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Bruxelles a donné un coup d'arrêt à son programme géant de financements «FET Flagships». Le projet de l'EPFL Time Machine est directement touché.

Les syndicats de police de Genève remettent la compresse pour faire annuler la votation de la loi sur la police de 2015.

Droughts are not new to East Africa. However, abnormally high temperatures in the region are linked to climate change and proving deadly for livelihoods and livestock. Credit: Petterik Wiggers/Oxfam

By Siddharth Chatterjee
NAIROBI, Kenya, May 15 2019 (IPS)

There is barely a corner of human life that will not be affected by climate change, and some of its impacts are already being felt. Consider this, 821 million people are now hungry and over 150 million children stunted, putting the hunger eradication goal, SDG 2, at risk.

Today 15 May, is the United Nations International Day of Families and the theme for this year is, ‘Families and Climate Action’.

The wellbeing of families is central to healthy societies, but is threatened by climate change, especially in the poorest parts of the world.

Across the world what we understand by ‘family’ takes many forms, but it remains the fundamental unit of society. It is where from our earliest days we learn to share, to love, to reason, to consider others, to stand up for ourselves and to take responsibility.

But families face challenges on many fronts and – particularly in the developing world – climate change is perhaps the greatest of these as it is exacerbating hunger and food insecurity.

The focus on families and climate has most resonance in Africa, where it is estimated that climate change could reduce yields from rain-fed agriculture by 50 percent by 2020, jeopardizing the welfare of seven in ten people who depend on farming for a living.

“Environment is the foundation of development,” said Kenya’s President, Uhuru Kenyatta when he launched the government’s 1.8 billion tree-planting campaign in May 2018.

When crops are wiped out by flood or drought, families are robbed of livelihoods and food security. Parents who are already financially vulnerable then struggle to meet the costs of housing, feeding and schooling their children, and of paying for medicines when they are sick.

The greatest killers of children – malnutrition, diarrhoeal disease and malaria – will worsen because of climate change. Children living in developing countries face the greatest risks of all, not always because climate change effects will be worse there than in other countries, but because poverty limits their ability to respond.

Nowhere is this truer than in Bangladesh, with its overwhelmingly young population and almost unparalleled vulnerability to the repercussions of a changing climate. A recent report by UNICEF looked at the impact of climate change on families and children in Bangladesh.

“Climate change is deepening the environmental threat faced by families in Bangladesh’s poorest communities, leaving them unable to keep their children properly housed, fed, healthy and educated,” said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore, who visited Bangladesh in early March 2019.

Increased competition for dwindling natural resources results in political instability, social upheaval, conflicts, forced migration and displacements and once again, children are the main victims. Forced from their homes, many are denied an education, further denting their prospects and threatening social and economic development in some of the poorest areas of the world.

An FAO study says that almost 57% of Kenya’s population lives in poverty, particularly female headed households who are largely reliant on climate-sensitive economic activities including rain fed subsistence or smallholder agriculture.

With Kenya’s considerable advances in mobile technology penetration, important information can be delivered to agricultural actors along the value chain, including weather information and availability and prices of inputs.

With proper investments and policy, Kenya’s youth can spur the transformation of agriculture from subsistence, hit-or-miss propositions to robust commercial operations that can withstand the effects of climate change.

Africa’s biggest threat from climate change will remain the inter-generational downward spiral into deeper poverty that is brought on by decreased farm yields.

Increasing resilience to climate-related shocks in Africa’s agriculture will result in a rise in farm productivity. It will mean women, who make up the largest share of the continent’s small-holder farmers, will have better incomes. Women allocate more of their income to food, health and education for their families, therefore it would also translate into greater gains for children and future generations.

Ending hunger and poverty is the prime mission of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, and will demand dramatic shifts in what and how we consume, and above all it will demand cooperation and collaboration on a regional and global scale.

It will not be easy, but for the sake of every family, everywhere, we cannot fail.

A version of this article originally appeared in Reuters

The post Global Hunger Is Threatening Families Because of Climate Change appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Siddharth Chatterjee is the United Nations Resident Coordinator to Kenya.

The post Global Hunger Is Threatening Families Because of Climate Change appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Le Conseil fédéral a décidé de créer 24 postes à partir de 2020 destinés à la cybersécurité. Un Office central de lutte contre la cybercriminalité est envisagé.

New DIIS Report discusses the limits to humanitarianism in times defined as migration crisis

By Luis Felipe López-Calva
UNITED NATIONS, May 15 2019 (IPS)

Development is a very uneven process, accompanied by heterogeneity in outcomes across sectors, across regions and across income groups. Such process, Albert Hirschman elegantly established about 60 years ago, constantly generates tensions and demands for redistribution of resources and power. In this sense, conflict is inherent to development.

Long term outcomes in terms of prosperity, equity and peace will always depend on the way in which such tensions are processed. Indeed, it depends on the way in which actors interact to solve these tensions; it depends on effective governance.

