Les députés de la 9e législature se retrouvent mardi 14 février 2023 au palais des gouverneurs à Porto-Novo. Ils vont procéder à l'installation des différentes commissions permanentes.
Après l'élection des membres du bureau dimanche 12 février, les 109 députés de la 9e législature sont attendus au parlement mardi 14 février 2023. Les travaux en plénière seront consacrés à l'installation des différentes commissions permanentes. Les commissions tant qu'organes techniques de l'institution parlementaire sont au nombre de 05. Il s'agit de la Commission des Lois, de l'Administration et des Droits de l'Homme ; de la Commission des Finances et des Echanges ; de la Commission du Plan, de l'Equipement et de Production ; de la Commission de l'Education, de la Culture, de l'Emploi et des Affaires Sociales ; et de la Commission des Relations Extérieures, de la Coopération au Développement, de la Défense et de la Sécurité.
La représentation nationale va également procéder ce mardi, à la constitution des groupes parlementaires. Une étape importante avant l'installation des commissions permanentes. Chaque groupe parlementaire devant présenter au bureau, la liste de ses candidats aux différentes commissions, et veiller à ce qu'elle soit proportionnelle à la représentativité du groupe au sein de l'Assemblée. Les députés non-inscrits présentent au Bureau leurs candidatures à la commission de leur choix.
Seul le groupe parlementaire Les Démocrates du parti d'opposition est constitué. Les deux autres partis politiques représentés à l'Assemblée nationale à savoir, l'Union Progressiste le Renouveau (UPR) et le Bloc Républicain (BR) ne sont pas encore constitués.
F. A. A.
Sierra Leone’s women are now guaranteed 30 percent of all political positions in national and local government, the civil service and in private enterprises that employ more than 25 employees. Credit: Annie Spratt/Unsplash
By Francis Kokutse
FREETOWN, Feb 14 2023 (IPS)
Sierra Leone’s new gender equality law will benefit women with political aspirations – as well as stimulate development, say analysts.
The country’s President, Julius Maada Bio, signed the new Gender Equality and Women Empowerment into law in January 2023. It has shaken the foundations of previously held ideologies that restricted females’ involvement in various aspects of the country’s life.
Reacting to the enactment of the law, Janet Bangoura, a 35-year-old administrative worker in the capital, Freetown, said: “A year ago, I only nursed the dream of ever becoming a politician because the playing field has never been equal for women. This has changed with the signing of the Gender Equality and Women Empowerment (GEWE Act 2022), which guarantees at least 30 percent of female participation in Parliament and at least 30 percent of all diplomatic appointments to be filled by women.”
In addition, the law stipulates that not less than 30 percent of all positions in Local Councils should be reserved for women, same with 30 percent of all jobs in the civil service and at least 30 percent of jobs in private institutions with 25 and more employees. It also extends maternal leave extended from 12 weeks to 14 weeks.
Sierra Leone’s President, Julius Maada Bio, signing the Gender Equality and Women Empowerment Bill into law. Credit: Francis Kokutse/IPS
Bangoura sees this new law as “shaking the status quo because it has brought a change that women of my generation had not expected. Now, we do not have any excuse but to seek our dreams in the political field. I know things will not immediately change, but the foundation has been laid for those of us who want to break the political glass ceiling.”
It is not only the women who are happy that the country has achieved the “unthinkable”. With the coming into force by this law, Sierra Leoneans of all ages and sexes are glad their country has overtaken neighbouring countries in the West African region by taking the lead in giving equality to women. Though such a law has been talked about by the countries in the region, the head of the United Nations Women’s office in Sierra Leone, Setcheme Jeronime Mongbo, said the September 2022 data on women’s representation in English West Africa shows that Ghana has 14.8 percent of women in Parliament, Gambia, 11.6 percent, Liberia, 9.7 percent and Nigeria, 7,2 percent, adding that, “Sierra Leone is leading the way.”
Minister of Gender and Children’s Affairs, Manty Tarawalli welcomed the law, which she said has been late in coming but noted that it was better late than never. She attributed the lateness in enacting the law to the lack of political will that existed before. This changed with the current President’s role, adding that, “The climate wasn’t right in terms of women’s readiness and men not being accommodating for this sort of growth until now.”
