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A message projected onto the United Nations headquarters in New York in 2022 calls on North Korea to join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). Credit: The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 26 2024 (IPS)

When Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a pact last month to revive a Cold War-era mutual defense pledge between two of the world’s nuclear powers, it also had the implicit support a third nuclear power standing in the shadows: China.

The new nuclear alliance, which has triggered fears in Japan and South Korea, ensures the possible sharing of Russia’s knowledge of satellites and missile technologies with North Korea. 

The new pact, has also resulted in a sharp divide between Russia, China and North Korea on the one hand and the US, Japan and South Korea on the other.

But one lingering question remains: Will these new developments force—at least in the not-too-distant future—South Korea to go nuclear, joining the world’s nine nuclear powers: the U.S., UK, France, Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea.

The New York Times quoted Cheong Seong-chang, the director of the Center for Korean Peninsula Strategy at the Sejong Institute, as saying: “It is time for South Korea to have a fundamental review of its current security policy, which depends almost totally on the US nuclear umbrella to counter the North Korean nuclear threat.”

And quoting North Korea’s official Central News Agency, the Times said Putin and Kim agreed that if one country found itself in a state of war, then the other would provide “military and other assistance with all means in its possession without delay.”

Addressing the UN General Assembly, Ambassador Kim Song of North Korea said nuclear weapons are stockpiled in many countries, including the U.S., yet Pyongyang is the only one facing sanctions: Credit: UN Photo/Evan Schneider

Alice Slater, who serves on the boards of World BEYOND War and the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, told IPS the fact that Russia is allying with North Korea and China at this time is a result of the failure of U.S. diplomacy, and the drive by the U.S. military-industrial-congressional-media-academic-think tank complex (MICIMATT) to expand the U.S. empire beyond its 800 U.S. military bases in 87 nations.

The U.S., she said, is now surrounding China with new bases recently established in the Pacific and forming AUKUS, a new military alliance with Australia, the UK and the U.S.

“The U.S. has been breaking its agreement made with China in 1972, as we now are arming Taiwan despite promises made by Nixon and Kissinger to recognize China and remain neutral on the question of the future of Taiwan, to where the anti-communist forces retreated after the Chinese Revolution,” said Slater, who is also a UN NGO Representative for the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.

According to a report in the Associated Press (AP) wire on July 12, the U.S. and South Korea have signed joint nuclear deterrence guidelines for the first time, “a basic yet important step in their efforts to improve their ability to respond to North Korea’s evolving nuclear threats.”

Meeting on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Washington, U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol commended what they called “the tremendous progress” that their countries’ alliance has made a year after creating a joint Nuclear Consultative Group.

Last year, the U.S. and South Korea launched the consultative body to strengthen communication on nuclear operations and discuss how to integrate U.S. nuclear weapons and South Korean conventional weapons in various contingencies, said the AP report.

Meanwhile, Abolition 2000, the Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons, will host a seminar in Geneva on July 30, titled “Denuclearization in North-East Asia through a 3+3 Model Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone.”

Tensions, unresolved conflicts and nuclear weapons policies of nuclear armed and allied states active in North-East Asia (China, Japan, North Korea, Russia, South Korea and the USA) increase the risks of armed conflict and nuclear war in the region, says Abolition 2000.

“Unilateral disarmament by any one of these countries is highly unlikely while other countries in the region continue with robust nuclear deterrence policies. What is required is a regional approach to nuclear disarmament which maintains the security of all.”

The 3+3 model for a North-East Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone  envisages an agreement where-by the three territorial countries in the zone (Japan, North Korea and South Korea) would mutually relinquish their reliance on nuclear weapons in return for credible and enforceable security guarantees from China, Russia and the US that they would not be threatened with nuclear weapons.

This agreement would provide part of a more comprehensive peace agreement to formally end the Korean War.

The proposal is being seriously discussed amongst academics, legislators and civil society organizations in Japan, South Korea and the USA. The upcoming event aims to broaden the discussion to include delegations to the NPT Prep Com.

Denuclearization in North-East Asia through a 3+3 Model Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone. Credit: Abolition 2000

Asked about the rising nuclear threats from North Korea, State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller said July 22: “We have made clear on a number of occasions that we prefer diplomacy to deal with this situation, and the North Koreans have shown that they are not in any way interested in that.”

Responding to a question on the consequences of Russia being driven closer to North Korea and China, Antony Blinken, US Secretary of State said: “I think we’ve seen two things.  We have seen that, although that was something that was in the works for a long time, and maybe some of it’s accelerated as a result of the war in Ukraine, but we’ve also seen something else that’s been quite remarkable.”

During a Fireside Chat at the Aspen Security Forum, moderated by Mary Louise Kelly of National Public Radio (NPR) on July 19, Blinken said: “I’ve been doing this for more than 30 years.  I have not seen a time when there’s been greater convergence between the United States and our European partners and our partners in Asia in terms of the approach to Russia, but also in terms of the approach to China, than we’re seeing right now.”

“We’ve built convergence across the Atlantic, we’ve built it across the Pacific, and we’ve built it between the Atlantic and the Pacific.  So, I would take our team and the countries that we’re working with than anything that Russia’s been able to put together.

“Beyond that, I think there are going to be – and we’ve already seen a lot of strains in these groupings.  It’s not particularly good for your reputation to be working closely with Russia and helping it perpetuate its war in Ukraine.

“So, I think China is very uncomfortable in the position it’s in, but for now we do have a challenge, which is China is providing not weapons, unlike North Korea and Iran, but it’s providing the inputs for Russia’s defense industrial base.”

Seventy percent of the machine tools that Russia is importing come from China, he pointed out.  And ninety percent of the microelectronics come from China.  And that’s going into the defense industrial base and turning into missiles, tanks and other weapons.

“We’ve called out China on that.  We have sanctioned Chinese companies.  But more to the point, so have many others.  And we just saw that in Europe a couple of weeks ago.  And China can’t have it both ways.  It can’t all at once be saying that it’s for peace in Ukraine when it is helping to fuel the ongoing pursuit of the war by Russia.

“I can’t say that it wants better relations with Europe when it is actually helping to fuel the greatest threat to Europe’s security since the end of the Cold War,” Blinken declared.

This article is brought to you by IPS Noram, in collaboration with INPS Japan and Soka Gakkai International, in consultative status with UN ECOSOC.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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The Mandaue City government signs the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the city’s Anti-Discrimination Ordinance. This marks a significant milestone for the UNDP-supported Kadangpan Project. Credit: UNDP Philippines

By Mandeep Dhaliwal and Kevin Osborne
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 26 2024 (IPS)

Around the world countries are taking powerful steps to protect people’s rights, dignity, and health. Dominica and Namibia became the most recent to decriminalize same-sex relations. South Africa made strides towards decriminalizing sex work.

Japan’s Supreme Court ruled that compulsory sterilization for transgender people is unconstitutional, and for the first time the essential role of harm reduction was recognized in a UN resolution on narcotic drugs.

These achievements all contribute to the landmark 10-10-10 HIV targets, adopted by countries in the 2021 Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS, to reduce new infections and tackle criminalization, stigma and discrimination and gender inequality, issues especially critical for people living with HIV and key populations, including sex workers, men who have sex with men, transgender people, people who inject drugs, and the incarcerated.

Yet, for every heartening step toward justice, setbacks and barriers remain. In the last three months alone, Georgia’s parliament moved to curb LGBTIQ+ rights, Iraq criminalized same-sex relationships, countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia have signed into law sweeping restrictions on civil society and the Malawi courts upheld a ban on same-sex conduct.

Every action we take now will make a difference

With just one year left to meet these targets, we are still off track. What’s more, the global pushback on human rights and gender equality, constraints on civil society, and the acute funding gap for HIV prevention and addressing structural and social barriers, threaten continued progress on AIDS.

This is the time to re-double our efforts. Every single action taken now to meet the 10-10-10 targets will improve the lives and wellbeing of those living with HIV and other key populations well into the future. It will protect the health and development gains of the AIDS response.

If we are to realistically end AIDS by 2030, we must, in lockstep with recent scientific advances, urgently accelerate efforts by shaping enabling policy environments.

Together with partners, UNDP will use its platform at the AIDS 2024 conference, along with a new #Triple10Targets campaign, to call for urgent action to accelerate progress in scaling national key population-led strategies, promoting allyship and inclusive institutions and unlocking sustainable financing.

Community leadership

Key populations and their sexual partners remain at the highest risk for HIV, accounting for 55 percent of all new HIV infections in 2022 and 80 percent of new HIV infections outside of sub-Saharan Africa, a trend which persists. The heightened risk they face is, in part a result of stigma, discrimination and criminalization.

The heart of the HIV response was built by community advocates, past and present, on its inextricable links to human rights. People living with HIV and other key populations are still leading the charge, based on their experiences and knowledge of what their communities need to tackle discriminatory laws and HIV-related criminalization, which deny them services and violate their human rights.

The recent overturning of a colonial-era sodomy law in Namibia, brought to court by Friedel Dausab, a gay Namibian man, showcases such courageous leadership.

But those most affected by and at risk of discrimination, exclusion and violence must not be left to tackle this alone. Their efforts are that much more effective and powerful when met with global solidarity and inclusive institutions, backed by collaboration and investment.

UNDP continues to promote and prioritize the meaningful engagement of people living with HIV and other key populations in decision-making spaces and policy design, through the work done by SCALE, #WeBelong Africa and Being LGBTI in the Caribbean and its HIV and health work more broadly.

The role for allies

Expanding and deepening networks of allies, in particular fostering links between key populations and scientists, health workers, legal professionals, policymakers, faith leaders, media and the private sector, will be vital to building a sustainable HIV response. Finding common ground with broader social movements is a critical element to policy change and reform.

One such UNDP-led initiative brings together members from the judiciary in regional fora in Africa, Eastern Europe and Central Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean to deepen knowledge and understanding of law, rights and HIV, and the impact of punitive laws and policies.

This work has contributed to informing judicial decisions upholding the rights of marginalized communities in Botswana, Kenya, Namibia, Mauritius and Tajikistan and beyond.

Hundreds of parliamentarians worldwide can now support LGBTIQ+ inclusion through the Handbook for Parliamentarians on Advancing the Human Rights and Inclusion of LGBTI People. These demonstrate how allies can use their power and privilege to shape inclusive polices and institutions that support the dignity and human rights of people living with and affected by HIV.

Unlocking innovative financing

Progress will not be possible without addressing the funding gap. Yet investment in HIV is declining, and funding for primary prevention programmes in low- and middle-income countries has dropped, with a sobering 80 percent gap in 2023.

Countries must boost sustainable investments in the HIV response. This includes both for services and for addressing the structural barriers for these services, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.

Through SCALE, UNDP funds 44 key population-led organizations in 21 countries, boosting capacities to share good practice and remove the structural barriers which impede their access to services and violate their human rights. In the Philippines, Cebu United Rainbow LGBT Sector (CURLS) is working towards comprehensive key population protection ordinances, contributing to the recently-signed Implementing Rules and Regulations of Mandaue City’s LGBTIQ+ Anti-Discrimination Ordinance. These will encourage LGBTIQ+ communities to more proactively engage with services.

Strong national leadership and inclusive institutions are also vital to scaling up funding. Last year UNDP worked with 51 countries to expand innovative financing for HIV and health, utilizing strategies such as investment cases, social contracting, inclusive social protection, health taxes and co-financing.

Achieving health for all

As polycrisis threatens the hard-won gains of the HIV response and the clock winds down on the 10-10-10 targets, we must remain steadfast and focused on the task; scaling national key population-led strategies, promoting allyship and inclusive institutions, and unlocking sustainable funding. The stakes couldn’t be higher.

Achieving the 10-10-10 targets will not only be a victory against this preventable disease, but also against the stigma and discrimination faced by those left furthest behind, ultimately benefiting the health of people everywhere.

There is no path to ending AIDS as a public health threat without the triple ten targets.

Mandeep Dhaliwal is Director of the HIV and Health Group, UNDP; Kevin Osborne is Manager, SCALE Initiative, HIV and Health Group, UNDP.

Source: UNDP

IPS UN Bureau

 

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The Mandaue City government signs the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the city’s Anti-Discrimination Ordinance. This marks a significant milestone for the UNDP-supported Kadangpan Project. Credit: UNDP Philippines

By Mandeep Dhaliwal and Kevin Osborne
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 26 2024 (IPS)

Around the world countries are taking powerful steps to protect people’s rights, dignity, and health. Dominica and Namibia became the most recent to decriminalize same-sex relations. South Africa made strides towards decriminalizing sex work.

Japan’s Supreme Court ruled that compulsory sterilization for transgender people is unconstitutional, and for the first time the essential role of harm reduction was recognized in a UN resolution on narcotic drugs.

These achievements all contribute to the landmark 10-10-10 HIV targets, adopted by countries in the 2021 Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS, to reduce new infections and tackle criminalization, stigma and discrimination and gender inequality, issues especially critical for people living with HIV and key populations, including sex workers, men who have sex with men, transgender people, people who inject drugs, and the incarcerated.

Yet, for every heartening step toward justice, setbacks and barriers remain. In the last three months alone, Georgia’s parliament moved to curb LGBTIQ+ rights, Iraq criminalized same-sex relationships, countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia have signed into law sweeping restrictions on civil society and the Malawi courts upheld a ban on same-sex conduct.

Every action we take now will make a difference

With just one year left to meet these targets, we are still off track. What’s more, the global pushback on human rights and gender equality, constraints on civil society, and the acute funding gap for HIV prevention and addressing structural and social barriers, threaten continued progress on AIDS.

This is the time to re-double our efforts. Every single action taken now to meet the 10-10-10 targets will improve the lives and wellbeing of those living with HIV and other key populations well into the future. It will protect the health and development gains of the AIDS response.

