Africa

Demonstration in São Paulo to protest against presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro. Credit: Rovena Rosa/Fotos Públicas

By Brent Millikan
BRASILIA, Oct 27 2018 (IPS)

Observing recent political developments in the United States and Brazil, there are clearly similarities between the phenomena of ‘Trumpism’ and ‘Bolsonarism’ that do not seem to be a mere coincidence.

In both cases, far-right politicians have opportunistically exploited, for electoral purposes, frustrated expectations of millions of people in situations of increasing social and economic vulnerability.

In the US, the ‘American dream’ has become increasingly elusive for the majority of the population, largely as a reflection of perverse effects of increasingly globalized capitalism, coupled with neoliberal policies promoted by both Democratic and Republican administrations.

Despite important advances during the Obama administration, Hillary Clinton’s campaign clearly suffered from a legacy of neoliberal policies – such as NAFTA, launched during her husband’s administration – that aggravated social and economic inequalities.

To make matters worse, as a candidate, she paid relatively little attention to the electorate in places such as Michigan that have suffered the effects of deindustrialization, with worsening unemployment and low wages.  Of course, the Clintons’ ties to Wall Street did not help to counter the perception of being part of the Washington establishment. All of this facilitated the maneuvers of a right-wing populist billionaire characterizing himself as a champion of workers ‘forgotten’ by the Democratic party.

In Brazil, a serious economic crisis and mega corruption scandals revealed by the Lava Jato investigations, involving traditional political parties like the PMDB, PSDB and PT, led to a generalized revolt with the political class among voters, including the poor, not only hurting the candidacy of Fernando Haddad, but others with a center-left profile who had ties in the past with the PT, such as Ciro Gomes and Marina Silva.

As in the United States, an extreme right-wing candidacy in Brazil knew how to exploit political space associated with growing inequalities and errors committed by traditional social democratic parties.

A common tactic used by Trump and Bolsonaro is to propagate nostalgia for an idealized past that the ‘hero’ candidate promises to bring back miraculously.

Some bet that once sworn in, Trump could adopt a kind of moderate pragmatism .... What has happened over the past two years is just the opposite. The Trump administration has launched a widespread and systematic attack on democratic institutions in the United State. Based on experience with Trump, whom Bolsonaro sees as an 'excellent president' ... it's hard to find grounds for optimism ... other than capacity of resistance of the Brazilian people. Better not to fall off the cliff

The Trump campaign adopted as a slogan ‘Make America Great Again’ disregarding ‘details’ of American history, such as the genocide of indigenous peoples, slavery and long periods of discrimination against women, blacks, and migrants. On the other hand, the mythic Bolsonaro evokes nostalgia for the years of Brazil’s bloody military dictatorship during 1964-1985, including apologies for the use of torture.

A common pillar of the strategies of Trump and Bolsonaro has been to incite fear, anger and hatred, with apologies to violence, transforming certain individuals and groups into enemies that are declared guilty of all ills afflicting society.

For Trump and his followers, favorite targets have included, among others, populations of new migrants – characterizing Mexicans as ‘rapists’ and Muslims as ‘terrorists’ – blacks and, of course, Democratic opponents, especially leaders such as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. (Meanwhile, Trump has surfed a positive economic wave, initiated during the Obama administration, giving all credit to himself).

For Bolsonaro, the long list of public enemies includes –  in addition to the Workers’ Party and supposed ‘communists’ –  indigenous peoples, quilombolas (descendants of African slaves), the LGBT movement, environmentalists, a national landless farmers’ movement (MST), human rights defenders and activists in general, as well as environmental agencies such as IBAMA and ICMBio..  Another characteristic of both Trump and Bolsonaro is extreme misogynism, encouraging disrespect and outright violence against women.

Another striking resemblance between Trump and Bolsonaro is the antagonism directed at vehicles of the mainstream press that demonstrate critical and independent positions, such as the CNN, The New York Times and Folha de São Paulo.

Accusations of ‘fake news’ appear when stories are released that reveal inconvenient truths, contradicting narrow political interests. Meanwhile, distorted and false information, appealing to fear, prejudice and rage against adversaries are disseminated en masse via social media, such as Facebook and whatsapp.

A direct result of the attacks on the press and the incitement to hatred of ‘enemies’ is the escalation of violence that rapidly spins out of control, as demonstrated by the violence around the neo-Nazi march in Charlottesville, Virginia last year, and the serie of pipe bombs sent this week to several of Trump’s favorite targets : CNN, the Clinton and Obama families, former President Joe Biden, Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters, actor Robert De Niro, and billionaire investor and philanthropist George Soros, among others.

In Brazil, serious acts of violence by Bolsonaro followers have begun to appear, such as the murder of capoeira master Moa do Katendê, stabbed to death in Bahia by a partisan of the reformed captain. Meanwhile, there are growing threats to the Brazilian press, as in the case of Folha de São Paulo.

Following the publication of a story about how entrepreneurs linked to Bolsonarism contracted services for the mass dissemination via social media of false news about Haddad’s candidacy, the Folha made a formal request for police protection for its journalists.

