Africa - INTER PRESS SERVICE

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 5 2019 (IPS)

The Republic of China (Taiwan) withdrew from the United Nations in protest when it was ousted from its highly-prized permanent seat in the UN Security Council (UNSC) about 48 years ago.

But according to the UN charter, it still remains one of the five permanent members of the most powerful body in the Organisation—perhaps much to the delight of the Taiwanese.

The resolution that was adopted by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) back in October 1971 declared the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the legitimate representative of mainland China paving the way for the immediate takeover of the seat from Taiwan.

Although the Charter has been amended five times—described as a laborious process requiring a two-thirds majority in the 193-member General Assembly— there has been no serious attempts to rectify the UNSC anomaly.

And a second shortcoming in the UN charter is the listing of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) as a permanent member of the Security Council, when it ceased to exist back in 1991, with the Russian Federation assuming the rights and obligations as a successor state.

The five permanent members (P5s) of the UNSC are the US, France, China, UK and the Russian Federation. But the Charter, which looks like a relic of a bygone era, begs to differ.

The PRC, which is politically sensitive to the issue of Taiwan –which it considers a province of mainland China– has been openly critical of the use of the name “Taiwan” at UN gatherings.

At a meeting of the UN Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) last January, the Chinese delegate reprimanded several NGOs, including Human Rights Watch, International Press Institute, Open Society and Reporters Sans Frontiers International, for “not using the correct United Nations terminology for Taiwan” (namely, Republic of China) on their websites.

“If PRC is so sensitive about the issue of Taiwan, how come it has learnt to live with the erroneous listing of ROC as a permanent member of the UNSC for the last 48 years”?, asked one Western diplomat.

Credit: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

Ian Williams, a longstanding journalist who has covered the UN since the 1980s and is author of “UNtold: The Real Story of the United Nations in Peace and War,” sarcastically posed the question in Shakespearean terms: “What’s In a name?… that which we call ROC by any other name would smell as sweet”.

Referring to the Chinese complaints at the NGO meeting, he said: “Sadly, the UN Charter is not susceptible to a “delete and replace” button.”

It is a much more tedious process than that, he told IPS.

“If Northern Ireland dropped out of the “United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland” following Brexit, would London lose its veto in the UN Security Council, since that is what the relevant clause in the Charter calls it?”, asked Williams, a former President of the UN Correspondents’ Association (UNCA).

Luckily for London, he pointed out, the UN has precedents galore.

Any questioning of its status would embarrass Beijing, sitting in the seat reserved for the Republic of China, and Moscow, which says “nyet” on behalf of the USSR (deceased), said Williams.

When the USSR was dissolved it was discreetly and tacitly accepted that no one would mention the change in the nameplate, he noted

“Moscow had assumed the whole Soviet debt, so none of the successor states objected, and since it also inherited the Soviet nuclear arsenal, no one else did either.”

It was a triumph of pragmatism, said Williams, a senior analyst who has written for newspapers and magazines around the world, including the Australian, The Independent, New York Observer, The Financial Times and The Guardian

According to Article 108 of the Charter, “amendments to the Charter shall come into force for all Members of the United Nations when they have been adopted by a vote of two thirds of the members of the General Assembly and ratified in accordance with their respective constitutional processes by two thirds of the Members of the United Nations, including all the permanent members of the Security Council.”

James Paul, former executive director of the New York-based Global Policy Forum (1993-2012), refers to the discrepancies in the Charter in his recently-released book on the UNSC.

Titled “Of Foxes and Chickens: Oligarchy and Global Power in the UN Security Council,” the book points out that the dissolution of the Soviet Union in late 1991 “provided another act in this strange drama.”

He says a number of successor states came into being, of which the Russian Federation was the largest. It was certainly not the major power that the USSR had been, having a far reduced population and economy.

Although the new state was clearly not the same as the old, the permanent members did not want to open up the “dreaded membership question.”

The answer was a “quick fix,” as the Russians officially took over the Soviet seat. “Crafty stage management had maintained a sense of enduring permanency,” says Paul.

Asked for an official response, UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq told IPS that for China, the relevant resolution is the 1971 GA resolution, whereas the USSR’s responsibilities were taken over by the Russian Federation as its successor state.

“You are aware that formal amendments to the Charter are a fairly extensive process entailing ratification of those amendments by two-thirds of the members, in accordance with articles 108 and 109 of the Charter,” he explained.

Reaffirming Haq, Paul told IPS that according to Articles 108 and 109, it is difficult to amend the UN Charter.

This is natural in some respects, since constitutions are meant to be stable and not forever changing.

But the big problem of Charter change is not the super majority needed but the ability of the P5 to veto any change if it might erode their interests, he pointed out.

“I am not familiar with the thinking at the time of the changes in the designations of China and Russia/USSR but I can imagine that the goal was to move as quickly, as unobtrusively and as risk-free as possible, into the new arrangement”, he said.

The P5, said Paul, have always opposed Charter changes that would erode their privileges. The Brits and the French claim to support the addition of new permanent members but in fact they are opposed.

Any changes in the UNSC membership arrangements require a change in the Charter. As long as the membership is divided there will not be sufficient political pressure to force change through against the vetoes, he noted.

“When Germany, Japan, India and the other aspirants give up their claims, new possibilities can finally emerge,” he predicted.

Williams told IPS one of the strengths of the United Nations has always been that it does not stick to the letter its own Charter, which, for example, does not mention one of the organization’s busiest departments and functions – peacekeeping.

“Rather it works pragmatically in the face of the difficulty of actually amending the Charter, which is not only tedious organizationally but also a diplomatic quicksand, mostly because of the delicate question of permanent membership and the veto— which can be exercised against any attempt to change the Charter”.

Sometimes, he said, a discreet hush seems the appropriate response. Like the UN Military Staff Committee (MSC) representing the high commands of all permanent members, however named.

The UN website claims that the “MSC remains active in the UN as a cadre of Military Advisors to their government’s diplomats (PRs).” It was met regularly since the foundation of the UN, but has never made a decision or proffered any recordable advice… but it is in the Charter and it would be dangerous to delete the relevant paragraph, said Williams.

Similarly, when Palau, the last remaining Trusteeship territory became independent, it posed the question of what do with the Trusteeship Council mandated by the UN Charter – which even had its own elaborate meeting place.

The French delegate suggested its abolition would raise other questions (which listeners understood to mean the entitlement of France and Britain to a permanent seat) and it was agreed simply to suspend the Trusteeship Council while keeping it nominally in existence.

A year later, at the 50th Anniversary session in 1995, Poland, eager to ingratiate itself with Germany raised in the Assembly the question of the “former enemy states,” the Axis powers that, according to the Charter the P5 could beat up on with legal impunity.

He said the Assembly declared “its intention to initiate the procedure … to amend the Charter, with prospective effect, by the deletion of the ‘enemy State’ clauses from Articles 53, 77 and 107 at its earliest appropriate future session.”

It is not so easy.

Kofi Annan did not even try to get the “Responsibility to Protect” into the Charter. He cunningly got the General Assembly to reinterpret Chapter VII to include the concept. It was the diplomatic equivalent of changing the tablecloth without disturbing the setting, said Williams.

It was a rare feat, and a quarter of a century after the General Assembly deplored the continuing calumny against the former axis powers, they still await the Charter Amendment, and one suspects that the “earliest appropriate session” will be when the Non-Aligned get their act together on Security Council reform and persuade the P5 to go along with it.

“But I will be at the UN watching out for the sight of pigs flying in formation along the East River.”

The writer can be contacted at thalifdeen@ips.org

The post Is Republic of China Still a Permanent Member of the Security Council – Despite its Ouster in 1971? appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 4 2019 (IPS)

Faced with an uneven battle against right wing nationalist governments, repressive regimes and extremist groups, scores of civil society organizations (CSOs) are gearing themselves to fight back.

Expressing grave concern over a widespread crackdown on activists, 118 leading CSOs, scholars and women’s groups – focusing largely on the rights of women in predominantly Muslim countries– joined hands last week to co-sign a letter of protest to 48 leaders of Muslim-majority countries.

The letter seeks support for equality of women, condemns the torture of women human rights defenders and calls for the immediate release of those detained in Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Spearheaded by Equality Now and Musawah, the letter says they are particularly alarmed at the imprisonment in Saudi Arabia of numerous women’s rights activists, including Loujain Al-Hathloul, Hatoon Al-Fassi, Aziza Al-Yousef, Eman Al-Nafjan, Nouf Abdelaziz, Samar Badawi, Nassima Al-Sadah, Amal Al-Harbi, and Shadan Al-Anezi.

The Saudi government has accused the women of “coordinated activities to undermine the security, stability and natural unity of the kingdom.”

According to Saudi law, the women could face up to 20 years in prison or sentenced to death.

The recipients of the letter include 48 presidents, reigning monarchs and heads of government of Iraq, Chad, Kuwait, Bahrain, Nigeria, Sudan, Iran, Maldives, Niger, Tunisia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, among others.

The letter says: “We write as over 100 women’s rights and human rights organizations and activists from the Muslim world, who are deeply concerned over the crack down on women’s rights activists in some countries”.

“We respectfully request leaders of the Muslim world to raise their voices to support equality for women, to recognize the critical role that women’s rights defenders play in this regard, and to condemn the imprisonment and torture of women human rights defenders.”

The activists say they are also “extremely troubled by the egregious treatment of women’s rights activists in Iran, including internationally renowned lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, who has reportedly been sentenced to 38 years in prison and 148 lashes, and Narges Mohammadi, sentenced in 2016 to 16 years in prison”.

The 118 activists who signed the letter are from CSOs in Algeria, Afghanistan, Egypt, Indonesia, India, Canada, Pakistan, Jordan, Malaysia, Morocco, Mali and Somalia, among others.

The role of CSOs in fighting back repression and human rights violations will be one of the primary issues on the agenda of the International Civil Society Week (ICSW), scheduled to take place in Belgrade, April 8-12.

The theme of this year’s ICSW is “The Power of Togetherness” focusing on harnessing collective action to respond to rights restrictions and rightwing globalism.

Yasmeen Hassan, Global Director of Equality Now, a CSO which advocates the protection and promotion of the human rights of women and girls worldwide, said: “It is disheartening to see how low down the rank Muslim countries come in the UN’s global Gender Inequality Index”

She said the arrests, imprisonment and alleged torture of women’s rights activists in Iran and Saudi Arabia should be condemned by all Muslim States.

“We cannot achieve peace, prosperity, and progress without committing to equality for women and girls, and taking active steps to make this a reality,” declared Hassan.

Zainah Anwar, Executive Director of Musawah, a global movement for equality and justice in the Muslim world, said: “It is high time Muslim leaders speak out about equality and justice being Islamic values, support women’s rights groups in their countries, and take action to end laws, policies and practices made in the name of Islam that continue to discriminate against women until today.”

If Muslim countries had been true to the teachings of Islam that granted women rights considered revolutionary 1,400 years ago, she said, the Muslim world today would be at the forefront of the women’s movement, instead of at the bottom of all gender equality surveys.

Asked for an update, Tara Carey of Equality Now, told IPS: “It is extremely disappointing that the women’s rights activists still detained in Saudi Arabia have not been freed from prison following Wednesday’s court hearing”

“We call for their immediate, unconditional release, with all charges against them dropped, and for the Saudi authorities to ensure an impartial and independent investigation into allegations of torture.

