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  • Ready or Not, America, Your Population Is Also Aging

    Ready or Not, America, Your Population Is Also Aging

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    The aging of America’s population is expected to have mounting effects on government programs, businesses, healthcare institutions, communities, families and individuals. Credit: Maricel Sequeira/IPS
    • Opinion by Joseph Chamie (portland, usa)
    • Inter Press Service

    PORTLAND, USA, Jan 09 (IPS) – As the signs of population aging are crystal clear and widely available, many countries are taking steps to address the far-reaching effects of that momentous demographic trend. A notable exception is the United States, a country that seems neither ready nor willing to deal with the aging of its population.

    America’s government and its citizens appear ill-prepared to address the daunting consequences of population aging for the country’s economy, workforce and entitlement programs. Among those challenging consequences are the rising costs of programs for the elderly, the need for financial aid and long-term care for many older people and the dwindling financial resources of elderly households.

    Many countries, including the United States, are well along in the demographic aging of their populations. While some countries, such as France, Germany, Italy, Japan and South Korea, have median ages above 40 years, other countries, including China, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States, have median ages of nearly 40 years (Figure 1).

    As the U.S. population continues to become older over the coming years, America’s elected officials, the private sector, social institutions, communities, families and individuals will be obliged to cope with the inevitable, momentous and far-reaching consequences of population aging
    Source: United Nations.

    America’s elected officials tend to avoid addressing population aging. It seems that by ignoring or paying little attention to population aging, its many weighty consequences will diminish or simply go away.

    However, the consequences of population aging for America’s federal budget, its economy, workforce and the overall well-being of its citizens are not imaginary and will not go away by simply ignoring them. On the contrary, the aging of America’s population is expected to have mounting effects on government programs, businesses, healthcare institutions, communities, families and individuals.

    In ten years, for example, the U.S. federal government is expected to be spending half its budget on those aged 65 years or older. That spending will be used to support elderly Americans largely for health care and retirement benefits. Without sufficient government assistance, many elderly Americans will have to forgo needed care or rely on the uncertain assistance and care from family and friends.

    While a secure retirement is a widespread desire across America, the financial resources of most Americans are not sufficient to cover their retirement expenses. Among households headed by someone 55 years and older, nearly half of them lack some form of retirement savings. Also, close to 30 percent of those who are retired or nearing retirement do not have retirement savings or a defined benefit plan.

    In addition, the health conditions of America’s elderly are both worrisome and costly. About 80 percent of Americans 65 or older have at least one chronic condition, with about 68 percent having two or more.

    It is estimated that nearly a half of elderly Americans are affected by arthritis, a quarter have some type of cancer and a fifth have diabetes. A third of the elderly have cognitive issues with approximately half of them having dementia.

    Millions of older Americans are struggling with health challenges and increasing numbers are in need of caregiving services. Many elderly Americans also find it challenging to obtain or pay for the additional services they need as they age.

    It is estimated that approximately 70 percent of U.S. adults aged 65 years and older will require long-care at some point, with the average length of stay in long-term care about three years. In 2021, the average annual costs of long-term care in America ranged between $35,000 and $108,000.

    The median age of the U.S. population, which was about 27 years in 1965, has reached a record high of nearly 40 years. The median age of America’s population is continuing to rise and is projected to be 43 years by mid-century.

    In addition, the proportion of America’s population age 65 years or older is also expected to continue rising. Whereas approximately 9 percent of the U.S. population was 65 years or older in 1965 when the Medicare program was established, by 2022 the proportion had almost doubled to 17 percent. That proportion is expected to nearly double again by the century’s close when approximately one in three Americans will be 65 years or older (Figure 2).

    As the U.S. population continues to become older over the coming years, America’s elected officials, the private sector, social institutions, communities, families and individuals will be obliged to cope with the inevitable, momentous and far-reaching consequences of population aging
    Source: United Nations.

    Furthermore, the U.S. will face noteworthy demographic aging turning points in the near future. Beginning in 2030, for example, all of America’s baby boomers will be older than 65 years. Also, in 2034 the share of America’s population age 65 years or older is expected to surpass that of children under age 18 year for the first time in the country’s history.

    A major demographic force behind the aging of populations is low fertility. Whereas America’s fertility rate was nearly three births per woman in 1965, today it has declined to nearly a half child below the replacement level at 1.7 births per woman. Moreover, the country’s fertility levels are expected to remain well below the replacement level throughout the remainder of the century.

    Increasing longevity among the elderly is also contributing to the aging of America’s population. U.S. life expectancies for males and females at age 65 years have risen markedly over the past sixty years. From 13 and 16 years for males and females in 1965, life expectancies at age 65 rose to 16 and 19 years by 2000 and further increased by 2022 to approximately 18 and 21 years, respectively. By mid-century, U.S. life expectancies at age 65 for males and females are expected to reach 20 and 22 years, respectively (Figure 3).

    As the U.S. population continues to become older over the coming years, America’s elected officials, the private sector, social institutions, communities, families and individuals will be obliged to cope with the inevitable, momentous and far-reaching consequences of population aging
    Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.

    America’s major government programs for the elderly are being seriously affected by population aging. As a result of the increase in both the absolute and relative numbers of the elderly, the two largest programs, Medicare and Social Security, are rapidly approaching insolvency, which is expected in 6 and 13 years, respectively.

    The U.S. Congress needs to act responsibly to address the expected funding imbalances and the insolvencies in those two programs. Not doing so would lead to across-the-board benefit cuts or abrupt changes to benefits or tax levels.

    Democrats are by and large committed to maintaining funding for Social Security and Medicare, programs that were established by the democratic administrations of President Franklin Roosevelt and President Lyndon Johnson, respectively. The Democrats believe that all Americans have the right to a secure and healthy retirement and are committed to preserving Social Security and Medicare for future generations.

    Over the years, public opinion polls have repeatedly demonstrated overwhelming support for those two programs. For example, approximately 80 percent of Americans support Social Security and oppose reducing benefits, and 70 percent are against increasing premiums for people enrolled in Medicare.

    Republicans, in contrast, are reluctant to raise taxes and have resisted increasing funding for the government’s major entitlement programs. They claim that with Social Security and Medicare facing insolvency if cuts to benefits and costs are not made, those two programs will not be available for future generations. Republicans in general prefer the private sector, freedom of choice and individual responsibility, such as private retirement investment accounts and a voucher system for private health insurance.

    Besides congressional actions, educational and community programs are needed to encourage responsible behaviors among Americans in preparing for and during old age. Men and women need to adopt behavior, take action and develop habits early on in their lives that promote their economic security, personal health and overall well-being in their retirement years.

    In sum, the United States seems neither ready nor willing to deal with the aging of its population. But demography doesn’t care. As the U.S. population continues to become older over the coming years, America’s elected officials, the private sector, social institutions, communities, families and individuals will be obliged to cope with the inevitable, momentous and far-reaching consequences of population aging.

    Joseph Chamie is a consulting demographer and a former director of the United Nations Population Division. He is the author of numerous publications on population issues, including his recent book, “Population Levels, Trends, and Differentials”.

    © Inter Press Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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  • From Chemical Engineer to Climate Justice Avenger: A Journey with Yamide Dagnet

    From Chemical Engineer to Climate Justice Avenger: A Journey with Yamide Dagnet

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    • by Alison Kentish (saint lucia)
    • Inter Press Service

    SAINT LUCIA, Jan 09 (IPS) – As a child on the French-Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, Yamide Dagnet dreamed of launching rockets into space.

