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Youth Rally for Peace Through Climate Justice at the UN

Fri, 09/15/2023 - 13:07

Youth rally at the UN for climate justice. Credit: Abigail Van Neely/IPS

By Abigail Van Neely
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 15 2023 (IPS)

“What do we want? Climate justice! When do we want it? Now!” youth chanted in an unusually lively conference at the United Nations Headquarters.

Earlier on Thursday morning (September 14), almost 500 young people had streamed into the room to a DJ’s upbeat soundtrack. Spirits were high despite the more somber rallying cry of this year’s International Day of Peace youth event: the planet is on fire. Many speakers focused on the idea that there cannot be peace without climate justice.

“We cannot begin to talk about peace without talking about the climate crisis,” environmental justice advocate Saad Amer said after leading the crowd in the kind of chants more likely heard at a protest. Fossil fuel disputes spark wars that disproportionately affect people of color, Amer explained. Youth must take charge to “re-write destiny.”

To 21-year-old Mexican climate justice activist Xiye Bastida, “Peace is the ability to drink clean air and clean water.” Bastida, a member of the Otomi-Toltec indigenous community, spoke of her community’s traditional commitment to living in harmony with the earth. Now, indigenous people are being displaced as regenerative practices are forgotten. Bastida called for a world free of extreme weather and exploitation. The climate crisis reflects a broken system, she said, but peace is the bravery to imagine a better world.

Young people are “creating a youth movement for climate action, seeking racial justice, and promoting gender equality,” the Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications, Melissa Fleming, told the audience. In a recorded statement, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reiterated that youth action has power. Still, only four governments have concrete plans to include young people in policymaking, Youth Envoy Jayathma Wickramanyake noted.

As she lived through brutal conflicts in her home country of Sri Lanka, Wickramanayake said she wondered why people around her continued to fight. Today, she told other young activists that the root causes of conflict always run deep – from inequality to poverty. She stressed that peace cannot be differentiated from development.

The event occurs days before the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Summit, a critical opportunity for world leaders to address failures to implement the goals so far.

“Next week there will be an important breakthrough in creating the conditions to rescue the sustainable development goals. I’m very hopeful that the SDG summit will indeed represent a quantum leap in the response to the dramatic failures that we have witnessed,” Guterres said during a news conference.

Meanwhile, youth are left with memories of their chants: “The oceans are rising, and so are we!” “We are unstoppable – another world is possible!”

IPS UN Bureau Report

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Categories: Africa

Carbon Colonialism Has No Place in Liberia’s Forests

Fri, 09/15/2023 - 13:00

Liberia is one of the last countries in West Africa to still have vast tracts of forest – but this valuable resource is disappearing at an alarming rate. Credit: Shutterstock.

By Silas Kpanan’Ayoung Siakor
MONROVIA, Sep 15 2023 (IPS)

The fate of Liberia and its forests are entwined. Yet a new climate change deal, set to be announced at the UN climate change talks in Dubai this November, would drive a wedge between our communities and their woodlands.

Currently, forests make up more than two-thirds of Liberia’s land area, and are crucial for people’s livelihoods. They were illegally plundered by the former President Charles Taylor to fund a civil war that left an estimated 150,000 dead.

If this deal proceeds, it is likely to do so under dubious legality and without the prior consent of the communities living in the forests.

What’s more, it is part of a global trend called ‘carbon colonialism’, where instead of taking concrete steps to decarbonise, corporations offset their greenhouse gas emissions by paying to preserve forests or other ecosystems—often against the wishes of the local or Indigenous communities who live there

And since 2003, when the war ended, vast swathes of forested land have been signed over to foreign investors, as a corrupt minority have enriched themselves through illegal logging at the expense of the impoverished majority. We have lost nearly one quarter of our forests to economic development projects since then—with most of the loss occurring in the last ten years. This is a disaster for the communities that live on these lands and for efforts to reduce the impacts of climate change.

Now another chapter is unfolding in the tangled history of Liberia’s forests.

At the end of March, Liberia’s Ministry of Finance signed a memorandum of understanding with a United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based consultancy called Blue Carbon LLC, giving it the exclusive right to manage an area of rainforest covering one tenth of our national land. The deal, which has been negotiated in secrecy, is reportedly in the process of being finalized.

Under the agreement Blue Carbon will pay Liberia to manage and preserve one million hectares of forest for 30 years, and sell carbon credits from the emissions ‘saved’ by protecting these forests to major polluters, who will use them to offset their own emissions.

That is a significant chunk of our country, set to be pawned to the planet’s major polluters, enabling them to continue extracting and burning fossil fuels while claiming to protect the planet.

If this deal proceeds, it is likely to do so under dubious legality and without the prior consent of the communities living in the forests.

What’s more, it is part of a global trend called ‘carbon colonialism’, where instead of taking concrete steps to decarbonise, corporations offset their greenhouse gas emissions by paying to preserve forests or other ecosystems—often against the wishes of the local or Indigenous communities who live there. A similar deal with Zimbabwe’s government was announced in the middle of August.

‘Greenwashing’

Money is desperately needed to support local communities protecting their forests in Liberia as much as anywhere and there may well be ‘offset projects’ that are truly beneficial for local or Indigenous communities—but this is not one of them.

The chairman of Blue Carbon LLC is Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum, a member of the UAE royal family, which has major interests in the country’s oil and gas infrastructure.

The UAE—a fossil fuel state—is planning a huge expansion of oil and gas even though, at the end of the year, it will host the UN’s COP28 climate summit.

To burnish its environmental credentials ahead of the COP, the UAE’s government and various state-run companies have hired some of the world’s biggest PR companies to mount a greenwashing campaign.

The Blue Carbon deal—which is set to be unveiled at the COP to show how the UAE is fulfilling its commitments under the Paris Climate deal—is part of this greenwashing.

Dubious legality

Study after study has shown that community land rights is the best tool to preventing deforestation, better than the government or private sector managed protected areas—like those that ostensibly would be implemented if the Blue Carbon deal is finalized. The UN’s most recent report on climate change emphasizes community land rights as critical in both climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts.

The deal, which ignores this body of research, is also a primary threat to rural Liberians and their hard-won land rights. Around 70 per cent of land in Liberia is owned by communities. Roughly one third of our people live in forested areas, and the local people who live on the land targeted under the deal will only be consulted about it after it has been signed – that is, if they are consulted at all.

As such, it represents a ‘climate land grab’ that reverses some of the steady progress that Liberia has made on recognising community rights.

The deal’s legality is also dubious, and the agreement appears to violate our constitution and a number of Liberian laws, notably the National Forestry Reform Law (2006), the Community Rights Law (2009), the Public Procurement and Concessions Act (2010), and the Land Right Act (2018).

One can only sell carbon if you own it. Liberian law is clear that communities own their customary forest lands and the resources on them.

The conditions of our people are worsening by the day. Liberia is one of the last countries in West Africa to still have vast tracts of forest – but this valuable resource is disappearing at an alarming rate.

Liberians must remain open to working with anyone, including corporations, who can help us protect our forests and our peoples’ rights. But we must remain resolute in our opposition to false climate solutions such as this deal.

Silas Kpanan’Ayoung Siakor has championed community forest and land rights in Liberia for two decades. His efforts were recognized with the Whitley Award for Environment and Human Rights in 2002 (UK), the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2006 (US), Award for Outstanding Environmental and Human Rights Activism from the Alexander Soros Foundation (US), and the Mundo Negro Fraternity Award in 2018 (Spain).

Categories: Africa

African Agro-Processors Call for Policies Conducive to Local Manufacturing

Fri, 09/15/2023 - 09:20

Experts are calling on countries to change their policies to protect locally produced products. For example, Nigeria is an exporter of rubber but imports tyres; Ghana exports cocoa, but Switzerland is known for chocolate. Here a worker in a factory in Abidjan holds a block of rubber meant for export for processing into finished products abroad.

By Isaiah Esipisu
DAR ES SALAAM, Sep 15 2023 (IPS)

Experts at the Africa Food Systems Forum (AGRF) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, have called on African governments to make and review existing policies to protect the processing and agro-industrialisation of locally produced agricultural products.

During the launch of the Deal Room, Mohammed Dewji, President of MeTL Group of Companies in Tanzania, observed that agriculture will remain meaningless without agri-processing. https://www.ipsnews.net/2021/05/kenyas-dryland-farmers-embrace-regenerative-farming-to-brave-tough-climate/

“Tanzania produces cotton, and it is perhaps the third largest producer. How come it has only three textile firms? We are farming the cotton, ginning it, and exporting the same to China, where the final product is produced, died, and printed, and then it is sent back to us. Because of taxes involved at the local manufacturing level, we cannot compete,” he said.

“Unless we put in place correct policies that will favour local manufacturing, we will continue talking about cocoa from Ghana and chocolate from Switzerland,” he told delegates at the Deal Room.

The Deal Room is a matchmaking platform hosted at the AGRF, aiming to drive new business deals and commitments, where companies in the agriculture and agribusiness sectors can access finance, mentorship, and market entry solutions to support their growth objectives.

According to Wanjohi Ndagu, the Partner and Investment Director at Pearl Capital Partners Ltd based in Uganda, many African governments have policies that favour importation even when farmers in those countries have bumper harvests of the same product.

“We need policies that are able to protect farmers and local production,” he said.

Other than cocoa in Ghana and chocolate from Switzerland, countries like Ivory Coast and Nigeria are net exporters of natural rubber, which is processed and brought back to them as car tyres, footwear, and rubber-based industrial goods.

Tanzania, Mozambique, and Ivory Coast are net exporters of cashew nuts but importers of roasted and processed cashew nuts, cashew butter, and other value-added cashew products.

Kenya is currently delving into the exportation of raw avocado, but the country has always imported particularly avocado cosmetic products.

However, all is not lost.

Rwanda was showcased as one of the success stories in Africa where, through favourable policies, the country has created a conducive environment attracting investment into the agro-processing sector.

“Our country’s Strategic Plan for Agriculture Transformation has enabled us to move the sector from subsistence to a knowledge-based, value-creating sector,” said Nelly Mukazayire, the Deputy CEO of the Rwanda Development Board (RDB).

To make work more accessible and attractive to investors, the country has created a one-stop-centre where investors in any given sector, including agro-processing, are given services right from the search for a business name, business registration, generation of unique identification of the registered business, the opening of the business bank account and issuance of relevant permits and licenses, and the entire process takes a maximum of eight hours for the business to become a legal entity.

In many other African countries, such processes can take more than four months and, in some cases, a year for a business to get proper registration, and this, according to the delegates at the AGRF, slows down the rate of investment.

“Investors in the agriculture sector in Rwanda also have an opportunity to get up to seven years of tax holiday and reduced corporate income taxes on exports,” said Mukazayire.

After the COVID-19 pandemic, the country launched what is today known as the Manufacture and Build to Recover Programme (MBRP), aiming to boost economic recovery efforts with specific incentives for the manufacturing, agro-processing, construction and real estate development sectors.

Through MBRP, manufacturers with a capital of USD1 million and above are given import duty exemption and Value Added Tax (VAT) exemption for imported construction materials unavailable in East Africa, VAT exemption for machinery and raw materials sourced domestically and VAT exemption for construction materials sourced domestically.

However, the capital for agro-processing was capped at USD 100,000 to support the sector’s growth.

During the AGRF Deal Room event, Brent Malahay, the Chief Strategy Officer at the Equity Group, called on investors to take advantage of the bank’s ‘Africa recovery and resilience plan,’ whose aim is to capacitate, finance and connect East African Community value chains to global supply chains.

“Through this plan, Equity Group will leverage off a region that gives access to critical raw materials, supports industrial capacity needs and an entrepreneurial and innovative local workforce, and the one that provides a sizeable market that is increasingly becoming more integrated,” said Malahay.

During the event, Isobel Coleman, Deputy Administrator at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), announced an investment of USD4 million into VALUE4HER, AGRA’s Deal Room product, which is a continental initiative aimed at strengthening women’s agribusiness enterprises and enhancing voice and advocacy across Africa.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

The Vast Potential of the Human Spirit

Fri, 09/15/2023 - 08:26

Girls read from their textbooks at the Dasht-e-Barchi Education Centre in Kabul, Afghanistan. Credit: UNICEF/Shehzad Noorani

By Gordon Brown
LONDON, Sep 15 2023 (IPS)

With hope and courage, we must rise to the challenges before us. We must rise to the challenge of a world set afire by climate change, forced displacement, armed conflicts and human rights abuses. We must rise to the challenge of girls being denied their right to an education in Afghanistan. We must rise to the challenge of a global refugee crisis that is disrupting development gains the world over. We must rise to the challenge of brutal and unconscionable wars in places like Sudan and Ukraine that are putting millions of children at risk every day.

By ensuring every single child has access to quality education and embracing the vast potential of the human spirit – especially the 224 million girls and boys caught in emergencies and protracted crises that so urgently need our support – we can rise to this challenge. It’s a chance for girls with disabilities like Sammy in Colombia to find a nurturing place to learn and grow, it’s a chance for girls that have been forced into child marriage like Ajak in South Sudan to resume control of their lives, it’s a chance for refugees like Jannat in Bangladesh to find hope and dignity once more.

As Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the United Nations global fund for education in emergencies, has successfully completed its first strategic plan period and now enters its second strategic period, we are seeing time and again the power of education in propelling global efforts to deliver on the promises outlined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Paris Agreement, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and other crucial international frameworks. By ensuring quality holistic education for the world’s most marginalized and vulnerable children in crisis settings, we invest in human capital, transform economies, ensure human rights, and build a more peaceful and more sustainable future for all.

