Shweta S Banerjee, Country Lead for India, and Syed M Hashemi, Country Advisor for India at BRAC Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative, joined members of the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society, including CEO Rahul Kumar, to sign the MoU in Patna, India. Credit: BRAC UPGI

By IPS Correspondent
PATNA, India, Apr 10 2023 (IPS)

Under the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society, Bihar’s government announced the development of a new Program for Immersion and Learning Exchange (ILE) to be headquartered in Patna.

The Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society, locally known as JEEVIKA, is the implementing agency of Satat Jeevikoparjan Yojana (SJY), a government-led poverty alleviation program in Bihar that has reached over 150,000 households as of early 2023 and is still expanding.

SJY aims to boost the human capital of people living in extreme poverty and the most excluded households through the Graduation approach, an evidence-based, multifaceted, sequenced set of interventions that includes support of consumption, livelihoods, savings, and training. A rigorous study of Graduation in West Bengal by Nobel Laureates Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo demonstrates that Graduation provides people with the resources and skills needed to break the poverty trap.

“This a new beginning,” said Rahul Kumar, CEO of JEEVIKA. “JEEVIKA will function as an Immersion and Learning Centre for delegates outside state and country to understand our Graduation Program.”

Drawing on vast experience in supporting the design, delivery, and evaluation of Graduation programs worldwide for more than 20 years, BRAC International will serve as a technical partner for the ILE.

“BRAC International is honored to partner with the Bihar state government to launch an Immersion and Learning Exchange program at JEEVIKA so many more can learn from the Government of Bihar’s experience building inclusive livelihoods for marginalized women,” said Gregory Chen, Managing Director of BRAC Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative (UPGI), a flagship program of BRAC International.

Rahul Kumar, CEO of Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society, signs an MoU with BRAC International to facilitate South-South knowledge sharing around the Graduation approach through a new Program for Immersion and Learning Exchange.

Since 2002, BRAC’s Graduation program in Bangladesh has reached more than 2.1 million households (approximately 9 million people) and supported the expansion of Graduation in 16 additional countries through direct implementation, technical assistance, and advisory services for implementing partners and governments. BRAC is committed to further advancing the expansion of Graduation by scaling it through governments across Africa and Asia to achieve maximum impact.

Learning and knowledge exchange has played a critical role in supporting adaptation and expansion efforts of the Graduation approach for various poverty contexts since it was pioneered in 2002. To date, more than 100 organizations in nearly 50 countries have adopted Graduation, according to the World Bank’s Partnership for Economic Inclusion.

Through immersion visits and learning exchange facilitated by JEEVIKA’s ILE, insights around the design, implementation, and evaluation of Graduation will be more accessible to other state governments in India and national governments throughout the Global South looking to enhance existing poverty alleviation efforts and enable millions more people around the world to escape the poverty trap.

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Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital, has been attracting hundreds of thousands of Russians since the war in Ukraine started in February 2022. The city is a favored destination where Russians can still travel visa-free.

By IPS Correspondent
TBILISI, Mar 21 2023 (IPS)

Since the war in Ukraine started in February last year, at least 1.5 million Russian citizens have crossed the Russia-Georgia border, official data states. However, as of today, it needs to be clarified how many of them stayed in the country, but walking the streets of the Georgian capital Tbilisi, the presence of Russian nationals can be seen almost everywhere.

Right after the war started and even more when Russia announced a partial mobilization in September 2022, hundreds of thousands of Russian citizens – primarily men – traveled to countries where they could travel visa-free, including Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Turkey, and Georgia. Among those destinations, Georgia is among the most enticing because of its mild climate, wine, food, and nightlife-heavy capital. At the moment, Russian citizens can spend twelve renewable months in Georgia, and many of them are planning to stay in the long term, as the war seems would still last long.

The arrival of thousands of Russians has significantly impacted Georgian society. The country is known for its hospitality, but many Georgians are concerned about the effect such a large influx could have on their country’s social fabric. There have been reports of tension between Russians and locals and concerns about potential cultural clashes. While walking in Tbilisi, the Russian language can be easily heard in most bars, cafes, and restaurants, day and night. In contrast, there is a solid pro-Ukrainian sentiment and a not-so-hidden antagonism toward Russians. Every twenty meters or so, it is possible to spot on the streets of Tbilisi a Ukrainian flag hanging from a balcony, at the entrance of a restaurant or bar, or drawn on a wall.

As the Russians poured into Georgia, many Georgians have come to fear that the emigres somehow could serve as a pretext for Putin to target their country in the future, just as it did happen to Ukraine in 2014 and 2022. For this reason, the recent influx of Russians—mainly men who fear being conscripted into arms—has created a tense social climate in Georgia and an increased distrust towards Russians.

Suspicion towards Russian emigration is also motivated by historical events indicating the two countries as potential enemies. Indeed, Russia currently occupies 20 percent of Georgia; in 2008, a five-day conflict (“South Ossetia conflict”) broke out between the two countries over the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Georgia lost control of both areas, and Russia later recognized them as independent states. As a consequence, Tbilisi cut off diplomatic relations with Moscow, after which Switzerland took up the role of mediator country.

Today, stickers reading “Russia currently occupies 20 percent of Georgian territory” are prominently displayed at the entrance to many restaurants, bars, coworking spaces, and local shops. Many Georgians believe that the Russians who have fled their country are not opponents of the Moscow government but do not want to risk their lives at the front in Ukraine. Irakli, a baker from central Tbilisi, told IPS: “If they don’t like Putin, and they don’t share his war, then they should fight and oppose him in Russia, not run away here to Georgia.”

Many Georgians fear that the recent wave of Russians fleeing to their country is less ideological than the first one that occurred right after the beginning of the war in February 2022. There is a widespread belief that, while the first wave mainly included activists, intellectuals, and anti-Putin individuals, the current wave might consist of people who fear being conscripted to fight in Ukraine but do not oppose the Russian government’s policies—including its decision to invade Ukraine.

Because of these concerns, a survey conducted by the Caucasus Research Resource Centers in February-March 2022 revealed that 66 percent of Georgians favor re-introducing a visa regime for Russians. That visa regime was abolished for Russians in 2012, but now many Georgians think it should be revisited. However, the same survey revealed that 49 percent of respondents approved the Georgian national government’s rejection of imposing sanctions on Russia. On the one hand, this data could be interpreted as a tightening of ties with the Kremlin. More simply, it should be read as a policy aimed at not worsening diplomatic relations, as Georgia could fear some retaliation—even military—from Moscow.

Furthermore, Georgia depends on remittances from its citizens working in Russia, and, in the past, its tourism industry has prospered from Russian visitors. Most Georgian politicians agree that the country is pursuing a ‘pragmatic and careful stance toward Russia’ by not imposing sanctions and keeping the current visa-free regime. For example, Eka Sepashvili, a member of parliament who left the governing Georgian Dream party, remains aligned with it on this policy.

Adverse effects aside, Russian migration to Georgia has undoubtedly stimulated the local economy. Many among those migrants are information technology (IT) remote workers, sometimes even hired by Western companies. Therefore, their salaries are way higher than the Georgian average (300-500 US dollars per month), and their living in Georgia guarantees an essential boost to local consumption.

According to the World Bank, the 2022 Georgian economic growth was 10 percent. The surge in money transfers from Russia, the recovery in domestic demand, and the rebound of tourism after the pandemic have been the main reasons for the positive performance. The World Bank further forecasted a 4 percent and 5 percent economic growth for 2023 and 2024, respectively.

Furthermore, a recent Transparency International (TI) report shows 17,000 Russian companies are registered in Georgia. More than half of them were registered after the start of the war in Ukraine. Only in March-September of 2022, up to 9,500 Russian companies were registered, which, according to the report, is ten times more than the entire figure for 2021. According to TI, this trend indicates that many Russian nationals plan to stay in Georgia long term. Not coincidentally, in April-September 2022, remittances from Russia to Georgia amounted to 1,135 million US dollars—a fivefold increase.

Artem, a Russian engineer in his forties, arrived in Tbilisi in October 2022 after Putin announced the partial mobilization. He works remotely, so he can afford to continue living in Georgia as long as his salary allows. He stays in a guest house that is usually intended for tourists. The structure has six single rooms and two with more beds to share. In recent months, 95 percent of the tenants have been Russians who have started living here for medium-to-long periods.

Since it is the low tourist season, the landlord has agreed to rent to Russians. Still, with the arrival of the high season in May, he may return to prefer the more profitable short-term rentals.

“For now, I am staying here, but with the arrival of spring, I will probably have to look for a new place,” Artem told IPS.

Despite having a higher salary than the local average, Artem cannot afford many accommodations since prices have skyrocketed. Talking to him and other current tenants of the guest house – all Russian men – it isn’t easy to find someone who would say he doesn’t like Putin. They say they are against the war and worried about the current situation. Still, they go no further, perhaps for fear of sharing their ideas or probably because their opposition to the Moscow government is, in fact, minimal, as many Georgians believe.

Georgi, a Georgian tour guide, tells us that, according to him, Russian migrants are divided into two large groups: men—especially IT workers—who are mainly afraid of being called up but are not great opponents of Putin and those who oppose him fervently. The latter are activists, journalists, intellectuals, and members of the LGBT community—people who risked their lives in Russia—even before the start of the war in Ukraine.

The distrust towards Russians emerged even more during the first days of March when many Georgians complained that Russian citizens living in Georgia had not taken to the streets with them to protest against the so-called “foreign agents’ law.”

The law, which lawmakers dropped on March 11 after days of mass protests in Tbilisi, would have required individuals, civil society organizations, and media outlets that receive 20 percent of their funding from abroad to register as an “agent of foreign influence” with the Georgian Justice Ministry.

The law was largely criticized by civil society groups, opposition politicians, human rights organizations, and even US and EU institutions. They argued the law was an attempt to suppress dissent and restrict freedom of expression in the country, and they compared it to similar legislation in Russia that Moscow has used to crack down on NGOs and independent journalism.

The government of Georgia has been defending the law, saying it was necessary to prevent foreign interference in the country’s political affairs. The term “foreign agent” has highly negative connotations in Georgia and is often associated with espionage and foreign interference. Therefore, supporters of the law argue that foreign governments or organizations may influence “agents” receiving funding from foreign sources and that it is important to ensure that they are transparent about their funding sources. On the other hand, critics of the law argue that by forcing entities and individuals to register as “foreign agents,” the government is trying to delegitimize them in the eyes of the public and stigmatize them as tools of foreign powers.

Alisa, a Russian woman who arrived in Tbilisi in April 2022 and who clearly defines herself as anti-Putin, told IPS that she was contacted on social media by a local resident with whom she had interacted. That person pressed for her to take to the streets to protest against the “foreign agents” law. The Georgian person told Alisa that it was not fair that Russians living in Georgia stand by and watch the protests without joining them and that if they wanted to enjoy the freedoms that are lacking in Russia, then they should actively participate in all aspects of the civic life of an ordinary Georgian citizen, including protesting against that law.

“I didn’t join the protests, not because I disagreed with the demonstrators. Indeed, it was a glorious moment for democracy and the demand for freedom. However, some Georgians should understand that for some Russian citizens, exposing themselves in a protest that is also indirectly against Russia can threaten their lives,” Alisa told IPS.

As Georgia continues to navigate its relationship with Russia and the West, the influx of Russians will undoubtedly play a role in shaping the country’s future. As of today, it is still not clear whether the Georgian government will change its policy toward Russian migrants. The country seems trapped in a dilemma that crosses economic, social, political, and geopolitical aspects. The need to ensure the continuation of economic growth in the short and medium terms suggests keeping the doors open to Russians.

On the other hand, this influx is causing ever-higher prices, which in the long run will probably end up harming the living conditions of the more economically vulnerable locals, facilitating urban gentrification and, potentially, higher social tensions. Finally, from a political and geopolitical perspective, the government in Tbilisi will have to deal with a growing push from the population to get closer to the West and Europe – as seen with the recent protests against the “foreign agents” law – in the face of an inevitable growing link with Russia, precisely given the strong presence of Russians in the country.

As Georgia continues to navigate its relationship with Russia and the West, the influx of Russians will undoubtedly play a role in shaping the country’s future. As of today, it is still not clear whether the Georgian government will change its policy toward Russian migrants. The country seems trapped in a dilemma that crosses economic, social, political, and geopolitical aspects.

The need to ensure the continuation of economic growth in the short and medium terms suggests keeping the doors open to Russians. On the other hand, this influx is causing ever-higher prices, which in the long run will probably end up harming the living conditions of the more economically vulnerable locals, facilitating urban gentrification and, potentially, higher social tensions. Finally, from a political and geopolitical perspective, the government in Tbilisi will have to deal with a growing push from the population to get closer to the West and Europe in the face of an inevitable growing link with Russia, precisely given the strong presence of Russians in the country.

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Cooperative members in southern Lebanon make a rare, traditional bread called Mallet El Smid to be sold at the MENNA shop in Beirut. Women are central to meeting the SDGs, say parliamentarians. Credit: UN Women/Joe Saade

By IPS Correspondent
JOHANNESBURG, Feb 23 2023 (IPS)

The post-COVID-19 period has been a crucial one for members of parliament who have their work cut out to ensure that issues that arose during the pandemic are addressed, especially concerning the ICPD25 commitments and programmes of action for universal access to sexual and reproductive rights, gender-based violence and building peaceful, just and inclusive societies. Across the world, progress toward achieving the SDGs by 2030 was impacted during the pandemic.

As Dr Samar Haddad, a former member of the Lebanese Parliament and head of the Population Committee at the Bar Association in Lebanon commented at a recent meeting of the Forum of the Arab Parliamentarians  for Population and Development (FAPPD): “The main theme for this year is combating gender-based violence, which is a scourge that the entire world suffers from, and its rate has risen alarmingly in light of the economic crisis, bloody stability, wars, and displacement.”

IPS was privileged to interview two members of parliament from the region about how they are tackling GBV, youth empowerment, and women’s participation in politics, society, and the economy.

Here are edited excerpts from the interviews:

Pierre Bou Assi, MP from Lebanon

Pierre Bou Assi, MP from Lebanon

IPS: What legislation, budgets, and monitoring frameworks are in place or planned for combating GBV in Lebanon?

Pierre Bou Assi (PA): Lebanon has launched a project to support protection and prevention systems to prevent gender-based violence within the framework of continuous efforts aimed at responding to social and economic challenges in Lebanon and aims to strengthen prevention and monitoring mechanisms for gender-based violence, and support the efforts made by the Public Security Directorate through the Department Family and juvenile protection.

IPS: One of your speakers at a recent conference spoke about rapid population growth, youth, and high urbanization rates. Youth are often impacted by unemployment or low rates of decent employment. What are parliamentarians doing to assist youth in ensuring that the country can benefit from its demographic dividend?

PA: Youth are the pillar of the nation, its present and future, and the means and goal of development. They are the title of a strong society and its future, stressing that the conscious youth (educated and mindful) armed with science and knowledge are more than capable of facing the challenges of the present and the most prepared to enter the midst of the future.

I would like to say that the Youth Committee in the Lebanese Parliament is working on developing a targeted and real strategy that includes advanced programs that are agreed upon by experts and active institutions in this field to consolidate the principles of citizenship, the rule of law and patriotism, and empower the youth politically and economically to achieve their potential and develop and expand their horizons.

In addition, we are expanding youth participation in public life by providing them with opportunities for practical training in legislative and oversight institutions, and refining the participants’ personal skills by informing them of the decision-making process in the Council.

IPS: Looking back at the COVID-19 situation, most countries experienced two clear issues, an increase in GBV and its impact on children’s education. There was also an issue with high levels of violence experienced by children. Are parliamentarians concerned about the COVID impacts on children, and what programs have been implemented to support them?

PA: There is no doubt that Lebanon, like other countries in the world, was affected by the coronavirus pandemic in all aspects of life, including children and its impact on the quality of education, as well as the high level of violence that children were exposed to during that period, as I would like to take a look at the more positive side. We note a number of measures Lebanon took during the pandemic – which included the release of children who were in detention, the strengthening or expansion of social protection systems through cash assistance, and an overall decrease in levels of violence in conflict situations.

Lebanon has a plan that includes the following points:

• The continuity and safety of learning for all school children, including bridging the digital divide and creating low-cost technology.
• Implementing a basic package for equitable access to primary health care for children and mothers.
• Expanding the scope and appropriateness of infant and young child feeding programs and general educational messages.
• Expanding social protection systems to reach the most affected children and families through cash transfer programmes.
• Enhancing government budgetary allocations and public funding for social sectors, with a special focus on health care and education.