    She stuck to science, discovering her path in chemical engineering. She became a scientist focused on critical reactions to solving real-world problems like improving water quality in the United Kingdom.

    Her attention to detail, observation skills, and grounding in science eventually led her to a career in climate negotiations and climate justice.

    As Director of Climate Justice at the Open Society Foundations (OSF), she is committed to the organization’s cause of expediting a fair, transparent, low-carbon, and resilient transition in our societies.

    Reflecting on her journey, she acknowledges that the task is daunting, but she remains optimistic for the future. Her roots as an islander fuel her drive to fight for a more just and resilient world.

    “Vulnerable countries, including Islanders, have played a critical role in shaping negotiations and the outcome of climate negotiations over time by bringing both tangible experience and a moral voice to this issue while also bringing solutions. Even as small Islanders, we always felt that we were big on solutions,” she said in a sit-down with IPS.

    The move from chemical engineering to climate justice director may be non-traditional, but for Dagnet, it was a transition hinged on applying her principles and skills from the lab to the policymaking table.

    “I kept the spirit of problem-solving in an unexpected career move. I see negotiations and the diplomatic world not as chemical reactions among products but as chemical reactions among people—a people alchemy,” she said.

    The Changing Nature of Climate Negotiations

    When Dagnet entered the field of climate negotiations, the focus was predominantly technical, she told IPS. Things have changed since then. The talks have morphed into a more political sphere, increasingly shaped by geopolitical dynamics. It is a shift that Dagnet says requires an understanding of the diverse interests of countries at the negotiating table.

    “When I joined the negotiations, we were just getting into the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol,” she said, adding, “Over time, everything that would affect geopolitics would affect the climate negotiations as well. That was really key to creating trust and understanding for landing the Paris Agreement itself. The Paris Agreement was no longer just a climate agreement. It had become a socio-economic and environmental agreement that had to be contextualized.”

    “Now that we’re getting into the implementation phase again of a complex agreement, to reach that breakthrough, we have to understand the different interests of countries—200 countries, 200 different interests.”

    The composition of the annual climate talks is also different, reflecting the change from a technical gathering to one with more glaring political hues.

    “There’s been what had started to be an exercise, and a gathering of initiated diplomats and technocrats expanded to bring all hands on deck for implementation. More from the private sector, more from civil society, and more from indigenous people, women, and youth. So, there has been a progression in terms of inclusion, but also more interests and a greater risk of corporate capture over time.”

    Climate Negotiations, then the Open Society Foundations

    While working as a chemical engineer in the UK, Dagnet was involved in water quality. It was an opportunity to ensure that products in contact with drinking water were safe and of the highest standards. It was during that time, already working with inspectors, that she became more familiar with the nexus between climate and water, along with the safety plans that needed to be put in place to mitigate the impacts of climate change on drinking needs.

    In 2007, she was then detached to France’s Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, in their international division, where she gained valuable experience leading delegations, establishing cooperation, and twinning programs between France and Eastern European countries. The primary goal was to enhance the capacity of countries seeking access to the European Union. It was a defining experience for her, helping her to test different means of capacity building to reflect what could be most effective and sustainable.

    It made for a smooth transition to the climate arena.

    “I was privileged to join the UK climate team at a time when the UK was a climate leader—enacting the first climate change bill, setting up the first climate change committee, and relying on much data and evidence emerging from the UK greenhouse gas inventory I was responsible for. Being the UK deputy focal point for the IPCC at a time when the IPCC won the Nobel Peace Prize. Joining the UK climate delegation under UNFCCC at the turning point of the negotiations to shape the Paris Agreement,” she said.

    “While negotiating for the interests of the UK, I was in a very unique and diverse delegation that had a comprehensive outreach strategy with different countries that were also committed to coalition building outside and within the negotiations. I was keen to first have the opportunity to use my problem-solving skills and the fact that I wanted to really look into solutions and put those solutions into action, not just for the UK, not just for the EU, but for the rest of the world, including the most vulnerable countries.”

    The opportunity came to join an internationally renowned, US-based think tank, the World Resources Institute, in 2012 and advance robust research, analysis, and policy recommendations for designing a new rule-based climate regime.

    “It’s convening power was really interesting, and for me, making sure that you do not produce creative solutions that are put on a shelf, but how to really look at the power and interaction with different stakeholders, not just governments, but the faith community, different civil society constituencies, how to really, again, build bridges and test ideas, to really come up with something that has legitimacy.”

    To do that, Dagnet organized several consortiums. The task was not easy, but it was necessary.

    “I learned the power of consortiums. First, it’s more difficult to work in a consortium because it’s actually a platform of negotiations where you don’t navigate just one mindset, one view, one way of addressing an issue; but by creating the right consortium, you bring the legitimacy and credibility that represent different views from different countries, which in the end really helped us to get the traction and inference necessary to shape a meaningful agreement.”

    After almost a decade, the Open Society Foundations was a natural fit for her knowledge and passions to work as a funder to empower the field, support new ideas and analysis, take grassroots and legal actions, and engage in diplomatic and advocacy efforts. Her priority has been supporting just resilient outcomes, especially in neglected areas like adaptation to climate change and politically sensitive issues like losses and damage. How you face climate impacts you cannot even adapt to—that will cost lives and livelihoods and generate irreversible economic and non-economic (e.g., cultural, social) damages. Another area of focus was the implications of a just energy and industrial transition, ensuring equitable use and deployment of critical minerals, minimizing unintended environmental adverse effects and social or labor abuse, while spurring the ability for resource-rich mineral countries to move up the manufacturing ladder. All of these are matters of justice, equity, and human rights. Ensuring accountability and inclusion within national and international processes like the COP was critical.

    COP28

    The former climate negotiator was in Dubai, UAE, for the 2023 climate talks.

    Like many, she welcomes the landmark announcement of the operationalization of the Loss and Damage Fund on the first day of COP as a hard-won victory. “Two hundred countries, including a petrol state, have agreed to move away from fossil fuels and to operationalize a loss and damage fund that has taken so long to be established,” she said. “Now that we’ve got a roadmap, we have an initial capitalization, even if it only represents less than 1 percent of what is really needed.”

    She, however, says that there is no place for complacency. Those breakthroughs are decades away, still little, very late, and lacking the necessary pace needed to effect the change needed.

    Moreover, Dagnet says the new climate deals have shortcomings. She is particularly concerned about some of the controversial technologies mentioned in the agreements, which lack sufficient safeguards and measures to minimize unintended adverse impacts on frontline communities and the environment. For instance, “the reference to transition fuels, which, without the right accountability mechanisms, could be overused and used as a license to delay some of the radical changes that need to be done.”

    Looking Forward

    The next year is poised to be an interesting one on the international climate scene, with an eye on how the commitments on energy and roadmap to build resilience will be transformed into tangible actions and how ongoing campaigns to reform the global finance infrastructure will pan out.

    “2024 is really shaping as being about the means of implementation to keep 1.5 alive and build resilience within that threshold. We know that the UAE, Azerbaijan, and Brazil committed to the delivery of a financial framework through their “road map to mission 1.5 C. There needs to be a strong mobilization of different stakeholders to support, inform, shape those frameworks, and make them a reality,” says Dagnet.

    She took the opportunity to express her appreciation to all partners, especially frontline communities, who often risk their lives in this climate change battle. “Without them, we would not have secured these hard-won breakthroughs.”