The achievements outlined in ECW’s 2022 Annual Results Report tell a story of a breakout global fund moving with strength, speed and agility, while achieving quality. Together with a growing range of strategic partners, ECW reached 4.2 million children in 2022 alone. It was also the first time girls represented more than half of the children reached by ECW’s investments, including 53% of girls at the secondary level, which is a significant milestone in achieving the aspirational target of 60% girls reached. Now in its sixth year of operation, ECW has reached a total of 8.8 million children and adolescents with the safety, power and opportunity of a quality, inclusive education. An additional 32.2 million children and adolescents were reached with targeted interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We are also seeing a global advocacy movement reaching critical mass, together with stronger political commitment and increased financing for the sector. In 2022, funding for education in emergencies was higher than ever before. Total available funding has grown by more than 57% over just three years – from US$699 million in 2019 to more than US$1.1 billion in 2022.

However, the needs have also skyrocketed over this same period. Funding asks for education in emergencies within humanitarian appeals have nearly tripled from US$1.1 billion in 2019 to almost US$3 billion at the end of 2022. This means that while donors are stepping up, the funding gap has actually widened, and only 30% of education in emergencies requirements were funded in 2022.

With support from key donors – including Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States, as the top-three contributors among 25 in total, such as visionary private sector partners like The LEGO Foundation – US$826 million was announced at the ECW High-Level Financing Conference in early 2023. Collective resource mobilization efforts from all partners and stakeholders at global, regional, and country levels also helped unlock an additional US$842 million of funding for education in-country, which was contributed in alignment with ECW’s Multi-Year Resilience Programmes in 22 countries, and thus illustrates strong coordination by strategic donor partners who work in affected emergencies and protracted crises-contexts.

We must rise to this challenge by finding new and innovative ways to finance education. To date, some of ECW’s largest and prospective bilateral and multilateral donors have not yet committed funding for the full 2023–2026 period, and there remains a gap in funding from the private sector, foundations and philanthropic donors. In the first half of 2023, ECW faces a funding gap of approximately $670 million to fully finance results under the Strategic Plan, 2023–2026, to reach more than 20 million children over the next three years.

The investments will address the diverse impacts of crisis on education through child-centred approaches that are tailored to the needs of specific groups affected by crisis, such as children with disabilities, girls, refugees, and vulnerable children in host communities. These investments entail academic learning, social and emotional learning, sports, arts, combined with mental health and psycho-social services, school feeding, water and sanitation, as well as a protection component.

Since ECW became operational, we have withstood the cataclysmic forces of a global pandemic, a rise in armed conflicts that have disrupted social and economic security the world over, the unconscionable denial of education for girls in Afghanistan, floods and droughts made ever-more devastating by climate change, and other crises that are derailing efforts to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals.

Now is the time to come together as one people, one planet to address the challenges before us. Now is the time to embrace the vast potential of the human spirit. With education for all, we can make sure girls like Sammy, Ajak and Jannat are able to reach their full potential, we can build a better world for generations to come.

Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown is United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education

IPS UN Bureau

Categories: Africa

How a UN General Assembly Meeting is Organized

Fri, 09/15/2023 - 07:54

Meticulous attention to planning detail ahead of the session. Credit: Pixabay

By Kenji Nakano
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 15 2023 (IPS)

The General Assembly and ECOSOC Affairs Division has around 40 staff members, with the combined role to facilitate the deliberations and decision-making of intergovernmental bodies such as the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council and their subsidiary organs.

This entails several aspects to assist the presiding officer, Member States and the other participants. For example, we put together the agenda of the intergovernmental body and a programme of work (i.e., calendar) of meetings of that body. We also prepare the presiding officer’s scripts and the list of speakers for the meeting, taking into account rules concerning who can speak and when.

We advise all those involved about applicable rules of procedure, as well as the practices and precedents of these bodies and how these rules are applied. The General Assembly, for example, has the president as well as 21 vice-presidents. Each of the six Main Committees has a chair, three vice-chairs and a rapporteur. We advise them on the proceedings, including how to address unexpected questions or procedural motions from the floor.

We deal with meeting room arrangements and documentation. The latter includes draft resolutions and decisions: we receive those from Member States and have them processed for issuance as an official document in six languages.

This can include draft amendments from other countries that did not agree with the content of the original draft resolutions. We conduct recorded votes if required as well as secret balloting for elections. We also put together a final report of the body.

How the preparations take place

The preparations for a regular session of the General Assembly which starts in September, begin months and months in advance. The document concerning the agenda of the session (normally containing around 170-180 items) is formed in February with what is called a “preliminary list of items to be included in the provisional agenda”.

The list of items for the agenda will continue to grow as new ones are mandated by the adoption of resolutions, so we will keep updating the list and send out what is called the “provisional agenda” in July. The preparation for the list of speakers for the general debate will begin in June, which is where Heads of State and Government and other high-level representatives will speak in the General Assembly Hall in September.

In the meantime, in June, the President of the new session is elected mostly by what is called “acclamation” or without a secret ballot. When there are competing candidates, the election is held by secret ballot cast by Member States. The elected candidate takes office when the new session begins in September, but there is a period between June and September where both the sitting President and President-elect collaborate on handover for the new session.

We put together an information note concerning the High-Level Week in September, as well as a publication called the “Delegates’ Handbook” with practical information on meeting rooms, facilities and services available to delegates. The High-Level Week in September includes, besides the general debate, other meetings on specific topics as mandated by the General Assembly resolutions.

In September 2023, there will be (1) the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development under the auspices of the General Assembly, (2) the High-Level Dialogue on Financing for Development, (3) the Preparatory Ministerial Meeting for the Summit of the Future and high-level meetings on (4) universal health coverage, (5) pandemic prevention, preparedness and response and (6) fight against tuberculosis, and also (7) the High-Level Plenary Meeting to Commemorate and Promote the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.

The Secretary-General will also convene the Climate Ambition Summit. Many of them will have an outcome document, on which Member States negotiate many months before the adoption in September.

A tale of two halves

Once the High-Level Week is over, we have the rest of the “main part” of the session from September through December. Besides the General Assembly Plenary, the six Main Committees, from the First Committee to the Six Committee, hold meetings during this period, each based on its own “programme of work”.

These Main Committees will have agenda items allocated to them, under which they adopt draft resolutions to recommend to the General Assembly Plenary. In December, the plenary will consider these recommendations from the Main Committees, while it continues to consider its own agenda items.

The subsequent period, from January to September, is called the “resumed part” of the session. That part has no fixed calendar, but consists rather of meetings that the President of the General Assembly holds on his/her own initiative or in response to a mandate given by a General Assembly resolution. Also seen during the resumed part of the session are informal consultations on topics mandated by resolutions adopted during the main part to, for example, negotiate the organizational arrangements and/or on an outcome document of a
future high-level meeting. These consultations are normally led by Permanent Representatives from different regions appointed by the President of the General Assembly as facilitators.

The list of speakers for the general debate

First and foremost, Member States are requested to inform the Secretariat of their three preferred timings. For the morning meeting and the afternoon meeting of each day, there are only a certain number of speaking slots so we can only accommodate speakers up to that number. Speakers for each meeting are listed based on the established protocol, beginning with the Heads of State, Vice-Presidents and Crown Princes or Princesses and Heads of Government.

Media and seating arrangements

Media accreditation is done by the Department of Global Communications, and there is a media booth where the journalists and camera crews can observe what is going on in the General Assembly Hall. There is a similar space established outside of the General Assembly Hall for journalists to hear from leaders entering/exiting the Hall. The Department of Global Communications also puts together a press kit for the session.

Every year in June, the Secretary-General draws a lot from a box containing all names of Member States. The selected country will occupy the first seat in the Hall once the new session begins in September, and from there, the seating arrangement will follow the English alphabetical order. The same seating applies to the Main Committees.

How we ensure inclusivity

This has been a very important issue for the General Assembly, the ECOSOC Affairs Division and Member States. Four years ago, the General Assembly adopted a resolution to introduce an accessible seating arrangement, whereby a wheelchair-accessible seating is made available upon request by a delegation. The General Assembly Hall has a certain number of such seats, so the requesting delegation is moved to such a seat, and other delegations’ seats are moved by one seat.

We currently have two Member States who request accessible seating on an ongoing basis. This summer, further improvement will be made in the General Assembly Hall by installing a lift for the rostrum so that a speaker on a wheelchair can speak from the rostrum.

Benefits of live broadcasting

The General Assembly involves universal participation of all Member States on all matters humanity faces, so it is very important to share information on the deliberation with the people that it will affect. Civil society, businesses, academics and media are getting more and more involved, so it is a natural progression to offer this feature and strengthen the global platform of the General Assembly.

Kenji Nakano is Chief of the General Assembly Affairs Branch

Source: UN TODAY, the official magazine of international civil servants, Geneva

The link to the website: https://untoday.org/

IPS UN Bureau

Categories: Africa

Mexico Turns to Military Entrepreneurs

Thu, 09/14/2023 - 23:33

Sara López (C) and other members of the Regional Indigenous and Popular Council of Xpujil are seen here in a photo from 2020, while campaigning against the environmental problems posed by the Mayan Train, which will run through part of southern and southeastern Mexico. The Secretariat (ministry) of National Defense has been put in charge since September of the construction and administration of the Mexican government's flagship project. CREDIT: Cripx

By Emilio Godoy
MEXICO CITY, Sep 14 2023 (IPS)

Courage, sadness and impotence are expressed by Mayan indigenous activist Sara López when she talks about the Mayan Train (TM), the Mexican government’s biggest infrastructure project, which will cross the town where she lives and many others in the Yucatan Peninsula.

“These are things that cause damage. In the communities, both the National Guard (a civilian security force, but made up mostly of military personnel) and the army are present. People tell us they have lost the peace they used to have. There are communities that have been invaded, there has been a very strong impact,” the member of the non-governmental Regional Indigenous and Popular Council of Xpujil told IPS.

“The entire Yucatan peninsula is militarized,” she said from Candelaria, in the southeastern state of Campeche. Agriculture and livestock are the main activities in the municipality of some 47,000 inhabitants, which will be the site of a TM station."The military are not trained for many functions. The government is concerned about economic growth and development, and to preserve that model it has put the military in charge. They think it will be achieved through infrastructure and extractive projects." -- Aleida Azamar

The megaproject consists of seven sections along some 1,500 kilometers and will also cross the states of Quintana Roo and Yucatan, which share the peninsula with Campeche together with the states of Chiapas and Tabasco.

The railway will run through 41 municipalities and 181 towns, with 20 stations and 14 stops.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who begins his sixth and final year in office on Dec. 1, has transferred the administration of ports, airports and rail transport to the Secretariat (ministry) of National Defense (Sedena).

This is despite the fact that there are no records of their performance in the management of these key areas in the recent history of the country, in which their experience has been limited to the production and sale of supplies.

Aleida Azamar, a researcher at the public Autonomous Metropolitan University, argued that uniformed personnel are not prepared for these tasks.

“The military are not trained for many functions. The government is concerned about economic growth and development, and to preserve that model it has put the military in charge. They think it will be achieved through infrastructure and extractive projects,” Azamar, who is coordinating a new book on the military and natural resources in Mexico, told IPS.

“In their view, the fastest way to finish them is with the army, because it is more difficult for the public to put up opposition when they see someone with a gun. It is not the most adequate solution.”

López Obrador announced on Sept. 4 the transfer of control of the Mayan Train from the state-owned National Tourism Development Fund (Fonatur) to Sedena, in an intensification of the trend of ceding more civilian responsibilities to the military, by handing over his flagship megaproject.

The president’s argument for this strategy is that he aims to reduce corruption in public works. But actually it may be due to other reasons, such as the culture of discipline in following orders so that the works advance as quickly as possible and thus meet the deadlines set.

Sedena will be responsible for the completion of sections five, six and seven of the railroad, whose works were started by Fonatur in July 2020 and which López Obrador promised would begin to operate by Dec. 1. Other sections are being built by private companies.

The resistance to deploying the military into the TM and other civilian areas is also due to its actions since 2006, when then President Felipe Calderón launched the so-called “war against drugs” using the military, which led to extrajudicial executions, disappearances, human rights violations and impunity, according to local and international organizations.

In fact, so far this century the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the highest regional court attached to the Organization of American States, has condemned Mexico on at least five occasions for military crimes such as forced disappearance, sexual violence and arbitrary detention.

The government promotes the TM as a major new engine of socioeconomic development in the southeast of the country and its trains will transport thousands of tourists, and cargo such as transgenic soybeans, palm oil and pork, the main products in the area.

The administration claims that it will create jobs, boost tourism beyond traditional attractions, and invigorate the regional economy, which has sparked highly polarized controversies between its supporters and critics.

The Mayan Train will run 1,500 kilometers, through 41 municipalities and 181 towns in the south and southeast of Mexico, with a cost overrun that already exceeds 28 billion dollars. CREDIT: Fonatur

From the barracks to business

Historically, the armed forces had been limited to producing supplies and building government facilities, such as hospitals and other infrastructure.

Sedena’s General Directorate of Military Industry operates at least 16 ammunition and armament factories.

However, thanks to the policies of the current government, Sedena has created the corporations Tren Maya, Aerolínea del Estado Mexicano, Grupo Aeroportuario, Ferroviario, de Servicios Auxiliares y Conexos Olmeca-Maya-Mexica (Gomm) and the Felipe Ángeles International Airport, located in the state of Mexico, adjacent to the Mexican capital.

Gomm is also involved in the operation of 12 airports, and will receive more in the future.

