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An igapó, a flood-prone wooded area on the Vuelta Grande of the Xingu River, with fruit on the dry ground. This is where the piracema, or fish reproduction, was supposed to take place, frustrated by the scarcity of water released by the Belo Monte hydroelectric plant on this stretch of the river in the eastern Brazilian Amazon. The fruits are lost and stop feeding the fish by falling on the ground and not in the water. Credit: Mati / VGX

By Mario Osava
BELÉM, Brazil, Jul 28 2024 (IPS)

The decade-and-a-half-long battle for life in the so-called Volta Grande (Big Bend) of the Xingu river, a stretch of the river dewatered by the Belo Monte hydroelectric power plant in the Brazilian Amazon, has a possible solution, albeit a partial one.

The mega power project divided the waters of the Xingu. It has taken up most of the river and emptied the now 130-kilometre U-shaped Reduced Flow Stretch (TVR, in Portuguese), whose banks are home to two indigenous groups and a community, all affected by the depletion of fish, the basis of their livelihood.“We have become illiterate about the river, and the fish. We no longer know how to read what is happening in the river”: river dweller.

A proposal drawn up by these villagers and scientific researchers makes it possible to recover the minimum conditions for the reproduction of fish, which have declined since the plant began operations in 2016. The goal is to mitigate the project’s negative impacts on the people living in the area.

But Norte Energía, the concessionaire of Belo Monte, estimates that this alternative would cost it a 39% reduction in its electricity generation. The dilemma pits the vital needs of the riverside population against the company’s economic feasibility.

Belo Monte, 700 kilometres southwest of Belém, is one of major power and logistics projects that abounded in Latin America in the first two decades of this century. It is the third largest hydroelectric plant in the world, with a capacity of 11,233 megawatts and an expected effective generation of only 40% on average.

Josiel Juruna, speaking at a July meeting of the Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science, in the city of Belém, in the Brazilian Amazon. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS

The Xingu river in the eastern Amazon region attracted energy interest because of its average flow of 7,966 cubic metres per second and the gradient that allowed Belo Monte to have its main power plant with a water fall of 87 metres.

But its flow has excessive variations, with floods 20 times higher than its low water level. With less than 1,000 cubic metres per second in low water, it lowers the plant’s average annual generation.

To prevent the flooding of the Volta Grande of the Xingu (VGX) and, within it, of the two indigenous lands of the Juruna and Arara peoples, a canal was built to connect the two points of the curve, diverting about 70% of the river’s waters and draining the life out of the curved section.

A sarobal, an island of stones and sand, prone to flooding in the Vuelta Grande of Xingu, in Brazil’s eastern Amazon. It used to be a fish breeding site, but lost that function due to the water shortage caused by the Belo Monte hydroelectric plant, which diverted 70% of the river’s water into a channel used for power generation. Credit: Mati / VGX

The power plant and the ecosystem’s disruption

In addition to taking away water, the project disrupted the environment, especially water cycles, and thus human, animal and plant life. “We have become illiterate about the river, and the fish. We no longer know how to read what is happening in the river,” said a river dweller at a hearing organised by the Public Prosecutor’s Office in August 2022.

Piracema, the upstream migration of shoals of fish during spawning, is vital to sustain livelihoods in the VGX, stresses Josiel Juruna, local coordinator of the Independent Territorial Environmental Monitoring (Mati).

Belo Monte deteriorated the quality of life of river dwellers by making piracema unviable.

That is why Mati, led by some 30 university scientists and local researchers, prioritised the monitoring and recovery of the piracema, understood as a site for procreation, apart from monitoring and measuring other ecological aspects in the stretch most affected by the hydroelectric plant.

An Independent Environmental and Territorial Monitoring team observes critical points in the low-flow section of the Xingu river, whose waters have been diverted to the canal that feeds the Belo Monte hydroelectric plant in the Brazilian Amazon. Credit: Courtesy of Juarez Pezzuti

As a result of their participatory research, launched in 2014 by the Juruna people and the non-governmental Instituto Socioambiental, in 2022 Mati presented to environmental authorities the Piracema Hydrograph, which indicates the flow necessary for the reproduction of fish in the VGX.

This is an alternative to hydrographs A and B, which govern the flow of water that Belo Monte releases to the VGX, in defined quantities for each month, to meet the conditions agreed for the operation of the hydroelectric plant. They are also called Consensus hydrographs, applied according to different pluviometric conditions.

These flows were defined in the environmental impact studies carried out by specialised companies, but paid for by Norte Energía, to obtain the license for the construction and operation of the plant.

A sample of the hydrographs that should govern the amount of water destined each month to the Vuelta Grande of the Xingu river to sustain its ecological functions. In purple and with flow figures for each month, the hydrograph proposed by indigenous people, riverside dwellers and scientific researchers to recover the lower and more productive piracemas. Credit: Mati / VGX

Piracema, key to river life

Indigenous people have always disagreed with these hydrographs because they do not ensure the necessary flow for maintaining the ecosystem, which is indispensable for the fish, the basis of their diet and the income they obtain from the sale of surplus fish.

