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Die Staats- und Regierungschefs der G7 haben sich bereits auf die Schlussfolgerungen ihres Gipfels geeinigt. Dazu gehören Themen wie die Ukraine-Hilfen und die Lage im Gazastreifen, sagte die italienische Ministerpräsidentin Meloni am Ende des ersten Tages des Treffens am Donnerstag (13. Juni).

Mehrere politische Schwergewichte, die am vergangenen Wochenende als bulgarische Abgeordnete ins Europäische Parlament gewählt wurden, kündigten am Donnerstag an, sich auf die Innenpolitik zu konzentrieren. Einige von ihnen werden jedoch der neuen bulgarischen Regierung beitreten.

Plusieurs personnalités politiques de premier plan élues le week-end dernier pour représenter la Bulgarie au Parlement européen ont annoncé jeudi qu’elles s’en tiendraient à la politique intérieure, certaines d’entre elles devant rejoindre le nouveau gouvernement bulgare.

Wirtschaftliche Sicherheit sollte zu den Prioritäten der neuen EU-Kommission gehören, so der tschechische Industrie- und Handelsminister und potenzielle EU-Kommissar Jozef Síkela. Die sorgfältigere Auswahl der Handelspartner und die Verringerung der Abhängigkeit in strategischen Sektoren sollten ebenfalls dazu gehören.

Experten kritisieren die von der EU-Kommission angekündigten Zölle auf in China hergestellte Elektrofahrzeuge als unzureichend. Diese seien nicht ausreichend, um die staatliche Unterstützung chinesischer Autohersteller auszugleichen.

Credit: Ibnul Asaf Jawed Susam/iStock via Getty Images. IMF

By Jayendu De and Genet Zinabou
WASHINGTON DC, Jun 14 2024 (IPS)

Bangladesh has made major gains for its population, the world’s eighth largest with more than 170 million people. Per capita incomes, one of the best measures of broad economic well-being, have risen seven-fold in the past three decades while poverty has been reduced to a fraction of former levels.

Such progress has been driven in part by greater labor force participation by women, most notably in the garment industry, and has been accompanied by other meaningful improvements in women’s empowerment.

Our recent analysis, however, shows there are still large gaps between women and men. Notably, women’s labor force participation is only half the rate of men.

Prior IMF research shows that closing this gap could increase the country’s economic output by nearly 40 percent. Women also remain less likely than men to obtain tertiary education, and they face greater barriers in accessing financial services. Remedying both factors could raise the entire economy’s productivity.

At the same time, efforts to close gender gaps face headwinds from Bangladesh’s extreme vulnerability to climate change and natural disasters. Like other economic shocks, climate shocks generally affect the already poor and vulnerable the most. This means that Bangladeshi women, who on average have fewer resources than men, are likely to be disproportionately impacted.

Our analysis further highlights several factors that render women in Bangladesh uniquely exposed to the effects of climate change and natural disasters:

• Women’s employment in Bangladesh is highly concentrated in agriculture and informal work. Climate change very directly affects agricultural production, whereas informal workers are often particularly vulnerable to climate shocks as they lack access to social insurance programs.
• International and internal migration are important climate adaptation strategies, availed mostly by men. Bangladeshi men are 16 times more likely to be employed overseas than women, who tend to be primary care givers for children and the elderly, leaving them less mobile and more likely to remain living in areas highly exposed to climate change.
• Women in Bangladesh carry primary responsibility for collecting drinking water and cooking fuel. As warming temperatures, rising sea levels, deforestation and more frequent cyclones and droughts render these tasks more time-consuming, women’s time poverty is expected to be exacerbated.

Bangladesh already recognized the need to integrate gender perspectives in its 2009 Climate Change Strategy. Following this, the government adopted the first Climate Change and Gender Action Plan 2013, which it updated in March 2024.

Renewed efforts will be needed to ensure successful implementation of the plan and achieve simultaneous progress on climate action and gender equality.

To this end, policymakers should capitalize as much as possible on the synergies between women’s empowerment, economic growth, and increased resilience to climate change.

Policies that support women’s labor force participation deserve particular attention, including those that expand their access to skills development and higher education, ease unpaid care burdens by expanding affordable childcare, reduce informality, and address gender norms that discourage women from seeking formal jobs and higher pay.

Boosting health and education spending would help empower women while raising labor productivity and making the whole population more resilient to climate change.

Persistent gaps between women and men in access to finance should be tackled by instilling confidence in formal finance, strengthening women’s property rights and carrying out financial literacy campaigns targeted at women.

Bangladesh was an early adopter of gender responsive budgeting and has more recently introduced climate budget tagging, a tool for tracking climate-related spending in the national budget.

However, insufficient integration of gender and climate considerations during the initial strategic phase of budget formulation means that the system in Bangladesh currently functions primarily as an ex-post accounting exercise.

