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Liquid Natural Gas tank at the port of Tacoma Washington, United States. Credit: Shutterstock

By Philippe Benoit and Anne-Sophie Corbeau
WASHINGTON DC, Apr 10 2024 (IPS)

Earlier this year, the Biden administration paused action on pending approvals for U.S. liquefied natural gas exports to countries without a U.S. free-trade agreement, with President Biden citing ”the urgency of the climate crisis.” The decision was hailed by climate activists and criticized by oil and gas industry representatives.

While the Biden administration intended to send a message about addressing climate change, it is important to place the LNG story within the broader emissions context. LNG exports are a significant and visible part of the natural gas emissions landscape, but ultimately achieving international climate goals will require more actions that target domestic gas and global fossil fuel consumption.

LNG exports are a significant and visible part of the natural gas emissions landscape, but ultimately achieving international climate goals will require more actions that target domestic gas and global fossil fuel consumption

According to the International Energy Agency, natural gas demand worldwide totaled 4,067 billion cubic meters in 2022, including 919 billion cubic meters in the U.S. The combustion of this natural gas produced 7.5 gigatons of carbon dioxide globally. This includes 1.7 gigatons in the U.S., which is 38 percent of U.S. emissions from fossil fuel combustion.

Importantly, these figures do not include natural gas-related methane emissions, a powerful greenhouse gas that substantially increases the climate impact of gas use. In 2022, the IEA estimated that global methane emissions from the energy sector were 135 million tons in addition to combustion emissions. Oil and gas — often produced together — accounted for 58 percent of these methane emissions globally, with the U.S. responsible for around 12 percent of the global total.

Methane emissions estimates vary substantially, prompting efforts at improved satellite and other detection methods.

LNG exports have been a growing part of the natural gas landscape but still represent a minority share. Global LNG trade reached around 550 billion cubic meters in 2023, representing about 13 percent of global gas demand. The U.S. LNG story is even more striking. Up until 2016, the U.S. exported only a limited amount from one facility. The shale gas revolution not only made U.S. gas cheaper it also led U.S. gas production to almost double over the past two decades, fueling a surge in LNG exports.

US LNG capacity has grown from 0.6 billion cubic meters per year in 2015 to 124 billion cubic meters per year in 2023. LNG plants currently under construction are unaffected by the pause and will bring the capacity to over 230 billion cubic meters per year by the end of the decade. Importantly, even after these new LNG export facilities come online by 2030, they will represent only 22 percent of U.S. domestic natural gas production and 25 percent of U.S. gas consumption.

These figures demonstrate that while LNG exports represent an important and growing use of domestically produced gas, natural gas consumption within the U.S. and its related emissions represent a bigger climate challenge. What can and will be done to address these emissions?

In this regard, it is important to understand how natural gas is consumed in the U.S. The biggest user is the power sector (40 percent), followed by industry, which it also uses it as feedstock for chemical processes (26 percent) and buildings (24 percent). Gas demand in the power sector could increase further if recent projections regarding rapidly increasing power demand prove accurate. These uses drive where emissions reductions are needed and the corresponding measures.

The literature is rich with ways to address domestic natural gas emissions in the United States and elsewhere. One example is replacing natural gas in the power sector with renewables and other lower emissions alternatives. More efficient energy use can dampen or otherwise reduce the need for natural gas combustion. Adding carbon capture, use and storage technologies where feasible and economic can also reduce emissions, notably in industry and power. Moreover, combining these strategies to different degrees can provide even stronger solutions than implementing them independently.

It is also necessary to stress the importance of methane emissions flowing from the domestic production and processing of natural gas, whether it is consumed domestically or exported as LNG or pipeline gas. Reducing these methane emissions along the whole gas value chain must remain a focus of climate action given its short- to medium-term impact on global warming.

Reducing natural gas and other emissions will require action extending beyond the federal government. This includes efforts by U.S. states such as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative carbon market program and California’s 2022 climate action plan, as well as industry, businesses, civil society and other stakeholders. It also includes influencing other countries.