    Dagnet expressed her hopes that their efforts will be redoubled and rewarded in the future.

    “We need to pull up our sleeves. There’s a lot of work to do, which can only be effective if we create and harness the synergies and intersections between climate and health, climate and nature, and climate and trade.

    And as for Dagnet’s work—no matter what, “I think I will remain a climate and social justice avenger.”

    IPS UN Bureau Report


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    © Inter Press Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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  • Technology Transfer Critical to Revolutionizing Africas Pharma Industry

    Technology Transfer Critical to Revolutionizing Africas Pharma Industry

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    BioNTainers, facilities equipped to manufacture a range of mRNA-based vaccines have been inaugurated in Rwanda in December 2023. Credit: Supplied
    • by Aimable Twahirwa (kigali)
    • Inter Press Service

    KIGALI, Jan 08 (IPS) – An agreement signed between the Rwandan government and the Africa Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation (APTF) gives impetus to Africa’s domestic industry with the hope of helping the continent tackle vaccine inequity and fill the critical gap in vaccine manufacturing.

    The agreement to operationalize the foundation was signed in Kigali, Rwanda, in late 2023.

    What is important, according to stakeholders, is to focus efforts on building a resilient and self-reliant pharmaceutical industry for the continent. This became apparent during COVID-19, when, for example, COVAX, a multilateral mechanism for equitable global access to COVID-19 vaccines, helped lower-income economies achieve two-dose coverage of 57 percent, compared to the global average of 67 percent.

    Both officials and scientists take delight in pointing out that the benefit of having such an initiative is to close the vaccine equity gap between African countries and the world’s developed nations.

    During the implementation phase, the African Development Bank (ADB) has committed to investing up to USD 3 billion over the next decade in the development of pharmaceutical products.

    The foundation, which is ready to hit the ground running in January 2024, will dedicate its core mandate to addressing some of the common challenges facing African indigenous pharmaceutical companies, including weak human and institutional capacities and low technical capacity for using and applying new technologies.

    “The Foundation was a pledge that Africa will have what it needs to build its own health defense system, which must include a thriving African pharmaceutical industry and a quality healthcare infrastructure, ADB President Dr Akinwumi Adesina said.

    These solutions, according to experts, aim to close technical capacity gaps in their use and lack the ability to focus on the production of basic active pharmaceutical ingredients for drugs or antigens for vaccines.

    Professor Padmashree Gehl Sampath, Chief Executive Officer of the APTF, told IPS that access to know-how, technologies, and processes for manufacturing pharmaceutical products is clearly needed on the continent to ensure the sustainability of financial investments.

    She, however, points out that, with the current move to ensure the sustainability and reliability of the domestic pharmaceutical industry in Africa, it is not enough just to have financial, infrastructural, strategic, and regulatory support.

    “There is a need for a clear and coherent focus on technology transfer and knowledge sharing for capacity building and diversification within the pharmaceutical value chain,” she said in an exclusive interview.

    While technology is described as the main transformative tool that will enable the development of a competitive pharmaceutical industry in Africa, Sampath stresses the need to build policy capacity to facilitate the sector.

    According to her, this can be done by implementing the flexibilities contained in the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property and then also enabling local companies to access domestic markets.

    In a move to overcome these challenges, the foundation’s work received a major boost with a memorandum of understanding signed in December 2023 in Kigali, Rwanda, to partner with the European Investment Bank.

    The European Investment Bank will be a partner in the foundation’s “regional biosimilars program for the production and innovation of relevant biosimilars in Africa and to facilitate the creation of common active pharmaceutical ingredients parks in any chosen specific sub-region of Africa,” the organization said in a press release.

    According to Sampath, there is a need to remove barriers to domestic innovation in Africa.

    “We need to work with our universities and public research institutions to transform them into centers of excellence,” she said.

    During the implementation phase, the first modular elements of the German company’s factory, BioNTech, based on shipping containers, were delivered to the Kigali construction site in March and were then assembled to form the so-called BioNTainers that were inaugurated in December 2023.

    The company, which developed the most widely used COVID-19 vaccine in the Western world with its U.S. partner Pfizer, developed a plan in 2022 to allow African countries to produce its Comirnaty-branded vaccine under the supervision of BioNTech.

    BioNTech said the initial vaccine factory could, over the next few years, be part of a wider supply network spanning several African countries, including Senegal and South Africa.

    At the time BioNTech announced plans to expand into Africa, the shipment of coronavirus vaccine doses manufactured in the West to the continent had been delayed, which had been the subject of much criticism.

    “The African Union has come together to make a firm commitment not to find ourselves in this situation again,” Rwandan President Paul Kagame said at the inauguration ceremony of the plant site located in Masoro, a suburb of Kigali.

    The company, which developed the most widely used COVID-19 vaccine in the Western world with its U.S. partner Pfizer, developed a plan in 2022 to allow African countries to produce its Comirnaty-branded vaccine under the supervision of BioNTech.

    “What BionTech’s partnership with Africa demonstrates is that vaccine technology can be democratized, but we could not have reached this point without a wider set of partnerships.” Kagame said.

    Gelsomina Vigliotti, Vice President at the European Investment Bank, said that the bank is committed to working with its partners to strengthen public health and health innovation across Africa.

    “Strengthening access to finance is essential to scaling up pharmaceutical investment and innovation across Africa,” Vigliotti said.

    An important manifestation of Africa’s scientific and technological innovation capability, according to experts, is the application of innovations to its pharmaceutical industry development.

    The newly-established plant, located in the suburb of Rwanda’s capital city, Kigali, is expected to start by producing 50 million vaccines, but production will increase depending on the demand for mRNA-based vaccine candidates to address malaria and tuberculosis.

    But researchers and policymakers argue that trust and cooperation are critical for the successful implementation of this innovation.

    The latest estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO) show that industrial development should be combined with national policy for universal health coverage so that local vaccine production can address local health needs.

    Before the inauguration of the BionTech factory in Rwanda, there were fewer than 10 African manufacturers with vaccine production, which are based in five countries: Egypt, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa, and Tunisia.

    The capability to produce vaccines in Africa, according to the UN agency, requires a fully integrated approach, pulling together some key elements including finance, skills development, regulatory facilities, and technology know-how.

    IPS UN Bureau Report


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    © Inter Press Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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  • Trans in Türkiye: The UN ‘breathed life back into my dreams’

    Trans in Türkiye: The UN ‘breathed life back into my dreams’

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    first glance, one would not notice the tumultuous journey that Shiraz has faced in order to find her place in the world. She is studying programming, and dreams of becoming a heart surgeon. She enjoys belly dancing, with her TikTok videos racking up thousands of views and likes.

    However, the perceptive observer would notice scars on her arms, which silently reveal her story.

    “I first identified as a girl when I was a child,” she says. “I yearned to go to a school for girls.”

    © IOM/Enver Mohammed

    Shiraz fled her hometown in Egypt in pursuit of greater freedom to be herself.

    Shiraz’s childhood revelation marked a shift in her life. Her conservative family, unable to comprehend her identity, responded with violence. Later, when she was a teenager, they subjected her to painful electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and convinced her that her identity was a mental disorder.

    “After a couple of sessions, I couldn’t take it anymore and attempted to commit suicide. I jumped from the third floor. I was rescued by people who gathered downstairs.”

    Enduring unimaginable torment, Shiraz failed to receive the necessary support. The difference between her real appearance and the one on her official identity documents made it challenging.