She said defending women’s rights is not a crime and these women should never have been imprisoned in the first place.

Meanwhile, addressing the Human Rights Council in Geneva last September, the UN Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said the recent crackdown on peaceful human rights defenders, especially defenders of women’s equality and women’s rights, in Saudi Arabia was “deeply disturbing”.

“Samar Badawi and Nassima Al-Sadah were, according to our sources, arrested on 30 July 2018 and have been held incommunicado since then.”

The prosecutor’s recommendation of the death penalty for Israa al-Ghomgham, reportedly on charges related to participation in protests, is of serious concern.

“These and other arbitrary arrests of peaceful activists for the collective good sharply contradict the spirit of the country’s proclaimed new reforms. We call on the authorities to release all individuals detained for exercising their fundamental freedoms,” she warned, as she singled out more than 45 countries for human rights violations.

The writer can be contacted at thalifdeen@ips.org

The post Women Activists Protest Torture & Imprisonment Under Repressive Regimes appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

This article is part of a series on the current state of civil society organisations (CSOs), which will be the focus of International Civil Society Week (ICSW), sponsored by CIVICUS, and scheduled to take place in Belgrade, April 8-12.

The post Women Activists Protest Torture & Imprisonment Under Repressive Regimes appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Dr Ken Jetton (left) and Dr Arturo Cunanan (centre) with a patient who has been cured of leprosy in the Majuro leprosy clinic in the capital of the Marshall Islands. The patient is now seeking further help due to post-treatment complexities. Credit: Stella Paul/IPS

By Stella Paul
MAJURO, Apr 4 2019 (IPS)

It’s a Friday morning and Dr. Ken Jetton, the only doctor who treats leprosy in Majuro, the capital of the Marshall Islands, is seeing a patient recently cured of the disease.
David, 32, has received multidrug therapy (MDT) treatment for a year already. But he is back in the doctor’s office because of a reversal reaction that has occurred.

David, who asks to be referred to only by his first name to protect his privacy, has a stiffness in his fingers. A carpenter by profession, the stiffness is causing David greater financial loss than leprosy did as he cannot hold the tools of his trade in his hand any longer.

“This is the kind of patient I typically attend to…people who have been cured of leprosy, but have physical disability due to reversal reaction to the treatment,” Jetton tells IPS.

According to authors Francisco Vega-Lopez and Sara Ritchie in ‘Manson’s Tropical Infectious Diseases’, reversal reaction is one of two distinct reactions that occur after becoming infected by the bacterium that causes Hansen’s disease, also known as leprosy.

“Reversal reactions may cause acute inflammation causing rapid loss of nerve function and require prompt initiation of treatment with oral steroids,” the authors note. They also note that this reaction can occur before, during or after treatment.

Dr. Arturo Cunanan, a world expert on Hansen’s disease, tells IPS that almost everyone shows some symptom of reversal reaction. However, the degree to which it presents varies from person to person. Those who are diagnosed and treated late have more visible signs of disability than those who were diagnosed and began treatment early.

Resource crunch limiting services
But Jetton tells IPS that he is restricted by a lack of resources and unable to reach out to other patients who, like David, need his services as a doctor.

“It is at this stage that they need me even more because they are puzzled by this [disability] and they also suffer financially. But I cannot see all of them, especially those living in the outer islands,” Jetton explains.
The physician is based in Majuro, the capital of the island nation. But Marshall Islands has 28 other atolls, where there are many active cases of leprosy reported.

But while some of these islands are a short boat ride away, the others are not so easily reachable.
“There is a car for our office use but I do not get an allowance to buy petrol for the car. Who will pay for the boat and the visits to the outer islands?” Jetton asks.

The resource crunch seems a direct result of the decreasing budgetary allocation for health in the country’s five-year funding plans. According to government records, in 2016 the Department of Health was allocated just over 25,000 dollars for its budget. However, this year the amount was 23,000 dollars.

Even for a tiny nation like the Marshall Islands, which has a population of just over 53,000, the health budget is considered small.
There are reportedly 65 healthcare centres across the various atolls. And according to Jetton there are only a handful of staff managing these.

While MDT is provided free by Novartis, through the World Health Organisation (WHO), there are no funds to staff a leprosy centre outside of Majuro. And the country records some 75 new cases of Hansen’s disease each year.

Dr. Ken Jetton, is the only doctor who treats leprosy in Majuro, the capital of the Marshall Islands. Credit: Stella Paul/IPS

New leadership, new approach
The constraints of working with an inadequate budget goes beyond fuel allowances, Jack Niedenthal, the Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Department of Health, tells IPS.
The biggest challenges of the department, says Niedenthal who took over the post early this year, are the lack of skills, capacity and infrastructure required to fight endemic diseases in the island nation.

“All the staff here are underpaid and overworked. They need skill-building training, and we need infrastructure, including new facilities to detect, diagnose and treat,” Niedenthal is heard saying during a meeting with a team from the Sasakawa Health Foundation led by its CEO, Takahiro Nanri.

There are several areas where the staff would benefit from further training. Data and record keeping is one of them, points out the secretary before making an appeal to international experts.
“Instead of inviting us abroad, visit us here and train our staff right here,” says Niedenthal. He was formerly the Secretary General of the country’s Red Cross Society and has a strong human rights approach to health.

Addressing the right audience
Niedenthal’s appeal could potentially bring some positive changes as Yohei Sasakawa, WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination, and chair of the Nippon Foundation, the parent body to the Sasakawa Health Foundation, is expected to visit Marshall Islands later this month.

Sasakawa, who is also Japan’s Ambassador for the Human Rights of People Affected by leprosy, and recent recipient of the Gandhi Peace Prize, is keen to understand the situation of combatting leprosy in the country and wants to extend his support to both those providing healthcare as well as those affected by leprosy here.

Jetton is positive that with the help of the foundation they will be able to improve their services to leprosy patients.
In the meantime he prescribes prednisolone, a drug generally used to treat reversal reactions, to David.

Related Articles

• Increasing Leprosy Cases in Micronesia Points to Better Detection and Awareness
• “Don’t Tell My Husband I Have Leprosy”: Social Stigma Silences Marshall Islands’ Women
• Q&A: Why Treating Leprosy as a Special Disease Violates the Rights of the Person Affected by It

The post Greater Skills Equals Greater Ability to Combat Leprosy appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Water jugs in the community water center in Grassy Narrows, Canada. April 13, 2016. © 2016 Human Rights Watch

By Marcos Orellana
WASHINGTON DC, Apr 4 2019 (IPS)

While residents across Prince Rupert, British Columbia are once again able to get safe drinking water from their taps, the boil-water advisory lifted there in late January should not be forgotten. Canada is a freshwater-rich country, but the time for complacency on essential water issues has long passed. Most people living in Canada have access to safe water. But drinking water advisories in the country about unsafe water have been concentrated in First Nation communities.

As of December 31,  there were six “boil-water advisories” and three “do not consume advisories” affecting eight First Nations Indigenous communities in British Columbia.

The Prince Rupert boil-advisory responded to an increase in the levels of cryptosporidium and giardia, two parasites that cause intestinal health problems. The contamination is thought to have been brought on by the combination of a severe drought in British Columbia during the summer and a large storm surge that soon followed.

Similar environmental and health problems can be expected to recur.  According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the onslaught of extreme weather patterns caused by intensifying climate change will only continue. The water crisis in Prince Rupert lasted for nearly six weeks and left 12,000 people without drinking water, according to CBC News. It has overwhelmingly affected Indigenous communities.

Tom Kertes, a volunteer organizer with Community for Clean Water–a grassroots organization in Prince Rupert  —  told CBC, “The city almost treated it like an inconvenience. Clean water is not about convenience or inconvenience. It’s about life and death and access to clean water is a human right.”

In June 2016, Human Rights Watch published a 92-page report that found that the Canadian government had failed to meet a range of international human rights obligations toward First Nations  people and communities in Ontario by failing to remedy the severe water crisis.

 

­

A child in Grassy Narrows First Nation, Ontario, Canada brushes her teeth with bottled water. Water on First Nations reserves is contaminated, inadequately treated or hard to access. April 14, 2016. © 2016 Human Rights Watch

 

We found that the water crisis in First Nations communities in Ontario has persisted for decades. A primary contributor to the problem is the legal discrimination that exists related to the regulation and protection of drinking water for First Nations reserves.

Access to water is a human right under international law, and Canada’s Constitution Act of 1982 provides for “essential public services of reasonable quality.” This means that the authorities have an obligation—as well as a moral imperative—to uphold this right.

Provincial and territorial regulations governing safe drinking water and sanitation, which operate to protect the health of most Canadian residents, do not extend to First Nations reserves. Other factors compounding the problem include insufficient and unpredictable funding, tainted source water, and lack of capacity and support for water system operators. As a result, water on many First Nations reserves is not safe.

In 1976, Canada became a party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. In 2016, the UN Committee that monitors compliance with the treaty expressed concern about “the restricted access to safe drinking water and to sanitation by the First Nations as well as the lack of water regulations for the First Nations living on reserves.”

The Canadian government has taken measures to address the water crisis in First Nations reserves. In 2018, the Federal government began direct engagement with the Assembly of First Nations to repeal and replace flawed drinking water legislation passed in 2013. Funding to address the problems has increased since our Ontario report was issued, with the 2018 budget including an additional $173 million. In Ontario, 26 advisories were lifted in 14 communities as of mid-2018.

But as of February 4, 2019, there were 62 long-term drinking advisories throughout Canada. The Neskantaga First Nation in Northern Ontario, for example, has had a water boil advisory in place for the last 23 years.

Access to water is a human right under international law, and  Canada’s Constitution Act of 1982 provides for “essential public services of reasonable quality.” This means that the authorities have an obligation—as well as a moral imperative—to uphold this right. It also empowers people to demand that their governments take concrete and deliberate steps to ensure access to safe and affordable water for the population.

Canada still needs to do more to secure the right to water for all of its people and to  live up to its commitments to First Nations communities.

The right to safe drinking water is indispensable to a healthy life.  Putting out a water advisory alerts residents to the problem, but doesn’t do anything to solve it. The federal government should be working closely with First Nation communities to ensure that money allotted for water improvement is used efficiently and that sustainable solutions are created. The provincial government can help by engaging indigenous communities and advocating for their right to clean water.

The Canadian government still has a lot of work to do, but it is critically important for the health of indigenous people to get the job done.

 

The post Freshwater Canada’s Dirty Water Secret appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Marcos Orellana is the environment and human rights director at Human Rights Watch.

The post Freshwater Canada’s Dirty Water Secret appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Part of a mural of bloody handprints, with the names of some of the women victims of femicide, during a demonstration in the Argentine capital held under the slogan #NiUnaMenos (Not One Woman Less). In Latin American societies, awareness of gender-based murders is growing, while new measures are being promoted to curb them. Credit: Fabiana Frayssinet/IPS

By Fabiana Frayssinet
RÍO DE JANEIRO, Apr 4 2019 (IPS)

Several initiatives are seeking to strengthen the fight against femicides in Latin America, a region which, despite growing popular mobilisation and pioneering legislation against gender-based murders, still has the world’s worst rates in what has been described as a “silent genocide,” says U.N. Women.

