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Credit: ESCAP Photo/Nur Hamidah

By Nur Hamidah, Rebecca Purba and Anna Amalia
BANGKOK, Thailand, Oct 24 2024 (IPS)

Over half of Asia-Pacific’s population now live in cities. While urbanization brings people closer to opportunities and better services, many urban dwellers are also experiencing the adverse impacts of climate change such as floods, urban heat and infectious diseases. Urban activities are among the major contributors to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Consequently, building adequate capacities to adapt and promoting low-carbon and climate-resilient urban development are strategic priorities to reduce the region’s GHG emissions and safeguard its people. ESCAP, through the Urban-Act project, is supporting cities in Asia to identify important local actions to increase resilience and transition to climate-sensitive urban development.

Moving from business-as-usual to climate-sensitive development requires substantial investment and good enabling conditions. To meet Indonesia’s climate target, for example, the country needs ~USD 285 billion in total financing for 2018-2030 – a significant amount for a country facing a myriad of urbanization challenges.

In 2024, ESCAP and the Cities Climate Finance Leadership Alliance (CCFLA), assisted countries including Indonesia, to assess their national enabling conditions for urban climate finance.

The assessment evaluates four dimensions of the enabling conditions: climate policy, budget and finance, climate data, and vertical and horizontal coordination. In Indonesia, assessing national enabling conditions for subnational climate action in the urban context is part of an integrated approach to scale up climate action.

First, from the policy perspective, climate change is an important aspect of Indonesia’s national development. Climate-related targets gain prominence in the latest national medium-term development plan and will become even more so in the upcoming long-term development plan.

At the subnational level, however, the capacity to mainstream climate action varied. Lack of awareness, competing priorities and limited funding are among the main challenges that create significant gaps between budget allocation and achieving climate targets.

Second, despite the fiscal decentralization policy that allows subnational governments to manage their revenue and expenditures, reliance on central government transfers remains a common practice. In general, subnational governments face difficulties in generating revenue.

This reality exacerbates the challenge of allocating sufficient funding to build cities’ adaptive capacity and mitigate GHG emissions. Public-private partnership as a potential source of infrastructure financing has not made a significant contribution to subnational finance. Debt is not prevalent among subnational governments. Municipal bonds, introduced nearly twenty years ago, have not seen successful issuance by any subnational government.

A recent regulation on carbon pricing allows subnational governments to generate revenue from carbon trading, but effective implementation requires technical guidance and capacity building – a similar issue with thematic global climate funds.

Officials from cities participating in an Urban-Act workshop expressed that their cities received limited information about the mechanisms and had limited technical capacity to access the funds.

Third, Indonesia has developed several information systems facilitating subnational climate analysis and/or progress reporting, including AKSARA and National Registry System which record mitigation and adaptation activities, SIGN SMART records GHG emissions inventory at the provincial level, and SIDIK which allows analysis of adaptive capacity disaggregated at the village level.

Subject to data availability and quality, the analysis produced by these platforms could aid subnational governments in their development planning and efforts to access financing.

Finally, on vertical and horizontal coordination, Indonesia’s development planning forum, Musrembang, which fosters inclusive and participatory community discussions mandates for development aspirations to be discussed at all levels of government. However, the extent of climate discussions within these forums varies.

To improve conditions for Indonesian cities to access climate finance, there is a need for enhanced technical support to align subnational development planning and budgeting with national climate targets.

This includes strengthening institutional capacity to internalize climate adaptation and mitigation strategies into development programmes/activities, starting from understanding cities’ vulnerability to climate change and the major contributing sectors of GHG emissions all the way to monitoring and evaluation.

Such improvements would enable subnational governments to set measurable targets, prioritize actions, mobilize funding, and follow a clear and trackable roadmap. Policy to enable subnational governments to generate revenue from activities contributing to GHG emissions to finance climate action could be explored further. Incentives provision can also encourage private and subnational governments to move in this direction.

Climate data reporting platforms can be utilized and optimized better by encouraging more participation of subnational governments and relevant stakeholders – which should be accompanied by building technical capacity in data management to improve quality and evidence-based planning.

As climate change is a multistakeholder and multijurisdictional issue, national and subnational governments must facilitate cross-jurisdictional and collaborative urban climate actions to effectively tackle its potential impacts.

Climate action cannot be delayed any longer as the cost of inaction is far outweighing the cost of action. Assessing the enabling conditions at the national level is a crucial first step in understanding the challenges and opportunities of mobilizing urban climate finance. Member States can start by utilizing the tool to foster local climate actions.

Nur Hamidah is Urban Climate Change Specialist, ESCAP; Rebecca Purba is Associate Economic Affairs Officer, Environment and Development Division; Anna Amalia Senior Planner, Ministry of Development Planning of the Republic of Indonesia.

Source: ESCAP

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Delegates from the Forum of Arab Parliamentarians on Population and Development and the Asian Population and Development Association met in Cairo to discuss support for people with disabilities and the elderly. Credit: APDA

By Hisham Allam
CAIRO, Oct 24 2024 (IPS)

In a significant move to address the challenges faced by people with disabilities and the elderly, six Egyptian parliamentary committees met in Cairo on October 12 to discuss national strategies and legislative efforts.

The Forum of Arab Parliamentarians on Population and Development and the Asian Population and Development Association (APDA), with support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Government of Japan, organized the meeting with the focus of aligning Egypt’s policies with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Roughly 1.2 million people with disabilities currently receive state assistance, while Egypt’s elderly population continues to grow. According to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), 10.64 percent of Egyptians have a disability, and the elderly population reached 9.3 million in 2024, representing 8.8 percent of the total population—4.6 million men (8.5 percent) and 4.7 million women (9.2 percent). The parliamentary committees convened to enhance support for these vulnerable groups.

Dr. Abdelhadi Al-Qasabi, Chairman of the Committee on Social Solidarity, Family, and People with Disabilities, emphasized recent legislative developments. He pointed out that Egypt has passed important legislation, such as the Elderly Care Law in 2024 and the Law on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2018, to safeguard these vulnerable groups. He underlined that these laws show the state’s adherence to the Egyptian Constitution, which upholds everyone’s right to a dignified life free from discrimination.

“Egypt has made significant strides by adopting policies and laws that protect and empower people with disabilities and the elderly,” stated Al-Qasabi. “We aim to ensure they are not only recipients of support but contributors to the nation’s progress.”

The “Karama” program of the Egyptian government, which offers financial aid to those with impairments, was the focus of the gathering. Egypt’s Minister of Social Solidarity, Dr. Maya Morsy, noted that the program, which has an annual budget of about 10 billion Egyptian pounds, currently serves 1.2 million people with 1.3 million integrated services cards distributed to make access to social services and healthcare easier.

“We are committed to ensuring that people with disabilities receive their integrated services cards within 30 days, enhancing their access to vital resources.”

Morsy emphasized the Elderly Care Law, which assures those over 65 have better access to social, economic, and healthcare services. “We aim to create an environment where the elderly can live independently, free from abuse or exploitation, while continuing to contribute to society,” she told the audience.

Dr. Hala Youssef, UNFPA Advisor, emphasized the need for international cooperation in meeting the SDGs and ensuring that no one falls behind.

Discussion at a conference under the auspices of the Forum of Arab Parliamentarians on Population and Development and the Asian Population and Development Association discussed the empowerment of people with disabilities and the elderly. Credit: APDA

“Parliamentarians play a strategic role in creating a legislative framework that addresses the needs of the most vulnerable,” Youssef added. “Innovation and technology can be powerful tools for inclusion, providing people with disabilities access to education, employment, and social participation on an equal footing.”

Youssef went on to emphasize disturbing global figures, stating that 46 percent of seniors over 60 have some type of handicap and that persons with disabilities were among the hardest struck during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Children with disabilities are four times more likely to experience violence than their peers, while adults with disabilities face higher risks of abuse and exploitation,” Youssef said, urging a stronger commitment to protecting their rights.

Dr. Sami Hashim, head of the Committee on Education and Scientific Research, stressed the integration of individuals with disabilities in the educational system. He emphasized that, especially in the age of artificial intelligence, education must be adaptable, inclusive, and forward-thinking.

“Our education system must not only teach knowledge but prepare individuals for success in an increasingly technological world,” said Hashim. “This is particularly important for students with disabilities, who should have access to the tools and opportunities that will allow them to thrive.”

The forum emphasized the critical need for national and international collaboration to build inclusive, egalitarian communities, given that 80% of the one billion persons with disabilities worldwide live in developing nations and that the number of older people in need of assistance is rising.
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Kemitoma Siperia Mollie, Praise Aloikin, and Kobusingye Norah appear in court early in September. They were charged with common nuisance. Credit: Wambi Michael/IPS

By Wambi Michael
KAMPALA, Oct 24 2024 (IPS)

Until recently, Margaret Natabi would never have dreamed of taking her anti-corruption fight on the streets of Uganda’s capital, Kampala.

Natabi, 24, is a University student. She has first-hand experience of how corruption affects marginalized groups, especially women and girls.

She was orphaned during childhood. Her mother died while giving birth to one of her siblings. She believes that if it were not for corruption, her mother would not have died.

Natabi is among those arrested in July during the famous “march to parliament in protest.” The march followed a social media campaign by young Ugandans using the hashtag #StopCorruption.

On the day of her arrest, Natabi was holding a poster reading, “The corrupt are playing with the wrong generation.” Data from the latest population and housing census indicate that some 15 million out of a population of 45 million Ugandans.

When the police approached her during the protest, Natabi did not resist.  Female police constables lifted her and bundled her into the police car.

“I was so determined to preach the gospel against corruption to everyone. Even the police officer that was arresting me,” she shared.

However, the arresting officers were not about to listen to her.

“I actually don’t know where the policemen and women got that anger from because I was peaceful. It was as if something was charging them with anger. I was just exercising my constitutional rights. But here they were charging at me with brutal force,” Natabi narrated.

While others went to beat the young men taking part in the protest, she claimed that a male police officer kicked her hard in the back.

“Then the police officer turned to me, saying, ‘Look at you. You have painted nails; you have money to plait in your hair. What has corruption done to you? And you are saying this country is hard for you!’” she narrated.

Natabi further narrated that she insisted on “preaching to the officers” the dangers of corruption.

“I told the officer that by the time you see me here, you don’t know how many things I have lost due to corruption. I do not have a father. I do not have a mother. Do you know how corruption caused that? My mother had to die because she was not attended to at the hospital when she was pregnant. She lost her baby and she lost her life.”

Even though she had just come out of prison, Natabi told IPS that she was not about to give up in her fight against corruption. “Because the more I keep quiet, I’m doing an injustice to my country,” she said

“We may not end corruption. But the number of people who have seen what we are doing, the eyes that we are opening—there is a person today who is going to pick that courage from us,” said Natabi. “When we all keep quiet, nobody is going to rise up. But some people just want to see one person standing up and they will get that courage.”

Natabi is not alone; more and more young women like 25-year-old Claire Namara have come out to challenge the status quo. She was charged with disturbing a lawful religious assembly.

Her problem stemmed from a lone protest during mass at a Catholic church in the suburbs of Kampala. Dressed in black and holding the Ugandan flag, Namara attempted to preach to the congregants about the dangers of the luxurious lifestyle of the country’s Speaker of Parliament, Annett Anita, whom many believe squanders public money for personal gain.

Namara also had a poster with a picture of a sanitary pad with the message, “Magogo’s birthday car would pad one million young girls for a year. #StopCorruption.”

The Police questioned her about the message on the sanitary pad poster.

“He asked me to read the placard twice. I confidently read it because I wrote it when I meant it. He asked me what the meaning of this message was. I told him the cost of Magogo’s car would (provide) pads for one million girls in a year; that is what we are meaning and that is a fact,” Namara narrated.

Anita bought a new Range Rover as a birthday present when millions of girls were going with sanitary pads.

Many young girls in rural Uganda continue to miss long constructive hours away from school because of a lack of sanitary pads.

In 2021, the government and a group of civil society organizations published A Menstrual Health Snapshot of Uganda, which found that 65% (nearly 7 out of 10) of girls and women in Uganda did not have access to products to fully meet their menstrual health needs. It noted that 70 percent of adolescent girls mentioned menstruation as a major hindrance to their optimal school performance.

“I would at certain point fail to get sanitary pads and I would end up using cloth. That is a personal story but as well, in my village, many girls still struggle to afford sanitary pads,” Namara told IPS.

President Yoweri Museveni during the 2016 election pledged to provide funds for free sanitary pads in schools. However, in 2020, his wife, Janet Museveni, also the Minister of Education and Sports, said that there were no funds to sustain the provision of free sanitary pads.

Namara told IPS that while the government said it lacked the money to fund menstrual hygiene, politicians—more so women politicians—have been named in corruption scandals.

