made people see that climate change is happening in Europe and that we are facing threats.

“In previous years people thought about the effects of climate change only in terms of what’s happened in Africa and other places, not Europe, but now they see that Europe is affected and that Europe is facing challenges.”

But while public awareness of the health threats of climate change in Europe has improved over the last decade, it is still lacking, she says.

Experts on tropical diseases agree that in some countries, people are, perhaps understandably, ignorant of even the presence of certain diseases in Europe.

Rachel Lowe, an assistant professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told IPS: “It would probably not occur to a lot of people in, say the [United Kingdom], to think about West Nile Virus when they go to Romania.”

Indeed, some tropical diseases have been present in Europe for many years, but confined to very southerly latitudes, while ticks, some of which can carry lyme disease (results in flu-like symptoms and a rash) and encephalitis (inflammation of the brain through an infection), are present in many parts of the continent.

But this year has seen a rise in cases of tick-borne encephalitis in central and southern Europe.

But with temperatures rising, that could change in the future. Cases of West Nile Virus, which have been reported in some parts of Europe for many years now, were much higher this year than in recent years and were seen much earlier than previously. This has been put down, in large part, to higher temperatures earlier in the year.

At the same time, there has been a documented expansion in the range of disease-carrying ticks in recent years to more northerly latitudes and higher elevations. Hot summers and mild winters have also been reported to be linked, along with other factors, to high incidence of tick-borne disease in certain parts of central and northern Europe.

A spokesman for the World Health Organization (WHO) told IPS: “Increases in temperatures in Europe might allow the establishment of tropical and semitropical vector species, permitting transmission of diseases in areas where low temperatures have hitherto prevented their over-wintering.”

Facing this potential threat, the WHO’s European Region Office has devoted increasing attention over recent years to what it says is the “emerging challenge of vector-borne diseases”.

It has developed a regional framework for surveillance and control of mosquitoes and recommends involving a mix of action, including, among others, political commitment supported with adequate financial resources as well as community engagement for both personal protection against insect bites and vector control activities.

But experts say that general awareness of the presence and threat of tropical diseases in Europe needs to be raised, especially as climate change models see similar long, hot summers as well as milder winters becoming more common across the continent in future and countries could suddenly face outbreaks of diseases they have not had to deal with in the past.

The WHO spokesperson told IPS: “Due to globalisation, increasing volume and pace of travel and trade and weather patterns, vector-borne disease may spread to new areas, thus affecting new populations never exposed to them before.

“In these areas, low general awareness about diseases such as West Nile Virus, dengue or chikungunya among the public and both human and animal health professionals might challenge early detection of cases.”

And Lowe told IPS: “People need to be more aware of this [tropical diseases in Europe]. People are becoming more aware of infectious diseases in general, but probably not so aware of the fact there are certain infectious diseases in Europe.”

It is not just public awareness, though, which will help Europe deal with the health threats posed by a changing climate. Whether, for example, mosquito-borne disease outbreaks, would be successfully contained, would depend on a number of factors. “This would include factors such as surveillance of mosquito spread, mosquito control as well as general public awareness,” Lowe told IPS.

The WHO told IPS that public health advice needs to be communicated to people for self-protection and while authorities need to make sure mosquito breeding sites are drained so that they do not become breeding grounds for mosquitos while doctors need to be regularly trained to recognise diseases which were uncommon in Europe.

But what some other experts suggest is, rather than trying to deal with outbreaks of diseases, governments should be working to halt climate change and prevent disease outbreaks happening in the first place.

Stauffer told IPS: “There are still unknowns with regards to the health threats potentially posed by climate change and we do not know how they will play out… but the lesson learnt from this summer is that we need to strengthen efforts to tackle climate change – not just adapting healthcare to cope with a warmer climate but also acting to reduce emissions.

“We need to think about preventing health problems by dealing with the causes of climate change itself.”

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The post Global Warming Threatens Europe’s Public Health appeared first on Inter Press Service.

The Malian man who rescued a boy from a balcony in spectacular fashion receives French nationality.

Jorge Chediek is Director, UN Office of South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) and Envoy of the Secretary-General on South-South Cooperation.

By Jorge Chediek
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 13 2018 (IPS)

On 12 September, the international community commemorated the UN Day for South-South Cooperation. This is an important acknowledgement of the contributions of Southern partnerships in addressing the many development challenges that confront the international community, such as poverty, climate change, inequality, contagious diseases and humanitarian crises.