Improvements in this area combined with more systematic impact assessment of government programs would enable more efficient channeling of public resources toward achieving the country’s gender equity and climate goals.

Lastly, women should not be thought of as mere beneficiaries of climate action. Rather, just as women played an integral role in the development of the garment industry and Bangladesh’s growth success in recent decades, they should be empowered to play an active role in the country’s green transition.

The IMF’s engagement with Bangladesh, including the country becoming the first in Asia to access our new Resilience and Sustainability Trust, aims to support policy efforts in many of these directions.

Jayendu De is the IMF Resident Representative in Bangladesh. Genet Zinabou is an economist in the Fiscal Affairs Department, IMF.

Source: International Monetary Fund (IMF)

IPS UN Bureau

 

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La rivière Ibar coule dans le nord du Monténégro, mais l'acronyme IBAR désigne l'Interim Benchmark Assessment Report, que le Monténégro doit obtenir pour poursuivre ses négociations d'adhésion à l'Union européenne. Une étape cruciale qui a de bonnes chances d'être franchie ce mois de juin.

- Articles / Une - Diaporama, Monténégro, Monitor (Monténégro), Questions européennes, Elargissement UE, Monténégro UE, Politique intérieure

La rivière Ibar coule dans le nord du Monténégro, mais l'acronyme IBAR désigne l'Interim Benchmark Assessment Report, que le Monténégro doit obtenir pour poursuivre ses négociations d'adhésion à l'Union européenne. Une étape cruciale qui a de bonnes chances d'être franchie ce mois de juin.

- Articles / Une - Diaporama, Monténégro, Monitor (Monténégro), Questions européennes, Elargissement UE, Monténégro UE, Politique intérieure

La Première ministre estonienne Kaja Kallas se trouve au cœur d’une controverse après la démission d’un haut fonctionnaire du ministère de la Défense en signe de protestation contre l’inaction du gouvernement en matière de budget d’armement.

In einer Stellungnahme hat die EU-Kommission die Pornografie-Plattformen Pornhub, Stripchat und XVideos aufgefordert, Informationen über ihre Maßnahmen zum Minderjährigenschutz und zur Verhinderung illegaler Inhalte vorzulegen. Die Plattformen unterliegen seit Dezember dem Gesetz über digitale Dienste (DSA).

The council urges rival forces to allow civilians to move to safer areas within and outside el-Fasher.

Am Mittwoch (12. Juni) gab der Gründer der französischen rechtsextremen Partei Reconquête!, Éric Zemmour, bekannt, dass er vier seiner fünf neu gewählten Europaabgeordneten ausgeschlossen habe. Ihre politische Zukunft im Europäischen Parlament ist damit ungewiss.

Pour les représentants du secteur, les enjeux agricoles doivent rester une priorité malgré les bouleversements institutionnels et la nouvelle campagne électorale à venir, alors que les promesses faites lors des manifestations des derniers mois n'ont pas toutes été tenues.

Estlands Premierministerin Kaja Kallas ist in eine Kontroverse verwickelt, nachdem ein hoher Verteidigungsbeamter aus Protest gegen den Verteidigungshaushalt zurückgetreten ist. Kallas behauptet, sie habe aus der Presse davon erfahren.

Die britische Labour-Partei hat ihr Wahlprogramm unter dem Slogan "Veränderung" vorgestellt. Da sie aufgrund eines 20-Punkte-Vorsprungs voraussichtlich die nächste Regierung stellen wird, scheint Kontinuität das passendere Wort für die Beziehungen zwischen dem Vereinigten Königreich und der EU zu sein.

Die Europäische Kommission hat am Donnerstag (13. Juni) Vorwürfe chinesischer Unternehmen zurückgewiesen, sie habe im Rahmen ihrer Antisubventionsuntersuchung zu in China hergestellten Elektrofahrzeugen wiederholt gegen internationales Handelsrecht verstoßen.

Südkorea öffnet seine Grenzen wieder für französisches und irisches Rindfleisch, nachdem sie 2001 nach dem "Rinderwahn"-Skandal geschlossen wurden. Dies gab die EU-Kommission am Donnerstag (13. Juni) bekannt und nannte es eine "bedeutende Entwicklung" vor dem Hintergrund eines stagnierenden EU-Rindfleischmarktes.

La vice-Première ministre et ministre du Travail espagnole, Yolanda Díaz a déclaré jeudi qu’elle n’avait «jamais » pensé à quitter le gouvernement de coalition dirigé par le Parti socialiste-ouvrier espagnol (PSOE, S&D) du Premier ministre Pedro Sánchez.

Credit: Bruna Prado/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

By Andrew Firmin
LONDON, Jun 14 2024 (IPS)

There’s been recent change in violence-torn Haiti – but whether much-needed progress results remains to be seen.