“I must believe that even when we think that we have it all, every woman, apart from those who belong to the first family and those who are stealing from our taxes, has struggled to get pads. Even when you access it, you struggle to get that money,” argues Namara, who believes that the state must ensure that young girls have access to safe menstrual hygiene services.

Namara told IPS that while she was facing ridicule from a section of the public that condemned her for carrying “her” protest to church, she has equally been receiving messages of commendation from many.

“We need a bigger discussion in Uganda about women in Uganda and how they are facing these societal norms. I was so disappointed by fellow women who were asking how she could go to protest in church. She is a young girl. Who will marry her?

In early September, Norah Kobusingye, Praise Aloikin Opoloje, and Kemitoma Kyenziibo were arrested while marching the Parliament building with posters “No Corruption.” They had almost stripped naked and painted their bodies.  The youthful protestors, who belong to the Uganda Freedom Activists, were slapped with a common nuisance charge contrary to the Uganda Penal Code Act.

In reaction, the feminist scholar and writer Dr. Stella Nyanzi said the young women’s imprisonment would not deter the peaceful protests.

“Charging comrades Kemitoma Siperia Mollie, Praise Aloikin, and Kobusingye Norah with common nuisance and remanding them to Luzira Women’s Prison until September 12, 2024 will not stop the peaceful #March2Parliament to #StopCorruption and demand that #AnitaMustResign,” observed Nyanzi, known for using “radical rudeness” as a form of political protest similar to what the young men did.

The emergence of a young breed of female anti-corruption actors in Uganda has triggered debate. For some, these young people have broken the formal and cultural barriers about women and corruption.

Dr. Miria Matembe, a former Minister of Ethics and Integrity under Museveni, agrees with those who believe that the young women anti-corruption activists have come to challenge the status quo because the once vibrant women’s movement in Uganda has been silenced.

“Do you hear any NGO going out the way we used to do? They are in their offices doing their work. So the space for us who used to go out is completely closed.”

She told IPS that the entire system of governance in Uganda is corrupt.  “Corruption is not about the Prime Minister because she is a woman. Look at the women politicians individually. They are greedy. We have a transactional parliament. Rather than a transformative parliament. When Museveni wants something, he takes them aside and asks how much.  Therefore, I must say we are heading nowhere,” she said.

Others say they are posing a challenge to women who are holding “big” positions under Museveni. There is a feeling that women in leadership like Vice President Jessica Alupo, Speaker of Parliament Anita Among, and Prime Minister Robina Nabanja have conspired with Museveni in propping up a corrupt regime.

Younger female Ugandans, like Nantongo Bashira, believe that those leaders have let them down.

Bashira, a lecturer at the Islamic University in Uganda, told IPS that young women bear the responsibility to make the future they want.

“We keep on saying the future is female. If you tell us that the future is women and corruption is skyrocketing, the future is female and things are not going your way, it is our responsibility to shape that future that we want,” said Bashira.

Aili Mari Tripp, a Vilas Research Professor of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison USA, wrote in a paper titled “How African Autocracies Instrumentalize Women Leaders” that Uganda is among the autocracies that have instrumentalized women to stay longer in power.

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By Jan Lundius
STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Oct 23 2024 (IPS)

Bronisław Malinowski (1884 – 1942) did for several years conduct socio-anthropological research in the Trobriand Islands. Returning to England after World War I, he wrote several ground breaking books, among them Magic, Science, and Religion in which he assumed that people’s feelings and motives are crucial for understanding the way their society functions. Malinowski considered society to be intimately interlinked with individuality – i.e. an individual’s ideas and behaviour are created and formulated within the social circles s/he lives and vice versa. Consequently, an individual’s personality might influence an entire society, depending on the leading role s/he is granted.

Malinowski found that whenever Trobriand islanders planned to sail into turbulent ocean waters, they performed complicated rituals, but when they planned to sail in the calm waters of a lagoon, they did not perform any ceremonies at all. Accordingly, he came to the conclusion that people become more interested in magic and religion whenever they face a stressful situation:

Magic is to be expected whenever man comes to an unbridgeable gap in his knowledge, or in his powers of practical control, and yet has to continue in his pursuit. Religion is not born out of speculation or reflection, still less of illusion or misapprehension, but rather out of the real tragedies of human life, out of the conflict between human plans and realities.

What about our political leaders, are they confiding in religion and magic? Probably yes and no, though it cannot be denied that several of them make use of people’s fears and religious leanings. When Netanyahu on 27 September spoke to the United Nations General Assembly, he defined the UN as a

swamp of antisemitic bile, there’s an automatic majority willing to demonize the Jewish state for anything. In this anti-Israel flat-earth society, any false charge, any outlandish allegation can muster a majority.

This in spite of the fact that much of this rancour is based on Israel’s refusal to give up support to, and expansion of Jewish settlements, deemed illegal under international law, on Palestinian sovereign territory.

The Israeli Prime Minister quoted the Bible: “Blessed be the Lord, my Rock and my great strength, who trains my hand for war and my fingers for battle [Psalm 144]”, and stated that Israel accordingly would achieve “total victory in the war” and in accordance with the Book of Samuel: “The eternity of Israel will not falter”.

Netanyahu’s anger might be excused due to Hamas’ 7 October breaching of the Gaza-Israel Barrier and killing of 1,139 people, including 695 civilians, among them 38 children. Women were violated and hostages taken. The aftermath was terrible, when the Israeli Army in its hunt for Hamas is continuously destroying Gaza’s infrastructure, indiscriminately putting a whole population in danger and misery and has so far killed more than 43,000 individuals, among them 11,300 children less than five years old.

After Hamas deplorable attack Netanyahu did of course condemn it, but he went further than that by stating that Israel would deal with Hamas in a manner that would affect an entire population, i.e. the Palestinians of Gaza. By doing so he used the Bible declaring that: “You must remember what Amalek has done to you, says our Holy Bible. And we do remember.” What did God declare about the Amalekites?

“I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys (1 Samuel: 15-16).”

Is Netanyahu religious? I don’t think so. He picks some detail from the Scriptures and uses it for his own political reasons. He is not applying any of the strict Jewish rules, wears the kippah and recites prayers only when his job demands so. He doesn’t show up at synagogue services with any regularity and is known to work on the Shabbat. However, applying religion to politics is something entirely different from being religious, and this is something Netanyahu has in common with another demagogue, namely Donald Trump. I am quite sure that Trump’s Bible knowledge is almost non-existent, but this does not hinder him from hawking his God Bless the USA Bible for 60 USD, in support of his campaign (it’s printed in China). Like his Israeli counterpart Trump acts like a Doomsday prophet while depicting a grim world on the edge of a catastrophe. According to Trump, to avoid an economic collapse, or even a destructive World War, people have to vote for him. Like his American friend, who relies on votes of duped born-again Christians, Netanyahu depends on ultra-Orthodox Jews.

During his years in the US, where he went to school and university, became a business man and Isarel’s UN ambassador, Netanyahu did besides befriending Donald Trump’s father Fred, meet with Rebbe Menachen M. Schneerson (1902-1994), whom he on several occasions has referred to as “the most influential man of our time”.

Schneerson inherited the leadership of a small Hasidic group, almost annihilated during the Holocaust, and turned it into one of the most influential, global movements in religious Jewry. His writings fill more than 400 volumes. After fleeing pogroms in Ukraine, Schneerson lived in New York. He never visited Israel, though Israeli leaders like Sharon, Rabin, Peres, and not the least Netanyahu, visited him and sought his advice. Many of Schneerson’s adherents believe he was the Messiah.

Schneerson’s ideas can be easily discerned in Netanyahu’s policies and speeches. For example, when Netanyahu became UN ambassador Schneerson advised him:

There is an assembly hall there that has eternal falsehood, utter darkness. Remember that in a hall of perfect darkness, totally dark, if you light one small candle, its light will be seen from afar. Its precious light will be seen by everyone. Your mission is to light a candle for truth and the Jewish people.

Schneerson constantly hailed the Israeli Army as a God chosen medium through which He would send deliverance to the Jewish people and like Netanyahu he was a stout adversary to surrender any of the “liberated territories”, i.e. The West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. Schneerson stated that the Jewish settlements in occupied territory were “blessed cities” and had to be walled not only in a physical sense, but as a “spiritual” protection. Accordingly, Schneerson was, like Netanyahu, against the peace agreement with the Palestinians and a two-state solution.

Another warmonger claiming religious motivations for his belligerent acts is Vladimir Putin. Like other xenophobes he uses “culture” as a means to unify his acolytes. He has joined forces with a conservative Russian, religious elite to support the narrative of a Russia chosen to defend a specific brand of culture and religion. The Russian Orthodox Church is mobilised as a crucial part of Putin’s policy, to create a common sense of “Spiritual Security”.

Putin has been able to cultivate an enigmatic public persona – a hard and strong man. An image giving birth to rumours, legends and myths around him. Accordingly, it is hard to find proof of his personal, religious convictions, but there are several signs that he might at least be a superstitious man.

Putin has declared himself to be a deeply religious man. He carries on him a baptismal cross given to him by his mother and blessed by Jesus’ tomb in Jerusalem. Relatively early in his presidency, Putin spoke openly about his Russian Orthodox faith and formed a close bond with certain members of the clergy, among them Archimandrite Tikhon, for several years Father Superior of Sretensky monastery and now acting as Metropolitan in the Diocese of Simferopol and Crimea. Tikhon, whose secular name is Georgiy Shevkunov, is rumoured to be Putin’s personal confessor (духовник) and spiritual advisor. Both men have neither confirmed nor denied this, though it is generally known that Putin on his national and international trips often is accompanied by Father Tikhon, though Putin’s travels abroad has now become extremely rare due to an International Criminal Court’s warrant for his arrest as war criminal.

Father Tikhon, who studied film and literature before becoming a priest, has written several books imbued with an ultra-conservative conviction about Russia’s ingrained spirituality, as well as beliefs in faith healing. He is believed to be a spiritual healer himself. Some regime critics compare Tikhon to with the notorious mystic and faith healer Gregori Rasputin, said to have had a disastrous influence on the household of the last Tsar.

As part of his religious, nationalistic persona, Putin has made several highly publicised visits to the legendary Valaam Monastery on an island in Lake Ladoga, where he among other acts has immersed himself in icy water as part of an ancient Orthodox Epiphany ritual. A deed reminding of his Siberian immersions in deer blood and bare-chested rides. These stunts took place in Tuva, home of Putin’s friend and former Defence Minister, Sergei Shoigu. This year he once again visited Tuva, in connection with his first and only visit to a foreign country, neighbouring Mongolia. Sources close to Kremlin claimed that Putin’s third visit to Mongolia in a decade and his many travels to Tuva might be related to his specific attitude to Russian Orthodox mysticism and its connection to Shamanistic traditions. Mongolia and Tuva are considered to be home of the World’s most powerful shamans. Together with Sergei Shoigu, Putin is known to have participated in Shamanistic rituals.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, shamanism has experienced a revival. Similar to several influential church elders, many newly converted shamans have close ties to the authorities, so they may say not only what the spirits whisper to them, but what the officials want to hear. Shamanism is a religious practice that generally means that a shaman through a self-induced trance interacts with the “spirit world”, directing spiritual energies into the physical world and thus becomes able to heal ailments and predict the future. Putin is assumed to meet with shamans to become energised and seek spiritual advice about how to behave, in particular in connection with the war in Ukraine. Since the beginning of the war, invocations and spells have multiplied in the regions of Buryatia, Tuva, Irkutsk and Altai where shamanism is widespread. And according to their own account, there are currently 17 shamans participating in Ukrainian war actions.

As everything connected with Putin rumours are hard to confirm. However, there is no doubt that he, Netanyahu and Trump make use of religion for their own benefit and it is possible that they like Malinowski’s Trobriands are seeking spiritual protection when they venture out into stormy waters. At least they use religion to seduce their followers and in the case of Putin and Netanyahu to find support for their belligerent acts.

Main sources: Pfeffer, Anshel (2018) Bibi: The Turbulent Life and Times of Benjamin Netanyahu. New York: Basic Books and Zygar, Mikhail (2024) ”Gerüchte in Moskau lässt sich Putin von Schamanen für den Krige beraten?” Der Spiegel, 14 September.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Samah Al-Ibrahim is unable to provide milk for her child. Babies born to internally displaced families in the camps in the northern countryside of Idlib are desperate for a regular supply of food and milk supplements for their children. Credit: Sonia al-Ali/IPS

By Sonia Al Ali
IDLIB, Syria, Oct 23 2024 (IPS)

Children in northern Syria are suffering from hunger, illness, and malnutrition as a result of poverty, poor living conditions for most families, and the collapse of purchasing power amid the soaring prices of all essential food commodities. Displacement and a lack of job opportunities make this worse.