Jorge Chediek

South-South cooperation is a unique arrangement where two or more developing countries share technical skills, exchange knowledge, transfer technologies, and provide financial assistance. These collaborations are built on the principles of solidarity, respect for national sovereignty, non-conditionality, national ownership, and mutual respect.

This year’s commemoration was particularly significant, as it marked the fortieth anniversary of an important milestone in international cooperation – the adoption of the Buenos Aires Plan of Action for Technical Cooperation Amongst Developing Countries (BAPA). BAPA institutionalized cooperation amongst developing countries, creating a strategic framework for furthering cooperation in technical and economic areas.

But cooperation amongst developing countries did not begin forty years ago – it traces its origins to the anti-colonial solidarity movement of the twentieth century. The practice gained further popularity in the 1950’s and 1970’s as newly independent States with limited capacities looked for independent ways to accelerate their development, away from the Cold War dichotomy of the day.

Forty years after the adoption of BAPA, the international system is undergoing a major systemic transformation, with new pillars of growth and influence emerging from the global South. Through collective voice and action, developing countries are actively contributing to the building of a more prosperous and peaceful world.

Developing countries today account for the largest share of global economic output and are playing an active, constructive role in traditional institutions of global governance as well as creating new institutions that are Southern-led.

In a noteworthy trend, development solutions increasingly originate from developing countries themselves. Harnessing the abundance of innovative solutions, brought about by its economic growth and advances in technical competencies, the global South now charts its own unique development path.

Developing countries are now drivers of innovation in ICT, renewable technologies, infrastructure development and social welfare. Pooled medical procurement is lowering costs and increasing access to life saving medicines. Southern-led mediation mechanisms for conflict prevention continue to prove especially effective in reducing violent conflicts.

Technical cooperation in agriculture is greatly improving the yields in agricultural output. Transfer of technologies and vast interregional infrastructure investments are facilitating access to international markets for medium and small-scale enterprises.

Southern-based centres of excellence and knowledge hubs have become key vehicles for promoting mutual learning, leading to reduction of poverty and the growth of an emerging middle class.

With this newly formed confidence, the global South progressively looks within itself for ideas, knowledge and skills for tackling many of its common challenges. This enhances its national and collective self-reliance, a major objective of BAPA.

As the capacities of developing countries have improved, there has been a corresponding expansion of the scope of South-South cooperation beyond technical cooperation to other areas. South-South cooperation today includes, amongst other instruments, technological transfers, knowledge exchanges, financial assistance, technical assistance as well as concessional loans.

As a consequence, interregional forums and summits for dialogue amongst developing countries have become an important platform for enhancing South-South policy coordination, launching joint initiatives, and committing resources for infrastructure development, trade and investments – vital for ensuring sustainable development.

Triangular cooperation – Southern-driven partnerships between two or more developing countries, supported by developed countries or multilateral organizations – is increasingly playing a role to ensure equity in partnership and scaling up of success.

In light of this, the United Nations General Assembly has decided to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the adoption of BAPA by convening a High-level conference (BAPA+40) to be held from 19-21 March 2019 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. BAPA+40 provides a great opportunity for the international community to further strengthen and invigorate cooperation amongst developing countries.

Although great strides have been made by developing countries in improving the living conditions of millions of its people, complex development challenges still persist. Global economic transformations and its corresponding consequences on production patterns present a particular challenge to developing countries.

Automation poses a great risk to job creation in the South; climate change has particularly adverse effects on Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries; traditional partnership models are re-evaluated and inequality continues to rise. The global South will play an important role in overcoming these challenges.

The United Nations system continues to support the collaborative initiatives of developing countries by advocating, catalysing, brokering and facilitating such collaborations across many spheres.

Drawing on its vast presence across the global South, the United Nations is well placed to identify development capacities and gaps existing in developing countries while collecting, analysing and disseminating best practices and lessons learned towards the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and other internationally agreed development goals.

As the international community enters the third year of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, concrete development solutions and resources from the global South are critical to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Effective development solutions that have worked in a few countries of the global South can be scaled up through South-South cooperation and triangular cooperation to accelerate sustainable development, particularly in countries that are lagging behind.