Another similarity between the two politicians is the courtship of conservative evangelical churches with moralistic discourses on issues such as the prohibition of abortion and gay marriage, while signalling economic advantages to churches and their leaders (almost always white men).

Many of the tactics adopted by Trumpism and Bolsonarism – which seem inspired by the playbook of Joseph Goebbels, propaganda minister of the Nazis between 1933 and 1945 – are better understood when one considers the economic interests to which they are linked.

In Trump’s case, the influence of the oil and coal industries stands out. In the case of the Bolsonario, the overarching influence of the conversative agribusiness lobby, known as ruralistas, blatantly clear. In both cases, one finds the private interests of powerful groups associated with the private appropriation of territories, open public spaces, for the extensive exploitation of natural resources (logging, cattle ranching, land speculation, mechanized soybeans and mining), disregarding social and environmental damage borne by local populations (indigenous peoples, quilombolas and family farmers) and society in general.

Trump’s and Bolsonaro’s marketeers have invested heavily in creating the image of a “new” politician. This contrasts with archaic models of developmentalism promoted in practice, based on predatory exploitation of natural resources, lacking technological innovation and value added, such as the large-scale export of soybeans.

Ignored are challenges associated with climate change, reaching the UN sustainable development goals for 2030, as well as opportunities that Brazil possesses, with its enormous cultural and biological diversity, and its creative potential to generate income with quality jobs, associated with a new economy in the 21st century –  based on technological innovation, respect for cultural diversity and environmental sustainability.

When Trump was able to win the US presidential election in 2016 (losing to Hillary Clinton in the popular vote, but narrowly gaining in the archaic voting college), many questioned to what extent the far right rhetoric of the campaign would be put into practice. Some bet that once sworn in, Trump could adopt a kind of moderate pragmatism. What has happened over the past two years is just the opposite.

In practice, Trump’s administration has been charcaterized by a widespread and systematic attack on democratic institutions, including social security, health and public education programs. The treatment of migrants (including Brazilians) includes characteristics of cruelty, as in the case of detention and separation of young children from their parents.

Unashamedly, the Trump administration is attempting to dismantle the Obama’s clean energy program, while creating incentives to the coal and oil industry without a minimum of environmental safeguards. In addition, it has sought to systematically dismantle policies for the protection of water and air quality, historical achievements dating back to the 1970s.

The Trump government is determined to eliminate as much as possible natural heritage and environmental protection areas, such as the Bear Ears National Monument in Utah State (created by Obama and reduced by 85%) to facilitate exploitation of oil exploitation and fracking. His nominee to chair the EPA, Scott Pruitt, took office with the explicit mission of undermining the functioning of this vital institution. Moreover, Trump’s announcement of abandoning the Paris Agreement constitutes a risk of planetary dimensions.

Unscrupulously, Trump has used the machinery of government to favor his private interests, such as real estate deals, undermining US foreign policy in cases such as Russia and Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, with the full endorsement of the president, the Republican party has stepped up efforts to undermine voting rights, especially of the poor and Afro-AmericAN citizens, while redrawing voting districts (‘gerrymandering’) to consolidate political power.

Fortunately, there are important examples of resistance in the US from democratic institutions, citizen action (with women playing a fundamental role), and state and local governments.  Many are confident that the Democrats, including many progressive candidates, will be able to take back the House of Representatives in the November 6th mid-term election. However, there is a persistent sense that of democracy’s fragility, and its need for constant vigilance.

Returning to Bolsonaro, many in Brazil are wondering what will happen if he wins the run-off election on October 28th, as predicted by public opinion polls.  To what extent will Bolsonaro respect the Federal Constitution and democratic institutions? Will he attempt to criminalize social movements to the point of treating them as terrorists, as promised?

To what extent will he continue to incite prejudice and hatred against blacks, women, indigenous peoples and other ‘enemies’? Will he pursue his plans to dismantle Brazil’s progressive environmental policies, including a proposal to merge the ministries of the environment and agriculture, under the leadership of the ruralista bloc? Will he go ahead with his announcement to pull Brazil out of the Paris Agreement, following the example of Trump, that could bring disastrous political, economic and environmental consequences for Brazil, while damaging global efforts to address the climate crisis?

Looking at the case of Trump, whom Bolsonaro considers an “excellent president,” it’s  difficult to find much room for optimism in relation to such questions, other than the resilience of the Brazilian people.  Better not to fall off the cliff. Hopefully, the experience of Trumpism in the USA will help serve as a warning call to Brazilians of current dangers to their young democracy, and the need for the country to find its own path with wisdom, solidarity and joy, before it is too late.

The post Trump and Bolsonaro: Alarming Similarities appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

The author of this opinion piece is Brent Millikan, Geographer and Director of International Rivers - Brazil

The post Trump and Bolsonaro: Alarming Similarities appeared first on Inter Press Service.

The town of Igbo-Ora has a huge number of twins, and it's throwing a festival in their honour.

