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South Sudan: World’s Youngest Nation at a Crossroads

Tue, 08/13/2024 - 08:48

United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP Crisis Bureau Director, Shoko Noda

By Shoko Noda
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 13 2024 (IPS)

Thirteen years since becoming an independent state, South Sudan faces profound humanitarian challenges. South Sudan’s first Independence Day was imbued with a great sense of hope.

I remember crowds cheering in the streets, waving the country’s new flag high. Thirteen years later, the youngest nation in the world, barely into its adolescence, faces profound challenges.

At the heart of South Sudan’s challenges lies a humanitarian crisis of staggering proportions. Given seven million of the country’s 12.4 million people are projected to experience crisis-level hunger this year, and nine million are in dire need of humanitarian assistance, the gravity of the situation cannot be overstated.

One in ten lack access to electricity. Seventy percent can’t access basic healthcare. These are fundamental human rights that the vast majority of people are deprived of.

I saw South Sudan’s dire humanitarian situation firsthand when I visited the country in March. I met women and children displaced by conflict – some for the second time in their lives – in a transit centre in Malakal, the capital of Upper Nile state. They had nothing and were fully reliant on aid. Their plight still lingers in my mind and heart.

As it marks its 13th independence anniversary, South Sudan finds itself at a pivotal moment in its nation-building journey.

Humanitarian aid alone cannot untangle the intricate web of challenges facing South Sudan. A holistic approach is required—one that lays the groundwork for self-sufficiency, peace and sustainable development.

With the constitutional-making process underway and elections on the horizon, the efforts we make today will shape the trajectory of the country for generations to come. We must bolster institutions, foster stability and empower the youth—the driving force behind the nation’s aspirations for progress and prosperity.

Central to this is the empowerment of women and girls, who face disproportionate challenges and vulnerabilities in the face of conflict, displacement and climate change. Gender-based violence (GBV), child marriage and maternal mortality rates are alarmingly high, underscoring the urgent need for targeted interventions that prioritize the rights and dignity of women and girls.

When I visited Malakal, I met with young women whose stories painted a vivid story to me on the barriers they face on a daily basis—from fearing for their safety to feeling unable to speak out about their hopes and aspirations, or being denied work opportunities.

It should not be this way.

Our team on the ground is working hard to improve the lives of women and girls in South Sudan. I was impressed by courts in Juba, set up with UNDP support, that focus on addressing violence against women. We are also working to ensure women’s inclusion in peacebuilding processes, promote gender equality and create opportunities for women and youth to thrive.

But so much more needs to be done.

With 75 percent of the population comprising young people, they represent both South Sudan’s greatest challenge and its most promising asset. Neglecting to invest in the youth equates to neglecting the future of the country itself—a risk we cannot afford to take.

Their voices must be heard, their aspirations nurtured and their potential unleashed.

South Sudan is at a crossroads.

With the right support, the country has the potential to create a future defined by hope, greater prosperity and stability for all. The alternative is a deepening of an already profound and protracted crisis.

South Sudan cannot navigate this path alone. It requires the support that transcends its borders to overcome the myriad challenges it faces. Increased development cooperation—the kind that helps people break the cycle of crisis and build safer, more stable, resilient, and sustainable lives—is urgently needed.

My hope is to return in 10 years and see the families I met at the Malakal transit centre peacefully settled, their children grown and thriving, with stable livelihoods and access to all the services they need to sustain them and nurture their hopes and aspirations for the future.

This is what development looks like.

Shoko Noda is United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP Crisis Bureau Director

Source: Africa Renewal, a United Nations digital magazine that covers Africa’s economic, social and political developments—plus the challenges the continent faces and the solutions to these by Africans themselves, including with the support of the United Nations and international community.

IPS UN Bureau

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Categories: Africa

Power to the Youth

Mon, 08/12/2024 - 20:36

By Yasmine Sherif
NEW YORK, Aug 12 2024 (IPS-Partners)

We live in a divided world of the haves and the have nots. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer. There is learning poverty, technology poverty, healthcare poverty, and food poverty. When you think about the dynamics of the world today, there is even empathy and humanity poverty.

This divide gets greater for young people living on the frontlines of the world’s most pressing humanitarian crises in places like the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gaza, Haiti and Sudan, where the remarkable potential of youth is eviscerated by brutal armed conflicts, forced displacement, the climate crisis and other horrific, compounding challenges.

To empower today’s youth, we must urgently address this growing divide. It starts with quality education, skills training, and a broad collection of supportive life-long learning measures fit for purpose, activating an entire generation of future leaders.

As UN Secretary-General António Guterres points out: “Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals requires a seismic shift – which can only happen if we empower young people and work with them as equals.”

This year’s International Youth Day calls for us all to look at the power of digital pathways to enhance sustainable development. Indeed, digitization, artificial intelligence and other technological advances are transforming our world and offer unprecedented opportunities to accelerate sustainable development.

But in a world where 250 million children cannot read – or do not have access to a school meal or mental health – how can we leverage the potential of technology to accelerate our efforts to deliver on the goals outlined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development?

Education Cannot Wait – the global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises within the United Nations – puts youth first in everything we do. This starts from the highest levels of ECW’s governance, which includes two inspirational youth leaders, Mutesi Hadijah and Hector Ulloa, who are activating a global youth movement through the #Youth4ECW campaign.

Through ECW investments, we are working to bridge the digital divide, extend remote learning, enhance skills training, and provide young people with the tools, training and knowledge they need to thrive in the fast-changing world of the 21st century.

In Moldova for instance, ECW investments focused on refugee children from Ukraine and host community children – and delivered by UNICEF and the Refugee Education Working Group – have established 98 EduTech Labs across 32 regions. In countries like Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Niger and Nigeria, ECW supports vocational education programmes for adolescents who have been pushed out of school.

These collective actions offer an essential first step in bridging the divide for the millions of children pushed into learning poverty by emergencies and protracted crises. But more needs to be done and we urge private sector donors, high-net-worth individuals and philanthropic foundations to provide urgently needed funding as we race to mobilize an additional US$600 million to deliver on ECW’s three-year strategic programme.

Together, through the power of inclusive education, digital pathways and lifelong learning, we can bridge the divide and create a world united through a wealth of humanity.

Excerpt:

International Youth Day Statement by Education Cannot Wait Executive Director Yasmine Sherif

Categories: Africa

Digital Trade & the Sustainable Development Goals: A Dynamic Agenda

Mon, 08/12/2024 - 08:40

Online transactions and E-commerce have become a key part of people’s life in Asia and the Pacific. Credit: Unsplash/Rupixen

By Witada Anukoonwattaka and Preety Bhogal
BANGKOK, Thailand, Aug 12 2024 (IPS)

The rapid growth of digitalization has fundamentally altered commerce, impacting production and facilitating the movement of goods. The 2023 Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Report (APTIR), has pointed out that although digital trade revenues of Asia and the Pacific account for a significant share of global trade, this growth is uneven, with trade concentrated in a few areas, leading to disparities across the region.

Studies show a positive relationship between digital trade and progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These linkages among digital trade policy and the social and economic pillars of the SDGs may appear more indirect, but they do manifest through economic channels.

Various facets of the relationship between sustainable development and digital trade are evident, such as the impact of digital trade on wealth inequality in the region, the role of the Internet in export expansion, how e-commerce facilitates small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and how digital trade can help achieve the ambitious agenda behind the SDGs.

However, better digital infrastructure does not necessarily engender competition and instead requires active measures from the government to promote linkages between export superstars and domestic suppliers.

Additionally, robust regulatory frameworks on digital trade can help eliminate “monopolistic and restrictive” trade policies, contributing significantly to a more equitable distribution of wealth.

Examples of good practices

Different policy measures to establish an inclusive digital trade and e-commerce landscape have been used across the region. For example, research on internet courts in China showed how such public and digitized judicial systems benefit smaller and medium-sized firms compared to private dispute resolution mechanisms, which are highly costly.

Similarly, research on the Pacific Alliance’s trade policies, particularly its binding agreements and work instruments, provided a framework to incorporate net neutrality in the promotion of equitable digital development.

Indonesia’s introduction of single submission for freight transport applications and its impact on sustainability in supply chains was another case study. This policy instrument has had significant impacts across multiple domains, such as increasing time effectiveness, reducing costs, and increasing transparency in shipping and port clearances.

Lessons learned and the way forward

There is a need to understand the specific digital trade policy instruments that promote sustainable development. It is critical to acknowledge key differences and similarities between trade and digital trade policy to strategically leverage their interlinkage to achieve the SDGs. Social development works in tandem with economic progress.

A key concern is the lack of data on cross-border e-commerce in the Asia-Pacific and Latin America regions, which hinders the implementation and evaluation of programs designed to promote the participation and productivity of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

More concerted efforts to improve data measurement through private-public partnerships could be a possible policy intervention to address this issue. States should establish effective monitoring systems by improving the availability of economic statistics and third-party evaluations for measuring the progress and impact of SME support programs.

However, given the diversity in operations of SMEs across sectors, it is essential to devise and tailor policies that cater to their specific needs and realities.

There is also a need for sharing real-world examples of successful government initiatives and SME support programs so neighboring countries can draw lessons from them. There are doubts about the long-term usefulness of stand-alone Digital Economy Agreements (DEAs) due to the lack of stringent legal provisions for possible breaches, unlike market-access free trade agreements (FTAs).

Lastly, the United States, which has played a pivotal role in advocating for an open global trade environment, gradually step back from its position, it is time to rethink the leadership that would guide the establishment of digital trade provisions in the future.

This involves showcasing how digital trade rules will be established and enforced moving forward. Who will provide such public goods for digital trade is a major question facing the global economy.

Given its rapid digital-economy growth, significant market size, and increasing influence in global digital trade, should that leadership come from the Asia-Pacific region?

Witada Anukoonwattaka is Economic Affairs Officer, Trade Investment and Innovation Division, ESCAP; Preety Bhogal is Consultant, Trade Investment and Innovation Division, ESCAP.

IPS UN Bureau

Categories: Africa

Killings of Palestinian Journalists Continue –Aided by Uninterrupted Flow of US Arms

Mon, 08/12/2024 - 08:20

The journalists gather in front of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital to commemorate their friends, Al Jazeera reporter Ismail al-Ghoul and cameraman Rami al-Rifi, who lost their lives in Israeli army attack on a moving vehicle in the Al-Shati refugee camp, in Deir al-Balah, Gaza on July 31, 2024. Source: Middle East Monitor. Credit: Ashraf Amra, Anadolu Agency

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 12 2024 (IPS)

The growing number of killings of Palestinian journalists in Gaza has triggered a demand for a cut-off in US arms supplies to Israel.

A letter addressed to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken—and signed by scores of reporters, news outlets and journalist unions— says Israel has killed more than 165 Palestinian journalists since October 7 last year.

Initiated by three international organizations — Defending Rights & Dissent, the Courage Foundation, and Roots Action— the letter says: “This is the largest recorded number of journalists killed in any war.”

While Israel’s indiscriminate bombing of the densely populated Gaza means no civilians are safe, Israel has also been repeatedly documented deliberately targeting journalists, says the letter.

“Israel’s military actions are not possible without U.S. weapons, U.S. military aid, and U.S. diplomatic support. By providing the weapons being used to deliberately kill journalists, you are complicit in one of the gravest affronts to press freedom today”, says the letter, currently in circulation, and addressed to Blinken.

Sarah Leah Whitson, Executive Director, Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), told IPS despite pleas of the international community to suspend arms to Israel in the face of its unprecedented atrocities against Palestinians in Gaza, including the killing of over 165 Palestinian journalists, it beggars the imagination that Biden is now seeking to sell Israel new weaponry to facilitate even more slaughter.

On August 9, the U.S. State Department officially notified Congress of its intent to proceed with a new authorization for weapons to Israel, including 6,500 Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs) guidance kits to Israel, despite extensive evidence documenting the Israel Defense Force’s (IDF) use of U.S. weapons to carry out war crimes and crimes against humanity, said DAWN, in a press release Friday.

This “is a slap in the face of humanity and all the values we hold dear,” Whitson said.

Blinken also announced his decision not to sanction the IDF’s notorious Netzah Yehuda battalion, despite credible evidence of its systematic and gross human rights violations in the occupied West Bank, in violation of strict U.S. laws requiring the imposition of such sanctions.

“It is mind-boggling that despite the overwhelming evidence of the IDF’s unprecedented crimes in Gaza that has shocked the conscience of the entire world, the Biden administration is greenlighting the transfer of additional lethal weapons to Israel,” said Whitson.