More and better South-South cooperation is essential to building a better world that leaves no one behind.

The post South-South Cooperation in a Transformative Era appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Jorge Chediek is Director, UN Office of South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) and Envoy of the Secretary-General on South-South Cooperation.

The post South-South Cooperation in a Transformative Era appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Ambassador Kenneth M. Quinn is President of the World Food Prize Foundation

By Ambassador Kenneth M. Quinn
Sep 13 2018 (IPS)

When Kofi Annan passed away just last month, I issued a statement on behalf of the World Food Prize that said:

“Kofi Annan’s vision in creating the United Nations Millennium Development Goals to ensure global food security for all in the 21st century, will ultimately be seen as his greatest contribution.”

To that should be added that Kofi Annan’s leadership role with AGRA will be as consequential as his initiatives while Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Indeed, as the world gathers in Rwanda and the 2018 AGRF is launched, the spirit of AGRA’s first Chairman, the man who personally galvanized the leaders of Africa to focus their attention and their energy on the continent’s most pressing issue- -achieving a Green Revolution- -clearly pervades the Kigali Convention Center. It was so apparent when AGRA President Agnes Kalibata called for a moment of silence to honor him.

Looking back almost two decades earlier, the sense of momentum that Annan’s creation of the MDGs generated was palpable. Dr. Norman E. Borlaug the founder of the World Food Prize reflected that renewed energy in his remarks at our Laureate Recognition Ceremony that we held in New York City in October, 2000 to support Annan’s U.N. Millennium Summit.

Norm was so happy that global attention was, thanks to Kofi Annan, at last now turning to Africa. It was at that ceremony that we introduced our first female Laureate- – Dr. Evangelina Villegas of Mexico, honored most appropriately for her work in developing Quality Protein Maize in Ghana.

One of the next steps Secretary General Annan took in this endeavor, was to appoint two World Food Prize Laureates as the co-chairs of the United Nations Hunger Task Force- -Dr. M.S. Swaminathan of India and Dr. Pedro Sanchez, a native of Cuba. It was, therefore, a special privilege to be in Norway in 2001 as Kofi Annan received the Nobel Peace Prize for his dynamic leadership.

It was the 100th anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s founding of the award, and I attended with Dr. Borlaug the 1970 Laureate for Peace. The award ceremony in Oslo City Hall, with HRH The King of Norway presiding, was as visually impactful as Annan’s words in his Laureate Address were inspiring. He began his address with a reference to a young girl living in poverty in Afghanistan, powerfully capturing the direction in which he was taking the global community.

When my longtime colleague, U.S. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke beckoned me over to congratulate the Secretary-General at the conclusion of the formal Peace Laureate Dinner, I had the chance to see up close the huge smile on Kofi Annan’s face and observe his light step as he did a few celebratory dance moves. It was a bit of a departure for the usually very formal international diplomat, but one that made him appear to be literally walking on air at what had to be the apogee of his professional career.

That recognition seemed to propel Annan forward at an increased pace; just as he had also sharpened our focus on the U.N. and Africa. In 2003, our second woman Laureate was Catherine Bertini head of the U.N. World Food Programme. One year later in 2004, Dr. Monty Jones became our first African World Food Prize Laureate. That was the same year that in Addis Ababa, Kofi Annan surfaced the idea for creating AGRA. The rest as they say is AGRA history, thanks to the critical support of the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Reflecting his dual global leadership in food security, it was my privilege to present to Kofi Annan the World Food Prize Dr. Norman E. Borlaug Medallion at the 2010 Africa Green Revolution Forum in his home country of Ghana. We were honoring him for being the catalyst in putting in place the structure that would allow African political leaders, scientists, business executives and donor organizations to come together and identify strategies and focus their efforts, both at the U.N. and AGRA.

As I said in my remarks, I was sure that Norman Borlaug was looking down from Green Revolution Heaven on Kofi Annan and the AGRF within a broad smile on his face. That same year, we welcomed Kofi Annan to the Borlaug Dialogue International Symposium in Des Moines where he delivered the keynote address on the symposium theme of Norman Borlaug’s last words- -“Take it to the Farmer.”

My earliest memory of interacting with Kofi Annan, however, goes back to the early 1990s when I was an American diplomat and we worked together to deploy a UN peacekeeping force to Cambodia. It came at our meeting in New York during which arrangements were put in place for the U.S. Air Force to provide the airlift capability to transport Peacekeeping troops from almost a dozen countries to Phnom Penh.