In addition, it will operate the revived Compañía Mexicana de Aviación, the country’s oldest airline and one of the first in the region, privatized in 2005 and closed since 2010. Under the new name Aerolínea del Estado Mexicano, the government resuscitated it in January, buying the brand. The armed forces will also manage hotels along the TM route.

At the same time, the Secretariat of the Navy (Semar) manages five shipyards in various areas of the country.

To run seven airports, including Mexico City’s, out of the 19 facilities under state control, Semar created the company Casiopea.

Mexico has 118 ports and terminals, of which 71 have been given in concession in 25 administrations of the National Port System. Since 2017, Semar has been administering the ports.

This scheme requires a lot of money, provided by the public budget. The clearest case is the TM, whose cost rose threefold, from the initial projected investment of 7.2 billion dollars to the current estimate of over 28 billion dollars.

For 2024, Sedena has already requested 6.7 billion dollars for the railroad, the second highest figure for the TM since 2020, when allocated funds totaled 349 million dollars.

Military requirements for all civilian sectors under their administration have grown, as Sedena requested 14.55 billion dollars, compared to 6.27 billion in 2023, and Semar asked for 4.02 billion, compared to 2.34 billion this year – in both cases more than double.

Behind this is the fact that state-owned companies under military management are not yet profitable, so they require subsidies. The non-governmental organization México ¿Cómo Vamos? calculates that it will take 17 years to recoup the investment in the TM and 22 years in the case of the Tulum International Airport, under construction in the state of Quintana Roo.

The Navy manages the Mexico City International Airport and six other airports, although it lacks experience in running this type of air transport infrastructure. CREDIT: Emilio Godoy / IPS

Potential threats

As in the case of military involvement in security and public safety, military business management poses risks of information concealment, corruption and economic losses.

The armed forces are the institutions that most violate human rights, including cases of murder, torture and sexual violence. Between 2007 and 2020, some 70,000 people suffered physical aggression after being apprehended by the army, according to the Citizen Security Program (PSC) of the private Ibero-American University.

The number of military personnel involved in public security already exceeds the total number of municipal and state police, in a proportion of 261,644 to 251,760, according to data reported by the PSC.

López the activist and Azamar the academic warned of the risks of military management.

“Only the government knows how much they have spent, how much is going to be spent,” said López. “There is no real report on what they are doing. Since the megaproject began, there has been no real information. They have never talked to us about environmental, cultural or economic impacts. It has caused us problems, it has been chaos for us. And once it is operating, the situation is going to get worse because of tourism.”

Azamar warned of increasing reliance on the military, the potential erosion of civil rights, a distorted perception of the approach to security and public safety and the undermining of trust in civilian institutions.

“There is a problem of lack of transparency and accountability: what is spent and how. It is risky, because there is no real, disaggregated data. This creates an environment of impunity that allows secrecy to continue and does not make it possible for other information to be made public. If there are no effective oversight mechanisms, abuses could be committed. We are in a gray area, because we do not know who controls them,” she argued.

In November 2021, López Obrador classified the TM as a “priority project” by means of a presidential decree, a strategy that facilitates the fast-tracking of environmental permits and thus hides information under the broad umbrella of national security.

This despite the fact that a month later, the Supreme Court reversed the national security agreements to annul the reservation of information, due to an appeal by the autonomous governmental National Institute of Transparency, Access to Information and Protection of Personal Data.

Mexico’s problems will not end in the short term, as pro-military policies will condition the next administration that will take office in December 2024, regardless of where it stands on the political spectrum, although the polls point to presidential hopeful Claudia Sheinbaum of the National Regeneration Movement (Morena), López Obrador’s party, as the favorite.

Categories: Africa

UN Report Offers Solutions for Decarbonization of Buildings, Construction Sector

Thu, 09/14/2023 - 15:10

A new report provides guidance to builders, architects, and others to make the construction of infrastructure and buildings more environmentally friendly. Credit: Scott Blake/Unsplash

By Naureen Hossain
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 14 2023 (IPS)

The building sector may be overdue for a significant overhaul of the processes in which infrastructure is built to be more environmentally conscious and reduce carbon emissions, a new UN report reveals.

On September 12, 2023, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Yale Center for Ecosystems + Architecture (Yale CEA), under the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction, released a new report that proposes solutions to decarbonize buildings and construction and reduce the waste generated.

The report, titled Building Materials, and the Climate: Constructing a New Future, provides a plan to policymakers, manufacturers, engineers, architects, developers, builders, and other stakeholders in what the report’s lead writer, Anna Dyson, Hines, Professor of Architecture at Yale University and Director of Yale CEA, calls the “building life cycle”. This is used to describe the stages of the building life cycle, from extraction of building materials to processing, installation, use, and demolition, or end-of-use.

“This is the first UNEP report that’s been led by architects, engineers, and builders, with respect to the building sector and materials sector,” Dyson said in a press briefing at the report’s launch.

The report presents its solutions to reduce carbon emission and waste through a three-pronged approach: Avoid waste through a circular approach by repurposing existing buildings or using materials with a lower carbon footprint; shift to earth- and bio-based building materials such as timber, bamboo, or sustainably-sourced bricks; and improve decarbonization methods on conventional materials that cannot be replaced, and re-evaluating building codes and standards in regional markets and building cultures across different countries.

If these measures can be adopted and adapted, then reducing embodied carbon in buildings to net zero can be achievable by 2050, the report claims. This can be achieved through making steps to decarbonize across every step of the building life cycle.

The building sector accounts for 37 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, thanks in part to the embodied carbon in modern building materials such as concrete, steel, and aluminum, which is generated during the production and use processes. Yet, complete decarbonization has been a challenge for this sector. As Dyson noted, the interdependencies throughout the stages of this building lifecycle complicate the process, as builders and other stakeholders may be more inclined to use the materials currently available and rely on current practices and codes in construction.

Mae-Ling Lokko, an assistant professor at Yale CEA, stated that increased use of alternative or biobased building materials, such as timber, bamboo, and locally sourced earth, in construction would see a decrease in carbon emissions. Lokko also notes that the supply currently outweighs the demand, but through raising awareness within the sector and through policy measures, the use could “accelerate a shift in norms in the building sector”.

Switching to renewable energy across all processes of the building lifecycle is also encouraged, along with reducing material use and supporting the transition to sustainable materials. As the report notes, this will involve “complex information management and communication across stakeholders”, which can be supported through policies that support the development and access to analytical tools.

The report states that governments and policymakers should, in their adoption of the Avoid-Shift-Improve solution, be sensitive to local cultures and climates, including in their relation to modern materials like concrete and steel. In case studies from Canada, Finland, Ghana, Guatemala, India, Peru, and Senegal, the ways in which decarbonization manifests through this model are noteworthy in their differences. Developed economies could devote resources to renovating existing aging buildings, while emerging ones can leapfrog carbon-intensive building methods to alternative low-carbon building materials.

The significance of policy reform in this sector was underscored during the press briefing. In addition, incentivizing the shift to biobased building materials and renewable energy sources during the extraction stage of the lifecycle would also be needed to kickstart the changes needed. The implementation of good policies and financial incentives could “encourage the re-use marketplace”, according to Naomi Keena, an assistant professor at McGill University’s School of Architecture. The use of secondary materials, for instance, could be supported through policies to enhance wider social acceptance.

In order to energize the market and relevant stakeholders to support the decarbonization of building materials, the tools to support these moves must be developed rapidly, and they must be supported through access to quality data and transparency. This can be strengthened through government regulation and enforcement and by investing in the research and development of nascent technologies. The research and tools should also be made readily available across the formal and informal parties in the building. As the report notes, in the informal sectors, stakeholders do not have access to the data nor the means to conduct their own analyses, which puts builders and producers in developing economies at a greater disadvantage in decarbonizing their outputs.

The report concludes on the note that international cooperation is critical in setting the standards for fair certification and accountability and setting the global standards for decarbonization. Noting that the responsibility for total decarbonization must be spread across producers and consumers within the formal building sector, both public and private.

What the UNEP report and its writers reveal is the hope that net zero carbon emissions can be reached. That the tools, materials, and practices already exist; the sectors need only to adopt and adapt them as needed. Even as the cultures around the building industries may vary across regions, the stakeholders may be united in wanting to play their part in reducing carbon emissions by 2050.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

Six Issues to Watch at the UN General Assembly 78

Thu, 09/14/2023 - 08:16

United Nations General Assembly Hall

By Richard Ponzio
WASHINGTON DC, Sep 14 2023 (IPS)

Another UNGA (UN General Assembly High-Level Week, September 18-23, 2023) is almost here. Leaders and other senior representatives of the world body’s 193 Member States will gather again for this truly one-of-a-kind annual congregation in New York for high-stakes diplomacy and plenty of domestic political posturing.

While who’s not coming this year has already garnered some headlines (including Presidents Xi, Macron, and Putin, as well as Prime Ministers Modi and Sunak), the international community has rarely faced so many concurrent challenges on a colossal scale requiring global leadership—from extreme poverty, climate change, and unconstrained artificial intelligence to Great Power tensions, destructive conflicts, and a bulging global youth population in urgent need of new skills, opportunities to take initiative, and, perhaps most of all, hope.

In particular, here are six key milestone gatherings and sets of issues to watch during the 78th High-Level Week – in these major civil society-led UNGA side-events:

SDG Summit | September 18-19

Marking the halfway point to the deadline set for achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, world leaders will adopt the SDG Summit’s centerpiece Political Declaration following, at times, tumultuous negotiations.

The declaration seeks to provide high-level guidance on “transformative and accelerated actions” for all countries delivering on the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals.

Regrettably, two anticipated topline messages from the summit are that only fifteen percent of the Sustainable Development Goals’ targets are on track to be reached this critical decade, with over 500 million people likely still to live in extreme poverty by 2030.

For the SDG Summit to succeed, the states people convening in New York must demonstrate renewed political will—combined with concrete actions and backed up by financial resources and other support infrastructure—in the fight to reverse these trends.

Representatives must also push-back against ill-founded, yet lingering concerns among influential developing countries that the Summit of the Future (SOTF) might divert scarce resources and attention away from their core development priorities. At the recent conclusion of India’s presidency (now passed to Brazil for 2024 and South Africa for 2025), the G20 just lent its “full support,” through the G20 New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration, to both the SDG Summit and SOTF.

Summit of the Future Ministerial Meeting | September 21

The Summit of the Future, to be hosted next September 22-23, 2024 in New York, has a stated goal to reaffirm the Charter of the United Nations, reinvigorate multilateralism, boost implementation of existing commitments, agree on concrete solutions to challenges, and restore trust among Member States.

As elaborated in the Stimson Center and partners’ recent Global Governance Innovation Report 2023(section six) and Future of International Cooperation Report 2023(section four), the intertwined nature of the SDG Summit and Summit of the Future has the potential to yield multiple mutually reinforcing dividends, beginning with the SOTF preparatory Ministerial Meeting to immediately follow next week’s SDG Summit.

In a recent decision of the President of the General Assembly, the SOTF will feature a “Pact for the Future” with chapters on: (i) Sustainable Development & Financing for Development, (ii) International Peace and Security, (iii) Science, Technology and Innovation and Digital Cooperation, (iv) Youth and Future Generations, and (v) Transforming Global Governance.

In short, whereas the SDG Summit arrives at a relatively brief high-level political statement that acknowledges global governance systems gaps in need of urgent attention to accelerate progress on the 2030 Agenda, the preparatory process for next year’s Summit of the Future is designed to realize—through well-conceived, politically acceptable, and adequately resourced reform proposals—the actual systemic changes in global governance needed to fill these gaps.

Climate Action Summit | September 20

UN Secretary-General António Guterres’s Climate Ambition Summit aspires to garner new momentum for effective climate action among representatives of governments, business, finance, local authorities, and civil society, as well as “first movers and doers.”

According to leading climate scientists, we may have as few as six to seven years to catalyze the monumental set of actions required to shift course and to avert the worst impacts of unchecked climate change.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change underscores the connections between climate change and the Sustainable Development Goals, and the UN has warned that climate impacts threaten to reverse many of the gains made over previous decades to improve lives.

With the looming potential to overwhelm progress achieved on the wider UN agenda, the climate crisis represents the present era’s quintessential global governance conundrum, making bold and urgent action all the more critical.

Last week’s Africa Climate Summit brought much-needed ingenuity and energy for positive change from many of the countries and communities already experiencing the wide-reaching effects of climate change.

Following just on the heels of this first-of-its-kind climate summit in Nairobi, the UN’s Climate Ambition Summit aims to catalyze action from the private sector, finance, and civil society, as well as local and national governments. To this end, Stimson is also proud to support the Mary Robinson, María Fernanda Espinosa, and Johan Rockström-led Climate Governance Commission, whose Governing our Planetary Emergency recommendations will be released around COP-28 (November 30-December 12, 2023) in Dubai.

Ukraine, Sudan, Afghanistan, and other Hotspots (UNGA General Debate and UNSC Ministerial)

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, attending his first General Assembly High-Level Week in-person since Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, has landed a coveted speaking slot on the first morning (Tuesday, 19 September) of the Assembly’s General Debate, shortly after the traditional lead-off statements by the new President of the General Assembly (Ambassador Dennis Francis of Trinidad and Tobago), Brazil (President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva), and the UN’s host nation, the United States (President Joe Biden).

Ukraine will also feature again next week on the Security Council’s agenda in a special high-level session, “Upholding the purposes and principles of the UN Charter through effective multilateralism: Maintenance of peace and security of Ukraine.”