Hmoud Al-Yahyai, MP from Oman.

Hmoud Al-Yahyai, MP from Oman

Al-Yahyai spoke to IPS about the development of a human-rights-based framework. The interview followed a meeting with the theme “Human Rights and their relationship to the goals of sustainable development. The meeting was held by the Omani Parliamentary Committee for Population and Development in cooperation Omani National Commission for Human Rights, the Forum of Arab Parliamentarians for Population and Development (FAPPD), and the Asian Population and Development Association (APDA) on “Human Rights and their relationship to the goals of sustainable development.”

IPS: How is Oman working towards a human rights-based legislative framework, and what role are parliamentarians taking to ensure implementation? What role does Oman Vision 2040 play in this?

Hmoud Al-Yahyai (HY): The government of the Sultanate of Oman has integrated the sustainable development goals into national development strategies and plans and made them a major component of the long-term national development strategy components and axes known as Oman Vision 2040. The strategy is enhanced by broad societal participation when designing and implementing it and evaluating the plans and policies set. And we, as parliamentarians, make sure, as stated in the voluntary national report, (to provide oversight of) the government’s commitment to achieving the goals of sustainable development, with its three dimensions, economic, social, and environmental, within the specified time frame.

I commend the efforts of the Sultanate of Oman in implementing the goals of sustainable development through several axes, including the pillars of sustainable development, implementation mechanisms, progress achieved, and future directions for the localization of the sustainable development agenda in the short and medium term, and the consistency of Oman Vision 2040.

The Sultanate of Oman reviewed its first voluntary national report on sustainable development at the United Nations headquarters as part of its participation in the work of the UN Economic and Social Council.

Sustainability is crucial to Sultanate, emphasizing that development is not an end in itself, but aimed at building up its population.

Future directions for the localization of the SDGs in the short and medium term are represented on five axes, which include raising community awareness, localizing sustainable development, development partnerships, monitoring progress and making evidence-based policies, and institutional support.

The axes for sustainable development are human empowerment, a competitive knowledge economy, environmental resilience through commitment and prevention, and peace. These form the pillars for sustainable development through efficient financing, local development, and monitoring and evaluation.

Oman has adopted a coordinated package of social, economic, and financial policies to achieve inclusive development based on a competitive and innovative economy. This is being worked upon toward Oman Vision 2040 and its implementation plans, through a set of programs and initiatives that seek to localize the development plan toward achieving the SDGs 2030 and beyond.

IPS: What role do women play in your legislative framework, and do they play a role in ensuring, for example, SRHR rights?

HY: The Sultanate has taken many positive measures to sponsor women. The Sultanate’s policies towards accelerating equality between men and women stem from the directives of the Sultan and his initiatives to appoint women to high positions, to feminize the titles of positions when women fill them, and to grant them political, economic, and social rights.

Women benefit from support in the

• Social field: through comprehensive social insurance and social security system.
• Political field: through the appointment of female ministers, undersecretaries, and ambassadors, and in the field of public prosecution.
• Economic field: through labor and corporate law.
• Cultural field: through the system of education and grants.

There are many programs geared or dedicated to women. The government has begun to circulate and implement a program to support maternal and childcare services at the national level to reduce disease and death rates by providing health care for women during pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum and encouraging childbirth under medical supervision.

IPS: What are the achievements of Oman in reaching SDG Target 3.7 (Sexual and reproductive health by 2030, ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive healthcare services, including family planning, information and education, and the integration of reproductive health into national strategies)?

HY: In this regard, a campaign was launched on sexual and reproductive health in the Sultanate due to its positive impact on public health and society. This campaign confirms that reproductive health services are an integral part of primary health care and health security in the country and that it has long-term repercussions on health and social and economic health. Family planning is one of the most important of these services because, if it is not organized, it constitutes a social bomb that can hit everyone, whether a citizen or an official. Therefore, we must take proactive preventive steps.

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Emilio Godoy, Inter Press Service (IPS) correspondent in Mexico and a specialist in environmental and climate issues, won the prestigious award in that area given by the United Nations Correspondents Association. He is pictured here during his work in the field. CREDIT: IPS

By IPS Correspondent
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 9 2022 (IPS)

Inter Press Service (IPS) correspondent in Mexico Emilio Godoy has won the prestigious Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation Award for coverage of climate change, biodiversity and water, awarded by the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA), receiving a gold medal.

UNCA stressed that Godoy “has covered the ramifications of the climate crisis in Mexico while holding the government accountable, and reported on critical mangrove restoration projects carried out without state support, insufficient measures in the fight against methane and a dangerous focus on liquefied gas.”

Among Emilio’s many journalistic reports, UNCA selected for the award first and foremost the successful story of mangrove conservation and restoration led by the coastal community of San Crisanto, in the southeastern Mexican state of Yucatan.

Along with that story, it highlighted another on the contrast between the Mexican government’s focus on extracting gas and using fossil fuels, leaving aside its commitment to an energy transition to decarbonize domestic consumption.

Emilio said that “I am deeply honored by this award” and expressed special gratitude to his family “and also to the media who have supported my sometimes wild ideas.”

“But above all, this award is for the local communities, like San Crisanto, who protect ecosystems, because their livelihoods depend on them; it also goes to environmental defenders, who are at great risk around the world, and to my fellow journalists in Mexico, who suffer threats and harassment,” he said.

“I say it loud and clear: Stop destroying the planet! No more violence against journalists in Mexico!” he added during his speech at the UNCA awards ceremony on Friday Dec. 9 at U.N. headquarters in New York.

The IPS Spanish language service issued a statement noting that “the award given to Emilio is a source of pride for IPS, because he is a highly committed and diligent journalist regarding the multiple aspects and consequences of the climate crisis, and an excellent researcher of the impacts it has on people.”

The award “also testifies to the importance of climate change in the production of IPS content, through its valuable and sensitized group of journalists,” the statement added.

“As an international news organization, IPS provides very valuable and innovative coverage of the climate emergency, from the perspective of the developing South and its societies, bringing this crucial issue to a very diverse readership,” it said.

Born in Guatemala and based in Mexico since 2002, Godoy has been an investigative journalist and correspondent for IPS since 2007. He writes mainly on the climate crisis, environment, human rights and sustainable development, from the perspective of the developing South, and with its people and communities as the main actors.

Dedicated to his profession since 1996, he has worked with media in Mexico, Central America, the United States, Belgium and Spain, and his articles have been cited in books and specialized magazines.

In 2012 he won the Journalism Prize for Green Economy and Sustainable Development and in 2017 the Seventh Annual Energy Journalism Feature Reporting Award.

This is the third time that IPS won the UNCA gold medal for excellence in reporting–in 2012 for its team coverage of the global environment and Earth Summit 2, and in 2013, for its coverage of the humanitarian and development work of the United Nations.

This year, UNCA also rewarded the Prince Albert II Award, with silver and bronze medals, respectively, to Kourosh Ziabari of Asia Times, for his work on the water crisis in Iran, and Samaan Lateef of the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, for his reports on the climate crisis in India and Pakistan.

Another UNCA distinction, the Elizabeth Neuffer Memorial Prize, which honors a journalist for The Boston Globe who died on assignment in Iraq, was presented with a gold medal to Francesco Semprini, correspondent for the Italian daily La Stampa, for his coverage of the war in Ukraine following the invasion by Russian forces.

The silver medal went to Michelle Nichols of Reuters for her breaking news on developments within the UN, and the bronze medal to freelance journalist Stéphanie Fillion for her coverage of Germany’s efforts to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.

UNCA, made up of 200 correspondents who cover the UN, honored U.S. actress Kate Hudson, Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations World Food Program, as its guest of honor at the award ceremony.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres with COP27 President Sameh Shoukry.

By IPS Correspondent
Sharm El-Sheikh, Nov 17 2022 (IPS)

UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the negotiators at COP27 that time for talking about loss, and damage finance is over.

“We need action. No one can deny the scale of loss and damage we see around the globe. The world is burning and drowning before our eyes. I urge all parties to show that they see it – and get it.”

He echoed the words of COP27 President Sameh Shoukry, who spoke about how emergent and developing countries had not reached an agreement on loss and damage – and urged the negotiators to put in extra efforts to reach agreements here.

Guterres said it was clear that there was a breakdown in trust between North and South.

This was no time for finger-pointing.

“The world is watching and has a simple message: stand and deliver. Deliver the kind of meaningful climate action that people and the planet so desperately need,” he said.

Global emissions were at their highest level and rising, and “climate impacts are decimating economies and societies – and growing.”

He said it was not possible to deny climate justice to those who contributed least to the climate crisis and are getting hurt the most.

“The 1.5 target is not simply about keeping a goal alive – it’s about keeping people alive.”

He said the Just Energy Transition Partnerships were important pathways to accelerate the phasing out of coal and the scaling up of renewables – and should be expanded.

Guterres also said the parties should act on the crucial question of finance.

“That means delivery of the $100 billion in climate finance for developing countries.

It means clarity on how the doubling of adaptation finance will be delivered through a credible roadmap. And it means acting on the consensus to reform multilateral development banks and international financial institutions.”

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Joint Asian Population and Development Association (APDA) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) research documented the impact of the COVID-20 pandemic on women and girls. The research also found promising practices emerged during the pandemic. Credit: UNFPA

By IPS Correspondent
Tokyo, Mar 31 2022 (IPS)

Women and girls in the Asia-Pacific region were adversely impacted due to COVID-19 pandemic responses – with marginalized women and girls’ access to sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) and gender-based violence (GBV) services profoundly affected.

These were the findings of a study by the Asian Population and Development Association (APDA) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The research conducted from 2020 to 2021 reviewed SRHR and GBV laws, policies, and implementation practices during the pandemic response in six countries in the Asia-Pacific region, namely Bangladesh, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Nepal, and the Philippines.

On the upside, UNFPA and APDA research also identified promising practices that emerged during the pandemic. The report makes extensive recommendations to governments to mitigate the impact of emergencies like the pandemic.

“The failure to classify appropriate sexual and reproductive health rights and gender-based violence services as essential, in line with international human rights law, compounded challenges to accessing such services during the pandemic,” the report states. The Asia-Pacific region’s findings mirrored the global trend which, according to the Special Rapporteur on the right to health, non-COVID-19 related healthcare services had been less available during the pandemic, including sexual and reproductive healthcare services.

Maternal Health

“Reduced access to ante- and postnatal care and skilled birth attendance during the pandemic has led to increased maternal mortality,” the study found. For example, in July 2021, Nepal reported a considerable increase in maternal deaths, with 258 women dying due to pregnancy or childbirth between March 2020 and June 2021 – 22 of whom had COVID-19. In the year before March 2020, Nepal recorded 51 maternal deaths.

The barriers women met included not being able to access ante- and postnatal care and safe delivery health services. Women feared getting COVID-19 at hospitals or health centers. There was a lack of transport, and financial and human resources were diverted from SRHR services to manage the COVID-19 outbreak.

“Midwives and birth center workers reported an increase in the number of pregnant women considering delivery options outside hospital settings owing to a fear of infection, overcrowding, supply shortages, and visitor restriction,” according to the findings. This resulted in unsafe and unskilled birthing practices, which could lead to maternal and infant deaths.

This trend was especially problematic for women and girls in disadvantaged and hard-to-reach areas.

There were several promising practices.

Bangladesh developed guidelines for essential maternal health services and provided virtual training for healthcare professionals. It also implemented midwifery mentoring to establish and monitor safe maternity services for women.

There was public interest litigation to establish access to maternal health rights for pregnant women in India and Nepal.

Indonesia improved and expanded midwifery care.

The Philippines implemented cash voucher assistance and established obstetric triage tents for pregnant women.

The report suggests that governments regard antenatal care, skilled birth attendance, and postnatal care as essential services.

Sexual and Reproductive Health Services

The report recommends that workers in the SRH and maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent care shouldn’t be re-deployed to other areas. Surveillance systems should alert health ministries of increases in deaths so emergency preventive measures can be put in place and information systems updated to capture declining or missed antenatal and postnatal care appointments. These efforts would prevent maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity.

The research found an “unmet need for family planning and contraception because health facilities are closing or limiting services, and women are refraining from visiting health facilities due to fear of COVID-19 exposure or because of travel restrictions.”

Vital supplies for SRH, including modern contraceptives, were less readily available given the closure of production sites and global and local supply chains disruption.

In Fiji, India, Indonesia, Nepal, and the Philippines, advocacy prompted governments to develop guidelines on contraceptive availability and continuity of family planning services during the pandemic.

The Philippines also set up virtual family planning and delivered contraceptives.

Nepal created community-based family planning services in remote quarantine centers.

Indonesia developed a model policy to include women and girls with disabilities in the COVID-19 response, and Bangladesh set up mobile phone messaging known as m-health for family planning.

Apart from declaring family planning an essential service, the researchers recommended that governments move services from clinical settings to communities, such as community-based family planning services.

HIV and STI prevention

HIV and other STI prevention also suffered setbacks during the pandemic. Testing and treatment stalled due to travel and transport restrictions, the prohibitive cost of courier services for delivering antiretroviral drugs, and inadequate stock due to global supply chain disruptions.

Gender-Based Violence

“Restrictions in place to limit the spread of COVID-19 not only increase the risks of gender-based violence but also limit the ability of survivors to distance themselves from their abusers and access GBV response services,” the research found.

There were a range of problems, including accessing help if women were locked down with their abusers, while support services struggled to meet demand.

“Judicial, police, and health services, which are the first responders for women, are overwhelmed, have shifted their priorities, or are otherwise unable to help. Civil society groups are affected by lockdowns and the reallocation of resources. Some domestic violence shelters are full; others have had to close or have been repurposed as health centers,” the research found.

Despite the dire consequences of lockdown on gender-based violence, numerous examples of innovative solutions included revising GBV referral pathways.

Fiji created one-stop service centers, and the Philippines made the clinical management of rape an essential service.

Bangladesh created one-stop service centers in their hospitals and multiple free 24-hour psychosocial counseling hotlines.

In Jammu and Kashmir, India, empty hotels and education institutions were designated safe spaces for violence survivors.

The researchers recommend that information on operational multisectoral gender-based violence response services and referral mechanisms is available and adapted to the COVID-19 context.

They also recommend that the clinical management of rape is classified as an essential service.

Trained counselors should also operate multiple free 24-hour psychosocial counseling hotlines.

Finally, the report noted that it was necessary to “ensure that no one is left behind, for example, people with disabilities; indigenous people; ethnic minorities; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex people; internally displaced people and refugees; people in humanitarian settings; and people facing multiple intersecting forms of discrimination, by ensuring that vulnerable groups have the information they need to respond to GBV and have access to essential life-saving services.”

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Creative ways are needed to meet the ICDP 25 goals. Here girls and young women are learning to code in North Darfur as a way to increase future job prospects and economic empowerment. Credit: UNFPA Sudan

By IPS Correspondent
Johannesburg , Feb 28 2022 (IPS)

A crucial two-day meeting of Parliamentarians from the Asian, Arab and African regions will put human-rights-based legislative frameworks under the spotlight as the regions work to implement the ICPD Programme of Action.

In the first part of this series, IPS spoke exclusively to the Regional Director of UNFPA ASRO, Dr Luay Shabaneh. He outlined the many responses the UNFPA had to gender-based violence, child marriage, and eradicating female genital mutilation in the Arab region.

In part 2, IPS spoke to Dr Rida Khawaldeh, MP Jordan, and Larry Younquoi, MP Liberia, Member of Executive Committee of the African Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development (FPA).

Larry Younquoi, MP Liberia, Member of Executive Committee of the African Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development (FPA) and Dr Rida Khawaldeh, MP Jordan spoke to IPS about creating a just, equitable and sustainable society post-COVID-19.

Here are excerpts from the interviews:

IPS: How are parliamentarians in your country ensuring adequate laws to protect women?

Dr Rida Khawaldeh, MP Jordan 

There is a Women’s Rights Committee at parliament and is considered one of the major and most influential committees. It includes specialists and lawyers, and they are acutely aware of developing a legal framework to protect women’s rights.

Larry Younquoi, MP Liberia, Member of Executive Committee of the African Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development (FPA)

The Liberian Legislature has taken a number of steps to ensure there are adequate laws to protect women’s rights. For instance, the body has passed the devolution law, which provides enhanced women’s land rights. Women are guaranteed equal participation through the amendment of the electoral acts.