“The normalisation of violence against women and girls, the lack of comprehensive and quality services that identify patterns of violence that could end in femicide, the lack of data and research without a gender perspective are common to all countries,” U.N. Women Regional Director Luiza Carvalho said, summing up the situation in Latin America, in an exclusive interview with IPS.

“Ending impunity is critical. There are countries in the region where up to 95 percent of all cases go unpunished,” Carvalho said from U.N. Women’s regional headquarters in Panama City."We must also place great emphasis on prevention because, even if we put all aggressors in jail, if we don't change the structural causes, attitudes and perceptions that give rise to violence against women, we will never put an end to the phenomenon." --Luiza Carvalho

One of the new strategies is the Spotlight Initiative, launched by the European Union and the United Nations for the elimination of femicide. Of an initial investment of 500 million euros (562 million dollars), 55 million euros will go to Latin America.

Spotlight addresses the phenomenon of gender-based killings holistically through six pillars: gender equality legislation, the strengthening of the institutional framework, primary prevention, quality services, data collection and the strengthening of the women’s movement.

The campaign launched in Argentina on Mar. 21 also includes El Salvador, Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras, which was the first country where it was launched worldwide.

The selection of these countries, Carvalho explained, was based on factors such as the prevalence rate of femicide, the commitment of the authorities to implement national laws and policies to improve the situation of victims, and the strength of the country’s civil society movements.

In the case of Argentina, “the #NiUnaMenos (Not One Woman Less) movement drew attention to this phenomenon as an unacceptable situation, demonstrating that it has much to teach the region and the world,” noted the senior Brazilian official regarding the mass demonstrations against femicide that have spread to other countries in the region.

Since 1994, the region has had the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women, adopted in the Brazilian city of Belém do Pará, Brazil, which formalised the definition of violence against women as a violation of their human rights.

This international instrument, signed by 32 countries, provided for the first time for the development of mechanisms to protect and defend women in the fight to eliminate violence against their physical, sexual and psychological integrity, in both the public and private spheres.

In 2013, it incorporated the crime of femicide.

According to Carvalho, the Convention made the region “a global pioneer in legislation on violence against women.”

Femicide has been incorporated into the criminal code in 12 countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Peru and Uruguay). Six others typify it in laws outside these codes (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Paraguay and Venezuela).

Luiza Carvalho, U.N. Women Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean. Credit: UN Women

In addition, the 32 countries participating in the Convention have laws that protect the rights of women and girls who experience domestic or intra-family violence.

To advance these achievements, on Mar. 15, in Washington, DC, U.N. Women, the Organisation of American States (OAS) and the Committee of Experts of the Follow-up Mechanism of the Belem do Pará Convention (Mesecvi) officially launched an Inter-American Model Law on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of the Gender-Related Killing of Women and Girls.

They also presented an Analysis of Legislation on Femicide in Latin America and the Caribbean and Inputs for a Model Law on this type of sexist or “machista” homicide.

The model law “seeks to serve as a basis for creating or updating legislation on the violent death of women in the region, as well as strengthening actions for prevention, protection, care, investigation, prosecution, sanction and integral reparation,” explained Carvalho.

A study by Small Arms Survey shows that Latin America has 14 of the 25 countries with the highest rates of femicide in the world per 100,000 women, in a list headed by El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.

Carvalho attributed this to the lack of comprehensive measures, “which creates a gap between formal rights and women’s effective access to justice.”

“The Pará Convention was clear in pointing out that an integral view of violence against women is needed, that is to say, in addition to penalising it, States must develop actions for prevention, protection, investigation and reparation, both for the families of the victims and for the survivors,” she said.

But, she criticised, “the States do not have figures for reparations, for missing women, for genetic data that would enable the location of victims, or other mechanisms to make it possible to guarantee their rights.”

“We need comparative statistics to analyse and compare between countries what works and what doesn’t to eradicate femicide. When we have better statistics we can see the patterns and severity of the situation and formulate well-founded policies,” she said.

Mobilisations against male violence have taken to the streets of Latin America on the most diverse occasions, including the popular carnival parades in Brazil. In this comparsa of “Las carmelitas de Santa Teresa,” a traditional neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, a group represented this year’s femicides. Credit: Fabiana Frayssinet/IPS

In addition, according to the regional director of U.N. Women, the penal codes of the region continue to be “androcentric”, which translates into “an adverse normative context for the adequate classification of crimes involving specific forms of violence against women.”

This problem is aggravated, she said, by “a criminal doctrine that has not integrated a gender perspective and resists doing so.”

“When women are murdered, these cases should be investigated immediately under the presumption that the case is a femicide, as is the case in Mexico. Cases should be properly investigated without gender stereotypes and prejudices, and reparations should be made,” Carvalho urged.

According to Mesecvi, States Parties spend less than one percent of their total budgets on actions to combat gender-based violence.

“Comprehensive laws need budgets in order to be implemented,” Carvalho said.

“We must also place great emphasis on prevention because, even if we put all aggressors in jail, if we don’t change the structural causes, attitudes and perceptions that give rise to violence against women, we will never put an end to the phenomenon,” she added.

For Carvalho, “despite some promising changes, led by the region’s youth, social tolerance of violence against women and girls continues, and a shift in social norms is needed to address harmful masculine mentalities.”

The expert cited the example of Colombia, which in 2015 passed a law involving the educational system in prevention activities.

“Understanding that femicide is the ultimate act in a chain of violence against women means understanding that the health sector, social services, the police and the judicial system must work together,” she said.

In that respect, she mentioned “successful” projects such as one in Uruguay that brought together the courts, the police and the National Women’s Institute.

In a situation where a woman is at risk, a judge can order the abuser to wear an electronic ankle bracelet connected to a device that the at-risk woman carries with her. If the abuser approaches her, the ankle monitor automatically alerts the police. During the programme, both parties receive psychological support as well.

“So far, none of the women who form part of the programme have been murdered,” Carvalho said, with hope.

Related Articles

• Fighting Machismo in Latin America: The Formula to Combat Femicides
• Legal Weapons Have Failed to Curb Femicides in Latin America

The post Latin America Resets Its Strategy against Femicides appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Bangladesh to log fastest economic growth in the region next year: ADB

By Editor, The Daily Star, Bangladesh
Apr 4 2019 (IPS-Partners)

(The Daily Star) – Bangladesh is on track to log in the fastest economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region in fiscal 2019-20, said the Asian Development Bank in its latest report — in a resounding endorsement of the government’s economic policymaking.

The economy is expected to grow at 8 percent next fiscal year, which is the same as this year, said the Manila-based lender in the latest edition of its flagship publication, Asian Development Outlook 2019.

Manmohan Parkash, country director of the ADB, speaks at the unveiling of the Asian Development Outlook 2019 at his office in Dhaka yesterday. Photo: Star

Earlier in September last year, the ADB had forecasted that the GDP growth in 2018-19 would be 7.5 percent.

But thanks to the robust private consumption, increased public investment, strong export performance and expansion in industries the ADB has revised upwards its growth forecast by 50 basis points.

The higher forecast though is less than the government’s own forecast of 8.13 percent.

“Bangladesh’s economy is in a good shape,” said Manmohan Parkash, country director of the ADB, at the unveiling of the report at its Dhaka office in Agargaon. The country’s macroeconomic management remains generally sound. Inflation edged up slightly to 5.8 percent but remained in check.

Although budget revenue underperformed its target, the fiscal deficit was well within the budgetary target.

The current account deficit widened due to the surge in import demand, but it was mainly from the increase in imports of intermediate and capital goods, which will boost short- to medium-term production, Parkash said.

Continued favourable trade prospects, stronger performance of exports and remittances and heightened public investment for expeditious implementation of large infrastructure projects account for the multilateral lender’s sanguinity on the Bangladesh economy in the near term.

“Bangladesh’s economic outlook remains optimistic in the short-run. But to sustain this momentum in the medium- to long-term, there are several challenges we need to overcome,” Parkash said.

The country needs expanded industrial base, diversified export basket, improved business environment for vibrant private sector development, expanded tax base, better revenue collection for increased resource allocation and human capital development.

“Continued focus on prudent macroeconomic policies, sound debt management, strengthening the banking sector, removing infrastructure constraints and reducing the cost of doing business are important to help achieve the long-term development vision of the country,” Parkash added.

Soon Chan Hong, senior economist at the ADB, expressed concerns about the state of the banking sector.

The high non-performing loan ratio, low profitability, weak governance, widening capital shortfall, operational inefficiency and ineffective legal framework are worrying, he said.

This story was originally published by The Daily Star, Bangladesh

The post Fastest in Asia-Pacific appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Bangladesh to log fastest economic growth in the region next year: ADB

The post Fastest in Asia-Pacific appeared first on Inter Press Service.

The “Fearless Girl” statue in the heart of New York’s financial district serves as the public face of efforts to raise awareness about the importance of gender diversity in corporate leadership.

By Rakhi Kumar
WASHINGTON DC, Apr 4 2019 (IPS)

Over the past decade, there has been mounting evidence that greater levels of gender diversity can have a positive impact on corporate performance and economic growth.

Most relevant for investors, MSCI (American financial service provider) found that companies with strong female leadership at the board level generated a return on equity 36.4 percent higher than companies without a critical mass of women on their boards.

For both economic and social reasons, there has been a surge in interest from investors about how they can encourage gender diversity on corporate boards, in the C-suite, and at other levels of management.

To support these efforts, State Street and asset managers of all sizes are developing new tools that empower investors to promote gender diversity at the companies in which they invest.

In March 2017, we placed the “Fearless Girl” statue in the heart of New York’s financial district to serve as the public face of our efforts to raise awareness about the importance of gender diversity in corporate leadership. This campaign, however, is about much more than raising awareness.

As shareholders, we cast votes on candidates to a company’s board of directors and other important issues facing the company. Through this proxy voting process, we have voted against nominees to all-male boards that are not taking adequate steps to add female representation.

In addition, we are engaging directly with companies about diversity and other thematic environmental, social, and governance (ESG) topics and publishing thought pieces to educate boards about effective pathways to increasing diversity at all levels of the organization.

Since March 2017, we have called on more than 1,200 companies with no women on their boards to take action. We are pleased that more than 300 of those companies have now added a woman to their boards and 28 more have committed to doing so.

But we know there is more work to be done. In September 2018, we announced an escalation of our board diversity voting guidelines.

Beginning in 2020 in the Australian, UK, and US markets and in 2021 in Canada, Japan, and continental Europe, we will vote against the nominating committee’s entire slate of nominees if a company does not have at least one woman on its board and has not engaged in successful dialogue with us on the matter for three consecutive years.

Why are we giving companies three years to implement changes that we believe would have an immediate positive impact for investors before taking escalated voting action?

Our goal is to ensure effective independent board leadership, which involves achieving the right skill sets as well as a diversity of views. We realize that achieving this can’t happen overnight and that adding qualified candidates should be a thoughtful process that can take upward of a year.

While having only one female director on a board shouldn’t be seen as the end of a company’s diversity journey, we believe that adding a female perspective to the boardroom is an important first step.

The Fearless Girl campaign is about changing the mind-set of boards on diversity—moving the conversation from “Why do we need gender diversity?” to “Why don’t we have board diversity?”—and we believe that adding even a single female director helps to shift this mind-set.