It releases insufficient water at inappropriate times, ignoring the dynamics of the piracema, according to Juruna.

“The Belo Monte hydrograph only allows flooding in April, but the piracema requires lots of water between January and March, so that it fills the sarobal and igapós, where the female fish arrive to spawn and then the males for fertilisation,” he told IPS in Belém.

The word sarobal in Brazil defines an island of stone and sand, flooded and with vegetation of grasses and shrubs that provide food for the fish. Igapó is also a flooded area of banks and small waterways, with trees and vegetation that produce fruit and other foodstuffs.

Without water, the fish do not have access to their breeding grounds or to the fruits, which fall on the dry ground. Juruna often shows a video of a curimatá, a fish abundant in the Xingu, with dried eggs in its belly. It “couldn’t spawn” because there was no water in the piracema at the right time, he explained.

Apart from more water, the Piracema Hydrograph requires bringing forward the release of more water for the Vuelta Grande by at least three months. And maintaining the flood for a few months is also indispensable to feed the fish with the fruits falling in the water and not on the ground.

In fact, it is necessary to increase the flow of the VGX with ‘new water’ from November onwards, so that the fish start to migrate. “Without the right amount of water at the right time, there is no piracema”, the basis of river life, stresses a Mati report.

Fish killed by a fall in water flow in the Xingu river’s Vuelta Grande. Credit: Mati / VGX

Irrecoverable way of life

The Piracema Hydrograph will not restore the former way of life in the Vuelta Grande. That would require restoring past conditions, without the hydroelectric plant, admitted Juruna. His goal is to rehabilitate “the lower piracemas”, i.e. the sarobals and the floodable igapós with a little more water than what Belo Monte releases.

“The higher piracemas will no longer exist,” he lamented.

There will be no fish as before, the Juruna have already become farmers and mainly cultivate cocoa. A recovery of the piracemas will allow them to fish for their own food, but hardly for sale and income, he said.

Community life has declined among the indigenous people, who increasingly feed themselves on ‘city products’ and move more and more to Altamira, a city 50 kilometres away from the indigenous land of Paquiçamba, where the Jurunas live.

With Belo Monte, a road to the city was built and motorbikes have multiplied in the indigenous village, Juruna observed. Their way of life has been profoundly altered, but the indigenous people are resisting the death of their river and the Mati have added their traditional knowledge to scientific research.

Biologist Juarez Pezzuti, a professor at the Federal University of Pará, based in Belém, and a member of Mati, believes it necessary to dispel the idea of Belo Monte and other hydroelectric plants, especially those in the Amazon, as sources of sustainable energy.

“They emit greenhouse gases in a similar proportion to fossil-fuel thermoelectric plants,” he told IPS. In addition to flooding vegetation when the reservoir is formed, they continue to do so afterwards, because as their waters recede, the vegetation that will later be flooded is renewed.

Their downstream impacts are only now beginning to be studied. In the Amazon, they dry up the igapós, as has already been seen in the Balbina power plant near Manaus, capital of the neighbouring state of Amazonas.

It is a technology in decline, whose social, environmental and climatic costs tend to be better recognised and call into question its benefits, he concluded.

An igapó, a flood-prone wooded area on the Vuelta Grande of the Xingu River, with fruit on the dry ground. This is where the piracema, or fish reproduction, was supposed to take place, frustrated by the scarcity of water released by the Belo Monte hydroelectric plant on this stretch of the river in the eastern Brazilian Amazon. The fruits are lost and stop feeding the fish by falling on the ground and not in the water. Credit: Mati / VGX

By Mario Osava
BELÉM, Brazil, Jul 28 2024 (IPS)

The decade-and-a-half-long battle for life in the so-called Volta Grande (Big Bend) of the Xingu river, a stretch of the river dewatered by the Belo Monte hydroelectric power plant in the Brazilian Amazon, has a possible solution, albeit a partial one.

The mega power project divided the waters of the Xingu. It has taken up most of the river and emptied the now 130-kilometre U-shaped Reduced Flow Stretch (TVR, in Portuguese), whose banks are home to two indigenous groups and a community, all affected by the depletion of fish, the basis of their livelihood.“We have become illiterate about the river, and the fish. We no longer know how to read what is happening in the river”: river dweller.

A proposal drawn up by these villagers and scientific researchers makes it possible to recover the minimum conditions for the reproduction of fish, which have declined since the plant began operations in 2016. The goal is to mitigate the project’s negative impacts on the people living in the area.

But Norte Energía, the concessionaire of Belo Monte, estimates that this alternative would cost it a 39% reduction in its electricity generation. The dilemma pits the vital needs of the riverside population against the company’s economic feasibility.