IPS: How are parliamentarians in your country ensuring the justice system (from the police to the courts) are adequately sensitized to GBV and have the budgets to ensure that perpetrators are charged, and women supported adequately?

Khawaldeh: The Legal Committee is one of the parliament’s major committees in Jordan, and specialists on this committee ensure the law, regulations, and practices are sound and supportive of women.

Younquoi: Parliamentarians in my country are on record for fighting against GBV. For instance, she has passed laws to amend the Gender Ministry Law and strengthened its role in protecting women and girls from GBV. Equally, the lawmakers have passed a law to establish the Women and Children Unit at the National Police. Of course, they ensure adequate budgetary appropriations for implementing the regulations.

The provisions of the Rape Law also criminalize sexual relationships with girls below 18 years of age. The Legislature has made rape a non-bailable crime. Through the National Budget, it provides funding allocations to enhance the welfare of the girls while in school.

IPS: As parliamentarians, what programmes are you putting in place to ensure that child marriages are eradicated?

Khawaldeh:  Women Rights Committee ensures that the laws conform to good marriage practices. This issue is emphasized by both the Women’s Rights Committee and the Legal Committee to provide better protection and follow up on the implementation of the legislation.

Younquoi: The Legislature has taken practical steps by not only raising the age of marriage to 18 years but making it a criminal offense to engage in sexual activities with girls under the age of 18. This is irrespective of whether or not the girl consents.

To ensure that the laws are implemented, legislators create awareness about them during town hall meetings with their constituents. They further sensitize them not to keep the issue of such statutory rape secret within the family. Additionally, they speak openly against early marriage.

IPS: How are parliamentarians in your country ensuring that the practice of FGM is being eradicated?

Khawaldeh: This issue is consistently raised and addressed by the Women’s Rights Committee to ensure better practices and eradicate any misuse of the regulations.

Younquoi: Legislators’ major step towards eradicating FGM is the passage of a law that states that no one should be forced to undergo FGM. The Legislature is contemplating passing a law to eliminate it. However, the practice is deeply rooted in the culture of the people – despite this, the legislators continue to persevere.

IPS: Is your country on track to achieve ICPD 2030 agenda, and if not, what is required to ensure that the country moves towards this objective?

Khawaldeh:  Jordan’s Parliament is aware and working toward the ICPD 2030 agenda. The National Council for Family Affairs, in the Department of Family Affairs at the Police Directorate, civil societies organizations, and NGOs involved in family affairs and gender issues are working towards the ICPD25 PoA.

Hon. Larry Younquoi,

My country is on track to eradicate GVB by 2030, in line with ICPD25.

IPS: What is your expectation of the inter-regional meeting in Cairo?

Khawaldeh:  I expect a thorough discussion of different aspects of human security. We will learn from the experiences of others. In addition, I would expect coordination at the regional level to help achieve the 2030 goals.

Younquoi:

At the upcoming inter-regional meeting in Cairo, I expect a robust cross-fertilization of ideas and lessons learned from the various countries in attendance.

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Getting back on track post-COVID-19 is crucial says Regional Director of UNFPA ASRO, Dr Luay Shabaneh. The UNFPA runs several programmes for women and girls, here girls listen to a youth educator network Y-PEER presentation on the harms of female genital mutilation at their school in Garowe, Puntland. Credit: UNFPA Somalia/Tobin Jones

By IPS Correspondent
Johannesburg , Feb 27 2022 (IPS)

Parliamentarians’ leadership in a post-COVID-19 recovery is crucial to achieving the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) agenda. The involvement of lawmakers in ensuring a more equal, just, and sustainable society will come under the spotlight during a two-day inter-regional meeting organized by the Asian Population and Development Association (APDA) and the Forum of Arab Parliamentarians on Population and Development (FAPPD,) and supported by UNFPA ASRO in early March 2022.

The Regional Director of UNFPA ASRO, Dr Luay Shabaneh, spoke exclusively to IPS.

Under the spotlight at the meeting will be efforts by lawmakers to ensure that no one is left behind.

“To this end, parliamentarians’ leadership is vital in ensuring population issues are addressed using a human rights approach and a gender lens and in securing rights and choices for all,” Shabaneh says.

At the Cairo hybrid meeting, APDA, with support from UNFPA ASRO and FAPPD, will engage parliamentarians in a debate on issues impacting human rights and gender-based violence (GBV). The aim is to champion a rights-based approach to policies and legislation to achieve the 2030 Agenda and ICPD PoA.

Regional Director of UNFPA ASRO, Dr Luay Shabaneh.

Here are excerpts from the interviews:

Inter Press Service:

UNFPA works extensively with women displaced, often affected by wars/conflicts, living in crises, and now over the past two years, has had to deal with COVID protocols characterized, in many countries, by lockdowns and restrictions. How has UNFPA continued with its GBV services during this time?

Regional Director of UNFPA ASRO, Dr Luay Shabaneh

It is well known that the pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on women and girls and has exacerbated pre-existing inequalities, resulting in alarming health and economic impacts for women and increased reports of GBV.

UNFPA adjusted its support to mitigate against some of the impacts through programmes like Women and Girls Safe Spaces. UNFPA and partners have adopted different delivery modalities due to COVID-19 restrictions such as hotlines and online counseling instead of face-to-face engagement. It is increasingly investing in cash and voucher assistance (CVA) in the Arab States region to address economic barriers to access SRH and GBV services or purchase necessary items.

On the ground, UNFPA continues to address GBV prevention and response through sensitizing national partners on intersections of gender and public health and how to manage the increased risk of GBV ethically and effectively.

UNFPA works to ensure barriers and risks of exclusion faced by women and girls with intersecting and multiple forms of discrimination are lowered. It developed online tools on GBV prevention and response during COVID-19 supported hotlines to address the immediate needs of GBV survivors. It distributed dignity kits adapted to COVID-19 for female healthcare workers, women and girls in quarantine and isolation, and refugees and asylum seekers. UNFPA updated the GBV referral pathways to compensate for the disruption of services, particularly for clinical management of rape and offering GBV prevention and response essential services package at UNFPA-supported safe spaces.

At the regional level, UNFPA continues to provide capacity building and support to government and civil society representatives responsible for delivering GBV services to ensure that service provision continues to meet international human rights standards in light of COVID-19 restrictions.

In 2021, capacity-building training was delivered online to officials in Iraq, Tunisia, Jordan, Morocco, Lebanon, and Bahrain based on a regional handbook on essential services for GBV developed by the UNFPA ASRO.

IPS:  In the Arab region, as in other areas, child and early marriage, harmful practices like FGM continue. How is UNFPA working with parliamentarians to ensure legislation, budget, and support services for women and girls?

Shabaneh: The collaboration with the parliamentarians in Somalia includes advocacy efforts for the passage of the draft sexual offenses bills, which considers child marriage as a violation of the bodily autonomy of young girls and therefore is considered a sexual offense. The women’s caucus of the national parliament is the focal point for child/women-related policies and strategies.

On June 10, 2021, Puntland State in Somalia passed a zero-tolerance FGM bill to the parliament. It is expected that this bill, once passed into law, will have a ripple effect in the campaign to end FGM in Puntland. The approval of the FGM bill in Puntland makes it one of the first constituencies in Somalia to approve a zero-tolerance FGM bill.

Substantial advocacy efforts have been invested ahead of the passing of this legislation. The Ministry of Justice in Puntland, which is among the key recipients of UNFPA UNICEF Joint Program funds, has been vigorously pushing to endorse the zero tolerance of FGM. UNFPA supported consultations with religious leaders, parliamentarians, and communities and in drafting the FGM Zero Tolerance Bill. UNFPA has also supported FGM campaigns in Puntland, leading to many abandoning the practice. Currently, UNFPA Somalia is working with the women caucus in the parliament and the human rights committee to ensure the passage of the zero-tolerance bill.

In Djibouti, the UNFPA has put two strategies to end harmful practices and child marriages.

This includes article 333 of the penal code and Article 13 of the 2013 Family Code now stipulate that the legal age of marriage is 18 years old. In February 2020, a law on the promotion, protection, and care of victims of gender-based violence with the technical support of UNFPA was adopted by a presidential decree.

UNFPA continues to implement activities through a joint program against FGM. UNFPA has also supported the development of a national protocol for the care of victims of GBV, including FGM. It established a circuit for the care of victims through the adoption of essential service packages by the three key sectors such as health, justice, and social.

IPS:  How is UNFPA supporting parliamentarians in developing human rights-based legislative frameworks in the region?

Shabaneh: ICPD affirmed the application of universally recognized human rights standards to all aspects of population programmes. Its Programme of Action (PoA) provides that the promotion rights for all people in reproductive health, including family planning and GBV, is deeply rooted in gender inequality. It is a notable human rights violation in all societies.

To this end, parliamentarians’ leadership is vital in ensuring population issues are addressed using a human rights approach and a gender lens and securing rights and choices for all.

ASRO proved to have interlinkages between the executive and legislative authorities to collaborate and work closely towards implementing Nairobi commitments and the ICPD’s unfinished agenda through Parliamentarians’ declarations.

These declarations rolled out at the country level, for example, Lebanon, Morocco, Djibouti, Palestine, to ensure concrete implementation and linkage between the regional and national levels, promoting and advocating for the UNFPA mandate.

IPS: Many countries are far off course to meeting the ICPD25 agenda. How can parliamentarians assist in getting the Programme of Action back on track?

Shabaneh: Parliamentarians can support the enforcement of laws and policies to respect and protect human rights-based approaches and eliminate GBV to accelerate the implementation of the ICPD PoA.

IPS: Is there anything else you would like to add?

Shabaneh: It is important to plan for growing numbers and proportions of older persons and ensure budgetary issues to achieve the goals laid out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

There is a need to invest in young people (life cycle approach) by promoting healthy habits and ensuring education and employment opportunities. We also need to broaden access to health services and social security coverage for all workers to improve the lives of future generations of older persons.

Overall, opportunities to strengthen partnerships to use informal support systems and unveil the potential capacities can significantly drive the agenda forward.

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By IPS Correspondent
Tokyo, Feb 17 2022 (IPS)

The Asian Population and Development Association (APDA) has been ahead of the international community in addressing population and development issues, says the former Japanese Prime Minister and Chair of APDA Yasuo Fukuda.

Yasuo Fukuda, Yoko Kamikawa, MP and Chair of Japan Parliamentarians Federation for Population (JPFP), and Professor Keizo Takemi, MP and Chair of Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD), were speaking to IPS ahead of the 40th anniversary of APDA and AFPPD.

Asian Population and Development Association (APDA) and the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD) continued their crucial role of supporting parliamentarians in promoting population and development agenda during the COVID-19 pandemic by organizing online and hybrid events. The organizations this year celebrate their 40th anniversary. Credit: APDA

JPFP was formed in 1974 out of concern for burgeoning populations, food security, and other development issues in Japan. APDA and AFPPD were founded in 1982 – ahead of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo in 1994.

“APDA has consistently propounded groundbreaking concepts and frameworks and led international public opinion and activities in this field,” says Fukuda.

“Based on the idea that it is necessary to promote balanced development through social development to ameliorate a rapid increase in population and poverty, APDA has consistently advocated, ahead of the international community, to address population issues from such a perspective of economic and social development.”

Kamikawa agrees and sees the organizations playing a crucial role in post-COVID-19 development as countries and continents race to meet the ICPD 25 commitments.

“APDA has been working on food and population issues from a wide perspective, and now it is required to deepen the discussions on topics such as health, “water for life”, and climate change from the perspective of population,” Kamikawa said. She added that “what we learned from the COVID-19 pandemic is how important it is to share experiences and knowledge of each country with the rest of the world.”

Looking toward the future, Takemi says climate change, the impact of COVID-19, and digitalization have impacted on widening the gap between rich and poor.

He also notes that an ageing population is Asia’s “most emerging issue.” AFPPD has put this on the agenda, and it counts as a crucial success.

Looking back on the 40th years and looking forward to the future are former Japanese Prime Minister and Chair of APDA Yasuo Fukuda, Yoko Kamikawa, MP and Chair of JPFP, and Prof. Keizo Takemi, MP and Chair of Asian AFPPD. Takemi was interviewed by Prof. Kiyoko Ikegami, Executive Director of AFPPD. Credit: APDA

Here are excerpts from the interviews:

IPS: In 1974, some 20 years before the ICPD conference in Cairo in 1994, JPFP was formed because of concerns about burgeoning populations, food security, and other development issues in Asia. Then APDA was established in 1982. What would you consider to be the most significant success of the organization?

Former PM Hon. Yasuo Fukuda: For one, APDA has consistently propounded groundbreaking concepts and frameworks and led international public opinion and activities in this field.

Based on the idea that it is necessary to promote balanced development through social development to ameliorate a rapid increase in population and poverty, APDA has consistently advocated, ahead of the international community, to address population issues from such a perspective of economic and social development.

Under this principle, Japanese parliamentarians launched JPFP, the world’s first supra-partisan parliamentary group on population and development, in 1974, followed by the founding of APDA in 1982. JPFP and APDA strongly supported the establishment of regional parliamentary fora and National Committees on Population and Development in various countries and created a groundbreaking framework of a parliamentary network.

Through this network of parliamentarians, APDA and JPFP have taken the lead in parliamentary activities on population and development worldwide, effectively sharing diverse knowledge, including Japan’s experiences and promoting international cooperation, which resulted in concrete results.

Japanese politicians, who were involved in JPFP and APDA, also played a central role in the formation of the concept of “sustainable development”, which is the basis for today’s SDGs. They requested the United Nations to establish the World Commission on Environment and Development (commonly known as Brundtland Commission) in 1984. The concept of “sustainable development” was presented in their report adopted in 1987.

On the occasion of our 40th anniversary, we would like to continue to promote inter-regional cooperation and collaboration in response to the challenges faced by each region and address population and development issues both domestically and internationally from a long-term perspective, beyond the SDGs. In particular, we would like to focus not only on economic development but also on valuing each individual, drawing out the full potential, respecting each culture and tradition, and fostering the importance of cultivating humanity.

IPS:  APDA and JPFP have established global partnerships in Asia, Africa, and the Arab region. How necessary are these multilateral arrangements to achieve the ICPD Programme of Action?

Hon. Yoko Kamikawa, Chair of JPFP:

As various global issues are becoming more and more serious, it has become clear that population and development issues are complicatedly and closely related to various other areas, with diversified demographics worldwide.

Therefore, as the principles of the ICPD, which is a major outcome of our activities to date, have been taken over by the principles of the SDGs, it is no exaggeration to say that addressing population issues will also mean the achievement of the SDGs.

APDA has been working on food and population issues from a broad perspective, and now it is required to deepen the discussions on topics such as health, “water for life”, and climate change from the perspective of the population.

Our role as parliamentarians is to serve the people of respective countries, fulfilling a responsible role in legislation and administration to realize a society where everyone can maintain life and health and enjoy human rights and quality of life bestowed upon people. However, what we learned from the COVID-19 pandemic is how important it is to share experiences and knowledge of each country with the rest of the world.

I hope that APDA will further contribute to achieving the ICPD Programme of Action and SDGs and ushering in a new post COVID era by strengthening the networks and platforms of parliamentarians it has developed over the past 40 years.

Prof. Kiyoko Ikegami, Executive Director of AFPPD: Is there a crucial new challenge in the Asia region that parliamentarians need to confront?

Hon. Prof. Keizo Takemi, Chair of AFPPD: The ageing population is the most emerging issue in Asia, although UNFPA did not yet recognize this in the past. I believe that one of the great outcomes of the AFPPD was to improve the recognition of the issues relating to ageing, not only demographic change but as improvement of quality of life of the older people.

AFPPD co-sponsored seminars on the ageing and nursing service in Vietnam in 2017, which helped members of AFPPD to fully understand the issue of ageing. With the Health Ministry of Vietnam, AFPPD National Committees of Vietnam, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, and JCIE, AFPPD conducted discussions about a caring service to ensure people can age happily.

Unemployment is also a serious problem, especially in central Asia, where the youth population is rapidly increasing, and migrant worker numbers are also increasing. It is an urgent matter to be resolved due to the dynamics of youth behavior in the context of a nation-building process. An AFPPD-led seminar on youth has looked at how to get youth involved in industry after being trained, and at the same time how to encourage industry to respond to the needs of each nation.

Ikegami: What are the crucial discussions to be had in this anniversary year on SDGs and the ICPD25 Programme of Action?