Nour al-Hammoud, a 5-year-old girl whose family was displaced from Maarat al-Numan, south of Idlib, to a makeshift camp in the northern countryside of Idlib, near the Syrian-Turkish border, suffers from acute malnutrition. She is extremely thin. 

“My daughter’s immunity is very weak; she suffers from stunted growth and constant illness. We cannot provide her with the nutrients she needs due to our poverty. My husband is unemployed because of a war injury, and humanitarian aid in this camp is almost nonexistent,” her mother, who did not want to be named, says.

The mother indicates that she took her daughter to a pediatrician at a health center more than 5 km from the camp, and the doctor confirmed that the girl was suffering from malnutrition and prescribed medication and supplements, but these haven’t yet made a difference. The mother confirmed that her daughter’s condition is deteriorating day by day, and she is helpless to do anything for her.

Samah al-Ibrahim, 33, from the city of Idlib, northern Syria, is also unable to afford formula milk for her 9-month-old baby, which has affected his growth and health. She says, “My husband works in construction all day for USD 3. We can barely afford our basic necessities, so we can’t buy milk on many days, especially since I can’t breastfeed due to malnutrition myself.”

Al-Ibrahim confirms that she relies on cooking starch with sugar or boiling rice to feed her son, as milk is not available daily.

As for Sanaa al-Barakat, 35, she has been living in a state of severe anxiety after discovering that her 2-year-old daughter, Rim, is suffering from acute malnutrition and stunted growth and it is critical she gets care immediately.

“The doctor diagnosed her with severe malnutrition, which caused brain atrophy and delayed the acquisition of motor skills. She also suffers from difficulty speaking as well as lethargy and refuses to play like other children. Additionally, she is introverted,” al-Barakat.

She said her daughter Rim is not the only one suffering from malnutrition, but all of her four children are as well, because she finds it very difficult to provide her children with the necessary food supplies. She often only manages to feed them one meal a day.

Dr. Nour Al-Abbas (39), a pediatrician from Sarmada, north of Idlib, speaks about malnutrition, saying, “It is a serious health condition where children suffer from a deficiency in the essential nutrients their bodies need, causing them symptoms and signs that vary in severity and danger.”

She confirms that a quarter of children in Idlib suffer from malnutrition due to not getting enough nutritious food due to a lack of and of dietary diversity, which makes them susceptible to disease and weakens their immune systems.”

The doctor explains that the number of children she receives at the health center where she works is increasing. Al-Abbas says the mothers are also often suffering from malnutrition. The conditions the families live in are a result of poverty as a result of displacement due to war, the large number of children in one family, and the inability of mothers to breastfeed.

The spread of infectious diseases among children and reliance on contaminated and unclean drinking water exacerbate the situation. Often the mothers continue attempting to cope without consulting a doctor and when they do finally seek health, the children’s condition is poor.

Al-Abbas points out that the groups most at risk of malnutrition are children after the breastfeeding period, i.e., from the age of 6 months to 6 years. However, some mothers are reluctant to breastfeed their children for several reasons, the most important of which is the mother’s suffering from malnutrition as well.

“Malnutrition has different symptoms, the most important of which are severe weakness and feeling constantly tired, in addition to the child not gaining weight and height with pale skin and yellowing, or the appearance of edema or continuous inflammatory conditions such as dermatitis or peeling around the lips or abdominal distension (bloating),” Al-Abbas says.

The doctor called for additional support from charities and NGOs in an effort to provide food and medicine through field visits to camps.

According to UNICEF estimates, 9 out of 10 children in Syria do not consume minimally acceptable diets, leading to stunting and wasting. As many as 506,530 children under the age of five in Idlib, Syria, and northern rural Aleppo urgently need treatment for acute malnutrition, and nearly 108,000 children suffer from severe wasting. Disease prevalence, a lack of food, and inadequate sanitation services all make the situation worse.

In addition, over 609,900 children under the age of five in Syria suffer from stunting, according to UNICEF estimates. Stunting results from chronic malnutrition and causes irreversible physical and cognitive damage in children. This impacts their ability to learn and their productivity in adulthood.

According to the “Syria Response Coordinators” team, which specializes in statistics in northwestern Syria, the percentage of families below the poverty line is 91.18 percent, while the percentage of families below the hunger line has reached 41.05 percent. All families residing in the region’s widespread camps have been classified as entirely below the poverty line.

Poverty, displacement, and inflation have increased the prevalence of malnutrition among Syrian children, stunting their growth due to the lack of sufficient essential nutrients for their bodies to grow, negatively impacting them and depriving them of their most basic rights.

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Madeline, a mother from Gaza, stands in her tent holding her child in her arms. Credit: UNICEF/Eyad El Baba

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 23 2024 (IPS)

The second of the polio vaccination campaign in Gaza has yielded relative success, as so far more than 420,000 children have been vaccinated since the second round of immunizations began one week prior. This exception stands out as the uptick in airstrikes and sustained blockages of aid give humanitarian organizations cause for concern for the deterioration of Gaza, especially in the north.

The Gaza Ministry of Health reported that an Israeli airstrike on Beit Lahiya on October 19 led to at least 87 deaths and caused extensive damage to nearby infrastructure. Dr Eid Sabbah, Kamal Adwan Hospital’s director of nursing, informed reporters that the strikes leveled several buildings and left “more than four or five residential blocks razed to the ground”. Despite this, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have reiterated their claims that their airstrikes are “precision attacks” on Hamas operations, intending to cause no harm to innocent civilians.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) confirmed on Monday that Israeli authorities continue to deny access to humanitarian missions in the north, with critical deliveries such as food and medicine being impeded.

In a statement first issued on X (formerly Twitter) on October 21, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini remarked that hospitals in Gaza have been hit by airstrikes and are left without power, leaving the injured to their own devices. Efforts to rescue civilians trapped under the rubble of explosions have been denied. Additionally, the remaining displacement shelters have reached maximum capacity, forcing many displaced individuals to sleep in public latrines.

On October 22, Lazzarini followed up with a new statement on X which is marked as a SOS from UNRWA staff in northern Gaza. The staff present are continuing operations and keeping shelters open throughout the bombardments, even up until now when they cannot find food, water or medical assistance.

“The smell of death is everywhere as bodies are left lying on the roads or under the rubble. Missions to clear the bodies or provide humanitarian assistance are denied,” said Lazzarini. “In northern Gaza, people are just waiting to die. They feel deserted, hopeless and alone. They live from one hour to the next, fearing death at every second.”

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that between October 6 and 20, over 28 requests for humanitarian missions were denied by Israeli authorities. A further request for aid delivery on October 22 has also been denied.

Conditions in displacement shelters grow worse on a daily basis. OCHA stresses that essential resources such as food, clean water, fuel, and healthcare are dwindling, with telecommunications being severely compromised.

“The fuel needed to keep water facilities running has been depleted, and people are either risking their lives to find drinking water or consuming water from unsafe sources,” said Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General.

The World Food Programme (WFP) has stressed the urgency of food deliveries as the upcoming winter season is expected to greatly exacerbate critical hunger levels throughout the enclave. In October, WFP announced that none of their food parcels were delivered. According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), the risk of famine in Gaza is estimated to rise dramatically between November 2024 and April 2025 if hostilities and aid blockages continue.

“Commercial supplies are down, there is large-scale displacement, infrastructure is decimated, agriculture has collapsed and people have no money. All this is reflected in the IPC’s projection that the situation will get worse from November onwards,” said Arif Husain, WFP’s Chief Economist.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel on October 22 to discuss ceasefire negotiations with Israeli officials. This comes one week after the U.S. Department of State wrote a letter to Israel, demanding for humanitarian aid missions to be allowed into Gaza unimpeded. If the humanitarian situation does not improve in 30 days, Israel risks losing support from the U.S. military.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) published a new report on October 22, which estimates that the destruction seen during the course of the Israel-Hamas War will set development in the Gaza Strip back by roughly 69 years. The report adds that poverty levels in Gaza are estimated to affect 74.3 percent of the entire population, or over 4.1 million people.

“Projections in this new assessment confirm that amidst the immediate suffering and horrific loss of life, a serious development crisis is also unfolding – one that jeopardizes the future of Palestinians for generations to come,” said Achim Steiner, Administrator of the UNDP.

The report by the UNDP also hypothesized several recovery scenarios for Gaza. To stand a chance in putting the Palestinian economy back on track to realigning with Palestinian development plans by 2034, it is imperative that a ceasefire is reached, economic restrictions are lifted, and Gaza receives an uninterrupted flow of humanitarian assistance.

Under one of the proposed recovery scenarios, in addition to an annual 280 million dollars being put into humanitarian aid, 290 million dollars must also be allocated for recovery efforts. This plan is estimated to significantly reduce poverty and increase the number of households gaining access to essential services.

“The assessment indicates that, even if humanitarian aid is provided each year, the economy may not regain its pre-crisis level for a decade or more,” said Steiner. “As conditions on the ground allow, the Palestinian people need a robust early recovery strategy embedded in the humanitarian assistance phase, laying foundations for a sustainable recovery.”

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Better drawing rights from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) could assist with the just transition.

By Michael Galant
WASHINGTON DC, Oct 23 2024 (IPS)

This month, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had an opportunity to end one of its most reviled policies and lift billions of dollars of debt off the backs of crisis-stricken developing countries. It chose not to.

The IMF’s ostensible mission is to promote financial stability by providing loans to countries facing economic challenges or crises. These loans must be repaid, with interest, and typically come with harmful conditions of austerity, privatization, and deregulation.

Since 1997, the IMF has also levied fees called surcharges, on top of the regular costs of a loan, on countries whose debt to the Fund exceeds a certain threshold. By the IMF’s logic, these highly indebted countries — like Pakistan, which is still recovering from unprecedented natural disasters, and Ukraine, which is in the midst of a war — surcharges provide an incentive to deter prolonged reliance on the Fund.

In reality, surcharges exacerbate already onerous debt burdens, siphoning scarce resources from countries in need of relief rather than punishment. As a result of the pandemic, the global economic shocks sparked by the war in Ukraine, climate change, and rising interest rates — circumstances well beyond any individual country’s control — the number of countries forced to pay surcharges to the IMF has nearly tripled in the past five years. Clearly, surcharges do not work as claimed.

As the burden of surcharges has grown, so has their opposition. In recent years, researchers have uncovered the profound harms caused by the policy, members of Congress have passed legislation demanding their reassessment, and civil society groups have organized discussions and letters pushing for their elimination.

Ultimately, a clear global majority — including every developing country, leading economists, UN human rights experts, and hundreds of organizations like Oxfam and the International Trade Union Confederation — stood on the side of discontinuing the policy.

Given this near-consensus, the policy’s clear harms, the fact that the IMF has no need for surcharge income, and the historical precedence for their elimination, many assumed that ending surcharges was a low-hanging fruit. Following years of pressure, the IMF initiated a formal review of surcharges this summer.

The outcome of that review, announced last week, provided a welcome measure of relief, but ultimately fell short. Rather than ending the counterproductive policy, the Fund raised the threshold at which surcharges must be paid, and slightly reduced their charge. The Fund also decreased its current non-surcharge lending rate from 4.51 percent to 4.11.

Because of the increased threshold, fewer countries will pay surcharges, though the number could still grow significantly in the coming years, as climate disasters and other external shocks force more countries to take on higher levels of IMF debt.

By the Fund’s measurements, these changes will reduce the costs paid by all borrowers, combined, by $1.2 billion annually. While this is better than what would have occurred without concerted external efforts, the Fund has ultimately doubled down on its procyclical logic while conceding only enough to alleviate pressure.

Inside reports indicate that the United States, which has the largest vote under the Fund’s undemocratic governance structure, was the primary blocker of more substantive reform, proposing instead to use the income from surcharges to cover for wealthy countries’ own funding shortfalls.

For many highly indebted countries, including Ecuador, Argentina, Ukraine, Egypt, and Pakistan, the failure to discontinue surcharges means a multi-billion dollar bill will soon come due, making it harder to reduce debts to sustainable levels or to finance development, climate action, and other critical needs.

This, in turn, adds fuel to the fire of an already vicious cycle of debt, underdevelopment, and climate change; nearly 80 developing countries are already in or at risk of debt distress, three quarters of which are highly climate vulnerable.

This is hardly the first time the IMF has imperiled the Global South. The IMF is perhaps best known for its role during the debt crises of the 1980s and 1990s, in which emergency loans were used to force developing countries to adopt neoliberalizing reforms that resulted in lost decades of economic growth.

In response to these evident harms, mounting global protests, and decreasing reliance on Fund lending, the IMF in the 2000s began to adopt better rhetoric, established new fora for civil society participation, and eventually even owned up to many of its failures. But while these cosmetic changes defused opposition, the Fund did not fundamentally alter its approach.