Belo Monte, 700 kilometres southwest of Belém, is one of major power and logistics projects that abounded in Latin America in the first two decades of this century. It is the third largest hydroelectric plant in the world, with a capacity of 11,233 megawatts and an expected effective generation of only 40% on average.

Josiel Juruna, speaking at a July meeting of the Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science, in the city of Belém, in the Brazilian Amazon. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS

The Xingu river in the eastern Amazon region attracted energy interest because of its average flow of 7,966 cubic metres per second and the gradient that allowed Belo Monte to have its main power plant with a water fall of 87 metres.

But its flow has excessive variations, with floods 20 times higher than its low water level. With less than 1,000 cubic metres per second in low water, it lowers the plant’s average annual generation.

To prevent the flooding of the Volta Grande of the Xingu (VGX) and, within it, of the two indigenous lands of the Juruna and Arara peoples, a canal was built to connect the two points of the curve, diverting about 70% of the river’s waters and draining the life out of the curved section.

A sarobal, an island of stones and sand, prone to flooding in the Vuelta Grande of Xingu, in Brazil’s eastern Amazon. It used to be a fish breeding site, but lost that function due to the water shortage caused by the Belo Monte hydroelectric plant, which diverted 70% of the river’s water into a channel used for power generation. Credit: Mati / VGX

The power plant and the ecosystem’s disruption

In addition to taking away water, the project disrupted the environment, especially water cycles, and thus human, animal and plant life. “We have become illiterate about the river, and the fish. We no longer know how to read what is happening in the river,” said a river dweller at a hearing organised by the Public Prosecutor’s Office in August 2022.

Piracema, the upstream migration of shoals of fish during spawning, is vital to sustain livelihoods in the VGX, stresses Josiel Juruna, local coordinator of the Independent Territorial Environmental Monitoring (Mati).

Belo Monte deteriorated the quality of life of river dwellers by making piracema unviable.

That is why Mati, led by some 30 university scientists and local researchers, prioritised the monitoring and recovery of the piracema, understood as a site for procreation, apart from monitoring and measuring other ecological aspects in the stretch most affected by the hydroelectric plant.

An Independent Environmental and Territorial Monitoring team observes critical points in the low-flow section of the Xingu river, whose waters have been diverted to the canal that feeds the Belo Monte hydroelectric plant in the Brazilian Amazon. Credit: Courtesy of Juarez Pezzuti

As a result of their participatory research, launched in 2014 by the Juruna people and the non-governmental Instituto Socioambiental, in 2022 Mati presented to environmental authorities the Piracema Hydrograph, which indicates the flow necessary for the reproduction of fish in the VGX.

This is an alternative to hydrographs A and B, which govern the flow of water that Belo Monte releases to the VGX, in defined quantities for each month, to meet the conditions agreed for the operation of the hydroelectric plant. They are also called Consensus hydrographs, applied according to different pluviometric conditions.

These flows were defined in the environmental impact studies carried out by specialised companies, but paid for by Norte Energía, to obtain the license for the construction and operation of the plant.

A sample of the hydrographs that should govern the amount of water destined each month to the Vuelta Grande of the Xingu river to sustain its ecological functions. In purple and with flow figures for each month, the hydrograph proposed by indigenous people, riverside dwellers and scientific researchers to recover the lower and more productive piracemas. Credit: Mati / VGX

Piracema, key to river life

Indigenous people have always disagreed with these hydrographs because they do not ensure the necessary flow for maintaining the ecosystem, which is indispensable for the fish, the basis of their diet and the income they obtain from the sale of surplus fish.

It releases insufficient water at inappropriate times, ignoring the dynamics of the piracema, according to Juruna.

“The Belo Monte hydrograph only allows flooding in April, but the piracema requires lots of water between January and March, so that it fills the sarobal and igapós, where the female fish arrive to spawn and then the males for fertilisation,” he told IPS in Belém.

The word sarobal in Brazil defines an island of stone and sand, flooded and with vegetation of grasses and shrubs that provide food for the fish. Igapó is also a flooded area of banks and small waterways, with trees and vegetation that produce fruit and other foodstuffs.

Without water, the fish do not have access to their breeding grounds or to the fruits, which fall on the dry ground. Juruna often shows a video of a curimatá, a fish abundant in the Xingu, with dried eggs in its belly. It “couldn’t spawn” because there was no water in the piracema at the right time, he explained.

Apart from more water, the Piracema Hydrograph requires bringing forward the release of more water for the Vuelta Grande by at least three months. And maintaining the flood for a few months is also indispensable to feed the fish with the fruits falling in the water and not on the ground.

In fact, it is necessary to increase the flow of the VGX with ‘new water’ from November onwards, so that the fish start to migrate. “Without the right amount of water at the right time, there is no piracema”, the basis of river life, stresses a Mati report.

Fish killed by a fall in water flow in the Xingu river’s Vuelta Grande. Credit: Mati / VGX

Irrecoverable way of life

The Piracema Hydrograph will not restore the former way of life in the Vuelta Grande. That would require restoring past conditions, without the hydroelectric plant, admitted Juruna. His goal is to rehabilitate “the lower piracemas”, i.e. the sarobals and the floodable igapós with a little more water than what Belo Monte releases.