Takemi: The recognition and addressing climate change and population are the most critical issues in front of us.  We have learned that it is inevitable to create and accept the new framework and concept of population issues in the Anthropocene era, in order to respond to current and future population-related issues.  The discussions have just begun, but there are several ideas to be debated, such as the close relation between water and population, demographic analysis on human movement of refugees, and internally displaced persons.  It is definitely challenging, for all of us MPs, to foresee the future planning of our nations.

• Prof. Kiyoko Ikegami, Executive Director of AFPPD, interviewed Takemi.

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Siddharth Chatterjee (pictured) during the interview. Credit: Guanxin He/Beijing Daily

By IPS Correspondent
BEIJING, Dec 23 2021 (IPS)

The interview was originally conducted by Beijing Daily.

Beijing Daily: The world is paying attention to whether the Beijing Winter Olympic Games can be successfully held 6 months after the Tokyo Olympics in the face of COVID-19. How do you evaluate the preparations for the Beijing Winter Olympics? What is the key to the success of the Beijing Winter Olym-pics? What kind of signal will the successful hosting of the Beijing Winter Olympics send to the world?

Siddharth Chatterjee: Let me start by echoing the UN General Assembly Resolution 76/13 on “Building a peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic ideal”. It expresses the expectation that “the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 will be a meaningful opportunity to harness the power of sport to advance the world by fostering an atmosphere of peace, development, resilience, tolerance and understanding, and welcoming all the delegations of National Olympic and Paralympic Committees to participate in the Games.”

At a time when the world is battling against the COVID-19 pandemic, solidari-ty and friendship among nations have never been more important. Let me take this opportunity to commend Mr. Thomas Bach the President of the In-ternational Olympic Committee for his courageous and inspirational leadership. He has said, “Solidarity is not just about respecting each other, but also helping each other and being part of a community,”.

The IOC, the Beijing Organising Committee along with the Government of China have made it clear that preparations for the games are in its final stag-es and are being carried out in a safe and orderly manner, and I support the adherence to all relevant public health measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It will also be critical for all Member States to observe the Olympic Truce, and ensure the safe passage, access and participation of athletes, officials and all other personnel taking part in the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

Beijing Daily: The Winter Olympic Games will begin soon. Have you been doing any work related to the Winter Olympic Games recently? What will you do during the Winter Olympics? How does the success of the Winter Olympic Games or Olympics relate to the goals and objectives of the United Nations in your mind?

Siddharth Chatterjee: I am delighted my boss the UN Secretary-General António Guterres has accepted an invitation from the International Olympic Committee to attend the Beijing Winter Games. I echo his wise words, when he said that “the Olympic spirit brings out humanity’s best: Teamwork and solidarity. Talent. Tolerance.”

The UN has long recognized the contribution of sport for development and peace, and collaboration between the IOC and the UN has played a central role in spreading the acceptance of sport as a means to promote mutual un-derstanding, friendship, tolerance, non-discrimination, and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing are a prime example of how the games can affect a society. Winning the right to host the 2008 Games trig-gered action by the Government to improve the lives of people with disabilities and protect their rights as equal members of society. New legislation on ac-cessibility was passed and, in the seven years leading up to the Games, Chi-na spent more than US$ 150 million on making 14,000 facilities accessible throughout the country.

It was during the 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games, that we also saw a key partnership between UN entities in China, including UN Volunteers and the UN Development Programme and key Chinese volunteer organizations, increasing the impact and elevating the spirit of volunteerism throughout Chi-na.

For the Beijing Winter Games, the UN Volunteers programme along with the UN Development Programme will take part in an innovative project to promote sustainable urban development through volunteer service.

Nelson Mandela once said: “Sport can create hope, where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than governments in breaking down racial barriers. It laughs in the face of all types of discrimination.” The UN family in China is ready to show its support and play its part to ensuring the success of these upcoming games.

Siddharth Chatterjee (pictured) practicing yoga in his office during lunch break.

Siddharth Chatterjee: China was one of the architects of the United Nations and was the first signatory of the UN Charter in San Francisco in 1945.

But it was only in October 1971, with the Chinese delegation led by Mr. Qiao Guanhua, that China’s representation at the UN resumed. Since that time, the UN has had the great privilege of witnessing and supporting China in achieving one of the greatest periods of socio-economic progress in world history.

Now, on the 50th anniversary of China in the UN, I am honored to serve as the UN Resident Coordinator, a post I took earlier this year.

While I am a recent arrival to China, only just beginning to understand its rich tapestry of over 5,000 years of civilization, the UN in China has had the privi-lege to shape and witness the profound economic and social transformations that have occurred since reform and opening-up.

As we commemorate a half-century of cooperation, a question naturally emerges: Which way now for the UN and China?

This is a weighty question, as China and the world are at a critical juncture. Tentatively emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, but with many countries still struggling terribly. Staring down the threats of climate change, with rec-ord-setting heat, fires, storms, and other disasters. Counting down the years in this “Decade of Action” to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

China’s standard-setting leadership in past decades gives me confidence that we can achieve even greater things in the years to come.

Today, China is the second-largest contributor to the UN peacekeeping budg-et and has sent more peacekeepers to UN missions than any other perma-nent member of the Security Council. China also played a vital role in shaping the consensus needed for the SDGs and the Paris Agreement.

It is now time for the UN and China to reimagine, innovate, reinvigorate, and continue in our cooperation, dedicating ourselves anew to creating lasting prosperity for the people of China and all the world.

Beijing Daily: Are you a fan of winter sports? Or what sports do you like (not necessarily winter sports)? Do you feel Chinese people love sports?

Siddharth Chatterjee: I regret to say that I have no skills in any winter sports. I grew up in a place, where we had two seasons. Hot and very hot.

However. I am an avid practitioner of yoga and running in all seasons. As a frequent runner, I also must attest to the improvements in air quality now en-joyed by Beijing residents.

Siddharth Chatterjee (pictured left) displaying the flag of the UN following a team fun run in the streets of Beijing.

Traditional Chinese culture has long regarded physical fitness as an important characteristic, as seen in the long historical association with the martial arts. In the streets and public parks of China we see these elements to this day, along with more contemporary sports such as basketball.

I think back to a mere 13 years ago where the eyes of the world turned to Beijing for the Summer Olympics and Paralympics. What we all saw was not only a proud moment for the people of China, but China asserting itself as an enthusiastic sporting nation, leading the medal tally that year.

This year we saw athletes such as Su Bingtian – who set a new Asian record in the men’s 100-meter dash earlier this year at the Tokyo Olympics and he’s often referred to as the disrupter and game-changer for Chinese runners; Yang Qian, a third-year undergraduate young girl studying economics and management at Tsinghua University who also won the very first gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics – take this spirit forwards and I am confident that the ath-letes and people of China will put their love for sports on full display during next year’s games.

However, I must also add a word of caution. China is also seeing a surge of non-communicable diseases, like obesity, diabetes, and hypertension.

Almost 10% of all adults in China – about 110 million people – currently live with diabetes. Without urgent action to reduce lifestyle risk factors like un-healthy diet and lack of physical activity, that number is expected to increase to 150 million by 2040 – with major health, social and economic consequenc-es.

As the UN we will work closely with the Government of China to achieve its vision of a Healthy China by 2030. I will surely lead by example.

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Honorine Meda became pregnant herself at the age of nineteen. Now she helps raise awareness of teenage pregnancy among girls in Dissin.

By IPS Correspondent
DISSIN, Burkina Faso, Jul 28 2021 (IPS)

Honorine Meda is 23. Cycling through her hometown of Dissin, in Burkina Faso’s verdant southwest, she smiles, waves and stops to chat with one of the girls she counsels.

Thanks to a program by the German development agency (GIZ) and their Pro Enfant initiative, Honorine trained to counsel teenage girls in Dissin on how to avoid pregnancies.

She became pregnant herself, with her now three-year-old son, when she was 19. It was tough, she told IPS.

“I can say it was the hardest at the beginning, that’s when I had the most difficulties. I was ashamed and I spent one year without going to school after I gave birth,” she explains.

After the first year of her son’s life, she was able to return to her studies and now wants to become a midwife. Some 19.3% of pregnancies in Sub Saharan Africa are among adolescents. In Burkina Faso, it is 11%. Many teenagers who fall pregnant in the region, some as young as 13, are less fortunate than Honorine.

Teenage pregnancy often puts an end to the mother’s education, as young mothers switch their focus from school to taking care of the child. This reduces the mother’s earning potential and feeds into a cycle of poverty which means the child is also less likely to attend school and achieve financial stability years later.

Abortion is illegal in normal circumstances in Burkina Faso. It is permissible when rape or incest have occured, or if there is a danger to the health of the mother or severe fetal malformation. This is not well known among women, however, and the legal process for an abortion being approved is long and complicated. If a mother decides to terminate the pregnancy through an illegal abortion, their options for doing so are inherently unsafe.

Girls at a school on the outskirts of Dissin often learn in outdoor classrooms, Dissin.

A teenage girl sits in classroom at a school on the outskirts of Dissin.

“The lack of awareness [on how to prevent it] is the basis of pregnancy in school,” Honorine explains, sitting on a wooden bench beneath a mango tree. “Each year there are many cases.” That’s why she is proud to be doing work that means others might not suffer the same difficulties as she did.

While advocates like Honorine can play a big role in preventing teenage pregnancies it really involves the whole community, according to Abdoulaye Seogo, a social worker in Dissin who coordinates the GIZ program.

The child protection network in Dissin was trained by GIZ on how to coordinate around teenage motherhood, Dissin.

“With GIZ we organize awareness sessions, primarily for women. It must be said that in Africa, education begins with the mother at home. We also try to reach young boys.” He says he has noticed a fall in the number of teenage pregnancies since the program’s work to increase awareness.

A cluster of specially trained parents also play a part by acting as role models to other parents.

Yeledo Meda is one such model parent. “First there is moral support, we give advice and carry out activities to raise awareness,” he told IPS.

Yeledo Meda is one of the model parents who helps raise awareness of how to prevent teenage pregnancy. He also supports parents whose daughters are pregnant, Dissin.

But no matter how high the level of awareness in a community, it will never eliminate teenage pregnancies entirely.

“Often the parents are discouraged when they first find out their daughter is pregnant… When that happens, you have to moralize so that they understand. We also encourage the mother to return to school,” says Yeledo.

Mariam Nappon, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, is 16. She is seven months pregnant and makes use of many of the elements of the program put in place by GIZ to support pregnant mothers like her.

Sixteen-year-old Mariam Nappon, whose name has been changed, is seven months pregnant. She feels supported by the program GIZ have set up, Dissin.

Nappon says, “[The father] told me to keep the pregnancy, regardless of the problem… If I need anything and he can help me, he does. He also pays for my schooling.”

She says she has never felt any pressure to leave school, either from her family or from teachers. Teachers take special measures to make sure she has the provisions she needs thanks to sensitisation efforts by GIZ. In the past, expectant mothers like Nappon were regularly kicked out of school for becoming pregnant.

A teacher holds class at a coed school on the outskirts of Dissin.

“When I leave school, I want to become a tailor,” she says, “I often go to the child protection network to get advice.”

The child protection network is enlisted by Seogo, the social worker, when girls do become pregnant. The members of the network were also trained by GIZ and bring together community members from the police, education, the health sector, the local orphanage and even the agricultural sector.

Where agriculture is by far the largest sector of the economy, roles expectant mothers are no longer able to play in farming have to be accounted for. They also need to be kept away from certain pesticides that can be harmful to the unborn child.

“If the various parts of the community are isolated from each other, that’s not good for anyone. Take the police, for example… with the network, they know exactly what is happening and can ensure they fulfill their duties,” explains Honzié Meda who runs the network. He says coordination means all elements of the community involved are able to react more quickly and efficiently.

A boy looks at a mural to raise awareness of teenage pregnancy at a school on the outskirts of Dissin.

Joseph Tioye, the police officer for the network, agrees.

“We are there whenever we are called upon. Sometimes the boy doesn’t want to recognize the pregnancy and we have to speak to them about the legal implications of that.”

If the father, or his family, do not agree to help support the child, the case can end up in court. Also, when the pregnancy involves a father over 18 and a younger mother, this can cause the police to become involved.

But the emphasis is always on trying to make sure the mother stays in school, says Honzié Meda.

A girl prepares to play football at a school on the outskirts of Dissin.

“We can make sure her case is passed on to social workers, or health care, or for psycho-social care. If it’s needed, the support is there… There are even scholarships provided by GIZ which can be passed onto the mother if needed.”

Seogo explains: “Just this week, a fourteen-year-old girl who is pregnant couldn’t bring herself to tell her family. So, we accompanied her and advised.” The family will be supported by the child protection network throughout the pregnancy and beyond.

In southwest Burkina Faso, even before the GIZ program, the culture within the community was relatively sympathetic and supportive towards girls who become pregnant young, compared to other places in Burkina Faso.

Stigma can still be an issue however, and the mother regularly feels embarrassed. But, unlike in many other parts of the world, the culture in Dissin does not force teenagers to leave their family home if they become pregnant.

Although the GIZ program is making a big impact in Dissin, there is still much work to be done elsewhere. But if the program has proven anything, it’s that it takes a whole village to raise a child – whether a teenager or a newborn.

Another teenage girl who is pregnant walks through fields on the edge of her village, Dissin.

This feature was produced on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

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Some of the delegates at the Intergenerational Dialogue of the Asian Parliamentarians and Youth Advocates on Meaningful Youth Engagement. Credit: APDA

By IPS Correspondent
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Jul 12 2021 (IPS)

Youth advocates from Asian countries called for an overhaul of a system that excluded young people from participation in policymaking.

During an interaction with parliamentarians from 23 countries, youth representatives considered an enabling political framework to be the most crucial reform required to remove inequities.

More than 100 youth representatives and parliamentarians participated in an Intergenerational Dialogue of the Asian Parliamentarians and Youth Advocates on Meaningful Youth Engagement. The webinar was organised by the Asian Population and Development Association (APDA) and supported by United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Y-PEER Asia-Pacific Center.

Hitoshi Kikawada, Secretary-General of Japan Parliamentarians Federation for Population (JPFP), welcomed the delegates at the “innovative” dialogue, which would serve as a platform for “listening to the voices of young people, incorporating the needs of younger people and building a better future.”

Björn Andersson, Regional Director of UNFPA, said the dialogue would give impetus to the sentiment “nothing about us, without us”.

“Too many young people are still being left behind significantly. Inequality and inequities still exist, particularly in education, employment, access to services and political participation,” Andersson said, adding that the impact of COVID-19 had exacerbated the challenges and inequalities.

Migrants, young people in poor urban areas, girls and young women, people with disabilities, members of the LBTQI+ community, and those living with HIV all faced higher exploitation, violence, and mental health issues. They had poor access to health services and protection.

Youth needed to be involved in all stages of policy development, from design, planning, and implementation to evaluation, Andersson said.

Youth representative Situ Shrestha reported the results of a quick survey which showed that more than 50 percent of the respondents said they “not involved in any kind of consultation or dialogue with government at any level.”

She said there was a lack of good platforms for youth engagement, ineffective communication, and often youth did not trust government policies. Only meaningful engagement could reduce these gaps, Shrestha said.

Some of the delegates at the Intergenerational Dialogue of the Asian Parliamentarians and Youth Advocates on Meaningful Youth Engagement. Credit: APDA

Pakistani MP Romina Khursheed Alam said the young parliamentarian forum included members until they were 45 years old.

As lawmakers, there were attempts to ensure youth engagement in the parliamentary process – through internships for university students. She said as a member of the human rights standing committee, she was also concerned about the isolation of the transgender community.

She welcomed an international collaboration and expressed concern about the impacts of COVID-19 protocols, which included lockdowns where the mental health issues became prominent and violence, drugs, and other social problems increased.

Youth representative from Sri Lanka Ram Dulip told the gathering that youth used social media to raise socio-economic issues their communities experienced during the pandemic. He also said COVID-19 demonstrated the leadership potential of young people.

“Not only are they on the frontlines as health workers, but they are also advancing health and safety in their roles as researchers, as activists, as innovators, and as communicators,” Dulip said. Decision-makers should consider this and commit to ensuring youth voices are a part of the solution for a healthier and safer society.

Likewise, Sri Lankan parliamentarian Hector Appuhamy called on countries to use the innovative nature of youth to their economic benefit – and believed the youth parliament would be the most helpful mechanism.

Youth should be involved in critical decision-making Siva Anggita from Indonesia said. This included access to budgets – whether national or district to ensure that programmes for their development were funded.