Since the 2008 financial crisis, and accelerating during the pandemic, developing countries have once again been forced to accumulate a powder keg of debt. The IMF’s response has not only been insufficient, but, in the case of surcharges and the continued insistence on austerity, actively harmful. Meanwhile, attempts to democratize the IMF’s governance structure and give greater voice to countries of the Global South have repeatedly faltered.

But while the IMF long ago revealed its true face, developing countries have had nowhere else to turn. In today’s increasingly multipolar world, that may soon change. China’s emergence as the world’s largest bilateral creditor, the establishment of the BRICS+’s New Development Bank and Contingent Reserve Agreement, efforts to build alternatives to the US dollar and its attendant monetary constraints — countries across the Global South are seeking to reduce dependence on the IMF.

While these alternatives remain nascent, the fact that the Fund has proven unresponsive to even the simplest of reforms should only hasten this process.

Civil society groups, meanwhile, who hoped that directly engaging with the IMF would lead to substantive change, may yet become disillusioned. If all this time, resources, and energy could not even end surcharges, perhaps the prospects of “change from within” should be abandoned — and the era of mass protest from outside the security perimeter, revitalized.

Discontinuing surcharges alone would not have solved the many crises facing the Global South. But the failure to do so has made clear that the solutions do not lie within the IMF. When even the low-hanging fruit is out of reach, perhaps all that is left is to strike at the root.

Michael Galant is a Senior Research and Outreach Associate at the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) in Washington, DC. He is also a member of the Secretariat of Progressive International. Views are his own. He can be found on X at @michael_galant.

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By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Oct 22 2024 (IPS)

New institutional economics (NIE) has received another so-called Nobel prize, ostensibly for again claiming that good institutions and democratic governance ensure growth, development, equity and democracy.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James Robinson (AJR) are well known for their influential cliometric work. AJR have elaborated earlier laureate Douglass North’s claim that property rights have been crucial to growth and development.

But the trio ignore North’s more nuanced later arguments. For AJR, ‘good institutions’ were transplanted by Anglophone European (‘Anglo’) settler colonialism. While perhaps methodologically novel, their approach to economic history is reductionist, skewed and misleading.

NIE caricatures
AJR fetishises property rights as crucial for economic inclusion, growth and democracy. They ignore and even negate the very different economic analyses of John Stuart Mill, Dadabhai Naoroji, John Hobson and John Maynard Keynes, among other liberals.

Historians and anthropologists are very aware of various claims and rights to economic assets, such as cultivable land, e.g., usufruct. Even property rights are far more varied and complex.

The legal creation of ‘intellectual property rights’ confers monopoly rights by denying other claims. However, NIE’s Anglo-American notion of property rights ignores the history of ideas, sociology of knowledge, and economic history.

More subtle understandings of property, imperialism and globalisation in history are conflated. AJR barely differentiates among various types of capital accumulation via trade, credit, resource extraction and various modes of production, including slavery, serfdom, peonage, indenture and wage labour.

John Locke, Wikipedia’s ‘father of liberalism’, also drafted the constitutions of the two Carolinas, both American slave states. AJR’s treatment of culture, creed and ethnicity is reminiscent of Samuel Huntington’s contrived clashing civilisations. Most sociologists and anthropologists would cringe.

Colonial and postcolonial subjects remain passive, incapable of making their own histories. Postcolonial states are treated similarly and regarded as incapable of successfully deploying investment, technology, industrial and developmental policies.

Thorstein Veblen and Karl Polanyi, among others, have long debated institutions in political economy. But instead of advancing institutional economics, NIE’s methodological opportunism and simplifications set it back.

Another NIE Nobel
For AJR, property rights generated and distributed wealth in Anglo-settler colonies, including the US and Britain’s dominions. Their advantage was allegedly due to ‘inclusive’ economic and political institutions due to Anglo property rights.

Variations in economic performance are attributed to successful transplantation and settler political domination of colonies. More land was available in the thinly populated temperate zone, especially after indigenous populations shrank due to genocide, ethnic cleansing and displacement.

These were far less densely populated for millennia due to poorer ‘carrying capacity’. Land abundance enabled widespread ownership, deemed necessary for economic and political inclusion. Thus, Anglo-settler colonies ‘succeeded’ in instituting such property rights in land-abundant temperate environments.

Such colonial settlement was far less feasible in the tropics, which had long supported much denser indigenous populations. Tropical disease also deterred new settlers from temperate areas. Thus, settler life expectancy became both cause and effect of institutional transplantation.

The difference between the ‘good institutions’ of the ‘West’ – including Anglo-settler colonies – and the ‘bad institutions’ of the ‘Rest’ is central to AJR’s analysis. White settlers’ lower life expectancy and higher morbidity in the tropics are then blamed on the inability to establish good institutions.

Anglo-settler privilege
However, correct interpretation of statistical findings is crucial. Sanjay Reddy offers a very different understanding of AJR’s econometric analysis.

The greater success of Anglo settlers could also be due to colonial ethnic bias in their favour rather than better institutions. Unsurprisingly, imperial racist Winston Churchill’s History of the English-Speaking Peoples celebrates such Anglophone Europeans.

AJR’s evidence, criticised as misleading on other counts, does not necessarily support the idea that institutional quality (equated with property rights enforcement) really matters for growth, development and equality.

Reddy notes that international economic circumstances favouring Anglos have shaped growth and development. British Imperial Preference favoured such settlers over tropical colonies subjected to extractivist exploitation. Settler colonies also received most British investments abroad.

For Reddy, enforcing Anglo-American private property rights has been neither necessary nor sufficient to sustain economic growth. For instance, East Asian economies have pragmatically used alternative institutional arrangements to incentivise catching up.

He notes that “the authors’ inverted approach to concepts” has confused “the property rights-entrenching economies that they favor as ‘inclusive’, by way of contrast to resource-centered ‘extractive’ economies.”

Property vs popular rights
AJR’s claim that property rights ensure an ‘inclusive’ economy is also far from self-evident. Reddy notes that a Rawlsian property-owning democracy with widespread ownership contrasts sharply with a plutocratic oligarchy.

Nor does AJR persuasively explain how property rights ensured political inclusion. Protected by the law, colonial settlers often violently defended their acquired land against ‘hostile’ indigenes, denying indigenous land rights and claiming their property.

‘Inclusive’ political concessions in the British Empire were mainly limited to the settler-colonial dominions. In other colonies, self-governance and popular franchises were only grudgingly conceded under pressure.

Prior exclusion of indigenous rights and claims enabled such inclusion, especially when surviving ‘natives’ were no longer deemed threatening. Traditional autochthonous rights were circumscribed, if not eliminated, by settler colonists.

Entrenching property rights has also consolidated injustice and inefficiency. Many such rights proponents oppose democracy and other inclusive and participatory political institutions that have often helped mitigate conflicts.

The Nobel committee is supporting NIE’s legitimisation of property/wealth inequality and unequal development. Rewarding AJR also seeks to re-legitimise the neoliberal project at a time when it is being rejected more widely than ever before.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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A mother sits with 3 children in a displacement shelter in Léogâne, Haiti. Credit: UNICEF/Maxime Le Lijour

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 22 2024 (IPS)

On October 19, the United Nations (UN) Security Council unanimously voted to expand an arms embargo in an effort to combat the high levels of gang violence that plagues Haiti. Armed groups have taken control of the majority of Port-Au-Prince, the nation’s capital, leading to numerous clashes with the local police. Humanitarian organizations hope that this embargo will prevent Haitian gangs from accessing illicit weapons and munitions unchecked.

Robert Muggah, the author of a UN report on Haiti’s illicit imports and the founder of Igarapé Institute, a think tank that focuses on emerging security issues, informed reporters that the majority of Haiti’s weapons are sourced and flown out by the United States. Approximately 50 percent of imported firearms were handguns and 37 percent were rifles. According to the UN Security Council, firepower procured by Haitian gangs exceeds that of the Haitian National Police.

The majority of these purchases originate from U.S. “straw-men”, who buy weapons from licensed dealers in the United States and don’t disclose that the weapons are for someone else in Haiti. The weapons are then smuggled into the country and sold to Haitian gang members. Last Friday, the Security Council urged the Haitian government to tighten its border controls.

This comes after the Pont-Sonde attack on October 3, which resulted in over 115 civilian deaths. This attack was perpetrated by the Gran Grif gang, a gang that operates in the Artibonite region of Haiti. Roughly ten years ago, Gran Grif members were supplied firearms by former legislator Prophane Victor in an attempt to secure his election as deputé. Residents in the Artibonite region blamed both the Haitian government for their lackluster response efforts, and the United States for supplying the gang with arms.

Humanitarian experts on Haiti have also voiced their concerns about the United States’ role in the conflict.

“Haiti doesn’t produce guns and ammunition, yet the gang members don’t seem to have any trouble accessing those things,” said Pierre Esperance, executive director of Haiti’s National Human Rights Defense Network.

“One way the US could help (reduce violence in Haiti) immediately and directly would be to really seriously crack down on the flow of illegal weapons,” said William O’Neill, the UN Designated Expert of the High Commissioner on the situation of Human Rights in Haiti.

Humanitarian organizations are hopeful that last Friday’s resolution will effectively disarm the majority of Haitian gangs. The crisis in Haiti continues to grow more dire every day, with regular attacks on civilians exacerbating mass displacement and nationwide food insecurity.

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), over 700,000 Haitians have been displaced due to armed attacks by gangs, with over 497,000 fleeing to the Dominican Republic. Their president, Luis Abinader announced at the end of September that the Dominican Republic would begin deporting over 10,000 Haitian migrants each week, a move that went into effect on October 7.

Activists have warned that mass deportations of Haitian migrants would leave them highly vulnerable to being targeted by gangs once they return. “There are a great number of armed groups that are just like birds of prey waiting to swoop down and take advantage of these people,” said Sam Guillaume, spokesperson for Haiti’s Support Group for Returnees and Refugees.

Haitian Prime Minister Gary Conille said, “The forced and mass deportation of our Haitian compatriots from the Dominican Republic is a violation of the fundamental principles of human dignity.”

Violence in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti’s commercial powerhouse, and the Artibonite Region, where the country’s production of rice is concentrated, has led to increasing emergency levels of hunger throughout the nation. The World Food Programme (WFP) is currently on the frontlines providing emergency assistance and raising funds to mitigate hunger in Haiti.

“WFP is urgently calling for broad-based support to massively increase lifesaving assistance to families struggling every day with extreme food shortages, spiraling malnutrition and deadly diseases,” said Cindy McCain, WFP’s Executive Director. “There can be no security or stability in Haiti when millions are facing starvation.”

On October 11, Kenyan President William Ruto announced that he would send 600 troops to Haiti next month in an effort to combat gang violence. The United States had also announced that they would extend their Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission in Haiti for another year.

Despite optimism about these initiatives by Ruto, Conille, and U.S. President Joe Biden, Haitian officials have expressed concern that foreign powers will not be able to effectively handle the situation in Haiti.

“It’ll make some difference, but that doesn’t replace the amount of Haitian police that have left in the last two years. You’re replacing them with people who don’t speak French or Creole, don’t know the neighborhoods, can’t interact with people or do intelligence work,” said Brian Concannon, Executive Director for Justice and Democracy in Haiti.

The UN is supporting the Haitian National Police (HNP) in their efforts to end gang violence and stabilize the nation. Kenya, Chad, Jamaica, The Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, and Benin have notified the Secretary-General of their intentions to support this mission. In addition, the UN and its affiliated organizations are currently providing on-site assistance to affected communities, distributing food, water, cash transfers, and school kits.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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The scientific journal “Journal of the Institute for African studies” – is the only periodical in Russia, entirely devoted to the problems of African countries – and it publishes articles and other materials on international relations, political, economic and social processes occurring in the African continent, its history and cultural anthropology.

By Kester Kenn Klomegah
MOSCOW, Oct 22 2024 (IPS)

At a recent media briefing, Maria Zakharova, the spokesperson for Russia’s Foreign Ministry, criticized the United States for its support of educational programs, media and NGOs in Africa. Zakharova argued that these efforts are part of a broader attempt by the U.S. to impose Western values and governance models on sovereign African states, framing it as a form of neo-colonialism.

Zakharova’s remarks, available on the official Russian Foreign Ministry website, suggest that the U.S. is actively promoting anti-Russian sentiment in African media. She stated, “We see this as Washington’s attempt to undermine the favorable socio-political environment for Russia in the region, portraying us as a destabilizing force. This method of unfair competition and misinformation highlights the lack of evidence behind the so-called Russian propaganda.”

However, while Russia criticizes Western influence in African media, it faces its own significant media challenges in Africa. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia has done little to encourage African media, particularly those from Sub-Saharan Africa, to establish a presence in the country. Conversely, Russian media outlets like RIA Novosti, Sputnik News, and TASS News Agency have minimal influence in Africa compared to Western media giants.