    For a while, she found sanctuary in the home of her grandmother – her only supporter – until she also faced threats of violence. Shiraz was left stranded on the streets.

    It was then that she learned of an NGO helping people like her. Now, having the chance to reflect on her future, she considered the possibility of migrating. This marked the beginning of her journey to Türkiye.

    Scars on her Shiraz's arms tell a story of struggle.

    © IOM/Olga Borzenkova

    Scars on her Shiraz’s arms tell a story of struggle.

    She first moved to Istanbul, then to Mersin in the south. Life was also not easy at the beginning, facing similar challenges, and seeking support and protection.

    “I was depressed. I never imagined returning to education.”

    Shiraz was referred by a local organization to the Mersin Migrant Municipal and Community Centre, run by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in coordination with the Mersin Metropolitan Municipality, that provides comprehensive assistance to those in need – from psychosocial support to legal counselling and facilitation of essential paperwork.

    “It was IOM that breathed life back into my dreams,” she says.

    Over the past two years, the Centre has become a beacon of hope for Shiraz. She received much-needed psychosocial support and help with accommodation. The Centre further provided her translation support to obtain identity documents and helped her enrol in a university in Izmir.

    “I now study at the Programming Faculty, but I want to switch to medicine. I need to improve my Turkish for that,” she explains. “I want to become a heart surgeon, as it our hearts that often hurt. I want to help people.”

    Now in the pipeline for resettlement to a third country, Shiraz anticipates a new chapter in another country and is set to realize her dreams, “like every girl should.” Proficient in Arabic, German, English, French, and Spanish, she is confident in her ability to settle in her permanent home soon.

    The Municipal Migrant and Community Centre in Mersin, a part of IOM’s Protection and Resilience programming, is run in cooperation with the Mersin Metropolitan Municipality. It is one of six centres operating nationwide, which aims to provide needed assistance to migrants and refugees and build cohesion between communities. Support through the centres is made possible by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration.

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  • 2024 Demands Swift Action to Stem Sudans Ruinous Conflict

    2024 Demands Swift Action to Stem Sudans Ruinous Conflict

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    • by Martin Griffith (new york)
    • Inter Press Service

    NEW YORK, Jan 05 (IPS) – Nearly nine months of war have tipped Sudan into a downward spiral that only grows more ruinous by the day. As the conflict spreads, human suffering is deepening, humanitarian access is shrinking, and hope is dwindling. This cannot continue.

    2024 demands that the international community – particularly those with influence on the parties to the conflict in Sudan – take decisive and immediate action to stop the fighting and safeguard humanitarian operations meant to help millions of civilians.

    Now that hostilities have reached the country’s breadbasket in Aj Jazirah State, there is even more at stake. More than 500,000 people have fled fighting in and around the state capital Wad Medani, long a place of refuge for those uprooted by clashes elsewhere.

    Ongoing mass displacement could also fuel the rapid spread of a cholera outbreak in the state, with more than 1,800 suspected cases reported there so far.

    The same horrific abuses that have defined this war in other hotspots – Khartoum, Darfur and Kordofan – are now being reported in Wad Medani. Accounts of widespread human rights violations, including sexual violence, remind us that the parties to this conflict are still failing to uphold their commitments to protect civilians.

    There are also serious concerns about the parties’ compliance with international humanitarian law. Given Wad Medani’s significance as a hub for relief operations, the fighting there – and looting of humanitarian warehouses and supplies – is a body blow to our efforts to deliver food, water, health care and other critical aid.

    Once again, I strongly condemn the looting of humanitarian supplies, which undermines our ability to save lives.

    Across Sudan, nearly 25 million people will need humanitarian assistance in 2024. But the bleak reality is that intensifying hostilities are putting most of them beyond our reach. Deliveries across conflict lines have ground to a halt.

    And though the cross-border aid operation from Chad continues to serve as a lifeline for people in Darfur, efforts to deliver elsewhere are increasingly under threat.

    The escalating violence in Sudan is also imperiling regional stability. The war has unleashed the world’s largest displacement crisis, uprooting the lives of more than 7 million people, some 1.4 million of whom have crossed into neighbouring countries already hosting large refugee populations.

    For Sudan’s people, 2023 was a year of suffering. In 2024, the parties to the conflict must do three things to end it: Protect civilians, facilitate humanitarian access, and stop the fighting – immediately.

    A statement made by Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator

    IPS UN Bureau


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  • Is it Time for Palestine to be Voted UN Member State?

    Is it Time for Palestine to be Voted UN Member State?

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    Mahmoud Abbas (centre right), President of the State of Palestine, addresses an event to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the Nakba, held by the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People on 15 May 2023.
    • by Thalif Deen (united nations)
    • Inter Press Service

    UNITED NATIONS, Jan 05 (IPS) – The atrocities against Palestinians in a ruthlessly devastated Gaza — with over 21,000 mostly civilian deaths in retaliation to the killings of 1,200 inside Israel —have resurrected a longstanding question: is it time for Palestine to be recognized as a full-fledged UN member state?

    The question has also been triggered by a statement by China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security Council (UNSC).

    Addressing the UNSC on December 29, Geng Shuang, Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of China, said: “We support Palestine’s full membership in the UN, and the early resumption of direct negotiations between Palestine and Israel.”

    According to the UN, States are admitted to UN membership by a decision of the 193-member General Assembly upon the recommendation of the 15-member Security Council.

    The resolution needs a two-thirds majority (currently 128 votes) in the General Assembly– and no vetoes in the Security Council.

    And with the crisis in Gaza– and worldwide sympathy towards the Palestinians– would this be the right time to stake that claim?

    But any such move for Palestinian UN membership is most likely to be vetoed by the US which continues its undying loyalty to Israel.

    The State of Palestine was accepted as “a non-member observer state” of the UN General Assembly in November 2012.

    https://www.un.org/unispal/history/

    Mahmoud Abbas (centre right), President of the State of Palestine, addresses an event to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the Nakba, held by the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People on 15 May 2023.

    Asked for his comments on a meeting with Palestinian leader Abbas in Beijing when the Chinese President Xi called for the Palestinians to become a full Member State of the United Nations, UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters last year: “As you know, the decision on Palestine or any other entity moving from observer to Member State or just becoming a Member State is a decision that the Member States themselves can take. It does not involve the Secretary-General.”

    Samir Sanbar, a former UN Assistant Secretary-General and head of the Department of Public Information, told IPS a two thirds majority by the General Assembly was voted recently to overcome a U.S. veto at the Security Council on Gaza.

    “Perhaps that is why the US abstained on a following resolution– perhaps to avoid further isolation, particularly with increasing public support for the Palestinians within the United States, especially among the younger generation.”

    He also pointed out the “diligent work by certain members of the Security Council, including the Arab Council representative of UAE, Ambassador Lana Zaki Nusseibeh.”

    “It is indeed about time for full membership of Palestine at the United Nations since the General Assembly decades ago recognized the full “Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People” and repeated assertions to apply General assembly and Security Council resolutions,” said Sanbar.

    Ramzy Baroud, an author, a syndicated columnist, editor of Palestine Chronicle & a Senior Research Fellow at Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA), told IPS admitting Palestine as a full member at the UN is significant in terms of strengthening Palestine’s political and legal positions in the ongoing attempt to hold Israel accountable for its genocide in Gaza, and military occupation and apartheid in general.