While the U.S. currently produces only about 14 percent of global CO2 emissions, as the world’s largest economy, the wealthiest nation by net worth and the second-highest emitter of greenhouse gases behind China, it sets the tone on international climate action. Without strong U.S. leadership, emissions from several countries can be expected to remain well above what is needed to avoid dangerous climate change. Understanding and addressing the potential emissions generated by US LNG exports is part of setting that tone, and it carries significance beyond the actual size and share of the LNG-related emissions.

LNG is an important element in the climate agenda, but only one part of the equation. Compared to domestic natural gas consumption or global energy use overall, it is not even the biggest part of the story.

Addressing emissions relating to the domestic use of natural gas and other fossil fuels and encouraging action abroad by China and other countries, should take up the bulk of our efforts. LNG-related emissions are important, but the weight of the climate change challenge lies beyond it.

This oped was first published in The Hill

 

Philippe Benoit is the managing director at Global Infrastructure Advisory Services 2050. He previously held management positions at the World Bank and the International Energy Agency, as well as an investment banker specializing in natural gas projects.

Anne-Sophie Corbeau leads the research on natural gas and hydrogen at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University’s School for International and Public Affairs and is a visiting professor at the University of SciencesPo.

The European Parliament today adopted ten legislative texts to reform European migration and asylum policy as agreed with EU member states.
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

In 2023, the United Nations released a report revealing that extreme weather disasters had incurred economic losses totaling $4 trillion, with significant impacts felt across various sectors, notably agriculture. Credit: Miriet Abrego / IPS

By Esther Ngumbi
URBANA, Illinois, US, Apr 10 2024 (IPS)

Recently, the United Nations in collaboration with the World Meteorological Organization released a report that highlighted the impacts of climate change including on agriculture.

Additionally, the report highlighted the economic losses and other impacts extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, heatwaves, and tropical cyclones have on agriculture.

Indeed, globally, and in the United States, record-breaking, extreme weather disaster events, such as flooding, storms, and droughts, have become extremely costly and excessively too common.

In dealing with record-breaking extreme weather events that directly and indirectly impact the agricultural sector, we must choose to launch multipronged solutions that leverage data, incorporate newly available climate solutions and innovations, and create incentives to amplify the adoptions of these solutions

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 377 events have resulted in losses of over $2.6 trillion have been documented. In 2023, the United Nations released a report showing that extreme weather disasters have resulted in economic losses worth $4 trillion, including in the agricultural sector.

Undoubtedly, this should worry all since the agricultural sector is vital for meeting our food and nutrition security needs. In the United States, for example, agriculture, food, and related industries contribute approximately $1.4 trillion to the gross domestic product.

In Asia, Africa, and many other continents, the agricultural sector is equally important, and further serves as a source of employment, and thus a poverty-reducing sector. According to UN FAO, agriculture accounts for over 35 percent of Africa’s GDP.

Emerging, therefore is the need for multipronged efforts to help to mitigate the impacts these climate change associated disasters have on agriculture.

 

First. Inform agricultural sector stakeholders including farmers about newly launched technologies and most recent science-backed climate solutions.

Researchers, entrepreneurs, and innovators continue to bring to life novel technologies, climate solutions, and innovations that can be deployed to help to mitigate climate change impacts.

From artificial intelligence powered prediction models that can reliably forecast when disasters are going to happen, prompting stakeholders to act, to climate resilient crops, to regenerative agricultural practices such as cover cropping, mulching, and digging trenches that can help mitigate the impacts of drought and flooding to indoor agriculture that cushions agricultural crops from weather, pests and water and space limitations.

To make sure that this information is available, governments or innovators could keep a tab or have an inventory of all recent climate solutions. This can be a one stop database that carries the most recent info.  It could be in the form of a climate solutions dashboard.

Complementing information is the need to create incentives to accelerate the adoption of these newer climate solutions, technologies, and strategies. Monetary incentives, for example, could go a long way in facilitating the rapid adoption of research backed climate solutions for agriculture. For example, in Illinois, farmers who are practicing regenerative practices such as cover cropping are eligible for a three-year contract payment of $50 per acre.

Moreover, there is a need to actively engage the next generation of farmers. Programs such as the recently launched US Department of Agriculture climate corps, a program that will mobilize over 100 young people to help advance sustainable agriculture, is a move in the right direction.