Despite recent efforts by the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, to increase Russian media presence in Africa, the lack of opportunities for African media in Russia remains a stark reality. During a meeting aimed at enhancing Russia-Africa relations, State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin acknowledged the need for Russian media to have a stronger presence in Africa, even as he admitted that their reach is far behind that of the U.S., UK, and Germany.

Experts argue that this lack of mutual media representation exacerbates misunderstandings between Russia and Africa. As a result, African leaders and businesses often rely on Western media for information about Russia, leading to a one-sided view that often reflects Western biases.

Interestingly, while the Russian Foreign Ministry accredits media from across the globe, only two African media outlets, both from North Africa, are currently recognized. This low representation does not reflect the growing diplomatic and economic ties between Russia and Africa.

At the first and the second Russia-Africa summits, panelists repeatedly highlighted the dominance of Western media in Africa and its impact on African perceptions of Russia. Mikhail Bogdanov, Russia’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, pointed out that the absence of Russian media in Africa creates a vacuum that is filled by biased reports from other media outlets.

Professor Alexey Vasiliev, an expert on African relations with Russia, noted that Africa’s reliance on Western media leads to a skewed understanding of Russia, perpetuating narratives of Russophobia and anti-Russian propaganda. He emphasized the need for better communication and understanding between the two regions.

Some experts also criticize Russia for its reluctance to engage with Sub-Saharan African media. Despite the two Russia-Africa summits, aimed at strengthening ties, there has been little progress in fostering media cooperation.

The reality is that both Russia and Africa need to deepen their media engagement to enhance mutual understanding and cooperation. As Africa’s middle class continues to grow, representing a vibrant information market, the need for a balanced and comprehensive media coverage from both sides becomes increasingly crucial.

Professor Vladimir Shubin, former Deputy Director of the Institute for African Studies, stressed the importance of media in maintaining and enhancing Russia-Africa relations. He urged both regions to actively promote their achievements and development needs through media to foster a better understanding and stronger partnership.

To overcome these challenges, both Russia and Africa must take concrete steps towards building a more collaborative media landscape. This includes creating opportunities for African journalists in Russia and increasing the presence of Russian media in Africa.

The relationship between Russia and Africa, deeply rooted in history, needs to be strengthened through increased media cooperation. This would not only improve understanding between the regions but also support the broader goal of developing a dynamic and multifaceted partnership, especially in this emerging multipolar world.

Kester Kenn Klomegah focuses on current geopolitical changes, foreign relations and economic development-related questions in Africa with external countries. Most of his well-resourced articles are reprinted in several reputable foreign media.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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International Animal Rescue’s (IAR) mangrove planting project is critical to prevent coastal erosion. Credit: IAR

By Gavin Bruce
UCKFIELD, Sussex, UK, Oct 22 2024 (IPS)

As COP16 approaches, we have been reflecting on the state of our planet in 2024; the word “crisis” feels insufficient to describe the devastation we’re witnessing.

Forests that once teemed with life are disappearing. Coral reefs, once vibrant and full of colour, are turning barren. Species are being driven from their habitats, and extreme weather events like floods and wildfires are becoming all too common. These are not abstract threats—this is our new reality.

It is an extremely serious and urgent situation

With COP16 fast approaching, it’s clearer than ever that the world is at a critical juncture. From October 21 to November 1, leaders from over 190 countries will gather in Cali, Colombia, to discuss how we can halt biodiversity loss and confront the climate emergency. Yet, COP16 is more than just another conference, it’s a wake-up call.

The Stakes Could Not Be Higher

Promises have been made before. The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework in 2022 was a landmark moment, with 23 targets set to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. But talk is cheap without action.

Since then, we’ve continued to see coastal ecosystems like mangroves and coral reefs decimated by rising sea levels and ocean acidification. Inland, once-thriving ecosystems are suffering under the pressures of severe droughts, floods, and fires.

In my role at International Animal Rescue, I have seen the impact of these crises firsthand. Rising sea levels threaten coastal mangroves, which protect our shores and offer critical habitats for countless species. In Armenia, erratic weather patterns are disrupting wildlife, while in Costa Rica, we’re seeing an increasing number of injured animals brought to us, victims of habitats destroyed by climate-linked disasters.

COP16 is a Moment for Us All To Focus and Take Action

It’s easy to see COP16 as a high-level negotiation for world leaders to tackle. But the truth is, the change we so desperately need won’t come from government action alone. Each of us has a part to play, and every small choice we make matters. Every time we opt for a sustainable product, reduce waste or support a conservation project, we’re pushing the world closer to the future we want to see.

Every purchase we make, whether it’s buying a sandwich or buying energy, every decision we make, whether it’s turning a light on or cutting the grass, every time we have the power, we have an opportunity to choose. The choice should be one that supports a more sustainable, nature-friendly future.

At COP16, leaders must be held to their promises, but we can’t wait for them to act. It’s time for us to use the power of choice while we still have it.

Nature Needs Us As Much as We Need Nature

At International Animal Rescue, we’re doing what we can. In Indonesia, we’re restoring mangroves to protect coastlines and create safe havens for wildlife. In Armenia, we’re rescuing endangered brown bears and releasing them into protected environments. In Costa Rica, we’re rehabilitating animals displaced by climate disasters, giving them a second chance at life in the wild.

But we can’t do it alone. The future of our planet’s biodiversity depends on global cooperation and grassroots action.

That’s why we focus on empowering local communities. The people who depend on ecosystems for their livelihoods are often the best protectors of those systems. Working together can restore degraded landscapes, protect endangered species, and help communities adapt to our changing world.

If we all act now, there is hope

Although news outlets worldwide will leave people sitting at home thinking that COP16 is just another diplomatic gathering, it’s not. COP16 is a critical moment for the future of life on Earth. If we fail to act decisively now, we risk losing not just species and ecosystems but the ability of future generations to live in harmony with nature.

The path ahead is daunting, but there is hope. By working together with governments, businesses, local communities, and as individuals, we can take steps to make a difference, halt biodiversity loss, and give our planet a fighting chance. We must make peace with nature, not for its sake, but for our own.

Let COP16 be the turning point. Let it be remembered as the moment we stopped merely talking about change; this is when we started making it happen. If we can do that, the world might still have a chance. But we must act now.

Every small choice matters. Every voice matters. And the time to make those choices and raise our voices is today. We can no longer leave it to world leaders; every person on the planet has a role to play. Let’s refocus. Let’s rethink. Let’s act before it’s too late.

Gavin Bruce is CEO, International Animal Rescue (IAR)

#cop16 #InternationalAnimalRescue #Environment #Conservation #AnimalWelfare #Climate #COP

Watch our urgent call to action video ‘Refocus & Rethink’ here https://bit.ly/IAR-Refocus-Rethink-COP16

International Animal Rescue is a global organisation dedicated to rescuing and rehabilitating animals suffering from injury, illness, and cruelty. The organisation also works to protect the natural habitats of these animals and raise awareness about the importance of conservation. Through events like the Rainforest Run, International Animal Rescue mobilises people worldwide to take action for the well-being of animals and the environment. www.internationalanimalrescue.org

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The International Livestock Research Institute is using genomics to breed livestock suited to local conditions and production systems to meet community needs. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS

By Busani Bafana
BULAWAYO, Oct 22 2024 (IPS)

Christian Tiambo has always wished to uplift local farmers’ communities through cutting-edge science.

As climate change wreaked havoc on local agriculture, Tiambo, a livestock scientist at the Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health (CTLGH) and at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), focused on conserving and developing livestock that could withstand environmental stress.

Genomics, a Game Changer

Tiambo’s research took an exciting turn when part of his PhD studies was to characterize and establish local poultry populations with interesting resilience potential. Yet, the need for local access to advanced genomic tools was a barrier to fully unlocking this potential.

Today, the power of digital data and sequencing information is transformative. It is driving the discovery of genes and innovation in agriculture through the identification and deep characterization of pathogens in plants and animals. That is helping scientists to breed livestock suited to local conditions and production systems, thereby benefiting local communities that have been custodians of genetic resources for generations.

But there is a catch: Africa, like other parts of the global south, is a genetic goldmine but has not fully capitalized on the digital sequencing information (DSI) derived from its genetic heritage. DSI is a tool that provides information for the precise identification of living organisms and allows the development of diagnosis tools and technologies for conservation in animals and plants. Besides, DSI is also used in investigating the relationships within and between species and in plant and animal breeding to predict their breeding value and potential contribution to their future generations.

Tiambo said DSI can be used to adjust the genotypes and produce animals with desired traits, adapted to local conditions but which have higher productivity.

A promising innovation has been the development of surrogate technologies in poultry, small ruminants, cattle or pigs—giving opportunity to local and locally adapted and resilient breeds to carry and disseminate semen from improved breeds in challenging environments.

“Farmers would not need to keep requesting inseminators and semen from outside their village,” Tiambo explained, noting that this shift could dramatically improve livestock breeding, dissemination of elite genetics, boost food security and alleviate poverty in remote rural areas of Africa.

Global cooperation among stakeholders of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework is key to establishing international guidelines on benefit-sharing from animal genetics resources and their associated information, including DSI.

Christian Tiambo, a livestock scientist at the Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health. Credit: ILRI

Using genetics and associated traditional knowledge includes adapting specific livestock to specific environments. This contributes to the development of improved and elite tropical animal breeds with particular traits that meet community needs to improve livelihoods, he said.

“Local livestock is not just for food but is our heritage, culture and social value,” said Tiambo, adding that conserving livestock is conserving local culture, social ethics and inclusion, with gender aspects being considered. For example, the Muturu cattle and the Bakosi cattle in Nigeria and Cameroon are animals used in dowry, The Bamileke cattle remain sacred and maintain the ecosystem of sacred forest in part of the western highlands of Cameroon.

“I have never seen any traditional ceremony done with exotic chicken in any African village,” he said.

Genetics and DSI, according to Tiambo, are “game changers” in breeding livestock with desired traits faster. What used to take five to seven years or more, he says, can now be done in just three or four cycles with the help of genomics.

ILRI has been working with the Roslin Institute, the Kenyan Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization and collaborating with the African Union-InterAfrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR), the National Biosafety Authority, farmer communities, and National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) in Africa and Southeast Asia in the conservation and development of improved local chicken using stem cell technologies.

Bridging the Capacity Gap

DSI needs infrastructure and human resources. “A lot of infrastructure, equipment and skills are coming from outside Africa, but how can we also generate DSI and use it locally?” Tiambo asked. He worries that without developing local capacity to harness DSI, “a lot of helicopter research will still be happening in Africa where people fly in, just pick what they want, fly out, and no scientists in Africa are involved in generating and using DSI.”

Technologically advanced countries have often exploited these genetic resources, developing commercial products and services without clear mechanisms for sharing the monetary and non-monetary benefits with local communities as ethics and common sense would require—an injustice that needs urgent correction.

The use of DSI on genetic resources is one of the four goals of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework adopted in 2022 with the aim of stopping global biodiversity loss by 2030.

ThankGod Ebenezer, bioinformatician and co-founder of the African BioGenome Project, argues that Africa must seize this moment to build and strengthen local capacity to produce and use DSI from genetic resources.

“The establishment of a benefit-sharing mechanism for DSI is a first step in the right direction and Africa needs to maximise even this first step by putting in a framework to generate and make use of DSI locally,” Ebenezer told IPS, explaining that Africa needs to be able to do genetic sequencing on the ground with local scientists having the capacity to translate and use it.

The Africa BioGenome Project, of which Tiambo is also a founding member, is a continental biodiversity conservation initiative that has laid out a roadmap for how Africa can benefit from DSI and the planned multilateral fund.

“The main benefit comes from being able to use DSI and ultimately share it with the global community in line with the national and international rules and regulations,” said Ebenezer. “Because if you cannot use DSI yourself, you will always feel like a supplier, like someone who gets crude oil from the ground and asks someone else to add value to it and gets several products.”

“The multilateral fund is key,” Ebenezer stresses. “If someone converts DSI into revenue, for instance, they’re only looking at paying 1% back into the fund. Is that enough for the communities that hold this biodiversity?”

At COP16 in Colombia (Oct 21-Nov 1, 2024), world leaders will discuss mechanisms for fair and equitable sharing of DSI benefits, a critical step for Africa and other biodiversity-rich regions. For example, Africa hosts eight of the 34 biodiversity hotspots in the world, according to the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).

“In terms of the negotiation, we would like the DSI fund to be approved so that it’s ready for implementation because this is an implementation COP,” Susana Muhamad, Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development of Colombia and COP16 President-designate, told a press briefing ahead of COP16.

“We would like the decision of the parties to give the COP the teeth for implementation. One is the DSI,” Muhamad said.

Astrid Schomaker, Executive Secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, is hopeful that COP16 will operationalize the multilateral mechanism for the sharing of benefits from the use of digital sequencing information in genetic research.