Tarawalli said Sierra Leone was a “typical” African society. “We know the way things are, and to effect that sort of change that really needs a transformation and what shakes the status quo, it required time and understanding from both men and women for the change to happen.”
She said there were initial challenges in discussing the Bill. So, they had to cross massive hurdles to be able to change “the conversation from rights-based to economic growth, and it changed organically from our consultation,” adding that “those who were opposed became willing and ready to have the conversation.”
Tarawalli was of the view that the law was about economic growth meant to move Sierra Leone to a middle-income country, adding that “this cannot happen when 52 percent of the country’s population who are women are outside the economy and leadership position.”
She identified the unwillingness of men to accommodate women when they start getting into companies and institutions as a challenge they anticipate and said there was, therefore, the need to put in place structures to create a network to support females who will be in elective positions to know there is help for them.
Tarawalli said they would educate women to understand that “economic empowerment does not mean neglecting their duties as mothers and wives at home by abandoning the care of their children and other things that are expected of them. We will also make the men understand that economic empowerment contributes to the community and contributes to Sierra Leone.”
Speaking just before he appended his signature to the Bill, Bio said the law has come to address the gender imbalances in the country comprehensively, and among other things, the provisions under the law provide for “inclusion, representation, participation, and a more responsive posture on gender.”
Bio said his signature on the law was to announce that a change has come to “our great country” and assured the country’s girls that it is a license for them to “get quality education, work hard and aspire beyond their wildest imagination to be the best at anything they do.”
“With this law, we break barriers to parliamentary representation and look forward to a more vibrant and diverse parliament with greater numbers of women and women’s voices. When compiling their proportional representation lists, I urge political parties to go beyond the legal minimum of the number of women,” he said.
Bio said his assent to the GEWE Bill has put the country on an irreversible path to achieving a more inclusive, equal, more just, more resilient, more sustainable, and more prosperous society for generations to come, adding that “with more women on the ballots, women voting, more women winning, and more women in Parliament, the country’s politics and the future of Sierra Leone will improve.”
It was his hope that the law would see more women in leadership and politics and more men supporting and acknowledging the central status of women as we work together for a vibrant, prosperous, inclusive, and democratic Sierra Leone. In addition, he believes the law ensures women equal access to credit and other financial services. To make it effective, those who discriminate on the basis of gender could face up to five years in prison as well as fines.
“Women dominate the informal economy, and data has shown that they are better at doing business, managing investments, and managing proceeds from those investments. Beyond that, as a government, we are eager to work with the private sector to create more jobs for women, harness business cultures that promote diversity and inclusion, and invest in training programmes tailored to create more job opportunities for women,” Bio said.
IPS UN Bureau Report
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
Jens Stoltenberg újságíróknak nyilatkozva közölte: mivel az ukrajnai háború hatalmas mennyiségű lőszert és hadianyagot emészt fel, ezért növelni kell ezek gyártását az előállítási kapacitásba való befektetések fokozásával. “Putyin és Oroszország továbbra is Ukrajna irányítására törekszik. Azt látjuk, hogy még több csapatot, még több fegyvert, még több képességet küld Ukrajnába” – fogalmazott.
Mivel nincs jele annak, hogy Putyin a békére készülne, folytatni kell Ukrajna támogatását egyebek mellett logisztikai segítségnyújtás által, valamint muníció, üzemanyag és alkatrészek, lőszerek és a harckocsik biztosításával, hogy a megtámadott ország eredményeket tudjon elérni a harctéren” – mondta.
“Sürgősen kulcsfontosságú képességek átadására van szükség Ukrajna számára, mielőtt Oroszország a csatatéren magához ragadhatná a kezdeményezést” – fogalmazott.
A NATO-tagállamok miniszterei kedden várhatóan repülőgépek esetleges szállításáról is tárgyalnak majd – tájékoztatott a főtitkár, majd hozzátette: az Ukrajnának vadászrepülőket szállító NATO-országok nem teszik a szövetséget a konfliktus részesévé.
Az Egyesült Államok felett február 3-án észlelt, majd az amerikai hadsereg által lelőtt kínai megfigyelő léggömbbel kapcsolatban a főtitkár kérdésre válaszolva azt mondta, az ismétlődő incidensek rávilágítanak arra, hogy a NATO-nak ébernek kell maradnia. A látottak azt mutatják, hogy Kína és Oroszország is fokozza a NATO-szövetségesek megfigyelését – közölte.