If we are to realistically end AIDS by 2030, we must, in lockstep with recent scientific advances, urgently accelerate efforts by shaping enabling policy environments.

Together with partners, UNDP will use its platform at the AIDS 2024 conference, along with a new #Triple10Targets campaign, to call for urgent action to accelerate progress in scaling national key population-led strategies, promoting allyship and inclusive institutions and unlocking sustainable financing.

Community leadership

Key populations and their sexual partners remain at the highest risk for HIV, accounting for 55 percent of all new HIV infections in 2022 and 80 percent of new HIV infections outside of sub-Saharan Africa, a trend which persists. The heightened risk they face is, in part a result of stigma, discrimination and criminalization.

The heart of the HIV response was built by community advocates, past and present, on its inextricable links to human rights. People living with HIV and other key populations are still leading the charge, based on their experiences and knowledge of what their communities need to tackle discriminatory laws and HIV-related criminalization, which deny them services and violate their human rights.

The recent overturning of a colonial-era sodomy law in Namibia, brought to court by Friedel Dausab, a gay Namibian man, showcases such courageous leadership.

But those most affected by and at risk of discrimination, exclusion and violence must not be left to tackle this alone. Their efforts are that much more effective and powerful when met with global solidarity and inclusive institutions, backed by collaboration and investment.

UNDP continues to promote and prioritize the meaningful engagement of people living with HIV and other key populations in decision-making spaces and policy design, through the work done by SCALE, #WeBelong Africa and Being LGBTI in the Caribbean and its HIV and health work more broadly.

The role for allies

Expanding and deepening networks of allies, in particular fostering links between key populations and scientists, health workers, legal professionals, policymakers, faith leaders, media and the private sector, will be vital to building a sustainable HIV response. Finding common ground with broader social movements is a critical element to policy change and reform.

One such UNDP-led initiative brings together members from the judiciary in regional fora in Africa, Eastern Europe and Central Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean to deepen knowledge and understanding of law, rights and HIV, and the impact of punitive laws and policies.

This work has contributed to informing judicial decisions upholding the rights of marginalized communities in Botswana, Kenya, Namibia, Mauritius and Tajikistan and beyond.

Hundreds of parliamentarians worldwide can now support LGBTIQ+ inclusion through the Handbook for Parliamentarians on Advancing the Human Rights and Inclusion of LGBTI People. These demonstrate how allies can use their power and privilege to shape inclusive polices and institutions that support the dignity and human rights of people living with and affected by HIV.

Unlocking innovative financing

Progress will not be possible without addressing the funding gap. Yet investment in HIV is declining, and funding for primary prevention programmes in low- and middle-income countries has dropped, with a sobering 80 percent gap in 2023.

Countries must boost sustainable investments in the HIV response. This includes both for services and for addressing the structural barriers for these services, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.

Through SCALE, UNDP funds 44 key population-led organizations in 21 countries, boosting capacities to share good practice and remove the structural barriers which impede their access to services and violate their human rights. In the Philippines, Cebu United Rainbow LGBT Sector (CURLS) is working towards comprehensive key population protection ordinances, contributing to the recently-signed Implementing Rules and Regulations of Mandaue City’s LGBTIQ+ Anti-Discrimination Ordinance. These will encourage LGBTIQ+ communities to more proactively engage with services.

Strong national leadership and inclusive institutions are also vital to scaling up funding. Last year UNDP worked with 51 countries to expand innovative financing for HIV and health, utilizing strategies such as investment cases, social contracting, inclusive social protection, health taxes and co-financing.

Achieving health for all

As polycrisis threatens the hard-won gains of the HIV response and the clock winds down on the 10-10-10 targets, we must remain steadfast and focused on the task; scaling national key population-led strategies, promoting allyship and inclusive institutions, and unlocking sustainable funding. The stakes couldn’t be higher.

Achieving the 10-10-10 targets will not only be a victory against this preventable disease, but also against the stigma and discrimination faced by those left furthest behind, ultimately benefiting the health of people everywhere.

There is no path to ending AIDS as a public health threat without the triple ten targets.

Mandeep Dhaliwal is Director of the HIV and Health Group, UNDP; Kevin Osborne is Manager, SCALE Initiative, HIV and Health Group, UNDP.

Source: UNDP

IPS UN Bureau

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
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Hepatitis remains a deadly disease, causing over 800,000 deaths globally each year. Credit: Shutterstock.

By Danjuma Adda
Jul 25 2024 (IPS)

July 28th is World Hepatitis Day, created to celebrate the life and work of Nobel Prize Winner Dr. Baruch Samuel Blumberg. Blumberg’s work contributed to the discovery of hepatitis B, and the development of a vaccine that could prevent infection with this infectious viral disease. These discoveries revolutionized the public health response in preventing the liver cancer that hepatitis B causes. 

The hepatitis B vaccine has been used for decades to save lives. Babies are given the vaccine at birth to protect them from getting infected with the hepatitis B virus, thus reducing the risk of children developing chronic liver disease or liver cancer later on in life. Many millions of people around the world are today free from the fears and trauma of living with hepatitis B as a result of the vaccine that Blumberg helped develop. 

Approximately 95% of infants who catch hepatitis B will develop a chronic infection, and roughly a quarter of them will eventually die from liver disease. This is why infant vaccination against hepatitis B is so important.

Only 18% of African infants have received the hepatitis B birth dose vaccine at birth in 2022, compared to 90% in Asia, so intensified efforts are required to protect the next generation of children around the world

The WHO recommends that all babies receive the vaccine as soon as possible after birth, preferably within 24 hours, followed by two or three doses four weeks apart. This gives babies about 100% protection against infection from hepatitis B and against developing chronic liver disease or liver cancer later on in life.

Kudos to GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, national governments and other international partners, who have ensured that many children around the world have been vaccinated against the hepatitis B virus, especially in low-middle income countries.

My own children are among those who have benefited from these programs and from Blumberg’s research, as they were vaccinated against Hepatitis B at birth.

Not all babies are as fortunate, especially in Africa, where out-of-stock vaccines, home deliveries and weak health systems stand in the way of their receiving this life-saving intervention within 24 hours of delivery.

Only 18% of African infants have received the hepatitis B birth dose vaccine at birth in 2022, compared to 90% in Asia, so intensified efforts are required to protect the next generation of children around the world.

I never got the hepatitis B vaccine when I was born, as the birth dose was only introduced fairly recently in most countries in the Global South. Nor was I vaccinated when I was employed as a healthcare provider in a hospital – which is where I should have been protected but is the place I got infected in 2004. I am fortunate to have been diagnosed early though, and take daily  medication to stop my liver from developing cancer.

Despite Blumberg’s breakthroughs, however, hepatitis is still a killer disease. It still causes the deaths of over 800,000 people globally every year, the majority of whom are diagnosed too late when they already have advanced liver disease. 

Today, as we commemorate Blumberg’s birthday and mark World Hepatitis Day, we need to ask ourselves why that is. We need to ask why there is still such low awareness of hepatitis around the world. Why hasn’t this scientific breakthrough of discovering hepatitis B translated into eliminating the hepatitis B virus? Why have only 4% of hepatitis B patients been diagnosed while only 2.2% have been treated? Why have there been such poor investments into mass testing and treatment programs around the world to identify and place the “missing millions” on treatment?

We need to say clearly that this is not acceptable. as delays in testing and treatment is likely to lead to many more developing liver complications unnoticed. To eliminate hepatitis by 2030, we need to intensify efforts to reduce deaths by 65%. This means we MUST scale-up testing to find undiagnosed populations living with hepatitis B and C, the majority of whom do not know their status.

It is a big shame that I contracted  the virus in a place where I should be safe and protected, the hospital. This is the fate of many healthcare workers around the world and babies who do not receive the hepatitis B vaccine to protect them from getting an infection.

Baruch Blumberg would be turning in his grave if he knew that despite the available vaccines and treatments there are so many people who cannot access them due to poor funding from government and donors across the world! We owe more to him and his memory. 

The global community has the opportunity to turn off the tap of new hepatitis B infections and save millions of children and the global community from the fears of liver cancer attributable to hepatitis B in the future. Let this World Hepatitis Day be the day we decide to honor Blumberg’s memory in deed as well as word. 

Danjuma Adda, M.P.H., is the executive director of the Centre for Initiative and Development in Nigeria and a senior fellow with Aspen Institute. He was the committee chair of the 2024 World Hepatitis Summit and the past president of the World Hepatitis Alliance.

Hepatitis remains a deadly disease, causing over 800,000 deaths globally each year. Credit: Shutterstock.

By Danjuma Adda
Jul 25 2024 (IPS)

July 28th is World Hepatitis Day, created to celebrate the life and work of Nobel Prize Winner Dr. Baruch Samuel Blumberg. Blumberg’s work contributed to the discovery of hepatitis B, and the development of a vaccine that could prevent infection with this infectious viral disease. These discoveries revolutionized the public health response in preventing the liver cancer that hepatitis B causes. 

The hepatitis B vaccine has been used for decades to save lives. Babies are given the vaccine at birth to protect them from getting infected with the hepatitis B virus, thus reducing the risk of children developing chronic liver disease or liver cancer later on in life. Many millions of people around the world are today free from the fears and trauma of living with hepatitis B as a result of the vaccine that Blumberg helped develop. 

Approximately 95% of infants who catch hepatitis B will develop a chronic infection, and roughly a quarter of them will eventually die from liver disease. This is why infant vaccination against hepatitis B is so important.

Only 18% of African infants have received the hepatitis B birth dose vaccine at birth in 2022, compared to 90% in Asia, so intensified efforts are required to protect the next generation of children around the world

The WHO recommends that all babies receive the vaccine as soon as possible after birth, preferably within 24 hours, followed by two or three doses four weeks apart. This gives babies about 100% protection against infection from hepatitis B and against developing chronic liver disease or liver cancer later on in life.

Kudos to GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, national governments and other international partners, who have ensured that many children around the world have been vaccinated against the hepatitis B virus, especially in low-middle income countries.

My own children are among those who have benefited from these programs and from Blumberg’s research, as they were vaccinated against Hepatitis B at birth.

Not all babies are as fortunate, especially in Africa, where out-of-stock vaccines, home deliveries and weak health systems stand in the way of their receiving this life-saving intervention within 24 hours of delivery.

Only 18% of African infants have received the hepatitis B birth dose vaccine at birth in 2022, compared to 90% in Asia, so intensified efforts are required to protect the next generation of children around the world.

I never got the hepatitis B vaccine when I was born, as the birth dose was only introduced fairly recently in most countries in the Global South. Nor was I vaccinated when I was employed as a healthcare provider in a hospital – which is where I should have been protected but is the place I got infected in 2004. I am fortunate to have been diagnosed early though, and take daily  medication to stop my liver from developing cancer.

Despite Blumberg’s breakthroughs, however, hepatitis is still a killer disease. It still causes the deaths of over 800,000 people globally every year, the majority of whom are diagnosed too late when they already have advanced liver disease. 

Today, as we commemorate Blumberg’s birthday and mark World Hepatitis Day, we need to ask ourselves why that is. We need to ask why there is still such low awareness of hepatitis around the world. Why hasn’t this scientific breakthrough of discovering hepatitis B translated into eliminating the hepatitis B virus? Why have only 4% of hepatitis B patients been diagnosed while only 2.2% have been treated? Why have there been such poor investments into mass testing and treatment programs around the world to identify and place the “missing millions” on treatment?

We need to say clearly that this is not acceptable. as delays in testing and treatment is likely to lead to many more developing liver complications unnoticed. To eliminate hepatitis by 2030, we need to intensify efforts to reduce deaths by 65%. This means we MUST scale-up testing to find undiagnosed populations living with hepatitis B and C, the majority of whom do not know their status.

It is a big shame that I contracted  the virus in a place where I should be safe and protected, the hospital. This is the fate of many healthcare workers around the world and babies who do not receive the hepatitis B vaccine to protect them from getting an infection.

Baruch Blumberg would be turning in his grave if he knew that despite the available vaccines and treatments there are so many people who cannot access them due to poor funding from government and donors across the world! We owe more to him and his memory. 

The global community has the opportunity to turn off the tap of new hepatitis B infections and save millions of children and the global community from the fears of liver cancer attributable to hepatitis B in the future. Let this World Hepatitis Day be the day we decide to honor Blumberg’s memory in deed as well as word. 

Danjuma Adda, M.P.H., is the executive director of the Centre for Initiative and Development in Nigeria and a senior fellow with Aspen Institute. He was the committee chair of the 2024 World Hepatitis Summit and the past president of the World Hepatitis Alliance.

Indigenous Kanaks in a political rally prior to New Caledonia's first referendum on Independence in 2018. Credit: Catherine Wilson/IPS

By Catherine Wilson
NOUMEA, New Caledonia , Jul 25 2024 (IPS)

New Caledonia, a French overseas territory of about 290,000 people in the southwest Pacific, is facing a challenging recovery from weeks of civil unrest that erupted in mid-May, leaving an aftermath of destruction and political turmoil.

A vote by the French Parliament to change the territory’s electoral roll in favor of pro-France loyalists unleashed anger and clashes across the islands between police and pro-independence supporters, most of whom are indigenous Kanaks.

But, at the heart of the political grievances of Kanaks, who comprise about 40 percent of the population, are their experiences over more than a century and a half of entrenched inequality, compared to the non-Kanak population. This includes disparities in educational outcomes and high unemployment.

“Many people do not finish school and don’t have qualifications or diplomas. Many families do not have the money and cannot afford to send their children to school,” Stelios, a young Kanak father who lives in the capital, Noumea, told IPS. “Although within families, people help to support each other.”