 

Second. Continue to invest in research, entrepreneurs, agencies, and programs dedicated to climate research. 

Research continues to be central in helping to generate new solutions. As such, there is need to keep funding researchers that are actively engaged in research aimed at generating newer solutions or understanding the direct and indirect impacts of climate change associated disasters.

As an example, in 2023, USDA invested over $46M in the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program that funds research that has over the years resulted in the development of climate-smart solutions. In the same year, The Rockefeller Foundation committed $1billion to advance climate solutions.

 

Third. Take good data before, during, and after climate disasters.

Good data can be leveraged to help address climate change impacts to agriculture including being used in machine learning, to help to create predictive models that are continuing to revolutionize our ability to predict disaster events and act. Moreover, data can be used to introduce real-time solutions while helping to accurately capture solutions that are working.

Certainly, data driven solutions will continue to be important now and in the future and should continue to be leveraged.

At the core of preventing direct impacts of weather events on the agricultural sector should be a respect for nature and biodiversity.

Indeed, we live in a biodiverse world, that has other creatures in our ecosystem. For example, the soil matrix is home to earthworms and microbes that underpin agricultural productivity. As such, strategies, solutions, and interventions rolled out should also protect these invisible friends.

In dealing with record-breaking extreme weather events that directly and indirectly impact the agricultural sector, we must choose to launch multipronged solutions that leverage data, incorporate newly available climate solutions and innovations, and create incentives to amplify the adoptions of these solutions. A functioning agricultural sector will continue to be important as we strive to meet our food and nutrition security needs.

Esther Ngumbi, PhD is Assistant Professor, Department of Entomology, African American Studies Department, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

BELGRADE, 10 April 2024 — OSCE Chair-in-Office and Malta’s Minister of Foreign and European Affairs and Trade, Ian Borg, concluded his visit to Serbia, reaffirming the OSCE’s steadfast commitment to the region and its continued partnership with Serbia.

“Our collaboration with Serbia is a testament to the tangible results we can achieve together. It illustrates our shared commitment to advancing critical areas such as the rule of law, human rights, democratization, and media freedom, thereby strengthening the very fabric of our shared security," stated Minister Borg.

Minister’s Borg agenda featured a series of high-level meetings that underscored the breadth and depth of the OSCE's efforts in Serbia and the wider region. In his discussions with President Aleksandar Vučić, National Assembly Speaker Ana Brnabić, First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ivica Dačić, and Deputy Prime Minister/Minister of Defence and Prime Minister designate Miloš Vučević, the Chair-in-Office focused on the implementation of key reforms and the importance of fostering regional stability. All interlocutors expressed appreciation for the strong partnership with the OSCE, recognizing the organization's significant role in facilitating progress in the region.

The Chair-in-Office highlighted the integral function of the OSCE as a key forum for dialogue on comprehensive security, rooted in shared principles and commitments. "Guided by the spirit of our motto, 'Strengthening Resilience, Enhancing Security,' we believe that only through dialogue can we effectively address challenges in a way that not only preserves security but actively strengthens it," Minister Borg remarked.

During a visit to the OSCE Mission to Serbia led by the Head of Mission, Jan Braathu, Minister Borg personally commended the staff for their unwavering dedication to fulfilling the Mission’s mandate. “Their professionalism is the cornerstone of our achievements in Serbia,” he stated.

At a roundtable with media and journalists’ associations, Minister Borg highlighted the crucial role that free and independent media play in democratic societies. “Freedom of the media is a priority for the OSCE and central to our collective commitment to uphold the core values of democracy. The right to freedom of expression is fundamental for peace, security, and justice. Malta’s Chairpersonship of the OSCE is determined to pursue efforts to nurture an environment where all journalists, especially female journalists, can effectively pursue their work free from intimidation or harassment,” he emphasized.

Chair-in-Office Borg also met with various youth groups, affirming the importance of their inclusion in the OSCE’s peace and security agenda. “The energy, innovation, and engagement of young people are indispensable in shaping a more secure and peaceful future,” said Minister Borg.

Insultes, propagande, manipulation des faits et désinformation sont toujours au menu des tabloïds serbes. Le portail Raskrikavanje a analysé les Unes des six quotidiens les plus lus en Serbie et a répertorié plus d'un millier de fausses informations.