“It is hard to comprehend how the Biden administration can justify rewarding Israel with new weapons, despite Israel’s persistent defiance of every single plea the Biden administration has made urging a modicum of restraint, and despite the very apparent fact that such sales violate black letter U.S. laws prohibiting weapons to gross abusers like Israel,” she pointed out.

Meanwhile, as of August 9, 2024, preliminary investigations by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) showed at least 113 journalists and media workers were among the more than 40,000 killed since the war began, making it the deadliest period for journalists since CPJ began gathering data in 1992.

Journalists in Gaza face particularly high risks as they try to cover the conflict during the Israeli ground assault, including devastating Israeli airstrikes, disrupted communications, supply shortages, and extensive power outages, CPJ said.

This has meant that it is becoming increasingly hard to document the situation, and CPJ is investigating almost 350 additional cases of potential killings, arrests and injuries.

Dr Ramzy Baroud, a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle, told IPS Israel has killed, as of last week, 168 Palestinian journalists, the same way it has killed over 200 aid workers, hundreds of doctors, medics and people from every category and background. None of this is coincidental.

A simple proof that Israel deliberately targets journalists is the fact that it habitually produces and promotes stories that justify their murder, often accusing them of terrorism. Israel is yet to provide a single set of credible evidence against any of the killed journalists, he said.

On October 11, Israeli President Yitzhak Herzog had said “there are no innocent civilians in Gaza”. This disturbing Israeli logic applies to all Palestinians in the Strip, including journalists.

“Israel must be held accountable to its ongoing murder of journalists. But a huge responsibility falls on the shoulders of journalists and media organizations around the world, who often ignore the very murder of their colleagues in Gaza, let alone circulate Israeli’s unfounded accusations often without questioning its credibility or merit,” he said.

The fact that Gazans continue to report on their own genocide by Israel is heroic beyond words. But they must not be disowned, and must not continue to report and die alone without a true international solidarity that could hold their murderers to account, said Dr. Baroud, who is also a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA).

Dr. James Jennings, President, Conscience International, told IPS the heroic martyrs of the free press in Gaza deserve to be honored by all humanity, at the very least with the Nobel Peace Prize. Standing under the bombs, reporting the truth, then paying with your life is a superhuman act of courage.

The job of journalists is simply to journal–to shine a light on the truth by writing down or telling what they see on the battlefield. Killing the messengers is a sign that the perpetrators fear them and their influence, he pointed out.

Deception and lies are major part of war. How else could people slaughter myriads of others and do it with impunity?, he asked.

But truth has two sides–sending and receiving. Refusing to credit honest reporters means that we really don’t want to hear what they are saying anyway. Choosing to believe lies because we want them to be true is what enables wars to continue.

“Even worse than lying to the enemy is lying to yourself. Attempting to cover the plain truth by denying facts or looking the other way is tantamount to insanity. When will Americans stop lying to themselves and start believing their own ideals?”, asked Dr Jennings.

Ibrahim Hooper, National Communication Director at the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, said: “The only thing that can explain the shocking silence of American and international media professionals about the mass killing of their Palestinian colleagues is the decades-long and systematic dehumanization of the Palestinian people, in which the lives of Palestinians have lesser or no value. Journalists worldwide must begin to speak out about these killings and about the Israeli genocide in Gaza.”

In a press release last week, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said it is monitoring attacks and threats against journalists.

The agency noted that in recent months, multiple journalists covering protests in different parts of the world have been subjected to various forms of attacks, including killings, injuries, arbitrary detentions, and confiscation of their equipment, while exercising their rightful duties as journalists.

UNESCO recalls “that all authorities concerned have the duty and responsibility to ensure the safety of journalists covering protests around the world, in accordance with international norms and human rights obligations”.

The joint letter to Blinken says Israel has gone to great lengths to suppress media coverage of its war in Gaza, imposing military censorship on both its own journalists and international reporters operating in the country; and, with Egypt’s help, blocking all foreign journalists from Gaza. Israel shut down Al Jazeera, raided its office, seized its equipment, and blocked its broadcasts and website within Israel.

The world relies only on the Palestinian journalists in Gaza to report the truth about the war and Israel’s widespread violations of international law.

“Israel’s deliberate targeting of these journalists seems intended to impose a near blackout on coverage of its assault on Gaza. Investigations by United Nations bodies, NGOs, and media organizations, have all found instances of deliberate targeting of journalists.

In a joint statement, five UN special rapporteurs declared: “We have received disturbing reports that, despite being clearly identifiable in jackets and helmets marked “press” or traveling in well-marked press vehicles, journalists have come under attack, which would seem to indicate that the killings, injury, and detention are a deliberate strategy by Israeli forces to obstruct the media and silence critical reporting.”

Meanwhile, under international law, the intentional targeting of journalists is considered a war crime. While all governments are bound by international law protecting reporters, U.S. domestic law also prohibits the State Department from providing assistance to units of foreign security forces credibly accused of gross violations of human rights. Israel’s well-documented pattern of extrajudicial executions of journalists is a gross violation of human rights.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

Hydrogen from Renewables or Fossil Fuels? The Panamanian Question

Fri, 08/09/2024 - 21:02

Ships await their turn to cross the Panama Canal from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean. Credit: Emilio Godoy / IPS

By Emilio Godoy
PANAMA, Aug 9 2024 (IPS)

In 2021, the Panama Canal welcomed a French experimental ship on a world tour, the Energy Observer, the first electric vessel powered by a combination of renewable energies and a hydrogen production system based on seawater.

The vessel exemplifies Panama’s aspiration to become a regional hub for hydrogen, the most abundant gas on the planet, but faces the existential decision of whether to generate it from renewable energy or fossil gas.

This Central American nation of just over four million people is developing, albeit belatedly, the first phase of its roadmap to materialise the National Green Hydrogen and Derivatives Strategy, approved in 2023.

For Juan Lucero, coordinator of the Ministry of the Environment’s National Climate Transparency Platform, green hydrogen would be the best option, given its renewable energy, strategic position and the influence of international policies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in sea transport.

“Panama has natural gas, and companies are interested in taking part in this business, in this case blue hydrogen. If Panama wants to be a hub, then blue is a good option,” he told IPS."For Panama, it has always been a priority to provide services, to be an energy hub. We have tradition, experience, history, as a hub for supplying bunker ships. The idea is to achieve that transition”: Juan Lucero.

He stressed that “for Panama, it has always been a priority to provide services, to be an energy hub. We have tradition, experience, history, as a hub for supplying bunker (a petroleum distillate) ships. The idea is to achieve that transition.”

The production of hydrogen, which the fossil fuel industry has been using for decades, has now been transformed into a coloured palette, depending on its origin.

Thus, “grey” comes from gas and depends on adapting pipelines to transport it.

By comparison, “blue” has the same origin, but the carbon dioxide (CO2) emanating from it is captured by plants. Production is based on steam methane reforming, which involves mixing the first gas with the second and heating it to obtain a synthesis gas. However, this releases CO2, the main GHG responsible for global warming.

Meanwhile, “green” hydrogen is obtained through electrolysis, separating it from the oxygen in water by means of an electric current.

The latter type joins the range of clean sources to drive energy transition away from fossil fuels and thus develop a low-carbon economy. Today, however, hydrogen is still largely derived from fossil fuels.

In its different colours, Panama joins Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay in having national hydrogen policies.

Penonomé wind farm, located in the central Panamanian province of Coclé. Credit: Emilio Godoy / IPS

Ambition

In 2022, the Panamanian government created the High Level Green Hydrogen and Green Hydrogen Technical committees to drive the roadmap in that direction.

But it has not made progress in the creation of free zones for trade and storage of green hydrogen and derivatives; updating regulations; and encouraging port activities to use electric vehicles, install decentralised solar systems, introduce energy efficiency and generate heat through solar thermal energy.

The green hydrogen strategy approved in 2023 includes eight targets and 30 lines of action, foreseeing the annual production of 500,000 tonnes of this energy and derivatives, to cover 5% of the shipping fuel supply by 2030.

In 20 years, the estimate rises to the supply of 40% of shipping fuels.

But this potential would require 67 gigawatts (Gw) of installed renewable capacity, which is a substantial deployment in a country whose economy is highly dependent on the activity of the inter-oceanic canal between the Pacific and the Atlantic, inaugurated in 1914 and expanded a century later, in a project that doubled its capacity and came into operation in 2016.

In 2023, the Panamanian energy mix relied on hydropower, gas, wind, bunker, solar and diesel, with an installed capacity of 3.47 Gw at the start of 2024. Panama currently has at least 31 photovoltaic plants and three wind farms.

Electricity generation accounted for some 24 million tonnes of CO2 emissions in 2021, with the largest contributors being energy (70%) and agriculture (20%).

But in 2023, the country declared itself carbon neutral, i.e. its forests capture the pollution released into the atmosphere, having a negative balance in GHG emissions.

The national strategy includes the construction of a 160 megawatt (MW) solar plant and an 18 MW wind power farm in the centre-south of the country, as well as a second 290 MW photovoltaic plant in the northern province of Colón.

In this province, a green ammonia production plant is planned to supply the future demand for shipping fuel, with an annual production of 65,000 tonnes and an investment of US$ 500 million.

The global shipping sector considers hydrogen, ammonia and its derivative, methanol, to be viable. The latter, which is also used to make fertilisers, explosives and other commodities, can be obtained from green hydrogen.

A demand of up to 280,000 tonnes of green ammonia per year is projected by 2040, which would require the installation of 4.2 Gw of electrolysis.

Leonardo Beltrán, a non-resident researcher at the non-governmental Institute of the Americas, told IPS about the process of building strategies, institutional vision, and short, medium and long-term goals.

“They have taken giant steps in a relatively short period of time. They already have the infrastructure, the canal. If that demand is met, it could be a game changer. If you can connect the canal to other ports, to the United States or Europe, they could very well have that (green) corridor that would anchor a relevant demand. That would boost on-site and also regional generation,” he said from Mexico City.

With support from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Panama is developing pre-feasibility projects on the production of green hydrogen, its conversion to ammonia and the installation of an ammonia dispatch station as a clean shipping fuel, and on the production of green aviation paraffin.

The roadmap found to be more feasible the production of hydrogen in Panama, the import of green ammonia and the processing of green shipping fuel.

Panama aspires to become a regional hub for green hydrogen, obtained from water and renewable energy sources, including gas and ammonia production plants. Infographic: National Energy Board

Also, the country is considering manufacturing green paraffin for aviation, given that it hosts an air transport hub in the region, although testing is in its infancy and involves a much longer process than in the case of shipping.

Harmonisation

The hydrogen strategy is a function of Panama’s logistical, energy and climate change needs.

Panama currently has 10 tax-free fossil fuel areas, with storage capacity of more than 30 million barrels (159 litre) equivalent and one liquefied fossil gas area, which are tax exempt and could be the model for future hydrogen generation areas.

In 2021, the country shipped 42.79 million tonnes of fuel to more than 44,000 vessels, a figure that will grow by 2030. By comparison, hydrogen passing through the canal would total 81.84 million tonnes in 2030 and 190.96 million in 2050.

In its voluntary climate contributions under the Paris Agreement, Panama pledged to reduce total emissions from the energy sector by at least 11.5% in 2030, from its 2019 level, and by 24% in 2050.

In parallel, as of 2021, the Panama Canal, through which 6% of world trade passes, is implementing its own Sustainable Development and Decarbonisation Strategy.

The autonomous Panama Canal Authority’s plan includes the introduction of electric vehicles, tugboats and boats using alternative fuels; the replacement of fossil electricity with photovoltaics and the use of hydropower, to become carbon neutral by 2030, with an investment of some US$8.5 billion over the next five years.

The canal reduces some 16 million tonnes of CO2 each year.

Tolls and shipping services are its biggest sources of revenue, and thus the importance of developing shipping fuels based on clean hydrogen.

In the first nine months of 2023, 210.73 million long tons (1,016 kilograms) went through the interoceanic infrastructure, down from 218.44 million in the same period in 2022.

Of the total cargoes, one third are fossil fuels. Container, chemical, gas and bulk carriers are the main transports.

Lucero said the country is looking for investments in renewable energy, particularly green hydrogen.

“This market has to be developed in an orderly way. Demand has to be driven; otherwise, the investment will not be profitable. There are uncertainties, but the line that has been taken is that hydrogen is the future and we want to break away from being followers to become leaders, to seize the moment to develop and be prepared when the boom arrives,” he stressed.