    “It would also send a message to Israel that while it is actively discussing the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians to Congo and elsewhere, the international community sees Palestine as an entity that belongs to the Palestinian people.”

    “History has taught us that Palestine commands the kind of support that would allow it to win the two-thirds majority at the General Assembly”, he pointed out.

    “We also know that countries like China and Russia will fully back this effort at the Security Council. The challenge is the Americans and their vetoes,” he said.

    The Biden Administration has, thus far, proven to be dedicated to the rightwing agenda of the Israeli government, even when Netanyahu’s agenda directly damages US economic and political interests, let alone reputation throughout the Middle East, in fact the world, said Baroud.

    “The US is likely to do everything in its power to block the vote, and, as is often the case, attempt to bribe, and, when needed, threaten those who are likely to support a full Palestinian membership.”

    “We have no reason to believe that Washington will not use the veto considering Israel’s complete rejection of the recognition of Palestine as a full UN member.” declared Baroud.

    The last six members to join the UN include Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Tuvalu (in 2000); Switzerland and Timor-Leste (2002); Montenegro (2006) and South Sudan (2011).

    According to the UN, the procedure for membership is as follows:

      • The State submits an application to the Secretary-General and a letter formally stating that it accepts the obligations under the Charter.
      • The Security Council considers the application. Any recommendation for admission must receive the affirmative votes of 9 of the 15 members of the Council, provided that none of its five permanent members — China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America — have voted against the application.
      • If the Council recommends admission, the recommendation is presented to the General Assembly for consideration. A two-thirds majority vote is necessary in the Assembly for admission of a new State.
      • Membership becomes effective the date the resolution for admission is adopted.

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  • Gaza: Nearly 600 healthcare attacks since start of war, says WHO

    Gaza: Nearly 600 healthcare attacks since start of war, says WHO

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    Some 613 people have died within facilities as a result since 7 October last year and more than 770 have been injured, according to latest data on healthcare attacks from the World Health Organization (WHO).

    Condemning the continuing fighting and bombardment, WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier said that the “ongoing reduction of humanitarian space plus the continuing attacks on healthcare are pushing the people of Gaza to breaking point”.

    Children in the Gaza Strip face a deadly triple threat to their lives, as cases of diseases rise, nutrition plummets and the escalation in hostilities approaches its fourteenth week.

    Thousands of children have already died from the violence, while living conditions for children continue to rapidly deteriorate, with increasing cases of diarrhea and rising food poverty among children, raising the risk of mounting child deaths.

    Hundreds of facilities hit

    WHO’s online platform covering attacks on healthcare indicated that more than 550 medical facilities and vehicles had been impacted in the almost 100 days since constant Israeli airstrikes began in Gaza.

    The attacks have affected 94 healthcare sites including 26 hospitals damaged out of a total of 36 in the enclave.

    ‘Nightmare’ conditions for children: UNICEF

    The head of the UN Children’s Fund UNICEFsaid in a statement on Friday that children in Gaza “are caught in a nightmare that worsens with every passing day”.

    Catherine Russell noted young lives are “increasingly at risk from preventable diseases and lack of food and water. All children and civilians must be protected from violence and have access to basic services and supplies.”

    Cases of diarrhoea in children under five rose from 48,000 to 71,000 in just one week starting 17 December, equivalent to 3,200 new cases of diarrhea per day.

    She said the significant increase indicated child health in Gaza is “fast deteriorating”. Before the escalation in hostilities, an average of 2,000 cases of diarrhea in children under five were recorded per month.

    Relief effort stymied

    In a statement released by Eri Kaneko, Spokesperson for aid coordination office OCHA, humanitarians made clear on Thursday that the speed and volume of relief is being continually hampered by conditions on the ground.

    “The UN and our humanitarian partners are committed to and continue to do all they can to meet the growing needs in Gaza. However, the operating environment and response capacity continues to be hindered by security risks, mobility constraints, delays and denials”, she said.

    “Multiple inspections, long queues of trucks and difficulties at crossing points continue to hamper operations. Inside Gaza, aid operations face constant bombardments, with aid workers themselves killed and some convoys having been shot at.

    She made clear other challenges include poor communications, damaged roads and delays at checkpoints.

    “An effective aid operation in Gaza requires security, staff who can work in safety, logistical capacity and the resumption of commercial activity.”

    142 UNRWA staff killed

    Meanwhile, the UN agency providing help to Palestinians, UNRWA, said that the total number of staff killed since the beginning of hostilities stands at 142.

    The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees also reported that since 7 October last year, up to 1.9 million people have been displaced across the Gaza Strip, some multiple times.

    This number represents over 85 per cent of the population of the Gaza Strip, UNRWA said, adding that families have been forced to move “repeatedly in search of safety”.

    Nearly 1.4 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) now shelter in 155 UNRWA facilities across all five governorates of the Gaza Strip.

    This figure includes 160,000 in the north and Gaza City according to data last revised shortly after the escalation began.

    Another 500,000 people “are in close vicinity of these installations and receiving assistance” from UNRWA, the UN agency said in an update.

    IOM launches $69 million appeal

    The UN’s migration agency IOM launched an urgent appeal on Friday for $69 million to support its response to rising and critical humanitarian needs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

    The appeal also covers neighbouring countries affected by the ongoing hostilities in Gaza.

    In a statement, IOM said that hundreds of thousands of civilians need aid desperately. But getting help to them continues to be hampered by “long clearance procedures for humanitarian aid trucks at the border (and) the intense ground operation and fighting”.

    “Frequent disruption” to communication networks has also prevented humanitarian aid coordination, the UN agency said “along with insecurity, blocked roads and scarcity of fuel”.

    Outside Gaza, IOM noted that deteriorating security situation along border areas between Israel and Lebanon has forced some 76,000 people from their homes in southern Lebanon.

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  • World News in Brief: Gaza relief ‘an impossible mission’, COVID spreading fast again, food prices fall

    World News in Brief: Gaza relief ‘an impossible mission’, COVID spreading fast again, food prices fall

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    “Its people are witnessing daily threats to their very existence – while the world watches on”, warned Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths in a statement, adding that “hope has never been more elusive” amidst deteriorating conditions.

    “The humanitarian community has been left with the impossible mission of supporting more than two million people, even as its own staff are being killed and displaced, as communication blackouts continue, as roads are damaged and convoys are shot at, and as commercial supplies vital to survival are almost non-existent.”

    ‘Famine around the corner’

    Three months on from the horrific 7 October attacks, Gaza has become a place of death and despair, he said, with a public health disaster unfolding before our eyes.

    “Infectious diseases are spreading in overcrowded shelters as sewers spill over. Some 180 Palestinian women are giving birth daily amidst this chaos. People are facing the highest levels of food insecurity ever recorded. Famine is around the corner”, he said.

    But rocket attacks from militants are still raining down on Israel, while more than 120 people are still held hostage in Gaza, he added.

    With tensions in the West Bank at boiling point, and “the spectre of further regional spillover of the war” looming, Mr. Griffiths said that the war must end, “not just for the people of Gaza and its threatened neighbours, but for the generations to come who will never forget these 90 days of hell and of assaults on the most basic precepts of humanity.”

    He concluded with a call for the international community to use all influence possible to end the fighting, meet civilians’ essential needs, and secure the release of all hostages.

    COVID infections rising fast and under-reported, warns WHO

    The UN health agency WHO confirmed on Friday that coronavirus numbers are spiking globally and that we “should expect more cases” in the coming winter months in the northern hemisphere.