New Caledonia, which has large nickel reserves, has a robust economy with a gross domestic product (GDP) of USD 9.62 billion in 2022, compared to USD 1.06 billion in neighboring Vanuatu and USD 4.9 billion in Fiji.  But there is a substantial gap in incomes and standards of living between the indigenous and long-term non-Kanak settlers. Poverty and unemployment are major issues for Kanaks who live in remote rural communities and informal urban settlements on the outskirts of the capital, Noumea.  While the overall poverty rate is 19.1 percent in New Caledonia, it rises to 45.8 percent in the Loyalty Islands Province, where most of the residents are Kanaks.

In Noumea’s city park, a young child stands between the statues of Pro-France politician, Jacques Lafleur, and pro-Independence Kanak leader, Jean-Marie Tjibaou, performing a handshake at the signing of the 1988 Matignon Accords in New Caledonia. Credit: Catherine Wilson/IPS

Eddie Wayuone Wadrawane, an Associate Lecturer and educational sciences expert at the University of New Caledonia, reports that there is a direct connection between the educational gap for Kanaks and their challenges to finding secure employment. While the unemployment rate for people under the age of 30 in the territory is 28.3 percent, the rate rises to 41.3 percent for those without a qualifying degree.

Kanaks, the indigenous islanders, have lived under some form of French governance since the mid-nineteenth century, when the islands became a colony. After World War II, New Caledonia was granted the status of an ‘overseas territory’ with greater recognition of citizenship and indigenous rights.

But a long history of poverty, loss of land to colonial authorities, forced removal onto reservations and marginalization from political participation triggered numerous Kanak uprisings over decades, culminating in a major outbreak of conflict with French authorities in the 1980s. The negotiations that followed the hostilities led to two agreements between the French Government and local leaders. The Matignon Accord in 1988 and Noumea Accord, signed in 1998, pledged, among other provisions, to address the socioeconomic disparities for the Kanak population, such as lack of access to education, and lack of consultation in governance and political processes.

Public services and economic opportunities are concentrated in the South Province, which includes the capital, Noumea. But there have been gains during the last twenty years with government efforts to improve infrastructure and access to services, such as education, in the more undeveloped North and Loyalty Islands Provinces, where the majority of Kanaks live. The number of Kanak graduates from universities and similar tertiary institutions rose from 99 in 1989 to 3,200 in 2014.  But significant disparities remain and it is reported that only 8 percent of Kanaks possessed a university degree in 2019.

“A major part of the philosophy of the Matignon and Noumea Accords was the notion that New Caledonia was not ready for independence because there were no Kanak people in middle or high-level management or in the professions,” Dr David Small, Senior Lecturer at Above the Bar School of Educational Studies and Leadership at New Zealand’s University of Canterbury, told IPS.

But the French education system “is highly selective and there are so many ways that Kanak people can slip out of it. Kanak people are also attuned to and highly critical of the colonial nature of education in New Caledonia,” he continued.

During the Pro-Independence protests in May across New Caledonia against the French Government’s electoral reforms in the territory, a large proportion of people demonstrating on the streets were youths aged 15–25 years. They were venting anger not just at the electoral changes but at the hardships and inequalities that have marked their lives. Patience among the younger generation is running out and they are no longer willing to wait indefinitely for the promises of better lives and opportunities to become a reality.

‘Schooling can play a major role to give those youth [who are disenfranchised] new perspectives and bring about societal reforms in general,’ Wadrawane claims. Yet, Dr Small says that many Kanak youths are losing faith in the idea of New Caledonian society being a meritocracy and, hence, also the ability of education to enable success and achievement in employment and life.

But Stelios is one of those who persisted at school and completed secondary education, receiving the Baccalaureate certificate.

“And I have a job. I work at a school, assisting staff,” he said. He is also the father of three young children, all under the age of 7, and is adamant that they will be educated too.

Education experts, such as Wadrawane, advocate that further retaining indigenous students in the education system also requires incorporating Kanak culture and languages into the curricula.

“At present, the [school] curricula appeal more to students from metropolitan France and less so for those from the French overseas territories,” Wadrawane writes. He believes that “greater cultural awareness of youth in primary and secondary education is a philosophical, social and educational necessity” to reducing inequalities and enhancing their citizenship.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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The historic headquarters of Belém's port administration is now being rebuilt as a 255-guest hotel, to host delegates to the climate summit to be held in late 2025 in the Brazilian Amazonian city. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS

By Mario Osava
BELÉM, Brazil, Jul 25 2024 (IPS)

Hotels and other amenities may be lacking for participants at the 30th Conference of the Parties on Climate Change (COP30), in this northern Brazilian city in late 2025, but the bottom line is they will have a unique experience in the Amazon.

Discussing the Amazon in the Amazon itself distinguishes COP30 from its predecessors and contributes to more objective talks on the global climate crisis and to the resolution of long-standing demands of Belém, a true Amazon capital, according to Elizabete Grunvald, president of the Pará Business Association (ACP).

Belém is the capital of the state of Pará, in the eastern Brazilian Amazon.“No city, with the exception of megacities like New York or Tokyo, has the infrastructure for events like the COPs.": Elizabete Grunvald.

“The conference is an opportunity to unblock many projects that have been stalled for decades in the city,” Grunvald told IPS in an interview. As an example, she pointed to the luxury hotel that will emerge from the adaptation of an 18-storey building near the port, which served as the headquarters of the Federal Revenue Bureau until it burned down in 2012.

Twelve years later, the national government ceded the property to the state of Pará, which gave it in concession to the private sector for conversion into a hotel. COP30 has brought about drainage initiatives, the widening and repair of streets, the construction of urban parks and a large convention centre.

But the new hotel, with 255 rooms, a 230 square-metre presidential suite and six smaller special suites, will do little to reduce the city’s hotel shortage.

“Belém has 18,000 hotel beds, we would need another 30,000,” says Grunvald, who believes the estimation of 80,000 COP30 participants coming to the city is an exaggeration. She expects 60,000, nothing comparable to the almost 100,000 who attended the Dubai COP28 in 2023.

Elizabete Grunvald, president of the Pará Business Association, predicts Belém will have a positive transformation with the influx of investment and international tourists from the COP30. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS

Three cruise ships will serve as hotels, with a capacity of 7,000 to 8,000 guests. Three more ships could be added, according to the ACP president. For this purpose, the Guajará Bay, in western Belém and gateway to the Atlantic, will be dredged.

Campaigns will encourage residents, including wealthy mansion owners, to host or rent their homes to COP30 visitors. “They will earn dollars or euros and will be able to enjoy a pleasant holiday,” Grunvald argued.

Schools and other public buildings will be made available to participants on a budget. Schools will be on holiday during the conference and civil servants will telecommute to alleviate urban mobility.

The port of Belém, in Guajará Bay on the Atlantic, where at least three cruise ships will be anchored to serve as hotels for more than 7,000 participants in the climate summit in late 2025. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS

A park for COP30

The official conference, organised by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), will take place in the City Park, currently under construction, which will include an airport and an area of 560,000 square metres that will house two convention centres, as well as other gastronomy and culture hubs, with theatres and museums, including one for aircraft.

It is the main urban project, along with 12 others, being developed by the mayor’s office and the government of the state of Pará. In all, investments will amount to the equivalent of US$750 million dollars.

Grunvald, who oversees the preparations for the mega climate event and mobilises the business community, is optimistic about what COP30 could represent for the development of Belém and the Amazon. It will attract investment and put the city on the global tourism route, she anticipates.

“No city, with the exception of megacities like New York or Tokyo, has the infrastructure for events like the COPs. But the shortcomings and failures do not erase the impression of visiting the Amazon, the contact with the peculiar goods and culture, different from the rest of the world. Participants will become our advocates,” Grunvald confided.

Two geographers and two urban planners were on the panel that debated Belém’s dilemmas on the road to the climate summit in 2025. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS

She personifies the transformation the capital of Pará is going through, being the first woman to preside over the ACP, founded in 1819 as the second business association in Brazil, after that of the northeastern state of Bahia.

Although having the ‘business’ adjective in its name, it is a unique multi-sectoral guild, which also includes industry, services and even water business. Hence its broad interests in the climate conference.

COP30 also confronts Belém and its 1.3 million inhabitants with its climate adversity. It will be the second hottest city in the world by 2050, with 222 days of dangerous temperatures per year, with more than 32 degrees Celsius or 89.6 degrees Fahrenheit, predicted Carbon Plan, a US non-governmental organisation.

Only Pekanbaru, Indonesia, will surpass it, with 344 days of extreme heat. In third place, with 189 days, will be Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the venue for COP28.

The City Park is being built on the site of a former airport in the city of Belém, in the Brazilian Amazon. It will include two convention centres to host the climate summit in 2025. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS

Poor infrastructure

Today, Belém is a poor city, longing for its past prosperity as a gateway for goods and people to and from the Amazon, which is reflected in its historic downtown, expanded during the golden age of natural rubber in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

It now faces the challenge of hosting thousands of foreign authorities, including dozens of heads of state and government, for COP30 in November and December 2025, with a poor infrastructure for hotels, transport and basic sanitation. Open sewage canals criss-cross the city.

Treated water reaches 71.5% of its population, but sewage covers only 15.7% and wastewater treatment is limited to 3.5%, explained geographer Olga Castreghini, a retired university professor currently involved in Amazonian projects, during the annual meeting of the Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science, held in Belém from 7 to 13 July.

Sewage canals litter the landscape of Belém, a city surrounded by water where drainage is vital and sewerage serves only 15.7 percent of the population. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS

Mega-events and their white elephants

The city’s challenges toward COP30 was the theme of a panel shared by two geographers and two urban planners from local universities, who are part of a group of researchers who gather to analyse the projects, the organisation and the legacy of the summit for Belém and the Amazon.

The bulletin Focus on the COP informs on the academic monitoring of what Castreghini defined as a “niche, not massive, mega-event”, which attracts participants focused on the environment and climate, “very interested in the Amazon.”

The geographer seeks to accompany “the conflicts between the urgencies of local society and the demands of the mega-event,” which could affect the sustainability of projects after COP30.

She recalled the white elephants and numerous unfinished works left by two massive mega-events of the past decade in Brazil: the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

The light rail transit system was abandoned after initial works in Cuiabá, capital of the central-western state of Mato Grosso. Some stadiums survive underused, while the Olympic Park deteriorates unused in Rio de Janeiro, as do neighbourhoods and airports built for the Cup in the northeast.

Architect and urban planner Helena Tourinho fears that, as usually happens in these mega-events, the process of gentrification will accelerate, with some neighbourhoods gaining value and their poor inhabitants being expelled to the outskirts of the city.

COP30 unleashed a wave of works that privilege some neighbourhoods to the detriment of the historic downtown of Belém. Tourinho told IPS that the investments in the city centre, taken care of by the mayor’s office, amount to the equivalent of US$14 million, while in other neighbourhoods they rise to US$185 million.

The historic downtown has suffered gradual degradation since the 1970s, stressed by an invasion of street and informal commerce, mostly in cheap Asian products.

“The environment being built over or emptied was not altered, unlike the nature of its activities,” said the urban planner, along with disasters such as fires and collapsed houses.

Without revitalisation or restoration programmes, the historic downtown of Belém, an urban asset, seems forgotten and under increasing siege by real estate businesses in the surrounding area, she concluded.

 

By CIVICUS
Jul 25 2024 (IPS)

 
CIVICUS discusses the recent US Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity and its potential impact on the 5 November presidential election with Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, a professor of Law at Stetson University College of Law.

Ciara Torres-Spelliscy

On 1 July, the US Supreme Court ruled that presidents have absolute immunity for the exercise of their core constitutional powers and are entitled to a presumption of immunity for other official acts, although they don’t enjoy immunity for unofficial acts. The decision comes as Donald Trump faces criminal charges for trying to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden. The question now is whether Trump’s actions will be considered official or unofficial. But it’s unlikely he’ll be tried before the election, and if he returns as president he could pardon himself. Critics claim the Supreme Court ruling violates the spirit of the US Constitution by placing the president above the law.

What are the main points of the Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity?

This is a ruling in the federal case against Trump for trying to overturn his loss to Biden in the 2020 election. He is accused of pressuring state officials to overturn the results, spreading lies about voter fraud and using the Capitol riot of 6 January 2021 to delay Biden’s certification and stay in power. Trump pleaded not guilty and asked the US Supreme Court to dismiss the entire case, arguing that he was acting in his role as president and was therefore immune from prosecution.

The Supreme Court didn’t do that, but instead created three new categories of presidential immunity: complete immunity for official acts involving core constitutional powers, potential immunity for acts within the ‘outer perimeter’ of official duties and no immunity for private, unofficial acts.

The key question now is whether Trump’s actions will be deemed official, giving him immunity, or unofficial, leaving him open to prosecution. This is the first case of its kind, as Trump is the first American president to be prosecuted.

How does this ruling affect Trump’s other criminal cases?

This immunity ruling is likely to delay all four of his criminal cases, as judges will have to apply these new rules and drop any charges that involve the use of core presidential powers, as these can no longer be used as evidence against him.

As well as being accused of trying to overturn his 2020 defeat, Trump is also accused of paying adult film actress Stormy Daniels hush money during the 2016 election and not properly accounting for it in his business records. This case is unlikely to be affected by the ruling, as his actions don’t involve either core or peripheral presidential powers. Judge Merchan will have to decide whether any of his 34 felony business fraud convictions will stand or be thrown out.

But some of his other crimes occurred during his time in the Oval Office. Trump is accused of conspiring to overturn his 2020 loss in Georgia by asking the state’s top election official to ‘find 11,780 votes’. Trump has pleaded not guilty and could be prosecuted in his personal capacity, as presidents have no role in administering US elections. As in the Capitol case, this was a private action he took as a candidate and it would be difficult to fit into the category of presidential immunity.