- Le fil de l'Info / Courrier des Balkans, Médias indépendants, Vucic, Serbie, Médias

Analysts say the film Oppenheimer would have benefitted from showing the impact on those the bombs were unleashed upon. Credit: The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 10 2024 (IPS)

The award-winning Hollywood movie Oppenheimer portrays the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, who helped create the atomic bomb, which claimed the lives of an estimated 140,000 to 226,000 people and devastated the two Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.

The tragedy was best described as a humanitarian disaster of Biblical proportions. But the film focuses on the creation of the bombs, not the devastation it caused.

In a Time magazine piece last February, Jeffrey Kluger recounts a meeting at the White House between US President Harry S. Truman and Oppenheimer, aptly describing it as “the man who built the bombs and the man who dropped the bombs.”

Suffering from an unforgivable guilt, Oppenheimer reportedly told Truman, “Mr. President, I feel I have blood on my hands.”

But history recalls just what happened next differently, says Time.

Truman apparently said, “Never mind, it’ll come out in the wash.”

Or another story, where an unrepentant Truman hands a handkerchief to Oppenheimer and says, “Well here, would you like to wipe your hand?”

In the film, Truman merely brandishes the handkerchief.

A former Hiroshima mayor, Takashi Hiraoka, who spoke at a preview event for the film, was more critical of what was omitted from the movie.

He was quoted as saying: “From Hiroshima’s standpoint, the horror of nuclear weapons was not sufficiently depicted. The film was made in a way to validate the conclusion that the atomic bomb was used to save the lives of Americans.”

The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) said the release of the Oppenheimer film, and the wave of (media) attention surrounding it, creates an opportunity to spark public attention on the risks of nuclear weapons and invite new audiences to get involved in the movement to abolish nuclear weapons.

“We can educate about the risks, and share a much-needed message of hope and resistance: Oppenheimer is about how nuclear weapons began, the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) is how we end them.”

Speaking of the historical perspective, Dr Alon Ben-Meir, a retired professor of international relations at the Center for Global Affairs at New York University (NYU), told IPS that the Manhattan Project, which was spearheaded by Oppenheimer to develop a nuclear weapon, started while the Second World War was raging and Germany had been on the march, conquering one country after another in Europe.

However, by the time the nuclear weapon was developed, Germany had surrendered, but Japan continued to fight. Based on documented historical accounts, Japanese forces were fighting in every trench, in every front, to the last soldier, and the word’surrender’ was not in their vocabulary, he said.

General Marshall, who was Chief of Staff of the US Army, provided counsel to President Truman at the time that if the war were to continue for another one to two years, hundreds of thousands of American soldiers and perhaps more than a million Japanese would be killed.

When Truman asked what he would suggest, General Marshall and others indicated that bombing one or even two sites in Japan with a nuclear weapon could bring the war to a swift conclusion and save the lives of millions from both sides.

Truman was finally persuaded that this may be the only solution, specifically given that the Japanese were determined to fight until the bitter end, said Ben-Meir, who taught courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies for over 20 years.

“Once the bombs were dropped and Oppenheimer realized the extent of the damage and death that occurred in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he felt personally responsible for the catastrophic impact of the bomb, stating to President Truman that he felt that he had blood on his hands because of what happened.”

Truman then told Oppenheimer that although he was behind the development of the nuclear weapon, the decision to use it was his own, and Oppenheimer bore no responsibility whatsoever.

President Truman allegedly handed Oppenheimer his handkerchief to presumably wipe his hands off the bloodstains. Nevertheless, Oppenheimer left the president’s office completely distraught, said Ben-Meir.

“The Japanese do not believe that Truman was concerned about the potential loss of Japanese lives had the war continued, but was mainly concerned about American lives. This sadly remains a point of contention but was mostly overcome due to the strong alliance that was subsequently developed between the US and Japan.”

Of course, what compounded Oppenheimer’s profound despair over what happened was that he was subsequently accused of being a member of the Communist Party and had his security clearance revoked, ending his work with the US government (he was posthumously exonerated), declared Ben-Meir.

Broadly, though, according to National Public Radio (NPR), many Japanese viewers expressed discomfort with Oppenheimer’s storytelling and felt the portrayal was incomplete.