The logistical coordination issues were extraordinarily complex both physically and politically, but under Annan’s leadership and direction, the U.N. Transitional Authority for Cambodia, or UNTAC, was a total success in delivering a peaceful, democratic election to the people of Cambodia, one judged free and fair by every observer.

That the Cambodians themselves were unable to maintain this genuinely representative government and returned to conflict and violence, in no way detracts from the masterful role that Kofi Annan and his U.N. staff did in planning and executing an exceedingly complex political-military strategy, especially as it came in the wake of the wretched policies of the Pol Pot Khmer Rouge regime- -the worst genocidal, mass-murdering, terrorist organization of the second half of the 20th century.

Kofi Annan and the United Nations had given the five million Cambodian survivors of genocide a second chance at a peaceful life.

That experience in Cambodia revealed some lessons about U.N. peacekeeping missions, which seem relevant as AGRF 2018 takes place in Rwanda, where Annan himself publicly lamented that the United Nations did not rise to the challenge that the extreme violence presented in 1994.

The UNTAC Mission in Cambodia, in contrast, was highly successful because it had the full support of all five of the Permanent Members of the U.N. Security Council. Indeed, as deputy head of the U.S. delegation during the four year long negotiation process, I saw first hand the commitment each country had to the U.N. / Cambodian peace process. That unified political support was essential to the success of UNTAC, as it would be for any peacekeeping endeavor.

A second lesson is that no matter how much support there is for a Peacekeeping operation among the U.N. Members, if the local parties themselves decide to return to conflict (as was the case in Cambodia), there is little that can be done, except the critical importance of providing essential protection to innocent civilians.

Indeed, it was his command over all of these myriad Peacekeeping details, as well as his smoothly effective diplomatic style that made Kofi Annan such an exceptional United Nations civil servant and the logical choice to become the next Secretary-General- – the first individual ever to emerge from the United Nations’ professional staff and ascend to that highest office.

One of my favorite stories about Kofi Annan involves my home state of Iowa. It came from Dr. Rajiv Shah then the Administrator of USAID, when he began his luncheon address at the World Food Prize by saying “I just bumped into Kofi Annan at the airport in Des Moines.”

One of our local guests told me that he laughed when he heard it, because nothing seemed less likely to him than Annan, the impeccably tailored, diplomatically oriented statesman, being found outside the halls of the U.N. in New York and in a rural place like Iowa.

But, I told that person that the truth is that Kofi Annan was actually one of us. The son of Ghana, scion of Africa and consummate international diplomat was in fact also a “midwesterner” equally at home in the American heartland, because of his undergraduate college degree from Macalester College in Minnesota.

The U.N. Charter begins “We the peoples…” of the world. Kofi Annan was truly a man for all “peoples,” just as his leadership demonstrated that the United Nations is an organization of and for all peoples.

The post A Personal Remembrance of and a Tribute to Kofi Annan on the Occasion of the 2018 African Green Revolution Forum appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Ambassador Kenneth M. Quinn is President of the World Food Prize Foundation

The post A Personal Remembrance of and a Tribute to Kofi Annan on the Occasion of the 2018 African Green Revolution Forum appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Scientists are a step closer to explaining a 10,000-year-old crime mystery on the island of Madagascar.

Photographer Tommy Trenchard captures South Africa's wild flower phenomenon.

South African triathlete Mhlengi Gwala is targeting an Ironman as he continues his recovery from a horrific chainsaw attack in March.

BBC Africa looks back at the career of the first black African to become UN secretary-general.

Ara Thunder is one of a few women in Nigeria who play the traditional "talking drum" instrument.

Etched with an "ochre crayon", the 73,000 year old drawing looks a little like a modern-day hashtag.

South-South migration presents many complex and diverse opportunities and challenges for countries and migrants alike. Photo: Muse Mohammed / IOM

By International Organization for Migration
Sep 12 2018 (IOM)

Cooperation between developing countries — known to development actors as South-South Cooperation (SSC) — is experiencing a resurgence. Although the idea that developing countries could work together to improve their collective development outcomes has been around for some time, recent years have witnessed a noticeable growth in South-South activities, driven by the emergence of new innovations, expertise and best practices in developing countries and greater awareness of the potential benefits such cooperation offers.