For expert Beltrán, if the government that took office on 1 July follows this route, it would send a strong signal to the sector and thus pull the shipping sector toward energy transition.

“Replacing imports with local product is more convenient, and the way would be with the available, renewable resource. That would impact local development and contribute to the energy transition agenda,” he said.

Categories: Africa

Invest in Research to Protect Crops from Future Flooding

Fri, 08/09/2024 - 19:27

Record-breaking rainfall and flooding are increasingly threatening our ability to grow essential crops like wheat, soybeans, and maize. Credit: Shutterstock

By Esther Ngumbi
URBANA, Illinois, US, Aug 9 2024 (IPS)

Tropical Storm Debby has resulted in record-setting rain and flooding events across several States, including Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina and parts of Georgia and left a trail of damage including leaving Florida crops flooded.

Record-breaking rain, flooding events, and other weather impacts people and our ability to grow crops successfully, including wheat, soybeans, maize, and vegetable crops such as tomatoes, which we depend on to meet human food security and nutrition needs.

In the US Midwest, for example, flooding events of 2019 resulted in economic impacts exceeding 6-8 billion USD. In 2023, weather-related disasters resulted in over $21 billion in crop losses. On the African continent, a recent study found that record-breaking rainfall and flooding events contributed to food insecurity.

Predictably, like humans, plants, including maize, soybeans, and tomatoes, are sensitive to flooding. I have seen firsthand the detrimental impacts flooding has on crops such as maize and tomato as a child growing up on a farm in Kenya and today as a University Professor and a researcher at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign working on a flooding field study that the United States Department of Agriculture funds.

Future climate projections reveal that record-breaking flooding events will happen more frequently. We must build a comprehensive understanding of flooding. Investing in research and involving all stakeholders is the way forward

During flooding, plant growth and development are impacted by the deprivation of oxygen, an essential and indispensable element that powers all critical below-and-aboveground plant life-sustaining metabolic and physiological processes, including respiration and photosynthesis.

Ultimately, depending on several factors, including crop genetics, soil and agricultural management practices, temperatures, and crop stage, when flooding happens, plant development and growth are impacted with consequences for yield crop supply and food nutrition and security.

There is an urgent need to understand flooding’s impacts on agriculturally relevant crops. Importantly, actionable plans and strategies must be implemented to strengthen crops’ resilience to record-breaking events. What can then be done?

To implement actionable strategies against flooding and its detrimental impacts on plants, federal funding agencies, including the United States Department of Agriculture and the National Science Foundation, must invest in flooding research.

First, we must understand the short and long-term impacts of flooding on all crops. How do diverse crop varieties grown today across different environments respond to flooding? Such research would be instrumental in picking out flooding-resistant varieties and unpacking the characteristics and traits, including crop genetics, that underpin flooding resilience.

Such intelligence would then be used to breed climate-resilient crop varieties that can tolerate flooding and thrive under other climate-associated stressors now and into the future.

Second, we must understand the impacts flooding has on soil health, soil biology, and below-ground microorganisms that underpin plants and soil health. Healthy soil is a dynamic matrix that houses microorganisms, including bacteria and fungi, that play diverse functions, including nutrient cycling, nitrogen fixation, promoting plant growth, and suppressing disease-causing pathogens.

Emerging research has revealed that during flooding, in response to declining oxygen levels, soil undergoes dramatic changes in its physical, chemical, and biological properties, including soil pH and nutrient concentrations.

Further, research evidence reveals the accumulation of toxic compounds such as manganese and hydrogen sulfide that can harm soil microbial communities. How long these flooding-induced and associated soil changes last and their impacts on beneficial soil microbe communities across different environments remain largely unknown.

In parallel, we need to understand the role that crop and soil management practices touted as regenerative play in mitigating flooding impacts on plants.

Ultimately, flooding research should be steered towards coming up with flooding solutions. What target solutions can be implemented after flooding to steer soils, soil microbiomes, and plants toward recovery? It will require a transdisciplinary approach, collaborative research, and the participation of all stakeholders- farmers, researchers, funding agencies, the private sector, government, and humanitarian organizations.

To be sure, short-term aid efforts that have traditionally occurred when flooding occurs, including actions taken by Florida, are necessary. Still, to face the reality of more flooding in the future, we need more research.

Esther Ngumbi, PhD is Assistant Professor, Department of Entomology, African American Studies Department, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Categories: Africa

Small Farmers Feeling Climate Change Heat Find Little Support From the State

Fri, 08/09/2024 - 08:56

The extreme heat adversely affected the milk production of the over 800,000 cattle in Karachi. Credit: Zofeen Ebrahim/IPS

By Zofeen Ebrahim
KARACHI, Pakistan, Aug 9 2024 (IPS)

The over 20 million residents of Pakistan’s port city of Karachi, in Sindh province in particular, have been experiencing brutal heat since May. But they are not the only ones bearing the brunt of high temperatures and humidity.

Up to 15,000 cattle died due to scorching heat mixed with high humidity which Shakir Umar Gujjar, president of the Cattle and Dairy Farmers Association, Pakistan, said was “no joke”.

Mubashir Abbas, owner of 170 heads, lost eight cows and five buffaloes to the “extreme heat” in the last week of June, which translates to a loss of Rs 5.5 million (USD 19,800) for him.

“Three more are running high fever and I will have to sell them to cut my losses,” he told IPS over phone from Bhains Colony, in Karachi’s Landhi district. “I will fetch no more than Rs 40,000 (USD 143) a piece, when the market rate for each healthy one is valued between Rs 1.5 and 2 million (USD 5,300–7,000),” he estimated. Every now and then, in the last 23 years, he would lose a few to disease, but he had never “seen a healthy animal dying from heat.”

Livestock, the largest sub-sector in agriculture, contributed 60.84 percent to agriculture and 14.63 percent to the country’s GDP during 2023-2024, according to the Pakistan Economic Survey. More than eight million rural families are engaged in livestock production, accounting for 35-40 percent of their total income.

About 15,000 cattle died due scorching heat mixed with high humidity in Sindh province, Pakistan. Credit: Zofeen Ebrahim/IPS

“From June 23 to 30, Karachi experienced a heatwave with temperatures ranging between 40 and 42 °C. The ‘feel-like’ temperature went up to 54 °C due to high humidity,” said Dr. Sardar Sarfaraz, chief meteorologist at the Pakistan Meteorological Department.

Dr. Nazeer Hussain Kalhoro, director general at the government’s Sindh Institute of Animal Health in the Livestock and Fisheries Department in Karachi, attributed extreme heat to the death of livestock, especially exotic and crossed breeds.

The temperature was still lower than the deadly 2015 heatwave temperature of 44.8 °C that claimed over 2,000 human lives when the feel-like heat index exceeded 60 °C, said Sarfaraz. “A much bigger number of animals died then, and many young animals had to be slaughtered,” said Gujjar.

The heat had adversely affected the milk production of the over 800,000 cattle in Karachi, said Gujjar. “When an animal is in stress and discomfort, due to extreme heat, its intake of regular amount of fodder decreases, which can result in decrease in milk production,” said Kalhoro.

“I was getting between 1,400 and 1,480 kg in a day; it is not more than 960 kg now. I lose 0.11 million rupees (USD 400) daily,” said Abbas.

Communication Gap

The lack of engagement with the farmer by the government was the reason. Gujjar said the communication gap between the ministry of national food security and research at the federal level and the livestock departments at the provincial departments meant the uneducated farmer was on his own.

“The biggest tragedy is that our farmer is not educated and also unaware of how to prepare or protect the animal from the vagaries of climate,” said Gujjar, adding: “They do their own traditional treatment of their animals, which results in even more avoidable deaths.”

Similar is the plight of small farmers who remain in the eye of the climate storm. “They are continuously in a reactive mode,” said Mahmood Nawaz Shah, president of a farmers’ group, the Sindh Abadgar Board, with “government policies not conducive to them”.

Giving examples, Shah said the minimum price of cotton was fixed and notified at Rs 8,500/kg (UAD 30) but growers received Rs 5,200/kg (USD 18); a 50-kilo bag of urea increased from Rs 1,700 to Rs 4,600 (USD 6 to 16) in just three years; and the artificial shortage for the same last year meant the farmer had to pay Rs 5,500 for the same bag from the black market.

“We had recommended to the government to develop a climate endowment fund and compensate small farmers by involving insurance companies as soon as extreme events lead to crop and livestock losses,” said Shah.

Both the farmers, Gujjar and Shah, have hit the nail on the head on why Pakistan, one of the most vulnerable to climate crises, is unable to manage it effectively. The disconnect and lack of coordination between different federal and their related provincial government bodies is found across the spectrum and is highlighted in the 2024 Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) as a major reason that hampered policy implementation, placing Pakistan on the 30th position among 63 countries and the EU, which collectively account for over 90 percent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. “Improved cooperation between different levels of government would be a step in the right direction,” it concluded.

Similarly, the 2024 Environmental Performance Index that assesses the progress of effectiveness of 180 countries in mitigating climate change, relying on historical greenhouse gas emissions data, put Pakistan three rungs down at 179th rank this year from the 176th position it held in 2022.

Indifference and Apathy

Both the CCPI and the EPI are a clear giveaway of government’s nonchalance. The latter index has especially pointed to areas like air pollution, wastewater treatment, protected areas management and climate mitigation.

“The country is slipping on most environmental indicators,” agreed former climate change minister, Malik Amin Aslam, pointing to the weak air pollution control measures, non-adherence to the electric vehicles transition and failure to promote renewables. From being a country championing the global green cause in 2022 to now “ignominiously slipping down the environmental performance ladder” should certainly raise alarm bells for our current green policy makers, warned Aslam.

The 2022 floods, which should have acted as a wake-up call for the government, he said, failed to move the government towards preparedness and improving the health of the environment.

Maha Qasim, CEO of Zero-Point Partners, an environmental management and consulting firm, said: “No significant effort had been made in building climate-resilient infrastructure like roads, drainage systems and flood management facilities like levees or reservoirs.

The EPI has pointed towards Pakistan’s use of coal as a driver.

Putting things in perspective, Qasim said that in 2021, only around 14% of Pakistan’s energy mix was based on coal, while it figured 45 percent and 63 percent in India’s and Estonia’s energy mix. But in the last two years, Pakistan’s overall GHG emissions as well as CO2 have declined, due to “Pakistan’s overall performance capita emissions from fossil fuels and industry have declined due to stagnant economic growth,” she said.

Thus, Pakistan is well within its carbon budget and has met its Nationally Determined Contribution commitments to the UNFCCC.

The updated NDCs of 2021 have pledged to reduce emissions by 50%, shifting to renewable energy by 60 percent and 30 percent to electric vehicles by 2030, and a complete ban on importing coal.

Poor transport fuel regulations, old and inefficient vehicles on the road, mass cutting down of trees to make way for rapid urbanization, burning of agricultural residue and poor solid waste management have also been mentioned for Pakistan’s poor score.

Aslam, however, said the index failed to “register or recognize” Pakistan’s efforts on reforestation—the Billion Tree Tsunami Afforestation Project in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, followed by 10 Billion Tree Tsunami Programme across the country. “The EPI ranking can certainly enhance its acceptability and credibility by improving these areas,” he said.

Weak Governance

Sobia Kapadia, a humanitarian aid practitioner, added factors like “weak governance, turning to fire-fighting and ad-hoc measures” whenever a climate crisis arises, thereby destroying the symbiosis.

“Heat, rain and floods are all connected to the core issue of human-induced development; but blaming heat and humidity on climate change is like blaming the naughtiest child,” said Kapadia, citing resorts being constructed in the mountains by cutting trees.

In yet another recent report that gives insights to investors and helps governments in setting carbon market-friendly policies, Pakistan comes 39th out of 40 countries.

Khalid Waleed, an energy economics expert at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), was quoted by media saying “for the first time in budget history, the government has tagged projects worth Rs53 billion under climate change adaptation and Rs225 billion under climate change mitigation,” referring to the budget presented earlier this month. However, he added that the budget was not climate change project-specific but had been tagged for their climate benefits.

Zia ul Islam finds the budget allocation “rather tricky” to understand as it not only indicates development projects from the Ministry of Planning Development & Special Initiatives, but foreign-funded projects and projects under various ministries and provinces.

Environmental and public policy analyst Dawar Butt, comparing the country’s miniscule environmental spending to India and Bangladesh, said climate did not seem to be a priority. He further added that the climate change allocation has been “cut down by one billion rupees from what finally got approved in this year’s budget.”