“The higher piracemas will no longer exist,” he lamented.

There will be no fish as before, the Juruna have already become farmers and mainly cultivate cocoa. A recovery of the piracemas will allow them to fish for their own food, but hardly for sale and income, he said.

Community life has declined among the indigenous people, who increasingly feed themselves on ‘city products’ and move more and more to Altamira, a city 50 kilometres away from the indigenous land of Paquiçamba, where the Jurunas live.

With Belo Monte, a road to the city was built and motorbikes have multiplied in the indigenous village, Juruna observed. Their way of life has been profoundly altered, but the indigenous people are resisting the death of their river and the Mati have added their traditional knowledge to scientific research.

Biologist Juarez Pezzuti, a professor at the Federal University of Pará, based in Belém, and a member of Mati, believes it necessary to dispel the idea of Belo Monte and other hydroelectric plants, especially those in the Amazon, as sources of sustainable energy.

“They emit greenhouse gases in a similar proportion to fossil-fuel thermoelectric plants,” he told IPS. In addition to flooding vegetation when the reservoir is formed, they continue to do so afterwards, because as their waters recede, the vegetation that will later be flooded is renewed.

Their downstream impacts are only now beginning to be studied. In the Amazon, they dry up the igapós, as has already been seen in the Balbina power plant near Manaus, capital of the neighbouring state of Amazonas.

It is a technology in decline, whose social, environmental and climatic costs tend to be better recognised and call into question its benefits, he concluded.

Members of the indigenous guard of the native community of Puerto Nuevo, of the Amazonian Kakataibo people, located in the central-eastern jungle of Peru. Credit: Courtesy of Marcelo Odicio

By Mariela Jara
LIMA, Jul 26 2024 (IPS)

The invasion of lands inhabited by Amazon indigenous communities is growing in Peru, due to drug trafficking mafias that are expanding coca crops to produce and export cocaine, while deforestation and insecurity for the native populations and their advocates are increasing

“Drug trafficking is not a myth or something new in this area, and we are the ones who defend our right to live in peace in our land,” said Kakataibo indigenous leader Marcelo Odicio, from the municipality of Aguaytía, capital of the province of Padre Abad, in the Amazonian department of Ucayali.“We are the ones who pay the consequences, we are visible to criminals, we are branded as informers, but I will continue to defend our rights. Along with the indigenous guard we will ensure that the autonomy of our territory is respected,” Marcelo Odicio.

Of the 33 million inhabitants of the South American country, around 800,000 belong to 51 Amazonian indigenous peoples. Overall, 96.4% of the indigenous population is Quechua and Aymara, six million of whom live in the Andean areas, while the Amazonian jungle peoples account for the remaining 3.6%.

The Peruvian government is constantly criticised for failing to meet the needs and demands of this population, who suffer multiple disadvantages in health, education, income generation and access to opportunities, as well as the growing impact of drug trafficking, illegal logging and mining.

A clear example of this is the situation of the Kakataibo people in two of their native communities, Puerto Nuevo and Sinchi Roca, in the border between the departments of Huánuco and Ucayali, in the central-eastern Peruvian jungle region.

For years they have been reporting and resisting the presence of invaders who cut down the forests for illegal purposes, while the government pays no heed and takes no action.

The most recent threat has led them to deploy their indigenous guard to defend themselves against new groups of outsiders who, through videos, have proclaimed their decision to occupy the territories over which the Kakataibo people have ancestral rights, which are backed by titles granted by the departmental authorities.

Six Kakataibo leaders who defended their lands and way of life were murdered in recent years. The latest was Mariano Isacama, whose body was found by the indigenous guard on Sunday 14 July after being missing for weeks.

In his interview with IPS, Odicio, president of the Native Federation of Kakataibo Communities (Fenacoka), lamented the authorities’ failure to find Isacama. The leader from the native community of Puerto Azul had been threatened by people linked to drug trafficking, suspects the federation.

Marcelo Odicio, president of the Native Federation of Kakataibo Communities, headquartered in the town of Aguaytía, in the department of Ucayal, in the Peruvian Amazon. Credit: Inforegión

During a press conference in Lima on 17 July, the Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Jungle (Aidesep), that brings together 109 federations representing 2,439 native communities, deplored the government’s indifference in the situation of the disappeared and murdered leader, which brings to 35 the number of Amazonian indigenous people murdered between 2023 and 2024.

Aidesep declared the territory of the Amazonian indigenous peoples under emergency and called for self-defence and protection mechanisms against what they called “unpunished violence unleashed by drug trafficking, mining and illegal logging under the protection of authorities complicit in neglect, inaction and corruption.”