Diversity is a relevant issue for all companies regardless of sector, market, or size. We found that many large companies today are making a concerted effort to include women on their boards, but among smaller companies the lack of female representation on boards continues to be significant.

Most boards lacking gender diversity cite a limited pool of suitable female director candidates as a primary obstacle. However, we believe that current practices for nominating directors, as well as behavioral biases that continue to undervalue the contributions of women in the workplace, are among the leading obstacles. As an example, some boards require that all director nominees have CEO experience.

Fortunately, these roadblocks and biases can be overcome. One best practice commonly used by companies with higher levels of board diversity is to ensure that every candidate pool of board nominees includes diverse candidates.

Also, we are calling on companies to monitor and disclose the level of gender diversity not only on their boards but at all levels of management. We believe this increased transparency will help create a stronger pipeline of qualified female board candidates.

Inspired by a conversation we had several years ago with a client about how to advance the gender equity discussion and capture potential excess return from companies with gender-diverse leadership, State Street created an index that allows investors to achieve the dual purpose of impact and return.

Launched in March 2016, the SSGA Gender Diversity Index is designed to promote gender diversity and harness the potential elevated returns of companies with greater gender-diverse leadership. The index can even be combined with a charitable component to contribute a portion of the advisor’s revenue to support charities that focus on science, technology, engineering, and math programs for young women.

For decades, asset owners have sought to effect change by using negative screening, which means avoiding investing in companies whose practices don’t align with the investor’s personal values or companies with poor ESG ratings. Increasingly, many investors are moving beyond this exclusionary approach and embracing ESG-focused investing as a tool for potentially improving a portfolio’s risk-adjusted returns.

One of the biggest barriers to ESG integration is a lack of reliable and uniform data about a company’s practices and their impact on financial performance. We believe that our stewardship initiatives calling on companies to improve disclosure about gender diversity at all levels of management should play an important role in giving investors the information they need to integrate gender considerations into their analysis of a company.

We are pleased to observe the growing awareness of the benefits of gender-diverse leadership across the investment ecosystem—from asset owners to asset managers to corporations themselves.

According to the Wall Street Journal, as of March 2018—the one-year anniversary of the launch of Fearless Girl—asset managers and owners controlling more than $13 trillion had joined us in making gender diversity a stewardship priority.

But this is just a start. At State Street, we believe that companies throughout the asset management industry should continually look for new ways to use their expertise to further empower investors to promote gender diversity at all levels of leadership around the world.

*The article was first published in Finance & Development, the IMF’s quarterly print magazine and online editorial platform, which publishes cutting-edge analysis and insight on the latest trends and research in international finance, economics, and development.

The post Invested in Gender Diversity appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

RAKHI KUMAR is a senior managing director and head of ESG Investments and Asset Stewardship at State Street Global Advisors.*

 
Across the investment industry, asset owners and asset managers push to enhance gender diversity at all leadership levels

The post Invested in Gender Diversity appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana is United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

By Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana
BANGKOK, Thailand, Apr 4 2019 (IPS)

Three years of implementation of the transformative 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific shows the region has some catching up to do.

Despite much progress, the region is not on track to reach the 17 Sustainable Development Goals set out in the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. We are living in a time of booming prosperity, yet many are getting left behind. Basic needs, such as the freedom for all from hunger and poverty, ill-health and gender-based discrimination, and equal opportunity for all are elusive. Economic, social and planetary well-being has a price tag. Calculations by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) show that it is mostly affordable for the region.

Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana

Realizing ambitions beyond growth

What will it take to realize the ambitious 2030 Agenda focused on strengthening the three pillars of sustainable development?

The 2019 edition of the ESCAP’s flagship publication Economic and Social Survey for Asia and the Pacific is asking for the region to raise ambitions beyond mere economic growth. Countries facing high and growing levels of inequality and environmental degradation will have to change course from pursuing a growth path that neglects people and the planet.

The 2019 Survey forecasts continuing robust growth in the region which remains the engine of the world economy. Amid rising global uncertainty that challenges the Asia-Pacific region’s economic dynamism, there is a need for investments that not only sustain growth but also build social and environmental capital.

ESCAP analysis shows the region needs to invest an additional $1.5 trillion every year to reach the Goals by 2030. This is equivalent to about 5 per cent of the region’s GDP in 2018, or about 4 per cent of the annual average GDP for the period 2016‒2030.

At $1 per person per day, this investment is worthwhile. It could end extreme poverty and malnutrition for more than 400 million people. A quality education for every child and youth would become possible, as would basic health care for all. Better access to transport, information and communications technology (ICT) as well as water and sanitation could be ensured. Universal access to clean and modern energy, as well as energy-efficient transport, buildings and industry could be achieved. Climate and disaster-resilient infrastructure could be built. Resources could be used more effectively, and the planet protected.

Most of this investment is needed to protect and nurture people and the planet. Making a better world for our people by ending poverty and hunger and meeting health and education Goals, requires some $698 billion per year. Protecting our planet by promoting clean energy and climate action and living in harmony with nature, requires $590 billion per year. Another $196 billion per year is needed to invest in improving transport and ICT infrastructure as well as access to water and sanitation services.

Of course, in a region as diverse as ours, investment needs vary considerably. Least developed countries need to invest the most at 16 per cent of GDP while South and South-West Asia has an investment need of 10 per cent of GDP to reach the Goals by 2030. More than two-thirds of the investment in these countries will be in reducing social deficits – poverty, malnutrition, lack of health care and education as well as job creation. Landlocked developing countries need to invest most in improving transport and ICT infrastructure as well as water and sanitation services. East and North-East Asia and, to a lesser degree, South-East Asia, need to focus on clean energy and climate action investment.

Paying the bill

It should be remembered that the Goals support each other and an investment in one area has a positive effect on another. Good health depends not only on access to healthcare services but also nutrition, safe water, sanitation and good air quality. Education for all also promotes gender equality. Resource efficiency supports climate change mitigation.

Besides harnessing these synergies, sustainable development financing strategies will have to turn to public and private finance. The good news is that most countries in the region have the fiscal space to invest in the Goals. There is also a massive untapped pool of private financial assets estimated at $51 trillion in developing Asia-Pacific countries alone. Enhanced regional cooperation would also help the region offset external risks and build resilience by tapping into regional resources.

Above all, leadership will be crucial in making the transition to a development strategy that balances all dimensions of human and planetary well-being. The 2019 Survey aims to stimulate a regional dialogue and offers guidance on accelerating progress towards the Goals in the region.

The post Ambitions Are Affordable for Asia and the Pacific appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana is United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

The post Ambitions Are Affordable for Asia and the Pacific appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Dr Diego Lopes da Silva and Dr Nan Tian
STOCKHOLM, Apr 3 2019 (IPS)

In January 2019 Venezuela’s opposition-led National Assembly swore in congressman Juan Guaidó as the country’s interim president. Guaidó’s claim to power is a severe blow against the already weakened government of Nicolás Maduro, whose re-election as president in May 2018 was widely rejected by the international community and deemed illegitimate by over 50 foreign governments.

Since January 2019, about 65 countries—including the United States and countries in Western Europe and most of South America—have given their support to Guaidó. The USA has also imposed sanctions on the state oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA), and several state-owned banks.

However, countries such as China, Cuba and Russia continue to back Maduro and recognize him as the legitimate president of Venezuela.

Although the support of foreign states is an important factor in the current political standoff between Maduro and Guaidó, it is the Venezuelan military that will determine whether there is any shift in power. Historically, the armed forces have played a decisive role in the country’s politics: the military oversaw Venezuela’s transition to democracy in 1958 and has had a strong influence on domestic politics ever since.

The 1958 Punto Fijo Pact—the political agreement aimed at preserving democracy in Venezuela in the post-authoritarian period—rested on a compromise with the military: in return for transferring power to civilian hands, the military would have its equipment modernized and its salaries revised.

The administration of President Hugo Chávez (1999–2013) further strengthened the position of the armed forces by populating the state bureaucracy with military officers and implementing large-scale arms modernization programmes, which took Venezuelan military spending to record levels.

This feature of Venezuelan politics has not gone unnoticed by Guaidó, who has attempted to garner support from the armed forces by offering amnesty to defectors. So far, the bulk of the military has remained loyal to Maduro: in the wake of the National Assembly’s appointment of Guaidó as interim president, the defence minister, Vladimir Padrino, stated that Venezuela’s armed forces disavow any president who is self-proclaimed.

Nevertheless, despite Padrino’s assurances, cracks have formed in the military’s support for the Maduro administration. Since February, about 560 soldiers, who recognized Guaidó as the country’s interim president, have fled to Colombia.

Amid these developments, the military is on the cusp of an important choice: preserve the status quo or support a new leader. The final decision will largely depend on the offers made by Maduro and Guaidó.

Military incentives: power, money and arms

Since 1958, the Venezuelan armed forces have traded military support for the government in exchange for money, power and prestige. This bargaining process was reinforced under the Chávez administration, which offered the military political power, money and arms, and strengthened the development of a military–government symbiosis.

One of Chávez’s first and major accomplishments was to approve a new constitution in 1999, creating the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, also known as the Fifth Republic. This served as the foundation for the military’s rise to the higher echelons of political power.

Article 328 of the new constitution, for example, incorporated the armed forces into the maintenance of social order and the formulation of Venezuela’s national development plans.

Perhaps more importantly, Article 236 granted Chávez the right to approve promotions of colonels and generals—an instrument he used regularly to purge dissidents and promote loyal officers.

As a result, military officers took on key positions in state-owned companies, ministries and funding agencies. According to Transparencia Venezuela, at least 60 of the 576 state-run companies are led by the military, including PDVSA.

The militarization of the government has continued under Chávez’s successor, Maduro. As of January 2019, 9 of 32 government ministries were controlled by the military, including the ministries of agriculture and energy.

As a consequence, the military’s influence on and within government has grown to a level not seen in Venezuela since the end of Marcos Pérez Jiménez’s dictatorship in 1948.

Off-budget mechanisms

Venezuelan military spending soared under the Chávez administration. In 2006 it surpassed that of Brazil—which at that time had an economy over five times larger than Venezuela’s.

Chávez’s spending was enabled by the unprecedented oil boom that started soon after he took office, which allowed him to strengthen his grip on power by distributing money to his supporters—a long-standing pattern in Venezuelan politics.

However, the total amount of funding allocated to the armed forces since the establishment of the Fifth Republic remains the subject of debate. The uncertain estimates are due to the existence of off-budget mechanisms in military funding.

Off-budget military funding is the allocation of funds for defence functions from outside the regular state budget. This can include revenues from mineral extraction or from military business activities.

Venezuela’s main off-budget funding instrument is the National Development Fund (Fondo de Desarrollo Nacional, FONDEN), funded primarily by the Central Bank of Venezuela and PDVSA. Created in 2005, FONDEN was intended ostensibly to foster economic growth and sustainable development in Venezuela.

However, because the military has been constitutionally integrated into the Venezuelan development strategy since 1999 (Article 328 of the constitution), its activities are eligible for FONDEN’s support. The office of the president has exclusive control over FONDEN, which exempts it from oversight by the National Assembly.

SIPRI’s 2017 review of Venezuelan military spending concluded that since 2005 a substantial amount of the country’s oil revenue and state resources had been diverted to the military using FONDEN. For example, between 2005 and 2015 FONDEN allocated around $6.9 billion to the military to finance 39 projects.