Handling Climate Change on Piecemeal Basis

But it is not just how the government is handling climate change. Referring to a climate risk awareness survey conducted by GIZ Pakistan, Qasim highlighted that while many organizations are beginning to acknowledge the impact of climate change on their business models, their approach towards dealing with it was “incomplete and fragmented with a focus on climate mitigation” to meet external requirements of clients or regulators rather than on long-term business sustainability.

Due to the funding fatigue, Zia ul Islam suggested the “begging attitude” may be replaced by capacity building of concerned authorities, bringing in necessary improvements in the legal instruments and effective implementation.”

Good News

If Pakistan can somehow link smooth governance with climate finance and showcase to the world that it can fund its own climate solutions, it will give local and international companies the confidence to invest in the country. This year’s Financing Climate Action report by Transparency International states Pakistan has a huge potential to “dollarize climate adaptive and mitigative projects” provided climate governance is improved.

Flood insurance initiatives for farmers, for example, said Qasim, at very low markup rates, have the potential to be “scaled up across the country to increase flood resilience.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

Indigenous Peoples — An Antidote in a World of Crisis

Fri, 08/09/2024 - 08:11

Indigenous Livelihoods Enhancement Partners, a 2024 Equator Prize winner, fosters sustainable livelihoods and climate resilience in Kenya's Maasai pastoral community through programmes such as tree nurseries, beekeeping, and hay production, all while integrating Indigenous knowledge. Credit: UNDP Equator Initiative/Francisco Galeazzi

By Jamison Ervin and Anna Giulia Medri
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 9 2024 (IPS)

This year’s Equator Prize winners are the antidote we need in a world of crisis. Earlier this year, the World Economic Forum released its annual Risk Report. The key findings highlighted the inescapable trend over the past decade that we are facing a global polycrisis, in which problems of biodiversity loss, climate change, inequality, water scarcity and conflict are increasingly indivisible, simultaneous, and systemic.

The term polycrisis is increasingly starting to show up in global discourse. The Financial Times cited “polycrisis” as the ‘year in a word’ for 2023.

The linkages between nature and climate are particularly intertwined. If protected, restored and well-managed, nature can provide more than a third of our climate mitigation needs, and is essential to be able to adapt to climate impacts.

On the other hand, current practices of forestry, land conversion and conventional agriculture are responsible for up to a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions. Simply put, there is no chance of achieving a 1.5C degree future without a reset in how we think about, value, and manage nature.

To tackle our nature and climate crisis, we need integrated, multi-faceted solutions that restore our planet, tackle climate change, and help people thrive. We need signposts — practical examples — to show how we can implement integrated solutions that protect and restore nature, keep carbon in the ground, buffer communities, and sustain livelihoods, water security and wellbeing.

Integrated solutions for nature and climate are especially critical for the more than three billion people who depend on nature directly for their livelihoods and daily needs, who are at the frontlines facing the impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss, and who are best positioned to effect local solutions.

The theme of this year’s Equator Prize was “Nature for Climate Action.” The 11 winners, selected from more than 600 nominations, exemplify the transformative potential of Indigenous and locally-led nature-based solutions in combating the climate crisis.

Hailing from Brazil, Bangladesh, Colombia, Iran, Kenya, Morocco, Senegal, and Zambia, they champion initiatives that not only protect, conserve, and restore ecosystems but also integrate nature into planning frameworks, enhance resilience to the impacts of climate change, and promote a fair, inclusive, and circular green economy.

In Brazil, the União dos Povos Indígenas do Vale do Javari, an Indigenous-led non-profit organization representing Brazil’s second largest Indigenous territory in the 8.5-million-hectare Javari Valley, is working to defend constitutional rights, preserve traditional knowledge, and safeguard their shared territory.

In Colombia, the Federación Mesa Nacional del Café (FEMNCAFÉ) comprises 28 coffee associations, championing the economic, social, and community reintegration of signatories of the Colombian peace agreement alongside local communities.

By reducing inequality among coffee farmers, democratizing technical knowledge, and promoting climate-resilient agriculture, they tackle agrarian disparity, stimulating rural economies, and confronting the challenges of climate change head-on.

In Kenya, the Indigenous Livelihoods Enhancement Partners (ILEPA) focuses on environmental conservation and sustainable development for the Maasai community, expanding land rights advocacy, addressing climate change and biodiversity loss, and promoting nature-based livelihoods.

And in Bangladesh, the Sundarbans Eco Village in Bangladesh, is restoring mangrove forests, securing fisheries livelihoods, expanding ecotourism and strengthening climate resilience.

The Equator Prize winners show the world how to implement integrated solutions that deliver on nature protection, restoration, and management, tackle our climate crisis, and attain local sustainable development goals. But we also have an unprecedented global opportunity to follow their lead.

Over the next 18 months, nearly every country will be refining both their national biodiversity plans and their national climate plans, with the opportunity to align these plans and make bold advances in both nature and climate.

If the ‘word in a year’ for 2023 was polycrisis, let’s hope that the ‘word in a year’ for 2025 is “polysolutions,” where at every level, from local to national to global, the world recognizes, champions and implements solutions, plans, commitments and actions that are integrated, multi-faceted and aligned, delivering on nature, climate and people.

This year’s Equator Prize winners are already showing us the way forward!

Jamison Ervin is Manager, Global Programme on Nature for Development, UNDP; Anna Giulia Medri is Senior Programme Officer, Equator Initiative, UNDP.

Source: UNDP

IPS UN Bureau

Categories: Africa

Gaza Children’s Education, Mental Health Targeted With Emergency Response Grant

Thu, 08/08/2024 - 14:23

Education Cannot Wait announces USD 2 million First Emergency Response Grant in Gaza. Credit: ECW

By IPS Correspondent
JOHANNESBURG, Aug 8 2024 (IPS)

Since October 2023, 625,000 children enrolled in schools across Gaza have had no access to education, and more than 370 schools have sustained damage from attacks, according to the United Nations.

Now, in support of efforts to provide girls and boys with access to quality educational opportunities and mental health services, Education Cannot Wait (ECW) announced today a USD 2 million First Emergency Response Grant in Gaza.

“2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza are in the midst of an epic humanitarian catastrophe, facing inhumane conditions. There is unprecedented violence in modern times, starvation, famine and disease. Desperation and scarcity have led to a total breakdown of the lives of children and adolescents,” Yasmine Sherif, Executive Director of Education Cannot Wait, the Global Fund for Education in Emergencies and Protracted Crises within the United Nations, said when announcing the fast-acting 12-month grant.

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), which aims to improve learning conditions for children and adolescents in Gaza, will deliver the grant through its ongoing Better Learning Programme in Palestine.

“Today, we are calling on world leaders to support diplomatic efforts to ensure the unconditional release of all hostages now, create a lasting ceasefire, provide safe and unimpeded access for humanitarian aid, ensure full adherence to international humanitarian law by all parties to the conflict, and a realization of a political and peaceful solution,” Sherif said.

Jan Egeland, the NRC’s Secretary General, committed the council to supporting the children of Gaza.

“The children of Gaza continue to face unimaginable horrors. It has taken an appalling toll on young people, many of whom have lived through numerous previous conflicts, leaving many thousands dead, injured and orphaned. This grant from ECW will enable the first steps in restoring mental health and learning services. But it represents a drop in an ocean of needs in Gaza. The children and young people who have suffered during this unprecedented conflict must not be forgotten—they will need sustained support for years to come, and NRC will do all it can to provide this. We call on funders to prioritize children in Gaza in order to protect their futures,” Egeland said.

The grant brings ECW funding in the State of Palestine to approximately USD 36 million.

Even before the start of the recent unprecedented hostilities, an estimated 800,000 children in Gaza—three-quarters of its entire child population—had already been identified as needing mental health and psychosocial support, ECW said in a press statement.

“By investing in a minimum continuation of learning and mental health and psychosocial support for the children and adolescents of Gaza, we are trying to do what we possibly can to mitigate their suffering and bring whatever hope we can to these young people,” Sherif added.

United Nations reports indicate that grave human rights and humanitarian law violations against children are rampant in Gaza. Hundreds of girls and boys are reportedly being killed or injured every day. “Right now, the Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child,” according to UNICEF.

The grant brings the total ECW funding in the State of Palestine to approximately USD 36 million, including a USD 10 million First Emergency Response Grant.

ECW has provided continuous funding for education in the State of Palestine since 2019.

ECW joined United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres in calling on donors to scale up funding to meet the critical needs of 3.1 million people across the State of Palestine. We must bridge the funding gap to secure the needed USD3.42 billion.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

Pacific Community Photographic Winners Bring Impacts of Climate Change to Life

Thu, 08/08/2024 - 10:28

Living on 37 hectares of land, the people of Anuta in Solomon Islands depend entirely on their marine resources for survival. To adapt to climate change, they build sea walls that stop the incoming waves during cyclones or high swell, protecting their homes and outrigger fishing canoes, which are the most important asset on Anuta island. Credit: Zahiyd Namo/Solomon Islands

By IPS Correspondent
PACIFIC ISLANDS, Aug 8 2024 (IPS)

The Pacific Community’s photographic competition winners reflect the devastating climate impacts on beautiful and sensitive environments, documenting the most pressing issues the communities who live on the islands face today.

The images will be used to illustrate the soon-to-be published book: Climate change implications for fisheries and aquaculture in the Pacific Islands region. The governments of Australia and New Zealand supported the international team of experts who chose the work in collaboration with SPC.

IPS today publishes a selection of these winning photographs.

Sinking Islands of Kove. For thousands of people, the islands of the Kove region have been a place to call home. As populations increase, more homes are built above the water. However, due to poor infrastructure and decreasing land mass, their homes are now threatened by rising sea levels and unpredictable weather patterns. Credit: Tiana Reimann/Papua New Guinea

At low tide, an i-Taukei fisherwoman gathers cockles along the Nasese sea wall, a tradition weathered by time and tide. Her resilience mirrors the struggle of Pacific communities against rising seas and shifting ecosystems, illustrating the intimate connection between climate change and traditional fisheries. Credit: Josh Kuilamu/Fiji

A fisherman casts his net over a muddy, silt-laden reef, highlighting the stark effects of climate change in Yuru Harbour, East Kwaio, Malaita Province, Solomon Islands. Rising temperatures and altered rainfall patterns have led to increased siltation and disrupted fisheries and aquaculture, threatening marine ecosystems and traditional livelihoods dependent on fishing. Credit: Zorik Olangi/Solomon Islands

Water floods in, showing how nature and people are at risk. Trees can’t grow because of salt, leaving no protection. This photo warns about climate change’s effect on our islands and atolls. It’s a clear sign we need to act to keep our world safe. Credit: Gitty Keziah Yee/Tuvalu

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

Will the New Cybercrime Treaty be Used as a Tool for Government Repression?

Thu, 08/08/2024 - 09:58

Global Cybercrime Treaty: A delicate balance between security and human rights. Credit: Unsplash/Jefferson Santos Via UN News

By Thalif Deen
Aug 8 2024 (IPS)

A new UN Cybercrime Treaty, which is expected to be adopted by the UN General Assembly later this year, is being denounced by over 100 human rights activists and civil society organizations (CSOs) as a potential tool for government repression.

The treaty is expected to be adopted by a UN Ad Hoc Committee later this week and move to the 193-member General Assembly for final approval.

Deborah Brown, Deputy Director for Technology, Rights, and Investigations at Human Rights Watch (HRW), told IPS governments would then need to sign and ratify the treaty, which means going through national processes.

“We anticipate that as countries move to ratify the treaty it will face considerable scrutiny and pushback from legislators and the public because of the threat it poses to human rights.”

The treaty, she pointed out, would expand government surveillance and create an unprecedented tool for cross-border cooperation between governments on a wide range of crimes, without adequate safeguards to protect people from abuses of power.

“Negotiations are also expected to start on a protocol to accompany the treaty to address additional crimes and further expand the treaty’s reach. We urge governments to reject a cybercrime treaty that undermines rights,” Brown said.

Recognizing the growing dangers of cybercrime, the UN says member states have set about drafting a legally-binding international treaty to counter the threat.

Five years later, negotiations are still ongoing, with parties unable to reach an acceptable consensus, and the latest meeting of the Committee members in February did not conclude with an agreed draft, with countries unable to agree on wording that would balance human rights safeguards with security concerns.

One of the nongovernmental organizations taking part in the negotiations is Access Now, which defends and extends the digital rights of people and communities at risk around the world.