General Debate statements by world leaders are also anticipated to speak to other hot conflicts and fragile states – including Sudan and Afghanistan – and the Secretary-General’s recently introduced New Agenda for Peace.

Mr. Guterres’s related Emergency Platform proposal may also garner some attention, building on this month’s Security Council open debate, “Advancing Public-Private Humanitarian Partnership” featuring World Food Programme Executive Director Cindy McCain and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt.

New UN Youth Office and Assistant Secretary-General for Youth

Further to last year’s adoption of General Assembly Resolution 76/306, the seventy-eighth session of the General Assembly will further be remembered for the establishment of a new United Nations Youth Office, led by a soon-to-be-appointed Assistant Secretary-General for Youth (while bidding farewell and appreciation to the outstanding UN Youth Envoy, Jayathma Wickramanayake, and her office).

Together, they will, inter alia, advance youth issues across the UN agenda, while working to promote “meaningful, inclusive and effective engagement of youth” across the UN system.

Well-timed to coincide with the one-year-to-go preparations for the September 2024 Summit of the Future, a successful UN Youth Office will need, according to my colleague Nudhara Yusuf and Search for Common Ground’s Saji Prelis, to understand the urgency and responsibility to act in upcoming UN policymaking and programming, to coordinate across existing youth engagement mechanisms, and to embrace new forms of leadership suited to a highly interconnected planet.

Financing for Development (September 20), the Bridgetown Initiative, and Global Financial Architecture Reform

On September 20, the General Assembly will convene its second High-Level Dialogue on Financing for Development since the adoption of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda. Against growing calls for Global Financial Architecture reform and greater climate financing (through Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley’s Bridgetown Initiative, which she is widely expected to showcase during the 78th High-Level Week), developing countries will likely continue to express concerns that rich nations are still not doing enough to finance the SDGs and other development priorities, while donors will emphasize the importance of Addis commitments on domestic resource mobilization and fighting corruption.

Two related policy ideas to keep a close eye on next week are the Secretary-General Guterres’ recent proposals: (i) for the G20 to agree on a $500 billion annual stimulus for sustainable development through a combination of concessional and non-concessional finance (as mentioned in the recent G20 Declaration); and (ii) for a Biennial Summit on the Global Economy bringing together the G20, World Bank, IMF, and UN for enhanced global economic governance.

Conclusion

As the United Nations enters its seventy-eighth year, questions continue to swirl about the world body’s vitality and its ability to keep pace with fast-changing trends in socioeconomic dynamics, the environment, peace and security, and technology.

If world leaders, together with diverse partners across civil society and the business community, step up next week with genuine pledges of support for concrete actions in the above areas—and on related subjects such as preventing future pandemics and other health crises, bolstering food security, and safeguarding human rights—they can go a long toward quieting critics who consider the UN to be merely a talk shop.

Importantly, doing so will dramatically improve conditions and expand the window of discourse, priming global leaders to seize the generational opportunity to renew and innovate our global governance system in the run-up to next September’s Summit of the Future.

Richard Ponzio is Director of the Global Governance, Justice & Security Program and a Senior Fellow at Stimson. Previously, he directed the Global Governance Program at The Hague Institute for Global Justice, where (in a partnership with Stimson) he served as Director for the Albright-Gambari Commission on Global Security, Justice & Governance.

Source: Stimson Center, Washington DC

IPS UN Bureau

Categories: Africa

A Global Survey of Democracy Finds Both Sobering and Alarming Results

Thu, 09/14/2023 - 07:44

Credit: UNICEF

More than half the world’s population is younger than 25. But the enormous quantity of young people does often not translate into qualitative influence about democratic decision-making processes, according to UNICEF. Meanwhile, a new poll commissioned by the Open Society Foundations finds that young people around the world hold the least faith in democracy of any age group, presenting a grave threat to its future. The Open Society Barometer is one of the largest ever studies of global public opinion on human rights and democracy across 30 countries—painting a picture of the attitudes, concerns, and hopes of over 5.5 billion people worldwide.

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 14 2023 (IPS)

The recent epidemic of coups in Africa — including military take-overs in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Gabon– have triggered the inevitable question: Is multi-party democracy on the retreat?

The Open Society Barometer, an annual global survey from Open Society Foundations, launched September 12, reflects the positive and negative aspects of the state democracy worldwide.

The survey finds that young people around the world (Generation Z and millennials) “hold the least faith in democracy of any age group, presenting a grave threat to its future”.

Over a third (35%) of respondents in the 18-35 age group were supportive of a strong leader who does away with parliament and elections.

A large minority of young people surveyed (42%) feel that military rule is a good way of running a country. A similar number (35%) feel that having a strong leader who does not bother with elections or consulting parliament/congress is a good way of running a country.

This compares to 20% that support military rule and 26% that are in favor of a strong leader in the 56 plus age bracket.

Still, the report, The Open Society Barometer: Can Democracy Deliver? finds that the concept of democracy remains widely popular across every region of the globe, with 86% saying that they would prefer to live in a democratic state.

There is also widespread disbelief that authoritarian states can deliver more effectively than democracies on priorities both nationally and in global forums.

https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/focus/open-society-barometer

Commenting on the findings, Mark Malloch-Brown, president of the Open Society Foundations, said: “Our findings are both sobering and alarming. People around the world still want to believe in democracy. But generation-by-generation, that faith is fading as doubts grow about its ability to deliver concrete improvements to their lives. That has to change.”

Asked for his reaction, Andreas Bummel, Executive Director of Democracy Without Borders, told IPS: “It is good news that a huge majority of people say they consider it important to live in a democracy”.

At the same time, much less say they believe democracy is preferable to any other kind of government. This is a contradiction that requires more analysis, he pointed out.

“It is a warning that young people appear to be less convinced of democratic government. It must be understood better why this is the case.”

The state of civic education and better ways for political participation may be among the issues to be looked at. In general terms, it is clear that democratic governments need to perform better, Bummel declared.

The survey was described as one of the largest global opinion surveys on the status of democracy and human rights, reflecting the views of over 5.5 billion people.

Comprising public opinion data from 30 countries – including the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, China, Brazil, Japan, Turkey, Russia, South Africa, and India – the survey paints a surprising picture of the generational shift of young people lacking faith in democracy to deliver on their priorities.

The survey also finds that:

• Just 57% of young people (aged 18 to 36) believe democracy is preferable to any form of government, compared to 71% of older respondents; while 42% of young people are supportive of military rule, compared to 20% of older respondents (aged 56 plus).

• Overwhelming majorities support human rights, with an average of 72% of respondents identifying them as a “force for good in the world.” Yet, a significant minority (42%) believe that they are used by Western countries to punish developing countries.

• 70% of respondents around the world are anxious that climate change will have a negative impact on them and their livelihoods in the next year.

The findings also include:

• People support democracy.

• As people feel the weight of multiple crises, over half (53%) of respondents think their country is headed in the wrong direction. Young people aged 18 to 35 are the most skeptical of democracy, with just 57% deeming it preferable to other types of government.

• Majorities in 21 of the countries polled fear that political unrest could lead to violence in the next year. Fear was highest in South Africa and Kenya (79%), Colombia (77%), Nigeria (75%), Senegal (74%), and Argentina and Pakistan (both 73%). Large majorities in some high-income countries also share this worry, including two-thirds of respondents in the United States and France. Forty-two percent of respondents believe the laws of their country do not keep people like them safe. This was particularly felt in Latin America, with significant majorities in every country: Brazil (74%), Argentina (73%), Colombia (65%), and Mexico (60%).

• Half of respondents (49%) say they have struggled to feed themselves at least once in the last year—a number that holds in states as dissimilar as Bangladesh and the United States—both with 52% of respondents. Especially large majorities in Sri Lanka (85%), Turkey and Kenya (both 73%) experienced this.

• The climate crisis is a high priority for citizens across low-, middle-, and high-income countries. Climate change was considered the top global issue by 32% of people in India and in Italy, followed by Germany (28%), Egypt (27%), Mexico (27%), France (25%), and Bangladesh (25%). Anxiety that climate change will personally affect respondents and their livelihoods in the next year was felt by 70% of those surveyed, and was markedly high in Bangladesh (90%), Turkey (85%), Ethiopia (83%), Kenya (83%), and India (82%), and lowest in China (45%), Russia (48%), and the UK (54%).

• Across the globe, corruption is considered the chief concern for people at a national level, with an average of 23% saying it is the most important issue facing their country. Countries in Africa and Latin America, such as Ghana (45%), South Africa and Nigeria (both 44%), Colombia (37%), and Mexico (36%) stand in stark contrast with Western Europe. In France and the UK, corruption is viewed as the main concern by just 7% of people; in Germany, just 6%.

• Poverty and inequality rank the highest (21%) among the issues that most directly impact people personally. This holds true in Senegal (the smallest economy surveyed) as well as the United States (the largest). Moreover, a majority (69%) believe that economic inequality between countries is a bigger challenge this year than last. This is most keenly felt in Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East.

• Migration is highly visible but of low concern. Despite being front and center of political campaigns in many countries, just 7% of respondents said migration was their biggest concern at the global and national level. This suggests the salience of this issue is largely concentrated to political parties, and not among the public at large. The survey found that two-thirds (66%) of respondents want to see more safe and legal routes for migrants.

• A plurality of respondents believe China’s growing influence will be a force for good: nearly twice as many respondents believe this will have a positive impact (45%) on their country as a negative one (25%). However, there is a sharp contrast between the enthusiasm of lower income countries like Pakistan (76%), Ethiopia (72%), and Egypt (71%), and the overwhelming negativity of high-income democracies, where only small minorities register positivity about the rise of China, as is the case in Japan (3%), Germany (14%), Ukraine (15%), and the UK (16%). Somewhere in the middle, a quarter of Americans answered positively, while 48% felt it would be negative.

• People believe that a fairer international system would be more effective. 61% of those surveyed believe low-income countries should have a greater say in global decision-making—though, predictably, lower-income regions were more enthusiastic than Europe and the United States on this front. 75% believe that high-income countries increase their overseas aid, donate more money to the World Bank to support lower income countries (68%), and lead the way in reducing emissions (79%).

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

Gabon: The End of a Dictatorship… and the Beginning of Another?

Wed, 09/13/2023 - 19:17

Credit: AFP via Getty Images

By Inés M. Pousadela
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, Sep 13 2023 (IPS)

On 26 August, Gabon went through the motions of an election. Official results were announced four days later, in the middle of the night, with the country under curfew. Predictably, incumbent President Ali Bongo, in power since the death of his father and predecessor in 2009, was handed a third term. Fraud allegations were rife, as in previous elections. But this time something unprecedented happened: less than an hour later the military had taken over, and the Bongo family’s 56-year reign had ended.

In Gabon, people welcomed the military with open arms, thanking them for liberating them from the authoritarian yoke they’d lived under, most for all their lives. But overturning an oppressive regime isn’t the same as achieving democratic freedom. Studies show that although democracies are occasionally established in the wake of coups, too often it’s new authoritarian regimes that emerge, bringing even higher levels of state-sanctioned violence and human rights abuses.

A predatory autocracy

Omar Bongo gained power in 1967 and kept it for more than 40 years. He only started allowing multi-party competition in 1991, after making sure his ironically named Gabonese Democratic Party would retain its grip through a combination of patronage and repression.

His son and successor retained the dynasty’s power with elections plagued by irregularities in 2009 and 2016. In both instances it was widely believed that Bongo wasn’t the real winner. The constitution was repeatedly amended to allow further terms and electoral rules and timetables were systematically manipulated.

In 2016, blatant fraud sparked violent protests that were even more violently repressed. In 2018, Bongo suffered a stroke that took him out of the public eye for almost a year, fuelling concerns that he might be unfit to rule. But a 2019 attempted military coup failed and was followed by a media crackdown, arrests of opposition politicians and a hardening of the Penal Code to criminalise dissent.

Under the Bongos’ dynastic reign, corruption, nepotism and predatory elite behaviour were rampant. A small country of 2.3 million, Gabon has vast oil reserves, accounting for around 60 per cent of its revenues. In terms of per capita GDP, it’s one of Africa’s richest countries – but a third of its population is poor, a stark contrast with the incalculable ill-gotten wealth of the Bongo family and their inner circle.

Why now and what next?

The coup was presented as a reaction to an undoubtedly fraudulent election. Upon seizing power, the self-appointed ‘Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions’ announced the annulment of the vote and the dissolution of executive, legislative, judicial and electoral institutions.

Bongo was placed under house arrest along with his eldest son and advisor before being released and allowed to leave the country on medical grounds. Several top officials have been arrested on charges of treason, corruption and various illicit activities, and large quantities of cash have been reportedly seized from their homes.

Coup leader General Brice Oligui Nguema is now the head of the supposedly transitional junta in power. He’s assured that the dissolution of institutions is only ‘temporary’ and that these will be made ‘more democratic’. There’ll be elections, he’s said, but not too soon. First a new constitution will have to be drafted, along with a new criminal code and electoral legislation.

But while celebrations broke out in the streets, the international condemnation was swift, starting with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres. The African Union suspended Gabon until constitutional order is restored, as did the Economic Community of Central African States.

Condemnation came from the European Union and several of its member states, and the Commonwealth, which Gabon was allowed to join in June 2022 despite not complying with minimum democracy and human rights standards. The president of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu, expressed concern about the ‘autocratic contagion’ spreading across Africa. Tinubu is currently leading efforts by the Economic Community of West African States to reverse the recent coup in Niger.