Lack of vision for the Amazon

The province of Aguaytía, where the municipality of Padre de Abad is located and where the Kakataibo live, among other indigenous peoples, will account for 4.3% of the area under coca leaf cultivation by 2023, around 4,019 hectares, according to the latest report by the government’s National Commission for Development and Life without Drugs (Devida).

It is the sixth largest production area of this crop in the country.

The report highlights that Peru reduced illicit coca crops by just over 2% between 2022 and 2023, from 95,008 to 92,784 hectares, thus halting the trend of permanent expansion over the last seven years.

These figures are called into question by Ricardo Soberón, an expert on drug policy, security and Amazonia.

Ricardo Soberón, a renowned Peruvian expert on drug policy, Amazonia and security. Credit: Walter Hupiú / IPS

“The latest World Drug Report indicates that we have gone from 22 to 23 million cocaine users, and that the golden triangle in Burma, the triple border of Argentina-Paraguay-Brazil and the Amazonian trapezoid are privileged areas for production and export,” Soberón told IPS.

The latter holds “Putumayo and Yaguas, areas that according to Devida have reduced the 2,000 hectares under cultivation. I don’t believe it,” he said.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), that commissioned the report, also lists Peru as the world’s second largest cocaine producer.

Soberón added another element that discredits the conclusions of the Devida report: the government’s behaviour.

“There is no air interdiction in the Amazonian trapezoid, the non-lethal interdiction agreement with the United States will be operational in 2025. On the other hand, there are complaints against the anti-drug police in Loreto, the department where Putumayo and Yaguas are located, for their links with Brazilian mafias,” he explained.

He believes there was an attempt to whitewash “a government that is completely isolated”, referring to the administration led since December 2022 by interim president Dina Boluarte, with minimal levels of approval and questioned over a series of democratic setbacks.

Soberón, director of Devida in 2011-2012 and 2021-2022, has constantly warned that the government, at different levels, has not incorporated the indigenous agenda in its policies against illegalities in their ancestral areas.

This, he said, despite the growing pressure on their peoples and lands from “the largest illegal extractive economies in the world: drug trafficking, logging and gold mining,” the main causes of deforestation, loss of biodiversity and territorial dispossession.

Soberón argued that, given the magnitude of cocaine trafficking in the world, major trafficking groups need coca crop reserves, and Peruvian territory is fit for it. He deplored the minimal strategic vision among political, economic, commercial and social players in the Amazon.

Based on previous research, he says that the Cauca-Nariño bridge in southern Colombia, Putumayo in Peru, and parts of Brazil, form the Amazonian trapezoid: a fluid transit area not only for cocaine, but also for arms, supplies and gold.

Hence the great flow of cocaine in the area, for trafficking and distribution to the United States and other markets, which makes the jungle-like indigenous territories of the Peruvian Amazon attractive for coca crops and cocaine laboratories.

Soberón stresses it is possible to reconcile anti-drug policy with the protection of the Amazon, for example by promoting the citizen social pacts that he himself developed as a pilot project during his term in office.

It is a matter, he said, of turning the social players, such as the indigenous peoples, into decision-makers. But this requires a clear political will, which is not seen in the current Devida administration.

Mariano Isacama (left), a Kakataibo indigenous leader who disappeared and was murdered after allegedly receiving threats from people linked to drug traffickers. Next to him, the president of the indigenous organisation Orau, Magno López. Credit: Courtesy of Marcelo Odicio

“We will not stand idly by”

Odicio, the president of Fenacoka, knows that the increased presence of invaders in their territories is aimed at planting pasture and coca leaf, an activity that destroys their forests. They have even installed maceration ponds near the communities.

When invaders arrive, they cut down the trees, burn them, raise cattle, take possession of the land and then demand the right to title, he explained. “After the anti-forestry law, they feel strong and say they have a right to the land, when it is not the case,” he said.

He refers to the reform of the Forestry and Wildlife Act No. 29763, in force since December 2023, which further weakens the security of indigenous peoples over their land rights and opens the door to legal and illegal extractive activities.

The leader, who has a wife and two young children, knows that the role of defender exposes him. “We are the ones who pay the consequences, we are visible to criminals, we are branded as informers, but I will continue to defend our rights. Along with the indigenous guard we will ensure that the autonomy of our territory is respected,” he stressed.

In the native community of Puerto Nuevo there are 200 Kakataibo families, with 500 more in Sinchi Roca. They live from the sustainable use of their forest resources, who are at risk from illegal activities. “We just want to live in peace, but we will defend ourselves because we cannot stand idly by if they do not respect our autonomy”, he said.

Yasmine Sherif, Education Cannot Wait Executive Director, interacts with students at Lycée National de Petion Ville, where, thanks to ECW investments, students are benefiting from catch-up classes and accelerated education programmes. Credit: ECW

By Joyce Chimbi
PORT-AU-PRINCE & NAIROBI, Jul 26 2024 (IPS)

Haiti is witnessing unprecedented levels of lawlessness and brutality from armed gangs, which target schools and hospitals. The groups have plunged the country into a crisis and apart from the gun violence accusations, disturbing reports of ruthless sexual violence, including gang rape. Millions of children are in harm’s way; many are out of school and it is estimated that between 30 and 50 percent of armed group members are children.