The fourth case Trump faces is the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case. Trump is accused of mishandling classified documents by taking them to his Mar-a-Lago residence after leaving office and refusing to return them to the National Archives when he could no longer lawfully possess them. As his alleged crimes took place when he was no longer president, this case shouldn’t be affected by the immunity ruling. However, he could argue he possessed the documents while in office and ask that his case be treated differently from other defendants. This case was dismissed by Judge Cannon. However, the Mar-a-Lago criminal case could come back to life if the 11th Circuit reverses her dismissal.

What are the broader implications of this case for the presidential election?

After this decision, the American public should think about the consequences of who they elect as president, because the presidency can become a wellspring of crime.

An honest president wouldn’t be affected by the Trump v. US decision, because an honest person doesn’t need criminal immunity. Only time will tell whether the Supreme Court has invited future presidents to go on a crime spree. But what is certain is that only US voters can keep criminals out of the White House. So, as I write in my new book, Corporatocracy, the stakes in the 2024 election are incredibly high for the fate of US democracy.

Civic space in the USA is rated ‘narrowed’ by the CIVICUS Monitor.

 

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Credit: China Daily 2017-08-09

By Jan Lundius
STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Jul 25 2024 (IPS)

Habits can change extremely fast, particularly within so-called “developed” nations, where children, even more than grownups are affected by life changing events. Gone are the times when kids could move around freely and invent games and adventures together with their friends. Far away from the scrutinizing control of parents and authorities they learned to interact with other kids, taking risks and solving problems. It could be tough and often quite merciless times, but educative, beneficent, and fun as well.

The presence of grownups in children’s worlds has gradually become more and more manifest. Prefabricated toys and gadgets are lured upon on children and quickly forgotten, while adults oversee and control not only schooling, but games and sport as well. Children’s scheduled leisure time hinders them from developing their brains in preparation for adulthood. Free, unsupervised play is disappearing, creating hypersensitive adults demanding not to be exposed to words, topics and ideas they perceive as unpleasant, or offensive. People are increasingly taking refuge within in a virtual reality, where they can find a space of their own among the millions of algorithms provided by Google, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. A never-ending flow of dopamine kicks, conveyed by short messages, reports, comments and publicity spots. A constant scrolling for things that might arouse interest and provide relaxation. On social media, boys watch hard porn even before they have experienced their first kiss, while young girls are fed with unrealistic beauty ideals and exposed to bullying and inappropriate approaches.

Much of the social changes behind the current, everyday existence might be traced back to 2014, when iPhone 4 was introduced. It was a small, clever, and handy device, with multitasking functions, including a front-facing camera and a huge variety of app folders. Furthermore, it provided access to Apple’s new Face Time video chat service. Selling over 600,000 pre-orders within 24 hours, the iPhone 4 was an immediate success. The benefits of a smartphone are apparent to any user. Taking photos, selfies, and making short videos have become part of our every day life, as well as keeping contact with family and friends all over the world. At any given moment we can in an instant find essential information. Smartphones have become an escape from boredom, opening up access to many worlds other than the one right in front of you. They are helping us to feel included and involved in society.

However, like any kind of delight, smartphones might also become an addiction. All around us we meet phone addicts – smombies, smartphone zombies, walking around hooked up to their small devices, oblivious of the surrounding world, risking accidents, harming not only others, but themselves as well. Any back-lit device, such as a smartphone, might seriously affect sleep cycles due to cells at the back of our eyes, which contain a light-sensitive protein picking up wavelengths of light. Such light-sensitive cells send signals to the part of the brain that regulates 24-hourly rhythms. Overuse of smartphones might not only lead to sleep deprivation, but also headaches, atrophy, and uneven nutrition.

Critics of excessive smartphone use have raised concerns about their mental effects, pointing out that while they make us pay attention to a vast amount of incoming information, while doing so at a superficial and limited level they disconnect people from what really matters. Without open spaces and mental rest, the nervous system never shuts down – making us wired and tired all the time. We are getting used to check our phones every minute – in the morning, during working hours, in the evenings, during weekends and vacations. Many of us become anxious and irritable if we cannot interact with our phones, constantly watching them, talking through them or fiddling with their apps. Some even use them to avoid interaction, evading conversations and eye contact.

There is an assumed correlation between social media and anger, anguish, and depression. Even for people who don’t use smartphones, they have created a changed social climate. The web has taken over press and opinion making. It has become easier to limit, control and maintain our own information sources. The smartphone world is dominated by a few large companies whose goal is to reinforce needs and addictions, as well as to collect and sell information, while doing so they even invade and expose our privacy. Lacking a smartphone might mean social marginalisation. At the same time much of the web has been brutalised; hate mongering, generalisations and prejudices are taking over from critical reviews and science-based information. Tech enterprises have been accused of exploiting our psychological shortcomings and exercising the biggest, uncontrolled experiment that humanity has ever been exposed to.

Our attention span is diminishing. A specific worry is that parents have largely been blind to how mobile phones have changed their children’s lives in such a fundamental manner that many of them have missed out on what it takes to grow up and become socially responsible, knowledgeable, and critical thinkers. Since early childhood, kids have been hooked to a screen, or a small rectangular box, often while plugging their ears. Many have during a large part of their lives become bereaved from face-to-face interaction and an actual presence of others; their scent, body language and facial expressions. Immersed in an odourless and abstract web-world they have been able to avoid the annoying interference of an authentic reality. The engagement of parents in their children’s wellbeing have thus been double-edged, at the same time as they have pampered them and tried to protect them from a harmful society, they have left their children at the mercy of a mind-numbing web world, far beyond their control.

Many children do not know how to make a summersault, read an entire novel, hike in the woods, fish, use a scissor, or a saw. They lack patience to watch an entire movie, to concentrate on a given task, or listening to a teacher. After a short while they reach for their smartphone and leave the real world behind, updating themselves on the activities of the Kardashian family, or follow an imaginary motorbike across a rugged landscape.

The Swedish governmental Mediemyndigheten, Media Authority, has since its initiation in 2005 monitored “media habits of young people from 9 to 18 years of age”, publishing its findings every second year. It did in 2023 establish that a majority of Swedish children at the age of nine have a smartphone of their own, while 70 percent of the fifteen years olds use their smartphones daily for at least three hours and has become more used to meet friends digitally, than physically.

The above might be perceived as a world-renouncing lament of an old man hostile to change. A techno-hostile alarmist and nostalgically tainted warning cry directed smartphone addiction and toxic social media. It might rightly be pointed out that throughout history, people have been warned about train travelling, reading of comic magazines, telephones, radio listening, TV watching, and a huge amount of other modernities. However, it is an undeniable fact that members of the so-called Generation Z, i.e. those born after 1995, in a great part of the world have been growing up with smartphones and become attracted by an alternative, thrilling and interesting world, which for many of them has created a dependency that often has proved to be unsuitable for both adults and children. It is quite possible that improved smartphones have among youngsters contributed to an alarming increase in mental illness – anxiety disorders, depression, anorexia, self-injury, and even suicide. Smartphones might have created an intensified awareness of appearance, comparisons with others, while sincere friendships have been superseded by superficial relationships, feelings of loneliness, status-seeking, rumour-mongering, demands for constant attention, stalking, bullying and a host of other harmful phenomena. Time spent within a world of fake news and make-belief is combined with an avalanche of demands on already stressed and immature child- and teenage brains, in which implanted opinions, mistakes and annoyances might become viral and a future burden.

Already twenty years ago, some medical expertise had found that children’s increased screen watching made them unconcentrated and might cause ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), a neurodevelopmental affliction manifested through inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity, and emotional imbalance, which impair children’s ability to cope with difficult situations.

In Sweden there is an ongoing debate whether smartphones have to be banned from schools and universities. Supporters of a law that makes this obligatory point to several facts. Foremost among them are concerns that smartphones might influence child development. The human brain is constantly developing, especially during childhood and adolescence, creating neural connections with a vital role in cognitive, emotional, and social functioning. It has actually been statistically established that children who spend more than two hours a day using electronic devices, including smartphones, had lower cognitive and language scores than children who spent less time on electronic devices. Excessive smartphone use can lead to changes in brain chemistry, including reduced grey matter volume in certain regions of the brain, associated with cognitive control, emotional regulation, and decision-making.

Smartphone use can of course not be forbidden, but it does not hurt to be reminded of dangers connected with their excessive use. When children got access to smartphones hey left behind their old, “stupid” mobile phones and their online time increased enormously. In those, not too distant, times we lacked knowledge of how to protect our children from companies which designed their products to create what could be a dangerous dependency. While protecting their children from the harmful influences of a real world, many parents under-protected them within a virtual reality. The American social psychologist Jonathan Heidt has stated that “the transition from a play-based to a mobile-based childhood has been a disastrous mistake – let’s bring our children home.”

Main sources: Haidt, Jonathan (2024) The Anxious Generation: How the great rewiring of childhood is causing an epidemic of mental illness. New York: Allen Lane, and Statens medieråd (2023) Ungar & medier 2023 En statistisk undersökning av ungas medievanor och attityder till medieanvändning. Stockholm: Statens medieråd.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Senior citizens are exercising at a park in Bangkok. Out of 67 million Thais, 12 million are elderly. Credit: UNFPA Asia and the Pacific

By Michał Podolski
BANGKOK, Thailand, Jul 25 2024 (IPS)

Several Asia-Pacific countries are ageing fast. This transition is neither unique nor limited to the region — it is a global megatrend. However, this time it is different. Why? Because ageing proceeds quite fast.

While France and Sweden took 115 and 85 years, respectively, to progress from being an ageing society (with 7-14 per cent of the population aged 60 or older) to an aged society (14-21 per cent aged 60 or older), the same transition in China, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam is expected to take only 19-25 years.

Compared to other global megatrends that are shaping economies, such as digitalization or climate change, demographic shifts remain relatively foreseeable and slower by nature. This provides some soothing yet misleading comfort to policymakers. The impact these shifts have on economies is far from being simple, and analysts struggle to fully understand and/or quantify them.

The economy is the people. Therefore, demographic shifts stand out as one of the most influential factors shaping any aspect of an economy. Changing demographics means altering the essence and purpose of all economic activities.

As the purpose changes, so do the needs. Changes in productivity, the share of population in job markets, fiscal policy conduct and effectiveness, and how monetary policy affects economies – all these processes introduce high uncertainty into long-term economic and fiscal policy planning.

Why do the analysts struggle with quantifying the economic impact of ageing? The net change is a sum of multiple factors, often working in opposing directions. As people age, their productivity tends to fall. On the other hand, this trend is offset by technological progress, though to a largely unknown extent, making the net impact difficult to predict.

Ageing societies also exhibit a shift in consumption from durables (e.g. cars) to essential services (e.g. health care), thus affecting a country’s composition of demand for goods and services and tax revenues. Ageing also changes labour force participation. In simple terms, the share of working people in aged societies is lower than in young ones.

Furthermore, the more developed a society is, the greater the temptation to withdraw from the workforce as older people have the possibility to withdraw faster from labour force and enjoy the comfort of retirement. In contrast, in developing societies older people must work up until very old age to avoid poverty. No stone remains unturned.

Why is that all troublesome from the perspective of fiscal policymaking?

First, policymakers would like to know how much of goods and services are and will be produced so that they can plan how to redistribute them through taxes and fiscal expenditures. In plain words, policymakers need to know how to cut and redistribute the “economic pie” (GDP) – and it is not easy to predict its size in the future.

Second, some fiscal expenditures increase and some fall as societies age. Fiscal expenditures on pensions rise along with health care and other forms of social protection. In contrast, education expenditures fall given less demand for children education.

Third, the exact scale and time of these shifts is not easy to determine.

However, Governments do not have to remain passive observers of the demographic shifts, as they have multiple tools to soften the negative impact and boost positive processes. For example, premature retirement results in excessive burden on the fiscal system. Reskilling and upskilling of older people do retain them in work force, increase economic output and reduce poverty among older persons.

At the same time, governments may implement society-wide policies that support healthy and active ageing. With the help of modern technologies and experience from other aged countries, such as Japan, much can be done to keep people active into old age.

All such actions not only improve quality of life and economic performance among older people, but also, directly alleviate the fiscal burden of pension systems as retirement is postponed.

Finally, all the challenges highlighted above and policies needed to address them are closely linked. Therefore, policymakers should seek to address few problems at a time looking for synergies.

For example, greater investments in health care, education, social protection, and environment protection do not only improve the quality of life but also allow people to stay employed for a longer time period.

A better environment improves people’s health condition, which supports economic activity and decreases public spending needs for social protection and health care. In turn, saved social protection and health care expenditures can be used to support other development priorities.

This holistic approach must become the norm of government policy planning. Socioeconomic policies must embrace the idea of synergies between their goals, so that spending on one policy target also supports other goals.

For more insights into how demographic shifts are reshaping Asia-Pacific economies, fiscal policy, and the overall development agenda please delve into the Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2024, prepared by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.

Michał Podolski is Associate Economic Affairs Officer

IPS UN Bureau

 

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The acute shortage of qualified mental health specialists in West Africa is a major obstacle to tackling mental health issues in the region. Credit Credit: Unsplash /Melanie Wasser

By Sylvia Muyingo
NAIROBI, Jul 24 2024 (IPS)

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, approximately 116 million people in the African region were living with mental health conditions. A large proportion of mental disorders is caused by depression and anxiety, and these conditions take a significant toll on health and wellbeing of people aged 15 to 59 years who are most affected.

In West and Central Africa (WCA) the prevalence of mental health disorders as reported in a book review by Juma et al ranges between 2-39%, with anxiety and depressive disorders as the leading causes of mental health disorders.