“The film was only about the side that dropped the A-bomb,” Tsuyuko Iwanai, a Nagasaki resident, told NPR. “I wish they had included the side it was dropped on.”

Upon witnessing the first successful nuclear test, Oppenheimer reportedly quoted from the Hindu scripture Bhagavad Gita: “Now I am Death: the destroyer of the worlds,” according to UNFOLD ZERO, a platform for UN focused initiatives and actions for the achievement of a nuclear weapons-free world.

“Indeed, Oppenheimer was so impacted by the potential of the nuclear bomb to destroy the world that, following the end of the Second World War, he became deeply involved in international nuclear weapons control, peace and the promotion of world governance”.

“The movie should remind us of how important and relevant these ideas are today—as wars are raging, tensions between nuclear armed States are increasing and the threat of nuclear war is as high as it has ever been,” said UNFOLD ZERO.

“The thinking, passion and commitment of Oppenheimer regarding these issues is barely touched upon in the movie, despite it being so important today for re-awakening our collective understanding of the nature of nuclear deterrence, the risks of nationalism and the importance to strengthen the rule of law, prevent nuclear war and achieve peace through global governance.”

Addressing the UN Security Council on March 18, Secretary-General António Guterres referred to the movie, which won seven Oscars at the Hollywood Academy Awards ceremony on March 10, including the four major awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor.

“The Doomsday Clock is ticking loudly enough for all to hear. From academics and civil society groups, calling for an end to the nuclear madness,” he said.

“To Pope Francis, who calls the possession of nuclear arms ‘immoral’. To young people across the globe worried about their future, demanding change. To the Hibakusha, the brave survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki—among our greatest living examples of speaking truth to power—delivering their timeless message of peace.”

Humanity cannot survive a sequel to Oppenheimer, Guterres warned.

This article is brought to you by IPS Noram, in collaboration with INPS Japan and Soka Gakkai International, in consultative status with UN ECOSOC.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Natalia Kanem, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund, gives the keynote address at the 8th International Parliamentarians’ Conference on the Implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action (ICPD). Credit: Naureen Hossain/IPS

By Naureen Hossain
OSLO, Apr 10 2024 (IPS)

Gearing up for the 30th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), the world’s parliamentarians and ministers are meeting in Oslo to determine the course of action needed to promote sexual and reproductive human rights (SRHR).

Over 170 parliamentarians from more than 110 countries, UN experts, civil society leaders, and other stakeholders are expected at the 8th International Parliamentarians’ Conference on the Implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action. 

The IPCI conference, which starts today (April 10, 2024), will facilitate dialogue and cooperation to improve parliamentarians’ capacity to improve sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) across the world. It is grounded in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, leading up to the 2024 Summit of the Future this September. This year’s conference is organized by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Rights (EPF). The conference is hosted by APPG Norway and its secretariat, Sex og Politikk, Norway’s parliamentary group dedicated to sexual and reproductive health rights.

In recent years, many countries have seen a regression of SRHR across the spectrum, from banning family planning options such as legal abortions to suppressing or attacking women’s presence in national policy and the continued practice of female genital mutilation.

Lubna Jaffery, Minister of Culture and Equality of Norway, addresses the 8th International Parliamentarians’ Conference on the Implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action (ICPD). Credit: Naureen Hossain/IPS

 

Minister of International Development of Norway, Anne Beathe Tvinnereim, addresses the 8th International Parliamentarians’ Conference on the Implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action (ICPD). Credit: Naureen Hossain/IPS

Governments have passed legislation that limits reproductive rights and access to basic services, which impact the general population and, more often, vulnerable or underrepresented communities such as refugees, internally displaced people, and LGBTQ+ groups. It speaks to a spread of fundamentalist viewpoints influencing public policy and opinion and the strengthening of anti-human rights parties, according to EPF President Petra Bayr.

If these developments—or regressions—in global SRHR are to be challenged, then they could be countered through evidence of the impact of comprehensive SRHR and the belief that self-determining one’s body, reproductive, and sexual life is a realization of fundamental human rights, according to Bayr.