Some observers argue that this coup is different from others in Central and West Africa since it wasn’t based on security concerns but rather the absence of democracy, focused on election fraud and the corruption and mismanagement that stopped institutions meeting people’s basic demands. This is the position many in Gabonese civil society are taking, placing them at odds with the international institutions they accuse of having tolerated the Bongos for so long.

But others disagree, even if they’re happy to see the Bongos go. The opposition candidate widely believed to have been the real election winner, Albert Ondo Ossa, expressed his disappointment at what he described as a ‘palace revolution’ and a ‘family affair’. He’d hoped for a recount, which could have placed him at the head of a new, democratic government. What he saw instead was a transitional government that could be seen as a continuation of the ousted regime, not least because of the family links between the Bongos and General Nguema, also the happy owner of a fortune of unknown origins. Some of the new government appointments appear to confirm Ossa’s suspicions.

Beyond its composition, there’s the key question of how long this government intends to last. The pomp of Nguema’s inauguration ceremony belies its avowedly temporary tenure.

This is the eighth successful military coup in West and Central Africa over the past four years. Nowhere have the military retreated to the barracks after implementing what were invariably described as ‘corrective’ and ‘temporary’ measures.

On taking over, the military has seized not only political power but also control of the economic wealth that sustained the Bongo kleptocracy. They’re unlikely to let go willingly, and the longer they stay, the harder it will be to unseat them.

The coup government has so far shown a moderate face, but there’s no guarantee this will last. If the people who took to the streets to celebrate the coup ultimately do so again to protest at the lack of real change, repression will surely follow.

The international community must continue to urge the military to commit to a plan for a rapid transition to fully democratic rule. Otherwise, the danger is that the Gabonese people will merely move from one dictatorship to another, and nothing will remain of that fleeting moment when freedom seemed within reach.

Inés M. Pousadela is CIVICUS Senior Research Specialist, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.

Categories: Africa

The Baloch Girls Remain Stranded at the School Gates

Wed, 09/13/2023 - 13:28

In class at the public school in Lasbela, in Pakistan’s Balochistan province. The low quality of government schools has turned private education into a luxury accessible to only a few. Credit: Mariyam Suleman Anees/IPS

By Mariyam Suleman Anees
GWADAR, Pakistan, Sep 13 2023 (IPS)

Ten years ago I ran an academy for girls in Dohr Gatti, a small slum on the outskirts of Gwadar, a coastal city in Balochistan, southwestern Pakistan. Most of the girls were between the ages of eleven and fifteen and had the little opportunity to receive a formal education.

Plagued by tradition and poverty, their desire to learn was often thwarted by the tradition of marrying as soon as they reached puberty and spend the rest of their lives raising children, as their mothers had.

When parents can only afford to invest in the education of a single child, they tend to prioritize the boy, as he is more likely to get a paid job and live with his parents in the future, says Hafsa Qadir

At the academy I tried to raise awareness in the community about how crucial it was for girls to receive an education. That worked, at least a little.

Years later, some girls in Dohr Gatti managed to enroll in local public schools. In 2021, one of my students got the highest score on the district’s annual eighth-grade exam.

But even that couldn’t change her destiny. Soon after her triumph on the test, which showed her potential to continue studying, she had to stop. She was married off and sent to a remote village, where she still lives with her in-laws and a husband much older than her.

I often wonder how far students like her could have gone if their right to education was protected and if they only had one chance to pursue their dreams.

The question often raised in such cases is “who exactly is to blame?”

Religion and tradition intermingle in Balochistan, a region of Pakistan which has its own language and culture but where, as in the rest of the country, Sunni Islam is hegemonic.

Parents, tradition, patriarchy, poverty, political unrest in the region, the education system itself, the government, all come under scrutiny. But the state of access to education for girls remains largely unchanged.

Girls at Pishukan public school. The majority of them will not attend secondary school after being married as soon as they reach puberty. Credit: Anila Yousuf/IPS

A luxury good

Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest yet most underdeveloped province. According to a World Bank report, the overall literacy rate in the province is 41 percent. It’s half that for women, 19 percent.

It’s no surprise that only two out of ten women can read in Balochistan, when UN data suggests that 78 percent of Baloch girls of school age do not go to school. For those who do manage to attend, the dropout rate among female students is much higher.

Despite these stark obstacles, some have made progress. Some Baloch women have not only completed their education and begun successful careers, but have also actively contributed to improving girls’ education in the region.

Anila Yousuf is the principal of a girls’ school in Pishukan, a small fishing village in southern Balochistan. She has recently been selected for Postgraduate studies in the United Kingdom, and recently published a collection of stories of women from Gwadar, her hometown.

But she’s aware she’s the exception:

“There´s lower enrollment among girls and many of them drop out of school as soon as they reach secondary school. This means that the number of women both in higher education and in the working sector is much lower,” Yousuf tells IPS.

Long-standing political tensions between Pakistan’s central government and Balochistan often takes some of the blame for the problem, with budgets for local education often treated as a political football.

However, a 2010 reform in Pakistan’s constitution transferred responsibility for education to local provinces, and led to increases in provincial public funding for education.

International agencies including the World Bank, UNICEF, US Partnership, and British Council have also been working through local organizations focused on reducing gendered disparities in provincial education.

Provincial ministers receive an annual ‘development fund’ to allocate towards various projects, including education initiatives, within their respective constituencies. Critics say the money does not appear to have chipped away at the problem much, however.

“There is no proper planning for effective use of funds. Not even public-school teachers enroll their children in them,” says Yousuf. “They choose private schools or send their children outside the province.”

Private schools have become a thriving business in the towns and cities of the province. But with 60% of the population living below the poverty line, private schooling for girls is a luxury inaccessible to the majority.

The lack of women with formal educations in Balochistan has affected the local labor market, and limited many Baloch women’s ability to start careers. According to Yousuf, most of the few women who enter the workforce are usually teachers or healthcare workers.

“I fear that we are going backwards throughout the country. Women are increasingly locked up at home. There are still specific markets for them and more and more Koranic schools are seen, more women hidden under a burla,” says the activist.

Anila Yousuf with her students in the library of the school she runs in Pishukan. Education in Pakistan is segregated and there are fewer schools for female students. Credit: Mariyam Suleman Anees/IPS

Gender roles

Zaitoon Kareen, a university professor in Uthal, Balochistan, tells IPS that educating a daughter is always more expensive in Balochistan.

“Baloch girls need assistance, especially for higher education when they have to travel and live in a different town or city. They need better shelters and someone to accompany them when traveling to schools or universities for safety reasons,” explains Kareen.

She will be leaving the province herself soon, after being accepted for a Postgraduate study in the UK.

The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) suggests that girls only attend school if there is one close to home. But with only 26 percent of primary schools, 42 percent of lower secondary and 36 percent of upper secondary schools accepting girls, it’s often hard for families to find a neighborhood school their daughters can attend.

“When parents can only afford to invest in the education of a single child, they tend to prioritize the boy, as he is more likely to get a paid job and live with his parents in the future,” Hafsa Qadir, an activist with WANG -a local NGO- tells IPS.

In 2020, the Baloch provincial government attempted to address the problem, claiming a new educational plan, the Educational Sector Plan 2020-25, would address the disparity.

But COVID-19 and the devastating floods of 2022 wiped out hundreds of schools and roads in the region, the plans were derailed.

Zakia Baloch, a local woman who attended school and now works as a physical therapist — one of the first women to work in the field in the region — said part of the problem is the schools themselves often dissuade girls from continuing their education.

“Instead of providing proper education, there is often a heavy emphasis on traditional gender roles, preparing girls primarily for domestic roles rather than equipping them for careers and empowering them as independent individuals,” she says.

She called the government-funded education system “negligent” in its teacher selection process, resulting in “inadequately trained educators with very limited skills and exposure.”

“In 2023, when technology has opened many avenues of learning, our system is still locked in a cocoon,” laments the Baloch woman.

Categories: Africa

Human Trafficking: Women Lured by Promise of Jobs, Sold as Brides

Wed, 09/13/2023 - 09:38

Women walk in a village in Indian-administered Kashmir. Women here often find themselves lured by the promise of a job into unsuitable marriages. Credit: Athar Parvaiz/IPS

By Athar Parvaiz
BUDGAM, INDIA, Sep 13 2023 (IPS)

It has been over a decade since 32-year-old Rafiqa (not her real name) was sold to a villager after being lured by the promise that she would be employed in the handicrafts industry of Indian-administered Kashmir.

But, instead of getting a job, she was sold to a Kashmiri man in central Kashmir’s Budgam district for a paltry sum of 50,000 Indian rupees (USD 605). Before the traffickers lured her, Rafiqa lived with her parents and three siblings in a poor Muslim family in West Bengal, a state in eastern India.

Ranging from Rohingya refugees – there are an estimated 40,000 Rohingya refugees in India – to women in other states of the country, such as West Bengal and Assam, women are trafficked and sold as brides to men who find it hard to find brides within their communities. Such grooms often include aged, physically challenged, and men with mental health issues.

Rafiqa’s husband, who drives a horse-cart for a living and lives in a one-room wooden shed, had to sell the only cow he possessed to pay the sum to the human traffickers.

She has now come to terms with “what I was destined to face in my life.” Embracing the reality, she says, was the only option left with her.

“I could have either tried to escape or taken some extreme step, but I decided to apply myself positively to make some kind of life out of what I ended up with,” Rafiqa told IPS while sitting at the base of the small wooden staircase of her house. “My husband’s simplicity and kind nature were also helpful in taking this decision – even though I didn’t like his appearance.”

“Now I have three kids for whom I have to live,” Rafiqa said. “I miss my parents and siblings. But it is very difficult to visit them. Even if I convince my husband, we can’t afford to visit them as it takes a lot of money to pay for the travel,” she added, saying her husband hardly provides two square meals for the family.

Rafiqa is not the only trafficked woman in that village. Over a dozen women have ended up getting married in similar circumstances. Elsewhere in the region, hundreds of other women from the Indian states of West Bengal and Assam are married to divorced and physically challenged men.

When 23-year-old Zarina (name changed), a woman from a poor family in West Bengal, got ensnared in a human trafficker’s trap, she had no idea that she would end up marrying a man whom she had never seen and was almost double her age. Zarina also fell for the false promise that a job in a carpet manufacturing unit in north Kashmir’s Patan area would be arranged for her. But, to her shock, she was sold into marriage.

“Now, how will my situation change after talking to you if it has not changed in the last five years? This is where I must be all my life,” an annoyed Zarina told IPS and then refused to elaborate.

Some women who encounter human traffickers are far unluckier. In a village of southern Kashmir’s Anantnag district, a young Rohingya woman was sold to a family by traffickers for their son with mental health issues after she was trafficked from a Rohingya refugee makeshift camp in the adjacent Jammu province.

“We were surprised when we discovered that the family has got a bride for their son who we knew was not mentally sound since his childhood,” said a neighbour of the family. “We would hear her screaming when her husband used to beat her almost every day. But fortunately for her, the young Rohingya woman was somehow able to escape after a few months.”

There are not any accurate official figures about sold brides, but some estimates say that thousands of girls and women are sold annually. The media sometimes reports the arrest of human traffickers, but such reports are not that common.

On July 26, India’s Minister of State for Home Affairs, Ajay Kumar Mishra, told the Indian parliament that 1,061,648 women above 18 years and 251,430 girls below 18 years went missing between 2019 and 2021 across different states in the country.

Mishra, however, said that most of the victims have been found and added that the Indian government has taken several initiatives for the safety of women.

Last year in April, India’s National Commission for Women launched an Anti-Human Trafficking Cell “to improve effectiveness in tackling cases of human trafficking, raising awareness among women and girls, capacity building and training of Anti Trafficking Units, and to increase the responsiveness of law enforcement agencies.”

In its 2023 Trafficking in Persons Report, the US Department of State identifies India as a Tier 2 country.

“The Government of India does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so. The government demonstrated overall increasing efforts compared with the previous reporting period, considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, if any, on its anti-trafficking capacity; therefore, India remained on Tier 2,” the report says.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

Enhancing Mining Revenue

Wed, 09/13/2023 - 09:25

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Sep 13 2023 (IPS)

The commodity boom early this century was mainly driven by mineral prices. Yet, mining’s contribution to developing countries’ revenue has been modest, largely due to massive tax evasion and avoidance.

Less mining royalties
Decades of well-supervised mineral extraction prove resource extraction by accountable and effective states can accumulate more ‘resource rents’ to enhance sustainable development and social welfare.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

Well-regulated, progressive resource rent taxation can greatly enhance such extractive industries’ fiscal contribution to public wellbeing and national development.

But mining royalty rates fell significantly at the end of the 20th century to a range up to 30 per cent. Mineral revenue rates must be increased if resource-rich developing countries are to progress.

Those responsible have justified lowering resource rents for host governments and economies. The World Bank’s Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative supposedly seeks to cut corruption associated with mining, and to attract more mining foreign direct investment.

From the late 20th century, Tanzania rapidly became the third largest gold producer in Africa – after South Africa and Ghana, once known as the Gold Coast.

But with negligible royalties and tax revenue, Tanzania – a least developed country – subsidizes the government-provided infrastructure built to attract primarily foreign gold mining investors.

Ten policy proposals
The Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development (IGF) and the African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF) have proposed how developing countries can benefit more from their mineral resources.

Their book – The Future of Resource Taxation: 10 policy ideas to mobilize mining revenues – considers policy options available to governments, and offers lessons from how several have successfully implemented the proposed approaches.

Minimum Profit Share for Government
Many governments receive mineral resource rents via royalties and corporate income tax. A few insist on minimum government revenue even when prices fall below thresholds. The book assesses whether such ‘profit sharing’ – in Tanzania, the Philippines and Ecuador – improved on the status quo ante.