Anggita was concerned that where young people were included in political participation, it “wasn’t a secret that they come from the privileged backgrounds”.

“So, it is important to make (changes to a) political system that includes all young people. So, all of the young people have the same opportunity,” she said.

Moderator Ayeshwini Lama said the youth survey during the preparatory consultation had confirmed the views expressed and put political reforms as one of the top three recommendations.

Sarah Elago, from the Philippines, expressed concern that while internet connectivity had ensured workers were connected to their work environments, it had some negative connotations, including “digital surveillance and privacy” issues.

However, she commended the youth in the Philippines for their involvement in many projects like community kitchens during the COVID-19 pandemic, which helped “combat hunger and poverty as exacerbated by the massive loss of jobs and livelihoods.”

Youth advocate Fura Sherpa called for a direct connection with policymakers – it was time to ditch the systems where youth were legislated about without being consulted.

“There was no actual participation of youth in creating policy about youth,” Sherpa said, and this needed to change. Policy should be written with direct “actual participation” of the younger community.

The forum called for three main changes – an enabling political framework that involved collaboration and dialogues between governments and young people. Secondly, needs-driven reform with policies reviewed and revised with emerging challenges; and thirdly, inclusiveness in including youth and marginalised groups in decision making.

The dialogue was welcomed by parliamentarians. Ananda Bhaskar Rapulu, an MP from India said the discussion had given him hope because, as lawmakers, they had learnt from the youths’ observations and aspirations.

Mariany Mohammad Yit, a former MP from Malaysia said while there was a National Youth Policy in her country, there was no data to assess its success. She commented that she was not sure the government was serious about youth participation – confirming a dominant theme of day’s debate.

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Credit: Hishan Allam/IPS

By IPS Correspondent
NEW DELHI, India, Apr 8 2021 (IPS)

Delayed, or no, justice and perpetrators’ impunity effectively silence rape and sexual assault survivors of communal violence in India.

Activists and human rights lawyers have been speaking out about how rape and sexual violence, especially during communal conflicts, aims to humiliate religious and other minorities by turning the women into symbols of dishonour.

In one of the very few cases where the law was applied, the gang-rape survivor Bilkis Bano waited for 15 years to see the perpetrators brought to justice. At the press conference in 2017, she told journalists: “I want justice, not revenge.”

In 2002, the 19-year-old Bano was six months pregnant when she was gang-raped. She witnessed 14 members of her family killed in one of the most horrifying large-scale anti-Muslim violent riots that swept across Gujarat.

The pogrom saw 2,000 people, predominantly Muslim, killed across the state after a train fire, in which 60 Hindu pilgrims were burned alive.

Bano said she wanted to see an India where her daughters were safe. But evidence suggests that gang rape in communal protests and the lack of justice for these heinous crimes has continued in the nearly 20 years since her ordeal.

What binds Bano, gang-rape survivors of Muzaffarnagar riots, the women who allegedly faced sexual violence in the Delhi communal violence in 2020, and the rape victim of Hathras is that all the women come from marginalised communities.

Sexual violence against women has been a recurring feature of communal violence in India since independence.

The recurrent sexual violence inflicted upon women during communal violence in India bears witness to how perpetrators use rape and sexual violence as a means to “dishonour” the community or group and use rape as a tool of revenge. Women are “honour bearers” of a community, and violation of their “honour” or chastity is considered a victorious achievement because it brings shame to the community as a whole that is being targeted, say human rights lawyers and activists.

Bano’s lawyer, Shobha Gupta, told IPS in an exclusive interview that Bano’s rare victory unmasked the authorities’ efforts to cover up and frustrate the investigation.

“The incident happened in the year 2002. The final verdict in the Supreme Court’s criminal case came after 17 years in the year 2019. Compensation was awarded to her 17 years after the incident – after 17 years of sufferance,” Gupta said.

The Supreme Court took note that she and her family lived a nomadic life for these 17 years, unable to find a safe place to live.

“There is specific finding in the judicial verdict that the police personnel and doctors in Bilkis’s case were guilty of deliberately frustrating the investigation and destroying evidence,” Gupta said.

“There was the failure of law and order at two levels. Firstly, when this incident took place and secondly when the concerned officials abused their positions in deliberately frustrating the investigation, who all were finally convicted by the High Court and Supreme Court.”

Starting with the largely anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat in 2002 to the Muzaffarnagar riots of 2013, Muslim women have been targeted. Their perpetrators, mostly from the dominant communities, have enjoyed impunity.

Only in rare cases like Bano has justice been served.

In the communal violence that engulfed Muzaffarnagar in western Uttar Pradesh in 2013, seven Muslim women filed First Information Reports (FIRs) for gang rape they alleged was perpetrated by men who mostly came from the dominant Jat community.

A look into their cases shows how the legal system failed these women, who, despite their poor socio-economic backgrounds, “dared” to file complaints against their perpetrators, human rights lawyers say.

“This incident happened in September 2013, their charge sheets were filed in April-May 2014, but the trials did not begin until late 2015-2016,” says Vrinda Grover, a human rights lawyer who was counsel for the women.

“This delay was used by the accused to pressurise, coerce and induce the women to give statements saying that the accused arrested in the cases are not the men who raped them. This resulted in acquittals.”

Six of the seven FIRs registered ended in an acquittal, she said.

With the stigma attached to rape, security issues and life at stake, what recourse can one take when even the courts do not seem to adhere to the basic rules and procedures?

Grover says she believes that the Muzaffarnagar District Court was either ignorant of or deliberately disregarded all procedural mandates that apply to rape trials.

“The mandate of in-camera trial, disclosure of the identity of the rape victims, completing the trial within two months of the filing of the charge-sheet, or of prohibiting cross-examination on the past sexual conduct of the victim were disregarded until insisted upon by the women’s counsel.”

Anti-Muslim sentiment in India has been on the rise, and concepts such as Love-Jihad on the rise. Hate speech and slogans directed at women and their agency are common features preceding and during communal tensions.

Slogans of “bahu lao, beti bachao” (“bring in the daughter-in-law, save the daughter”), for instance, were heard in rallies that preceded the violence in Muzaffarnagar. These were raised to instigate men from the majority community to ensure their daughters did not marry outside the community. Instead, they brought women from other communities into their homes and converted them.

An example of impunity and support enjoyed by those spreading this terror was the presence of the present chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, who shared the stage at a meeting where his supporter called for Muslim women to be dug up from their graves and raped.

The lack of outrage at the Muzaffarnagar violence and the justice system’s failure for the rape survivors is a stark reminder that Indian society may not be as offended or as affected when the victims belong to minority groups.

Why was it that the rape of a Muslim woman or a Dalit woman had received the same moral outrage and nationwide protests as the Nirbhaya case rightly received?

Gupta says the compensation of financial help of Rs. 50 lakhs (about US $68 023), a government job with accommodation of Bano’s choice, maybe the highest compensation ever awarded by any Indian Court in a rape case. However, she believes Bano should have received much more.

“Not only in view of the peculiar facts of the case, her sufferance, the failure of the system to rehabilitate her, to heal her wounds, but also to send a very strong message to all States that they cannot fail and also to the public at large.”

While sexual violence inflicted upon women to “punish” their communities continues even with the success of Bano’s case, most rapes go unreported.

In Delhi, for example, no cases were officially reported because of fear of backlash, say lawyers and activists who heard testimonies of women who faced sexual violence in the capital. They attribute this to a lack of trust in the system and fear that their families could be harmed.

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By IPS Correspondent
DHAKA , Mar 24 2021 (IPS)

The building that was once the largest health centre in the Kutupalong refugee camp, serving some 55,000 Rohingya refugees 24/7, is now a burnt, distorted shell after a massive fire spread through the Cox’s Bazar camp in Bangladesh this week.

And as the tens of thousands of affected Rohingya return to the empty pieces of land that where once their homes, the need to rebuild — both the health facility and their homes — has added impetus because of the current COVID-19 pandemic and the coming monsoon season.

At least 11 people were killed and more than 45,000 Rohingya refugees were been displaced by a massive fire that caused “catastrophic damage” as it spread through the Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, the largest refugee camp in the world.

“Tragically, reports from the camps indicate that at least 11 people are said to have lost their lives in the fire and more than 500 others have been injured. Around 400 people are unaccounted for,” the Inter Sector Coordination Group, a group of humanitarian partners said in a statement.

According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), more than 10,000 shelters were damaged in the fire and the agency’s largest health centre in the camp was destroyed.

“The loss of the 24/7 health centre, which served more than 55,000 people in the last year, now further complicates the challenge of responding to COVID-19,” IOM said in a statement.

It is not clear how the fire started, but according to a World Food Programme report the massive fire broke out in the Kutupalong mega camp on Monday around 3pm local time and spread to three neighbouring camps. 

“The fire that raged through the camps only slowed once it reached the main roads, slopes, canals and rice fields. It has since subsided, but not before consuming essential facilities, shelters and the personal belongings of tens of thousands of people,” IOM said.

IOM, which managed 3 of the affected sites, noted that “the fire affected at least 66 percent of the populations the four affected camps”.

With the monsoon season approaching, IOM says it is critical to rebuild the shelters as quickly as possible. Credit: IOM/Mashrif Abdullah Al

More than 10,000 refugee shelters were damaged when a devastating fire broke out in Cox’s Bazar Rohingya camp, Bangladesh. Some 45,000 Rohingya refugees have been displaced as a result. Credit: IOM/Mashrif Abdullah Al

The building that was once the largest health centre in the Kutupalong refugee camp, serving some 55,000 Rohingya refugees 24/7 is now a burnt, distorted shell after a massive fire spread through the Cox’s Bazar camp on Monday, Mar. 22. Credit: IOM/Mashrif Abdullah Al

Emergency shelter kits that included blankets and other essentials that were distributed by aid agencies to Rohingya refugees. The WFP said it provided 62,000 hot lunches and hot dinners on Tuesday, Mar. 23. Credit: IOM/Mashrif Abdullah Al

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Fanta Mohamet, 14, writes on the blackboard at the school she attends in Zamaï, a village near a settlement for refugees in Mayo-Tsanaga, Far North Region, Cameroon on 28 May 2019. Courtesy: United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)

By IPS Correspondent
JOHANNESBURG, Aug 24 2019 (IPS)

Fourteen-year-old Fanta lives in a tent in a settlement in Zamaï, a village in the Far North Region of Cameroon with her mother and two brothers. They came here more than a year ago after her father and elder brother were murdered and her elder sister abducted by the extremist group Boko Haram.

The day members of the armed extremist group Boko Haram came to their home in Nigeria to search for her father, a police officer, was the day everything changed.

The fate of her sister is unknown but each year thousands of girls are abducted by the armed group and forced into marriage.

There are 1,500 other displaced people who live in the settlement in Zamaï – more than three fifths of whom are children. And while life remains difficult, Fanta has something many other children of violence in the region do not, she is able to continue her education despite the prevailing insecurity.

According to new report released Aug. 23 by the United Nations Children’s Agency (UNICEF), nearly two million children in West and Central Africa are being robbed of an education due to violence and insecurity in and around their schools.

“Ideological opposition to what is seen as Western-style education, especially for girls, is central to many of the disputes that ravage the region. As a result, schoolchildren, teachers, administrators and the education infrastructure are being deliberately targeted. And region-wide, such attacks are on the rise,” UNICEF noted.

Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Niger and Nigeria, are experiencing a surge in threats and attacks against students, teachers and schools.

Areas where schools are primarily affected by conflict. Courtesy: UNICEF

The report also noted:

• Nearly half of the schools closed across the region are located in northwest and southwest Cameroon; 4,437 schools there closed as of June 2019, pushing more than 609,000 children out of school.

• More than one quarter of the 742 verified attacks on schools globally in 2019 took place in five countries across West and Central Africa.

• Between April 2017 and June 2019, the countries of the central Sahel – Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger – witnessed a six-fold increase in school closures due to violence, from 512 to 3,005.

• And CAR saw a 21 percent increase in verified attacks on schools between 2017 and 2019.

UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Charlotte Petri Gornitzka and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Muzoon Almellehan travelled to Mali earlier this week and witnessed first hand the impact on children’s education.

“Deliberate attacks and unabating threats against education – the very foundation of peace and prosperity have cast a dark shadow on children, families, and communities across the region,” said Gornitzka. “I visited a displacement camp in Mopti, central Mali, where I met young children at a UNICEF-supported safe learning space. It was evident to me how vital education is for them and for their families.”

UNICEF has supported the setup of 169 community learning centres in Mali, which provide safe spaces for children to learn.

The Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA), a coalition of international human rights and education organisations from across the world, noted that in the past five years the coalition had documented more than 14,000 attacks in 34 countries and that there was a systematic pattern of attacks on education. “Armed forces and armed groups were also reportedly responsible for sexual violence in educational settings, or along school routes, in at least 17 countries, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, during the same period.”  

In May, GCPEA released a 76-page report on the effects that the 2016-2017 attacks by armed groups on hundreds of schools in the Kasai region of central Democratic Republic of Congo had on children.

Based on over 55 interviews with female students, as well as principals, and teachers from schools that were attacked in the region, the report described how members of armed groups raped female students and school staff during the attacks or when girls were fleeing such attacks. Girls were also abducted from schools to “purportedly to join the militia, but instead raped or forced them to “marry” militia members”.

“Being out of school, even for relatively short periods, increases the risk of early marriage for girls,” GCPEA had said.

UNICEF raised this also as a concern for children affected by the conflict in West and Central Africa.

“Out-of-school children also face a present filled with dangers. Compared to their peers who are in school, they are at a much higher risk of recruitment by armed groups. Girls face an elevated risk of gender-based violence and are forced into child marriage more often, with ensuing early pregnancies and childbirth that threaten their lives and health,” the UNICEF Child Alert titled Education Under Threat in West and Central Africa, noted.

Fanta Mohamet, 14, on her way home from school in Zamaï, a village near a settlement for displaced people in Mayo-Tsanaga, Far North Region, Cameroon on 28 May 2019. Courtesy: United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)

UNICEF has long been sounding the alarm about the attacks on schools, students and educators, stating that these are attacks on children’s right to an education and on their futures.

The agency and its partners called on governments, armed forces, other parties to take action to stop attacks and threats against schools, students, teachers and other school personnel in West and Central Africa – and to support quality learning in the region.

The U.N. body also called on States to endorse and implement the Safe Schools Declaration. The declaration provides States the opportunity to express broad political support for the protection and continuation of education in armed conflict.

“With more than 40 million 6- to 14-year-old children missing out on their right to education in West and Central Africa, it is crucial that governments and their partners work to diversify available options for quality education,” said UNICEF Regional Director for West and Central Africa Marie-Pierre Poirier. “Culturally suitable models with innovative, inclusive and flexible approaches, which meet quality learning standards, can help reach many children, especially in situation of conflict.”

UNICEF is working with governments across West and Central Africa to offer alternative teaching and learning tools, which includes the first-of-its-kind Radio Education in Emergencies programme. Other interventions also include psychosocial support, the distribution of exercise books, pencils and pens to children to facilitate their learning.

“Education is important. If a girl marries young, it’s dangerous. If her husband doesn’t care for her, with an education she can take care of herself,” Fanta said.

The International Organisation for Migration’s peer-to-peer campaign is aimed at educating people about the real dangers of irregular migration. The project, known as Migrants as Messengers, trains returnee migrants to interview and record on camera returnee migrants. They are also taught how to publicly speak about their own stories. Credit: Amadou Kendessa Diallo/IPS

By IPS Correspondent
CONAKRY, Mar 19 2019 (IPS)

Elhadj Mohamed Diallo was a prisoner in Libya between October and November 2017, but he was not helpless. Far from his home in Guinea he understood the power of an organised union.

He mobilised other detainees around him to maintain order in the prison and to demand better conditions while in detention.

And when he finally returned to his home in West Africa, he used the power of the collective voice again, this time to caution others against experiencing what he did in Libya.

Back in Guinea, Diallo became part of the International Organisation for Migration’s (IOM) peer-to-peer campaign, which is aimed at educating people about the real dangers of irregular migration. The project, known as Migrants as Messengers (MAM), trains returnee migrants to interview and record on camera returnee migrants. They are also taught how to publicly speak about their own stories. As part of the campaign, the returnee migrants, who are volunteers, also attend community events where they speak in public about their own stories and first hand experiences.

The aim is to capture and present authentic and balanced stories about their migration experiences and their reintegration back home. These are shared on social media as well as through local media.