In the midst of this growing interest in and demand for SSC, governments at the United Nations are about to develop a new global framework on South-South and Triangular Cooperation. This will build upon the first such framework adopted by governments back in 1978: the Buenos Aires Plan of Action (BAPA). Efforts to create a new framework offer the opportunity to not only confirm the value of SSC as a complement to traditional forms of cooperation between developed and developing countries, but also to highlight additional areas of collaboration beyond those outlined in the original BAPA document.

Promoting South-South and Triangular Cooperation in the migration context for example, would be a valuable outcome. Already, there is significant cooperation amongst governments on different aspects of migration, whether bilaterally or at the regional level. This includes cooperation between developing countries, or between groups of developing countries and their developed-country counterparts. The intergovernmental process on a reinvigorated BAPA + 40 outcome should recognize these existing partnerships as a form of SSC and include migration as an area in which enhanced cooperation between developing countries would be beneficial.

There are several reasons why South-South cooperation should continue to expand in the migration context.

First, it is now well established that the challenges and opportunities migration presents cannot be addressed effectively without strong partnerships. This is one of the core principles of IOM’s Migration Governance Framework (MiGOF), which highlights the fact that migration, by its very nature, implicates multiple actors and that its good governance relies upon partnerships between all actors at different levels of engagement. Partnership is also, for good reason, a recurring mantra of global migration policy makers. In the text of the recently finalized Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration for example, United Nations’ member states referred to partnerships close to thirty times in the entire thirty-four-page document. Of the twenty-three overarching objectives contained in the GCM, partnerships also feature in the final objective, which calls for ‘strengthen[ed] international cooperation and global partnerships for safe, orderly and regular migration’. Governments know they cannot address the implications of migration if they try to do it alone. Partnerships are crucial.

Second, the evolving nature of migration has and will continue to necessitate greater South-South cooperation. In 2017, developing regions hosted some 43 per cent of the world’s 258 million international migrants. Of those, 97 million, or 87 per cent, originated from other developing regions. This figure now surpasses the number of migrants from developing countries who live in the developed world, and the average annual growth in the number of migrants living in the Global South has outpaced that in the Global North since the year 2000. These changing dynamics present a number of challenges, but also opportunities, for developing countries, many of which lack the resources, structures and governance frameworks to effectively manage these new patterns, and which are unaccustomed to being destinations for migrants. Enhancing SSC on migration will therefore be critical to ensuring positive outcomes for both migrants and societies and addressing its potential challenges. That partnership should include the exchange of knowledge and expertise with a view to developing mutual capacities and, where possible and desirable, leading to a convergence of policy approaches on migration.

Third, although the support of developed countries and other actors will continue to be important, many of the challenges presented by South-South migration may be best responded to through solutions that are also established in the South, including within regions. This is because South-South migration presents many complex and diverse opportunities and challenges for countries and migrants alike, some of which are of a different nature, or have different implications to, those experienced by developed countries.

For example, the benefits migration offers to developing countries can differ from those experienced in the developed world, suggesting differentiated responses are also necessary. Migrant remittances for example, are worth significantly more in the Global South than in the North, even if some developed countries have themselves been recipients of such funds. The potential benefits of circular migration can also differ, reflected in the different priorities and rationale for promoting seasonal mobility as between developed and developing countries.

South-South migration is also often characterized by significant volumes of irregular migration, vulnerable migrants caught in crisis situations, significant inflows of forced migration, including smuggling and human trafficking. Although developed countries also have experience in addressing these challenges, responses might not always be directly transferable, given existing development gaps.

Fourth, with migration now featured in several multilateral development frameworks, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the soon to be adopted Global Compact on Migration (GCM), South-South cooperation is likely to be a crucial means of implementing the commitments in these frameworks. The draft GCM already includes a commitment to reinforce engagement and partnership through North-South, South-South, triangular and technical cooperation and assistance. Ensuring consistency between these existing frameworks and the new BAPA + 40 outcome will be important. This is true also given the capacity building needs that continue to impact developing countries in the migration field, including in migration policy development, data collection and analysis, and border management, amongst other issues.