Whilst the February session was still taking place at UN Headquarters, Raman Jit Singh Chima, the Senior International Counsel and Asia Pacific Policy Director for Access Now, spoke to Conor Lennon from UN News, to explain his organization’s concerns.

“This treaty needs to address “core cybercrime”, namely those crimes that are possible only through a computer, that are sometimes called “cyber dependent” crimes, such as hacking into computer systems, and undermining the security of networks”, said Chima.

Clearly, these should be criminalized by states, with clear provisions put in place enabling governments across the world can cooperate with each other.

“If you make the scope of the treaty too broad, it could include political crimes. For example, if someone makes a comment about a head of government, or a head of state, that might end up being penalized under the cybercrime law,” he pointed out.

“When it comes to law enforcement agencies cooperating on this treaty, we need to put strong human rights standards in place, because that provides trust and confidence in the process”.

Also, if you have a broad treaty with no safeguards, every request for cooperation could end up being challenged, not only by human rights advocates and impacted communities, but by governments themselves, he warned.

Meanwhile, the joint statement by CSOs points to critical shortcomings in the current draft of the treaty, which threatens freedom of expression, privacy, and other human rights.

The draft convention contains broad criminal provisions that are weak –- and in some places nonexistent -– human rights safeguards, and provides for excessive cross-border information sharing and cooperation requirements, which could facilitate intrusive surveillance.

“Cybercrime regimes around the world have been misused to target and surveil human rights defenders, journalists, security researchers, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, in blatant violation of human rights”.

The draft convention’s overbreadth also threatens to undermine its own objectives by diluting efforts to address actual cybercrime while failing to safeguard legitimate security research, leaving people less secure online, the CSOs warn.

“National and regional cybercrime laws are regrettably far too often misused to unjustly target journalists and security researchers, suppress dissent and whistleblowers, endanger human rights defenders, limit free expression, and justify unnecessary and disproportionate state surveillance measures”.

Throughout the negotiations over the last two years, civil society groups and other stakeholders have consistently emphasized that the fight against cybercrime must not come at the expense of human rights, gender equality, and the dignity of the people whose lives will be affected by this Convention.

In an oped piece in Foreign Policy in Focus, Tirana Hassan, executive director of Human Rights Watch, says the new treaty, backed by Russia, is aimed to stifle dissent.

She points out that Cybercrime—the malicious hacking of computer networks, systems, and data—threatens people’s rights and livelihoods, and governments need to work together to do more to address it.

But the cybercrime treaty sitting before the United Nations for adoption, could instead facilitate government repression, she noted.

By expanding government surveillance to investigate crimes, the treaty could create an unprecedented tool for cross-border cooperation in connection with a wide range of offenses, without adequate safeguards to protect people from abuses of power.

“It’s no secret that Russia is the driver of this treaty. In its moves to control dissent, the Russian government has in recent years significantly expanded laws and regulations that tighten control over Internet infrastructure, online content, and the privacy of communications,” said Hassan.

But Russia doesn’t have a monopoly on the abuse of cybercrime laws. Human Rights Watch has documented that many governments have introduced cybercrime laws that extend well beyond addressing malicious attacks on computer systems to target people who disagree with them and undermine the rights to freedom of expression and privacy, she pointed out.

For example, in June 2020, a Philippine court convicted Maria Ressa, the Nobel prize-winning journalist and founder and executive editor of the news website Rappler, of “cyber libel” under its Cybercrime Prevention Act.

The government has used the law against journalists, columnists, critics of the government, and ordinary social media users, including Walden Bello, a prominent progressive social activist, academic, and former congressman.

In Tunisia, authorities have invoked a cybercrime law to detain, charge, or place under investigation journalists, lawyers, students, and other critics for their public statements online or in the media.

In Jordan, the authorities have arrested and harassed scores of people who participated in pro-Palestine protests or engaged in online advocacy since October 2023, bringing charges against some of them under a new, widely criticized cybercrimes law.

Countries in the Middle East-North Africa region have weaponized laws criminalizing same-sex conduct and used cybercrime laws to prosecute online speech.

The treaty has three main problems: its broad scope, its lack of human-rights safeguards, and the risks it poses to children’s rights, said Hassan.

“Instead of limiting the treaty to address crimes committed against computer systems, networks, and data—think hacking or ransomware—the treaty’s title defines cybercrime to include any crime committed by using Information and Communications Technology systems.”

The negotiators are also poised to agree to the immediate drafting of a protocol to the treaty to address “additional criminal offenses as appropriate.”

As a result, when governments pass domestic laws that criminalize any activity that uses the Internet in any way to plan, commit, or carry out a crime, they can point to this treaty’s title and potentially its protocol to justify the enforcement of repressive laws.

In addition to the treaty’s broad definition of cybercrime, it essentially requires governments to surveil people and turn over their data to foreign law enforcement upon request if the requesting government claims they’ve committed any “serious crime” under national law, defined as a crime with a sentence of four years or more, Hassan said.

This would include behavior that is protected under international human rights law but that some countries abusively criminalize, like same-sex conduct, criticizing one’s government, investigative reporting, participating in a protest, or being a whistleblower.

In the last year, a Saudi court sentenced a man to death and a second man to 20 years in prison, both for their peaceful expression online, in an escalation of the country’s ever-worsening crackdown on freedom of expression and other basic rights.

This treaty would compel other governments to assist in and become complicit in the prosecution of such “crimes.”

Moreover, the lack of human rights safeguards, says Hassan, “is disturbing and should worry us all.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

Should There be a Dedicated Credit Rating Agency for Asia & the Pacific?

Thu, 08/08/2024 - 09:39

By Lin Zhuo
BANGKOK, Thailand, Aug 8 2024 (IPS)

Following persistent and determined efforts, Africa has achieved a breakthrough in advancing the establishment of an African credit rating agency (ACRA), with the proposed launch scheduled for December 2024.

More recently, the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) gathered together for a two-day retreat in Lusaka, Zambia, to discuss details of getting ACRA up and running.

What makes it such a significant development? How much sway credit rating agencies have in the big picture of global finance?

A new analysis by ESCAP reveals that even a minor upgrade of one notch in a country’s credit rating can lead to a significant reduction in government’s borrowing costs. We are talking about a 0.42 per cent drop in government bond yields!

However, the global credit rating market is dominated by the Big Three agencies (Moody’s, S&P and Fitch Ratings). Together, these three United States-based firms hold a market share of around 95 per cent.

The Big Three frequently face criticism for their perceived bias toward developing countries while assigning credit ratings to their sovereign debt obligations.

These include heavier reliance on judgment, particularly considering political risks and a country’s “willingness to pay.” Several factors contribute to this perceived bias, including limited local expertise, shorter track records in emerging markets, less robust reporting standards and data infrastructure, and cultural and linguistic differences.

The APRM has been tasked to conduct a feasibility study and support the establishment of the ACRA. Despite acknowledging various challenges highlighted in the feasibility study, such as concerns about credibility, investor perceptions of ACRA’s independence, market confidence, and potential financial risks to shareholders, the study expresses confidence in ACRA’s potential for success given the huge appetite for an alternative credit rating agency in Africa.

This new pan-African CRA aims to provide more accurate assessments of African countries by considering regional dynamics and geopolitical factors. It is expected to contribute to make borrowing cheaper for African governments and it is set to be a part of a broader strategy to improve access to capital and integrate the continent with global financial markets.

A United Nations Development Programme study suggests that fairer ratings could save African countries up to $74.5 billion, aiding in managing debt and allocating resources for development.

In Asia and the Pacific, during the 15th meeting of the Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of ASEAN, China, Japan, and Korea (ASEAN+3) in 2012, the ASEAN+3 Research Group was tasked with studying the establishment of a new regional credit rating agency in the ASEAN+3 Region.

Their report was presented at the subsequent 16th meeting, highlighting benefits and challenges similar to what were outlined in the above-mentioned APRM feasibility study. While the findings were acknowledged by the Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of ASEAN+3, no further action has been taken thereafter.

Indeed, deciding on the establishment of a regional credit rating agency for Asia and the Pacific is not a simple matter and it requires strong political backing. ESCAP’s Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2024 highlights several factors that need to be examined thoroughly.

First, a detailed business and financial model, including projected cash flows, need to be explored to ensure both financial sustainability and independence of this new credit rating agency, be it a stand-alone entity owned by a regional intergovernmental body, a joint venture with an established rating agency or outsourcing the credit rating function to other rating agencies.

Second, an appropriate legal framework needs to be established. In the case of the proposed African credit rating agency, its legal framework is one critical precondition to ensure that it becomes an autonomous, self-funded, financially independent and globally credible agency.

Third, a shareholder and management structure with a clear description of the roles of all potential stakeholders to ensure independence and credibility.

Amidst rising government borrowing costs and escalating public debt distress, globally and in Asia and the Pacific, there is a need for a renewed momentum for creating a regional credit rating agency attuned to the distinctive dynamics of Asia-Pacific economies.

Ahead of the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) to be held in Spain in 2025, a milestone to address financing challenges to accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and to reform the international financial architecture, it is perhaps time for countries in the region to discuss this issue.

ESCAP, in collaboration with ECA, can facilitate experience-sharing among member countries of the African Union and Asia-Pacific countries, including by co-organizing side events during major events and intergovernmental platforms, such as the forthcoming sessions of the Preparatory Committee for the FfD4 and annual Commission session of the ESCAP.

If the initiative triggers interest from the countries, ESCAP can work closely with its member and associate member States to advance the exploration of the idea of establishing a dedicated Asia-Pacific rating agency.

Lin Zhuo is Economic Affairs Officer ESCAP

IPS UN Bureau

Categories: Africa

Explainer: Why Kenya is Considered a High Climate Risk for Development Banks

Wed, 08/07/2024 - 14:44

Drought in Kenya's Ewaso Ngiro river basin in 2017 when pastoralists had to dig for water because much of the river system in Isiolo county had dried up. Credit: Denis Onyodi/KRCS

By Joyce Chimbi
NAIROBI, Aug 7 2024 (IPS)

Kenya contributes less than 0.1 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions every year, yet development banks have flagged the East African nation as a high climate risk. This is due to extreme weather changes that are increasingly threatening the country’s development agenda, widening socio-economic inequalities, and deepening rural poverty and hunger.

Climate change is a long-term shift in temperatures and weather patterns. Climate risk is the potential harm caused by climate change, such as financial, social, and environmental destruction and loss of life. Country-specific climate risk profiles are a summary of an analysis of climate trends over a long period of time, revealing how variability in weather patterns affects life and livelihoods.

Countries are advised to use these profiles to inform their development agenda, as failure to do so can significantly derail achievement of set development goals. For instance, unpredictability in weather patterns has a negative impact on certain sectors of Kenya’s economy.

This includes agriculture, tourism, horticulture, livestock and pastoralism, and forest products. Nearly 98 percent of agriculture is rain fed. Using climate risk projections, the country can invest in irrigation to reduce the impact of climate change on the sector, as approximately 75 percent of Kenyans draw their livelihood from agriculture.

Kenya’s most recent climate risk profile provides a climatic trend summary spanning two decades from 1991 to 2020, revealing that an estimated 68 percent of natural disasters in Kenya are caused by extreme climatic events, mostly floods and droughts. The remaining 32 percent represents disease epidemic.

Drought in Kenya from 2011 to 2022. Infographic: Cecilia Russell/IPS

High Temperatures Causing Frequent, Intense Droughts

Overall, 16 drought events are on record from 1991 to 2020, affecting millions of people and causing an overall estimated damage of USD 1.5 billion. Despite floods being a more recent phenomenon in Kenya they are becoming increasingly frequent, resulting in 45 flood events within the same period. While a pattern of droughts began to emerge as far back as 1975, a pattern of floods has only begun to emerge from 2012 to 2020.

A repeating pattern of droughts and floods costs the country approximately 3 to 5 percent of its annual Gross Domestic Product. Over the past two decades, Kenya’s mean annual temperature was 24.2 degree Celsius—with a high of 30.3 degree Celsius and a low of 18.3 degree Celsius.

To give a perspective of average temperatures in Kenya, 2023 was the hottest year on record and 2024 is following the trend. According to the Gilbert Ouma Associate Professor, Meteorology, University of Nairobi writing in The Conversation the capital Nairobi average temperatures fare normally moderate, between 24°C and 25°C on the higher side and 17°C-18°C on the lower side.

“These are generally very comfortable temperatures. However, in the December-January-February period, maximum temperatures are normally high, ranging between 26°C and 27°C.