Diallo, who was incarcerated in Libya for being an irregular migrant, understood how a group of people with a common cause could become a powerful influence for change. So he create an association with about 50 other young returnees migrants, to caution people against irregular migration.

“The fact that we managed to mobilise people of many nationalities in a prison, [I thought] why not call the migrants here to make an association? I contacted those with whom I was in prison in Libya. IOM has called us for the project Migrants as Messengers. After the training, as we were bonded, we said we continue like this,” he told IPS.

“The objectives are to sensitise young people to abandon irregular migration, to set up reintegration projects to reintegrate migrant returnees first and to attract potential migrants to invest in our projects. [It aims to show them how] to succeed at home,” Diallo said.

The association is still very young, but is making progress.

Mariama Bobo Sy, the spokesperson for IOM in Guinea, told IPS, “The association’s executive office, which is made up of six people, was set up after the permission and the approval was granted on Aug 28, 2018 by the governorate of Conakry, the capital city. As we speak, these trained VFOs have become independent and have been taking part in various IOM projects that focus on migration in all aspects.”

Highly motivated, the association members willingly share their experiences in neighbourhoods and public places. They have conducted sensitisation campaigns at universities, through traditional media and social networks and also meet with other returned migrants to help them tell their stories. They plan to work in partnership with businesses and other employment providers to promote the professional reintegration of returned migrants.

IOM, for its part, has agreed to pay the fees for the headquarters of the association as they set up. Lucas Chandelier the communication officer at IOM in Guinea told IPS: “We are supporting  them to help them get started but the idea is that they can stand on their own and find their own funding. And the fact that they are an association will allow them to raise other grants, other than those of IOM.”

*Additional reporting by Issa Sikiti da Silva in Cotonou, Benin.

January 2018 alone saw temperatures drop to -50 degrees Celsius. This has had vast impacts on Mongolia’s herders. Credit: Michelle Tolson/IPS

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage and IPS Correspondent
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 15 2019 (IPS)

The landlocked country of Mongolia sparks certain images in the mind—rolling hills with horses against a picturesque backdrop.

However, the East Asian country is facing a threat that will change its landscape: climate change.

“Climate change isn’t affecting everyone around the world evenly. Small island states is an example and another example is people who live in more norther climates like Mongolia,” United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment John Knox told IPS.

“The problem for Mongolia is, with respect to climate change, is that it contributes almost nothing to greenhouse gasses…so that means instead Mongolia has to be concerned with adaptation,” he added.

According to the Mongolian Ministry of Environment, the mean air temperature increase by more than 2 degrees Celsius between 1940 and 2014, more than twice the global average.

This has increased the frequency of natural disasters such as what is locally known as “dzud”—a summer drought followed by a severe winter, a phenomenon that has increased over recent years.

January 2018 alone saw temperatures drop to -50 degrees Celsius.

This has had vast impacts on the country’s herders.

Almost 50 percent of the Mongolia’s 3 million population are employed in animal husbandry. They produce 35 percent of agricultural gross production and account for 30 percent of the country’s export.

At the same time, 28 percent of the population live at or below the poverty line, making them dependent on this trade.

Almost 50 percent of the Mongolia’s 3 million population are employed in animal husbandry. They produce 35 percent of agricultural gross production and account for 30 percent of the country’s export. Credit: Michelle Tolson/IPS

“Any adverse impact of a changing climate on pasture availability would threaten forage yield, livestock productivity, and, ultimately, local and national food production capacity. Hence, environment and climate condition play a key role in the sustainable development of the country,” said Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI)’s Mongolia representative Romain Brillie.

Approximately 70 percent of grassland in the country is impacted by desertification while the area of barren land expanded 3 times between 1992 and 2006.

While overgrazing has contributed to the changes in the environment, climate change has exacerbated the impacts.

Without sustainable livelihoods, many have poured into the country’s cities including Ulaanbaatar where they live in informal settlements without basic facilities such as running water or sanitation.

And to cope with the long and harsh winters, families use coal-fired stoves, contributing to air pollution.

In fact, Ulaanbaatar has one of the highest rates of air pollution in the world, increasing the risk of acute and chronic respiratory issues.

According to U.N.’s Children Agency (UNICEF), the three diseases that have resulted in the most lost life-years in the East Asian countries are related to air pollution.

But steps are being taken to mitigate the crisis, Brillie noted.

“Mongolia has been very active in establishing a conducive policy environment for climate change mitigation and adaptation…for instance, Mongolia is one of the countries that has been the most successful in accessing the Green Climate Fund,” he told IPS.

In 2017, the government adopted a new law which aims to increase the country’s share of renewable energy in total primary energy sources to 25 percent by 2025, and 30 percent by 2030.

Mongolia has already started investing in wind power, establishing its first wind farm in 2013.

GGGI has also been working with the government to support its green development targets in energy and green finance.

In 2018, GGGI helped secure 10 million dollars from the Government of Mongolia and Mongolian commercial banks to invest into the Mongolia Green Finance Corporation, a vehicle to leverage investments by the financial sector.

Knox highlighted the importance of such civil society in efforts towards climate change mitigation and adaptation.

“I think it’s at the individual and community level that we really see sustainable development take hold,” he said.

Brillie also pointed to the much needed role of the private sector, stating: “Financing Mongolia’s NDC’s alone would require 6,9 billion dollars and public investment alone cannot match the extent of the challenge…policy, regulatory and financial incentives and guarantees need to come together to help private companies invest into green projects.”

While there are now standards in place, Knox noted the need to implement and enforce them including in efforts to cut back on coal energy.

Currently, only seven precent of Mongolia’s energy production is renewable energy, and they will have to ramp up action if they are to reach their 2030 target.

And the Paris Agreement should be the light forward.

“In many ways, the threat of climate change in Mongolia can only be addressed by collective action by the major emitters of the world…The parties to the Paris Agreement need to surmount up their commitments as quickly as possible and they need to take more effective actions to implement the commitments they have already undertaken,” Knox told IPS.

Brillie spotlighted the role youth can and will play in the country’s sustainable, green future as GGGI works with Mongolia’s Ministry of Environment to promote green education.

“Young people are already driving change across the world. We must provide the skills to create new and green lifestyle,” he said.

Excerpt:

There has been robust growth in Internet access and usage over the past few years and Africa is now primed to take advantage of the social and economic opportunities that Internet can bring to people across the continent, according to Kathy Brown, President and CEO of the Internet Society.

Speaking at the Africa Internet Summit (AIS) being held in the Tunisian capital from Jun. 2 to 5, Brown highlighted the progress made in recent years to bring improved Internet access and availability to more people in Africa, noting how this growth has provided a strong foundation for stimulating opportunity through an enabling environment defined by inclusion, innovation and entrepreneurship.

“Africa’s recent economic growth rates and growing entrepreneurial spirit are combining to create a climate of opportunity,” said Brown.

“Advances in Internet infrastructure and the meteoric rise of the mobile Internet have already transformed the African technology landscape. I believe that Africa’s Internet is now at a tipping point, poised for further positive change and expansion as the continent looks forward with confidence to the future.”

However, she noted that there are still barriers which must be overcome in order to capture the full economic and social promise of the Internet. While connectivity is on the rise and available bandwidth in Africa has increased significantly, challenges for the African Internet business ecosystem still include factors such as the cost of broadband, online fraud, lack of local content and fragmented markets.

“Africa is now the frontier for the next wave of Internet progress,” said Brown. “While there is huge potential for Africa to continue building an Internet that will best serve its needs and its people, it is critical that true collaboration across Africa’s technical community, a culture of innovation and a spirit of entrepreneurship form part of this process.

The Internet Society stands with Africa to continue the great momentum under way to overcome challenges and enable the economic and social possibilities that only a truly open, trusted Internet can deliver.”

The Internet Society is an international, non-profit organisation founded in 1992 to provide leadership in Internet-related standards, education and policy.

Edited by Phil Harris   

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By IPS Correspondent
Dec 12 2013 (IPS)

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About 900 youth leaders, government and civil society representatives from almost every country in the world, representing about 43% of the world’s population under age 25, will convene in Bali to participate in the “ ICPD Beyond 2014” Global Youth Forum to develop official recommendations for the United Nation’s development agenda. The meeting is scheduled to take place December 4-6.

Delegates in Bali will be connected to 2000 youth leaders around the world, who will participate via an online platform to provide a shared response to the social, economic and human rights challenges and opportunities faced by their generation.

The Forum will be opened by Indonesian Vice-President, Boediono, and Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) which has been mandated by the UN to carry out a review of the Programme of Action of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). The Global Youth Forum is part of this ICPD review.

The original ICPD Programme of Action placed the rights and health needs of young people, in particular those of young women, at the centre of development policy, setting out a series of goals to address their needs.

Since 1994, progress has been made in many areas and while new opportunities have emerged, young people still face considerable challenges in relation to equitable access to health, education, employment, reproductive rights and civil participation, according to UNFPA.

The Forum will include a series of youth led plenaries and “world café” sessions to discuss five key agenda issues including: staying healthy; comprehensive education, transitions to decent work; sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights and civic participation and leadership.

Concrete recommendations on each of these topics emerging from the Forum will be presented to the UN General Assembly in 2014 and will be incorporated into planning for the post- 2015 development agenda at country, regional and global levels.

As regional delegates meet to discuss a legally binding ban on the use of mercury this week, Guyanese officials are arguing that an exception should be made for the South American country’s lucrative gold mining sector until an acceptable alternative is found.

A small-scale gold miner shows off his earnings for the day. Credit: chuck624/cc by 2.0

Since world gold prices began to surge in the last five-plus years, gold has become Guyana’s leading export industry, easily surpassing sugar, bauxite and rice as the main economic pillar.

The runaway prices have also attracted hundreds of millions of dollars in investments by Canadian, U.S., Australian, Russian, Chinese and Brazilian firms, all eager to open huge mines in the country that colonial-era British explorer Sir Walter Raleigh once believed was home to the legendary “El Dorado”.

The plan to lobby for a grace period to comply with anticipated treaty restrictions on the use of mercury to recover gold is to be pitched at the Nov. 26-29 U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) review conference in Bogota, Colombia, where government officials, industry players and activists will gather to debate the issue in-depth.

Small-scale miners add mercury to pans of gold-rich ore, where the element clings to the gold and sinks to the bottom. Studies show that up to 15 million miners around the world are exposed to dangerous levels of mercury in this way, along with others in the industry like jungle shopkeepers and jewelers.

It is also a major environmental hazard, travelling thousands of miles in the atmosphere and poisoning local water sources. This year, recorded sales of gold will bring in more than 600 million dollars to the Guyanese economy, about six times more than sugar. Officials say about half of the estimated national annual production of about 650,000 troy ounces is smuggled to countries like neighbouring Suriname and Brazil where royalties and taxes are cheaper.

Natural Resources Minister Roper Persaud has included active miners and mercury suppliers in his delegation. He says he plans “to vigorously tell the meeting that up to 100,000 people depend on the sector for a living and so the status quo must remain until an equally efficient way of trapping gold from mud, sand or alluvial rock is arrived at.”

“We import large quantities of mercury in Guyana but mercury is not abused here,” Miners Association spokesman Tony Shields told IPS. “We use far less than, for example, the Brazilians and miners in other countries, but the industry will die unless we get the grace period and until a satisfactory alternative is found to the use of mercury.”

Shields argues that if uncertainty about restrictions or an outright ban is not dealt with quickly, miners will simply hoard mercury supplies. Most remain convinced that mercury is the best method despite its known negative effects on human health and the environment.

A recent study by the Guianas office of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) found elevated levels of mercury not only in miners who use it almost daily while panning for gold, but in jewelers who inhale the dust when working with raw gold and in jungle shopkeepers who often barter for gold, a revelation that caught most in the industry and environmental community off-guard.

Critics note that the Guyanese government has been hard-pressed to control the industry’s spectacular growth, which has brought increased lawlessness – including a spike in the annual murder rate from about 10 to 50 a year – and more importantly, pollution of waterways and general damage to the environment.

As an indication of how serious the situation is, the umbrella Amerindian People’s Association (APA), which monitors the situation of nine native tribes in the jungle, says it is overwhelmed by daily complaints from members about rivers being so polluted that animals no longer water at them.

Residents say they now have to trek to faraway creeks that are hopefully less polluted to get potable water, fish and wait for animals to trap, as dirty and dying waterways are chasing them away. “The situation is a serious one but nothing much is being done to alleviate it,” APA spokeswoman Jean LaRose told IPS.

Nepal now ranks 11^th on a list of the world’s most earthquake-prone countries, yet it remains one of the least disaster-prepared nations globally. Two major earthquakes in the last two years, one on Sep. 18, 2011 and the other on Oct. 5 of this year, have failed to spur the government into action.

Kathmandu’s dense population of 1.5 million people is highly vulnerable to earthquakes. Credit: Naresh Newar/IPS

Seismologists have warned that another big earthquake is imminent and disaster experts claim that the population of 30 million will grow more vulnerable on a daily basis unless authorities “wake up” to the dangers posed by such catastrophes.

“In our current situation, the consequences of (a) disaster will be out of control and unmanageable. We have to move fast,” Ganesh Kumar Jimee, disaster preparedness manager of the National Society for Earthquake Technology-Nepal (NSET), told IPS.

Experts are particularly concerned about the 1.5 million residents of Kathmandu city, an earthquake epicenter in which most school buildings, hospitals and government offices are not earthquake resistant.

Over 90 percent of residential buildings, designed by ordinary masons with no input from professional engineers, are considered unsafe. School buildings suffer from the same problem with an estimated 60 percent of the city’s public schools “bound to collapse”, according to the Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC).

The World Health Organisation says that hospitals, too, are highly vulnerable. According to NSET, over 60 percent of hospitals are at risk of damage in the event of an earthquake measuring anything more than 7.0 on the Richter scale. Most of the country’s 70 blood banks are not earthquake-proof. In addition, dozens of bridges will also be impacted, thus cutting off crucial supply routes in case of an emergency.

Organisations like NSET and the Nepal Red Cross Society (NCRS) claim that 90 percent of the city’s water pipes will be damaged and 40 percent of electricity lines and electric substations will be destroyed.

Furthermore, Nepal’s many radio stations, which play a vital role in communicating disaster-related bulletins, are unlikely to withstand the impact of an earthquake.

According to IRIN news, these 350 radio stations, 36 of which are located in Kathmandu, are crucial sources of information for the country’s population, 44 percent of which is illiterate and relies on non-print media.

Disregarding all the available data on the urgency of the situation, the government has yet to take serious action on earthquake preparedness. A lackadaisical attitude towards legislation on preparedness is a major obstacle. A Disaster Management Act has been pending for many years due to political instability in the country.

The Act would help establish a comprehensive Disaster Management Authority that will comprise a professional team of disaster experts, rescue teams, financial resources and equipment.  As of now, the only legitimate body tasked with overseeing disasters like earthquakes consists of a handful of people working in a small disaster unit under the Ministry of Home Affairs.

“Hopefully (these steps) will be taken soon and people will take this issue much more seriously from a risk reduction perspective rather than (focusing on) post-disaster activity,” Man Thapa, programme manager of the disaster risk management team for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), told IPS.

The UNDP is working with local municipalities and organising trainings for masons on how to construct earthquake-resistant buildings, which could “help save people’s lives”, said Thapa.

Kathmandu’s dense population of 1.5 million people packed into a metropolitan area of just over 50 square kilometres presents unique challenges. The number of housing complexes has more than doubled over the last decade, further crowding the already congested city, according to experts.

Earthquakes are nothing new in Nepal, which has witnessed 16 major earthquakes since 1223. One of the most devastating quakes occurred in 1934, killing over 8,500 people in Kathmandu; another, in 1988, caused 721 deaths.

Given the current population explosion and a boom in unsafe, high-rise buildings, the scale of a similar disaster now is unimaginable. NSET estimates that an earthquake measuring seven or eight on the Richter scale could destroy over 60 percent of the buildings, kill up to 50,000 people, injure 100,000 and render 900,000 homeless.

While awareness about the possibility of a disaster is high, very little is being done to retrofit houses, schools or even hospitals. “People are still not paying serious attention to the information available,” Pitamber Aryal, disaster management director of the NRCS, told IPS.

Argentine scientists agree that there are signs of recovery of the ozone layer that protects life on earth by filtering out the sun’s harmful ultraviolet radiation, but they are cautious about saying that the problem is on its way to a solution.