“We are going to look at that. And I think it’s a very complex term and issue, but it is ultimately about how those industries, sectors and companies that use digital sequence information on genetic resources that are often located in the global south, but not exclusively, how they use it and how they pay for using it,” said Schomaker, noting that COP15 agreed to establish a multilateral mechanism and a Fund for DSI.

The fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the use of genetic resources is one of the three objectives of the CDB, including the conservation of biological diversity and sustainable use of its components. Target 18 of the CBD seeks to reduce harmful incentives by at least USD 500 billion per year by 2030, money that could be channelled to halting biodiversity loss.

The World Resources Institute (WRI), in a position paper, has urged COP16 to provide more finance and incentives to support nature and biodiversity goals.

There is currently a USD 700 billion gap between annual funding for nature and what’s needed by 2030 to protect and restore ecosystems, the WRI said, noting that “many of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems—and biggest carbon sinks—are in developing countries that cannot save them without far more financial support.”

The WRI commented that bringing in more private sector finance will require incentives, which can come from policy and regulation as well as market-based strategies to make investments in nature more attractive.

But this should not substitute for shifting harmful subsidies and delivering international public finance to the countries that need it most, WRI argued.

As the world scrambles to stop biodiversity loss by 2030, the upcoming COP16 discussions could be pivotal in ensuring that Africa finally benefits from its own genetic wealth.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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A young girl digs deep into soil saturated with salt water, hoping to find logs to burn as fuel. Two years on from Cyclone Aila, the communities along Bangladesh’s southwest coastline are starting to rebuild their lives. In the course of the cyclone, which struck in May 2009, surges of water up to three meters high battered the coast along the Bay of Bengal in Khulna district. Cyclone Sidr, the worst ever in the area, had already weakened the area. Aila only needed to hit a small amount to destroy the defenses. Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan

By Mohammad Rakibul Hasan
DHAKA, Oct 22 2024 (IPS)

Global warming has far-reaching effects, and certain countries, particularly those with low lying coastal regions, are more vulnerable than others. Bangladesh, the largest delta in the world, is at the forefront of the global warming crisis. Its coastal areas are increasingly exposed to rising sea levels, natural disasters, and salinization, all of which have devastating effects on its population.

Nijhum Dwip is a 20-kilometer-long offshore island in the Bay of Bengal, nearby the South of Hatia Island. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has warned that the sea is rising more dramatically and may rise 11.2 inches by 2070, resulting in the shrinkage of this island by 96% within half a century (WWF 2010). Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan

The rise in natural calamities, such as cyclones and tidal surges, worsens the already fragile ecosystem. In this context, Bangladesh serves as a case study of how climate change disproportionately affects some regions, despite their minimal contribution to global emissions.

Bangladesh’s vulnerability to global warming is linked to its geography and socioeconomic structure. The nation’s low-lying coastal regions are particularly vulnerable to sea level rise, which cyclones and tidal floods exacerbate. Two significant cyclones, Sidr in 2007 and Aila in 2009, ravaged Bangladesh’s coastal zones, including the districts of Satkhira, Barguna, Patuakhali, Khulna, and Bagerhat. These events highlighted the urgent need for climate action. 

Water and soil salinity in Satkhira, the most climate-prone district in Bangladesh, is trying to adapt, but the land is adverse to growing crops; people are fleeing to the other districts to save their livelihood even in 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic fueled climate migration more as the supply and growth of food sources have become very minimal. Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan

Cyclone Aila, which struck on May 27, 2009, serves as a stark reminder of the destructive potential of climate-induced disasters. The cyclone claimed 330 lives and left over 8,000 missing. It caused extensive destruction in the coastal district of Satkhira, particularly in the village of Gabura, which was near the Sundarbans mangrove forest. Aila displaced over 1 million people, destroyed natural resources, and wiped out crucial infrastructure. Moreover, a deadly outbreak of diarrhea followed, infecting over 7,000 people, with fatalities reported within days of the cyclone.

The economic cost of Cyclone Aila was staggering. The total damage was estimated at USD 552.6 million. The cyclone also exposed the vulnerability of Bangladesh’s public health infrastructure, with millions at risk of post-disaster diseases due to inadequate resources and medical attention.

This woman lost almost everything when the cyclone Aila hit the territory. She is a widow and lives with her son. Poverty and natural disasters have an impact on women in developing nations like Bangladesh who live near the coastline. These are making them more vulnerable, affecting their livelihoods and security. In Satkhira, the most climate-prone district in Bangladesh, water and soil salinity are a problem and while the region is trying to adapt, crops don’t grow there and people are fleeing to the other districts to save their livelihoods. Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan

One of the long-term effects of climate change in Bangladesh is the rising sea levels, which are already encroaching on the country’s coastal areas. As sea levels rise, Bangladesh’s coastal regions face increased salinity in both soil and water. The reduced flow of freshwater from upstream rivers during the dry season exacerbates this issue.

Saline water now reaches as far as 240 kilometers inland, rendering agricultural activities increasingly difficult. Farmers, once able to produce several crops per year, are struggling to sustain their livelihoods as crop productivity plummets.

Much of the flood damage caused by Cyclone Aila was to the water and sanitation systems the Bangladeshi villagers depend on. Floodwaters seeped into supplies used for drinking and washing, and latrines were washed away, allowing raw sewage to increase the threat to diseases such as cholera. This young boy in Gabura, one of the worst-hit villages in the Satkhira district, has access to safe drinking water—but has to cross a river to collect it. Livelihoods have also been lost: freshwater with sewage and saltwater, and seawater continues to flood farmlands at high tide two years on, making it impossible to grow crops. Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan

The saline intrusion has also led to a shift in the region’s economy, with shrimp farming becoming one of the few viable industries. Shrimp farming, however, brings its own set of environmental challenges, as it requires large-scale land conversion and disrupts natural ecosystems, further trapping seawater in agricultural lands. The transformation of agricultural lands into shrimp farms has also altered the social fabric, contributing to food insecurity and economic hardship.

A laborer building a dam to protect the border of the river. Every year, more or less, cyclones hit Gabura and its surrounding areas; high tides hit the land and drown houses and crop fields. And often, it kills lives. Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan

The Sundarbans, the largest tidal halophytic mangrove forest in the world, play a crucial role in protecting Bangladesh’s coastal communities from climate-induced disasters. Sixty percent of the forest lies within Bangladesh, primarily in the districts of Khulna and Satkhira, while the rest extends into West Bengal, India. The Sundarbans act as a natural buffer, absorbing the impact of cyclones and tidal waves. Despite its protective function, the forest is under threat from both environmental degradation and human activities.

As agricultural lands diminish, more people are forced into the forest to collect honey, firewood, and other resources, putting them at greater risk of attacks by wildlife, including the Royal Bengal Tigers. Additionally, pirates and illegal loggers roam the forest, further endangering the livelihoods of those who depend on the Sundarbans for survival.

An agent from the shrimp farm is checking good quality baby shrimp in the shrimp market. Many people are involved in catching and trading baby shrimps. They catch baby shrimps from the nearby rivers and sell them to earn a living. Shrimp farming is widespread around the coastal area of Satkhira. It is a profitable business, but businessmen are grabbing land from the farmers for longtime contracts for shrimp farming. This farming requires saltwater to cultivate shrimps, and the salt goes deep into the soil day by day, and after a few years, the whole area gets affected by salinity. No crops or trees cannot grow in that territory in the long run. Biodiversity and natural ecosystems get interrupted. Mohammad Rakibul Hasan

The impacts of climate change in Bangladesh have forced many coastal inhabitants to migrate in search of safer living conditions and economic opportunities. These displaced individuals, often referred to as “climate refugees,” migrate to urban centers or across international borders, particularly into India. The migration is mostly unregulated, leading to significant challenges for both migrants and the host communities.

The story of the coastal communities of Bangladesh reflects a grim reality: climate change has not only stripped them of their homes and livelihoods but also made life increasingly unbearable. As the fairy tale of the king and his daughter suggests, life without salt is flavorless, but for these climate refugees, salt—in the form of increased salinity—is the bitter reality of their lives. The same salt that infiltrates their lands also fills their tears.

Despite the severity of the crisis, it is not too late to take meaningful action to mitigate the effects of climate change on Bangladesh and other vulnerable nations. International cooperation is essential, as the effects of climate change transcend borders. Developed countries, which are historically responsible for the majority of greenhouse gas emissions, must provide financial and technical support to countries like Bangladesh. Without adequate assistance, the human and economic toll of climate change will continue to rise.

Efforts to combat climate change must focus on both mitigation and adaptation. Coastal defenses, improved infrastructure, and sustainable agricultural practices can help protect vulnerable populations. Additionally, international policies must prioritize climate-induced migration, ensuring that displaced persons are treated with dignity and provided with the resources they need to rebuild their lives.

Bangladesh’s experience with climate change serves as a stark reminder of the global implications of environmental degradation. The country with its vulnerable coastal areas is emblematic of the challenges that face many developing nations as they struggle to adapt to rising sea levels, increased salinity, and more frequent natural disasters. International cooperation and policy reforms are critical to ensuring that Bangladesh and other nations can withstand the growing pressures of climate change.

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Credit: The directrate of the World Nomad Games

By Katsuhiro Asagiri
ASTANA/TOKYO , Oct 21 2024 (IPS)

In a vibrant display of culture and tradition, Kazakhstan recently hosted the 5th World Nomad Games in Astana, celebrating the enduring spirit of nomadic heritage against a backdrop of modernity and globalization. This biennial event, which drew competitors and spectators from around the globe, served not only as a showcase of traditional sports but also as a poignant reminder of the resilience of a culture that faced near extinction under Soviet rule.

The Games, held from 8 – 13 September, featured a kaleidoscope of activities that harkened back to the lifestyles of the nomadic peoples who roamed the vast steppes of Central Asia. From horse wrestling to archery, each competition echoed the ancestral skills honed over centuries. Yet, for many participants and visitors, the significance of these games transcended mere athleticism. They embodied a reclamation of identity that was long suppressed.

During Joseph Stalin’s collectivization policies in the 1930s, the nomadic lifestyle was effectively dismantled. Entire communities were uprooted as the Soviet regime sought to impose agricultural models on a population that had thrived as pastoralists. This brutal transformation led to the erosion of traditional practices and a devastating loss of life. The scars of this cultural genocide run deep, and for decades, the vibrant tapestry of nomadic culture was all but silenced.

Stalin’s policy of forced agricultural collectivization deprived the Kazakh people of their livestock, which had been their means of livelihood, and destroyed their nomadic culture. The resulting famine is estimated to have caused the deaths of 2.3 million people.

However, the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 marked a turning point for Kazakhstan and other newly independent states. In the wake of independence, there has been a concerted effort to revive and celebrate nomadic traditions, transforming historical calamities into platforms for positive development. For Kazakhstan, this revival has become a central pillar of national identity, a way to reconnect with a rich history that predates colonial imposition.

The World Nomad Games are emblematic of this cultural renaissance. Since their inception in 2014, the Games have attracted participants from over 80 countries, fostering a sense of camaraderie among those who share a nomadic heritage. “This is not just a competition; it’s a celebration of our roots,” said Madiyar Aiyp, a Kazakh IT entrepreneur and a former official of the Ministry of industry. “We are showing the world who we are.”

The 7th Congress of leaders of the World and Traditional Religions. Credit: Katsuuhiro Asagirio

Kazakhstan’s ability to transform its historical challenges into opportunities is evident not only in the revival of its nomadic culture but also in its multi-vector diplomacy. The country has hosted significant events like the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, emphasizing its commitment to promoting dialogue and tolerance among its 130 ethnic groups. This diversity is rooted in a legacy of ethnic and political persecution under Stalin, yet a newly independent Kazakhstan guarantees equality for all citizens, regardless of their backgrounds.

Semipalatinsk former Nuclear test site. Photo Credit: Katsuhiro Asagiri

Kazakhstan’s leadership extends beyond cultural diplomacy; it has also made strides in global disarmament. The Semipalatinsk nuclear test site, once the backdrop for 456 nuclear experiments conducted between 1949 and 1989, was closed by an independent Kazakhstan, which eliminated its entire nuclear arsenal. This bold move transformed the nation from the fourth largest nuclear power to a staunch advocate for a nuclear-free world. The closure of Semipalatinsk is recognized by the UN as a pivotal moment in the fight against nuclear testing.

As the Games concluded, the atmosphere was one of celebration and pride, a testament to a culture that refused to be extinguished. The nomadic spirit, resilient and adaptable, is being woven back into the fabric of Kazakh identity. In Astana, as competitors took their final bows, it was clear that the past and present are intertwined, forging a future that honors both heritage and innovation.