    Latest data from the World Health Organization covering the four weeks to 17 December indicated a 52 per cent increase in infections compared with the previous 28-days.

    That amounts to 850,000 new COVID-19 cases reported, but the true figure is likely much higher, according to WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier:

    “You know that all throughout the world and you’ve seen it in many of your own countries, the reporting has dropped, the surveillance centers have dropped, the vaccination centers have dropped, have been dismantled as well or shut down”, he told reporters in Geneva.

    “This, of course, leads to an incomplete picture and we should expect unfortunately more cases than we have officially reported.”

    Most infections have been caused by a new COVID strain called JN.1 which is now under close scrutiny by the UN health agency as a “variant of interest”. JN.1 was reportedly first detected in the United States before spreading across dozens of countries.

    It evolved from the Omicron variant which was linked to a peak in COVID infections in 2022.

    Food price inflation fears ease again: FAO

    The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported on Friday that the Food Price Index ended the year just over 10 per cent below its December 2022 level, further easing concerns over food price inflation worldwide.

    The monthly figure for a basket of traded food commodities was also down around 1.5 per cent for December, averaging 118.5 points, compared with the previous month.

    The sharpest drop came in international sugar quotations, which were some 16.6 per cent down for December on the previous month.

    For 2023, the index was 13.7 percent lower overall than the average value for 2022, with only the international sugar price index higher over the year.

    FAO said the sugar price drop was mainly due to the strong pace of production in Brazil along with reduced use of sugarcane for ethanol production in India.

    The cereal price index rose 1.5 per cent in December, with wheat, maize, rice and parley all rising due to shipment limitations experienced by exporters. Cereal prices for the year however we more than 15 per cent below the 2022 average.

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  • Homeless Families Now a Growing Issue in Zimbabwe

    Homeless Families Now a Growing Issue in Zimbabwe

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    Gladys Mugabe (69) lives with her disabled son in Harare Gardens, a well-known recreational park in the Zimbabwean capital. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo/IPS
    • by Jeffrey Moyo (harare)
    • Inter Press Service

    HARARE, Jan 04 (IPS) – It is do or die on the streets of Zimbabwe as homeless families battle for survival solely depending on begging. Such is the life of 69-year-old Gladys Mugabe, who lives with her disabled son in Harare Gardens, a well-known recreational park in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare.

    Over the decades, Zimbabwe’s economy has underperformed. It started in 2000 with the departure of white commercial farmers, and the country has experienced subsequent periods of hyperinflation, which the International Monetary Fund estimated reached 172% in July last year.

    ISS Africa estimates that two out of five Zimbabweans were living in extreme poverty (living on less than US$3.20 per day) in 2019, and although this “poverty rate of nearly 45% is projected to decline to 20% by 2043, 4.7 million Zimbabweans will be living in extreme poverty on the current path.”

    Many, like Mugabe, find themselves in their open-air dwellings, and it would seem that being homeless has become a perpetual crisis.

    Trynos Munzira, a 43-year-old vendor in Harare, feels that the homeless have moved into the area, making it unsafe for regular people like him to visit the streets and parks.

    “People of my age—the 43-year-olds, the 44s—we used to frequent recreational parks, wiling away time, but nowadays it’s impossible because the homeless are all over the parks, contaminating the parks, and there in the parks, they just relieve themselves anywhere,” Munzira told IPS.

    Another Harare resident, 33-year-old Nonhlanhla Mandundu, said: “We have suffered because of homeless people who are picking left-over food containers from rubbish bins and leaving these on the streets; they have no toilets because all the toilets in towns are paid for, and so they relieve themselves all over town and urinate anywhere.”

    Meanwhile, Zimbabwe’s countrywide housing shortage is estimated at 1,25 million units, translating to a national backlog of five million citizens, or over 40 percent of the total population.

    As such, more than 1.2 million Zimbabweans remain on the government’s national housing waiting list.

    But this list is not likely to include everybody, like 21-year-old David Paina, an orphan who fled from his foster parents due to abuse. He moved to the streets for safety.

    “I started living here in Harare Gardens in 2012. What drove me here was the abuse I faced living with people who were not my parents. I am just crying for help from well-wishers so that I may do better in life,” Paina told IPS.

    Yet authorities in the Zimbabwean regime often don’t address the situation of the homeless.

    “I left the housing ministry. I am no longer allowed to talk about such issues,” July Moyo, the current Zimbabwean Minister of Local Government, told IPS.

    As authorities like Moyo evade accountability, more than two decades after the land reform program here, homeless families have turned out to be a growing issue in every town and city.

    Some teenage parents and their children also find themselves on the streets. Although the method of their relocation varies, they frequently experience eviction, move from door to door, find lodging with family and friends, and eventually end up living on the streets where they don’t need to pay rent.

    Baba Ano (19) said he started his family on the streets of Harare not so long ago.

    In cold and heat, these homeless families find life tough and uncertain, yet they have no choice except to soldier on.

    “I came here in October last year. The rain has been pounding me all this time in the open here. Up to now, I am still living here. I am looking for help with accommodation. I have my son, who is disabled, staying with me,” Mugabe told IPS.

    There are no official statistics from the country’s Ministry of Social Welfare documenting the number of homeless families.

    Local authorities have acknowledged the homelessness crisis that has gripped many Zimbabweans but don’t seem to have any ready answers.

    “It’s true we have a problem of homeless people in Harare—in Harare Gardens, Mabvuku Park, Budiriro, Mufakose, Mabelreign, and several others—all these parks have been taken over by homeless families. People are living in the streets and waking up every day, breaking up water pipes to access water, digging holes on the ground to trap water for bathing, and they bathe right there,” Denford Ngadziore, an opposition Citizens Coalition for Change Ward 16 councilor in Harare, told IPS.

    Stanely Gama, the Harare City Council spokesperson, said, “We have homeless people for sure who live in parks like Harare Gardens, Mabelreign, and Africa Unity Square. We always do operations to remove them, but we don’t know where they come from, and each time they are removed, they always come back. This is a case to be better handled by the government’s Social Welfare Department.”

    But lack of housing may not be the only factor that has rendered many Zimbabweans homeless, according to human rights activists.

    Some may be ex-convicts who struggle to return to society.

    “People who stay on the streets or in recreational parks are young children and adults—as young as 10. Some of the homeless adults living on the streets are ex-convicts who could not find acceptance with their relatives back home, forcing them to live on the streets and in recreational parks because they have nowhere to go,” said Peace Hungwe, founder of PeaceHub Zimbabwe, an organization that handles mental health cases in Harare.

    While the authorities dither, Mugabe counts her losses.

    “Where I used to stay, the plot of land was sold, and my belongings were burned in the house in which I used to live. Nothing was saved of all the things I worked to generate for the past 25 years. I am now just a nobody; the things you see gathered here are my only belongings in this world.”

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  • There Is No Democracy Without Gender Equality

    There Is No Democracy Without Gender Equality

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    Credit: UNDP El Salvador
    • Opinion by Maria Noel Vaeza, Michelle Muschett (panama city, panama)
    • Inter Press Service

    PANAMA CITY, Panama, Jan 04 (IPS) – Violence against women and girls is one of the most widespread and persistent abuses of fundamental rights at a global level that, to a certain extent, derives from what we consider “normal” in our societies. In addition to firmly condemning that every three women in the world suffer from physical or sexual violence, we must question what we are normalizing as a society for this to happen.