There is limited data on prevalence or burden of mental health disorders in West Africa, reflecting the insufficient attention given to mental health problems.

In one of few countries where a survey has been done, for example in Nigeria the most populous country in Africa estimated 12-month prevalence of anxiety at 4% from the Nigerian Survey of Mental Health and Well-Being – the first large scale mental health survey in SSA 2001-2003.

Furthermore, in SSA prevalence data for children and adolescents is available for only 2% of target population that is represented by available data on any mental health disorder.

The treatment gap i.e. the proportion of those in need who go untreated for formal mental health disorders in Sierra Leone was estimated at 98.8%. The population of young people in WA in particular is expected to double over the next decade. Many individuals may experience mental health challenges due to rising pressure from currently highly competitive labour market and infectious diseases.

Mental health is not only a problem in Sierra Leone, Nigeria or West Africa, it is a universal global problem and globally 1 in 8 (908 million people are living with a mental health disorder. Addressing these issues requires targeted interventions and support systems to ensure vulnerable age group receive care and resources needed.

In West Africa mental health systems face significant constraints partly due to local belief systems that often interpret mental health issues as spiritual rather than psychological or medical in nature. In West Africa, mental health problems are often viewed as spiritual or cultural diseases rather than as physical ailments.

Mental health is a legendary story in many African settings. Despite negative media attention about harsh practices used by traditional healers, they provide cheap services to individuals with mental illnesses including severe illnesses at spiritual centers or rustic facilities. These paraprofessionals far outnumber the medical professionals and hold social capital in communities because they fill a societal need.

Dr. Sylvia Muyingo

Mental health is influenced by cultural beliefs, stigma, and barriers to accessing healthcare. It affects more women globally, recent World Health Organisation research indicates that about 3.8% of people worldwide suffer from depression and it affects roughly 5% of adults, affecting 4% of men and 6% of women.

In WHO ATLAS report 2021, the availability and reporting of sex and age disaggregated mental health data was available for 43% and 54% in WHO AFRO region respectively versus 78% and 82% in high income countries. The availability of mental health data varies across the region, the low burden of disease may reflect the lack of data in some places. With only a few data points available in some places, regional trends are difficult to assess.

The acute shortage of qualified mental health specialists in West Africa is a major obstacle to tackling mental health issues in the region. Psychiatric services are hard to come by, particularly in primary healthcare settings when patients most need them. In 2017, 24% of countries in Africa did not have standalone Mental health policies and the proportion of MH worker was 9.0 per 100,000 according to a WHO MH survey.

In West Africa Policy makers have grappled with how to enable healthcare systems to deliver better health services with limited resources, infrastructure and access to trained mental health professionals. One strategy to close this gap has been task-shifting, in which non-specialist healthcare professionals receive training to deliver fundamental mental health services. Nevertheless, the general lack of healthcare resources and the requirement for extensive training programmes limit this approach’s efficacy.

It is over 20 years (2001) since the WHO and AU rolled out a comprehensive programme for promoting, development and integrating traditional medicine and mainstream medicine as another way of enabling affordable and accessible healthcare for the ever-growing African populations.

The reality is political commitment is one of the obstacles highlighted and collaboration, lack of policies or inadequacies of implementation, and absence of common treatment pathways. Many of the traditional medicine healers lack education and training as an enabler of integration because the lack of policy input to support integration activities is absent.

Mental Health exists on a complex continuum with substantial influence on well-being, economic and social impacts. At any one time the interaction of individual, family, community and structural factors intersect to influence a unique dynamic that may protect or undermine one’s mental health continuum. Increased attention from governments towards mental health including commitments to improve mental health disorders is needed in achieving the commitment of SDG Target 3.4 which calls for the promotion of mental health and well-being.

Advocacy and education initiatives play a critical role in improving mental health outcomes in West Africa. Community-based initiatives that involve people who have personally experienced mental health problems can be very successful in influencing attitudes and motivating others to get treatment. Local mental health champions who can offer peer support and function as reliable information sources in their communities can also be identified and trained by these programmes.

In my opinion many mhealth and ehealth technologies among people with mental health disorders feasible and acceptable and improves access and health outcomes.

Preliminary evidence suggests a combination of accessible technologies and trained individuals delivering interventions in the field help transform the role of prayer camps or traditional healers in serving people with mental disorders. However further investigations are required to draw conclusions about their effectiveness and cost benefit in this population and how to scale up.

Most of the projects are rarely evaluated and few serve marginalised areas or populations and contribute to improvement in care for mental health disorders. While investments in these technologies has increased, poor infrastructure and power, insufficient skills and policies and lack of government ownership lead to projects that are not scalable.

We need to consider a multisectoral approach because the factors determining mental health are multisectoral. Another approach is to extend services beyond the clinic and make mental health a priority in West Africa’s public health. A substantial impact can be achieved by expanding the pool of qualified mental health workers via specialised training initiatives, enhancing the healthcare system, and incorporating mental health services into basic healthcare.

Policies that raise awareness of mental health issues, lessen stigma, and guarantee that everyone, regardless of gender, socioeconomic background, or place of residence, has fair access to care are also essential.

Initiatives such as the Mental Health Data Prize – Africa, aim at leveraging existing data to address mental health challenges across Africa and contributing to a more resilient future for all.

The prize delivered by the African Population and Health Research Centre (APHRC) in partnership with the Wellcome, aims to close data gaps and improve our understanding of how to tackle anxiety, depression, and psychosis while also enhancing evidence-based decision-making in Africa.

Since January 2024, APHRC has been running an open capacity-building program, which has included sessions in mental health research, data science and machine learning, lived experience and evidence-based policy decision-making. The five-month capacity strengthening initiative seeks to bring together researchers, data scientists, policymakers and those with lived experiences to address research leadership, policy and management gaps, to facilitate future sustainability and innovation

In conclusion, mental health solutions in West Africa will require a concrete plan that takes into account technology improvements and data insights in expanding access to care, education and joint multifaceted efforts involving governments, healthcare providers, and communities to make significant progress on improving mental health outcomes in the region.

 

Dr. Sylvia Muyingo is a research scientist at African Population & Health Research Centre

Credit: Equality Now

By Deborah Nyokabi
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 24 2024 (IPS)

Thandi*, a 14-year-old girl from Malawi, is both a child and a mother. After she and her siblings were orphaned, they were left in the care of their grandmother, who struggled to provide for them.

Thandi recalls with sorrow how two years ago, her grandmother ‘sold’ her to a much older man for a bride price of 15,000 Malawian Kwacha (approximately USD $8.65). This meager sum was only enough to buy a week’s worth of food for the family.

Forced to drop out of school to become a wife, Thandi’s dreams of education were abruptly curtailed when she left education in Standard 7 (Grade 6). She explains, “Watching my friends continue with their schooling while I grappled with the challenges of marriage has left lasting scars.”

Over 6,000 kilometers away in Nigeria’s north-western Niger State, at the end of May 2024, the local government orchestrated marriages for 100 young women. Most were orphans who lost parents in the frequent bandit attacks that plague the region. Local officials claim that all the brides were aged over 18, but there are serious concerns that many were minors.

Child marriage remains widespread across Africa

A new report by Equality Now, Gender Inequality in Family Laws in Africa: An Overview of Key Trends in Select Countries, reveals pervasive discrimination in family laws across Africa, where child marriage remains widespread.

The continent is home to 127 million child brides. Although global rates of child marriage have declined from 23% to 19%, current trends suggest that by 2050, nearly half of the world’s child brides will be African.

The causes of child marriage are multifaceted. Challenges such as climate crisis, conflict, and socio-economic instability disproportionately affect women and girls, putting them at greater risk of human rights violations.

Rather than addressing systemic issues like poverty, sexual violence, and poor access to social support and reproductive healthcare, communities often resort to marrying girls off.

Governments are failing to protect girls

As in Thandi’s case, child marriage is commonly treated as a socio-economic band-aid. In her home country of Malawi, the practice has been completely illegal since 2017, when the government took the commendable step of raising the age of marriage to 18 for both boys and girls without exception.

However, child marriage remains widespread amongst a population that has over 70% living below the international poverty line, with 2020 data showing that 38% were married before the age of 18,

The situation is similar in other African countries. Niger is reported to have the world’s highest rate of child marriage among girls, with 76% married before 18. While in Mauritania, World Bank research cited that girls from the poorest households are almost twice as likely to marry compared to those living in the richest households.

Child marriage reinforces gender inequality, with girls viewed primarily as wives and mothers. What is especially concerning is how these harmful societal norms are sometimes state-backed by governments less willing to uphold girls’ rights.

In Mali, a watershed judgment by the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights in 2018 found Mali’s Personal and Family Code, which allows girls to marry at 15 or 16 while setting the same for boys at 18, violated Mali’s international and regional human rights obligations.

The African Court directed Mali to revise its Family Code to set the minimum age of marriage for both girls and boys at 18. Mali’s government has not yet implemented the judgment, rendering girls vulnerable to becoming child brides.

In Tanzania, a landmark judgment in 2016 mandated the government to set the minimum age of marriage for both boys and girls at 18, but Tanzania has yet to amend the Law of Marriage Act. This failure to enforce the judgment is leaving girls unprotected and is compounded by challenges that pregnant girls and adolescent mothers face in accessing education.

Tanzania’s long-term policy of expelling pregnant students from school was ruled by the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC) in 2022 to be a violation of girls’ human rights.

While the government has subsequently officially withdrawn this policy, the provisions in the Education Act that authorise exclusion from school of girls who are married, pregnant, or mothers remains unchanged, and there are serious concerns about the impact of Tanzania’s failure to fully implement ACERWC’s decision.

Girls across Africa who become pregnant may face the trauma of being forced to marry as a way to uphold family “honour” and avoid the social stigma associated with pregnancy outside of wedlock.

A cycle of abuse is perpetuated with young wives often denied access to education and economic opportunities, leaving them dependent on their husbands and in-laws. This makes them more susceptible to domestic violence and limits their ability to seek help or escape abuse.

African States have legal obligations to protect girls from early marriage

Child marriage is a gross violation of human rights and is prohibited by Article 16(2) of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), Article 6 of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol), and Article 21 (2) of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (the African Children’s Charter).

The Constitutive Act, which established the African Union, recognizes the promotion of gender equality as a fundamental principle of the Union. Guidance on how Member States can end child marriage is provided by instruments such as the Joint General Comment of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) and the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC) on Ending Child Marriage.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Model Law on Eradicating Child Marriage and Protecting Children Already in Marriage is another great source for states to consider.

Government progress has been slow and inconsistent

Equality Now’s family laws report notes laudable progress, with comprehensive bans on marriage under 18 years introduced in various countries, including Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, and The Gambia.

However, progress overall has been protracted, inconsistent, and impeded by setbacks, insufficient political will, and weak implementation. Challenges are compounded by the plural legal systems in many African countries, where religious and customary legal provisions often contradict regional and international human rights standards.

In countries such as Cameroon, Nigeria, Senegal, South Sudan, Sudan, and Tanzania, discriminatory age limit provisions permit girls to be married younger than boys, while in nations including Angola, Algeria, and Tunisia, exceptions on civil or customary grounds remain.

Education is a remedy for child marriage

Urgent action is needed by 2030 to ensure all girls complete a full cycle of basic education. African leaders must work fast to develop and accelerate the implementation of progressive education policies that align and integrate with laws and policies addressing child marriage.

Strengthening legal frameworks to ensure the minimum age of marriage is set at 18 without exceptions is essential. Prosecution and punishment of perpetrators should be accompanied by behavior change campaigns that shift social norms and raise awareness about the harms of early on girls, their children, and the wider society.

Underpinning this all should be the application of a multi-sectoral approach entailing coordinated efforts across multiple sectors, including the state and civil society. Government policy and funding must prioritize women’s rights and define the responsibilities of different government arms, including health, finance, justice, social welfare, youth, and education agencies.

Providing scholarships and financial incentives, such as conditional cash transfers, can help keep girls in school and diminish the economic incentives for early marriage. Rwanda is a good example, having achieved significant increases in girls’ school enrolment and a corresponding decrease in child marriage.

The country has made education free and compulsory through secondary school, and the state is investing heavily in teacher training and school infrastructure.

Another noteworthy case is Ethiopia’s investment in the Berhane Hewan programme, which combines education with community awareness. Girls who participated were 90% less likely to be married before the age of 15 compared to those not in the programme.

Enhancing the capacity to collect, analyse, and use sex-disaggregated data for policymaking is also crucial for informed decisions. This data can highlight disparities and guide targeted interventions.

Moreover, implementing education programs that include comprehensive sex education is vital. Such programs empower girls with knowledge about reproductive health and their rights, thereby reducing rates of child marriage and early pregnancies.

In Mozambique, the Gender Strategy for the Education Sector aims to create equal rights and opportunities for girls in the education sector. While a strategy like this is geared towards equality in education, if data collection around child marriages is incorporated it can produce results on strategy’s impact on child marriage.

Governments must tackle the root causes of child marriage

To genuinely protect and empower young women, governments must address the underlying causes of girls’ vulnerabilities. This includes tackling drivers such as conflict and climate crisis, improving social protection systems, introducing legal reforms to prohibit child marriage without exception, and ensuring the effective implementation of laws.

Efforts must also be made to challenge and change harmful cultural and religious practices that undermine the rights of women and girls.

Critically, African Union Member States must universally ratify and implement the Maputo Protocol and the African Children’s Charter. To adequately equip girls to thrive in the 21st century, they must also discharge the education and gender equality obligations they have committed to under Agenda 2063 and Africa’s Agenda for Children 2040.

*Thandi is not her real name.