She told IPS by email, enforcing this will take hard work that, among others, “lies in the hands of many committed MPs who believe in the universality of human rights.”

“Fundamental human rights issues must never be dependent on ideology and religion.”

During Wednesday’s opening ceremony, UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalie Kanem addressed the conference by remarking on the role that parliamentarians play and the influence they can wield when working across the political spectrum to advance a shared vision of rights for women.

“Parliamentarians around the world have been instrumental in the achievements of the past three decades, speaking up for those whose voices often go unheard and passing legislation to protect women and girls at home and abroad,” she said.

Despite the setbacks in achieving universal access to SRHR, the strides should not be forgotten. The ICPD Programme of Action, first adopted in 1994 and then extended in 2010, remains a critical guideline for its goals in population and a keystone for sustainable development.

As Bayr notes, the ICPD made reference to people’s needs in humanitarian settings and the diversity of family dynamics, concepts that remain relevant in the present day. “The focus on the impact of population policies on the environment, sustainability, and fair distribution of economic values is even more pressing than it was 30 years ago,” she said.

“There is still a lot to do and we have to consider very carefully how we invest our potential. We will need energy to defend what we already have, but we still need enough power to make relevant steps towards all these goals we haven’t met yet.”

This year, IPCI will focus on three common themes from the ICPD agenda. These themes will be observed through their impact on and ability to achieve universal access to SRHR:

• Converging megatrends, such as demographic diversity and the climate crisis.
• Digital technology, more specifically the forms of violence employed online or through technology, which UNFPA refers to as technology-facilitated gender-based violence.
• The funding landscape of SRHR in a time where governments’ priorities are threatened by security concerns

 

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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VIENNA, 10 April 2024 – From 15 to 16 April 2024, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe will be hosting the 24th Conference of the Alliance against Trafficking in Persons at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna.

The conference is a platform for key stakeholders, including national authorities, international and civil society organizations, and the private sector, to discuss concrete steps to address the global threat of human trafficking. With the aim of elevating anti-trafficking action beyond awareness-raising campaigns, conference participants will discuss approaches to preventing human trafficking by identifying gaps in current prevention methods, uncovering and addressing lesser-known forms of trafficking, and addressing ways to empower vulnerable populations.

Speakers include OSCE Chair-in-Office, Minister for Foreign and European Affairs and Trade of Malta Ian Borg; OSCE Secretary General Helga Maria Schmid; OSCE Special Representative for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings Kari Johnstone; Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights Matteo Mecacci; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Education and Sports of the Principality of Liechtenstein Dominique Hasler; Deputy of the Majilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan Marat Bashimov, Greek Deputy Minister of Migration and Asylum Sofia Voultepsi; Deputy Director General of the International Organization for Migration Ugochi Daniels, and experts with lived experience of trafficking.

High-level representatives of anti-trafficking authorities from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia, Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Türkiye, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and experts from international organizations, will also be speaking at the Conference. 

The conference will be conducted in person. It will also be livestreamed on osce.org/live

Journalists are welcome to register and participate. Each panel discussion will be followed by Q&A session.

Registration for participation will be open until Friday, 12 April, 17:00 CEST (UTC/GMT+2).

For more information, please contact Public Information Officer Lilia Rotoloni (Lilia.Rotoloni@osce.org) or OSCE Communication and Media Relations Section (press@osce.org).

Follow @osce_cthb on Twitter and @OSCE Combating Trafficking in Human Beings (CTHB) on LinkedIn to join the discussion.

Dexia / CRU (Contributions ex ante 2022)
Politique économique
Le calcul des contributions ex ante pour 2022 au Fonds de résolution unique (FRU) est illégal

Dexia kontra ESZT
Gazdaságpolitika
The calculation of the 2022 ex ante contributions to the Single Resolution Fund (SRF) is unlawful

Dexia v SRB
Economic policy
The calculation of the 2022 ex ante contributions to the Single Resolution Fund (SRF) is unlawful

Aven / Conseil
Relations extérieures
Guerre en Ukraine : le Tribunal annule l’inscription de MM. Petr Aven et Mikhail Fridman sur les listes de personnes visées par des mesures restrictives entre les mois de février 2022 et mars 2023