“This year, temperatures in February went up to between 29°C and 30°C, even hitting 31°C. This is about 6°C higher than normal Nairobi temperatures. That is a big difference and our bodies are bound to feel the difference. If such an increase is sustained for a long time, it can lead to a heat wave.”

Droughts have been a most pressing and persistent problem in Kenya. As far back as 1975, drought cycles used to occur every 10 years. But as climate change escalates in both frequency and intensity, the drought cycle reduced from every 10 years to every five years, to every two to three years.

Each year there is an annual dry spell and a food shortage and the regularity of extremely dry periods makes it difficult for the country to recover from one drought to the next.

Temperature differences between 1901 and 2020 show a clear trend toward higher temperatures. Infographic: Cecilia Russell/IPS

A History of Drought Cycles in Kenya From 1991 to 2020

Drought is a regular occurrence in Kenya. In 1991–1992, more than 1.5 million people were affected by drought. This was followed by another cycle of widespread drought in 1995–1996 that affected at least 1.4 million people.

In January 1997, the government declared drought a national disaster, affecting more than two million people, and the famine continued into 1998. Shortly after, in 1999–2000, an estimated 4.4 million people were in dire need of food aid due to a severe famine. As far as natural disasters go, this was declared the worst in the preceding 37 years.

The 1998–2000 drought cost the country an estimated USD 2.8 billion, and this was largely due to crops and livestock loss, forest fires, damage to fisheries, reduced hydropower generation, reduced industrial production and reduced water supplies.

In 2004, failure of the March to June long rains led to a severe drought that left more than three million Kenyans in need of urgent food aid. In December 2005, the government declared drought a national catastrophe, affecting at least 2.5 million people in northern Kenya alone.

The drought in 2008 affected 1.4 million people and an overall 10 million people were at risk of hunger after an unsuccessful harvest due to drought in late 2009 and into early 2010. The severe and prolonged drought caused the country USD 12.1 billion in damages and losses, and cost over USD 1.7 billion in recovery.

There are 47 counties in Kenya. As only 20 percent of Kenya receives high and regular rainfall, Kenya’s arid and semi-arid (ASAL) areas comprise 18 to 20 of the poorest counties, which are particularly at risk from increased aridity and periods of drought.

ASAL regions have endured three significantly severe droughts from 2010 to 2020. The 2010–2011 period was severe and prolonged, affecting at least 3.7 million people, causing USD 12.1 billion in damages and losses, and costing over USD 1.7 billion in recovery and reconstruction needs.

That cycle was followed by the 2016–2017 drought. The 2020–2022 famine, which was the most severe, longest and widespread as more than 4.2 million people, or 24 percent of the ASAL population were facing high levels of acute food insecurity.

The impact on people of disasters in Kenya from 1900 to 2020. Infographic: Cecilia Russell/IPS

Overview of Natural Disaster Events in Kenya, 1991–2020

Kenya is increasingly enduring periods of intense, heavy rainfall. During this period, there were a total of 45 flood events, directly affecting more than 2.5 million people and causing an estimated damage of USD 137 million. These events took place in 1997, 1998, 2002, 2012 and 2020, as they were short, frequent and intense.

Unlike drought and famine, Kenya’s history with floods is much shorter. There were many consecutive drought seasons from 1991 to 1997. From 1997, a pattern of floods begun to emerge in this East African country.

It all started with the historic severe and deadly El Nino floods in 1997–1998 that were widespread and affected 1.5 million people. This was followed by the 2002 floods, that affected 150,000 people. Kenya has experienced flooding almost every year from 2010 to 2020.

The impact of flooding in Kenya between 2010 and 2024. Infographic: Cecilia Russell/IPS

Projected Risk Moving Forward

“From 2020 to 2050, projections show that ASAL regions will continue to receive decreasing rainfall. Temperatures in the country will continue to rise by 1.7 degree Celsius by 2050 and even higher by approximately 3.5 degree Celsius before the end of this century. The escalation in climate change will increase our climate risk,” Mildred Nthiga, a climate change independent researcher in East Africa, tells IPS.

“We will have even more frequent and damaging floods, and this will be followed by longer periods of drought. We have already started to experience some worrisome landslides and mudslides and, this will become an even bigger concern, especially in the highlands.”

Stressing that additional soil erosion and water logging of crops will significantly affect agricultural productivity, reducing yields and increasing food security. There will also be significant economic losses, severe damage to farmlands and infrastructure.

Worse still, as already witnessed in the recent 2024 deadly floods—human causalities. This will deepen rural poverty and hunger, and derail Kenya’s progress towards achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Note: This feature is published with the support of Open Society Foundations.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Excerpt:

Climate change-related extreme weather jeopardizes Kenya's development agenda; even though it contributes very little to global warming, it is marked as a high-risk country by development banks.

Categories: Africa

Improving Childhood Health and Development Need Not Be an Olympian Effort

Wed, 08/07/2024 - 09:10

A baby hangs on a scale during a community health check-up and vaccination in Akosombo in the Eastern Region, Ghana, on April 28, 2022. Credit: Gavi/2022/Nipah Dennis

By Afshan Khan and Sania Nishtar
GENEVA, Aug 7 2024 (IPS)

From 11-year-old Chinese skateboarder Zheng Haohao to 16-year-old American gymnast Hezly Rivera, several children have reached the pinnacle of world sport at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Yet at the same time, millions of other children worldwide are denied the chance to unlock their full potential simply because of a lack of access to basic nutritious diets and vaccines that prevent disease.

As young athletes impress and inspire global audiences, the Games are the perfect moment to reflect on how to level the playing field for all children. Integrating nutrition and immunisation as the cornerstones of healthy development can be a game-changer, ensuring every child is able to reach their full potential in whatever field they choose.

The conditions for healthy development include both the absence of disease and presence of adequate nutrition, creating a virtuous cycle that allows children to thrive. Vaccines trigger the strongest immunity in children who have healthy diets, while those who are malnourished are more susceptible to infectious diseases.

Unconscionably, in this day and age, both malnutrition and preventable infectious disease claim the lives of millions of children every year.

Globally, more than 14 million children are un- or under-vaccinated – an increase of 2.7 million compared with pre-pandemic levels – while almost a quarter of children under five were stunted in 2022 as a result of inadequate diets.

Yet, immunisation and nutrition interventions are proven to be amongst the most cost-effective approaches to help children survive and thrive. One dollar invested in nutrition gives a rate of return of US$16, rising to US$35 for exclusive breastfeeding, while the return on investment of immunisation in Gavi-supported countries is estimated at between US$21 and US$54 per US$1 spent.

This is especially important for low- and middle-income countries where immunisation rates are lowest, malnutrition is prevalent and resources are stretched thin. The latest UN figures show more than half of unvaccinated children live in 31 countries exposed to conflict and other vulnerabilities, disrupting access to nutrition and health services.

The same children often miss out on both nutritional supplements and essential vaccines, meaning that integrated health services would solve two problems at once.

Integrated nutrition and immunisation can be achieved either in the same clinic or community health facility, or through the same health worker.

Uganda is one country that has taken proactive action towards integration, and plans to shift to integrated provision of nutritional supplements and vaccines based on learnings from several pilot programmes.

Meanwhile, Action Against Hunger and partners in Somalia mounted an integrated campaign to address rising levels of malnutrition and disease during the prolonged drought in 2022, which affected 7.8 million people.

The campaign reached more than 200,000 children with measles vaccines, deworming treatments and vitamin A supplementation, and screened more than 185,000 children under five for wasting. Among the referral sites for severe acute malnutrition, the average cure rate was 83 per cent and malnutrition decreased significantly over the period of the campaign.

If more governments were able to adopt and scale such levels of integrated service delivery as part of primary health care, more countries could achieve Universal Health Coverage to reduce preventable deaths, ill-health and malnutrition in children.

As the world celebrates the remarkable achievements of young Olympians, the international community also has a window to transform the future of millions of children worldwide.

From the 2024 Games to Gavi’s replenishment and the , which has followed the Olympics since 2012, world leaders have the chance to invest in research and partnerships to integrate nutrition and immunisation as the fundamental components of healthy development. This is the winning formula for more children to succeed – on the track, field and pitch, and in life.

Afshan Khan, UN Assistant Secretary General and Coordinator of the Scaling up Nutrition (SUN) Movement

Sania Nishtar, CEO of GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance

IPS UN Bureau

Categories: Africa

Water Stories: The Well Seven Families and 400 Buffaloes Rely On

Wed, 08/07/2024 - 08:57

Women in Khardariya village in Dang fetching water from a community well. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS

By Tanka Dhakal
KATHMANDU, Aug 7 2024 (IPS)

In the rural village of Khardariya in the Dang district of Nepal, access to clean water is a major issue. Villagers depend on one poorly managed well for drinking water, cleaning, and feeding livestock.

Anjana Yadav stood near the well while a neighbor walked toward it to fetch a bucket of water.

“At least seven families and over 400 buffaloes rely on this well; this is the water that sustains the buffaloes, and we drink it too,” she said. “In summer, the water level goes down, and we suffer more,” Anjana told IPS.

According to government data, only 27 percent of the country’s population has access to pure drinking water. However, the government’s aim is to increase the number of people using safe drinking water to at least 90 percent by 2030, in line with Sustainable Development Goals. But villages like Khardariya are still struggling to access enough water, let alone pure water.

“This water is not drinkable, but we don’t have any other option,” Niramala Yadava (Anjana’s daughter) says while showing the logged water around the well, “We know this water is not safe, but we’re forced to drink it, use it for cleaning, and even in the kitchen. We also have to manage for livestock too.”

Khardariya is one example where access to water is a major problem, and there are other areas where people are facing the same situation. The Department of Water Supply and Sewerage Management claims that 80 percent of people have access to drinking water, but it’s not safe as per standards. Most of them still depend on surface water sources like rivers, ponds, and these sources are not necessarily safe to drink. And often time this water led to health consequences to the community where clean drinking water is not available.

Everyday Struggle

According to the World Health Organization’s Global Health Estimates (WHO GHE), one of the largest declines in the number of deaths is from diarrheal diseases, with global deaths falling from 2.6 million in 2000 to 1.5 million in 2019. But in Nepal even though cases are in decreasing trend, water related diseases are still a major concern, GHE data shows from 2000 to 2019 above 140 thousands of diarrheal cases are recorded per year.

Diarrheal diseases are one of the top ten causes of death in Nepal. According to data from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), diarrheal diseases ranked seventh in 2009 and ninth in 2019 in the list of top ten causes of death.

As Anjana Yadav in Dang, Sarita Rana Magar in Solukhumbu is struggling to get drinking water from the spring sourced tap, but it is not certain that the water is clean as per government standards. “We don’t have enough access to drinking water; even to get a couple of buckets of water is hard these days,” Magar says while waiting for her turn to fill water from the community tap in Lausasa village in the Khumbu region, where mountains stand right near her village. “It takes 25-30 minutes to fill one bucket (40-liter bucket) of water, and I need at least three buckets of water every day,” Magar said while keeping her bucket under the running tap.

Problem is Not Prioritizing

Even though the Government of Nepal claims that safe drinking water is a priority issue, the facts do not align with this assertion. In recent years, the budget for safe drinking water has been decreasing while the need is growing.

Madhu Timalsina, Senior Divisional Engineer at the Ministry of Water Supply, says that the government is not keen to expand basic drinking water safety.

“According to the data we have, 73 percent of the population lacks access to safe drinking water. The target is to reach 90 percent of the population with access to safe drinking water by 2030,” Timalsina says. “We don’t have the resources to sustain ongoing programs, and meeting the goal is far from achievable at this point. Water is not a priority for the government. We need resources.”

According to the Ministry, at a time when the demand for safe drinking water is increasing, the budget is shrinking. In the current fiscal year, the Ministry received over 28 billion Nepali rupees (about USD 208 million) as their budget, which was 42 billion (USD 313 million) in the previous fiscal year.

“It seems like in the coming year, it will decrease to 22-23 billion,” Timalsina said, “We have not been able to initiate new programs in recent years due to the lack of budget. Everything is ready, but we lack the resources.”

The Federation of Drinking Water and Sanitation Users Nepal (FDWSUN), which advocates for access to safe and contamination-free water for all, believes that the government is not taking the water issue seriously. “We have been continuously trying to create pressure, but the government is not willing to listen,” said Durga Chapagain, Senior Vice President of the FDWSUN, “The majority of users are still drinking water from open sources, and there is no budget allocated for drinking water projects.”