The largest of those was an allocation of $2.2 billion for the purchase of 24 Su-30 combat aircraft from Russia. On average, off-budget allocations from FONDEN increased Venezuela’s annual military spending by 26 per cent for the period 2005–15.

As FONDEN is funded primarily by oil revenues, its level of contribution to Venezuelan military spending each year reflects the annual fluctuations in oil prices. Between 2005 and 2015 its contribution to military spending ranged from 42 per cent in 2015, which coincided with rising oil prices, to as little as 1 per cent in 2009 and 2014, when the price of oil fell sharply.

In comparison with its allocations to other funding recipients between 2005 and 2015, FONDEN’s allocations to the military were substantial. The $6.9 billion given to the military dwarfed the $2.6 billion allocated to education and health, demonstrating a clear shift in the purpose of the fund towards militarization as opposed to development.

Through FONDEN, the armed forces have gained direct access to Venezuela’s substantial oil revenues. These funds were used in a variety of ways: for instance, $5.1 million was paid to fund the education of 40 Venezuelan cadets in Belarus in 2010, while $106 million was allocated to the general category ‘Complementary Agreement on State Security and Defence’ (Acuerdos Complementarios de Seguridad y Defensa de Estado).

However, the bulk of FONDEN’s allocations to the military was used to boost Venezuela’s ambitious military modernization programme. Chávez saw the build-up of arms as a fundamental step in sustaining his revolutionary regime: “When I talk about armed revolution, I am not speaking metaphorically; armed means rifles, tanks, planes, and thousands of men ready to defend the revolution.”

Oil revenues became the chief contributor to Chávez increasing the power of the presidency and the military force of Venezuela. Venezuelan arms imports grew significantly in the 2000s and early 2010s. The vast majority of these imports came from Russia and China.

The military maintains its strength, despite the economic downturn

Maduro became president of Venezuela after Chavez’s death in 2013 and inherited his carefully constructed militarized state apparatus. However, unlike his predecessor, Maduro came to power in a harsh economic environment. Oil prices plunged in 2014, which exacerbated the country’s economic downturn.

Venezuela has found itself embroiled in the biggest economic and social crisis of its recent history. Salaries have been negatively impacted by hyperinflation, while basic goods have become extremely scarce.

Violence has also spiked. Severe living conditions have led more than three million Venezuelans to flee the country, while millions of those who remain are calling for change.

As a reaction to a rapidly shrinking economy and falling oil production and oil revenue, Maduro turned towards the country’s food supply as a source of patronage, a commodity that went from subsidized to scarce. By exploiting a complex currency system, members of the military were able to import food at an advantageous rate of exchange and then sell it on the black market for hundreds of times the government set price.

While these privileges appear to have swayed the military to support the Maduro administration for the time being, they are mainly aimed at officers, and many lower-ranking soldiers face the same hardships as ordinary Venezuelan citizens.

In addition to its role in the exploitation of the food supply, the military occupies a position of privilege during the allocation of the state budget. Official military spending is prioritized over vital social needs such as education, housing and food.

In 2017, Maduro used his presidential prerogative to bypass the opposition-led National Assembly and approve a new budget that benefited his allies. As the rate of inflation soared into thousands of per cents in 2018, additional funding was needed for all government sectors.

Not only was the military one of the first to receive the additional resources, but it was also among the sectors that received the highest allocations of the new funding. This is not the first time the military’s budget has been protected from significant cuts—far from it. In 1962, while total public spending was cut by 12 per cent, the military budget was reduced by only 4 per cent.

The discrepancy was even greater in 1979: despite a 15 per cent reduction in total public spending, the military budget was cut by only 0.4 per cent. Thus by giving the military control of the country’s food supply and prioritizing the military in state budgets, Maduro has continued the long tradition in Venezuela of trading resources for political support in a bid to retain power.

The military’s role in shaping Venezuela’s future

The protected status of the military budget and the off-budget funding allocated to the armed forces from FONDEN are clear examples of the military’s privileged position in Venezuela, granting the armed forces a key role in shaping the country’s future.

By giving the military money, power and prestige, Maduro has—at least for the time being—‘bought’ the political backing of the armed forces. The challenge faced by Guaidó is arduous: he must somehow win over the support of a military that owes its strength to the current regime.

So far, Guaidó has offered amnesty to defectors. He has also appealed to the military’s sense of nationalism, arguing that his claim to the presidency is a people’s demand to which the armed forces should heed.

Considering the set of benefits from the current patronage system, such as the billions of dollars on offer from off-budget sources and the positions of privilege in key government posts, Guaidó might need to offer the military the same, if not better, incentives than those it has received under Chávez and Maduro.

Yet, therein lies the conundrum: if Guaidó courts the military into backing his plea by offering material incentives, he will empower the military further and be complicit in replicating one of the main weaknesses of Venezuela’s democracy.

The post The Crucial Role of the Military in the Venezuelan Crisis appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Dr Diego Lopes da Silva is a Researcher with the Arms and Military Expenditure Programme at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) .& Dr Nan Tian is a Researcher with the SIPRI Arms and Military Expenditure Programme.

The post The Crucial Role of the Military in the Venezuelan Crisis appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Ms. Anna Jardfelt Ambassador of Sweden to Kenya and Mr. Siddharth Chatterjee UN Resident Coordinator to Kenya. Credit: UN Kenya

By Sweden Embassy Press Release
NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 3 2019 (IPS-Partners)

Swedish support of UN Reform and the UN Secretary General’s call for a reinvigorated Resident Coordinator function – Advancing coordination, innovation and results in UN’s contributions to Kenya’s development priorities.

“Delivering as One – Going to the furthest first”.

Several members of the Development Partners Group in Kenya, including Sweden have at various occasions reiterated the importance of UN Reform and the UN Resident Coordinator Office, leading and coordinating the delivery of UN development results to Kenya.

Sweden is today pleased to acknowledge a new agreement, supporting the UN Resident Coordinator for a period of two years under the heading Reinvigorated UN Resident Coordinator’s Office, advancing the UN Reform Implementation Plan in Kenya.

“Sweden is a strong advocate for UN reform. This bridging support will enable the Resident Coordinator’s office in Kenya to spearhead the UN reform at country level, maintain current capacity and advance transformative and repositioning work, for greater impact and sustainable development results. This work will be done in line with UN reform and in support of Kenya’s national, regional and global development priorities and aspirations,” said the Ambassador of Sweden Ms. Anna Jardfelt when she announced the support.

The Resident Coordinators Office capability to spearhead UN reform in Kenya, continue lead and advance coordination, innovation and communication of results is essential for UN’s effective delivery of its total contribution to Kenya, the United Nation Development Assistance Framework, UNDAF, 2018-2022, signed by Government of Kenya and 23 UN Heads of Agencies, with an estimated budget close to USD 1.9 billion for the current 4-year period.

About the UN in Kenya
As stated in the UN SG implementation plan of the UN Reform, member States’ calls for a reinvigorated RC system, which ultimately rest in the transformation of the development landscape, as reflected in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Its universal, integrated and people-centered nature, which integrates economic, social and environmental dimensions of development, requires a collaborative, coordinated and innovative response by the UN development system, at an unprecedented scale. This needs to be matched by equal ambition in the organization, operations, funding and overall mindset of the UN development system to ensure integrated action towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in a way that leaves no-one behind.

The Resident Coordinator in Kenya is expected to lead impartially, accelerate and leverage initiated efforts. In June 2018, the UN Resident Coordinator, the Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury, Cabinet Secretary for Devolution and ASAL, and the entire UN country team of 23 UN Heads of Agencies, including the World Bank and the IMF, signed a new United Nations Development Assistance Framework for Kenya at a value of USD 1.9 billion. The new UNDAF 2018-2022 was widely consulted and has been identified by the Deputy Secretary General as one of three global best examples of new generations of One UN strategies at the country level.

The Resident Coordinator’s Office leads, coordinate and incubate UN wide and joint actions on strategic policy, innovative approaches, expanded partnerships and diversification of investments, advancing the UN SG reform agenda and Kenya’s development strategies, at national and devolved levels, including a new partnership platform for expanding private sector and philanthropy in realizing SDGs and the Presidential Big 4 Agenda in Kenya. The platform under the Resident Coordinator coordinates efforts to diversify development financing tools, invest in SDG data development and nurture public, private partnerships, across the SDGs and UN agency mandates.

The Cross-Border Programme between Kenya and Ethiopia, with ongoing discussions on expansion to the borders of Uganda and Somalia is another example of a Joint GoK/UN/partner flagship, advancing the reform agenda on transformative peace and socio-economic transformation. With improved coordination costs can be saved and impact increased, fragmented projects can be replaced by integrated approaches, resources can be further optimized by matching national, county, private and development partner’s value addition.

Comprehensive responses to inequality and citizenship, empowering gender and human rights driven development, can re-focus strategies from short term emergency response towards prevention, resilience, socio-economic transformation – leaving no one behind. Only with concerted efforts can development efforts counter the threats of poverty driven radicalization, forced migration and cyclical conflicts and utilize untapped opportunities, release the creativity of young women and men to realize the Kenya Vision 2030 -shared prosperity.

The post Swedish support of UN Reform appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana
BANGKOK, Thailand, Apr 3 2019 (IPS)

Asia and the Pacific’s phenomenal development has been a story of rapid urbanization. As centres of innovation, entrepreneurship and opportunity, cities have drawn talent from across our region and driven economic growth which has transformed our societies.

In southeast Asia alone, cities generate 65 percent of the region’s GDP. Yet the ongoing scale of urbanization is a considerable challenge, one which puts huge pressure on essential public services, housing availability and the environment.

How we respond to this pressure, how we manage our urban centres and plan for their future expansion in Asia and the Pacific, is likely to decide whether recent development gains can be made sustainable.

It is of primordial importance to Malaysia as its economy powers towards high income status. In ASEAN countries, 90 million more persons are expected to move to cities by 2030.

Accommodating this influx sustainably will determine whether the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development can be achieved, and the climate targets of the Paris Climate Agreement can be met.

An effective response calls for integrated planning across all levels of government. Greater consideration needs to be given to demographic and land use trends to anticipate their impacts and minimize environmental damage. These trends should inform our investments in infrastructure but also in water, energy and transport services.

Closing the infrastructure gap in the region will alone require an additional $200 billion of investment a year until 2030. We know local government revenues are mostly insufficient and fiscal decentralization inadequate to respond to this need.

Intelligent fiscal reforms to improve local revenues are likely to be necessary and we will need to consider how we can capture land value and use Public-Private Partnerships.

In the most disaster-prone region in the world, it is incumbent on us to reduce the risk of natural disasters to which millions of urban dwellers are exposed. By 2030, vulnerable populations living in extreme risk areas – along river banks, canals and slopes – are expected to have grown by fifty percent since 2015 in many of region’s major cities.

Some cities, including Melaka, are participating in initiatives such as the 100 Resilient Cities, focused on community-based disaster risk reduction. Yet this effort needs to be given even greater scale if we are to achieve risk resilient cities in our region. Accelerating our multilateral cooperation and best practice sharing could make a valuable contribution to doing so.

New technologies hold great promise for more effective urban solutions. From smart grids and district energy solutions, or real-time traffic management, to waste management and water systems, smart technologies will enable our future cities to operate more effectively.