The north African country will instead keep its clocks at summer time, GMT+1, all year around.

Credit: IOM 2017/Amanda Nero

By International Organization for Migration
GENEVA, Oct 26 2018 (IOM)

Africa’s population is growing at an astonishing rate. By 2050, the number of people on the continent will climb to 2.5 billion. By the same year, the United Nations predicts that nearly half of the countries in Africa will double their populations. While regions such as Europe have virtually stopped growing, Africa’s population growth shows no signs of slowing.

Several factors explain this growth. Advances in healthcare and medical technology have sharply reduced infant and child mortality rates. Life expectancy, albeit still low compared to other regions, has also improved to say nothing of birth rates, which continue to outpace other regions.

While these gains have been widely celebrated, and rightly so as they are a testament to Africa’s socio-economic progress, a burgeoning population has also raised alarm among some policy makers. African countries, the argument goes, are ill prepared and will struggle to cope with the coming population explosion. Resource extraction, for example, is expected to increase — exacerbating environmental problems, while food shortages may worsen due to climate change. Meanwhile, some predict unprecedented unemployment levels, especially among young people.

These concerns are not without merit and do indeed warrant our attention. However, while a fast-growing population does pose challenges, it can also be an opportunity to drive Africa’s socio-economic development. With the right policy responses, countries in Africa can create the conditions needed to turn what could be a demographic catastrophe into a demographic dividend.

One way to do this is for countries to further embrace the free movement of people. This is especially key in tackling youth unemployment, one of the continent’s biggest challenges.

The number of young people without employment is staggeringly high. In sub-Saharan Africa youth unemployment stood at nearly 14 per cent in 2017. But this is dwarfed by North Africa, whose youth unemployment rate was estimated to be 29 per cent in the same year. With 60 per cent of its population below the age of 25, Africa is the world’s “youngest” continent. And as the region’s population continues to grow rapidly, the demand for jobs is bound to increase.

Credit: IOM 2016/Amanda Nero

Free movement can allow young people to find employment beyond the confines of their borders. Workers from countries with limited employment opportunities can move, at least temporarily, to countries where labour is in short supply. Furthermore, free movement makes it possible for firms to find young people who are suited — both in terms of skills and competencies — to available positions. Each year the failure to find desired skills leaves many jobs across the continent unfilled; this is particularly the case for specialized professions such as engineering and medicine. This reality is not just a loss for the qualified young African individual who simply cannot obtain a work visa or permit, but also for the companies whose productivity suffers as a result.

But free movement, as it pertains to labour, is only part of the solution. It is not the panacea for Africa’s jobless youth. To avoid what some have deemed the coming ‘demographic nightmare’, which could leave millions more young people without jobs, free movement must be coupled with other efforts such as improvements in education systems, skills training and continued investment in infrastructure, which is vital to attracting much-needed investments.

Labour mobility will be a key area of focus at the fourth Pan African Forum on Migration (PAFoM) due to take place in Djibouti from 19–21 November 2018. The benefits, challenges as well as how to advance free labour movement will all be discussed at the Forum. The need to address the unemployment crisis among Africa’s young people has never been more urgent. Without jobs, the continent stands little chance of capturing the demographic dividend.

This article was written by Bernardo Mariano, IOM’s Senior Regional Adviser for Africa.

The post Africa’s Fast-Growing Population: Tackling Youth Unemployment and Capturing the Demographic Dividend appeared first on Inter Press Service.

CTDC, the world’s first counter-trafficking data portal, contains data on over 90,000 cases from 169 countries. One in every five individuals in the dataset is a child. Photo: IOM

By International Organization for Migration
GENEVA, Oct 26 2018 (IOM)

A new version of the Counter Trafficking Data Collaborative (CTDC) has been released, now featuring data on over 90,000 cases of human trafficking and new data visualization tools.

CTDC is the world’s first global data portal on human trafficking, with primary data contributed by organizations around the world, bringing together knowledge and diffusing data standards across the counter-trafficking movement.

For the first time, CTDC facilitates unparalleled access to the largest dataset of its kind in the world, providing a deeper understanding of human trafficking both through the visualisations on the site and through the publicly available downloadable data file.

Analysis published so far on CTDC has revealed new insights into themes such as the main industry sectors where trafficking occurs, victims’ geographical regions of origin and exploitation, trafficking routes and special focus areas such as kidnapping and recruitment. Nearly half of victims accounted for in the CTDC dataset are trafficked into labour exploitation, with most being exploited in the construction, agriculture, manufacturing, domestic work and hospitality sectors. Sexual exploitation is the most common type of exploitation among victims, accounting for just over half of adults and more than 70 per cent of children.

New analysis also focuses on specific groups within the dataset: victims who are kidnapped into trafficking are more likely to have family or friends involved in perpetrating trafficking compared to the rest of the dataset, and 80 per cent are women. Women are almost four times more likely to be recruited by their intimate partners, and children are more likely than adults to be recruited by their family members.