Ozone hole in 2011. Credit: NASA Goddard photo and video/CC BY 2.0

“This year was benign, but the problem has not been solved. The ozone hole could expand to a record size in 2013,” Gerardo Carbajal, head of the Department of Atmospheric Monitoring and Geophysics (VAyGEO), told IPS.

According to Carbajal, whose department is part of the National Meteorological Service, “this year the ozone hole was one of the smallest ever and it closed up earlier than expected, but we’ll have to wait and see before we can speak of a trend.”

Similarly, Susana Díaz, an engineer with the Southern Centre for Scientific Research (CADIC), told IPS that “in recent years we have observed a slight decrease of the ozone deficit within the so-called ‘hole’.”

Díaz is a member of the state National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) and heads the CADIC Ozone and Ultraviolet Radiation Laboratory in Ushuaia, the capital of the province of Tierra del Fuego, the most southerly in the country.

Measurements are made there of the ultraviolet rays that filter down over the city, to record the impact of the radiation during the season of ozone hole expansion in the stratosphere, which occurs from September to mid-November.

Ozone is a gas in the stratosphere, between 15 and 35 kilometres above the earth’s surface, which protects the biosphere by absorbing UV rays that are harmful to human health and plant and animal life. Exposure to high levels of UV radiation can cause a higher incidence of skin cancer and eye problems in the population of affected areas, like southern Argentina and Chile.

“This year the ozone hole season was much shorter than in earlier years, and lasted only two days above Ushuaia. In other seasons it has lasted for 10 days, and it has been felt further north, in Patagonia,” said Guillermo Deferrari, a biologist at CADIC.

The size of the ozone hole varies. Some years it has covered an area of 30 million square kilometres, but in the last few weeks it has extended over 22 million square kilometres – still an area larger than all of South America.

According to the scientific consensus, the thinning of the ozone layer over Antarctica was mainly due to the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), chemical substances used in the manufacturing of aerosols and refrigerants.

When this evidence was confirmed in the 1970s, countries signed the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, and in 1987 they approved the Montreal Protocol. These treaties were ratified by the largest number ever of United Nations members and set a timetable for phasing out and eliminating CFCs.

Twenty-five years after the Montreal Protocol was approved, industry has substituted CFCs by hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) which, while they do not harm the ozone layer, are greenhouse gases and contribute to global warming.

Meanwhile, there are other substances that destroy ozone and have not been replaced, such as methyl bromide, a pesticide, which in the Protocol is only scheduled for complete elimination in 2015.

Deferrari, who operates equipment at CADIC for measuring UV radiation over Ushuaia, told IPS that “the levels are stable now, with no observed increase in the destruction of the ozone layer.”

He agreed with colleagues that this improvement cannot be said to be a trend, and that the ozone hole could grow again next year, because it depends on meteorological conditions in Antarctica as well. He said, however, that there are clear “signs of recovery.”

The observations confirm the findings of the latest report on the issue by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), published in 2010.

In Chile, not only do all people diagnosed with HIV/AIDS receive treatment, but the country also has advanced mechanisms for monitoring outcomes of the antiretroviral therapy.

A red ribbon, the global symbol of the fight against AIDS. Credit: Gary van der Merwe CC BY-SA 3.0

“Treatment is available in many other parts of the world, but no one knows whether or not it is working,” Marcelo Wolff, an infectologist who studies HIV/AIDS at the University of Chile, told IPS.

In this South American country, “coverage extends to nearly everyone living with HIV,” added Wolff, who won a Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Award this year, which recognises innovative research that has made a notable contribution to improved clinical care in the field of internal medicine.

Officially, some 22,000 people are living with HIV/AIDS in Chile, although the real number could be between 40,000 and 70,000, Wolff said.

“It is estimated that there are two to three undiagnosed people for every diagnosed person,” he said, “which means the total would be between 0.3 and 0.4 percent of the population over the age of 15” in this country of 16.5 million people.

The approach involves a monitoring system in 32 public healthcare centres around the country, which makes it possible to take timely measures addressing the specific needs of each case.

The monitoring is carried out by the Chilean AIDS Cohort (ChiAC), established by a team of professionals like Wolff, who joined a multidisciplinary and non-governmental network, SIDA Chile (AIDS Chile), founded in 2003.

“Knowing about what is happening to the people being treated is the main novelty,” Wolff said. “And the Chilean AIDS Cohort has been able to study that: the survival, morbidity and hospitalisation rates, and labour and social reinsertion.”

The same monitoring system is used for all patients taking the life-extending antiretroviral drugs, to evaluate the results of the therapy. The data generated is used to inform policy-making. And specific measures can be taken to adapt the therapy to local conditions, based on the results. The information gathered also contributes to global assessments of the spread of HIV/AIDS.

“Results from developed countries and poor nations have traditionally been published, but there were few evaluations from the large group of middle-income nations, and the Chilean AIDS Cohort has provided that,” Wolff said.

Law 19,779, approved in December 2001, guarantees the rights of all Chileans to prevention, diagnosis, control and treatment, and safeguards the free and equal exercise of other rights and freedoms of those living with HIV/AIDS, expressly prohibiting discrimination in access to education, work and healthcare.

In addition, the “universal access of explicit guarantees plan”, which guarantees the right to treatment, with specific guidelines, was expanded to those living with HIV/AIDS. And the “national programme of expanded access to antretroviral therapy”, in effect since 2001, ensures access to the latest treatment options for all patients.

As a result of the alliance between the government’s national programme and the Chilean AIDS Cohort, “mortality has been reduced by more than 80 percent, and the rate of hospitalisation has gone down, which has made it possible for people to take up their day-to-day lives again. “Among our patients, we have achieved results comparable to those of developed countries,” he said.

Based on this joint effort, the social and economic conditions of those living with HIV/AIDS have improved, said Manuel Jorquera, the coordinator of the AIDS advocacy group Vivo Positivo. “There is more timely treatment, and it is guaranteed, along with the free monitoring,” he told IPS. These benefits are tangible for Martín (not his real name), a 36-year-old journalist who was diagnosed with HIV four years ago.

“It was difficult to digest at first, but I had the support of several of my friends who are also living with HIV and who have managed to deal with the disease really well,” he told IPS.

Although HIV/AIDS remains underreported, a higher proportion of cases are now documented. Since the first cases were detected in this country in 1984, the highest AIDS (six out of 100,000 people) and HIV (9.6 out of 100,000) notification rates were recorded in 2011, according to the Health Ministry’s Epidemiology Department.

The evolution of HIV/AIDS in Chile is in line with global trends that reflect a 20 percent reduction in the number of new infections worldwide and a 17 percent increase in the number of people living with HIV in 2011, compared to 2001, when the AIDS epidemic was at its height.

There are 34 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide, according to the latest global report, published by UNAIDS Tuesday Nov. 22. But not every aspect involving HIV/AIDS has been solved in Chile.

Medical practitioners at the National Institute of Child Health (NICH), a leading government-run children’s hospital in Karachi, hope that this will be the last winter they have to treat a stream of children suffering from pneumonia.

A new vaccine will immunise five million Pakistani children annually against pneumonia. Credit: Adil Siddiqi

The disease is one of the leading killers of under-five children in the country, accounting for about 19 percent of child mortality. Last month Pakistan became the first country in South Asia to introduce a free pneumonia vaccine, to immunise five million children against the deadly disease annually.

According to Dr. Mohsina Ibrahim at the NICH, the move will also help lower the incidence of other related diseases like meningitis, but only if “the vaccine is given the same importance as polio and taken door-to-door”, she told IPS.

The government was under considerable pressure to introduce the vaccine: with infant and under-five mortality rates of 78 and 94 per 1,000 children respectively, the country is unlikely to meet the target of reducing under-five mortality by two-thirds by 2015, as stipulated by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Considered to be the largest rollout of the vaccine after Africa and Central America, the new initiative will form part of the state’s routine child immunisation programme, a set of scheduled inoculations provided free of cost from birth to 15 months to protect against diseases like diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), measles, tetanus, meningitis, polio, tuberculosis, and hepatitis B.

The vaccine is being delivered through a partnership between the Pakistan government, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI), which supports and finances vaccines in the world’s poorest countries, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

GAVI plans to contribute 680 million dollars, and the government has donated 17 million rupees (175,000 dollars) to provide the vaccine until 2015. “GAVI provides funds for countries to jump-start the introduction of newer vaccines, which they would otherwise never have the fiscal (capacity) to do,” Dr. Zulfiqar Bhutta, a leading paediatrician heading the women and child health unit at the Karachi-based Aga Khan University, told IPS.

This is done by procuring highly subsidised vaccines in bulk directly from manufacturers. ”After a negotiated period, countries (are expected) to pick up the vaccine tab,” he said. According to Bhutta, the “critical task remains” of increasing routine vaccine coverage from 60 percent to 90 percent of all children, if the country hopes to stay on track for achieving the fourth MDG.

In addition, Bhutta said, there remains the challenge of “ensuring that these vaccines reach the poor and are not leaked or sold in the open market”.  Dr. Ifra Sameen, another paediatrician at the NICH, is also sceptical about the vaccine “reaching those in need”.

Acknowledging that it is a “step in the right direction”, she told IPS that she fears “good intentions may be marred by the low coverage of immunisation in the state’s health system.

“We have not been able to eliminate polio, which has received enormous political commitment and was (taken) door-to-door. In addition, we already have a vaccine for measles, yet the disease still persists. Given this scenario, what are the chances of eliminating pneumonia, which requires the child to be brought to the health centre and given three doses at three different times?”

Khawar believes awareness is vital. Unless all caregivers, whether mother, father or grandparent, are fully convinced of the importance and benefits of the vaccine and ensure their children are immunised against all nine childhood diseases, efforts made by the government, GAVI and other U.N. partners to reduce under-five mortality will not go far.

In addition to being cut off from children in conflict-riddled areas and those controlled by militants, the programme must also overcome the hurdles of poverty, uneducated mothers and poor governance within the state-run health systems to ensure widespread inoculation, according to Ibrahim.

And while she is happy that an otherwise cost-prohibitive vaccine – costing a little over 13,000 rupees (roughly 133 dollars) for the entire course of three injections – will be available to everyone, she believes “it would have been better to have strengthened the coverage of existing vaccines, instead of introducing new ones”.

“The government should have focused on diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), measles and tetanus. The measles vaccine, which boasts an efficacy of 95 percent, would reduce the incidence of not just measles… but also pneumonia, meningitis and diarrhoea.”

The government should also tackle issues like “malnutrition, low birth weight, and non-exclusive breastfeeding, which put children at greater risk of pneumococcal disease,” said Ibrahim, adding that babies who live in overcrowded places, where indoor pollution levels are high and sanitation is poor, are particularly susceptible.

Malnutrition is perhaps the leading cause of pneumonia, said Sameen. According to the last Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (PDHS) for 2006-7 38 percent of children under five years are underweight.

Will there be a new global water goal in the post-2015 development agenda: something the Millennium Development Goals lacked?

The Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) is currently engaged in the Thematic Consultation on Water, and encourages everyone to take the opportunity to share insights and opinions on a new global water goal in the post-2015 development agenda.

The Thematic Consultation on Water is now open, waiting for inputs on the www.worldwewant2015.org/water website.

The water consultation is part of the UN-system led global dialogue comprising of 50-100 Country Consultations and eleven global Thematic Consultations, including one on water.

The water consultation is mainly taking place as an online discussion using different social media. The purpose is to bring voices from a broad range of stakeholders to build consensus around key future challenges related to water and the need for a new global water goal in the post-2015 development agenda.

The water consultation is divided into two interactive phases: Phase I is the global water consultation, which focuses on broad challenges to trigger engagement and discussion. The global consultation will remain online and active for the whole duration of the consultation.

Phase II focuses on thematic sub-consultations broadly in the areas of: Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) Water resources Wastewater management and water quality

Phase II starts in mid-January and runs up to March 3rd 2013. In March the outcome from the different discussions will be summarised into policy recommendations in a final report that will be transmitted to the High-level Panel on Post-2015 appointed by the UN Secretary General at the end of March.

To get involved, engage in the online discussion at www.worldwewant2015.org/water. You can also participate through social media, on Twitter using the hashtag #waterpost2015, or visit the Facebook page WaterPost2015.

Dr. A.K. Abdul Momen, Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations, hosted a special high level event Monday to raise awareness of autism and developmental disabilities.

The event was aimed at garnering support for an upcoming UN Resolution that addresses socio-economic needs of individuals, families and societies affected by autism spectrum disorders, development disorders and associated disabilities.

The event was marked by a special performance by students both with and without autism from The Child’s School / Legacy High School Chorus.

Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a complex neuro developmental disorder, characterized by deficits in social interaction and communication. Due to the complexity of the manifestation of ASD and lack of any known cure, treatment for the illness requires a multidimensional and multidisciplinary approach.

“ASD and developmental disorders transcend geographic, economic and cultural boundaries”, Dr. Momen said, highlighting the necessity for international awareness.

ASD is the fastest growing serious developmental disability. It’s estimated that 1% of the world’s population is affected by autism.

Vuk Jeremic, President of the General Assembly, who has expressed strong support for the resolution, said autism as a “truly global health issue” that “strikes indiscriminately.”

At the conclusion of his speech, Jeremic announced a High-level meeting of the General Assembly on disability and development, on September 23, 2013. The event is to be called “The Way Forward: a disability inclusive development agenda towards 2015 and beyond.”

“It is clear that knowledge is growing in certain parts of the world, the same cannot be said for many developing countries. I strongly believe that we need to act on this awareness gap,” Jeremic said.

The Assembly President noted that doctors now believe that one in every 2000 children suffer from the illness, much higher than previously thought. Paradoxically, autism receives less than 5% of the research funding.

The draft resolution aims at encouraging Member States to take measures to raise awareness in the society and at the family scale as well. It calls upon the governments to strengthen their mental health services and urges them to meet the needs of people with developmental disorders and autism.

Jeremic said he firmly believes that Bangladesh’s resolution will advance the interests and well being of autistic individuals and their families.

He expressed his support for a coordinated global response to autism, and noted the importance of focusing not only on awareness-raising, but also on building the capacity to offer appropriate services to autistic persons.

“It is my hope that the General Assembly, through the draft resolution as well as the subsequent high-level meeting, will become a true advocate for the rights of those suffering from autism”, Jeremic concluded.

Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director of UN Women, is calling for bold action and decisive leadership to galvanize efforts to end the pandemic of violence against women and girls.

Launching COMMIT, a new initiative asking governments to make national commitments which will be showcased globally, Bachelet underlined that ending violence against women is possible.

Today 125 countries have laws that penalize domestic violence, a huge step forward from just a decade ago. But she said this is not enough, she added.

Up to seven in ten women continue to be targeted for physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime and 603 million women live in countries where domestic violence is still not a crime.

“We all must do better to protect women and prevent this pervasive human rights violation. Governments and leaders must lead by example. Now is the time for governments to translate international promises into concrete national action,”  Bachelet said in a message released Tuesday.

“We hope to see new and improved laws and national action plans that provide for safe houses, free hotline services and free health and legal aid to survivors. We count on education programmes that teach human rights, equality and mutual respect, and inspire young people to take leadership on ending violence against women and girls. We need increasing numbers of women in politics, law enforcement, and peacekeeping forces. We need equal economic opportunities and decent jobs for women,” she added.

The focus of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, due to meet next March, will be to tackle violence against women and girls. And expectations are high for Governments to agree on frameworks that will truly address ending violence against women and girls.

Coinciding with the International Day, the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women, the only multilateral grant-making mechanism exclusively dedicated to ending all forms of violence against women and girls, is announcing its Call for Proposals for its 17th grant-making cycle. Special focus will be on violence against adolescents and young girls, and proposals that foster their leadership and activism as champions of change.

In her message to mark the International Day to End Violence Against Women, Bachelet also said that 187 countries have ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

Knowledge on the root causes of violence has increased, and women, men and young people continue to mobilize in huge numbers against violence. There are countless organizations whose members work tirelessly to support survivors and, in many countries, policy-makers have taken decisive action. But it is not enough, she added.

“ We all must do better to protect women and prevent this pervasive human rights violation. Governments and leaders must lead by example. Now is the time for governments to translate international promises into concrete national action.

We hope to see new and improved laws and national action plans that provide for safe houses, free hotline services and free health and legal aid to survivors. We count on education programmes that teach human rights, equality and mutual respect, and inspire young people to take leadership on ending violence against women and girls. We need increasing numbers of women in politics, law enforcement, and peacekeeping forces. We need equal economic opportunities and decent jobs for women”.