Production Sharing Contracts
Many governments get oil and gas revenues via production sharing contracts. Some have been considering whether such arrangements would work well for other minerals. A chapter considers issues arising from executing such contracts.

State Equity Participation
State equity participation enables governments to receive dividends and other benefits from their investments. The volume offers practical guidance in this regard.

Commercial State-Owned Enterprises
Nationalist desires for mineral resource ownership may involve fully state-owned mining enterprises to maximize economic benefits to the nation. One chapter recommends how such companies should be established, expanded and reformed to succeed.

Variable royalties
Variable royalty rates are easier to enforce than profit or cash-flow based taxes. The book offers pragmatic guidance from reviewing variable royalties in 15 countries.

Related-Party Sales
Resource-rich Latin American countries have been using commodity prices from a relevant exchange – such as the London Metals Exchange – to reduce tax dodging involving mineral transactions. Such reference prices are less vulnerable to related-party mineral sales’ tax dodging.

Carbon Pricing and Border Adjustment Mechanisms
The carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) taxes imports from outside the European Union (EU) for presumed greenhouse gas emissions at rates equal to what EU-made products are charged by its Emissions Trading Scheme. The report considers CBAM’s likely impact on mineral-exporting developing countries, and whether they should emulate it.

Community Revenue from a Development Turnover Tax
Some mining tax instruments cater to specific demands from resource-rich countries. One chapter discusses a ‘development turnover tax’ requiring private mining companies to invest in shared public infrastructure. Alternatively, the national revenue authority can collect a development turnover tax for a government-run mining development fund to do likewise.

Competitive Bidding for Mining Rights
Under the correct conditions, competitive bidding can efficiently assign mineral resource extraction licences to private companies. The report describes how countries can increase revenue from allocating mining licences via competitive bidding.

Better Monitoring of Quarrying
In most resource-rich countries, regulatory oversight and mining revenue mobilization tend to focus on precious minerals, ignoring quarried industrial minerals. Remote monitoring can help tax authorities better assess quarried output volumes and sales.

Implementation matters
When mining companies use their power, money and influence to get mining rights, land, water and other resources, they invariably provoke resistance, often local. But better international, national and local regulation can reduce such adverse impacts and related conflicts.

Some proposals in the volume involve incremental changes, while others are more radical. But they all need careful government consideration to ascertain appropriateness. Of course, the likelihood of success also depends on various circumstances.

Governments require human and financial resources to implement the proposed reforms. They should avoid inefficient and ineffective tax incentives as well as enforcement powers undermining government policies and the law.

Effective implementation often needs support for resource-rich developing countries – from international organizations, bilateral and other development partners – to improve mineral resource rent collection.

Generally, mining revenue has fallen short of expectations – largely due to inappropriate laws, poor investment agreements, overly generous tax incentives, tax evasion and avoidance. Some countries also lack the needed expertise, information and means to effectively implement mining taxation, free of corruption.

Intensified competition for mineral resources is worsening rivalries. As demand grows, new alliances and rivalries are emerging, even as circumstances change.

With such uncertainties in a fast changing international situation, developing countries can better advance their national interests by cooperating and staying non-aligned, rather than competing with other mineral producing nations.

IPS UN Bureau

Categories: Africa

The Africa Climate Summit: Anti-Colonial Rhetoric Meets Green Colonialism

Wed, 09/13/2023 - 08:13

African leaders, calling for urgent action by developed countries to reduce carbon emissions, have proposed a new financing mechanism to restructure Africa’s crippling debt and unlock climate funding. In a call to action, African leaders attending the inaugural Africa Climate Summit held in Nairobi, Kenya, stressed the importance of decarbonizing the global economy for equality and shared prosperity. Credit: United Nations

By Eve Devillers
OAKLAND, California, Sep 13 2023 (IPS)

In the wake of the recent Africa Climate Summit, which convened in Nairobi from September 4-6, 2023, the world’s attention was drawn to the pressing challenges facing the African continent as it grapples with the devastating effects of climate change.

Accounting for less than 4 percent of global emissions, Africa is owed a significant climate debt by historical polluters, yet has received only 12 percent of the US$300 billion in annual financing it needs to cope with climate-related challenges.

The three-day Summit culminated in the adoption of the Nairobi Declaration, which articulates the shared position of African countries as they prepare for the upcoming COP28 climate change. Reflecting the deep historical injustices that have left the continent disproportionately vulnerable to worsening climate shocks, the declaration calls for “a new financing architecture that is responsive to Africa’s needs,” including debt restructuring and relief, as well as a “carbon tax on fossil fuel trade, maritime transport and aviation, that may also be augmented by a global financial transaction tax.”

However, these calls for justice ring hollow when examining the investments and initiatives actually prioritized at the Summit, revealing a striking paradox. During the gathering, the agenda primarily revolved around the expansion of carbon markets – a dangerous and false climate solution that opens up the continent to green colonialism and reinforces the status quo of North/South power imbalances.

Hundreds of millions of dollars were pledged to this extractive and speculative system, turning a blind eye to the fact that carbon offsets have spectacularly failed to reduce emissions and have a troubling history of triggering evictions, decimating livelihoods, and exacerbating environmental harm in Africa, as outlined in a recent report by the Oakland Institute.

In one of the event’s most anticipated deals, investors from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) committed to purchase US$450 million worth of carbon credits from the Africa Carbon Markets Initiative (ACMI). Climate Asset Management – a joint venture of HSBC and climate investment firm Pollination – also announced a US$200 million investment in projects that produce ACMI credits.

Launched at COP27 by the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet, Sustainable Energy for All, The Rockefeller Foundation, and UN Economic Commission for Africa, ACMI hands disproportionate control of Africa’s carbon markets to wealthy countries and oil interests, allowing polluters to continue emitting with impunity while Africa supplies them with carbon credits. Instead of serving the interests of the African continent, the financial pledges made during the Summit threaten to exacerbate existing inequalities and further extractivism.

However, heads of state and leaders celebrated these investments, advancing the flawed belief that carbon markets represent a viable source of climate financing. Kenyan President William Ruto described carbon sinks as an “unparalleled economic goldmine,” while European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pitched “true carbon credits” as a “solution that would unlock huge resources for climate action in Africa.”

US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry similarly declared that “Africa needs a thriving carbon market as a tool to fight the climate crisis.” Contrary to these assertions, carbon markets mainly benefit foreign developers and financial intermediaries – wealthy individuals, firms, and organizations based in the Global North – with host countries and local communities often only receiving a small fraction of the revenues generated.

While the Africa Climate Summit was dominated by false solutions, the breakthrough came in the form of the alternative Real Africa Climate Summit, which brought together over 500 civil society groups – showcasing the power and vibrancy of the African climate movement.

In response to the failings of the official Summit, civil society groups organized an alternative People’s Assembly and March, which catalyzed conversations and collaboration among grassroots movements, farmer organizations, Indigenous communities, activists, and faith-based actors.

The outcome of this counter-mobilization is the African People’s Climate and Development Declaration, which provides a vision for African climate action that is far more ambitious than the Nairobi Declaration. Centered around African solutions, climate justice, and a people-centered approach, the People’s Declaration outlines the real solutions African leaders must demand at the upcoming COP28 and beyond.

These include a redefinition of development away from perpetual growth, people-centered renewable energy, agroecology and food sovereignty, ecosystem protection and restoration, a socially just transition away from fossil fuels, and the dismantling of transnational corporations’ power.

Addressing the climate emergency cannot come at the expense of those who contributed the least to it. Nor can it be tackled with the same extractive and neocolonial system that created it in the first place.
As we move forward towards COP28 in Dubai, African nations must reject false climate solutions that surrender control over their natural resources to wealthy countries in the Global North.

Instead, African leaders must listen to the calls of civil society and prioritize genuine solutions that pave the way for a just transition and prioritize the well-being of African people.

Eve Devillers is a Research Associate at the Oakland Institute, an independent policy think tank bringing fresh ideas and bold action to the most pressing social, economic, and environmental issues of our time. www.oaklandinstitute.org

IPS UN Bureau

Categories: Africa

The Perspective of Global Governance for Achieving the SDGsFrom the viewpoint of sociology of domination.

Tue, 09/12/2023 - 20:25

By Sotaro Kusumoto and Osamu Kusumoto
TOKYO, Japan, Sep 12 2023 (IPS)

SDGs and global governance

Sustainable development is the challenge of how to build a society in which humanity can live with dignity in this global environment. The SDGs set 17 goals and 169 targets to achieve sustainable development. Goals 16 and 17 are aimed precisely at building global governance through the formation of global rules. Goal 16 lists 10 specific targets, while Goal 17 lists 19 targets.

Sotaro Kusumoto

When a society functions with common values, it can be governed by non-verbal rules such as norms, but when the planet Earth, which is made up of diverse values, is regarded as a single society, it becomes necessary to govern it in the form of rules of law by explicit laws as common rules for the management of society. This is the condition for global governance by so-called global rules. However, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, there is little research on the nature of these global rules and how they should be constructed.

In order to answer this question, it is necessary to analyse the relationship between the legitimacy that defines the rules of governance in each country and the governance structure in the first place, and based on this analysis, identify issues and make proposals that can overcome these issues.

Laws of respective country and legitimacy

In modern societies, national laws are legislated under national constitutions. For example, the pros and cons of the death penalty are debated, but the essential reason why this is controversial is whether the fundamental question of on what grounds a person can deny the life of another person, even if he or she uses the institution of law, exists there. This question becomes clearer in the case of democracy. The epistemological question becomes whether the people, as sovereigns who constitute the sovereignty of the state, can take the lives of sovereigns on the basis of law, even if the law is legislated by parliamentarians elected through the system of elections.

In fact, the institution of the state is the only institution that can legally kill. International law recognises war as the final solution measures to international disputes. It is also regarded as a means of settling disputes over the sovereignty of states, recognised by international law, in the absence of any superior power.

Osamu Kusumoto

What is clear here is that the sovereignty of a state goes beyond the usual logical arguments and forms a value for the people, and the law of each country is founded on the fact that this value is not in question.

And the legitimacy of this rule is, surprisingly, provided for in the preamble of each country’s constitution. Even if there is no such statement in the preamble of the constitution, it is stipulated in the more fundamental texts of the fundamental law of each country, in the case of the UK in the Magna Carta, in the case of the US in the Declaration of Independence, and in the case of France in the Declaration of Human Rights.

The international order to date has made the values of the hegemonic powers, such as Pax Romana and Pax Britannica, the de facto rule. However, in an international community where diverse cultures and values exist, it is not possible to conduct global governance with the values of any one country as the global rules.

Possibility of global rules

Even though it is a difficult question how to set values, the legal conditions under which global rules can be established are relatively clear. Fairness, rationality, transparency, stability and predictability are required. A rule of law is established when people understand that the rule has validity.

The question is how to construct transcendental values that correspond to the sovereignty of people’s belief systems as values in the law of each country. The sociology of religion and the sociology of domination shows that the legitimacy of the transcendent rule of law, which forms the basis of the values of each country, is formed from the fact that the survival of the group is possible.

When we consider that humanity is an inhabitant of this fragile planet and that the idea of humanity as a community is at the root of the SDGs, and that our lives and the lives of others have equal value as the very basis of human rights, the legitimacy of global societal domination in the era of the SDGs must be based on sustainability, this means that the legitimacy of global society’s domination in the era of the SDGs must lie in sustainability.

Despite criticisms of idealism, the only logical solution to global governance is to create the conditions for its realisation.

Sotaro Kusumoto, Staff, Cabinet Office, Government of Japan
Osamu Kusumoto, Secretary General, Forum on Future Vison

IPS UN Bureau

Categories: Africa

What Happens in the Arctic Does Not Stay in the Arctic

Tue, 09/12/2023 - 08:37

Northern and Southern Trade Routes. Credit: European Space Agency

By Jan Lundius
STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Sep 12 2023 (IPS)

While climate change is relentlessly progressing, threatening life on earth, world leaders continue to meet while planning for a future where this immense menace to human existence remains a minor item on the agenda.

Recently, the BRICS countries held their 15th annual summit in Johannesburg. BRICS, an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, was in 2010 established as a collaboration group for these expanding economies. This year’s summit was of a particular interest since the G7 nations (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Great Britain and the US) have been very critical of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, while BRICS nations have been less so.

Xi Jinping arrived in Johannesburg on his second international trip this year, after visiting Moscow in March. Xi was expected to deliver his remarks alongside other leaders, but his speech was actually read out by his commerce minister. It made thinly veiled attacks on the US, describing an unnamed country as “obsessed with maintaining hegemony, [it] has gone out of its way to cripple the emerging markets and developing countries.”

Since Vladimir Putin currently faces an arrest warrant for war crimes issued by the International Criminal Court, he was only present on wide screen. He also talked about “hegemony” while repeating his questionable reasons for the brutal attack on Ukraine: “Let me point out that it was the attempts by some countries to preserve their global hegemony that paved the way to the deep crisis in Ukraine. It started when an anti-constitutional government coup took place in this country with the help of the Western countries. This was followed by the unleashing of a war against people who refused to accept this coup. It was a cruel war, a war of extermination …”

Putin and Xi try to depict their nations’ politics as a counterpoise to the hegemonic strivings of the US and the EU. There are several signs that they consider themselves and their nations to be companions in the struggle.