“The availability of this type of data is crucial for building the evidence base for counter-trafficking policy and interventions,” said Anh Nguyen, Head of IOM’s Migrant Protection and Assistance Division. “As the world’s only source of disaggregated data on victims of human trafficking, our hope is that CTDC will make a direct contribution to the objectives of the Global Compact for Migration.”

In adopting the draft of the Global Compact for Migration (GCM), States have specifically committed to “collect and utilize accurate and disaggregated data as a basis for evidence-based policies” (Objective 1) and “prevent, combat and eradicate trafficking in persons in the context of international migration” (Objective 10).

With current data from IOM, the UN Migration Agency; Polaris; and Liberty Asia, CTDC continues to expand as new data is contributed. The new version of the site features data on individuals representing 169 different nationalities trafficked in 172 countries, displayed through interactive dashboards and visualizations.

New features also include an interactive map with multiple layers, including a timeline of human trafficking cases, key trafficking corridors between countries, and information on human trafficking below the country level. Further data is to be contributed by other counter-trafficking partner organizations around the world in the coming months.

To access CTDC please click here. Data on the site are regularly updated so charts and data visualizations may not exactly match statistics in written analysis.

More information on IOM can be found here.
More information on Polaris can be found here.
More information on Liberty Asia can be found here.

CTDC is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Department of State. The contents are the responsibility of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of State or the United States Government.

For more information on CTDC, please contact Harry Cook at IOM HQ, Tel: +41227179111, Email: hcook@iom.int

The post IOM Launches Updated Counter Trafficking Data Portal with New Statistics appeared first on Inter Press Service.

A Ugandan radio host is raising funds for a woman under pressure to get married to go to university.

The Guinea Football Federation approaches France-born defender Simon Falette to play for the Syli Nationale.

Credit: Johannes Ortner

By Eleni Mourdoukoutas
NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 26 2018 (IPS)

For years, Kenyans freely used and disposed of plastic bags. The bags were ubiquitous—in the markets, in the gutters and in the guts out of 3 out of every 10 animals taken to slaughter.

Nakuru, a town northwest of Nairobi, was a particular eyesore, with a poorly managed dump site that left bags strewn across the roads. It drove Nakuru resident James Wakibia to desperation and then to activism. Wakibia wrote letters to local papers, posted on social media, launched the hashtag #banplasticsKE and joined local group InTheStreetsofNakuru to petition the Kenyan government to ban single-use plastic bags.

It got people talking.

Finally, in August 2017, Kenya passed a landmark law banning the purchase, sale or use of plastic bags. Offenders risk four years in prison or a $40,000 fine.

“Plastic bags were virtually all over the place,” Wakibia told Africa Renewal. “But now the once-clogged drains are flowing and roadsides are free from plastic bags. There is a visible change.”

The trash and plastics nightmare can be found across the continent. Sub-Saharan Africa produces approximately 62 million tonnes of waste per year, including plastic waste, according to the World Bank. With Africa’s rapid urbanisation and economic growth, environmentalists expect that figure to double by 2025.

New uses found for waste

Yet Africa’s epidemic of waste may very well contain the seeds of a solution to another stubborn problem—the energy shortage.

In sub-Saharan Africa some 609 million people (6 out of 10) have no access to electricity, and about 80% of those in rural areas lack electricity access, according to 2017 data by the World Bank. Manufacturers in sub-Saharan Africa experience an average of 56 days of shutdown time per year due to power outages, the African Development Bank noted in 2017.

To achieve universal energy access, Africa requires an investment of more than $1.5 trillion in the energy sector between 2018 and 2050. Without such an investment, sub-Saharan Africa will be home to an estimated 89% of the world’s energy poor by 2030, according to a 2017 report by the International Energy Agency (IEA), an organisation that advises governments on energy policy.

To meet demand, exploration is underway to convert the mounting piles of rubbish into much-needed energy—and some countries are already showing how that can be done.

This year Ethiopia completed the Reppie thermal plant, Africa’s first waste-to-energy plant, which has the capacity to incinerate 1,400 tons of waste per day. The plant handles 80% of Addis Ababa’s waste and converts it into electricity that, when the plant becomes fully operational, will serve 3 million people—thus providing 30% of the capital city’s needs.

To execute the $120 million project, the Ethiopian government partnered with China National Electric Engineering Co., which worked with Cambridge Industries and its managing director Samuel Alemayehu, a Stanford-educated engineer and former Silicon Valley entrepreneur.

“The Reppie project is just one component of Ethiopia’s broader strategy to address pollution and embrace renewable energy across all sectors of the economy,” Zerubabel Getachew, Ethiopia’s deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, told UN Environment. “We hope that Reppie will serve as a model for other countries in the region and around the world.”

With only 4% of the continent’s wastes being recycled, Africa’s waste management is still in its infancy, according to a 2018 report by UN Environment and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, a South Africa–based research organization.

South Africa may be an outlier. PET Recycling Company, a South African recycling company, reported in 2016 that plastic bottle recycled tonnage has grown by 822% in the country since 2005.