If the government truly intends to increase access to safe drinking water for up to 90 percent of the population by 2030, the budget should be allocated accordingly, according to Timalsina.

“To meet the target, we need to cover an additional 63 percent of the population within 6 years. The target is set, but we can’t achieve anything without the budget,” he explains. “We lack the resources to meet our needs, which is the primary limitation. Additionally, our springs are drying up, and water scarcity is becoming a major issue. Unfortunately, without resources, it’s not possible to do anything.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

ECUADOR: ‘We demand that the violation of the rights of nature be recognised and reversed’

Wed, 08/07/2024 - 08:13

By CIVICUS
Aug 7 2024 (IPS)

CIVICUS speaks with Darío Iza Pilaquinga, president of the Kitu Kara People of the Kichwa nationality of Ecuador, about a historic court ruling that applied a constitutional provision recognising the rights of nature.

On 5 July, an Ecuadorian court issued a ruling recognising the rights of the Machángara River, which flows through the country’s capital, Quito. While other countries in the region recognise the right of people to a healthy environment, Ecuador’s constitution also recognises the right of natural elements not to be degraded. The lawsuit to protect the rights of the river, affected by high levels of pollution, was filed by the Indigenous Kitu Kara people. As a result of the ruling, the Municipality of the Metropolitan District of Quito must produce a plan to clean up the river.

Darío Iza Pilaquinga

What rights does the Ecuadorian Constitution recognise to natural elements?

The constitution recognises nature as a subject of rights. In practice, any person or community can demand that the authorities respect the rights of nature. The constitution also establishes the right to environmental restoration, which means the state must eliminate or mitigate the harmful effects of human activities on the environment.

The fact that Ecuador recognises the rights of nature clashes with western legal concepts, but for us it is an issue that goes beyond the legal and even the environmental realm. For Indigenous peoples, rivers and mountains are unique sacred entities that must be protected and preserved.

What tactics do Ecuadorian social movements use to demand environmental protection?

Citizens and Indigenous communities are demanding public policies that recognise the violation of nature’s rights. However, because we don’t want to depend on the changing will of successive administrations, we view court rulings as a fundamental tool for guaranteeing rights, including long-term environmental protection.

Through litigation, we have obtained Constitutional Court rulings that establish clear rules and oblige all public officials to protect rivers, regardless of changes in government. These rulings oblige institutions to define public policy to that effect and commit citizens to respecting nature and being aware of the environmental impact of their actions.

Finally, we run media campaigns to inform the public about the pollution levels of rivers and organise community litter picking. These campaigns are essential because, even if the government sets ambitious goals for itself, it cannot achieve them in the absence of people’s active participation.

Why did you file a lawsuit to protect the Machángara River?

The Machángara River, which flows through Quito, is very polluted. It looks more like an open sewer than a river. We believe that by failing to clean up its waters, the Quito authorities are violating the right of people in Quito to a healthy environment and the right of the river itself to not be degraded or polluted.

When the Kitu Kara people, alongside their communities and organisations, decided to join this action to defend the rights of the river, other environmental and cultural collectives joined us. Citizens’ groups, academics and researchers joined the cause, as well as former municipal officials who provided evidence of the lack of maintenance and conservation work on the river.

The city government is directly responsible for the failure to prevent pollution. Its public enterprises include the Municipal Public Company of Water and Sanitation (EPMAPS), responsible for drinking water supply and sewerage. Only three per cent of wastewater is treated, while the rest is discharged directly into the river. This affects water quality and environmental safety.

In our lawsuit, we hold the Municipality of Quito responsible for the pollution of the river and the violation of our rights. After hearing witnesses and scientists, the court found that in some stretches the river has only two per cent of oxygen, while the minimum required for animals and plants is 80 per cent. This is due to the presence of a large number of bacteria, parasites and viruses that consume the oxygen in the water.

In its ruling, the court recognised that the river’s rights were being violated and stated that the municipality must clean up the river and develop a methodology alongside citizens to educate them about the importance of protecting nature.

This landmark ruling is not the first: almost two years ago there was a similar one concerning the Monjas River. Although each case is unique, both rulings provide others in Ecuador with the legal tools they need to demand the protection of their rivers – such as people in the province of Pastaza, who have begun to demand the recognition of the Puyo River as a subject of rights.

How has the municipal government reacted?

Since the beginning, the city government tried to boycott the trial. They started by saying that our lawyer had a conflict of interest because he had been a judge at the Constitutional Court in the Monjas River case. But the judge rejected this.

Then they tried to take advantage of our naivety to get us to drop the case. A few days before the hearing, they called us to a meeting where they encouraged us to also sue the Ministry of the Environment, which is responsible for the rivers and for issuing permits, as well as EPMAPS. But our lawyers told us that if we requested the inclusion of additional defendants, the existing process could be declared null and void.

Once the process started, the mayor went to the media to announce that a project to build 27 treatment plants had been approved, in an attempt to show he was addressing the problem. When we asked for and received more information, we discovered that one of the main proposed plants, which would treat a large proportion of sewage, would be built on land that was part of the ancestral community of Llano Grande, which had not yet been consulted. In other words, the Indigenous communities’ right to free, prior and informed consent was being violated.

Even if the municipality had carried out the consultation and the community had given its consent, the project couldn’t have been carried out easily, because it would have destroyed an archaeological and agricultural zone and a preserve of Andean dry forest, violating the rights of nature. In short, the municipality was trying to solve one problem by creating another. When we objected, they accused us of obstructing their actions to solve the problem we had created.

Finally, their reaction to the ruling was also negative: the city government appealed the decision and promoted an extensive social media campaign to justify its position. This was aggravated by the activation of a troll campaign against us, as well as the intervention of other groups trying to take advantage of the situation in their fight against the current municipal administration.

However, we are optimistic. We believe that the Provincial Court and, if it comes to it, the National Court will ratify the decision, because the violation of rights we have denounced is so clear and obvious.

Civic space in Ecuador is rated ‘obstructed’ by the CIVICUS Monitor.

Get in touch with Darío Iza through his Instagram page and follow @daroizap on Twitter.

Categories: Africa

Pivotal Shift at Seabed Authority: Nations Rally for Deep-Sea Mining Moratorium

Wed, 08/07/2024 - 07:26

By Patricia Roy
KINGSTON, Jamaica, Aug 7 2024 (IPS)

The International Seabed Authority (ISA) Assembly meeting concluded last week with no mining authorized, an unprecedented number of States calling for a moratorium or precautionary pause and a new Secretary-General elected.

Three weeks of negotiations included intense scrutiny of the ISA’s annual financial management; no Mining Code was agreed; a Head of State attended the meeting to support a moratorium for the first time in the Assembly’s history; and there was the first formal debate ever by the ISA Assembly on the need to adopt an overall policy for the protection of the marine environment.

Momentum to defend the deep increased with 32 states now calling for a precautionary pause or moratorium. The attendance of senior political figures, Indigenous Leaders and youth from across the world added weight to the push to stop mining from proceeding and the election of a new Secretary General opens up a new era for the ISA.

The Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC) has been present throughout the negotiations in Kingston and Deep-Sea Mining Moratorium Campaign Lead, Sofia Tsenikli said: “For years the ISA has operated in its own bubble, pressing ahead and resisting the mounting calls for precaution. This Assembly meeting has marked a pivotal shift for the ISA and the moratorium campaign.

The dumbo octopus, which uses its ear-like fins to propel itself off of the seafloor, is one of the many species that call the deep-sea home. Credit: U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Okeanos Explorer Program, 2014 expedition, Gulf of Mexico.

States and communities that are on the front lines of deep-sea mining and its impacts are here in Jamaica to defend their homes and cultures from this destructive activity before it can begin. We applaud the ocean champions spearheading efforts to safeguard our fragile and essential deep sea.”

Malta, Honduras, Tuvalu, Guatemala, and Austria joined the ever-growing wave of countries calling for a precautionary pause to deep-sea mining, citing a lack of scientific knowledge and understanding of the deep sea, the absence of an effective regulatory regime and the high risk to the marine environment.

The ISA Assembly elected Leticia Carvalho as the new Secretary-General of ISA after defeating incumbent Michael Lodge, marking a new chapter for the institution responsible for the effective protection and long-term health of the deep sea.

The DSCC’s co-founder Matthew Gianni congratulated Carvahlo and the government of Brazil on this historic election and noted: “The ISA has an opportunity to champion a new way forward for sound ocean governance that prioritizes the precautionary principle and secures the health of the deep sea and its benefits for future generations.

We urge the new Secretary General to prioritize advancing transparency in the work of the ISA and independent scientific research and capacity building, decoupled from an extractive agenda, to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the deep ocean, its diversity of species and ecosystems, and the role they play in maintaining the health of the planet for all of us.”

For the first time, the ISA Assembly discussed the possibility of a General Policy for the protection and preservation of the marine environment, which could set the necessary conditions to be fulfilled before commercial deep-sea mining exploitation can be considered.

However, no decision was taken, as a group of States, including China, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Uganda and Ghana, refused to engage in any development on a General Policy at this Assembly, despite the support from a large number of States, including Chile, Palau, Vanuatu, Samoa, Switzerland, Brazil and Greece to bring the protection of the marine environment into the heart of ISA’s supreme organ: the Assembly.

We urge the Assembly to open this discussion again next year and to develop a General Policy to safeguard these fragile ecosystems.

DSCC International Legal Adviser Duncan Currie said: “A discussion on the protection of the marine environment is long overdue at the ISA Assembly considering the global outcry of environmental concerns surrounding deep-sea mining.

The ISA Assembly, as the supreme organ of the ISA, has the legal authority under UNCLOS to establish such a general policy. We are disappointed this didn’t happen this year but we look forward to working with states constructively on the establishment of a General Policy for the protection and preservation of the marine environment next year.”

Moreover, a Mining Code remains far from being agreed – a blow to mining companies – and the unrealistic and artificial 2025 Roadmap remains on the table, with over 30 outstanding regulatory matters still unresolved, undecided or undiscussed.

DSCC Policy Officer Emma Wilson said, “With independent scientists pointing to the risks of deep-sea mining, as well as the absence of a robust scientific understanding of these ecosystems, it’s time for States to zoom out from the technicalities of the mining code and instead address one basic question: is it or is it not safe to allow this industry to proceed under the current circumstances? Rushing to adopt a regulatory regime that would open the gates to a highly destructive activity for an area we know little about is beyond reckless and risks irreparably and permanently damaging our ocean and planet.”

Patricia Roy is a senior press officer for the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition and Communications INC. She has worked for more than 10 years in art management and communication in the public and private sectors in France, the UK and Spain. Working with Communications INC, she specialises in European and international media strategy, coordination and outreach for environmental and social campaigns designed by international NGOs.

IPS UN Bureau

Categories: Africa

What Potential Do Gender Bonds Have For Increasing Financing For Gender Equality?

Tue, 08/06/2024 - 18:18

Gender bonds are increasingly recognized as an innovative instrument that can be used to tap into capital markets to finance gender equality. Credit: Stella Paul/IPS

By Vanina Vincensini and Jemimah Njuki
NEW YORK, Aug 6 2024 (IPS)

Iceland’s gender bond last month caused great excitement in the capital markets community. While gender bonds have been increasing in popularity within the private sector, Iceland is the first country to issue a sovereign gender bond. Many in the development community are however asking, are gender bonds the solution to financing for gender equality?

So, what are gender bonds? Gender bonds are bonds that integrate gender equality objectives or the empowerment of women. Gender bonds follow the Social Bond Principles established by the International Capital Market Association and contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG 5), and are verified by independent entities, known as second-party opinions.

In 2021, ICMA, IFC, and UN Women published the first gender bond guide. The guide offers practical guidance on how to use gender bonds to finance gender projects and strategies and includes examples of gender-based targets for issuers and the types of projects that can be financed by private and public sector issuers.

With declining ODA going to gender inequality, the ability to mobilize resources from multiple sources including both public and private to advance gender equality objectives is increasingly becoming critical

The focus on gender bonds, or debt securities to finance gender equality is driven my many factors, one being that the share of development finance for gender equality decreased after a decade of progress—from 45% in 2019-20 to 43% in 2021-22.

With declining ODA going to gender inequality, the ability to mobilize resources from multiple sources including both public and private to advance gender equality objectives is increasingly becoming critical. But important questions remain on how we can mobilize and hold capital markets accountable to address structural gender inequalities.

Potential of capital markets

Global capital markets are vast and diverse, encompassing various instruments including stocks, bonds, and other financial assets. and institutions that facilitate the flow of capital. As of 2023, the global bond market was valued at approximately $100 trillion, similar in size to global GDP according to the OECD.