During their meeting in Moscow this year, Xi said he hoped Putin would be victorious in next year’s presidential elections, since his “strong leadership had made good progress in development and rejuvenation”. Putin responded by stating that “Russia stands ready to continue to deepen bilateral, practical cooperation, step up communication and collaboration in international affairs and promote world multi-polarity and greater democracy in international relations.” A declaration sounding deceptive given what has happened in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, as well as in Chechnya and Ukraine. Nevertheless, Xi’s speech in Johannesburg was quite to the point when he declared: “We gather at a time when the world has entered a new period of turbulence and transformation. It is undergoing major shifts, division and regrouping, leading to more uncertain, unstable and unpredictable developments.”

So far, Beijing’s support to Russia has been pragmatic. Apparently following the guideline of “What’s in it for us”. Nevertheless, Russia is an unpredictable partner, recently demonstrated by the mysterious developments around Prigozhin and his Wagner Group. There are no signs that Xi’s support to his “dear friend Putin” is wavering. Even if Xi has not explicitly endorsed Russia’s war in Ukraine, there are no direct indications that he disapproves of it. Chinese TV continues to mainly show Russian media coverage of the Ukraine invasion and Xi has criticised the “expanding of military blocs” (read NATO) while continuously condemning “the abuse of international sanctions”.

Between June 2022 and June 2023, exports from China to Russia had increased by USD 4.55 billion (90.9 percent), from USD 5billion to USD 9.55 billion. China is currently Russia’s largest trade partner and Xi and Putin have pledged to boost trade to USD 200 billion in 2023, hailing their “no limits” partnership. During this year alone Chinese imports of crude petroleum from Russia has increased by USD 1.74 billion, or 69,8 percent, compared to last year, while import of coal briquettes increased with USD 444 million or 193 percent. No good news for climate change, especially considering that greenhouse gas emissions by China are currently the largest of any country in the world, with a yearly contribution of 13 gigatonnes – 25 percent of global emissions.

At the BICS summit, Putin mentioned that a new world-transforming initiative has begun in the far North: “the relevance of accelerated development of transcontinental routes such as the North-South corridor, which will connect Russian ports in the northern seas and the Baltic Sea with sea terminals in the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean, [these routes] will in the future facilitate annual transit of up to 30 million tonnes of cargo.”

What is happening in the far North? By the beginning of this century the scientific community coined a new phrase: “What happens in the Arctic does not stay in the Arctic”. Variations of that quote have been used to describe the effects of climate change, but now it is also increasingly involving financial endeavours and geopolitics.

Quite recently, actually in 1996, it became evident that climate shifts are both violent and extremely rapid – the Greenland Ice Sheet began to lose mass at an unprecedented speed. There were also reports that the permafrost was rapidly melting. In 2001, it was obvious that the retreat of the sea ice had become uncontrivable, leaving huge areas of the Artic Sea free of ice cover. This will probably have catastrophic consequences, not only for the Arctic flora and fauna, but for the entire world. As an example, around 15 percent of the Northern Hemisphere is covered by permafrost containing enormous amounts of dead biomass, which presently, at an ever-increasing speed, is emitting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, thus accelerating global warming. Strange effects of permafrost melting can be seen in Siberia, where methane build-ups under the tundra surface litter vast areas with bizarre earth mounds, which occasionally explode, leaving holes in the ground as deep as sixteen-story buildings.

However, this disastrous development also give rise to greed and exploitation. What Putin meant by a North-South corridor that will connect Russian ports in the northern seas with ports in the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean is the realisation of an important phase of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which is a Chinese global infrastructure development strategy adopted in 2013, meaning huge investments in more than 150 countries . It was thus no coincidence that China at the BRICS summit pushed for the inclusion of six more nations: Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Argentina. All these countries, except for Argentina, are directly affected by the maritime part of the BRI mentioned by Putin. Shipping lines through the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean will be connected with a northern route through the now increasingly ice-free Northeast Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Huge projects connected with this initiative have already been initiated. New deep-water harbours are constructed outside Arkhangelsk and Vladivostok. Arkhangelsk is the largest city on Russia’s northern, European coast, while the port of Zarubino, south of Vladivostok, is close to China. Both harbours are ice-free the year around.

Furthermore, China and Russia are developing the huge Payakha oilfield at the Taymyr peninsula, in the northernmost part of Eurasia. Apart from establishing strategic connections along the Northeast Passage’s shipping line, the joint Russia-China BRI is now constructing a pipeline from Siberia to Vladivostok, while linking up Russia’s railway network and river systems with new developing sites in the North.

Russian shores cover 53 percent of the Arctic Ocean’s coastline and with the ice and tundra melting, problems are arising for the EU and the US. Closer contacts with the Middle East, Africa and China are probably beneficial for a Russia which is increasingly distant from the West, a cumbersome situation that makes Russian development and exploitation of the Arctic realm a priority. Diplomatic efforts have been made to improve relations with the governments of Greenland and the Faroe Islands, which still are under Danish sovereignty, in the sense that military security rests with the Danish Government, though they are semi-independent islands and are free to trade and foment investments on their own. While Russia now is crippled by the European condemnation of the Ukrainian invasion, Arctic nations like Iceland, Norway, Finland and Denmark dominated islands are free to open up to Chinese investment and trade agreements, thus also indirectly serving Russians interests.

China is interested in polar science, infrastructure, and natural resources, while Greenland is eager to attract foreign investment. China is Greenland’s largest foreign investor, with USD 2 billion in yearly investments accounting for more than 12 percent of the island‘s GDP. While Russia is exploiting its part of the Arctic and China is entering the game, the EU and the US are worried, and not the least NATO, whose spokesperson declared: “Whoever hold Greenland will hold the Arctic. Greenland is the most important strategic location in the Arctic and perhaps the world.”

Apart from the most extensive Arctic shoreline, Russia also has the advantage of the Lomonosov Ridge, which is a shallow underwater ridge stretching from the Russian mainland and across the North Pole. According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, states have the exclusive right to exploit resources on and in the continental shelf, if the seabed is more than 370 kms wide and constitutes a “natural prolongation” of the territory of the nation claiming it. The Lomonosov Ridge is actually connected to Russian territory and in February 2013 the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf approved most of Russia’s seabed claim in the Arctic Ocean.

Russia is currently increasing its military power in the Arctic – to enhance homeland defence, protect shipping lines and secure the exploitation of the Arctic’s natural resources. This while China is trying to purchase ports, airfields and other infrastructure that might support their investments in the Arctic.

NATO, in particular Canada and the US, are alarmed by this development and voices are raised claiming that these nations are far too late for participating in the race for the Arctic. NATO already hosts the Thule Airbase on Greenland, while the US and the Danish Ministry of Defence have a declared interest in the new international airports under construction in Nuuk and Ilulissat and in using Greenlandic ports as support bases for the US Navy. The US and the EU are trying to convince Greenland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands to remain within the West’s economic and military realm and limit their interest in cooperating with China and Russia.

Meanwhile, global warming in the Artic is continuing with an ever-increasing speed, while greenhouse gases continue to gather over the Northern Hemisphere. We are all moving towards a disastrous tipping point, where in a sudden blow the entire world ecosystem could change for the worst and make the earth almost uninhabitable. This while humans continue to fight each other and world leaders squabble about who is going to rule over the Arctic and dominate the world. “What happens in the Arctic does not stay in the Arctic”.

IPS UN Bureau

Categories: Africa

African Women’s Reproductive Rights under Threat: Global Pushback Puts Lives at Risk

Tue, 09/12/2023 - 08:31

Credit: UNFPA/Marielle Sander

Women’s bodies should not be held captive to choices made by governments or individuals, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) said, as it launched its flagship State of the World’s Population Report for 2023, released April 2023. According to the UN, more than half of global population growth between now and 2050 is expected to occur in Africa. Africa has the highest rate of population growth among major areas. The population of sub-Saharan Africa is projected to double by 2050. A rapid population increase in Africa is anticipated even if there is a substantial reduction of fertility levels in the near future.

By Dorothy Akongo, Flata Mwale and Vivian Mugarisi
KAMPALA/LUSAKA/HARARE, Sep 12 2023 (IPS)

Almost 30 years ago in 1994, the world witnessed a historic event as 179 nations convened on African soil, in Cairo, for the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD).

In an unprecedented moment of collective action, Heads of State adopted a revolutionary Programme of Action and called for women’s reproductive health and rights to take center stage in national and global development efforts.

This summer, in another first, the Women Deliver Conference had its annual meeting in Kigali, Rwanda. As the largest conference on gender equality in the world with 6,000 in-person delegates and a further 200,000 remote participants, the event was a welcome symbol of Africa’s commitment to the rights of women and girls.

Despite this, it was frustrating to witness echoes of the global pushback currently plaguing the reproductive justice movement and how decades of progress on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) continue to face assault.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, the Hungarian President drew controversy for championing her ‘pro-family’ ideals in sharp contrast to the purpose that had united many of the delegates present.

President Katalin Novák, a key player in the movement opposing women’s and girls’ rights, notably access to safe and legal abortion, has publicly asserted that Hungarian women “should not compete with men” or expect to earn equal pay. She publicly envisioned her teenage daughter being empowered to choose a path of mothering a substantial number of children, “even 10 children if she chooses to”.

As part of a 40-women delegation from the Women in Global Health network, we experienced the clash firsthand. Three decades since Cairo, and the struggle for women’s and girls’ rights continues, but as African health professionals and agents of change in the systems we deliver, so does our determination to sustain progress on the continent.

We have much to be proud of. In November 2021, Benin’s Parliament voted to legalize abortion in most circumstances. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, the first country in Francophone Africa to do so, expanded access to abortion care, and endorsed guidelines to implement the directives of the African Protocol on the Rights of Women (the Maputo Protocol).

In July 2022, Sierra Leone took steps to modernize outdated abortion laws following decades of advocacy by the women’s movement and government officials.

Despite these advances, women and adolescent girls in Africa continue to have some of the world’s highest maternal death and morbidity rates. With low access to modern contraceptive methods and quality, safe and legal abortion, stalling progress means life and death for many women and girls.

The COVID-19 pandemic revealed the failure of many governments to integrate a gender-responsive approach in national health systems on SRHR. During the emergency response, SRHR services were not always deemed essential and sidelined, resulting in a surge of gender-based violence, unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions.

Access to modern contraception and reproductive health, fundamental to determining whether and how many children to have, when and with whom, remains inaccessible for many adolescent girls and women. Quality, safe abortion care is a right. Restrictions on abortion do not eliminate abortion; they only eliminate safe abortions, resulting in women’s deaths.

According to global estimates up to 10 million more girls will be at risk of becoming child brides in the next decade as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Reports also indicate that though all women and girls globally face discrimination in laws, social norms and practices, women and girls in Africa bear the highest share of discrimination in terms of intra-household dynamics and caregiving roles, working environments including harmful practices such as domestic violence and female genital mutilation.

Women health workers are grossly underrepresented in health leadership and this is a key factor in the current push back on SRHR. Women comprise the majority of the health workforce, given they are 70 percent of the overall workforce globally and 90 percent of frontline staff, yet they occupy just 25 percent of leadership roles.

For lower- and middle-income regions such as Africa, the percentage of women in leadership is as low as five percent. As the majority of frontline health professionals, women health workers have a deeper understanding of the health needs of their communities including SRHR needs. This power imbalance at decision-making tables excludes their valuable experiences and expertise to shape policies and programs that adequately address the health needs of women and girls.

Compounding this, 70% of women in Africa are said to be excluded financially, with an estimated gap of $42 billion between men and women. Around six million women work unpaid and underpaid in core health systems roles, effectively subsidizing global health.

Health and care are essential employment sectors for women and have the potential to unlock gender transformative lessons for the rest of the economy by addressing systemic biases that hinder women’s empowerment. Investing in the health workforce, the majority of whom are women, is a sound investment with potential gains for health systems, social change, and economic growth.

The role of women health workers delivering SRHR services in health systems cannot be overestimated. Women health workers typically counsel and support women and girls in accessing a range of modern contraceptives and in dealing with high-risk or unwanted pregnancy.

They brave violence and harassment from anti-rights protestors at quality, safe abortion facilities. They face online abuse and threats when expressing views in favor of SRHR, especially safe abortion.

As a platform, the Women Deliver Conference provided an opportunity for gender advocates and Civil Society Organizations to amplify efforts towards promoting a gender-responsive agenda among policy players and government leaders. While several countries have ratified human rights declarations over the years, not enough has been done to live up to the promise of making gender equality a reality.

Women’s movements and their allies are pivotal for mobilizing the necessary political will needed to drive progress on SRHR. As members of Women in Global Health, a movement challenging power and privilege for gender equity in health, we are calling on political and global health leaders to establish the following:

Movements such as ours are pivotal in building allyship between health workers and national leaders in the delivery of SRHR while also safeguarding health outcomes for future generations. Across Africa, reducing health inequities and maternal mortalities is of paramount concern.

African countries have the opportunity to secure the foundation for just societies and health for all, what we need now is to hold firm against the global pushback on reproductive rights and deliver on the promises made to women and girls.

This article was authored by Members of the African Women in Global Health network:
Dorothy Akongo, Research and Advocacy Manager, Busoga Health Forum and Coordinator, Uganda Chapter; Flata Mwale, Global Health Professional and Deputy Country Lead, Zambia Chapter; Vivian Mugarisi, Public Health Communications Specialist, Zimbabwe Chapter.

IPS UN Bureau

Categories: Africa

World Leaders Offered “15 Minutes of Fame” at UN’s High-Level Meeting

Tue, 09/12/2023 - 08:26

Credit: United Nations

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 12 2023 (IPS)

Everyone in this world is entitled to 15 minutes of fame– is a legendary quote mis-attributed to the American pop icon Andy Warhol.