Aven kontra Tanács
Külkapcsolatok
War in Ukraine: the General Court annuls the inclusion of Petr Aven and Mikhail Fridman on the lists of persons subject to restrictive measures between February 2022 and March 2023

Aven v Council
External relations
War in Ukraine: the General Court annuls the inclusion of Petr Aven and Mikhail Fridman on the lists of persons subject to restrictive measures between February 2022 and March 2023

Marina Živaljević

Research examining public confidence in elections in Montenegro has shown that in 2023 58 per cent of people thought elections were free and fair as compared to 47 per cent in 2022. 32 per cent of citizens believe that electoral reform in Montenegro is needed, while almost a half of them (46%) is of the opinion that electoral reform needs to be implemented urgently.

These are some of the findings of the survey “Building transparent and inclusive elections in Montenegro”, commissioned by the OSCE Mission to Montenegro and conducted by the Damar Agency on a representative national sample of 1,200 respondents conducted in 2023 following the presidential and parliamentary elections.

The report shows that 6 in 10 people think the commissioners in the State Election Commission (SEC) should not be affiliated to political parties and 68.9 per cent said political parties have influence over the commissioners in SEC and municipal electoral commissions.

The research also found that 31 per cent of voters are generally satisfied with the voting process, slightly higher than in 2022, when 26 per cent of voters said they were satisfied. As the SEC and the Mission have jointly conducted voter education campaings in 2023, the number of respondents said that they were not sufficielntly informed on how the voting process works fell from 41 per cent in 2021 to 21 per cent in 2023. 

Three quarters of respondents are still of the opinion that hate speech and electoral fraud remain as problems. A majority of respondents (70 per cent) believe that barriers to disabled people’s political participation are an issue.  

“Work is now needed to ensure public confidence in elections continues to grow. Electoral reform committee will play a key role in achieving this through implementing f ODIHR’s recommendations issued last December,” said Head of Mission Dominique Waag.

SEC chair Nikola Mugoša thanked the Mission for tracking public attitudes towards different aspects of elections. “State Election Commission stands ready to work with Parliament’s Electoral Reform Committee to improve electoral legislation and to ensure that public confidence in elections continues to grow,” said Mugoša.

Credit: United Nations

By Palitha Kohona
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Apr 10 2024 (IPS)

Unfortunately, a rivalry that should not exist and did not exist historically between China and India is being stoked by the media and some policy makers, especially in the West. It is not too difficult to discern the Machiavellian geo-strategic objectives of this complex game plan.

Most policymakers in the West find it difficult to accept that a non-European and non-white Asian nation which the West has been used to exploit and treat with disdain has risen so rapidly that it is now in a position to offer an alternative social, economic and political model to development and progress.

China has not only risen from the depths but is challenging the West in many respects, including economically, technologically, socially and even militarily. The China led the Belt and Road Initiative, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the Global Development Initiative, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the BRICS Bank, etc, have posed a real challenge to the established world economic order dominated by the West.

The BRI has resulted in the investment of over USD one trillion in the countries of the region and beyond making a tangible contribution to the development of many countries and has pricked the hitherto somnolent West also to participate positively in the development of those countries.

The calculated statements of EA Minister of India, Jaishankar, while emphasising India’s obvious strategic interests, have not overly endorsed the Western approach to China. China has attracted many admirers.

China has risen in a very short period to the position of an economic super power and to become the second largest economy in the world. It is expected to overtake the US economically by the end of this decade. It is also the main source foreign investments in the world, not to mention tourists.

It is also the biggest source in the global supply chain and the most lucrative multi billion dollar consumer market. All this is causing serious discomfort to those countries in the West, giving rise to damaging efforts at delinking, which were so used to dominating the world unchallenged. China’s technological advancement is nothing short of spectacular.

There could even be racist undertones to the criticisms being directed at China, a poor Asian country formerly dominated and exploited willy nilly by the West and to the reluctance to accept its new status and its own model of development. (One recalls that in the 1980s, a resurgent Japan experienced a similar process of vicious containment resulting in twenty years of stagflation).

China, for its part, has not articulated any desire to dominate or influence its economic partners and others or impose its political and economic model on anyone else. On the contrary, it has consistently expressed a desire to achieve a common future and a goal of shared prosperity, without domination. To judge Chinese intentions through the prism of the West’s own historical experience is patently wrong.