“The country is facing great challenges. You have extreme gang violence, with gangs controlling big parts of the territory and committing sexual and gender-based violence. On the other hand, there are climate change disasters and their severe effects, such as hurricanes and floods, extreme poverty, and there’s been quite a bit of instability over the years,” Yasmine Sherif, Executive Director, Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises within the United Nations, told IPS. 

With most of the country’s schools being private, only slightly over half of Haitians have access to preschool and much fewer manage to go on to secondary education. Over half of the country’s schools lack water or toilets, and three-quarters have no electricity. Nearly 1.2 million Haitian children need urgent life-saving education support.

René Kaëlle, 18, welcomes the Education Cannot Wait mission delegation at the Lycée National de Petion Ville, where students have access to catch-up classes and accelerated education programmes delivered by UNICEF thanks to ECW investments.
Credit: ECW

Sherif lauds ECW’s strategic partners, such as UNICEF and the World Food Programme, who, together with local organizations under the leadership of Haiti’s Minister of Education and new government, are overcoming multiple challenges and undertaking life-transforming humanitarian work targeting internally displaced children and scores of other affected children, such as the poor and vulnerable.

Against this backdrop, ECW, UNICEF and strategic partners have today announced USD 2.5 million, which is ECW First Emergency Response Grant, during a high-level UN mission to Haiti. ECW has been supporting learning opportunities across the country. The new fast-acting emergency response grant will provide life-saving access to quality education for girls and boys impacted by the rise in violence, insecurity and forced displacement.

During a high-level UN mission to Haiti, ECW announced the new grant, bringing the total ECW funding in Haiti to USD 15.8 million. The 12-month grant will be delivered by UNICEF in collaboration with WFP and other local and international partners. The innovative programme will reach close to 75,000 children and adolescents in the hard-hit Ouest (French) and Artibonite or Latibonit (Haitian Creole) Departments.

“The education crisis unfolding in Haiti is dangerously close to becoming an education tragedy. While enrollment rates were already low before the latest escalation of violence, school closures and mass displacement are robbing thousands more children of their opportunity to learn. Hence, UNICEF is grateful to Education Cannot Wait for the continued support and commitment to ensure every child in Haiti has access to quality and safe learning,” said Bruno Maes, UNICEF Representative in Haiti.

Yasmine Sherif, Education Cannot Wait Executive Director, speaks with a displaced child at the Lycée Jean Marie Vincent. The ECW-supported school currently also serves as a displacement site and benefits from hot meals and non-formal education.
Credit: ECW

The compounding effects of climate change, recurring cyclones, and the most recent earthquake are making matters even worse. In all, nearly half of Haiti’s population—some 5.5 million people—is in need of humanitarian aid, and 5 million people are facing acute food insecurity. Since the end of February, the number of displaced individuals nationwide has increased by 60 percent to nearly 580,000.

ECW’s investment includes innovative cash transfers, back-to-school incentives, school feeding programmes, early childhood education, disability inclusion, transformative gender approaches, mental health and psychosocial support, environmental sensitization activities, and other holistic education offerings designed to ensure girls and boys have access to safe and protective quality learning environments.

Nevertheless, the need is even greater and, to leave no child behind, Sherif says “more resources are needed and with speed and, urgency to close the existing funding deficit against the emergency response plan. We are very grateful to the United States, USAID, Canada and other donors that are contributing, but we call upon all donors to help meet the funding gap, and give millions of Haitian children and young people now in harm’s way, lifelong learning and earning opportunities.”

Sherif paints a picture of a country going through a very difficult phase while at the same time having strong goodwill and competence in the government. Skilled teachers and motivated students, even though internally displaced and suffering.”

As an education tragedy unfolds, OCHA estimates show the USD 30 million requirement for the education response as part of the country’s humanitarian response plan is only 27 percent funded. Bringing into perspective the magnitude of the escalating education crises, and the need for speedy, urgent responses.

Sherif told IPS that education will help address many of the challenges facing Haiti today, both in terms of addressing the urgent needs of the internally displaced and affected children and in reining in gang violence, as it will help the young generation make productive contributions to society.

“I am a firm believer that education also embeds many other SDGs. The work that we are doing in Haiti with all our partners will have far-reaching positive outcomes, as it includes school feeding, gender equality, mental health and psychosocial services, academic learning and skills training to provide livelihoods and end extreme poverty,” Sherif says.

“Without the resources required, even more teachers working under very difficult circumstances will leave and, the country could experience a significant brain drain. Let us not lose the window of opportunity that exists today to deliver the promise of a safe, inclusive, quality education for millions of children in Haiti. This includes bringing back to school children absorbed in armed groups.”