Deborah Nyokabi is Gender Policy Expert, Equality Now.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Credit: Equality Now

By Deborah Nyokabi
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 24 2024 (IPS)

Thandi*, a 14-year-old girl from Malawi, is both a child and a mother. After she and her siblings were orphaned, they were left in the care of their grandmother, who struggled to provide for them.

Thandi recalls with sorrow how two years ago, her grandmother ‘sold’ her to a much older man for a bride price of 15,000 Malawian Kwacha (approximately USD $8.65). This meager sum was only enough to buy a week’s worth of food for the family.

Forced to drop out of school to become a wife, Thandi’s dreams of education were abruptly curtailed when she left education in Standard 7 (Grade 6). She explains, “Watching my friends continue with their schooling while I grappled with the challenges of marriage has left lasting scars.”

Over 6,000 kilometers away in Nigeria’s north-western Niger State, at the end of May 2024, the local government orchestrated marriages for 100 young women. Most were orphans who lost parents in the frequent bandit attacks that plague the region. Local officials claim that all the brides were aged over 18, but there are serious concerns that many were minors.

Child marriage remains widespread across Africa

A new report by Equality Now, Gender Inequality in Family Laws in Africa: An Overview of Key Trends in Select Countries, reveals pervasive discrimination in family laws across Africa, where child marriage remains widespread.

The continent is home to 127 million child brides. Although global rates of child marriage have declined from 23% to 19%, current trends suggest that by 2050, nearly half of the world’s child brides will be African.

The causes of child marriage are multifaceted. Challenges such as climate crisis, conflict, and socio-economic instability disproportionately affect women and girls, putting them at greater risk of human rights violations.

Rather than addressing systemic issues like poverty, sexual violence, and poor access to social support and reproductive healthcare, communities often resort to marrying girls off.

Governments are failing to protect girls

As in Thandi’s case, child marriage is commonly treated as a socio-economic band-aid. In her home country of Malawi, the practice has been completely illegal since 2017, when the government took the commendable step of raising the age of marriage to 18 for both boys and girls without exception.

However, child marriage remains widespread amongst a population that has over 70% living below the international poverty line, with 2020 data showing that 38% were married before the age of 18,

The situation is similar in other African countries. Niger is reported to have the world’s highest rate of child marriage among girls, with 76% married before 18. While in Mauritania, World Bank research cited that girls from the poorest households are almost twice as likely to marry compared to those living in the richest households.

Child marriage reinforces gender inequality, with girls viewed primarily as wives and mothers. What is especially concerning is how these harmful societal norms are sometimes state-backed by governments less willing to uphold girls’ rights.

In Mali, a watershed judgment by the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights in 2018 found Mali’s Personal and Family Code, which allows girls to marry at 15 or 16 while setting the same for boys at 18, violated Mali’s international and regional human rights obligations.

The African Court directed Mali to revise its Family Code to set the minimum age of marriage for both girls and boys at 18. Mali’s government has not yet implemented the judgment, rendering girls vulnerable to becoming child brides.

In Tanzania, a landmark judgment in 2016 mandated the government to set the minimum age of marriage for both boys and girls at 18, but Tanzania has yet to amend the Law of Marriage Act. This failure to enforce the judgment is leaving girls unprotected and is compounded by challenges that pregnant girls and adolescent mothers face in accessing education.

Tanzania’s long-term policy of expelling pregnant students from school was ruled by the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC) in 2022 to be a violation of girls’ human rights.

While the government has subsequently officially withdrawn this policy, the provisions in the Education Act that authorise exclusion from school of girls who are married, pregnant, or mothers remains unchanged, and there are serious concerns about the impact of Tanzania’s failure to fully implement ACERWC’s decision.

Girls across Africa who become pregnant may face the trauma of being forced to marry as a way to uphold family “honour” and avoid the social stigma associated with pregnancy outside of wedlock.

A cycle of abuse is perpetuated with young wives often denied access to education and economic opportunities, leaving them dependent on their husbands and in-laws. This makes them more susceptible to domestic violence and limits their ability to seek help or escape abuse.

African States have legal obligations to protect girls from early marriage

Child marriage is a gross violation of human rights and is prohibited by Article 16(2) of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), Article 6 of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol), and Article 21 (2) of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (the African Children’s Charter).

The Constitutive Act, which established the African Union, recognizes the promotion of gender equality as a fundamental principle of the Union. Guidance on how Member States can end child marriage is provided by instruments such as the Joint General Comment of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) and the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC) on Ending Child Marriage.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Model Law on Eradicating Child Marriage and Protecting Children Already in Marriage is another great source for states to consider.

Government progress has been slow and inconsistent

Equality Now’s family laws report notes laudable progress, with comprehensive bans on marriage under 18 years introduced in various countries, including Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, and The Gambia.

However, progress overall has been protracted, inconsistent, and impeded by setbacks, insufficient political will, and weak implementation. Challenges are compounded by the plural legal systems in many African countries, where religious and customary legal provisions often contradict regional and international human rights standards.

In countries such as Cameroon, Nigeria, Senegal, South Sudan, Sudan, and Tanzania, discriminatory age limit provisions permit girls to be married younger than boys, while in nations including Angola, Algeria, and Tunisia, exceptions on civil or customary grounds remain.

Education is a remedy for child marriage

Urgent action is needed by 2030 to ensure all girls complete a full cycle of basic education. African leaders must work fast to develop and accelerate the implementation of progressive education policies that align and integrate with laws and policies addressing child marriage.

Strengthening legal frameworks to ensure the minimum age of marriage is set at 18 without exceptions is essential. Prosecution and punishment of perpetrators should be accompanied by behavior change campaigns that shift social norms and raise awareness about the harms of early on girls, their children, and the wider society.

Underpinning this all should be the application of a multi-sectoral approach entailing coordinated efforts across multiple sectors, including the state and civil society. Government policy and funding must prioritize women’s rights and define the responsibilities of different government arms, including health, finance, justice, social welfare, youth, and education agencies.

Providing scholarships and financial incentives, such as conditional cash transfers, can help keep girls in school and diminish the economic incentives for early marriage. Rwanda is a good example, having achieved significant increases in girls’ school enrolment and a corresponding decrease in child marriage.

The country has made education free and compulsory through secondary school, and the state is investing heavily in teacher training and school infrastructure.

Another noteworthy case is Ethiopia’s investment in the Berhane Hewan programme, which combines education with community awareness. Girls who participated were 90% less likely to be married before the age of 15 compared to those not in the programme.

Enhancing the capacity to collect, analyse, and use sex-disaggregated data for policymaking is also crucial for informed decisions. This data can highlight disparities and guide targeted interventions.

Moreover, implementing education programs that include comprehensive sex education is vital. Such programs empower girls with knowledge about reproductive health and their rights, thereby reducing rates of child marriage and early pregnancies.

In Mozambique, the Gender Strategy for the Education Sector aims to create equal rights and opportunities for girls in the education sector. While a strategy like this is geared towards equality in education, if data collection around child marriages is incorporated it can produce results on strategy’s impact on child marriage.

Governments must tackle the root causes of child marriage

To genuinely protect and empower young women, governments must address the underlying causes of girls’ vulnerabilities. This includes tackling drivers such as conflict and climate crisis, improving social protection systems, introducing legal reforms to prohibit child marriage without exception, and ensuring the effective implementation of laws.

Efforts must also be made to challenge and change harmful cultural and religious practices that undermine the rights of women and girls.

Critically, African Union Member States must universally ratify and implement the Maputo Protocol and the African Children’s Charter. To adequately equip girls to thrive in the 21st century, they must also discharge the education and gender equality obligations they have committed to under Agenda 2063 and Africa’s Agenda for Children 2040.

*Thandi is not her real name.

Deborah Nyokabi is Gender Policy Expert, Equality Now.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Protestors air their views on non-proliferation opposite UN Headquarters in New York. Credit: ICAN/Seth Shelden
 
Amid geopolitical divides, arms competition, increasingly dangerous new technologies and an elevated nuclear risk, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres highlighted his concern that the UN Conference on Disarmament is consistently failing to deliver. February 2024

By Daryl G. Kimball
WASHINGTON DC, Jul 23 2024 (IPS)

Today, we are facing a growing and unprecedented array of nuclear weapons dangers. At the same time, this year’s presidential election is also unprecedented, unpredictable, and extremely consequential.

History shows that U.S. presidential leadership is one of the most important factors determining whether the nuclear danger will rise or fall. Perhaps the most fundamental responsibility of a U.S. president, who has the sole authority to order the use of nuclear weapons, is to avoid events that could lead to a nuclear war.

Unfortunately, mainstream campaign news coverage has paid scant attention to how the Republican nominee, Donald Trump, and the Democratic Party nominee plan to address one of, if not the, most serious threats to U.S. and international security. That needs to change.

Given what is at stake, the candidates’ approaches to the nuclear weapons threat deserve more scrutiny.

The Arms Control Association (ACA) and Arms Control Today will, in our capacity as a nonpartisan public education organization, be working hard to highlight the nuclear weapons challenges that U.S. presidential and congressional candidates must responsibly address.

American voters are increasingly aware and, according to recent polling, deeply concerned about nuclear weapons dangers. A 2024 national opinion survey found that a majority of Americans believe that nuclear weapons make the world more dangerous. Overall, just 13 percent think nuclear weapons are making the world a safer place, while 63 percent think the opposite, and 14 percent say neither.

Another challenge: unless the next U.S. president can productively engage Russia and China on nuclear risk reduction and arms control measures, we could see all three states engaging in an unconstrained and very dangerous nuclear arms race.

Ominously, some congressional leaders and members of the nuclear weapons establishment are already proposing a major buildup of deployed U.S. nuclear forces for the first time in more than three decades.

The Heritage Foundation, in its now infamous Project 2025 report, calls for ramping up the U.S. nuclear modernization program by adding more nuclear warheads to missiles, fielding more nuclear-capable bombers, and deploying nuclear-armed cruise missiles at sea.

As I wrote in the lead article of the July/August issue of Arms Control Today, such an expansion would be unnecessary, counterproductive, and prohibitively expensive. More nuclear weapons will not enhance deterrence capabilities or improve U.S. security. Nuclear arms control offers the most effective, durable, and responsible path to reduce the number, role, and risks of nuclear weapons.

Another public opinion survey conducted by the polling company IPSOS in the fall of 2023 shows that the next president would have strong U.S. popular support for nuclear arms control efforts with Russia and China. The poll indicated that 86% of respondents support nuclear arms control with Russia, with only 14% opposed; it also showed 88% support arms control with China, with only 12% opposed.

Daryl G. Kimball is Executive Director, Arms Control Association, Washington DC

Source: Arms Control Today

Russia vetoed a draft resolution in March 2024 to renew the mandate of the Security Council's 1718 Committee panel of experts monitoring sanctions on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Credit: UN Photo/Evan Schneider

By Alice Slater
NEW YORK, Jul 22 2024 (IPS)

On the heels of a new alliance announced this summer by Russia and North Korea for a pact pledging mutual defense, with the support of China, it is now shockingly being suggested in South Korea that it review its security policy with the US and end its reliance on the US guarantee, to employ on South Koreas’ behalf, US nuclear weapons as part of its “nuclear umbrella”.

The “umbrella” is offered to all NATO states as well as the Pacific states of Japan, Australia, and South Korea. Such questioning is evidence of the growing havoc faced in the world by the failure of the United States to make good on its legal obligation under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) for good faith efforts for nuclear disarmament.

The nuclear umbrella, to the extent that it includes the stationing of nuclear weapons in five NATO states (Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Turkey) is in itself an illegal violation of the 1968 Non-Proliferation Treaty in which five nuclear weapons states, the US, Russia, UK, France, and China, promised to make “good faith efforts” for nuclear disarmament while all the other countries of the world agreed not to get nuclear weapons.

Everyone, including South Korea signed the NPT except for Israel, Pakistan and India who developed their own nuclear arsenals. The NPT had a Faustian bargain that if a country promised not to get nuclear weapons, they would have an “inalienable right” to so-called “peaceful” nuclear power.

Since every “peaceful” nuclear power plant produced the material needed to make nuclear weapons the NPT gives those nations the keys to the bomb factory, North Korea walked out of the NPT and used its nuclear power to produce a nuclear arsenal. Iran has been enriching its nuclear materials but has not yet made a bomb.

The fact that Russia is allying with North Korea and China at this time is a result of the failure of US diplomacy and the drive by the US military-industrial-congressional-media-academic-think tank complex (MICIMATT) to expand the US empire beyond its 800 US military bases in 87 nations.

The US is now surrounding China with new bases recently established in the Pacific and forming AUKUS, a new military alliance with Australia, the UK and the US. The US has been breaking its agreement made with China in 1972 as we now are arming Taiwan despite promises made by Nixon and Kissinger to recognize China and remain neutral on the question of the future of Taiwan, to where the anti-communist forces retreated after the Chinese Revolution.

The US, after the end of the Cold War in 1989 with Russia walked out of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 1992 and put missile bases in Poland and Romania, walked out of the 1987 Intermediate Missile Forces Treaty negotiated by Reagan and Gorbachev in 1972, expanded NATO up to Russia’s border despite promises to Gorbachev that we wouldn’t expand NATO “one inch” eastward beyond a unified Germany.

Indeed, horrified by the NATO expansion, Putin at one point asked Clinton if Russia could be invited to join NATO which was refused, and announced often and pointedly in the years leading up to the Ukrainian War, that taking Ukraine into NATO was a “red line” for Russia!

The Empire was indifferent and kept expanding until we reached this sorry and perilous moment we are experiencing now. In retaliation, Putin just put Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus—a first incidence of Russian nuclear sharing!

Ironically, the underlying rationale for Nixon and Kissinger making peace with China was to prevent a more powerful alliance between Russia and China.