A főtitkár ezzel összefüggésben közölte: a NATO biztosítani kívánja megfigyelési és hírszerzési tevékenységét az “egyre sűrűbbé váló” világűrben is egy új műhold pályára állításával. Az új eszköz támogatni hivatott a NATO-missziókat és -műveleteket, lehetővé teszi továbbá adatok megosztását, megkönnyíti a tájékozódást, a kommunikációt és esetleges rakétakilövések előrejelzését. A védelmi miniszterek lépéseket fognak tenni a létfontosságú tenger alatti infrastruktúra védelmének fokozására is – mondta Stoltenberg. Bejelentette, hogy a kedden kezdődő tanácskozáson részt vesz Olekszij Reznyikov ukrán védelmi miniszter is.
Stoltenberg reményét fejezte ki, hogy mindezen célok elérésének érdekében a tagországok mihamarabb teljesítik azon 2014-es kötelezettségvállalásukat, amely szerint 2024-ig közelíteni kell védelmi kiadásaikat a bruttó hazai termékük (GDP) két százalékához.
Nem kívánja meghosszabbítani mandátumát a NATO főtitkára
Nem kívánja ismét meghosszabbítani szeptember 30-ig szóló mandátumát Jens Stoltenberg NATO-főtitkár – jelentette ki erről szóló lapértesülésekre reagálva szombat éjjel Oana Lungescua. A főtitkár szóvivője közölte, a NATO-főtitkár nem kéri mandátumának további hosszabbítását, és a terveknek megfelelően még idén távozik posztjáról. Emlékeztetett, Stoltenberg NATO-főtitkári mandátumát háromszor hosszabbították meg, és összesen csaknem kilenc évig szolgált a szervezet élén.
Stoltenberg, a 63 éves egykori norvég miniszterelnök 2014. október 1. óta tölti be a NATO-főtitkári tisztséget. Eredetileg négy évre választották meg, megbízatását 2017-ben, majd 2019-ben újabb két évvel meghosszabbították. Ő az észak-atlanti szövetség 13. főtitkára. A leköszönő NATO-főtitkár 2021. december közepén megpályázta a norvég jegybank elnöki posztját, amelyet az oslói intézmény február eleji bejelentése szerint elnyert.
The post Orosz agresszió: a NATO a lőszerkészletek növelését tervezi appeared first on .
Written by Tambiama Madiega (1st edition).
The European Commission published a proposal for a directive on adapting non-contractual civil liability rules to artificial intelligence (the ‘AI liability directive’) in September 2022. The Commission proposes to complement and modernise the EU liability framework to introduce new rules specific to damages caused by AI systems. The new rules intend to ensure that persons harmed by AI systems enjoy the same level of protection as persons harmed by other technologies in the EU. The AI liability directive would create a rebuttable ‘presumption of causality’, to ease the burden of proof for victims to establish damage caused by an AI system. It would furthermore give national courts the power to order disclosure of evidence about high-risk AI systems suspected of having caused damage. Stakeholders and academics are questioning, inter alia, the adequacy and effectiveness of the proposed liability regime, its coherence with the artificial intelligence act currently under negotiation, its potential detrimental impact on innovation, and the interplay between EU and national rules.
VersionsL’euro et le dollar américain, les deux principales devises étrangères, affichent des variations constantes de leurs valeurs, et ce, sur les deux marchés de change, officiel et informel. Quels sont les taux de change des principales devises ce 14 février en Banque et au marché noir ? Pour ce mardi 14 février 2023, les cotations […]
L’article Taux de change du dinar en Banque et au marché parallèle ce 14 février est apparu en premier sur .
Wirikuta, in the northern Mexican state of San Luis Potosí, is a sacred site for the Wixárika people, threatened by mining concessions and large-scale agriculture. CREDIT: Wixárika Research Center
By Emilio Godoy
MEXICO CITY, Feb 14 2023 (IPS)
Tatei Haramara, one of the sacred sites of the Wixárika indigenous people in the state of Nayarit in northwestern Mexico, has shrunk in size from its original area and is suffering from a lack of legal protection.
Also known as Isla del Rey, off the port of San Blas, six hectares are under protection as sacred, although the San Blas city council approved another 29 hectares. But now the ancestral land faces the threat of a ferry dock and other tourism projects.