They could also make them more inclusive and accessible for persons with disabilities. We have an opportunity to incorporate universal design standards and systems such as automated access to audio-based communications to improve accessibility to cities for persons with disabilities.

We must encourage smart city developers to use standards which would give persons with diverse disabilities full access to the physical infrastructure and information others enjoy.

As we look to overcome all these challenges, the ASEAN Smart Cities Network designed to mobilize smart solutions throughout southeast Asia, is a welcome development on which we must build.

The implementation of this network is something the organization I represent, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, has worked to support.

Combined with the ASEAN’s broader Sustainable Urbanization Strategy, it is helping provide much needed resource in the region to manage urbanization better. Twenty-six cities, including Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru are developing visions for their cities to apply technologies for smart and sustainable urban development.

The expertise being acquired is invaluable to the broader region’s effort. Malaysia has a leading role to play. At the 9th World Urban Forum Malaysia hosed last year, experts came from the world over to focus on cities for all and the New Urban Agenda.

In October 2019, the 7th Asia Pacific Urban Forum will be held in Penang. My hope is that this can focus minds and galvanize support for best practice to be shared and sustainable urban development to be prioritized in Asia and the Pacific.

The post Smart Cities hold Key to Sustainable Development appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana is UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

The post Smart Cities hold Key to Sustainable Development appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Rock Cohen/CC-BY-2.0

By Erik Larsson
STOCKHOLM, Apr 3 2019 (IPS)

It’s been called the most important election in decades. The coming elections to the European Parliament will take place in May, and some believe it will be a springboard for the parties on the far right. But what would the consequences of that be for the labour markets in the European Union’s member states?

EU. “They’re like those bad football fans. They’ll try to demonstrate their power and start chanting slogans any time a decision needs to be made,” says Swedish Social Democrat Marita Ulvskog.

She has served as vice chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Employment and Social Affairs for five years, and has led the Social Democrats in the parliament for ten.

With the experiences from those years under her belt, she has gotten a lot of insight in how the far-right in Europe reasons on issues relating to the labour market.

At the moment, 7 out of 52 delegates in the committee belong to parties that are considered to be positioned on the far right. Among them are neo-Nazi Golden Dawn from Greece, right-wing populist National Rally and Lega Nord from France and Italy, and fascist Jobbik from Hungary.

The extreme right in the five biggest countries of the European Union

Germany. Right-wing populist party Alternative for Germany was founded in 2012 but has grown fast and is now the third biggest party in the country. They are against immigration and sceptical of the EU and are believed to get around 12 percent in the upcoming election to the European Parliament ,which is 5 percentage points more than in the last election.

France. National Rally, led by Marine Le Pen, is predicted to get around 20 percent according to several polls. It’s a few percentage points lower than last election but that will hardly affect the number of seats. The party is predicted to become the country’s second largest.

Italy. Lega Nord and the The Five Star Movement,who are in government together, are predicted to get strong support in the EU election, over 32 and 22 percentage of the votes respectively. The firm support for these two parties is believed to be a contributing factor of how the far right is growing in the EU parliament.

Spain. Until recently, the far right had been remarkably absent in the country, but in 2013, a faction from conservative party Partido Popular went off to form right-wing populist party Vox, which has been growing steadily. The party is predicted to end at up between 8 and 13 percent.

Poland. The government party Law and Order are dominating Polish politics and can, according to predictions, get support at up around 40 percent. At the same time, another party from the right is growing stronger, far-right populist party Kukiz’15. The party was formed by rock musician Pawel Kukiz who is sceptical of the EU and wants to reform the polish election system.

*The UK is currently the third biggest country in the EU but considering the fact that it is leaving the EU it was not included in this summary.

Sources: Politico’s Poll of Polls – European elections 2019, Europaportalen
Marita Ulvskog says that the far-right members in the committee often stick together when voting. They mostly support propositions from the established conservative parties, but sometimes they’ll vote for left-wing propositions which align with trade union policies.

The far-right parties are often in favour of strong unemployment benefit policies and certain kinds of social welfare reforms.

In Poland, national-conservative government party Law and Justice recently increased child support. In Hungary, Victor Orbán’s government wants to introduce a tax break for women with four or more children, in an effort to encourage women to give birth to more “Hungarian” children.

“They often want to appear to be progressive in matters regarding trade union rights. Meanwhile, they vote very differently to us when it comes to issues concerning women’s rights in the labour market,” says Marita Ulvskog.

In the last few years, several nationalist trade unions have emerged throughout Europe.

In the south of Germany, a few far-right trade unions came together under the name “Patriotic Unions”, which has close ties to right-wing populist party Alternative for Germany.

Their foothold is strongest within the auto industry. IG Metall has actively tried to counter their organisation and so far, the right-wing unions have not been very successful.

Swedish author and commentator Lars Jederlund has been following European politics since the 1990’s and recently released the book Ödesvalet(The Fateful Election), about right-wing parties in Europe.

He explains that it’s a motley crew of parties, with many different outsets. Some are fascists, others religious right-wing fundamentalists or right-wing populists. He places the Swedish Democrats in the group “Ethnocentric right-wing parties”, together with Poland’s Law and Justice and the Danish People’s Party.

Their differences aside, there are some unifying factors.

“They oppose immigration and the EU,” says Lars Jederlund.

If the far right manages to strengthen its position after the election, the number of members of parliament with critical views on issues like free trade agreements will increase, which could affect the labour market.

These parties are also sceptical of the Union’s initiatives to reduce social injustice.

The Swedish Democrats strongly oppose the European Pillar of Social Rights, because the party worry that it will lead to regulations that will affect the Swedish model.

Already today, seven EU member states are led by parties on the far right; Poland, Hungary, Austria, Italy, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Bulgaria. Most polls indicate that the right-wing parties will increase their number of seats after the election, while the Social Democrats of Europe are predicted to make a weak election.

Marita Ulvskog explains that the reason for this development is that the European Social Democrats haven’t been as good as these parties at storytelling.

“This, of course, is because we can’t trick people. We have to stick to the truth and they don’t.”

Franziska Schröter, from the German political think tank Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, which has close ties to the German Social Democrats, works with analysing the growing far-right movement.
She says that these political parties put a lot of effort into spreading their message online.

“Here, Alternative for Germany has about 20 employees working with social media to spread the messages of its parliamentarians. The Social Democrats have two.”

“That’s a massive gap. You could say that the established parties are focusing on doing their job and advancing politics while Alternative for Germany are focusing on communication.”

Theres another factor too. Followers of the far right are much more active on social media, and they attack their opponents on the internet.

“They are passionate and they hate,” she says.

“Hate is a much easier feeling to foster than love. To affect others by spreading fear is very effective.”

*Arbetet Global has tried to reach the Swedish Democrats and Golden Dawn for comments.

This story was originally published by Arbetet Global

The post “They’re like those bad football fans” appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Rohingya girls taking religious education lessons at a Madrasah in the camps. Since January, the Government of Bangladesh has ordered the expulsion of Rohingya refugee children from the country’s schools, prompting an outcry from human rights groups. Credit: Kamrul Hasan/IPS

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 3 2019 (IPS)

Young Rohingya refugees are now facing new hardships as the Bangladeshi government cracks down on their education and future opportunities.

Since January, the Government of Bangladesh has ordered the expulsion of Rohingya refugee children from schools, prompting an outcry from human rights groups.

“The Bangladeshi government’s policy of tracking down and expelling Rohingya refugee students instead of ensuring their right to education is misguided, tragic, and unlawful…education is a basic human right,” said Human Rights Watch’s (HRW) senior children’s rights researcher Bill Van Esveld.

“If education is for all, education should be for Rohingya,” an expelled Rohingya student told HRW.

The expelled students, who are among the 34,000 registered Rohingya refugees living in camps in the Teknaf and Ukhiya sub-districts in Cox’s Bazar, were born in Bangladesh after their families fled Myanmar in the early 1990s.

However, the majority of Rohingya children, including those born in Bangladesh, are not formally recognised as refugees and are not allowed to enrol in Bangladeshi schools.

Without access to education, Rohingya families often paid for Bangladeshi birth certificates or other documents in order for their children to attend school.

One student said his family spent months saving to pay 3,500 taka or 42 dollars to buy a Bangladeshi brith certificate so that they can pass as Bangladeshi nationals.

Another student pretended his parents were dead to avoid listing their refugee camp address on his school application.

In January, officials sent a notice to the directors of seven secondary schools in Teknaf and a government official in Ukhiya which warned about the increase in Rohingya children’s school attendance and the “dishonest public representatives” who have helped them acquire documents.

“We were informed by the intelligence agencies under the Prime Minister’s Office that Rohingya children are attending different educational institutions in Teknaf sub-district. It is ordered … to take strict measures so that no Rohingya children can attend any Bangladeshi educational institutions outside of the camps,” the notice said.

While it is unclear how many Rohingya were expelled, the notice listed the names and addresses of 44 Rohingya students and included orders to expel them as well as any others.

The founder of one secondary school said intelligence officials warned him that having Rohingya students was “not safe for the country, not safe for our people.”

Van Esveld criticised the move, stating: “The solution to children feeling compelled to falsify their identities to go to secondary school isn’t to expel them but to let them get the education they deserve.”

Mohammed recounted the day he got expelled to HRW, stating: “[The headmaster] said that if there were any Rohingya, the Education Ministry will cancel the license of the school. When the notice was read out, the headmaster said, ‘I know who all the Rohingya are. Don’t hesitate, leave your books and IDs here and go.’ In the class, in front of the Bangladeshi students, they separated us out, and told us to leave.”

Rahim was in English class when a vice principal came and asked the Rohingya students to leave.

“I went to a secret place and I cried. My aim was to be a doctor. What should I do now?” he said.

While there are some schools in refugee camps, they are not formally accredited and only run through to grade 8.

Refugee children at camp schools are also barred from taking national examinations or receiving official certifications indicating that they passed any level of education.

Without formal education, Rohingya children have no proof of their education and are unable to apply to universities.

HRW urged Bangladesh to stop the expulsion of Rohingya students and to ensure all children are able to receive a formal education.

In April 2018, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights also expressed concern over the Rohingya’s lack of access to education and recommended Bangladesh to fully incorporate the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR), of which Bangladesh is a party to, into domestic law.

CESCR includes the importance of children’s rights to all levels of education regardless of immigration or refugee status.

“As long as Rohingya refugee children aren’t able to obtain a formal education in the camps, Bangladesh should allow them to enrol in local schools,” Van Esveld said.

“The government should stop thwarting Rohingya students’ right to learn,” he added.

Related Articles

• With Poor Human Rights Record, Repatriation Not Possible
• Damning U.N. Report Outlines Crimes Against Rohingya As Children Suffer from Trauma One Year Later
• Rohingya Crisis May Be Genocide, UN Officials Say

The post Education for All—Refugees Too appeared first on Inter Press Service.

The harbour expansion in Colombo seeks to tap into the lucrative Indian shipping trade, with Chinese help. Credit: Amantha Perera/IPS

By Daud Khan
ROME, Apr 3 2019 (IPS)

Fifty years ago China was a poor country with little influence in the international sphere and without even a seat at the United Nations. Since then rapid economic growth in China has made it an economic powerhouse that increasingly plays a leading role on the world stage as a trade partners as well as a source of investment.