“Today violence against women is increasingly recognized for what it is: a threat to democracy, a barrier to lasting peace, a burden on national economies, and an appalling human rights violation. As more and more people believe that violence against women is neither acceptable nor inevitable, as more and more perpetrators are punished, the change to end violence against women grows deeper and stronger.

“This is not just a women’s issue, this is a responsibility for all of us. This violence is an outrage and it must be stopped. Time has run out for complacency or excuses. Let us show the will, the determination and let us mobilize greater resources to end what is a scourge of humanity, violence against women.

Yes, it is possible.”

Scepticism, fear of expressing an opinion and a dash of hope make up the cocktail of responses from Colombians asked about the possibility of the decades-old civil war finally coming to an end as a result of the peace talks between the government and the FARC guerrillas, which began Monday in Havana.

IPS spoke to people Sunday in Bogotá’s Bolívar square about the peace talks that began Monday in Havana. Credit: Helda Martínez/IPS

“I really hope so,” María Jaramillo, a 40-years-old accountant, told IPS. “God willing. But I think it’ll be difficult, because nothing is easy with the guerrillas. Of course if peace is achieved it would be an enormous accomplishment, because many peasants would return to their land, all the bombing would stop, and the country would grow.”

Some of the other people interviewed by IPS in Bogotá’s central Bolívar square were more sceptical. Political science student Elizabeth Núñez said she did not believe the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) were really seeking peace, “although nothing is impossible.”

“So far, to judge by what the guerrillas are saying, it’s the same as ever. As if they had no intention of respecting the results of the dialogue,” Núñez told IPS, before the FARC negotiators announced a unilateral ceasefire on Monday in Cuba.

The actual start of talks in Havana is the culmination of six months of secret preliminary contacts between the government of conservative Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and leaders of the FARC, the left-wing rebel group created in 1964 in the central province of Caldas by peasant farmers in response to injustice on the part of the government and the courts.

Santos announced in August that peace talks would be launched as a result of the preliminary negotiations held with the support of the governments of Cuba and Norway, which are now guarantors of the talks, and of Venezuela and Chile, as observers.

The “general agreement for the end of the conflict and the construction of a stable, lasting peace” that emerged from the preliminary talks basically proposes that the FARC will abandon armed struggle if the government agrees, among other things, to bring to a halt major mining and infrastructure projects in rural areas, and to carry out an ambitious comprehensive agrarian development plan.

The peace talks formally began in October in Oslo, with an agenda that encompasses land reform, including alternatives for illegal drugs; the future legal political participation of the guerrillas; an end to the armed conflict; and assistance for victims.

However, the content of each point on the agenda has not been clearly worked out, and radical differences have emerged. For example, the land restitution programme, the Santos administration’s flagship strategy, which the president sees as a major stride forward in the area of land reform, is criticised by the guerrillas as a measure that will actually benefit the business elites and foreign corporations.

Many Colombians, meanwhile, prefer to keep silent in this polarised nation. When IPS approached a random selection of people in the square, which is surrounded by the cathedral, parliament, the Supreme Court, and city hall, nearly a dozen declined to talk, saying they didn’t have time, even though it was Sunday.

But many others did respond. “Peace! We have been needing a peace process for the past 20 years. The deaths of so many soldiers, guerrillas and civilians would have been avoided. That’s why I hope there will be no interferences in this process,” responded Arturo, 50, who said he was a secondary school teacher.

“But we also know about the economic interests behind the war,” he added. “Peace would take resources away from the army, and would end the business of the others (the insurgents), which is also lucrative. I think the conflict will still stretch on for a number of years.”

“One factor is the polarisation that was aggravated by (right-wing) president (Álvaro) Uribe in his two consecutive terms (2002-2010), by fanning radical hatred,” university professor Armando Ramírez, an expert on public opinion, told IPS.

“To this is added the generalised lack of understanding, all the way from primary school up to university, of the real significance of democracy, public opinion or civil society…and the media efficiently contribute to the disorientation by favouring the establishment’s arguments,” said Ramírez.

“On radio and television, most political programmes address this issue like show business: there are anecdotes, curious aspects, and short reports devoid of context, while serious newspaper stories and columns target experts or academics, not ordinary people,” he said.

Andrés Felipe Ortiz, a member of the non-governmental Observatorio de Medios en Derechos Humanos, Medios al Derecho, agreed with Ramírez. “People depend on information to have an opinion, but the press is not clear, and polarisation is exacerbated, so people conclude that the (peace) process won’t go anywhere,” he told IPS.

“Santos called for prudence, and that’s valid, but it’s not the same as concealing things,” he said. “It’s clear that the media do not help people understand things that are of mass interest. Nor is there any sort of teaching on human rights or international humanitarian law. Journalists document things, they don’t explain.”

Although there has been great progress in many areas towards achieving the U.N.’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), many in the Muslim world remain sheltered from their positive effects.

‘‘Our hopes after today’s meeting will be a greater understanding of the goals, its unlimited potential and the impact on the future development agenda’’, said Imtiaz A. Khan, Chairman, Board of Directors, World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists at a panel discussion on “Linking Muslim giving to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)”. The meeting was co-sponsored by the Office of the Permanent Observer of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists.

From the perspective of the MDG campaign, Director Corinne Wood  said  the role that faith plays in millennium development is something that is absolutely crucial.

‘‘We have seen over the last  ten or fifteen years an increasing recognition of the role that faith plays in the work of development,’’ said Wood, ‘‘the principle of giving expands all cultures and religious faiths and it is an important means of establishing a social safety net for the poor.’’

The path of faith-based giving and volunteering is clear, compelling and measurable the beliefs, values attitudes and commitments of those who contribute to religion, translating to high levels of generosity to other causes as well.

The most important source of financing in Islamic philanthropy is Zakat. ‘‘Zakat represents one of the five pillars of Islam and it is obligatory for Muslims to pay,’’ said Ambassador Ufuk Gokcen, Permanent Observer of OIC to the U.N pointing out the significance of Zakat in Islam.

‘‘The main focus of the World Zakat Organization is to work towards the eradication of poverty among the poor, and lead the Muslims on permanent basis through developing sustainable projects in the area of food security and human resource development,’’ Gokcen added.

Dato’ Mohammad Mat Hassan Esa, chief executive officer at the  World Zakat Organization  Interim Secretariat showed the imbalance of income among Muslims in the world. ‘‘ He said  there are about 1.62 billion Muslims in the world and  350 million live on 1.25 dollars or less per day, and about 250 million are considered rich, living above 10 dollars per day.’’

‘‘Zakat fund could act as an incentive to the poor and needy to assist them to become economically productive recipients and free them from total poverty if channeled in a sustainable manner,’’ added Esa.

‘‘What we found is that foundations are very flexible and are willing to take risks and that is great in terms of development,’’ said Abdel-Rahman Ghandour, Deputy Director of Communication in the Bureau of External Relations and Advocacy at UN Development Programme ( UNDP), which has a long history of working with Foundations and philanthropic organizations.  ‘‘Islamic foundations for us is a new and very exciting domain of partnership,’’ Ghandour added.

‘‘The U.N has made a mistake when it built the MDGs before the year 2000, the consultation process was probably not wide enough, it didn’t involved civil society enough, it didn’t involved foundations enough, and so for the 2015 agenda we need to be much more open with the non states of development around the world, so the partnerships with foundations and philanthropy is going to be critical,’’ said Ghandour.

‘‘The consultation and formulation of the post 2015 agenda will be a departure  from what we saw with the MDGs and every country, specially Muslim countries, need to make sure that the discussions are made both at global and national levels,’’ stated Sering Falu Njie, Deputy Director of the United Nations Policy Millennium Campaign.

There was a sigh of relief in Ankara as Abdullah Ocalan, leader of the outlawed Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), on Sunday put an end to the 68-day hunger strike of 682 Kurdish prisoners and nine members of the Turkish Parliament.

The strike began on Sep. 12 among Kurds detained on terrorism charges, and quickly spread to 67 prisons around the country. In November, it was joined by MPs of the Peace and Development Party (BDP), whose constituency is in the ethnically Kurdish southeast of Turkey.

Ocalan’s decision has removed a thorn from the side of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose government showed signs of division over the handling of the strike, at a time when Turkey is being criticised by the European Union for lack of progress in improving human rights in general, and those of minorities in particular.

The strikers were demanding the freedom to use their mother tongue in education and in judicial courts. They also wanted to end Ocalan’s solitary confinement.

Ocalan, 64, was sentenced in 1999 to life imprisonment for terrorism and is being held in isolation on Imrali Island, near Istanbul. He remains, however, the undisputed leader of the PKK, an autonomist movement he created in 1978, which has periodically resorted to armed rebellion since 1984. Clashes with the security forces have caused 40,000 deaths on both sides among civilians and combatants.

Although the PKK’s main objective is cultural autonomy for the Kurdish people, the state has always considered the movement as separatist, based on the interpretation of Turkey’s constitution, which forbids any threat to territorial integrity and imposes one language only, the Turkish. Ethnic Turks in their majority support this viewpoint, regardless of political affiliation, and are opposed to a Kurdish identity.

Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) promised certain cultural freedoms to the Kurds when it came to power in 2002. Under pressure by the nationalists and the military, and considering public opinion, it limited, however, the changes to light gestures, like the establishment of a state-run broadcasting station in Kurdish and a proposal to let universities offer courses of Kurdish as a foreign language.

Divergence of opinion among the public intensified during the strike, but politicians and journalists stayed generally out of the debate. Erdogan’s total opposition to it and his occasional scornful comments about the strikers, and the likelihood of deaths resulting from the strike, caused editorialists and opinion leaders to keep a low profile.

“The Turkish public is increasingly polarised on the Kurdish issue, but worse is around the corner,” Nazan Ustundag, a sociology associate professor at Bosphorus University, Istanbul, told IPS last week. “The polarisation between the Kurds and pro-Kurdish democrats on one hand, and the state on the other hand will grow bigger, and the violence will increase if we witness the death of these people,” she added.

PKK’s decision to end the strike may have averted this bleak prospect, but not entirely. In his message on Sunday, Ocalan said that it was not for inmates to go on strike, but for those followers who were free. This may signal the beginning of another hunger strike, which will be more difficult for the authorities to control, as strikers could be anywhere.

This is unlikely to happen soon, though. The 68-day strike seems to have brought partial victory to the 682 inmates and their MPs. A parliamentary committee has submitted a proposal to legalise the use of the Kurdish language in trials. If it soon becomes a binding legal instrument, a ceasefire between the PKK and security forces may be reached, and hopes for a political solution of the Kurdish issue revived.

With 15 to 17 million people, the Kurds represent 20 percent of the country’s population. As their presence is concentrated in the southeast, they are also a significant electoral asset to any party that can win their loyalty.

Erdogan’s thoughtfulness for the Kurds’ grievances in the early days of his premiership was founded on realpolitik. His promises and gestures seem to have paid off, until recently. Political experts and think tanks have estimated that between five and six percentage points in AKP’s electoral victories of 2007 and 2011 were due to Kurdish votes.

There are still many votes to be had in the southeast, AKP strategists believe. The rival in the region, BDP, which is believed to be the political arm of PKK, has 36 MPs elected locally and controls 97 municipalities. This is a sizeable target. But the even larger electoral Kurdish platform is moderate and not permanently attached to a party. Both AKP and PKK would like to win such hearts and minds.

World Philosophy Day, which promotes the exercise of critical thought and freedom of expression, can be viewed as an original and powerful way, among others, to face challenges of peace and development.

“Faced with the complexity of today’s world, philosophical reflection is above all a call to humility, to take a step back and engage in reasoned dialogue, to build together the solutions to challenges that are beyond our control,” said Irina Bokova, Director-General of the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

“The greater the difficulties encountered the greater the need for philosophy to make sense of questions of peace and sustainable development,” she added, in a statement released Thursday.

Celebrated every year by UNESCO, Philosophy Day has been scheduled every third Thursday of November beginning 2005. It was created with the aim of developing a philosophical reflection about the collective heritage in philosophy received from the past and to spread new ideas worldwide in this academic area.

“UNESCO reaffirms the power of philosophy to change the world, because it can help us to change ourselves by giving weight to our indignation before injustice, lucidity to ask the right questions, and conviction to defend human dignity,” stated Bokova.

When various crises strike numerous regions in the world and create not only hard political and economical challenges but also social and cultural challenges, philosophy can turn an abstract activity of the mind into a concrete appropriate way to resolve such issues.

It is time to give an opportunity to intellectuals and civil society to debate on our current society by sharing a multitude of experiences and views while respecting cultural diversity.

Moreover, under the 2012 World Philosophy Day theme, “Future Generations”, UNESCO wishes to promote the need of teaching philosophy in primary school which is needed for the democratization of philosophy.

“It is one of the conditions of a more intelligent public debate and that is why philosophy is indispensable to the education of younger generations,” said Bokova.

Philosophy can be an opportunity to ask ourselves various essential questions such as who we are as individuals and as a world community, what we neglect to think about or which intolerable realities we get used to.

Thanks to these questions, people can value whether our society corresponds to the ideals of justice and equality for example. “Beyond all of our differences, we are all equal in the exercise of reason. This is the sure way to build fairer, more equitable societies, sustained by the energy of critical thinking,” Bokova concluded.

Global investment, trends, prospects, and policy challenges were the themes discussed in the briefing on “UNCTAD’s World Investment Report 2012”, organized by the New York Office of the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

The main part of the presentation focused on the ‘‘Investment Policy Framework for Sustainable Development’’, which was a special topic for the 2012 report and published as a separate document.

Richard Bolwijn, Chief Economist of the Division on Investment and Enterprise UNCTAD, took the opportunity to show some new thinking about the policy environments that are created, not only to make foreign direct investment (FDI) or investment more attractive from the investors’ side, but more importantly to make FDI more productive of development as we understand it, meaning increases in productive to capacities, diversification of economic outputs, improvement in skill sets and improvement of pills overs of FDI into the economies.

A few highlights from the trend section of the report shows that ‘‘the global foreign direct investment flows finally surpassed the pre-crisis average in 2011,’’ mentioned Bolwijn, ‘‘however we are still well behind the top years for 2007/2008.’’

The increase seen in 2011 was spread across the various economic groupings like transitioning economies and developing economies, which remained over more than half of global FDI flows were the numbers that they reached in 2010 for the first time. In fact it looks like this year it will get over 50% coming just from the developing economy group, which shows that is a trend that is evolving.

‘’The FDI outflows from developing countries and emerging markets fell slightly, but remained high,’’ said Bolwijn. In the last few years, developing countries have become ever more important also in outward invest not just as recipients of inwards investments.

The drivers of the growth in 2011 came from Mergers & Acquisitions (M&As), even thought the green field investment remains the biggest part of FDI flows.

In this year’s report there was a specific analysis on the largest 100 multinationals TNCs in the world. ‘‘We looked at their balance sheets, how they balance their cash and we see this trend confirm of increasing cash holding and much greater cash holding behavior, compared to their pre-crisis cash holdings’’, added Bolwijn. Global trade to a large extend is driven by and linked to the networks of multinational companies.

‘‘The networks of investment overseas by multinational enterprises account for a good 80% of global trade (exports of goods and services).’’

The reason sustainable development was chosen as the theme for the 2012 report was because the ‘‘global investment landscape is rapidly changing; emerging markets are becoming more relevant; there is more international agreements and discussion about sustainable development and investment treaties.

Additionally, it is now no longer just developed countries wishing to protect their investments abroad but also developing countries seeing that the tables can also be turned; there is ever greater need for coordination at an international level for international policies,’’ noted  Bolwijn.

The “new generation” of investment policies framework strive ‘‘ to create synergies with wider economic development goals or industrial policies, and achieve seamless integration in development strategies; foster responsible investor behaviour and incorporate principles of Corporal Social Responsibility; ensure policy effectiveness in their design and implementation and in the institutional environment within which they operate,’’ he added.

The national level policies challenges were to integrate investment policy in development strategy; incorporate sustainable development objectives in investment policy; and ensure investment policy relevance and effectiveness.

On the other hand, the international investment policy challenges means to strengthen the development dimension of International investment agreement (IIAs); balance the rights and obligations of states and investors; manage the systemic complexity of the IIA regime.

Thus, the UNCTAD’s Investment Policy Framework for Sustainable Development helps policymakers address these challenges.

Bolwijn also mentioned the sustainable development features of the IPFSD’s national investment policy guidelines and the policy options to operationalize sustainable development objectives in IIAs.