The US will be reaping the whirlwind if it doesn’t comply with its nuclear disarmament obligations and take the path to peace. More nuclear armed countries such as South Korea may proliferate. Saudi Arabia is currently seeking “peaceful” nuclear power without safeguards on its use.

With either nuclear annihilation or cataclysmic climate collapse facing our beleaguered planet, it’s time to cooperate with other countries—make peace not war!!

Alice Slater serves on the boards of World BEYOND War and the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, and is a UN NGO Representative for the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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A family cooks a meal in a temporary accommodation in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. Credit: UN World Food Programme (WFP)

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 22 2024 (IPS)

The Palestinians in Gaza have been victims of a double tragedy: killings by Israel’s mostly American-made weapons and deaths by starvation.

And now comes a revelation of a new weapon of war: how Israel has been systematically weaponizing water against Palestinians in Gaza, according to a new report from the global human rights organization, Oxfam.

The report, “Water War Crimes”, finds that Israel’s cutting of external water supply, systematic destruction of water facilities and deliberate aid obstruction have reduced the amount of water available in Gaza by 94% to 4.74 litres a day per person – just under a third of the recommended minimum in emergencies and less than a single toilet flush.

Oxfam analysis also found:

– Israeli military attacks have damaged or destroyed five water and sanitation infrastructure sites every three days since the start of the war (last October)

– The destruction of water and electricity infrastructure and restrictions on entry of spare parts and fuel (on average a fifth of the required amount is allowed in) saw water production drop by 84% in Gaza. External supply from Israel’s national water company Mekorot fell by 78%.

– Israel has destroyed 70% of all sewage pumps and 100% of all wastewater treatment plants, as well as the main water quality testing laboratories in Gaza, and restricted the entry of Oxfam water testing equipment.

James E. Jennings, PhD, President of Conscience International and Executive Director, US Academics for Peace, told IPS aid and development organizations know what they call WATSAN, or Water and Sanitation, are more basic for human health and survival than even food and shelter.

Conscience International realized in the early days of Israel’s genocidal campaign of destruction in Gaza that the absence of safe water supplies for Gaza would eventually kill far more people than even the bombs, he pointed out.

“The only thing we got wrong was estimating how long it would take to reach the deadly point where we are now. It is a tribute to the resilience and talent of Gaza’s citizens that clean water somehow continues to flow in small amounts, despite Israel’s destruction of an estimated 94% of Gaza’s purification facilities.”

Gaza’s deliberately imposed dearth of drinking water cannot continue through the stifling heat of July, August, September, and October without condemning multitudes of civilians to death. Children and the aged—who had no part in the conflict—are the most vulnerable, said Dr Jennings.

“Even if all aid access restrictions were lifted immediately—which Israel continues to refuse to do—many innocent people will still die, because logistical and technical challenges make it nearly impossible to meet the need for drinkable water”.

This humanitarian crisis was predictable and inevitable. The international community has so far failed to intervene to stop the ongoing genocide. Now it is too late, he declared.

The Oxfam report also highlighted the dire impact of this extreme lack of clean water and sanitation on Palestinians’ health, with more than a quarter (26%) of Gaza’s population falling severely ill from easily preventable diseases.

In January, the International Court of Justice demanded that Israel immediately improve humanitarian access upon finding that South Africa had brought plausible claims under the Genocide Convention. Since then, Oxfam has witnessed firsthand Israel’s obstruction of a meaningful humanitarian response, which is killing Palestinian civilians, according to the report.

Scott Paul, Oxfam America’s Associate Director of Peace and Security, said, “Oxfam’s new analysis leaves little doubt that Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government has systemically obliterated Gaza’s clean water supply and infrastructure.

“Today, Palestinians in Gaza have almost no water to drink, let alone to bathe, cook, or clean. Prime Minister Netanyahu must restore sufficient water, food, electricity, and other vital assistance for all people in Gaza. Instead of granting him the platform to double down on his deadly offensive to Congress, US leaders must cut off the supply of bombs that are being used to kill civilians and destroy Gaza and with it, any hope for peace.”

Oxfam Water and Sanitation Specialist Lama Abdul Samad said it was clear that Israel had created a devastating humanitarian emergency resulting in Palestinian civilian deaths:

“The deliberate restriction of access to water is not a new tactic. The Israeli Government has been depriving Palestinians across the West Bank and Gaza of safe and sufficient water for many years,” she said.

“The widespread destruction and significant restrictions on aid delivery in Gaza impacting access to water and other essentials for survival, underscores the urgent need for the international community to take decisive action to prevent further suffering by upholding justice and human rights, including those enshrined in the Geneva and Genocide Conventions.”

Monther Shoblak, General Manager of the Gaza Strip’s water utility CMWU, said: “My colleagues and I have been living through a nightmare these past nine months, but we still feel it’s our responsibility and duty to ensure everybody in Gaza is getting their minimum right of clean drinking water. It’s been very difficult, but we are determined to keep trying – even when we witness our colleagues being targeted and killed by Israel while undertaking their work.”

Oxfam is calling for urgent action including an immediate and permanent ceasefire; for Israel to allow a full and unfettered humanitarian response; and for Israel to foot the reconstruction bill for water and sanitation infrastructure.

Dr Jennings also recounted that as long ago as 2017 Amnesty International signaled to the world the potentially dire consequences of Israel’s control over the water resources for the Palestinian population of the West Bank and Gaza, calling it “systematic,” “devastating,” and “discriminatory.”

Years before that report appeared, Gaza’s sewage crisis was also the concern of multiple local administrative agencies.

Oxfam now claims that Israel’s “Water War Crimes” have reduced the available clean water in Gaza to 6% of what it was when the war started. One water drilling company in Africa uses the slogan, “Water is Life,” and it truly is.

What’s more, experts have recently detected the Polio Virus in mud puddles and wastewater pools in the tent cities of Gaza where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have taken refuge to escape Israel’s deadly nine-month bombing campaign, he noted.

Meanwhile, a staggering 186,000 killings in Gaza –- compared with the official figure of over 37,000—has resurrected accusations of genocide and war crimes in the devastating nine-month-old war between Israel and Hamas, with no signs of a cease-fire.

The new estimates have come from The Lancet, one of the most prestigious peer-reviewed British medical journals.

In recent conflicts, says the article, titled “Counting the Deaths in Gaza: Difficult but Essential”, indirect deaths range from three to 15 times the number of direct deaths.

“Applying a conservative estimate of four indirect deaths per one direct death to the 37, 396 deaths reported, it is not implausible to estimate that up to 186, 000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza,” according to The Lancet.

The disproportionate killings in Gaza are in retaliation to the 1,200 killed by Hamas inside Israel on October 7.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Supporters and opponents of the Bangladesh quota system for government jobs face off in Dhaka, July 16, 2024. [Source: Md. Hasan/BenarNews]

By IPS Correspondent
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 19 2024 (IPS)

Student protests over the Bangladesh government’s recruitment system have escalated into violent retaliation from the police from the authorities.

Today (Friday, July 19), violent clashes continued to rock Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital, and the northern city of Rangpuras, where university students continued their protest over the government’s civil service recruitment system. AFP reports reports the death toll reached 105.

The quota system, as it is known, now reserves 56 percent of positions in the civil service to certain groups: 10 percent to women, 10 percent to those from underdeveloped districts, 5 percent to indigenous peoples, 1 percent to people with disabilities, and 30 percent to those who fought in the 1971 war of independence, along with their descendants.

In June, Bangladesh’s High Court ruled to reinstate the measure to reserve jobs for the fighters, which had been previously abolished by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2018.

Students and young workers raised concerns that this system did not reward merit but rather favored those affiliated with the Awami League, the ruling party.

Since then, students have been demanding a reform to the quota system. This comes at a time when the unemployment rate is at 40 percent for youth who are neither working nor in university.

On July 14, Hasina implied that the protestors were “razakars,” a contentious term in Bangladesh as it refers to the people who supported Pakistan during the 1971 war, traitors in the eyes of the Bangladeshi people. The comments from Hasina caused outrage among students and they decried them during the protests.

The escalation into violence began on July 15, when protestors were attacked by members of the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), the student wing of the Awami League. Reports emerged of heavily armed BCL members attacking indiscriminately against unarmed protestors, including women and younger students.

The government consequently called for all university campuses to shut down amid the tensions. The police force was sent in to suppress the movement, where they have used rubber bullets and tear gas against students.

Protests and the resulting violent clashes have broken out all over the country, including Chittagong, Rangpur, and Dhaka.

On Thursday, the government deployed the military, namely the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB). Since then, at least 105 deaths have been reported and over 25,000 people have been injured during the protests. This number could be much higher.

Since July 18, internet and phone communications have been shut down, first in select areas and now across the country.

The internet shutdown has also meant that the websites of some major news outlets, such as the Daily Star and Bangladesh have gone offline. Just prior to the shutdown, the BCL’s official website was hacked with a message that reads “Hacked by THE R3SISTANC3.”

There are also reports that the official websites of the police and the prime minister’s office were also hacked with messages reading, “Stop killing students” and “It’s not a protest anymore, it’s a war now.”

Amid the protests, the government announced on Thursday announced that it would be willing to sit down with protestors to discuss their demands for reform to the quota system.

Law minister Anisul Haq said that discussions would be held whenever the student protestors agreed. Student protestors have so far denied this call to action, with one student telling the BBC on Thursday, “The government has killed so many people in a day that we cannot join any discussions in the current circumstances.”

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk expressed concern for the violation of human rights and has called for impartial investigations into the attacks.

“The government should take the necessary measures to ensure the protection and safety of the students participating in peaceful protests, and to guarantee the right to freedom of assembly and expression without fear of attacks against their lives and physical integrity, or other forms of repression,” he said. “Bangladesh’s political leaders must work with the country’s young population to find solutions to the ongoing challenges and focus on the country’s growth and development. Dialogue is the best and only way forward.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed deep concern about the violence and called for “restraint on all sides.”

In a statement issued on Thursday, he called for authorities to “investigate all acts of violence, hold perpetrators to account, and ensure a conducive environment for dialogue.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Donald J. Trump, President of the United States, addresses the General Assembly’s 75th session in September 2020. Credit: UN Photo/Rick Bajornas

By James E. Jennings
ATLANTA, Georgia, Jul 19 2024 (IPS)

Republican Vice-Presidential nominee JD Vance and other speakers at the GOP Convention gleefully referenced the party’s latest icon: a wounded Donald Trump with blood on his face raising his fist in defiance beneath Old Glory’s stars and stripes.

The MAGA party realizes that they have a powerful symbol that will likely return Trump to the White House, because symbols are supremely powerful for both politics and religion. Associated Press photographer Evan Vucci captured the image, one of the most iconic ever recorded in American history. It fits perfectly into the Republican Campaign theme—“Trump is a hero and only he can save us.” The only other comparable photograph is the unforgettable one showing embattled Marines raising the American flag on Iwo Jima during WW II.

Vucci’s photograph framed a bloody former President, wounded in the assassination attempt, heroically pumping his fist in defiance beneath a red, white, and blue flag against a clear blue sky. It was the perfect photo, taken at a moment of extreme peril for American democracy, and sure to win a Pulitzer Prize.

It could be the key visual message that motivates people to side with Trump as a hero and propel him back to the White House. Photojournalist Doug Mills of the New York Times snapped a remarkable photo of the bullet in mid-air just beyond Trump, but Vucci’s stirring image of the wounded former president conveys a much more impactful message of heroism and patriotism.

Americans clearly prefer a tough, vigorous, even pugnacious and younger male leader (even if the image is false) to an old, decrepit President, especially one stammering to express himself and now sidelined with Coronavirus.

MAGA Republicans insist that people should vote for their hero Trump instead of Biden, pictured as a weak old man, or heaven forbid, by a scrappy female like Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris, or even Republican Nikki Haley.

Aging leaders have been required to prove their virility from time to time throughout history—in ancient Egypt by running around a course, and in Communist China by swimming, or more likely floating, for ten miles in the Yangtze River, as did Mao Tse-tung in 1966.

His claim of fitness, especially in the photo of him swimming, became an icon across China and revived his political fortunes after the disaster of the Great Cultural Revolution.

Americans consider themselves to be a tough breed. That in turn requires a macho man to be our leader. Even if Trump is not really that, the picture of a defiant Trump surviving an assassin’s bullet and pumping his fist is an incredibly powerful icon at this moment of destiny in the nation’s politics.

There were no photos when Lincoln was shot and the Kennedy assassination photos show blurs in the back of a speeding convertible. The only other iconic photo to stir the emotions of patriotic Americans with equally intense feelings would be that snapshot by photographer Joe Rosenthal Showing US Marines raising the flag on Mount Suribachi.

That picture captured American patriotism so perfectly that it was later sculpted into a colossal statue near the US Capitol in Washington.

Not many people know about semasiography—the science of symbols—but throughout history symbols have had an underlying, supremely powerful influence on religion, politics, and human behavior. This photo of Trump, like the one of the marines, has the capacity to impact people at a visceral level and therefore to change human behavior on a large scale.

There is no question of the overwhelming influence of such a potent symbol at this point in an evenly balanced and fiercely divided, nation.

The way symbols work is like this: they are simple, convey meaning in a generalized sense, and have the capacity to rally multitudes of people, sometimes continuing to evoke allegiance for thousands of years. Many national flags in the modern era include symbols.

The red, white, and blue of the American flag can cause tears to flow, pride to swell the chest, and infuse soldiers with the courage to face cannons on the battlefield.

One of the most omnipresent symbols worldwide is the Christian Cross, which has provided meaning and identity for millions of people over thousands of years. The Nazi Swastika and the Hammer and Sickle rallied Germans and Russians, functioning in a similar way for unbelievably vast numbers of people during WW II.