South-South cooperation on migration therefore presents a useful tool to foster shared prosperity by enhancing partnerships between different actors. This includes by building on and tapping into the bridges migrants themselves establish between territories through their transnational activities and networks. There are several things governments can also do to enhance this cooperation.

The first would be to take stock of, give recognition to, and build upon the tremendous cooperation that already exists between developing countries on migration. There are numerous good examples to draw from. In multiple regions for example, Regional Consultative Processes on Migration (RCPs) have become valuable mechanisms through which to foster inter-state cooperation on migration, including in the South-South context. In Latin America and the Caribbean, regional frameworks like MERCOSUR and CELAC have been important to building cooperation and dialogue on migration. As early as 1991, the African Union established the African Economic Community, an organization intended to enhance the free movement of people and promote rights of residence throughout the region. Examples like these should continue to be identified and built upon.

Second, governments should include migration in the text of the BAPA + 40 outcome, in order to draw specific attention to the value of SSC in the migration context and to address both the positive and negative aspects of increased South-South migration. This would also help ensure consistency with other existing frameworks, including the 2030 Agenda, which includes many migration dimensions, and the new Global Compact on migration, the first major migration framework of its kind. This could include perambulatory text recognizing the changing dynamics of migration and the implications for developing countries, as well as firm commitments to support SSC activities to enhance capacities in migration governance. Any such inputs would have the additional benefit of modernizing the BAPA document to better reflect the nature of contemporary migration patterns and a more nuanced understanding of its challenges and opportunities.

The discussions underway at the UN to define a new approach to South-South and triangular cooperation are an ideal opportunity to broaden our understanding of SSC and its potential value to diverse public policy issues. Migration is one area that would benefit from increased attention and specific references in the BAPA + 40 outcome. With more and more people moving from one developing country to another, cooperation between those countries is increasingly important. The lessons and practices established in the developing world could be instrumental to promoting good migration governance. Those lessons could be valuable for all of us, as well.

This story was written by Chris Richter, Migration Policy Officer at the IOM office in New York.

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The Ghanaian migrants boarding their return flight at Tripoli’s Mitiga Airport on 10 September 2018. Photo: IOM / Hmouzi

By International Organization for Migration
TRIPOLI, Sep 12 2018 (IOM)

A flight to Ghana is the first return flight to leave Libya in the wake of this week’s ceasefire agreement ending hostilities in southern Tripoli and surrounding areas. The reopening of Tripoli’s Mitiga Airport permitted a commercial flight to leave the airport for Ghana, carrying 21 migrants, said IOM, the UN Migration Agency (10/09).

The migrants – from different districts of Tripoli – expressed interest in returning safely to their home country through IOM’s Voluntary Humanitarian Return (VHR) programme. The programme provides a safe pathway home to migrants who wish to return home but have little means of accomplishing that. Upon arrival, the returning migrants will be provided with sustainable reintegration assistance to further aid them when returning to their community of origin.

“We are relieved that this flight was able to leave Libya safely and we hope to charter more flights in the coming days and weeks to meet the increasing demand,” said Ashraf Hassan, VHR Programme Coordinator at IOM Libya’s mission. “We have observed a large number of people applying to return home through VHR. We are taking advantage of the current ceasefire and relative calm to assist them to exit to safety.”

Other chartered flights are also scheduled to leave Libya later this week with migrants on board assisted from different urban areas. The charters had already been scheduled for departure, however, following the eruption of violence and fighting between the warring parties two weeks ago and the cessation of operations at Mitiga airport, the flights had been postponed.

“The recent clashes in and around Tripoli have endangered the lives of locked-up migrants, further aggravating their suffering and increasing their vulnerability,” explained Othman Belbeisi, IOM Libya’s Chief of Mission.

“We continue to respond to existing and emerging humanitarian needs including increasing requests for voluntary humanitarian return, as our teams on the ground are directly registering these requests in detention centers and urban areas to expedite the safe return of people.”

IOM launched its VHR hotline through social media platforms, to scale up efforts in reaching out to a larger number of stranded migrants across Libya whose lives may now be at a far greater risk due to the current security conditions.

For further inquiries, please contact at IOM Libya, Maya Abu Ata: mabuata@iom.int or Safa Msehli: smsehli@iom.int

The post IOM Resumes Voluntary Humanitarian Return Flights from Libya Following Tripoli Ceasefire appeared first on Inter Press Service.