ECW is particularly concerned that schools are being closed or used as displacement centers across the country, removing the protective cover that uninterrupted, safe and inclusive, quality education systems offer to children in difficult circumstances. Already, approximately 900 schools are closed in the Ouest and in Artibonite Departments alone, meaning that 10 percent of all schools are closed.

“World leaders must not turn their backs on the girls and boys of Haiti. These children, teachers and families have seen their human rights and human dignity ripped from their hands by brutal acts of violence, disorder and chaos,” Sherif says. “With the power of education, we can protect these girls and boys from the grave risks of sexual violence, forced recruitment in armed groups and other human rights violations. With the power of education, we can lift up an entire nation from a never-ending cycle of hunger, poverty, economic uncertainty and violence.”

ECW works through the multilateral system to both increase the speed of responses in crises, for immediate relief and long-term interventions. ECW and its global strategic partners are calling on world leaders to urgently mobilize an additional USD600 million toward the Fund’s three-year strategic plan, to expand its investments in Haiti and across crisis-impacted countries worldwide, and to reach 20 million girls and boys with the safety, power and opportunity that only a quality education can provide.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Credit: Marco Longari/AFP via Getty Images

By Andrew Firmin
LONDON, Jul 26 2024 (IPS)

Two politicians have just been sentenced to long prison terms in Eswatini. Their crime? Calling for democracy.

Mthandeni Dube and Bacede Mabuza, both members of parliament (MP) at the time, were arrested in July 2021 for taking part in a wave of pro-democracy protests that swept the southern African country. A third MP, Mduduzi Simelane, remains subject to an arrest warrant after going into hiding.

Dube and Mabuza have been detained since their arrest, and have reportedly been physically assaulted, denied medical treatment and prevented from seeing their lawyers while in custody. Last year they were found guilty on charges including murder, sedition and terrorism. Now they know their fate: Mabuza has been sentenced to 25 years and Dube to 18. Since the sentencing, Mabuza, who has a medical condition that needs a special diet, has reportedly been denied food in prison.

Dube and Mabuza are political prisoners. They had no hope of a fair trial, and their criminal convictions had no basis in reality. Eswatini’s criminal justice system does the bidding of the country’s dictator and Africa’s last absolute monarch, King Mswati III. For almost four decades, Mswati has ruled his kingdom with an iron fist. Mswati is constitutionally above the law, appoints the prime minister and cabinet and can veto all legislation. He also appoints and controls judges, who are routinely deployed to criminalise those who challenge his power.

Dube and Mabuza plan to appeal but know the odds are stacked against them.

Ongoing crackdown

The 2021 protests for democracy posed the biggest threat yet to Mswati’s untrammelled power. His response was brutal. At least 46 people were killed as security forces opened fired on protesters. Leaked footage revealed that it was Mswati who commanded the security forces to shoot to kill and ordered the arrest of the pro-democracy MPs.

While peaceful protesters like Dube and Mabuza have been criminalised, in contrast no one has faced justice for the state-sanctioned killings. And the dangers faced by pro-democracy activists haven’t subsided. In January 2023, Thulani Maseko, a human rights lawyer and a leading democracy campaigner, was shot dead in front of his family. As well as heading the key network of groups calling for a peaceful transition to democracy, he was the two MPs’ lawyer.

His killing came just hours after Mswati warned democracy activists that mercenaries would ‘deal with’ them. No one has been held to account for the crime, while Maseko’s widow, Tanele Maseko, has faced harassment. In March she was arrested and her passport and phone were confiscated when she returned to Eswatini from South Africa.

The authorities have continued to arrest, abduct and detain activists, and others have survived evident assassination attempts and arson attacks. Mswati’s latest prime minister has warned the media they may face tighter regulation. The state has also used violence to repress further protests. An election was held in 2023 but, as usual, political parties were banned and candidates had to go through a selection process designed to exclude dissenting voices.

With authoritarian rule and the ability of those in power to ignore people’s demands come corruption and impunity. Most of Eswatini’s 1.2 million people live in poverty but Mswati and the royal family enjoy vast wealth and lavish lifestyles, paid for by the proceeds of the major assets they directly control.

No dialogue

The national dialogue Mswati promised in response to the 2021 protests never happened. Instead, he held a Sibaya – a traditional gathering where he was the only person allowed to speak.

Mswati only promised to hold a dialogue after South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa intervened. South Africa has a clear role to play here: it borders Eswatini on three sides, is by far its biggest trading partner and is home to many of its exiled democracy activists, while Mswati has also reportedly imported South African mercenaries. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is also supposed to be involved. But there’s been little pressure for action from South Africa and Eswatini has worked to keep itself off SADC’s agenda.

South Africa and SADC should remind Eswatini of its obligations under the global and African treaties it has adopted, including the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The government must roll back its repression, including the laws on public order, sedition and terrorism used to jail Dube and Mabuza. Releasing the two of them would be a good start.

Andrew Firmin is CIVICUS Editor-in-Chief, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.