If tensions are solved by excluding some groups systematically, inequity and violence are more likely to characterize societies. Indeed, we see in Latin America and the Caribbean that violence has become a mechanism to adapt to these tensions and to process conflict.

The Regional Human Development Report 2013-2014 “Citizen Security with a Human Face” showed the ways in which crime and insecurity undermine development in Latin America and the Caribbean. Crime erodes the well-being of citizens and deters economic growth (Enamorado et al, 2013).

Despite recent progress in citizen security and marginal reductions in violence, LAC remains the most violent region in the world. Indeed, a recently released report by Igarape Institute states that while Latin America is home to 8 percent of the world’s population, 33 percent of all homicides take place there.

Moreover, 17 of the 20 countries with them most homicides in the world are in LAC. While, WHO classifies 10 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants as an epidemic, the average in LAC was 24 in 2016, marginally reduced to 21.6 in 2018.*

We see in the figure below that homicide rates in the region, in particular for some countries in Central America and the Caribbean, are much higher than those of countries with similar levels of GDP per capita.

For example, Honduras and Congo have similar GDP per capital rates, however Honduras suffers 56.5 homicides per 100,000 people, while Congo suffers 9.3. Similarly, while Mexico has close to 20 homicides, Montenegro, with a similar GDP per capital, only has 4.5.

The homicide rate in Colombia is over to 25, while in Lebanon it is 4. What explains these high rates of violent crime in LAC?

Villalta, Castillo and Torres offer an overview of existing theories to answer this question in the region. The economic perspective argues that individuals weight the costs (of eventual punishments) and benefits to decide whether they engage in crime or not.

The social-structural perspective views fluctuations in crime and violence as a result of changes in societal structures, culture and institutions; it supports the idea that rising trends in criminality are a consequence of changing labor market conditions, exclusion, and economic crises.

The political perspective argues that recent processes in LAC countries, such as transitions towards democracy, shifts in political agendas or even the “War on Drugs”, have weakened state control and left inefficient local governments in charge of public safety.

Finally, social disorganization theory argues that, similarly to language, roles and social expectations, antisocial and criminal behaviors are socially learned.

According to this view, areas within cities with low low-income levels, racial heterogeneity, and residential instability are more likely to experience social disorganization. Depending on the country context, a combination of these theories helps explain crime in LAC.

Empirical research offers support for the different theories: the sense of impunity in some countries encourages law offenders to engage in criminal activities; the lacks of confidence in police and justice systems sometimes prevent victims from reporting crimes (moreover, it’s not rare that corrupt police collaborate with organized crime in some countries, for money or fear); support for extralegal violence is significantly higher in societies characterized by little support for the existing political system; and the lack of economic opportunities also plays a role as a strong correlation between crime and youth unemployment has been found.

Evidence also demonstrates the effect of inequality in crime (the case of Mexico is discussed by Enamorado et al, 2016).

As I have mentioned in the past, the pavement of development in LAC requires effective governance as pre-condition to improve productivity, inclusion and resilience. That is, effective governance is about creating socio-economic opportunities, strengthening institutions and enhancing citizen security.

These are challenging tasks as these figures show. Fact-based initiatives such as INFOSEGURA which aims to promote and improve the quality of information on citizen security in the region, are critical public policy instruments to address this challenge.

*Homicides rates are expressed per 100,000 inhabitants throughout the post.

The post Devastating Epidemic of Crime & Insecurity in Latin America & Caribbean appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Luis Felipe López-Calva is UN Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean

The post Devastating Epidemic of Crime & Insecurity in Latin America & Caribbean appeared first on Inter Press Service.

L'installation de la 8ème législature de l'Assemblée nationale est prévue pour ce jeudi 16 mai à Porto-Novo. En raison de la crise liée aux élections législatives, certaines écoles au Bénin notamment des établissements privés ont fermé leurs portes pour la journée de ce mercredi 15 mai et celle de jeudi 16 mai 2019.
A quelques heures de la cérémonie d'installation des nouveaux élus, l'armée béninoise a renforcé la sécurité à Cotonou et à Porto-Novo.

Cette résolution qui est une mesure de sécurité émane de certains fondés d'établissement craignant de probables soulèvements pour protester contre la cérémonie d'installation des députés élus lors du scrutin législatif du 28 avril 2019.
« Je ne le souhaite pas, mais tout est possible. Il ne faut pas mettre la vie de nos élèves dans un jeu de probabilité en matière de sécurité. Il vaut mieux jouer à la prudence. Nous reprenons les cours vendredi », a confié un responsable d'établissement privé de Cotonou à un organe de presse.