The swastika, or broken cross, was an ancient Aryan cultural sign, meaning to the Germans “Deutchland Uber Alles,” the racial-political creed of Germany. Hitler was delighted when he found it, knowing he could use it to rally the nation to his banner.

The Soviet hammer and sickle dominated great parts of the globe for much of the Twentieth Century, signifying the rise of the Proletariat. During the Vietnam War, millions of college students protested wearing the peace sign in support of the anti-war movement.

A symbol can carry a different meaning for millions of people, allowing each individual to put his or her own meaning into it, often leading to action. In short, a symbol is a way to capture and intensify personal feelings.

An appropriate and timely icon can be used to lure, move, or drive masses of people toward a desired goal, even if its message is vague and diffuse.

Several modern psychiatrists have focused on symbolism, beginning of course with Freud. The study of semasiography became a major preoccupation of his most prominent successor, Jung. Both knew the power of symbols.

Soon the icon of a defiant Trump—the ultimate American tough guy—will appear on t-shirts and coffee mugs, helping to build a different national culture than the one bequeathed to Americans by Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and others of the Greatest Generation.

This new political culture has already shown its true colors—dominance, retribution, reaction, discrimination, with threats of violence and coercion as the new mechanism of control. Sadly, this is the way history works. Change is coming—prepare for it.

James E. Jennings is President of Conscience International and Executive Director of US Academics for Peace.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Schools-turned-shelters run by the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, have suffered serious damage in strikes in the last week. July 2024. Credit: United Nations

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 19 2024 (IPS)

The Biden administration, which has come under heavy fire for its unyielding pro-Israeli stand on the nine-month-old war in Gaza, is facing a rebellion within its own bureaucratic ranks—12 and counting.

The 12 government officials, who recently resigned, have accused the US of providing diplomatic cover for the continuous flow of arms to Israel ensuring “our undeniable complicity in the killings and forced starvation of a besieged Palestinian population in Gaza.”

This is not only morally reprehensible and in clear violation of international humanitarian law and US laws, but it has also put a target on America’s back,” they continue, arguing that it has put the lives of service members and diplomats at risk.

Dr. Alon Ben-Meir, a retired professor of international relations, most recently at the Center for Global Affairs at New York University (NYU), and who taught courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies, told IPS: “I share the overall view of the 12 US government officials who have resigned in protest against the Biden administration’s policy in connection with the Israel-Hamas war”.

They wrote in their joint statement, titled Service in Dissent, that “America’s diplomatic cover for, and continuous flow of arms to Israel has ensured our undeniable complicity in the killings and forced starvation of a besieged Palestinian population in Gaza. This is not only morally reprehensible and in clear violation of international humanitarian law and US laws, but it has also put a target on America’s back.”

https://jointstatement.tiiny.site/

“I have supported Israel’s right to defend itself as well as the Biden administration’s support of Israel’s war efforts, standing by the US’s iron-clad commitment to Israel’s security by providing it with all necessary military aid and political cover.

“I have stated time and again that Hamas’s unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack and Israel’s unparalleled retaliation have reinforced my own view, which I share with many others, that there will be no resolution to the 76-year-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict short of a two-state solution.

I still hold to the position that it will be impossible to return to the status quo that prevailed before October 7, as a new paradigm was created that offered the inimitable opportunity to recommence the peace negotiations that could lead to a two-state solution,” said Dr Ben-Meir.

Meanwhile there have also been negative reactions in European capitals. Last February, the New York Times ran a story headlined “US and European officials release a Letter Protesting Israeli Policies.”

According to the Times report, more than 500 officials in the US, Britain and the European Union (EU) released a “public letter of dissent” against their (respective) government’s support of Israel in its war in Gaza.”

In an oped piece published on the IPS wire July 18, Mouin Rabbani, Co-Editor of Jadaliyya and Non-Resident Fellow with the Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies (CHS), says the Letter of Dissent makes indisputably clear that US policy towards the present crisis has been an absolute failure at virtually every level.

https://www.ipsnews.net/2024/07/us-policy-towards-gaza-crisis-absolute-failure-virtually-every-level/

Not only has it failed to achieve any of its objectives and further consolidate Western hegemony in the Middle East, but it has made the US government directly and actively complicit in the genocide currently before the International Court of Justice in The Hague, he said.

As the signatories note, the US is “wilfully” violating not only international laws that are binding upon Washington, but is similarly and knowingly violating US domestic law in its fanatic determination to see Israel’s mass atrocities through to the bitter end, said Rabbani, who is also a Non-Resident Fellow at Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN).

“Tellingly, and quite accurately, they also point out that the Biden administration’s determination to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and his ultra-rightist, annexationist government has led to the suppression of basic constitutional freedoms within the United States,” he declared.

Meanwhile, in an address to the UN Security Council on July 17, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that recent developments are driving a stake through the heart of any prospect for a two-State solution.

“The geography of the occupied West Bank is steadily being altered through Israeli administrative and legal steps. The seizure of large land parcels in strategic areas and changes to planning, land management and governance are expected to significantly accelerate settlement expansion”.

These changes, he pointed out, include the issuance of two military orders at the end of May. These orders transferred powers to, and appointed, a civilian deputy in Israel’s Civil Administration, which is alarming.

This move is another significant advance in the ongoing transfer of authority over many aspects of daily life in the occupied West Bank, and a further step towards extending Israeli sovereignty over this occupied territory.

If left unaddressed, these measures risk causing irreparable damage, he said.

“We must change course. All settlement activity must cease immediately. Israeli settlements are a flagrant violation of international law and a key obstacle to peace. The violence must end, and the perpetrators of the violence must be swiftly brought to justice.

Israel must ensure the safety and security of the Palestinian population, Guterres declared.

Elaborating further Dr Ben-Meir said: “Personally, I was in favor of crippling Hamas militarily. Still, I have also repeatedly stated that while Israel may be able to crush Hamas militarily, it will be unable to destroy it as a political movement that holds a specific ideology that calls for Israel’s destruction.

“However, I have never subscribed to the notion that Hamas will ever be in a position to extinguish Israel for many reasons, including the fact that Hamas leaders know only too well that Israel is a formidable military power whose existence is irrevocable. The war has made it clear that challenging Israel’s right to exist is tantamount to suicide”.

President Biden was the first global leader to affirm that, given the new developing circumstances, a two-state solution is a prerequisite to end this endemic conflict.

As the war continued to grind on and as the Palestinians’ death toll and destruction were mounting, and Prime Minister Netanyahu categorically refused to even mention any solution along the lines of an independent state, the whole idea of a two-state solution was dropped from Biden’s lexicon. But the flow of weapons to Israel, if anything, was increasing without any preconditions.

Moreover, the US vetoed two UNSC resolutions that called for a ceasefire while food, water, fuel, and medical supplies were dwindling, and the displacement of Palestinians by the hundreds of thousands continued unabated.

Meanwhile, Israel’s relentless bombing using American-made bombs, which were killing thousands in densely populated areas, made the US complicit in the horrific carnage. By now, more than 37,000 Palestinians have been killed, and more than half of Gaza lies in ruin, Dr Ben-Meir said.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Irene Khan, Special Rapporteur for freedom of expression and opinion, briefs reporters at UN Headquarters. Credit: Manuel Elías/UN

By Ed Holt
BRATISLAVA, Jul 19 2024 (IPS)

Rights groups have called for governments to do more to combat transnational repression as a series of recent reports show growing numbers of exiled journalists, political dissidents and rights defenders are being targeted by autocratic regimes in an attempt to silence them.

They say governments must do more to deal with the repression, which takes the form of online harassment, surveillance, enforced disappearances, physical attacks and sometimes even killings, to protect the safety of these people.

“We have seen an increase in transnational repression, tied into the rise in authoritarianism around the world in general. Generally, there is a growing awareness of this complex problem among host countries and a willingness to do something about it.

“But more work needs to be done in some areas and governments need to support exiled journalists and understand the vital importance of the work they do,” Fiona O’Brien, UK Bureau Director at Reporters Without Borders (RSF), told IPS.

The scale of the problem has been laid bare in a number of reports in recent months.

In February, rights group Freedom House released a report documenting scores of attacks, including assassinations, abductions and assaults, carried out by governments against people outside their borders in 2023.

Naming Russia, Cambodia, Myanmar, Turkmenistan and China as the biggest perpetrators, it also reported on the first known cases of transitional repression sanctioned by a number of governments, including the regimes of Cuba, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, El Salvador, Myanmar, Sierra Leone and Yemen.

The group said that 44 countries—more than a fifth of the world’s national governments—have attempted to silence dissidents, activists, political opponents and members of ethnic or religious minorities beyond their own borders in the last ten years, with 1,034 recorded direct, physical incidents of transnational repression.

Meanwhile, at the end of June, while presenting a report on transnational repression, the United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, Irene Khan, raised concerns not just about increasing incidents of transnational repression, but host countries’ responses to it.

“Too often, states are either unwilling for political reasons or unable for lack of capacity or resources to protect and support journalists in exile. Journalists should not be treated as political pawns but as human beings in distress who, at great cost to themselves, are contributing to the realization of our human right to information,” Khan said.

Following the report, scores of governments issued a joint statement condemning the repression and committing to coordinated action to help people being targeted and to hold accountable those behind any attacks. But it did not spell out any specific measures that should be implemented to do this.

Rights groups say that concrete steps must be taken by host governments to address the problem both in their own countries, and to confront those regimes perpetrating such acts.

Phil Lynch, Executive Director at the non-profit organisation International Service for Human Rights, said such action should involve host states not only providing comprehensive protection and support to those at risk of acts of transnational repression, but also measures, to undermine the capabilities of regimes to target people abroad.

He said host states must ensure they do not support or acquiesce in acts of transnational repression, such as through extradition or refoulement to states engaged in the persecution of human rights defenders; do not provide or export the tools or technologies of transnational repression, such as spyware and arms, to repressive states; must build awareness and law enforcement capabilities to respond to acts of transnational repression; and publicly denounce, investigate and pursue accountability for acts of transnational repression, including through sanctions and diplomatic repercussions.

“They should also prioritise human rights in foreign policy and relations both at bilateral and multilateral levels, adopting a principled and consistent approach to human rights in all situations, without selectivity and without discrimination,” he told IPS.

The lack of any serious consequences for regimes using transnational repression is helping perpetuate its widescale use, experts say.

“Governments don’t seem to be shying away from using transnational repression. This is likely because there has been very little accountability even in the most well-publicized cases, like the assassination of [Saudi dissident writer] Jamal Khashoggi. Since governments aren’t paying a price for targeting dissidents abroad, there’s little reason for them not to attempt it,” Yana Gorokhovskaia, Research Director, Strategy and Design, at Freedom House, told IPS.

But it is not just host country governments that could do more, experts say.

“Most of the harassment and attacks are online. Big tech have been totally absent from [efforts to fight transnational repression]. Governments have to hold big tech to account on this,” said O’Brien.

“Increasingly, acts of transnational repression occur online or are technology-facilitated. Technology providers have a duty to conduct due diligence to ensure their technologies and tools are not used, directly or indirectly, to restrict or violate human rights, including through acts of transnational repression. Governments should also legislate to mandate that human rights due diligence is undertaken by companies,” added Lynch.

It appears that some countries are becoming increasingly aware of the issue and willing to improve how they tackle it.

O’Brien said this following an RSF report on harassment of Iranian journalists in the UK released earlier this year. British authorities have “shown a lot of interest in how to tackle this problem better,”  while Freedom House has highlighted how President Joe Biden’s administration has made addressing the issue a priority across law enforcement and security agencies.

Gorokhovskaia also pointed out that over the last four years various countries have adopted policies to mitigate the threat posed by transnational repression, including improved training for police and security agencies and more outreach to communities that can be targeted.

“Countries have also become more aware of how international organizations, like Interpol, can be misused for transnational repression and taken steps to address this (by examining Interpol notices from certain perpetrator countries),” she said.

But research from other groups shows a much less reassuring picture.

A report from Human Rights Watch (HRW) said some host country governments were not only failing to ensure adequate protective measures for those at risk but were even actively facilitating transnational repression.

UN special rapporteur Khan also warned of host states becoming enablers “of transnational repression, for instance, by colluding in abductions instigated by the home state.”

Some alleged cases of such facilitation involve ostensibly stable, democratic, western states.

Abdulrahman Al-Khalidi, a political activist and a known dissident, arrived in Bulgaria in October 2021.

A campaigner for human rights and advocate for democratic reforms, he had fled his home country in the wake of mass arrests following the Arab Spring.

But since crossing into Bulgaria and claiming asylum, he has faced a complicated and, he says, at times incomprehensible legal battle over authorities’ continued refusal to grant him asylum and release him from detention at the migration centre despite court rulings in his favour.

He is facing deportation to Saudi Arabia, where, he told IPS, he will almost certainly be killed.

Al-Khalidi believes the Saudi secret service is behind the Bulgarian authorities’ blocking of his asylum. He says that during questioning by agency officials, he was told they were working with Saudi authorities on his case and that Saudi officials wanted him returned to Saudi Arabia. The Bulgarian state security agency has repeatedly said Al-Khalidi is a threat to national security, thereby blocking his asylum and release from detention.

Speaking to IPS in early July as he began a hunger strike while at a migrant detention centre near the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, where he has been held for the last three years, Al-Khalidi had a warning for governments hosting exiled dissidents and journalists.

“We live in a time full of international turmoil in which younger generations believe in anarchism more than they believe in democratic principles. This is very dangerous. The blame for this is fully borne by politicians who benefit from this and whose actions contradict the principles of the state, subsequently raising generations who lose their faith in both,” he said.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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