    Faced with this question, the Gender Social Norms Index published by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) reveals that 90% of the population has at least one fundamental prejudice against women, which ranges from believing that men are better business leaders and that they have more rights than women to take a job, to the conviction that it is okay for a man to be violent with his partner.
    Gender violence is not a phenomenon that arises out of nowhere and its prevention and eradication also require each of us to be aware of our own biases.

    At UN Women and UNDP, we work to reduce gender discrimination and transform sexist attitudes by promoting social norms and positive gender roles. This requires empowering girls and women and working with the entire society to remove stereotypes that promote violent masculinities.

    To achieve this, at UN Women we apply the behavioral sciences to involve men and commit them to the prevention of violence against women and girls with more effective awareness campaigns that adapt to the reality of each country in the region. Social norms that limit women’s rights also harm society, they hinder the expansion of human development and increase inequality gaps.

    It is no coincidence that the difficulty in achieving progress in social gender norms occurs during a human development crisis. The global Human Development Index (HDI) lost value in 2020 for the first time in history; the same thing happened the following year.

    In turn, for Latin America and the Caribbean, the UNDP estimated – based on its proposal for a Multidimensional Poverty Index with a focus on women, that 27.4% of women in 10 countries in the region live in conditions of multidimensional poverty.

    The impact of poverty on women varies depending on their location in the territory: in the 16 countries analyzed, 19% of those who live in urban areas are multidimensional poor, while 58% live in rural areas.

    The poorest women are those who face greater inequalities, participate less in the labor market, and experience greater time poverty caused by excessive unpaid care work.

    These inequality gaps, in addition to being a barrier to human development, are a threat to democracy. Latin America and the Caribbean, the third most democratic region in the world and the only emerging region that aspires to – and still has the possibility of – achieving development through democracy and respect for human rights, will not achieve it if it continues to be the most violent and dangerous region for women.

    The Gender Social Norms Index (GSNI) quantifies biases against women, capturing people’s attitudes on women’s roles along four key dimensions: political, educational, economic and physical integrity. The index, covering 85 percent of the global population, reveals that close to 9 out of 10 men and women hold fundamental biases against women. Credit: UNDP

    The Latinobarometro 2023 report points out a clear democratic decline in Latin America: the percentage of its population that sees democracy as the preferred form of government fell from 60% in 2000 to 48% in 2023. Women remain underrepresented in decision-making decisions and are the most dissatisfied with democracy with 70%.

    At the same time, according to the latest data reported by official organizations to the Gender Equality Observatory of Latin America and the Caribbean, in 2022, at least 4,050 women saw their lives cut short. 4,004 from Latin America and 46 from the Caribbean, from 26 countries in the region, were victims of femicide or feminicide.

    This is a clear sign that despite the progress in several countries in the region with the approval of specific and comprehensive legal frameworks and the establishment of specialized prosecutors and protocols to respond to gender violence, the fundamental rights of women continue without translating into tangible achievements.

    Without effective governance and solid institutions that guarantee women and girls the full enjoyment of their rights, including the right to live a life free of violence and discrimination, it will be impossible to regain confidence in democracy in the region.

    In building more peaceful, just, and inclusive societies, universal access to justice is essential to eradicate gender violence and impunity. Girls, adolescents, and women who suffer violence do not find sufficient protection in the judicial system, and when they have the courage to report, they are often re-victimized until they give up their complaint and seek help and protection from the authorities. public institutions.

    At the same time, these women have a triple workload: they face caretaker tasks, domestic work and their paid jobs, which are usually precarious, informal and low-income.

    Furthermore, much of the impetus for the judicial process falls on the complainant, who must not only appear before the court on numerous occasions, but also bear the financial costs of transportation, the difficulties in organizing household responsibilities, and the fear of retaliation by the aggressor or members of their communities.

    To this must be added both the possible lack of knowledge that many women may have about judicial or extrajudicial procedures, as well as the difficulties in accessing free services and/or ignorance of their existence. There is also little or no public information about specialized services.

    For example, in the case of experiencing violence, there is usually distrust on the part of women regarding the speed and effectiveness of the judicial response to their situation and, they also often face practices of re-victimization such as being forced to tell the facts on several occasions. or have their testimony called into question.

    From UNDP and UN Women, we call to build more just societies for women. All people and societies can advance through education, social mobilization, adoption of legal and political measures, advocacy for greater budgets to prevent violence, promotion of dialogue, and search for consensus to break down biases and open passage to more peaceful, secure, fair, inclusive, and egalitarian societies as a requirement to leave no one behind on the path towards sustainable development.

    María Noel Vaeza is regional director of UN Women for the Americas and the Caribbean;
    Michelle Muschett is regional director of UNDP for Latin America and the Caribbean.

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  • Will the Human Rights Movement Survive the Gaza War?

    Will the Human Rights Movement Survive the Gaza War?

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    Destruction in Gaza Strip. Credit: UNICEF/Hassan Islyeh
    • Opinion by Connor Echols (washington dc)
    • Inter Press Service

    WASHINGTON DC, Jan 03 (IPS) – In its military campaign in Gaza, Israel faces a seemingly endless list of alleged human rights violations. International monitors argue the Israel Defense Forces have starved Gazans, targeted journalists attempting to cover the carnage, tortured detainees, and attacked hospitals full of wounded civilians.

    The U.S. — a passionate backer of civilian protections in Ukraine — has struggled to find the right way to address these claims while still standing by its long-time partner. The bombing has been “indiscriminate,” says President Joe Biden, but perhaps it will improve tomorrow. Killing more than 10,000 women and children in two months is not “genocide,” argues White House spokesperson John Kirby, but Hamas’ brutal Oct. 7 attacks were.

    If human rights are fundamentally a matter of world consensus, then what does it tell us that the United States threatens to cast a second veto against a United Nations Security Council resolution begging for a humanitarian suspension of fighting?

    What does it mean when a supposed champion of human rights seems to jettison them when it becomes inconvenient? For that matter, why should Israel care about human rights when it perceives its fight as existential?

    Displaced Palestinians wait for food at Al-Shaboura camp, in Rafah. Credit: WHO

    Kenneth Roth has a unique perspective on these questions. Roth, considered by many to be a dean of the human rights movement, spent nearly three decades as the executive director of Human Rights Watch before stepping down last year to become a visiting professor at Princeton University.

    Under his leadership, HRW drew flak for, among other things, declaring Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories to be apartheid, all while documenting in meticulous detail abuses committed by Palestinian groups, including Hamas.

    RS spoke with Roth to get his thoughts on human rights at a time of crisis. The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

    Responsible Statecraft (RS): How would you rate the Biden administration’s handling of the Gaza crisis from a human rights perspective?

    Roth: The Biden administration has been far too deferential to the Israeli Government, despite the pretty clear commission of war crimes in Gaza. And while the administration has pushed to ameliorate some of those war crimes — by pressing for humanitarian access, by urging greater attention to avoiding civilian casualties — that rhetorical push has not been backed by the use of the leverage that the administration has that might have really put pressure on the Israeli government to stop, whether that would be withholding or conditioning ongoing arm sales or military assistance, or even allowing a Security Council resolution to go forward.

    RS: What would a better approach look like?

    Roth: The initial problem was that Biden pretty unconditionally wrapped himself in the Israeli government’s response to the horrible October 7 attacks by Hamas. If you look at his initial comments, while there were caveats written in about the need to respect humanitarian law, there was no emotional punch behind them.