 

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Extreme heat has caused hundreds of deaths and has many other implications. This is an image from Dahanu, Maharashtra. Credit: 350/flickr

By Naureen Hossain
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 26 2024 (IPS)

“The world must rise to the challenge of rising temperatures,” says the UN Secretary-General as he launches a call to action on extreme heat and its impact on society and the environment.

On Thursday, Secretary-General António Guterres announced the launch of a joint report drawing from the expertise of ten UN organizations, including UNICEF, ILO, OCHA and WHO. The Call for Action on Extreme Heat explores the multidimensional impact of extreme heat on lives and livelihoods, which is only further evidence of the climate crisis.

The UN’s call for action targets four key areas in the efforts to combat extreme heat: providing care to those most vulnerable, protecting workers, boosting the resilience of economies and societies through data and science, investing in renewable energy and phasing out fossil fuels, thereby limiting the temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius under the Paris Agreement.

Secretary-General António Guterres briefs reporters on extreme heat. Credit: UN photo

June 2024 was the 13th consecutive hottest month on record. Experts have warned that the consecutive record-setting global temperatures are indicative that average temperatures will only rise in the coming years, and some areas will even become inhabitable as people will be physically unable to withstand the heat. In the report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts that Central and South America, southern Europe, Southern and Southeast Asia, and Africa will be the most affected by heat-related mortality by 2100.

“Billions of people are facing an extreme heat epidemic, wilting under increasingly deadly heatwaves, with temperatures topping 50 degrees Celsius around the world. That’s 122 degrees Fahrenheit. And halfway to boiling,” Guterres said. He emphasized this point by referencing recent global incidents, such as a heatwave in Sahel this April and the deaths of more than 1300 pilgrims in Saudi Arabia during this year’s Hajj.

So far, the impact of extreme heat has been felt across livelihoods and the environment. However, it does not affect everyone equally. Multiple factors, such as gender, age, and pre-existing medical conditions, can determine the impact. For this reason, those most vulnerable to the impact of extreme temperatures include older people, people living with disabilities, pregnant women and children. 

The quality of housing is also a factor, and as such, the report further identifies people living in poverty as most at-risk, or rather, people who live in poor housing that lacks access to cooling or proper ventilation. Furthermore, urban areas are much warmer compared to rural areas. Cities are bearing the brunt due to their built environment, congestion, concentrated energy use and heat absorption from concrete and other building materials. This is known as the urban heat island effect.

The working population is also disproportionately exposed to excessive heat. A new ILO report notes that at least 70 percent of the global working population, or 2.41 billion workers, are at risk of exposure to high temperatures, which have resulted in 22.85 million injuries, and at least 18,970 deaths annually. Workers in Africa, the Arab states, and Asia and the Asia-Pacific are among the most affected by 93 percent, 84 percent, and 75 percent, respectively. Rising temperatures have also affected productivity, which drops by 50 percent. The report recommends that measures be put into place to protect the health of all workers through a rights-based approach, along with reporting and surveillance mechanisms for incidents brought on by heat stress.

Heat stress was identified as the leading cause of weather-related deaths. While high exposures to heat can cause heat strokes, a fatal medical emergency, continued exposure can increase the likelihood and risk of other medical conditions, such as kidney issues, cardiovascular health, diabetes, mental health, and the transmission of infectious diseases. Health issues brought on by exposure to extreme heat can put more stress on healthcare services, yet the most exposed regions do not have adequate resources to address them in their health facilities.

Extreme heat is felt across multiple additional sectors. The use of air conditioners and other cooling systems accounts for 20 percent of global electricity consumption, in a time where more than half of the electricity is still generated through burning fossil fuels. In the food and agricultural sectors, crop yields fell by 45 percent in 2022 because of extreme temperatures and phenomena such as droughts and wildfires.

“Extreme heat amplifies inequality, inflames food insecurity, and pushes people further into poverty,” said Guterres.

Guterres called on the international community, the public and private sectors, and governments to make concentrated efforts to address the issue. Guterres also repeated his demand for the phasing out of fossil fuels as an energy source, singling out G20 countries for their renewed agreements for oil and gas licenses.

“The problem is that climate change is running faster than all the measures that are now being put in place to fight it. And that is why it is important to understand that we need a huge acceleration of all the dimensions of climate action,”  Guterres said.

The report notes that there are ways to reduce the fallout of extreme heat risks. Investing in reasonable occupational and safety hazards could save up to USD 361 billion. Concentrated actions to reduce energy demand in the cooling sector globally could save up to USD 1 trillion and the power sector up to USD 5 trillion by 2050.

In recent years, climate change has brought about abnormal temperatures and weather phenomena that even developed countries have struggled to deal with without a serious fallout on their populations. With heatwaves not even sparing the West, Guterres hopes that this will perhaps spur them into urgent, immediate action.

“Now the heat is being felt by those who have decision-making capacity.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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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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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

 

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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

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
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