Both India and China are over dependent on Indian Ocean sea routes for the transport of their energy needs. While both would want to ensure the safety and security of Indian Ocean sea routes, both should also take adequate measures to prevent competition from blowing into confrontations of unmanageable proportions.

China has never expressed interest in establishing bases in the Indian Ocean region or acquiring territory. Its only military base in the region is in Djibouti established as part of a multinational effort to counter pirates.

The West which has been dominating the region since 1500 AD tends ascribe similar motives to China against the background of its own past record. (The situation with regard to Hambantota which has crept in the West’s narrative requres a longer explanation).

Sri Lanka’s initiative in the 1970s to establish an Indian Ocean Zone of Peace, although designed to contain the then prevalent super power rivalry in the Indian Ocean, may become relevant again in the contemporary context.

The situation in the Maldives should NOT be viewed purely from the Western lens and characterised as a simple case of China – India rivalry for regional influence. The domestic Islamic political imperatives and the resulting political pressures on the Maldivian leadership are important factors.

It is a fact that Chinese companies have been proactive in developing infrastructure in Maldives for sometime and their work is of good quality. India’s official reaction to the Maldivian measures has been measured. China has signed a number of bilateral agreements with the Maldives and Maldives readily agreed to accept a ship visit from a Chinese research vessel which was denied access to Sri Lankan ports due to Indian pressure.

Some critics argue that Chinese investments in Sri Lanka are part of a larger geopolitical strategy by China to expand its influence in the region.

This assertion needs to be stripped of its polemical outer layer to appreciate its essential shallowness. To begin with, it is mainly raised by commentators from countries which had rapaciously exploited vast swathes of the non white world through conquest and colonialism for centuries and continuing economic domination, conveniently ignoring their ongoing depradations.

Sri Lanka, which desperately needs development funding, has welcomed the China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) at the highest levels. It has not sought to exclude anyone else from participating in our development process. We have steadfastly asserted our non-aligned status and our neutrality.

In fact, our President has characterized the AUKUS alliance, which is designed to contain China, as a mistake. The Sri Lankan Prime Minister visited China this week and was received at the highest levels.

China has already invested around USD one trillion in the countries that joined the BRI, and more is forthcoming. Sri Lanka needs to develop fast and has no option but to welcome investment funding from all sources.

As a sovereign and independent state, Sri Lanka must be free to select its own development partners and its own development model. In the process, it has not sought to exclude anyone nor posed a threat to anyone, directly or indirectly. Sri Lanka has welcomed all friendly countries to participate in its development process.

I would not characterise Sri Lanka’s approach to development as a balancing act. It is not. Sri Lanka must work with all countries to achieve its own development objectives which should not be held hostage to the unfounded sensitivities of any other party.

Dr Palitha Kohona is also a former Sri Lanka Foreign Secretary, Head of the UN Treaty Section, chairman, UN Indian Ocean Committee and Chairman of the UN’s Sixth Committee.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Excerpt:

The writer is former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the UN and, until recently, Ambassador to China

Quelle : © Europäische Union, 2024 - EP

A repülés iránt az átlagosnál jobban érdeklődő utasok és a repülőgépfotósok kedvencei közé tartoznak azok a gépek, amelyek egy légitársaság vállalati arculatától és szabvány festésmintájától eltérő színekben repülnek. A látványos festések a cég hovatartozását igyekeznek hangsúlyozni, nemzeti színekkel vagy más, művészi ábrázolással. Ez utóbbi megoldást választotta a belga nemzeti légitársaság, a Brussels Airlines is.

Ma már nem készülhet ilyen kép a belga ikonokról

Az elmúlt években a koronavírus-járvány okozta kényszerű leállást leszámítva, a budapesti Liszt Ferenc Nemzetközi Repülőtéren is gyakori vendégek voltak a Brussels Airlines belga nemzeti ikonokkal díszített Airbus A320-200-as gépei. A légitársaság 2015 és 2019 között hat gépet festett át, de mára csak kettő maradt forgalomban. A belga ikonok és a nemzeti légitársaság együttműködésének története közel tíz éve tart.

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