“Currently South Africa does not have mandatory punitive legislation in place which makes separation of recyclables [from the waste stream]… in homes, offices, restaurants and bars compulsory. Mandatory separation at the source will ensure greater recycling success in years to come,” said Shabeer Jhetam, executive director at the Glass Recycling Company.

Without legislative backing, Wakibia is sceptical about sustainable practices across Africa.

“I think the biggest hindrance to environmental protection is when politicians have vested interests,” he told UN Environment. “For example, many politicians are shareholders of companies engaged in lumbering, or are shareholders in companies dealing with plastics. So it becomes hard for them to support any initiatives calling for sustainable forestry or a ban on single-use plastics.”

“I’m glad the government of Kenya has called for massive tree planting across the country,” he continued. “I hope they will walk the talk.

Morocco tops in solar energy

The sun could be another source of sustainable energy in Africa. Africa has 117% more sunshine than Germany, the global leader in solar energy.

Due to its decreasing cost and increasing convenience, solar energy is projected to become the world’s largest source of energy by 2050, states a 2017 report by the International Renewable Energy Agency, an intergovernmental organisation promoting sustainable energy.

Lighting Africa, a World Bank–supported project started by music icon Akon, his childhood friend Thione Niang and Malian philanthropist Samba Bathily, is tapping into Africa’s vast solar resource. The group hopes to provide solar energy solutions to 250 million people across sub-Saharan Africa by 2030.

Since its establishment in 2014, Lighting Africa has provided electricity access to nearly 29 million people in 25 African countries, including Benin, Guinea, Mali, Niger and Sierra Leone.

Morocco leads the pack in solar energy in Africa. With 32% of its energy needs currently coming from renewable sources, the country is on track to hit 44% by 2020.

Morocco’s solar energy ambition is anchored on the $9 billion Ouarzazate Solar Power Station (OSPS), also called Noor Power Station (noor means “light” in Arabic), located in the Drâa-Tafilalet region. The OSPS is expected to produce electricity for over 1 million homes by the end of 2018. The Spanish consortium TSK-Acciona-Sener is helping to develop the project.

Oil reigns supreme

However, some countries’ reliance on fossil fuels for energy and revenue may be hampering investments in renewables. Nigeria, for example, produces and sells about 2.2 million barrels of oil per day, which accounted for 69% of its revenues in 2017, reported Nigeria’s Central Bank.

Without the capacity to refine sufficient oil for domestic consumption, Nigeria subsidizes fossil fuel production by up to $2.5 billion yearly, notes the IEA, which warns that such subsidies put undue strain on governments’ budgets and create obstacles for emerging low-carbon businesses and the renewables sector.

Angola, Côte d’Ivoire, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, among other countries, each subsidized fossil fuel production by more than $1 billion in 2015, states the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSG), a Geneva-based organization that promotes sustainable development through trade-related policies.

Even South Africa increased its subsidy for fossil fuels from $2.9 billion in 2014 to $3.5 billion in 2016, despite a commitment the country made at the 2009 G20 summit to phase out subsidies, notes the the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, whose members are the world’s richest nations. South Africa is also home to 31 billion tonnes of recoverable coal, the sixth largest in the world.

Both the Paris Agreement and Goal 12 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development require countries to focus less on fossil fuels and more on renewables. African governments are concerned that phasing out subsidies could trigger hikes in the cost of petroleum products and electricity, leading to social unrest.

“Subsidies to fossil fuel power are provided [by African countries] to compensate for electricity tariffs, which cover only 70% of the cost of power production,” states ICTSG.

Fingers crossed, Morocco’s success in solar energy development, Ethiopia’s Reppie thermal plant and renewables successes elsewhere may encourage other African countries to pay attention to sustainable practices.

*The article was originally published in Africa Renewal, published by the United Nations.

The post Africa’s Bumpy Road to Sustainable Energy appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Eleni Mourdoukoutas, Africa Renewal*

The post Africa’s Bumpy Road to Sustainable Energy appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Rohingya after they fled Myanmar in 2017 arrive at Shahparir Dip in Teknaf, Bangladesh. Credit: IPS

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 26 2018 (IPS)

Policies that allow for impunity, genocide, and apartheid are “intolerable” and make repatriation of Rohingya refugees impossible, say United Nations investigators.

While presenting an annual report to the member states at the U.N., Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar Yanghee Lee expressed disappointment in Myanmar’s government under State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, stating her hope that it “would be vastly different from the past, but it really is not that much different.”

“The government is increasingly demonstrating that it has no interest and capacity to establish a fully functioning democracy for all its people,” Lee said during a press conference.  

She also added that the Nobel peace prize laureate is in “total denial” about the mistreatment and violence against the Rohingya which forced over 700,000 to flee across the border to Bangladesh, and questioned her staunch support for the rule of law.

“If the rule of law were upheld, all the people in Myanmar, regardless of their position, would be answerable to fair laws that are impartially applied, impunity would not reign, and the law would not be wielded as a weapon of oppression,” Lee said.