May 1 is the national unity day in Kazahstan. more than 130 ethnicities enjoy peace in Kazakhstan. Credit: Embassy of Kazakhstan in Singapore

Kazakhstan stands as a model for turning historical calamities into platforms for positive change, advocating for peace and cooperation on the global stage. The World Nomad Games serve not only as a vibrant reminder of the importance of cultural roots but also as an affirmation that a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society can thrive through dialogue and understanding. In embracing its past, Kazakhstan is redefining its place in the world, proving that the nomadic way of life is not a relic of the past but a living, breathing part of its national identity and its aspirations for the future.

 

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Bangladesh Feni Flood August 2024. People wading through the flood waters, in search of shelter in Feni. Credit: UNICEF/Sultan Mahmud Mukut

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 6 2024 (IPS)

Since late August, severe flash floods and monsoons plaguing Bangladesh have affected nearly 6 million people. Bangladeshi officials have declared the floods to be the country’s worst climate disaster in recent memory. These recent floods follow the wake of Cyclone Remal, which devastated Bangladesh and West Bengal earlier this year.

Floods have caused widespread destruction in Bangladesh, with the Feni, Cumilla, Laxipur, Chattogram, and Noakhali districts among those hit hardest. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has stated that 71 people have been reported dead. The floods have decimated villages, with thousands of homes having been destroyed or submerged underwater, causing widespread internal displacement.

“So far, a reported 500,000 people have been displaced in more than 3,400 evacuation shelters”, Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, said during a press briefing held on September 4 at the headquarters in New York.

“We, along with our humanitarian partners, are mobilized and supporting the government-led flood response,” Dujarric said. “We are also helping with local efforts to help the most vulnerable people and communities impacted by these floods.”

Displacement shelters in Bangladesh have become overcrowded due to the sheer amount of civilians that were displaced from their communities. According to an August 30 report from the United Nations Inter-Cluster Coordination Group (ICCG), this has heightened protection concerns for affected women and girls.

Floods have also damaged critical infrastructure in Bangladesh, greatly impeding relief efforts by humanitarian organizations. Farah Kabir, Country Director of ActionAid Bangladesh stated “The disruption of roads and communication has further escalated their plight, making it difficult for them to reach safety and essential resources. The UN reports that certain areas are entirely inaccessible to aid workers due to the extent of the high water levels.

According to the ICCG report, in Noakhali, approximately 50 percent of the flood-affected areas are considered “unreachable” by local authorities and aid personnel. The floods have also caused significant power outages, aggravating these challenges in accessibility.

This has taken a significant toll on nationwide education. Floods have ravaged educational facilities across the nation and have made countless roads and passages inaccessible, making schooling for children extremely difficult. According to Dujarric, over 7000 schools are now closed due to flooding, which has impacted 1.7 million children and young people.

Water sanitation systems have been severely compromised with the swelling of dirty water filling the streets. Without access to emergency medical supplies, the risk of contracting waterborne diseases has risen significantly.

Kabir added, “The collapse of the sanitation system in many areas has heightened the public health crisis”.

Last week, In one instance last week, Bangladesh’s Directorate of General Health Services (Dte. GHS) reported that over a period of 24 hours since the flooding began, 5000 people had been hospitalized, reporting cases of diarrhea, skin infections and snake bites. UNICEF is currently on the frontlines of this disaster, distributing 3.6 million water purification tablets to prevent the spread of illnesses.

Additionally, the livelihoods of millions have been impacted by the floods. Agriculture, specifically, has been hit the hardest. According to Bangladesh’s agriculture ministry, the floods have resulted in a loss of 282 million US dollars due to crop damage, impacting over 1.3 million farmers. This is significantly detrimental as the agricultural sector employs roughly 42 percent of Bangladesh’s workforce.

Dujarric added that the floods have caused 156 million US dollars worth of losses in livestock and fisheries. This has devastated Bangladesh’s economy as well as greatly exacerbated levels of food insecurity nationwide.

“With supplies disrupted, thousands of families are still stranded in shelters without any food,” said Simone Parchment, the World Food Programme (WFP) Representative in Bangladesh, in a press release issued on August 30. “Our focus is on delivering emergency assistance to the people who have been displaced and lack the means to cook for themselves.”

Hundreds of thousands of people are facing risks of starvation and malnutrition as aid workers scramble to distribute dry food to shelters. WFP is currently in the process of delivering fortified biscuits to 60,000 families in areas that have been hit the hardest.

The UN’s Acting Relief Emergency Coordinator, Joyce Msuya, has allocated 4 million dollars from the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF). In addition, UNICEF is on the frontlines of this disaster, providing over 338,000 people with live-saving supplies. However, current efforts are not enough to mitigate this disaster. UNICEF has requested over 35 million dollars from donors in order to provide all families affected with medical assistance.

It is also imperative to tackle the climate crisis, as Bangladesh is one of the world’s most climate-sensitive nations. A 2015 report by the World Bank Institute stated that approximately 3.5 million people in Bangladesh are affected by annual river flooding, an issue that is only worsened by the climate crisis.

Deputy Representative of UNICEF Bangladesh Emma Brigham remarked that the devastation caused by the floods in the eastern regions of Bangladesh are “a tragic reminder of the relentless impact of extreme weather events and the climate crisis”, particularly for children. “Far too many children have lost loved ones, their homes, schools, and now are completely destitute,” she said.

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Student protesters at Columbia University, New York. Credit: IPS

By Norman Solomon
SAN FRANCISCO, USA, Sep 6 2024 (IPS)

With nearly 18 million students on U.S. college campuses this fall, defenders of the war on Gaza don’t want to hear any backtalk. Silence is complicity, and that’s the way Israel’s allies like it.

For them, the new academic term restarts a threat to the status quo. But for supporters of human rights, it’s a renewed opportunity to turn higher education into something more than a comfort zone.

In the United States, the extent and arrogance of the emerging collegiate repression is, quite literally, breathtaking. Every day, people are dying due to their transgression of breathing while Palestinian.

The Gaza death toll adds up to more than one Kristallnacht per day — for upwards of 333 days and counting, with no end in sight. The shattering of a society’s entire infrastructure has been horrendous.

Months ago, citing data from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, ABC News reported that “25,000 buildings have been destroyed, 32 hospitals forced out of service, and three churches, 341 mosques and 100 universities and schools destroyed.”

Not that this should disturb the tranquility of campuses in the country whose taxpayers and elected leaders make it all possible. Top college officials wax eloquent about the sanctity of higher learning and academic freedom while they suppress protests against policies that have destroyed scores of universities in Palestine.

A key rationale for quashing dissent is that anti-Israel protests make some Jewish students uncomfortable. But the purposes of college education shouldn’t include always making people feel comfortable. How comfortable should students be in a nation enabling mass murder in Gaza?

What would we say about claims that students in the North with southern accents should not have been made uncomfortable by on-campus civil rights protests and denunciations of Jim Crow in the 1950s and 1960s? Or white students from South Africa, studying in the United States, made uncomfortable by anti-apartheid protests in the 1980s?

A bedrock for the edifice of speech suppression and virtual thought-policing is the old standby of equating criticism of Israel with antisemitism. Likewise, the ideology of Zionism that tries to justify Israeli policies is supposed to get a pass no matter what — while opponents, including many Jews, are liable to be denounced as antisemites.

But polling shows that more younger Americans are supportive of Palestinians than they are of Israelis. The ongoing atrocities by the Israel “Defense” Forces in Gaza, killing a daily average of more than 100 people — mostly children and women — have galvanized many young people to take action in the United States.

“Protests rocked American campuses toward the end of the last academic year,” a front-page New York Times story reported in late August, adding: “Many administrators remain shaken by the closing weeks of the spring semester, when encampments, building occupations and clashes with the police helped lead to thousands of arrests across the country.” (Overall, the phrase “clashes with the police” served as a euphemism for police violently attacking nonviolent protesters.)

From the hazy ivory towers and corporate suites inhabited by so many college presidents and boards of trustees, Palestinian people are scarcely more than abstractions compared to far more real priorities. An understated sentence from the Times sheds a bit of light: “The strategies that are coming into public view suggest that some administrators at schools large and small have concluded that permissiveness is perilous, and that a harder line may be the best option — or perhaps just the one least likely to invite blowback from elected officials and donors who have demanded that universities take stronger action against protesters.”

Much more clarity is available from a new Mondoweiss article by activist Carrie Zaremba, a researcher with training in anthropology. “University administrators across the United States have declared an indefinite state of emergency on college campuses,” she wrote. “Schools are rolling out policies in preparation for quashing pro-Palestine student activism this fall semester, and reshaping regulations and even campuses in the process to suit this new normal.

“Many of these policies being instituted share a common formula: more militarization, more law enforcement, more criminalization, and more consolidation of institutional power. But where do these policies originate and why are they so similar across all campuses? The answer lies in the fact that they have been provided by the ‘risk and crisis management’ consulting industries, with the tacit support of trustees, Zionist advocacy groups, and federal agencies. Together, they deploy the language of safety to disguise a deeper logic of control and securitization.”

Countering such top-down moves will require intensive grassroots organizing. Sustained pushback against campus repression will be essential, to continually assert the right to speak out and protest as guaranteed by the First Amendment.

Insistence on acquiring knowledge while gaining power for progressive forces will be vital. That’s why the national Teach-In Network was launched this week by the RootsAction Education Fund (which I help lead), under the banner “Knowledge Is Power — and Our Grassroots Movements Need Both.”

The elites that were appalled by the moral uprising on college campuses against Israel’s slaughter in Gaza are now doing all they can to prevent a resurgence of that uprising. But the mass murder continues, subsidized by the U.S. government. When students insist that true knowledge and ethical action need each other, they can help make history and not just study it.

Norman Solomon is the national director of RootsAction.org and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. His latest book, War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine, was published in paperback this month with a new afterword about the Gaza war.

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Paran Women Group's executive director, Naiyan Kiplagat, is working in the forest. The group are passionate guardians of the environment and promoters of gender equality. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

By Joyce Chimbi
GREAT RIFT VALLEY, Kenya, Sep 6 2024 (IPS)

The Great Rift Valley is part of an intra-continental ridge system that runs through Kenya from north to south. A breathtaking, diverse mix of natural beauty that includes dramatic escarpments, highland mountains, cliffs and gorges, lakes and savannas. It is also home to one of Africa’s greatest wildlife reserves—the Maasai Mara National Reserve.

It is the 400,000 hectares of the Mau Forest Complex that give life to this wondrous natural phenomenon. Located about 170 kilometres north-west of Nairobi, this is the largest indigenous montane forest in East Africa. It is also the largest of the country’s five watersheds and a catchment area for 12 rivers that flow into five major lakes.

More than 10 million people depend on its rivers. Its magnificent portfolio of rare plants and animal species is unfortunately a magnet for illegal activities. Forest monitoring groups say a staggering 25 percent of the forest was lost between 1984 and 2020 and that overall, Mau Forest lost 19 percent of its tree cover—around 533 square kilometres—between 2001 and 2022.

“Paran Women Group is committed to restoring the Mau Forest. To stop the pace and severity of its destruction and degradation, we approached the government through the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) and were allowed access to 200 acres of the Maasai Mau Forest block, which is one of the 22 blocks that make the entire Mau Forest Complex. There are 280 water catchments inside the complex,” Naiyan Kiplagat, the executive director of the Paran Women Group told IPS.

“In January this year, we began our restoration efforts and have already covered 100 acres. At the moment, we have prepared 70,000 seedlings and intend to collect another 30,000 from women groups to reach our target of 100,000 tree seedlings, which will be planted once the rainy season begins to cover the remaining 100 acres.”

In Maa, a language spoken by the Maasai community, Paran means ‘come together to assist each other’. Paran Women Group is an organization comprised of women from the Maasai and Ogiek communities who are indigenous, minority ethnic groups.

Forest rangers working for the Kenya Forest Service are responsible for protecting Kenya’s forests. Paran Women Group are in a partnership with KFS to restore Maasai Mau Forest block. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

 

There are 280 water catchments inside the expansive Mau Forest Complex. These feed 12 rivers, which in turn feed five major lakes. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

The organization comprises 64 women groups and 3,718 members. United against dual marginalization and patriarchy, the group started small, in 2005 and continues to grow and expand their base and conservation activities.

Carrying the wisdom of their ancestors, they rely on indigenous knowledge and innovation in their conservation, afforestation, reforestation and all other land restoration efforts while promoting gender equality. Paran Women Resource centre is located in Eor Ewuaso, a remote rural village in the Ololunga location of Narok South sub-county, Narok County, in the Rift Valley.

The women hold a title deed to the expansive piece of land. A notable achievement in a minority community where women have little autonomy and land is owned and controlled by men. They have another seven satellite resource centres within the expansive counties geared towards giving women access to productive resources.

These centres are a hub of knowledge and activities to promote conservation and livelihood activities such as sustainable agriculture, beekeeping, beadwork and briquettes for energy-saving cooking to release pressure from the embattled Mau Forest. More than 617 households are already using efficient, energy-saving stoves.