Acting prime minister Garry Conille was sworn in on 3 June. A former UN official who briefly served as prime minister over a decade ago, Conille was the compromise choice of the Transitional Presidential Council. The Council formed in April to temporarily assume the functions of the presidency following the resignation of de facto leader Ariel Henry.

Upsurge in violence

Haiti has seen intense and widespread gang violence since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021. Henry was finally forced out as the conflict escalated still further. In February, two major gang networks joined forces. The gangs attacked Haiti’s main airport, forcing it to close for almost three months and stopping Henry returning from abroad.

Gangs took control of police stations and Hait’s two biggest jails, releasing over 4,000 prisoners. The violence targeted an area of the capital, Port-au-Prince, previously considered safe, where the presidential palace, government headquarters and embassies are located. Haitian citizens paid a heaver price: the UN estimates that around 2,500 people were killed or injured in gang violence in the first quarter of this year, a staggering 53 per cent increase on the previous quarter.

Henry won’t be missed by civil society. He was widely seen as lacking any legitimacy. Moïse announced his appointment shortly before his assassination, but it was never formalised, and he then won a power struggle thanks in part to the support of foreign states. His tenure was a blatant failure. It was when the gangs seemed on the verge of taking full control of Port-au-Prince that Henry finally lost US support.

Now the USA, other states and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) have thrown their weight behind the Council and a Kenya-led international police force, which has recently begun to deploy.

Contested developments

Gang leaders can be expected to maintain their resistance to these developments. The most prominent, ex-police officer Jimmy Chérizier, demands a role in any talks. But this looks like posturing. Chérizier likes to portray himself as a revolutionary, on the side of poor people against elites. But the gangs are predatory. They kill innocent people, and it’s the poorest who suffer the most. The things the gangs make their money from – including kidnapping for ransom, extortion and smuggling – benefit from weak law enforcement and a lack of central authority. Gang leaders are best served by maximum chaos for as long as possible, and when that ends will seek an accommodation with favourable politicians, as they’ve enjoyed before.

Political squabbling suits the gangs, which makes it a concern that it took extensive and protracted negotiations to establish the Council. The opaque process was evidently characterised by self-interested manoeuvring as politicians jockeyed for position and status.

The resulting body has nine members: seven with voting rights and two observers. Six of the seven come from political groupings, with the seventh a private sector representative. One observer represents religious groups and the other civil society: Régine Abraham, a crop scientist by profession, from the Rally for a National Agreement.

The Council’s formation was shortly followed by the arrival of an advance force of Kenyan police, with more to follow. It’s been a long time coming. The current plan for an international police force was adopted by a UN Security Council resolution in October 2023. The government of Kenya took the lead, offering a thousand officers, with smaller numbers to come from elsewhere. But Kenya’s opposition won a court order temporarily preventing the move. Henry was in Kenya to sign a mutual security agreement to circumvent the ruling when he was left stranded by the airport closure.

Many Haitians are rightly wary of the prospect of foreign powers getting involved. The country has a dismal history of self-serving international interference, particularly by the US government, while UN forces have been no saviours. A peacekeeping mission from 2004 to 2017 committed sexual abuse and introduced cholera. This will be the 11th UN-organised mission since 1993, and all have been accused of human rights violations.

Civil society points to the Kenyan police’s long track record of committing violence and rights abuses, and is concerned it won’t understand local dynamics. There’s also the question of whether resources spent on the mission wouldn’t be better used to properly equip and support Haiti’s forces, which have consistently been far less well equipped than the gangs. Previous international initiatives have manifestly failed to help strengthen the capacity of Haitian institutions to protect rights and uphold the rule of law.

Time to listen

Haitian civil society is right to criticise the current process as falling short of expectations. It’s an impossible task to expect one person to represent the diversity of Haiti’s civil society, no matter how hard they try. And that person doesn’t even have a vote: the power to make decisions by majority vote is in the hands of political parties many feel helped create the current mess.

The Council is also a male-dominated institution: Abraham is its only female member. With gangs routinely using sexual violence as a weapon, the Council hardly seems in good shape to start building a Haiti free of violence against women and girls.

And given the role of international powers in bringing it about, the Council – just like the Kenya-led mission – is open to the accusation of being just another foreign intervention, giving rise to suspicions about the motives of those behind it.

The latest steps could be the start of something better, but only if they’re built on and move in the right direction. Civil society is pushing for more from the government: for much more women’s leadership and civil society engagement. For the Kenya-led mission, civil society is urging strong human rights safeguards, including a means for complaints to be heard if the mission, like all its predecessors, commits human rights abuses. This shouldn’t be too much to ask.

Andrew Firmin is CIVICUS Editor-in-Chief, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.

 

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Alors que le gouvernement allemand étudie la possibilité de transférer les procédures de demande d’asile à des pays tiers, des experts impliqués dans ce processus ont publié jeudi leurs recommandations au gouvernement, remettant en question la mise en œuvre de ce projet.