The Chair of the U.N. fact-finding mission on Myanmar Marzuki Darusman, who also presented a report to the U.N., echoed similar sentiments, noting that the government’s “hardened positions are by far the greatest obstacle.”

“Accountability concerns not only the past but it also concerns the future and Myanmar is destined to repeat the cycles of violence unless there is an end to impunity,” he said.

One of conditions that contributed to the atrocities committed since violence erupted in August 2017 is the shrinking of democratic space, they noted.

While the arrests of Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo gripped international headlines, the government has been increasingly cracking down on free speech and human rights defenders in the country.

Most recently, three journalists from Eleven Media—Nayi Min, Kyaw Zaw Linn, and Phyo Wai Win—were detained and are being investigated for online defamation. If charged and convicted, the journalists face up to two years in prison.

Lee and Darusman also expressed concern over the apartheid-like conditions in Myanmar that persist today including restrictions on movement and access to services such as healthcare and education.

While the government is building new infrastructure for both Rohingya still inside the country and those who fled, Lee noted they are usually segregated from Buddhist communities.

If a policy of separation rather than integration continues, atrocities will be committed yet again.

“It is an ongoing genocide,” Darusman said.

In the fact-finding mission report which looked into the past year’s events, investigators found that four out of five conditions for genocide were met: killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, and imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.

Of those, three conditions can still be seen in the country.

For instance, in 2015, Myanmar’s government imposed “birth spacing” restrictions on women, requiring a 36-month interval between children with forced use of contraception in the interim.

The Population Control Healthcare Bill was introduced in response to a 2013 government report that saw “the rapid population growth of the Bengalis [Rohingya] as an extremely serious threat.”

Prior to this, the government enacted a two-child limit on the Muslim community in Rakhine.

And it is because of these conditions that Rohingya refugees cannot go back.

“Repatriation is not possible now. Unless the situation in Myanmar is conducive, I will not encourage any repatriation. They should not go back to the existing laws, policies, and practices,” Lee said.

She urged for the civilian government to adopt laws that protect and advance human rights for all, and for Suu Kyi to use “all her moral and political power” to act.

“Myanmar now stands at a crossroads—they can respond as a responsible member of the United Nations and take up the call for accountability or they can be on the same self-self-destructive road,” Darusman said.

Of the actions that can be taken towards the path to accountability is the pardoning of human rights defenders and journalists who have been arbitrarily detained in order to restore democratic space.

Myanmar should also allow for unhindered access for humanitarian actors and U.N. investigators, Lee added.

“I think we are at a point where Myanmar and the international community both are at [a] juncture where the right choice to make will determine the future of not only Myanmar but peace and security in the region and the world,” she said.

Related Articles

• Q&A: An Uncertain Future Ahead for Rohingya in Bangladesh
• “We Should Not Wait” — Action Needed on Myanmar
• Damning U.N. Report Outlines Crimes Against Rohingya As Children Suffer from Trauma One Year Later

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Ethiopian MPs have elected Sahle-Work Zewde as the country's first female president.

African champions Cameroon will play Brazil in an international friendly in London on 20 November.

Nigeria coach Gernot Rohr says he is keen to persuade England under-21 winger Ademola Lookman to swap to play for the Super Eagles.

By Vani S. Kulkarni
PHILADELPHIA, Oct 26 2018 (IPS)

 

The challenges for the success of Ayushman Bharat are more than just at the financial and infrastructural level

On September 24, the government launched the grand government-funded healthcare scheme, the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY). While some see its ambitious goals as its main strength, others are sceptical given the inadequate funding for the scheme, the weak infrastructure of primary health care centres, and the time required for the goals to be accomplished. However, nobody disputes the imperative of an insurance scheme as vast as the PMJAY, since every year about 36 million families, or 14% of households, face a medical bill that is equal to the entire annual living expenses of one member of the family. This frequently pushes many families into penury.

Two schemes, one focus

The euphoria over this scheme is reminiscent of the excitement over the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), launched in 2008. Although the PMJAY is much wider in its reach than the RSBY (it covers 50 crore beneficiaries with ₹3,500 crore of government spending and provides benefits up to ₹5 lakh per eligible family), the central framework is the same: universal health care and health rights. The emerging discourse surrounding the PMJAY scheme resonates with those of RSBY. The focus continues to be on the top-down, deductive reasoning of the scheme, including issues such as allocation of funds for each illness, the types of care provided, financial considerations for empanelment of hospitals, types of illnesses covered, and transaction costs. These considerations matter. However, there are important missing links.

Vani S. Kulkarni

My recent study of RSBY in Karnataka yielded important insights that are pertinent here. Given that RSBY was embedded within the framework of universal health care and health rights, it is appropriate to pay attention to the existence of health rights in a local set-up. I discovered that the way beneficiaries of RSBY (Below Poverty Line households) perceived the scheme was not as a health right but in terms of the value it imparted, which was measured along multiple dimensions.

Households initially measured the value of the RSBY in terms of its material benefit and measurable impact. This included the financial ease it provided in taking care of illnesses, the expense and types of illnesses that the card covered, and the transaction costs it entailed — how easy it would be to use the card in terms of bureaucratic paperwork and formal procedures.