The problem is not exclusive to Tatei Haramara, the name of the mother of five-colored corn and of the sacred gateway to the fifth world, represented by the white stones Tatei Waxieve and Tatei Cuca Wima, which rise up in front of the island.“If the resources we need are not allocated, the justice plan will not be completely fulfilled. We are concerned that this will happen. We are facing difficulties in how to get resources in order to work, with respect to all of the issues. The plan must come up with something fair. We don’t just want it to be empty words." -- Paulita Carrillo
Abandonment of ceremonies, lack of legal protection and budget, as well as poverty, violence and environmental damage undermine the application of the Mexican government’s Justice Plan for the Wixárika, Na’ayeri and O’dam peoples, who are from the states of Durango, Jalisco, Nayarit, Zacatecas and San Luis Potosí.
This is stated in the document “Systematization of proposals: Justice Plan for the Wixárica, Na’ayeri and O’dam peoples”, drawn up by the government’s National Institute of Indigenous Peoples (INPI), and seen by IPS, which was among the thousands of emails from the ministry of national defense that the hacktivist Grupo Guacamaya leaked in September.
The assessment, dated July 2022 and 102 pages long, identifies insufficient coordination and communication between the authorities of the Wixárika people to make offerings in sacred places and the Na’ayeri people for the management, protection and conservation of their sacred spots, as well as deterioration and difficulties for the use of sacred places and the tangible and intangible heritage of the three groups due to lack of physical and legal protection.
In Mexico, justice plans for indigenous peoples were created in 2021 by the current government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador as a mechanism to identify and respond to the just demands and historical needs of native communities, including the issue of sacred sites.
But although it is a public policy, it is not legally binding.
Since then, the government has promoted six justice plans for the Yaquis, Yoreme-Mayos, Seris, and Guarijíos in the state of Sonora, the Rarámuris in Chihuahua, and the Wixárika, Na’ayeris, O’dams and Mexikans. But very few of them have been published.
Paulita Carrillo, who has participated in the process of debate and drafting of the plan for her people, the Wixárika, said the programs are not moving forward but are barely dragging along.
“They are moving slowly. It’s not like we thought it would be, it’s a lot of work. There are several factors: you have to engage in dialogue with the institutions of each state; the strength is in the protection of sacred places, and they are located in the four states. And it is difficult to do that,” she told IPS from San Andrés Cohamiata (TateiKie, in Wixárika), in the municipality of Mezquitic, some 460 kilometers from Mexico City, in the western state of Jalisco.
With regard to the Wixárika, “we drew up the proposals, they were gathered in each community,” she added, explaining that for their part they carried out the necessary work.
According to official data, there are nearly 17 million indigenous people belonging to 69 different peoples and representing 13 percent of the population of Mexico, the second-largest Latin American country in population and economy after Brazil, and the third in size, following Brazil and Argentina.
The program for the Wixárika, Na’ayeris and O’dams represents an update of the Hauxa Manaka Pact for the preservation and development of the Wixárika culture, which the governments of the five states involved, the federal administration and the indigenous leadership signed in 2008, but which has remained dead letter.
The Wixárika people have 17 sacred sites, the O’dam and A’daum groups share 17 and the A’daum have another 10.
The federal government has not yet published the decree for the defense and preservation of the sacred places of the Wixárika, Naáyeri, O’dam and Mexikan peoples, because the survey has not been completed of the Tee ́kata site, place of the original fire, where the sun was born, located in Santa Catarina Cuexcomatitlán (Tuapurie) in Mezquitic, a protected area covering 100 hectares.
Irene Alvarado, an academic with the Intercultural Indigenous Program at the private Western Institute of Technology and Higher Studies of the Jesuit University of Guadalajara, told IPS that the plans are aimed at creating a different kind of relationship with native groups.
“You have to understand how systematically the native peoples have been made invisible. We are in a system that denies and imposes its own culture and does not recognize that they are ancient cultures. The plans are an exercise in analysis and discussion with authorities and representatives of the peoples to examine problems and propose collective solutions. They have emerged to meet these ignored demands,” she said from the city of Guadalajara.
The plan for the Yaquis includes the construction of an aqueduct for water supply, the creation of an irrigation district and the installation of an intercultural university under their management.