This market includes government bonds, corporate bonds, municipal bonds, and other debt instruments issued by various entities. Despite the significant size of the bond market, the allocation of funds specifically targeted towards gender equality remains relatively modest. Gender bonds are still in their nascent stages, but their growth is promising.

At the end of 2023, the global capital invested in gender bonds had reached approximately $14.5 billion. While this is a small fraction of the overall bond market, it reflects a growing recognition of the importance of gender-focused investments.

Gender bonds are increasingly recognized as an innovative instrument that can be used to tap into capital markets to finance gender equality. For example, last year Latin America and the Caribbean saw 26 gender bonds amounting to $2.25bn, led by issuances in Mexico, Chile and Colombia. In Africa gender bonds have been issued in Morocco, Tanzania, Rwanda and South Africa.

Despite this, the potential of gender bonds is yet to fully be realized, and challenges remain on how to ensure they lead to impact on gender equality, and that they address structural gender inequalities. There is risk of “pink washing” with bonds being labelled as gender but not having gender equality objectives or not having impact on gender equality.

For gender bonds to be truly impactful, we believe three key things are needed.

First is to expand the use of proceeds to address structural causes of gender inequality. Most of the gender bonds issues so far have gone to financing women owned businesses.

The National Microfinance Bank Tanzania’s Jasiri Gender Bond launched in 2023 provides capital and resources to 3000 women-led small and medium enterprises.

The most recent issuance, by Bolivia’s BancoSol $30mn bond, announced on June 20, is intended to provide finance for up to 4,500 micro and small enterprises led by women in the country and aims to contribute to closing the country’s gender financing gap, where half of all businesses in Bolivia are women-led, yet only 24 per cent of economically active women have access to credit.

But bonds can go beyond closing financing gaps. Eligible projects for the Iceland gender bond, as per their bond framework developed with technical support from UN Women and aligned with the gender bond principles, include the provision of decent living standards for women and gender minorities, increasing the supply of affordable housing that benefits low-income women, as well as efforts to increase maximum payments during parental leave which create incentives for both parents to make use of their equal right to paid parental leave.

Second, set up broad-based accountability mechanisms to ensure gender bonds lead to sustainable and transformative impact on gender equality. Investors need assurance that their funds are making a real difference. And these instruments can only make a difference in women’s and girls’ lives if we know that gender-specific outcomes are achieved.

This is why bond issuers are encouraged to align with the voluntary guidelines developed by the ICMA, IFC and UN Women, which include recommendations on clear bond frameworks, second party opinions and verifications, and annual reporting on the use of funds.

Impact reports that include sex-disaggregated quantitative data and qualitative insights can then build investor confidence, gender bonds credibility, ultimately encouraging more investments in projects that have direct and positive impact on gender equality.

In Argentina, the first gender bonds issued in the country created new jobs for women-entrepreneurs and their employees. In South Africa, procurement from black women–owned suppliers of a corporate bond issuer increased from 13.8% to 16.26% in the first year.

Third, more sovereign bonds could significantly impact gender equality due to their scale and reach, if they are backed up by sound policies, action plans, and debt management strategies.

Unlike other financial instruments, sovereign bonds can mobilize large sums of capital, which can be directed towards national programmes and policies aimed at reducing gender gaps.

Additionally, the credibility and stability associated with government-issued bonds make them attractive to a broad range of investors. But a precondition to issuing more sovereign gender bonds is political will, sound debt management strategies, and robust gender equality investment and action plans.

Governments must demonstrate a strong commitment to gender equality by integrating gender analysis into their financial and policy frameworks.

They also need to ensure that public expenditures are aligned with gender equality goals. In the case of Iceland, the country’s action plans to close persisting gender gaps, its long-standing practice of gender-responsive budgeting, strong financial standing and fiscal discipline provided a conducive environment for successful gender bond issuance.

More countries could follow Iceland’s example in the context of the 2025 international financing agenda which will mark the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (considered the most progressive blueprint ever for advancing women’s rights) and the fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, to be held in 2025 from 30 June to 3 July in Spain.

And while gender bonds have great potential, they are not a panacea for addressing the glaring gaps in financing for gender equality. Public financing is needed to bring about meaningful and transformative gender equality and gender bonds are just but a miniscule of a larger effort to plug the $360B annual funding gap for gender equality.

Vanina Vincensini is a global expert in sustainable and inclusive finance. She advised Iceland on its pioneering sovereign gender bonds proposition, setting a precedent for innovative gender-focused financial solutions worldwide.

Jemimah Njuki is the Chief, Economic Empowerment at UN Women and a New Voices Fellow. She writes widely on issues of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.

Categories: Africa

G20 Leaders Must Listen To Their People and Agree To Tax the Ultra-Rich

Tue, 08/06/2024 - 16:55

By Amitabh Behar
NEW DELHI, Aug 6 2024 (IPS)

We are living in a world of multiple crises of inequality, climate breakdown and conflict. Billions of people globally are facing huge hardship. Whole governments, too, are virtually bankrupt, with extremely high debt levels forcing them to implement brutal and deeply unpopular cuts and tax rises for ordinary people. 3.3 billion people live in countries that spend more on debt interest payments than on either education or health.

For the first time in 25 years, we have seen extreme wealth and extreme poverty increase simultaneously. The world’s five richest men doubled their fortunes since 2020 while five billion people have been made poorer. In his 2023 SDG Progress Report, the United Nations Secretary-General announced that the sustainable development goal (SDG) which tracks inequality is one of the worst performing.

Tax is one of the most important levers that a government has at its disposal to reduce economic inequality and generate revenue for governments to spend on policies that reduce inequality. Historically, taxation of the ultra-rich has helped to create more equal societies and prevent an extreme gulf from emerging between the haves and the have-nots.

Half of the world’s billionaires live in countries with no inheritance tax for direct descendants. They will pass on a $5 trillion tax-free treasure chest to their heirs – which is more than the GDP of Africa—beginning the next generation of aristocratic elites

However, in the decades prior to the pandemic, progressive taxation collapsed. The ultra-rich and corporations have been favoured with low-tax regimes, while taxes on billions of ordinary people have increased.

Billionaires are paying tax rates as little as 0.5% on their immense wealth, a fraction of that paid by teachers or nurses. Meanwhile, billionaire fortunes are rising at an annual average of 7% over the past four decades –far faster than the wealth of ordinary people.

The call for increased taxation on the ultra-rich is gaining momentum. For the first time in its history, in June, G7 leaders committed to working together to increase progressive taxation.

Under the Brazilian G20 Presidency in July, G20 Finance Ministers committed for first time ever to cooperate on taxing ultra hight net wealth individuals more effectively. Oxfam strongly supports the Brazilian G20 Presidency’s initiative to set a global standard on taxing the super-rich.

At the G20 Summit in November this year, leaders need to go further than their finance ministers and back concrete coordination: agreeing on a new global deal to tax the ultra-rich at a rate high enough to close the gap between them and the rest of us. Political leaders are waking up to this being a very popular policy; even wealthy individuals support higher taxes on themselves.

Nearly three-quarters of millionaires in G20 countries support higher taxes on wealth, and leading figures such as Abigail Disney have been vocal in their support of a global effort to tax the ultra-rich.

Greater taxation of the world’s richest individuals is not the only answer to the inequality crisis, but it is a fundamental part of it. A one-off solidarity wealth tax and windfall taxes would raise funds that can be directed to provision of public goods. It is feasible to make these progressive changes.

Italy was one of the first countries to impose a windfall tax, and after WW2 the French government taxed excessive wartime wealth at a rate of 100%. A similar level of ambition is needed today.

Further, governments should permanently increase taxes on the richest 1%, for example to at least 60% of their income from labour and capital, with higher rates for multi-millionaires and billionaires. They must especially raise taxes on capital gains, which are subject to lower tax rates than other forms of income.

Permanent taxation of wealth that rebalances the taxation of capital and labour can greatly reduce inequality, as well as tackle the disproportionate political power and the outsized carbon emissions of the super-wealthy.

We need to see the wealth of the richest 1% taxed at rates high enough to significantly reduce the numbers and wealth of the richest people and redistribute these resources.

This includes implementing inheritance, property and land taxes, as well as net wealth taxes. Half of the world’s billionaires live in countries with no inheritance tax for direct descendants. They will pass on a $5 trillion tax-free treasure chest to their heirs – which is more than the GDP of Africa—beginning the next generation of aristocratic elites.

Above all, we want to see a shift in imagination from governments. A reckoning that more of the same —more billionaire wealth, and a deeper plunge into a cost-of-survival crisis— is the definition of insanity and more suffering for billions of people. We need to heed the evidence, but also look to history, and what ordinary people are calling for around the world.

Closing tax loopholes and ensuring that the richest pay their fair share would reduce inequality and raise trillions of dollars urgently needed to stop climate breakdown and invest in fairer societies for everyone.

It would put people and planet before the needs of a rich few. The time has come for governments to shake off decades of failed ideology and rich elite influence, and to do the right thing: tax the ultra-rich.

Excerpt:

Amitabh Behar is Executive Director of Oxfam international

Categories: Africa

UN Calls for ‘Peaceful, Orderly and Democratic Transition’ Following Protests in Bangladesh

Tue, 08/06/2024 - 11:20

Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh resigned her post and fled the country after weeks of violent protests. Credit: UN Photo/Laura Jarriel

By IPS Correspondent
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 6 2024 (IPS)

After weeks of violent clashes against protestors, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned from her position and fled the country on Monday. Preparations are underway for an interim government to take over with the backing of the military, political parties, student leaders of the protest movement and all other groups involved in the transition. A UN spokesperson has urged that all parties involved in the current transition should work together to ensure a peaceful and democratic transition.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres is closely following developments, according to his deputy spokesperson, Farhan Haq. In a statement issued on Monday, Guterres condemned and deplored “further loss of life” during protests over the weekend, referencing protests held in the capital of Dhaka on Sunday. More than 100 people were reported dead, including at least 14 police officers. This has been the highest recorded death toll for a single day during a protest in the country’s recent history, according to Reuters.

During the daily press briefing at UN Headquarters, Haq said that the United Nations stands in full solidarity with the people of Bangladesh and has called for the full respect of their human rights. Haq added: “For us, the important things are for the parties to remain calm, and we want to emphasize a peaceful, orderly and democratic transition.”

“Ultimately, regarding what’s happened so far, there’s a need for a full, independent, impartial and transparent investigation into the violence that has happened so far,” he said.

As the situation continues to unfold, Haq added, the UN and its office in Bangladesh are keeping in contact with the authorities on the ground. “The situation is moving very swiftly. We will have to see what happens once the dust settles.”

What began as a movement to protest civil service recruitment practices has since evolved into a greater movement protesting the government’s crackdown, which was seen to have cracked down on human rights, such as freedom of expression and the right to peaceful demonstration. On August 4, protestors were calling for Hasina’s resignation in the wake of her government’s response to the month-long protests. In recent weeks, police and military units shot at protestors and civilians, enacted a curfew, and shut down internet and communications networks for several days.

In an address to the country on Monday, Chief of Army Staff General Waker-uz-Zaman announced Hasina’s resignation and the formation of the interim government. He also asked the people of Bangladesh to “keep trust in the army” during this period.

As multiple reports emerged of public vandalism and arson of government buildings and residences, Zaman said in a later statement that the public should refrain from causing damage to public property or harm to lives.

Senior officials in the UN system have publicly condemned the loss of life during this period. UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay issued public statements condemning the killings of two journalists and calling on the authorities to hold those responsible accountable.

Sanjay Wijisekera, UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia, condemned the reported deaths of 32 children as of August 2, along with reports of children being detained. “In line with international human rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Bangladesh is a signatory, and based on research into the effects of detention on children, UNICEF urges an end to the detention of children in all its forms,” he said.

UN High Commissioner on Human Rights Volker Türk issued a statement on Monday in which he called for the peaceful transition of power, guided by human rights and the country’s international obligations.

“The transition must be conducted in a transparent and accountable way, and be inclusive and open to the meaningful participation of all Bangladeshis,” he said. “There must be no further violence or reprisals.”

Türk called for those who had been arbitrarily detained to be released. He stressed that those who committed human rights violations need to be held accountable, while also reiterating that his office would support any independent investigation into these violations.

“This is a time for national healing, including through an immediate end to violence, as well as accountability that ensures the rights of victims to truth and reparations, and a truly inclusive process that brings the country together on the way forward.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

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