China’s development trajectory has been much different from most other developing countries which have been often been buffeted by political and economic problems and have failed to grow at anywhere near their potential.

In the first of this two part article we would like to explore how best developing countries can benefit from the ongoing and planned flow of Chinese investments into the country. In the second part we will look at some of the key element of China’s development experience and, see what lessons we can draw for policies and programmes.

The most iconic and discussed manifestation of China’s increased economic and political clout is the Belt and Road Initiative that aims to link China with markets in Europe and Asia.

The impact of Chinese investments is likely to be enormous and transformational in developing countries, especially in those countries that have been stuck in a trap of slow growth and low investment. This is a huge opportunity but in order to maximise its benefits it is essential that these investments are well managed and regulated.

The Initiative is largely about improving trade and logistics. At the same time, major investments are also being made in mining, manufacturing, agriculture and services – both for export to the Chinese markets as well as for sale in domestic markets. These investments are being made in both developed and developing countries.

However, their impact is likely to be enormous and transformational in the latter, especially in those developing countries that have been stuck in a trap of slow growth and low investment. This is a huge opportunity but in order to maximise its benefits it is essential that these investments are well managed and regulated.

Most Chinese firms investing overseas tend to be middle to large enterprises. Many are state owned, or subsidiaries of state owned companies, and, as such, enjoy good government connections and backing.

These factors give them superior bargaining power vis-a-vis local counterparts and there is risk that the terms of agreement may be tilted in their favour. Such risks are particularly acute in countries where counterpart local enterprises tend to be small with limited financial and administrative skills.

There is an urgent need for laws, regulation and guidelines that ensure that contracts and agreements signed are fair and equitable. This is critical for all sectors, but especially so for activities such as mining, which require massive investment and long gestation periods, where agreements can be for decades.

A number of critical aspects require public oversight including royalty payments and financial parameters, such as interest rates, depreciation rates and insurance fees.

There is also a need to ensure that prices charged for the output of Chinese firms sold in local markets are fair and within reach of domestic consumers;  that there is no “transfer pricing” in the case of exports – this is a practice where companies sell at low prices to parent companies overseas in order to reduce profits and tax liabilities, while at the same time reducing the inflow of foreign exchange into the host country; that taxes, duties and other levies are fully paid in time; that negative environment impacts are mitigated and, when necessary, remedial actions are put in place; that workers are paid fair wages and that essential services such as medical assistance and education are provided to them; and that current land owners, farmers and tenants are not displaced from their lands and houses.

It may appear that these conditions are harsh and risk alienating Chinese investors.  However, Chinese investment should not be simply an opportunity to make a quick return but as a long-term partnership that is based on mutual benefits that are shared, also with workers.

These conditions, including on transfer pricing, are common for transnational investors in most developed countries and in these countries Chinese companies have no problem adhering to them.  There is no reason that similar condition are not set in developing countries and that Chinese firms should comply with them.

Moreover, over the last couple of decades, under pressure from consumer lobbying, boycotts and law suits in their countries of origin, many US and European companies, including the large multinationals, are increasingly conforming to such laws and regulations.

Many of them now also have significant Corporate Social Responsibility programmes. Chinese companies, if they expect to complete in the medium to long-term with Western corporations, must be prepared to do the same.

It is Government’s prerogative and duty to make laws, regulations and guidelines to manage overseas investment.  However, such laws are notoriously difficult to implement in developing countries with limited governance capacities.

It will be more so in the case of Chinese investors which, as mentioned above, tend to be big and well connected.

Moreover, it is unlikely that NGOs, pressure groups and civil society groups in China will take it upon themselves to lobby against unfair trade or manufacturing operations of Chinese companies in other countries, as happened in the case of US and Europeans companies.

In this situation, much responsibility rests with the civil society, the press and the judicial system in developing countries.  These institutions need to take up the challenge.

This will not be easy and help would be required from the international development community. At political level, the UN and other official agencies need to help governments to daft laws and regulations; and international NGOs, lobby groups and consumer associations will need to create and help counterpart organizations in developing countries.

However, the most difficult hurdle will be for Governments in developing countries to start seeing civil society organizations, the press and the judicial systems as key partners in the development process and not as impediments to trade and financial partnerships.

 

Daud Khan has more than 30 years of experience on development issues with various national and international organizations. He has degrees in economics from the LSE and Oxford; and a degree in Environmental Management from the Imperial College of Science and Technology.  

The post China and Developing Countries: Managing Chinese Investments appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Stella Paul
POHNPEI , Apr 3 2019 (IPS)

Elizabeth Keller is one of the most senior health officials in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM).
She is the current acting chief of Public Health and also the head of the leprosy programme in the island nation’s capital of Pohnpei.
While Pohnpei has the largest number of leprosy cases in the country—nearly 100 new cases are reported here every year—Keller says that more new cases doesn’t necessarily present an alarming picture. She says that this should be viewed instead as a positive sign that the government’s activities are effective as more people are coming forward to be diagnosed than ever before.

During a recent visit of the Sasakawa Health Foundation/Nippon Foundation team to Micronesia’s Health Ministry, Keller talks about how her department is trying to protect the children of Pohnpei from leprosy, otherwise known as Hansen’s disease. She also talks of the unique perspective and strength that a female leader like her can bring to public health.

The post Increasing Leprosy Cases in Micronesia Points to Better Detection and Awareness appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Stella Paul
PALIKIR , Apr 2 2019 (IPS)

Maylene Ekiek has been working with the Department of Health in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) for 12 years now. She is the head of the National Leprosy Programme in the Pacific island nation, which still remains one of three, along with the Marshall Islands and Kiribati, that is yet to eliminate leprosy.

Ekiek is responsible for ensuring the smooth running of the leprosy programme, as well as its success.

However, as Ekiek reveals in this interview, the absence of funding at a national level is one of the many roadblocks that she faces. In what seems to be a growing trend across the Micronesia region, FSM also has combined diseases to provide an integrated healthcare service. In this nation the treatment of both tuberculosis and leprosy is combined. However, while there are regular budgetary allocations for TB, there are none for leprosy, otherwise known as Hansen’s disease.

Despite the lack of funding, Ekiek has managed to keep the programme alive because of her sheer grit and passion for seeing a Leprosy-free Micronesia.

During a recent visit of the Sasakawa Health Memorial Foundation/Nippon Foundation team to Micronesia’s Health Ministry, Ekiek was on sick leave thanks to a fractured her leg. But to everyone’s surprise, Ekiek attended the meeting as she viewed it as a vital opportunity to seek the resources she needs for the leprosy programme. In the following interview, Ekiek talks about the financial and technical support needed achieve the programme’s goal of eliminating leprosy.

 

 

 

Related Articles

• “Don’t Tell My Husband I Have Leprosy”: Social Stigma Silences Marshall Islands’ Women
• Q&A: Why Treating Leprosy as a Special Disease Violates the Rights of the Person Affected by It
• A Disease as Old as Time – Eliminated but Not Eradicated

The post Financial Hurdles to Eliminating Leprosy in Micronesia appeared first on Inter Press Service.

To ensure public acceptability, some benefits accrue to many in the early stages of privatization in order to minimize public resistance. However, in the longer term, privatization tends to enrich a few but typically fails to deliver on its ostensible aims.

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Apr 2 2019 (IPS)

In most cases of privatization, some outcomes benefit some, which serves to legitimize the change. Nevertheless, overall net welfare improvements are the exception, not the rule.

Never is everyone better off. Rather, some are better off, while others are not, and typically, many are even worse off. The partial gains are typically high, or even negated by overall costs, which may be diffuse, and less directly felt by losers.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

Privatized monopoly powers
Since many SOEs are public monopolies, privatization has typically transformed them into private monopolies. In turn, abuse of such market monopoly power enables more rents and corporate profits.

As corporate profits are the private sector’s yardstick of success, privatized monopolies are likely to abuse their market power to maximize rents for themselves. Thus, privatization tends to burden the public, e.g., if charges are raised.

In most cases, privatization has not closed the governments’ fiscal deficits, and may even worsen budgetary problems. Privatization may worsen the fiscal situation due to loss of revenue from privatized SOEs, or tax evasion by the new privatized entity.

Options for cross-subsidization, e.g., to broaden coverage are reduced as the government is usually left with unprofitable activities while the potentially profitable is acquired by the private sector. Thus, governments are often forced to cut essential public services.

In most cases, profitable SOEs were privatized as prospective private owners are driven to maximize profits. Fiscal deficits have often been exacerbated as new private owners use creative accounting to avoid tax, secure tax credits and subsidies, and maximize retained earnings.

Meanwhile, governments lose vital revenue sources due to privatization if SOEs are profitable, and are often obliged to subsidize privatized monopolies to ensure the poor and underserved still have access to the privatized utilities or services.

Privatization burdens many
Privatization burdens the public when charges or fees are not reduced, or when the services provided are significantly reduced. Thus, privatization often burdens the public in different ways, depending on how market power is exercised or abused.

Often, instead of trying to provide a public good to all, many are excluded because it is not considered commercially viable or economic to serve them. Consequently, privatization may worsen overall enterprise performance. ‘Value for money’ may go down despite ostensible improvements used to justify higher user charges.

SOEs are widely presumed to be more likely to be inefficient. The most profitable and potentially profitable are typically the first and most likely to be privatized. This leaves the rest of the public sector even less profitable, and thus considered more inefficient, in turn justifying further privatizations.

Efficiency elusive
It is often argued that privatization is needed as the government is inherently inefficient and does not know how to run enterprises well. Incredibly, the government is expected to subsidize privatized SOEs, which are presumed to be more efficient, in order to fulfil its obligations to the citizenry.

Such obligations may not involve direct payments or transfers, but rather, lucrative concessions to the privatized SOE. Thus, they may well make far more from these additional concessions than the actual cost of fulfilling government obligations.

Thus, privatization of profitable enterprises or segments not only perpetuates exclusion of the deserving, but also worsens overall public sector performance now encumbered with remaining unprofitable obligations.

One consequence is poorer public sector performance, contributing to what appears to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. To make matters worse, the public sector is then stuck with financing the unprofitable, thus seemingly supporting to the privatization prophecy.

Benefits accrue to relatively few
Privatization typically enriches the politically connected few who secure lucrative rents by sacrificing the national or public interest for private profit, even when privatization may not seem to benefit them.

Privatization in many developing and transition economies has primarily enriched these few as the public interest is sacrificed to such powerful private business interests. This has, in turn, exacerbated corruption, patronage and other related problems.

For example, following Russian voucher privatization and other Western recommended reforms, for which there was a limited domestic constituency then, within three years (1992-1994), the Russian economy had collapsed by half, and adult male life expectancy fell by six years. It was the greatest such recorded catastrophe in the last six millennia of recorded human history.

Soon, a couple of dozen young Russian oligarchs had taken over the commanding heights of the Russian economy; many then monetized their gains and invested abroad, migrating to follow their new wealth. Much of this was celebrated by the Western media as economic progress.

The post Has Privatization Benefitted the Public? appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

To ensure public acceptability, some benefits accrue to many in the early stages of privatization in order to minimize public resistance. However, in the longer term, privatization tends to enrich a few but typically fails to deliver on its ostensible aims.

The post Has Privatization Benefitted the Public? appeared first on Inter Press Service.