“We are conservationists with a passion for gender equality. Gender-based violence is prevalent in indigenous communities, such as the outlawed Female Genital Mutilation and forced marriages. The most recent incidence was of a nine-year-old girl. We are marginalized as a community in general and worse, our culture has few rights for women and girls. We help children stay in school by paying school fees from our income-generating activities,” she says.

Patrick Lemanyan, a resident of Ololunga, says Paran women “rear and sell chicken and foods such as pumpkin, vegetables and sorghum. They also sell beadwork. Maasai beadwork is unique, beautiful and very marketable. In Nairobi, there is even the popular Maasai market for such beadwork and other Maasai items, such as sandals. The women here face no resistance from the community. We have suffered for many years from failed rainfall and we know that saving the forest is also about saving us as a community.”

Paran Women Resource Centre is located in Eor Ewuaso, a remote rural village in the Ololunga location of Narok South sub-county, Narok County, in Rift Valley. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

 

Some of the jewelry that the women at the Paran Women Group make. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

Naiyan says indigenous communities depend on natural resources such as forests, rivers and their biodiversity for their survival. The ongoing climate and biodiversity crises affect them the most as a community. Women have no assets and are therefore worse off.

“The Maasai’s are pastoralists. During prolonged dry seasons, a man will take all the livestock with him and move from place to place for even three years, leaving behind his wives and children. The family is left behind with nothing because women own nothing,” she says.

Naiyan, an Ogiek married to a Maasai, says the Ogiek have not faired any better. As hunters and gathers in an ecosystem that has been destroyed by human activity and climate change, they too are in a life-and-death situation and, are learning to pursue livelihood options outside of their indigenous lifestyle by keeping poultry for sale and farming. Men do not keep or concern themselves with poultry as it is considered beneath them. They keep large livestock such as cows and goats.

 

Originally pastoralists and hunters and gatherers, the Maasai and Ogiek have turned to sustainable agriculture as a climate adaptation mechanism. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

 

These are manyattas, Maasai traditional homes. Women from the Maasai and Ogiek communities have joined forces to save their native lands. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

 

“The role of indigenous groups and more so women, in environmental protection cannot be overemphasized. More so as women are able to combine conservation efforts with income-generating activities. They educate and support each other, and their children grow to school, breaking the debilitating cycle of poverty associated with minority groups due to historical injustices and inequalities,” says Vesca Ikenya, an educator in Gender and Natural Resources.

Stressing that “indigenous people and local communities bring on board indigenous knowledge and leadership that only they possess as custodians of their own lands and waters and have had intimate interactions with their ecosystems since time immemorial. Each generation preserves and passes on this knowledge to the next. When indigenous and local communities take lead in conservation efforts, they never get it wrong. They understand which species grew where and when.”

The Paran Women Group tree nursery is home to 27 indigenous species, including croton macrostacyus, syzygium cuminii, prunus African and Olea Africans. Of the 150,000 tree seedlings already planted this year, 112,500 have survived and are thriving.

According to 2021 International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs and International Labour Organization joint report, indigenous peoples were responsible for protecting an estimated 22 percent of the planet’s surface and 80 percent of biodiversity.

The Paran Women Group has not gone unnoticed and has won a series of international awards. In 2018, they received an award on rural survival from the World Women Foundation Summit; in 2020, they received the International Leadership Award from the International Indigenous Women’s Forum; last year, during the COP28 in the UAE, they received the Gender Justice Climate Solutions and are preparing to receive yet another international award in October 2024.

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

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Excerpt:

Between 2001 and 2022, the Mau Forest's deforestation resulted in the loss of about 533 square kilometers of tree cover. Now, a group of women, under the aegis of the Paran Women Group, are preparing to plant 100,000 saplings this rainy season in an effort to restore the forest.

Kmoin Walhang proudly sits next to her collection of certificates and citations that she has received after participating in several marathons. Credit: Courtesy Kmoin Walhang

By Diwash Gahatraj
SHNGIMALWLEIN, India, Sep 6 2024 (IPS)

Kmoin Wahlang, a 76-year-old woman, starts her running training every morning at 4 a.m. Dressed in track pants, a jacket, and running shoes, she sets out to navigate the hilly terrain of the small village of Shngimawlein in the southwest Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya, a state in northeastern India.

Even before dawn, despite the lingering darkness, Wahlang begins her run on the muddy ground of her village. As the early morning light casts a warm glow over the rolling green hills of the district, her pace exudes control and confidence, the result of several years of dedication to running.

“I love running; it’s very liberating,” she tells IPS.

Walhang belongs to the indigenous Khasi tribe of the region and says, “I run for two hours each morning until 6 a.m. and do another two-hour session in the evening as part of my preparation for an upcoming running event in Australia.”

The septuagenarian, who is a mother of 12, grandmother of 54, and great-grandmother of six, will represent India at the Pan Pacific Masters Games in November. This 10-day event held in the Australian city of Gold Coast features competitions in over 40 sports.

Participants compete in their respective age groups without needing to meet qualifying standards or times. The Indian super granny will participate in multiple long-distance running events, including the 800 meters, 1,500 meters, 3,000 meters, and 10 kilometers races. Kmoin Walhang is likely India’s oldest woman long-distance runner.

Kmoin Walhang before her marathon run. Courtesy of Run Meghalaya

Dreams Flourish Late

As a young girl, she played football as a goalkeeper. “Sports were something I always loved—but due to poor family conditions and a lack of opportunities, I never had the chance to pursue them at the right age,” she says. Walhang began running at seventy, an age when most people avoid extreme physical activity.

Married in 1968 at the age of 20, she put her family first, pushing her dream of being an athlete to the background.

“It was my fifth son, Trolin, who is also a marathon runner, who inspired me to start running,” Walhang says.

As she aged, she started suffering from gastric and breathing problems. However, through running and training, she healed her ailments.

“Running did for me what no doctor could. It fixed me,” Walhang reveals.

When she’s not running marathons, the septuagenarian cares for her paralyzed husband, who has been bedridden for the last few years after a stroke. She supports her family by farming, cultivating paddy and seasonal vegetables on her small farmlands scattered across the hilly terrain near her home.

Walhang has participated in over 40 marathons across the country, including both state-level and national-level events. However, when she first started running, people in her community laughed at her. “People in my village thought I had gone mad to run at my age,” she says with a chuckle.

Habari Warjri, co-founder of Run Meghalaya, an organization that promotes running among people from all walks of life and helps runners secure government and other sponsorships, says, “We noticed Walhang running when they organized the Mawkyrwat Ultra Marathon in her village of Shngimawlein from 2017 to 2019.”

Running Without Borders 

Habari and her husband Gerald, both avid runners, have assisted several long-distance runners from the district who come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds in participating in national marathons outside their state.

“Kong Kmoin was one such runner whom we helped secure government support for, enabling her to compete in various marathons across the country,” says Habari. In Khasi, “Kong” means sister and is used to address women.

“She is able to go to Australia because she participated in the Nationals for Masters athletes held in Hyderabad,” Habari adds.

Run Meghalaya did help Walhang to participate in the Hyderabad event by providing her with government sponsorship.

Mawkyrwat, located in the South West Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya, is characterized by hilly terrain, steep slopes, and deep valleys. It enjoys a cool, temperate climate with lush greenery.

In fact, Meghalaya—literally translated as “abode of clouds”—provides an ideal environment for long-distance runners due to its favorable temperatures, says Biningstar Lyngkhoi, the district-level athletic coach who has been training Walhang for the past three years. Despite its scenic beauty, the district relies on the state capital, Shillong, for essential training resources and facilities, situated 75 kilometers away.

“I take Kong Kmoin to Shillong twice a week so she can practice on running tracks,” informs Coach Lyngkhoi.  The state’s sports department has sponsored Walhang to and fro tickets to Australia, he adds.

Lyngkhoi says that Mawkyrwat, the district headquarters town, has a vibrant running culture where people love to run.

“There are close to 100 runners who compete professionally and participate in regional and national marathons. About half of them are over the age of 40, but Kong Kmoin is special,” he says. “At 76, she still has the ability to sustain physical effort over long periods, which is crucial for a marathoner. She also possesses the mental toughness to stay focused while running long distances.”

Lyngkhoi, who represented India as a marathon runner in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, believes that Walhang’s journey as a marathon runner embodies the spirit of passion, inspiring not only her community in southwest Khasi Hills but also people across India and beyond. Despite the challenges of age and limited resources, she motivates athletes of all ages.

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By CIVICUS
Sep 5 2024 (IPS)

 
CIVICUS discusses the recent wave of protests against gender-based violence (GBV) in India with Dr Kavitha Ravi, a member of the Indian Medical Association (IMA).

Protests erupted across India after a 31-year-old female medical trainee was raped and murdered in a Kolkata hospital on 9 August. The IMA called a strike, with protests held in major cities including Kolkata and Mumbai. While the official strike has ended, many doctors, particularly junior doctors, remain on strike and protests continue to demand justice, accountability and safer working conditions for women.

Kavitha Ravi

What triggered the recent protests against GBV in India?

Protests erupted after the tragic rape and murder of a young female doctor at the R G Kar Medical College in Kolkata on 9 August. This horrific incident shocked the nation and sparked widespread outrage. In response, a coalition of doctors, medical associations such as the IMA and various resident and faculty associations joined together in a nationwide strike to demand justice for the victim and better safety measures for health workers, particularly women who face significant risks in the workplace.

Protesters are calling for major reforms, including the adoption of a Hospital Protection Act, which would designate hospitals as safe zones and introduce measures to create a safer environment for health workers. Their demands are part of a larger movement to comprehensively address GBV, prevent similar tragedies in the future and create a safer and more supportive working environment for everyone in the health sector.

What steps have been taken so far to ensure justice and the safety of female health workers?

The judicial system has acted swiftly by transferring the case to a higher authority to ensure a thorough investigation after concerns were raised about the police’s initial inquiry, which was not accepted by the students or the victim’s family. They were sceptical, believing the police might be favouring the college authorities and supporting the accused.

This decision aims to ensure a detailed investigation so justice can be done. The Supreme Court of India is also overseeing the case to monitor its progress, address any issues that may arise and ensure all necessary steps are taken to uphold justice.

In parallel, several initiatives are underway to improve the safety of female health workers. The Ministry of Health has proposed establishing a committee to review and improve safety protocols in health facilities. There are also plans to increase security in hospitals and establish a new national taskforce dedicated to improving safety through better infrastructure, advanced technology and additional security measures. However, despite these efforts, more needs to be done to combat GBV and ensure that these measures effectively protect female health workers.

How have the authorities responded to the protests?

The authorities have taken a mixed approach to the nationwide strike, combining concessions with new measures to address immediate concerns. The Health Ministry has drawn up a detailed plan to increase security in central government hospitals. This includes installing high-resolution CCTV cameras, monitoring access points with identification badges, deploying trained security personnel for constant patrolling and securing duty rooms for female staff. Hospitals are also encouraged to develop and regularly update emergency response plans and conduct mock drills.

In response to these measures, the IMA suspended its strike. However, other doctors’ associations have continued to protest for more substantial reforms. Many people remain dissatisfied, particularly after recent incidents of police violence. While the Supreme Court’s intervention may have temporarily eased the tensions, protesters remain concerned about the new measures’ effectiveness and full implementation.

Why is GBV so prevalent in India, and what’s being done about it?

Deep-rooted cultural, social, economic and legal factors account for the high prevalence of GBV in India. This is a patriarchal country where traditional gender roles and the subjugation of women are deeply entrenched. Women tend to be economically dependent on men, which traps them in abusive relationships that make it difficult for them to seek help or escape. Intergenerational cycles of violence perpetuate the problem, as children who witness or experience abuse may come to see such behaviour as normal.

Low literacy rates, particularly in rural areas, further limit women’s understanding of their rights and the available support. When they do seek justice, the system often fails to protect the victims or hold perpetrators accountable. Systemic failures in law enforcement and justice help perpetuate GBV.

Many initiatives and campaigns have helped highlight and address this issue. But it has not been easy. A lack of consistent political will and weak implementation of policies have hindered substantial change. Feminist and social justice movements often face resistance from conservative parts of society, making it difficult to change these deeply entrenched cultural norms.

To combat GBV effectively, we need a comprehensive approach that includes better education, legal reform, economic empowerment and cultural change. Civil society organisations are at the forefront of this fight, actively advocating for stronger laws, better enforcement and increased public awareness. Continued and robust efforts are essential to address this widespread problem and ensure meaningful change.

Civic space in India is rated ‘repressed’ by the CIVICUS Monitor.

Get in touch with the Indian Medical Association through its website or Facebook page, and follow @IMAIndiaOrg on Twitter.

 

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