Beyond the visible impact

However, households also valued the RSBY beyond its visible impact. They had little value for the RSBY because of many reasons. One, officials who distributed the RSBY smart card did not provide information on how to use the card. Two, hospitals did not respect patients with the card, believing that they were availing medical care free of cost. Sometimes they did not honour the card either due to inaccuracy of fingerprints or lack of money on the card. Three, neighbours and family members did not discuss the utilisation of the card, making households perceive the card as just a showpiece: important to possess but not useful. Four, the lack of involvement and endorsement by local leaders further diminished the value of the card for the households.

The value of the RSBY was also derived in relation to the value of health itself. The difficulty in understanding the basic facts of the card and using it led households to opt for seeking medical care without the card. The value for one’s health undermined the value for the RSBY. As one household subsequent to repeated failed attempts to use the card lamented: “We lost time and money, and our illness got worse all because we wanted to use the card. I tell you, if you want to get well, if you really value your health, you cannot rely on this health card.” Next, the value of the RSBY card was derived in relation to the cultural ethos of health insurance. For a significant number of households, health insurance was perceived as a “bad omen” indicating the arrival of sickness and disease.

As the delivery of universal health care and health rights find yet another expression in India through the PMJAY scheme, it is more important than ever before to explore how citizens exercise their right to health and understand how it could be better practised. The biggest challenges for the success of the PMJAY scheme are not just financial and infrastructural at the local level, but how its value is perceived by the community.

Vani S. Kulkarni teaches sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, U.S. Views are personal

This article was first published in The Hindu.

The post The value of a health scheme appeared first on Inter Press Service.

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Rahti Begum a fisherwoman sells fish on a roadside in Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir state in India. She says she will be the last woman in her clan to do to sell fish. Credit: Umar Manzoor Shah/IPS

By Umar Manzoor Shah
SRINAGAR, India, Oct 25 2018 (IPS)

Much has changed since Rahti Begum, a fisherwoman in Kashmir, now in her late 60s, first began wandering the streets with a bucketful of fish on her head. She was 17 when her father roped her into the business that became the source of her livelihood for the remainder of her life.

Living in a houseboat on Dal Lake, one of Kashmir’s famed water bodies, Rahti says catching fish and selling it to people has been the sole source of income of her family for centuries.

“Even when I was a child, I knew I was going to sell fish. Every one in our family does that. The lake on which we live was been fulfilling all our needs,” she says. 

Her family belong to a tribe in Kashmir called ‘Hanjis’ who live in houseboats and eke out a living from the lakes and rivers the region had in abundance. A majority of the members of the tribe are involved in tourism as they take tourists in the lavishly decorated boats called ‘Shikaras’ to explore the beauties of the rivers and lakes.

Others amongst the tribe catch fish and sell it directly to the public. Rahti belongs to the latter group. The men during the early hours of the morning cast nets into the lake, catch fish and pass on the stock to their women who sell it by roaming around in different areas.

“When my father asked me join him, I was reluctant to say yes but there wasn’t anything else through which we could have earned a living. Gradually, selling fish became an integral part of my life and hence the family legacy continued,” she tells IPS. 

However Rahti, now afflicted with ailments that come with old age, is confident that she is going to be the last woman in her tribe to sell fish.

“My death will end the legacy for ever. No one wants to do this business again as the lake has all of a sudden turned monstrous for us; it is becoming a cesspool and fishes underneath its belly are vanishing with each passing day,” Rahti explains. 

Fish production and agricultural activities in this Himalayan region contribute 23 percent of GDP and are the mainstay of the economy.

According to a study conducted by researchers Neha W Qureshi and M Krishnan, the total fish production in Dal Lake registered a negative compound growth rate (CGR) of -0.34 percent for the period 1980-1990. But for the period 2000-2010, fish production in Dal Lake showed a negative compound growth rate of -2.89 percent. Wullar Lake showed a negative compound growth rate of -8.78 percent from 2000-2011

The study blames the decline in numbers on the negative externalities of tourism, excessive fertilisation of vegetable crops on floating gardens that lead to algal blooms, and the spike in pollution due to the dumping of waste in both lakes.

These have all led to a consistent decline and destruction of the breeding grounds of the local fish species schizothorax.

Furthermore, the consumption of fish has outnumbered actual fish production in the region.

While the annual consumption is 25,000 tons of fish, production stands at 20,000 tons per year in both lakes combined. Of this, Dal Lake produces no more than 5,000 tons a year. 

Rahti, who now struggles to earn enough for one full meal a day, says she vividly remembers the times when during her childhood, fish under the diamond-like transparency of the lake used to swim in shoals and flocks of ducks with emerald necks used to swim on the surface.

“Those were the days when we used to earn a decent livelihood and the lake produced no less than 15 thousand tons of fish every year. It is now a thing of a past,” she rues. 