This article is part of a series on the current state of civil society organisations (CSOs), which will be the focus of International Civil Society Week (ICSW), sponsored by CIVICUS, and scheduled to take place in Belgrade, April 8-12.
 
Lysa John is the secretary-general of CIVICUS, a global alliance of more than 7,000 activists and civil society organisations across 175 countries.

By Lysa John
JOHANNESBURG, Apr 2 2019 (IPS)

“I never thought it would get so big and I think it is amazing.”

The words of a 16-year-old Swedish teenager who skipped school to protest outside her government’s inaction on climate change. Greta Thunberg is marvelling at how, in just a few short months, her solitary protests outside Sweden’s parliament, have inspired and united hundreds of thousands of young people and others across the globe into a powerful, growing grassroots movement for climate change action.

And growing.

Thunberg’s school climate strike has inspired more than 1,500 climate strike events in more than 100 countries across the globe, from Argentina to New Zealand.

Lysa John – Credit: CIVICUS

For those of us fighting what can often feel like a losing battle against a rising tide of rights repression, Thunberg’s words should offer a profoundly insightful message – a lightbulb moment – about the way forward for our struggle for a just, inclusive and sustainable world. About mobilizing for amazing results.

It is fair to say that the traditional civil society sector is at a crossroads. Public trust in and support for aid organisations and NGOs has faded, thanks in part to recent high-profile abuse scandals, dwindling resources and frustration with a lack of real structural societal change in spite of our efforts.

The old approaches of working with governments, who are failing to serve their people’s interests, for incremental change, is not working anymore.

This watershed moment for organized civil society comes amid a serious, global crisis in democracy. A staggering 7 billion people live in countries where fundamental freedoms of expression, association and peaceful assembly are not properly respected, according to The CIVICUS Monitor, an online platform that tracks threats to civic freedoms worldwide.

In this environment, citizen action is increasingly being organized into grassroots, social movements – mass-based, non-hierarchical groupings driven by people power, that are starting to prove successful in the fight for human rights and social justice.

The global #MeToo gender rights movement and the March for Our Lives American gun reform movement led by high school students – both still growing campaigns – provide encouraging lessons for the Climate School Strike movement on the power of this dynamic approach to activism.

So, how does civil society engage social movements in a way to harness the power of dynamic, new ways to tackling the world’s most pressing challenges?

That’s a key question that more than 700 civil society leaders, activists and international organization representatives will be trying to answer when they meet for the global International Civil Society Week (ICSW) gathering in Belgrade next week, from April 8-12.

Hosted by CIVICUS, a global alliance of civil society organisations in partnership with Civic Initiatives, a Serbian association of NGOs, the conference’s theme, “The Power of Togetherness”, explores how people and organisations around the world can, and are, working together to enable and defend spaces for civic action in a world where global transformations are reshaping how civil society functions.

In order to build stronger, more resilient and effective civil society we need to re-connect with citizens. Across the world, we are seeing the emergence of diverse civic movements aimed at calling out injustices or achieving improvements in governance in local and national contexts.

Many of these are spontaneous, self-organised expressions of change – led by ordinary people who feel strongly about universal values of justice, integrity and solidarity. For formal civil society organisations (CSOs), there could not be a better time to lean into and strengthen approaches to community leadership for ‘glo-cal’ change.

We have the passion and intellect to connect the action on the streets with the spaces where decisions must be taken; and to channel the local energies for change into strategies for long-term, globally-connected transformation.

At the International Civil Society Week (ICSW), a primary goal is for delegates to work together to understand and connect with people’s movements on the streets around the world, to build bridges that strengthen alliances and create solidarity and to identify steps to build and sustain collective impact.

On every continent, forces seek to undo the advances made in our societies and communities. But around the world, brave citizens continue to risk their lives to stand up against repression and persecution.

The ICSW is all the more significant this year as civil society leaders, activists and innovators are gathering in a country in which a growing social movement has been demonstrating some of these very goals.

For weeks now, there have been ongoing mass protests in the capital, Belgrade, calling for democratic reforms under the banner of a campaign known as “#OneinFiveMillion. The campaign is a live example of how civil society plays an instrumental role in fighting to protect and expand civic freedoms and democratic values in the Balkans and globally. The toppling of Macedonia’s government in 2017 by unprecedented civic action is another example of that fight back.

Serbian civil society played a crucial role in the country’s transition to democracy. But not all parts of the country’s society are equally protected, with gay-rights activists and women human rights defenders, in particular, targets of attacks and threats.

By hosting ICSW 2019 in Serbia, we will shine a spotlight on the region’s communities, help address their challenges and find ways to support them.

We will also examine the opportunities we have to forge new alliances and increase our collective impact by coming together to fight for common issues. Across the past year, we have civil society get better at transferring strategies and lessons for change across countries.

India’s legal win for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community has, for instance, boosted efforts to repeal discriminatory laws in other countries, including Costa Rica and Portugal. In Argentina, Kenya and Ireland, we saw ordinary people take action to defend and advance abortion rights.

Last, but not in the least, we will spend time reviewing the changes we need within civil society and the way we operate. We need greater accountability for our own actions and the way we engage those we are meant to serve and represent.

Revelations of scandals around sexual and other misconduct by NGO officials in recent years have done much to erode public trust in the integrity of our organisations and our mission. Urgent solutions – new ways of operating – will continue to be sought through our deliberations at the International Civil Society Week.

As in previous years, this week of dialogue will enable us to emerge stronger in our individual and collective inspirations for change. The ICSW is that much needed space for us to step back from the overwhelming urgency of ‘doing’ and spend time instead thinking deeply about questions of our relevance and legitimacy as a sector.

It will be a time for us to go beyond individual mandates and limitations, and work instead on developing pathways for our future relevance, including in relation to investments we need to make in order nurture the next generation of civic leaders.

This includes decisive and innovative ways to expand the tent of ‘civil society’ beyond traditional limits and enabling more people than ever before to share our values and speak out for the changes needed to ensure a just, inclusive and sustainable world.

Building a new generation of champions for social justice – in the way that Greta Thunberg has inspired millions of children and youth to take action for the climate – is the future we need to design together; our time in Belgrade offers us the opportunity to commit to doing this better and more actively together.

The post Grassroots Organising Points the way in Fight Against Rising Repression appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

This article is part of a series on the current state of civil society organisations (CSOs), which will be the focus of International Civil Society Week (ICSW), sponsored by CIVICUS, and scheduled to take place in Belgrade, April 8-12.

 
Lysa John is the secretary-general of CIVICUS, a global alliance of more than 7,000 activists and civil society organisations across 175 countries.

The post Grassroots Organising Points the way in Fight Against Rising Repression appeared first on Inter Press Service.

The post An Indigenous Nation Battles for Land and Justice in Bolivia appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio. Courtesy: The Commonwealth

By Lahai J. Samboma
LONDON, Apr 1 2019 (IPS)

If the government of Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio were to be graded on their first year’s performance in office, it is likely that their report card would read, “promising start, which they must surpass in the years ahead”.

Since taking office after his successful election last year, this retired brigadier general has made a promising start, beginning with a massive investigation into corruption and mismanagement under All Peoples Congress (the APC) government of ex-President Ernest Bai Koroma.

On the recommendations of that investigation, a judge-led public inquiry is now examining corruption allegations against former officials. Early scalps in this veritable war on graft include those of ex-Vice President Victor Bockarie Foh and former minister Minkailu Mansaray; they have both offered to return money they stole.

The issue of corruption hits a raw nerve here, a country that is desperately poor despite its wealth of natural resources and fertile lands, which in a parallel universe would guarantee a decent standard of life for every one of its 7.5 million citizens. Former government officials are also widely believed to have stolen resources meant for the victims of the Ebola and mudslide disasters which laid waste to thousands a few years back.

Freetown resident Levi Fofana captures the public mood when he says Bio came at the “right time”. “The people of Sierra Leone were lied to by the roguish APC, which created a bankrupt state in which swindlers dressed in suits and African robes abused power with impunity,” he said.

Although ex-President Koroma has called the anti-corruption drive a “witch-hunt”, ordinary people are enthused, urging the government on. They hope Koroma will find himself in the dock one day soon; they want to know how the former president and his close family and associates became “overnight millionaires”.

Bio was the leader of the former military junta who handed power to a democratically-elected government after organising elections in 1996. He has brought renewed hope to this coastal West African nation which suffered a devastating civil war in the 1990s that killed tens of thousands and devastated the economy – and which had to endure a decade-long APC hegemony characterised by corruption, economic decline, and drift.

He inherited state liabilities of 3.7 billion dollars. Simultaneously as he drove forward his anti-corruption campaign, the new President upon taking office established a consolidated account for all government revenues. The goal was to plug any potential “leakages” in his own administration.

According to T J Lamina, Sierra Leone’s High Commissioner to London, the policy has been a success, and is still in place one. Revenues collected have gone towards servicing the domestic debt and paying civil servants, who were now getting paid on time and without government having to borrow.

Ambassador Lamina told IPS: “It’s not like Sierra Leone is not generating revenue; the revenue is there but it was going into private pockets.”

Bio’s stewardship of the economy has won plaudits from the IMF, who have approved a new two-year support programme worth 172 million dollars. The World Bank has chimed in with support to the tune of 325 million dollars. Both Bretton Woods institutions’ relationship with the previous administration had been “increasingly difficult”, which saw the IMF suspending their programme in 2017. President Bio has said both institutions were “necessary evils”.

His ambitious, five-year National Development Plan, costed at 8 billion dollars, was unveiled in February and has been endorsed by the Bretton Woods double act. Its key pillars include the development of human capital and infrastructure, and increasing agricultural production, especially of the staple food, rice – which the country used to export up till the 1970s, but which is now sucks up valuable foreign exchange to import.

Inevitably with report cards, you eventually get to the bits that cause embarrassment or feelings of regret in the subject. In this case one of these has to be the alarming rates of gender-based violence against women and young girls. The available figures paint the story in vivid technicolour.

According to police statistics, there were 632 cases of rapes or sexual assaults in 2012. That figure rose to an astronomical 8,505 for last year alone. Over 70 percent of victims were girls under 15 years old. Although the government declared the crisis a state of emergency and speedily passed legislation making the “sexual penetration of minors” punishable with an automatic life sentence, it remains to be seen how effective this will be.

“Our commitment [to solving this problem] is beyond mere words and beyond mere acknowledgement of an obligation,” President Bio has said. “The protection and empowerment of our women and girls is critical to our existence and progress as a nation.”

While it is true that they inherited the problem, it would be a harsh indictment of President Bio’s “new direction” if, by this time next year, the incidence of egregious sexual violence remains at unacceptably-high levels.

Observers also expressed concern over last year’s arrest by police of a man who led a demonstration against the removal of subsidies from petrol and kerosene. He was later released without charge. Rights groups subsequently called on the government to respect the right of peaceful protest.

“The price of our fuel was hiked because the IMF told government to do it,” said protester Fatmata Bangura, adding that the move would put “more strain on a budget already under a lot of pressure”.

From an appraisal of the first year of President Bio’s government, two things are clear. The first is that he has entered into a marriage of convenience with the IMF and the World Bank; the second is that, if his government’s promising start is to be surpassed, or even sustained, he will need the skills of a master magician to keep both his people, as well as his “marriage partners”, happy.

 

The post Sierra Leone: Bio Government’s First Year appeared first on Inter Press Service.