La ville de Porto-Novo quadrillée

Un lourd détachement militaire a été déployé à Porto-Novo, ville qui va abriter la cérémonie d'installation des députés de la 8ème législature de l'Assemblée nationale.
En effet, suite aux scènes de violences enregistrées le 28 avril, jour du scrutin législatif, ainsi les 1er et 2 mai à Cadjéhoun et aux rumeurs d'éventuels soulèvements visant à troubler la cérémonie d'installation des députés, la sécurité est renforcée par l'armée béninoise à Cotonou et Porto-Novo.
Les patrouilles des forces de sécurité s'observent dans toute la ville de Cotonou.
Quant à Porto-Novo, elle est fortement quadrillée. Le siège de l'Assemblée nationale est placé sous haute surveillance. Le dispositif a été renforcé en début de semaine avec les para-commando venus du camp militaire de Ouassa.
Toutes les mesures sécuritaires sont renforcées pour que la cérémonie officielle d'installation des députés de la huitième de se déroule dans le paix et sans incident.

A.A.A

Klaus Iohannis államfő mai sajtótájékoztatóján közölte, hogy írásban is elküldte a Szociáldemokrata Pártnak az igazságügyi, az európai alapokért felelős és a külhoni románokért felelős miniszteri tisztségbe javasolt jelöltek elutasítását. Húsvét előtt javasolták a szociáldemokrata pártiak a kormányátalakítást, de nem azért, hogy a kormányzáson javítsanak, hanem mert a Szociáldemokrata Párton belüli bandák összevesztek – mondta Iohannis. Iohannis hangsúlyozta: nem ért egyet a kormányátalakítással.

Európai Uniós akció keretében ellenőrzik a hivatásos sofőröket. A közlekedési rendőrök ma több helyen is tartanak ellenőrzéseket. A cél az, hogy csökkentsék a balesetek számát a tömegközlekedési és áruszállító járművek esetében. Az ellenőrzések során már több olyan hivatásos sofőr bukott le, akik ittasan ültek volánhoz, vagy nem rendelkeztek minden szükséges engedéllyel. A bukaresti közlekedésrendészet szóvivője szerint meglepetésükre már reggel 8 órakor is akadt olyan sofőr, aki ittasan ült volánhoz, ezért 90 napra bevonták a jogosítványát. Az ellenőrzések országszerte egész nap zajlanak.

The incoming centrist group in the European Parliament should no longer be calling itself "liberal". This could also lead to the group leaning more towards the left. EURACTIV France reports.

Kassataya - En déclarant cette fin de semaine que la Mauritanie serait en danger si Ould Ghazouani n’est pas élu, le président mauritanien...

As the European elections are approaching, EURACTIV and its partners take a closer look at what candidates and their parties are saying ahead of the polls to help you separate facts from fiction. Fight for the enforcement of equal minimum...

La Bosnie-Herzégovine et la Croatie sous la menace des inondations
Inondations en Bosnie-Herzégovine : un an après, toujours le chaos
Inondations en Bosnie-Herzégovine : l'État aux abonnés absents
Inondations en Bosnie-Herzégovine : au moins 30 morts, le bilan s'alourdit
Inondations en Croatie : assurez-vous, l'État ne paie pas !
Balkans : pourquoi les inondations ne sont pas une « catastrophe naturelle »

/ Inondations, Courrier des Balkans, Bosnie-Herzégovine, Croatie, Environnement

La Bosnie-Herzégovine et la Croatie sous la menace des inondations
Inondations en Bosnie-Herzégovine : un an après, toujours le chaos
Inondations en Bosnie-Herzégovine : l'État aux abonnés absents
Inondations en Bosnie-Herzégovine : au moins 30 morts, le bilan s'alourdit
Inondations en Croatie : assurez-vous, l'État ne paie pas !
Balkans : pourquoi les inondations ne sont pas une « catastrophe naturelle »

/ Inondations, Courrier des Balkans, Bosnie-Herzégovine, Croatie, Environnement

La Bosnie-Herzégovine et la Croatie sous la menace des inondations
Inondations en Bosnie-Herzégovine : un an après, toujours le chaos
Inondations en Bosnie-Herzégovine : l'État aux abonnés absents
Inondations en Bosnie-Herzégovine : au moins 30 morts, le bilan s'alourdit
Inondations en Croatie : assurez-vous, l'État ne paie pas !
Balkans : pourquoi les inondations ne sont pas une « catastrophe naturelle »

/ Inondations, Courrier des Balkans, Bosnie-Herzégovine, Croatie, Environnement

Die strategischen Interessen der Ukraine und der EU sind "genau gleich", betonte der Präsident der Europäischen Kommission, Jean-Claude Juncker. Verstimmungen gab es dennoch.

Manfred Weber is hoping to become the next President of the European Commission. The EPP, which is likely to become the strongest party in the new European Parliament, has selected him as its lead candidate. However, President Macron and a few other leaders are now questioning the lead candidate procedure and want to retain the right to nominate the president themselves. Commentators describe a struggle over posts with an uncertain outcome.