Rahti, who has two daughters and a son, says the reason that her children wouldn’t go into the business of selling fish is the dreadful decline in fish production in the lake. Her daughters are homemakers and her son has a job at a local grocery store. Her earnings, Rahti says, have declined from 500 dollars a month to a mere 100 dollars a month at present.

“There isn’t enough produce that I could sell and with merge income in hand, why would I push my children to the precipice of a disastrous living?” Rahti tells IPS. 

Another fisherwoman, Jana Begum, has similar fears. In her 50s now, Jana says her only concern is how the family would survive if the situation were to remain the same.

“Our sole income is selling fish. My husband, a fisherman catches fish and I sell it. We have been doing this for 30 years but it looks like the difficult times have begun to dominate poor people like us,” Jana tells IPS. 

She says almost every day, her husband returns home with empty nets and a glum face as there aren’t any fish left to be caught in Wullar Lake — another famous water body located in the north of Kashmir.

“Why would my daughters do this business? What is left for them to earn. With us, the profession shall end and we are already long dead,” says Jana. 

According to a study by Imtiaz Ahmed, Zubair Ahmad and Ishtiyaq Ahmad, Department of Zoology, University of Kashmir, the main reasons for the depletion of fishery resources in these water bodies are over-fishing and encroachment.

It suggested that the entry of domestic sewage, solid wastes and agricultural wastes into these water bodies needs to be controlled and properly managed.

“Also aquatic weeds present in these aquatic ecosystems must be  cultivated and  should be  properly utilised because  of its  high  nutritional  values  and  economic  values. A separate  authority  needs  to  be  established  to  monitor the physico-chemical and biological characteristics of Dal Lake.” 

The director of the Department of Fisheries, Ram Nath Pandita, gives similar reasons for the decline in fish production in Kashmir’s lakes and rivers, attributing it to increasing pollution and encroachment.

He says because of the dumping of waste in water bodies, fish larvae do not grow into fry, resulting in the decline.

Pandita tells IPS that in order to address the decline in fish production, the government is supplying larvae to the water bodies and is continuously monitoring the process.

“The government is keeping closer watch on the entire process of increasing the fish production in Kashmir’s lakes and besides increasing the supply of larvae, it is also ensuring that no illegal fishing is allowed,” Pandita says.

He added that due to the massive floods that occurred in Kashmir in 2014, a large quantity of silt and sewage accumulated in the lakes, affecting fish production directly.

Pandita said awareness campaigns are being carried out about the importance of keeping the water bodies clean and not dumping household solid and liquid wastes in them.

“There are even seminars and road shows being conducted by the government in which people from cross sections of the society are educated that the fish can turn poisonous and will extinguish if water bodies aren’t protected through the unanimous efforts of the people and the government,” Pandita tells IPS. 

The government in February banned any illegal fishing in Kashmir’s water bodies and claims that the law will help curb the decline in fish production and help secure the livelihood of people involved in the sector.

Under the new law, only those permitted by the government can fish in the water bodies and any one found violating the norm shall be liable to three months of imprisonment and a fine of 500 Indian Rupees (about 90 dollars.)

The Department of Lakes and Water Ways development authority – a government department tasked with the protection of lakes in Kashmir – reports that various plans are underway to save Dal Lake and various species that live in it.

The department is uprooting water lilies with traditional methods and is de-weeding the lake with the latest machinery so that the surface of the lake is freed from weeds and fish production will rebound.

However, according to a study by Humaira Qadri and A. R. Yousuf from the Department of Environmental Science, University of Kashmir, despite the government spending about USD170 million on the conservation of the lake so far, there is no visible improvement in its condition.

“A lack of proper management and restoration plan and the incidence of engineered but ecologically unsound management practices have led to a failure in the conservation efforts,” says the study.

It concluded that the lake is moving towards its definite end and that conservation efforts have proved to be a total failure. It adds that official apathy and failure to take the problems seriously on the part of the managing authorities have deteriorated the overall condition of the lake.

The study says a united effort is needed by the government as well as the people so that instead of turning the water bodies into waste dumping sites, they are saved for the greater common good of Kashmir.

But Pandita is optimistic that the lakes can be restored to their past glory. Though, he admitted, that due to the high level of pollution in the lakes, it is feared that they may turn into cesspools. However, he said the government was working to combat this through various methods, which included awareness campaigns and lake clean-up drives.

But among the uneducated communities living around the lakes, many do not understand the measures taken by the government. When IPS spoke to local community members, all they talked about were the lack of fish. They were unaware about whether the government’s efforts will bring about any change in the lake.

As IPS asked fisher-person Jum Dar whether the government’s measures were bringing any positive change, Dar said he has seen many government agencies taking water samples for research from the lake and but there hadn’t been any visible change. His livelihood, he says, continues to remain in danger.

As IPS spent an entire day with Dar, and he only caught two fish which weighed no more than half a kilogram.

“See yourself the hard times we encounter everyday. How could we survive when such a catastrophe has engulfed our lives?”

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The post Kashmir’s Fisherwomen Live Between Hope and Despair appeared first on Inter Press Service.

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