Recognition of sacred sites constitutes a fundamental element of the Wixárika, Na’ayeri, O’dam and Mexikan Justice Plan, created by the Mexican government and these indigenous groups. The photo shows a ceremony held on Nov. 25, 2022 at the Hauxa Manaka site, located in Cerro Gordo, in the community of San Bernardino de Milpillas Chico, in the northern state of Durango. CREDIT: INPI
Fragmented
But ancestral territory is a fundamental element for native groups, and without it the exercise of their rights is limited. For this reason, five communities in the states of Durango, Jalisco and Nayarit have denounced the invasion of 91,796 hectares of land of which they say they were dispossessed by third parties.
In these same states, eight communities are demanding the adequate execution of judicial sentences and presidential resolutions for the recognition and titling of 23,351 hectares.
In addition, 27 communities maintain conflicts over the limits of communal “ejido” lands in this area and another 15 are engaged in border disputes between the states of Durango, Jalisco, Nayarit and Zacatecas.
The question of territory has an impact on the sacred sites. For example, Xapawiyemeta, located on Lake Chapala in Jalisco, only measures 377 square meters due to the reduction of the original site. In the north-central state of San Luis Potosí, the Wixárika people have 140,212 hectares under protection, but suffer from mining concessions and large-scale tomato and chili pepper production.
Three copper, gold, silver and zinc mines operate in the Wixárika zone and another five projects are in the exploration phase in San Luis Potosí. In this state and in Zacatecas, there are 203 mining concessions.
But some native communities have set conditions for participating. For example, San Sebastián Teponahuaxtlán, in the municipality of Mezquitic in Jalisco, will participate when 10,500 hectares are returned to it. Meanwhile, the Bancos de San Hipólito community, in Durango, is about to recover 10,720 hectares, in compliance with a 2008 court ruling.
The Mexican government and indigenous peoples have been drawing up six justice plans since 2021 to remedy the historical injustice and neglect suffered by these groups. The photo shows Mayo-Yoreme indigenous people dancing during a working session with government representatives on Jan. 27, 2023 in the northern state of Sonora. CREDIT: INPI
Constitutional reform – a bogged-down promise
However, the government initiative for constitutional reform on the rights of indigenous and Afro-Mexican peoples, also drafted in 2021, has not advanced in the legislature.
But the measures contain contradictions. In the south and southeast of the country, the government is building the Mayan Train, the administration’s flagship megaproject, which has brought it into confrontation with native Mayan groups in that area.
In fact, the office in Mexico of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said the indigenous consultation undertaken by the Mexican government in 2019 failed to comply with international standards.
In the southern state of Oaxaca, the government is pushing for an industrial corridor to connect the Pacific coast with the Gulf of Mexico in the Atlantic, which has brought it to loggerheads with indigenous populations in the area.
Funds are declining
The justice plans depend on the budget allocated both to native peoples and to the plans themselves.
Since 2018, INPI funds have steadily shrunk, from 316.52 million dollars that year to 242.07 million dollars in 2023.
In 2020, the programs for economic empowerment, education, infrastructure and indigenous rights totaled 77 million dollars, the execution of which was affected by the COVID pandemic that hit the country in February of that year. The following year, the amount had dropped to 39.63 million and in 2022, to 27.26 million dollars.
At a round table held on Jan. 17 in Durango, it was agreed that 382,803 dollars were needed from four institutions for the protection of sacred places, culture and identity of the Wixárika, Na’ayeri, O’dam and Mexikan peoples.
Carrillo said the lack of budget funds jeopardizes the execution of the plans.
“If the resources we need are not allocated, the justice plan will not be completely fulfilled. We are concerned that this will happen. We are facing difficulties in how to get resources in order to work, with respect to all of the issues. The plan must come up with something fair. We don’t just want it to be empty words,” said the Wixárika activist.
In 2021, INPI did not examine whether the Program for the Comprehensive Well-being of Indigenous Peoples assisted the development of indigenous and Afro-Mexican communities, according to an analysis by the government’s Superior Auditor of the Federation.
Alvarado said there is a large variety of challenges to provide justice for indigenous people.
“It is difficult to address complex issues,” said the researcher. “There are many good intentions, but the question is how to bring them to fruition. In the justice plans, most of the projects focus on infrastructure, but you can’t just think about that. The development vision is broader; it involves building a model based on the conception of native peoples.”
Related Articles