Over the years, the United Nations has laid down its own 15-minute rule for world leaders addressing the UN General Assembly.

And this year is no exception, as the UN readies to host over 150+ world leaders at the high-level segment of the 78th session of the General Assembly, beginning September 19.

In a message to Ambassadors and heads of missions in New York, Movses Abelian, Under-Secretary-General for General Assembly and Conference Management says: “I would like to take this opportunity to emphasize that, in accordance with existing practice at the general debate, a voluntary 15-minute time limit should be observed and the list of speakers has been prepared on the basis of a 15-minute statement by each delegation.”

But as tradition and protocol demands, it is member states, including political leaders and ambassadors, who reign supreme at the United Nations, not the Secretary-General or senior UN officials.

And no president of the General Assembly, the UN’s highest policy-making body, has the right to interrupt or curtail the prerogative of a president or prime minister to speak uninterruptedly—at his or her own pace.

In a bygone era, the UN installed a light on the speaker’s rostrum that kept flashing when a head of state or head of government went beyond the 15-minute limit.

President Ranesinghe Premadasa of Sri Lanka, who was apparently alerted about this, pulled out his handkerchief, covered the flashing light and continued to speak.

The following year, Cuba’s Fidel Castro, known for his long-winded speeches, pulled off the same stunt with a dramatic flair waving the handkerchief –as delegates cheered him and greeted his gesture with loud laughter.

The two political leaders had momentarily outsmarted the UN bureaucracy.

The all-time records for speech-making at the General Assembly have continued to be held by Castro, Nikita Khrushchev of the Soviet Union, Sékou Touré of Guinea, Muammar al-Qadhafi of Libya and President Soerkano of Indonesia.

The longest speech was made by Castro at the 872nd plenary meeting of the General Assembly on 26 September 1960. The time listed was an all-time-high of 269 minutes, according to the archives in the UN’s Dag Hammarskjold Library.

Other long speeches at the General Assembly included:

The flamboyant Qadhafi, made a rare historic visit to the UN in September 2009, accompanied by political fanfare—and his usual team of female body guards.

In its report, the London Guardian said he “grabbed his 15 minutes of fame at the UN building in New York and ran with it. He ran with it so hard he stretched it to an hour and 40 minutes, six times longer than his allotted slot, to the dismay of UN organizers”.

“Qadhafi fully lived up to his reputation for eccentricity, bloody-mindedness and extreme verbiage”, said the Guardian, “as he tore up a copy of the UN charter in front of startled delegates, accused the Security Council of being an al-Qaida like terrorist body, called for (US President) George Bush and (UK Prime Minister) Tony Blair to be put on trial for the Iraq war, demanded $7.7 trillion in compensation for the ravages of colonialism on Africa, and wondered whether swine flu was a biological weapon created in a military laboratory.”

Still, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, the longest statement ever made at the UN was delivered by Krishna Menon of India. His statement to the Security Council was during three meetings in January 1957, lasting more than 8 hours.

According to AsiaNet, Menon, “one of the best statesmen India has ever produced”, made that marathon speech, blasting Pakistan over the disputed territory of Kashmir.

The transcript of the speech ran to 160 pages.

During the speech, Menon collapsed midway and had to be revived. But he returned to the Council chamber and continued to attack Pakistan for another hour.

But in recent years, there were no such dramatic moments either in the Security Council or the General Assembly.

At most international conferences, the host country has the privilege of being the first speaker on day one.

However, a longstanding tradition gives pride of place to Brazil followed by the US as the second speaker for the opening day, this time it would be President Joe Biden.

During an official visit to Brasilia, I asked one of the senior Brazilian officials about the origins of the tradition. And he told me “Even we don’t why we continue to be the number one speaker”

In those days, most countries were reluctant to be the first to address the chamber, according to a published report. Brazil, at the time, was the only country that volunteered to speak first.

Some say that the tradition dates back to 1947, when Brazil’s top diplomat Oswaldo Aranha presided over the Assembly’s First Special Session.

https://www.ipsnews.net/2023/09/un-came-attack-mis-guided-rocket-launcher/

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

Security & Safety Service During the UN General Assembly Week

Mon, 09/11/2023 - 09:30

Protection is paramount to ensure that processes run smoothly during High-Level week. Credit: Shutterstock

By Mollie Fraser-Andrews
GENEVA, Switzerland, Sep 11 2023 (IPS)

The United Nations Security and Safety Service is the Division charged with the strategic management of safety and security operations at Headquarters, Offices away from Headquarters, Regional Commissions, and International Tribunals.

As part of its daily role, the Service enables a safe and secure operating environment for UN activities and high-level events such as the UN General Assembly (UNGA). With the UNGA now in progress, we take you behind the scenes to what it takes to prepare for High-Level week which begins September 19.

The UN security officers are at the front and center of this event, and they undertake their roles of safeguarding dozens of world leaders with the utmost seriousness, professionalism, and experience garnered from their daily responsibilities.

Rodrigo Victor da Paixão, Deputy Chief of the Security and Safety Service, notes, “On any given day of the year at the UNHQ, we might have several VVIPs or Heads of State/Government coming in. We practically do a mini-GA every day,” he adds with a smile.

“From a UN Security point of view, it is all about building on what we do all year round and scaling up for GA week. September witnesses intensified efforts due to the sheer volume of participants”, he mentions.

The number and level of participants call for a strengthened security posture, as per any event in the international arena. This involves flying in additional UN security officers from other duty stations to reinforce the New York staff.

As a National Special Security Event (NSSE) that requires full protective, crisis management, incident response, and counterterrorism capabilities at all levels, from local to the federal government, the UNGA is recognized by the host government as having both national and international significance.

The host government deploys the full power of its law enforcement and emergency response, often incorporating around 17 or 18 distinct US agencies led by the Secret Service.

Security measures are tightened around the UNHQ building during the High-Level segment. Credit: UNDSS Gallery

Preparations for the UNGA

In a sense, the GA never really ends. Da Paixão explains that “For us, it never stops. The day after the last event of the GA High-Level week, we are already preparing for next year, through reviewing lessons learned and how we can do it better next time.”

For all that, there is a process specific to each year’s GA with the stopwatch beginning in May. “That’s when we start doing our first internal coordination meetings. At first it is one every other week, then starting in July, every week,” Da Paixão notes.

Various drills are conducted in July and August, ranging from fire drills to mock medical emergencies to diverse mass casualty scenarios like terrorist attacks, natural disasters, etc. “We have a thorough plan in place in the event that we need to transport several people to the hospital at once. There is also close cooperation with the NYC fire department, our medical service, and hospitals nearby,” Da Paixão says, “We have prepared for all the worst-case scenarios.”

A specific security risk assessment for the UNGA is prepared by the SSS-NY Crisis Management and Strategic Planning Unit, in consultation with the relevant host country law enforcement authorities. Red Team exercises are conducted by various SSS teams to account for any vulnerabilities and implement mitigating measures.

In addition, a Security Operations Plan with evacuation, emergency, and safety plans is also prepared and updated continuously, along with various security concepts and needs analysis for the event that prompts a review of all procedures in place and safety inspections. Additional checkpoints are coordinated with NYPD to extend the outer perimeter to Second Avenue.

Bomb sweeps of the complex are also conducted before and during the event in coordination with the host country. SSS also coordinates and reviews with NYPD the traffic patterns outside the UN premises and manages vehicles and motorcade access and movement inside the complex.

The Special Services Unit (SSU) provides close protection to visiting dignitaries in coordination with host country agencies and visiting national security elements accompanying the VVIPs while on UN premises. SSU also liaises and provides briefings and walk-throughs for security counterparts before the GA.

Security briefings are crucial for the smooth running of the General Assembly session. Credit: UN Photo/Eskinder Debele

During the GA

Months of efforts culminate at the UNGA High-Level week. Statistics from the previous year UNGA-77 revealed screening of a total of 55,580 persons and 67,698 items, with the daily highest record of 13,508 persons and 13,165 items.

The Pass and ID Unit issued a total of 146,940 ground and overlay passes with around 43% (9,524) ground passes, 38% (8,404) mission overlay passes, 16% (3,645) staff overlay passes and 3% (546) media passes.

The Special Services Unit assisted Member States in providing safety and security to 140 Heads of State (HOS) and Heads of Government (HOG), 63 Foreign Ministers (FMs), and 34 other VIPs. To add, 745 motorcades were allowed into the UNHQ compound with their 86 high and medium threat level HOS/HOG representatives, while 73 of them requested walkthrough escorts through the UN compound.

Furthermore, a Joint Operation Center is set up at the UN for the High-Level week, where various US agencies continuously coordinate with the UN Security representatives to e
nsure the smooth operation of the event.

“The GA entails more than its central proceedings. Numerous side events, dinners, and themed events and functions occur concurrently. This year, for instance, will feature the Sustainable Development Goal summit,” Paixão says. “This will bring in a lot more people and it is going to be a lot busier than a regular GA.”

Mollie Fraser-Andrews is Editorial Coordinator, UN TODAY.

Source: UN TODAY, the official magazine of international civil servants, Geneva

The link to the website: https://untoday.org/

IPS UN Bureau

Categories: Africa

Elevating Farmers’ Income Through Organic Poultry Rearing

Mon, 09/11/2023 - 08:48

Farmers have improved their income by rearing Gramapriya poultry, which is environmentally friendly and organic. Credit: Umar Manzoor Shah/IPS

By Umar Manzoor Shah
TELANGANA, INDIA, Sep 11 2023 (IPS)

Even after toiling hard for an entire year, Shivaji Rao, a 37-year-old farmer, would find it hard to cover the basic expenses of his family.

He cultivates maize from his one-and-a-half-acre land in India’s Southern State of Telangana.

Roa told IPS that the prices of fertilisers and seeds in his home state have skyrocketed to the extent that it is herculean to even think of buying them in adequate quantity.

“The changes in climate, on the other hand, is wreaking havoc on poor farmers like us. The untimely rainfall, the drought-like situation coupled with the scarcity of irrigation facilities is leaving us high and dry to the core,” Roa said.

In a remote village of the state called Aseefabad, another farmer, namely Bhagwan Nath, shares a similar predicament.

He says besides farming, he does menial jobs like day labour at some government-sponsored construction sites to make ends meet.

However, the farmer who grows redgram (a type of legume) from a one-acre field says the farming and the daily paid labour aren’t enough to suffice his family’s needs.

“I mean, we have children who deserve better education. I need to send my kids to a good school so that they can get a quality education, but doing so needs money. I am not earning enough,” Bhaghwan told IPS.

There are scores of other farmers in the hamlet sharing the same tale and facing the same ordeal.

Nominally, their monthly incomes do not go beyond a mere 15 to 20 thousand rupees (180-240 USD).

Climate change in the region has been severely affecting the farmers with the late arrival of monsoons and sudden unexpected heat waves occurring.

“This drastic change in the weather pattern damages the crops beyond repair. At times, a year of hard work gets wasted with one single blow of wind. Further, the cost of seeds and fertilisers is adding to our predicament. It is turning us insane,” sighs Shivaji.

As per the government records, the hamlet, during February and March, experienced temperatures higher than the norm.

Typically, elevated temperatures result in increased moisture capacity of the air, often leading to the formation of thunderstorms. The temperatures in the hamlet surpassed 35°C, facilitating the absorption of moisture from the Bay of Bengal, culminating in the development of a depression.

Reports show that over the past decade, the area has encountered unprecedented weather occurrences – believed to be both climate-change-induced and because of rapid urbanisation in the region.

To mitigate the suffering of the farmers of this remote village, a few non-government organisations have visited the farmers, and this resulted in discussions around opportunities for marginalised farmers for self-sustaining livelihood and climate-resilient agricultural practices through community-owned processes.

One of the NGOs mooted the idea of pollution-free poultry farming for these farmers.

Along with other farmers, Roa and Bhagwan enrolled for the program. Each farmer received 40 chicks of the Gramapriya breed, with a mature weight ranging from 1.5 to 2 kilograms. The poultry rearing was environmentally friendly, ensuring that there was no odour emanating from the shed. This approach not only resulted in wholesome meat and eggs for the farmer’s family due to the organic nature of the produce but also generated supplementary income through the sale of organic meat, eggs, and compost derived from the bedding.

The training provided to farmers included instructions on formulating appropriate feed for the chicks, enabling them to be ready for the local market within just four months. One farmer, Bhagwan, has already sold ten birds weighing a total of 18 kilograms, earning an extra income of Rs 5400 (70 USD) at a rate of Rs 300 (4 USD) per kilogram over a span of nine months. Additionally, he has sold 200 eggs at Rs 5 each, resulting in an income of Rs 1000.

Moreover, Bhagwan is implementing a breeding strategy by using local chicks to hatch PFPF eggs, thereby multiplying the poultry population on his PFPF farm.

As a result of this new PFPF initiative, his annual earnings have increased by Rs 6400 (80 USD). In total, Bhagwanath’s annual income has risen from Rs 35,000 to Rs 40,000 (about 420 to 480 USD) within a few months due to these efforts.

Roa says that the poultry he has received has also helped him receive extra income and make a good living.

“Now, I am not entirely dependent upon farming. The poultry is what keeps me hopeful. I am planning to put in extra effort in this business and make a good living out of it.”

Roa says within three months, he has been able to earn more than 50 thousand rupees (700 USD) from selling organic eggs and chicken in the market.

“There is a growing demand for organic food, and people really like what I sell. They are quite responsive to it,” Roa said.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

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