    It was pretty clear that Biden simply stood with Israel and was giving it a green light to proceed with its military response to Hamas without much effort, at least during the first few weeks, to ensure that that response really did comply with humanitarian law. So, I think the Israeli government got the message that the references to humanitarian law were necessary for certain audiences, but that the administration’s heart was not in them.

    RS: Would a more forceful form of messaging at the start have led to different results?

    Roth: Obviously, it’s hard to know the counterfactual. But the U.S. government, which has the greatest leverage of any external actor, didn’t really use that leverage to ensure that its periodic rhetorical commitment to the need to respect humanitarian law was matched by its much more forceful embrace of the Israeli military response to Hamas.

    RS: I’ve seen some reporting that the State Department has done internal inquiries as to whether U.S. officials could be legally complicit if Israel is found to have committed war crimes in Gaza. Do you have any thoughts on that question?

    Roth: Well, they could be. Biden’s references to the Israeli military conducting indiscriminate bombing were clearly not just a verbal slip. It probably reflected the internal conversations that the administration has. The second one even seems to have been somewhat deliberate.

    And the significance of that is that indiscriminate bombardment is a war crime. As any administration lawyer would know, continuing to provide weapons to a force that is engaged in war crimes can make the sender guilty of aiding and abetting war crimes.

    That is not some crazy, wacko theory. That was the basis on which former Liberian President Charles Taylor was convicted by an internationally backed tribunal, the so-called Special Court for Sierra Leone, for providing weapons to the Sierra Leonean rebel group known as the Revolutionary United Front, a group that was notorious for chopping off the limbs of its victims.

    Because Taylor kept providing arms in return for the RUF’s diamonds while he knew the RUF was committing these war crimes, this internationally-backed tribunal found him guilty of aiding and abetting, convicted him, and sentenced him to 50 years in prison, which he is currently serving in a British prison.

    RS: My next question is a little tricky, but I’m curious how you approach it. Israel claims that this war is a fight for its very survival. Why should a country that views itself as being in that position care about respecting human rights?

    Roth: Well, I think the question is why should it care about adhering to international humanitarian law and protocols. It’s worth noting that humanitarian law was not drafted by a bunch of human rights activists and peaceniks. This was drafted by the world’s leading militaries. It was designed for war, for situations where governments often feel that they are existentially at risk, and these were the limits that the world’s leading militaries imposed on themselves. Israel has signed on to these standards, and it claims to abide by them. It has many capable lawyers who could be applying them. It just isn’t applying them.

    It probably requires a certain psychological analysis to figure out why, but some of the signals being sent from the top indicate a willingness to disregard the requirements of humanitarian law. When you have Defense Minister Galant referring to the residents of Gaza as “human animals,” when you have Netanyahu invoking the biblical story of Amalek in which there’s a divine injunction to not spare the men, women, children, or animals, these are not-so-subtle signals that the top political and military leadership in Israel doesn’t care that much about civilian casualties. This has seemed to have manifested itself in the indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks that the Israeli military has carried out in Gaza.

    RS: It seems to me that focusing on war crimes or potential war crimes can sometimes lead to really bad policy outcomes. In this case, Israel is really spotlighting Hamas’ alleged war crimes. You think back to the war in Iraq, where there was a lot of highlighting of Saddam’s alleged war crimes. How can advocacy for human rights avoid supporting unfettered militarism?

    Roth: First, I think it’s important to note that war crimes by one side do not justify war crimes by the other. If a warring party could cite the other side’s war crimes, you would quickly have no more Geneva Conventions because allegations of war crimes are often made in the passions of conflict. The fact that some people have committed war crimes — in this case, both sides — doesn’t justify that others resort to criminal conduct. Now, in terms of military action, few people contest that Israel had every right to respond to Hamas’ military attack. It was an extraordinarily lethal military attack. It was ruthless, with widespread murder, rape, abduction, and indiscriminate bombardment. So with an attack of that sort, no one should be surprised that the Israeli government responds. The only real question was, will it respond consistent with humanitarian law? Or would it flout that law?

    RS: What does all this mean — especially the fact of the U.S. seemingly taking a step back in advocacy for the protection of human rights — what does all this mean for the state of human rights today?

    Roth: It is harmful because the U.S. government is such a powerful voice, and when it does seem to make an exception in its human rights advocacy for a close ally like Israel, it discredits the U.S. as a voice for human rights around the world. Now, I should say this is not the only instance of inconsistency on the part of Washington. We’re seeing it as well as the Biden administration tries to build alliances to oppose Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or to contain China. So while the administration has spoken numerous times about its fundamental commitment to human rights, it’s been a very inconsistent commitment. And that inconsistency is probably most visible in the Middle East, which has been essentially a black hole in the administration’s human rights policy. It’s very difficult to be so permissive of human rights violations in one region of the world and have a whole lot of credibility on human rights in other parts of the world.

    This means that one of those powerful voices we have has weakened itself. It’s not the first time that has happened. Under Trump, the U.S. essentially abandoned any pretense of enforcing human rights. Prior administrations have had comparable inconsistencies. The U.S. still has been able to be a useful voice for human rights, despite these inconsistencies, in some cases, but it is a much weaker voice than if it had really been principled and consistent.

    RS: How do you see the future of the push to get states to protect human rights? Are we in a moment of crisis that galvanizes change?

    Roth: If you look at the various efforts to uphold human rights, they’ve been quite vigorous in certain cases. There has been a very strong response to Russian war crimes in Ukraine, complete with multiple General Assembly resolutions, the Human Rights Council standing up a commission of inquiry, the International Criminal Court launching an immediate investigation and actually charging Putin and one of his aides with war crimes.

    A place where it’s been weaker has been, say, China’s crimes against humanity against the Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang, where we came within two votes of putting on the agenda a discussion of then-UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet’s very strong report on what she called possible crimes against humanity. But we didn’t even get that agenda item, so that’s a place where the world has been much weaker.

    But there’s been greater mobilization, greater willingness to speak out on a range of other situations, whether that be Myanmar or Iran, Saudi abuses in Yemen for a time, Sudan, Ethiopia for a time, Venezuela, Nicaragua. So the idea that because there’s this black hole in U.S. human rights policy, therefore nothing can get done, that’s just not true. A lot gets done, but the defense of human rights is weaker because the U.S. has been an inconsistent supporter of the effort.

    Source: Responsible Statecraft (RS)

    Connor Echols is a reporter for Responsible Statecraft. He was previously an associate editor at the Nonzero Foundation, where he co-wrote a weekly foreign policy newsletter. Echols received his bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University, where he studied journalism and Middle East and North African Studies.

    The views expressed by authors on Responsible Statecraft do not necessarily reflect those of the Quincy Institute or its associates.

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  • Fear as Russian Anti-LGBT Law Comes into Effect

    Fear as Russian Anti-LGBT Law Comes into Effect

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    The Russian Supreme Court ruling making the “international LGBT movement” an extremist organization will come into effect on January 9, 2024. Graphic: IPS
    • by Ed Holt (bratislava)
    • Inter Press Service

    BRATISLAVA, Jan 03 (IPS) – “This is what you get after ten years of state propaganda and brainwashing,” says Anatolii*.

    The Moscow-based LGBT rights activist’s ire is directed at a recent ruling by Russia’s Supreme Court declaring the “international LGBT movement” an extremist organization.

    Details of the ruling, made on November 30 after a closed hearing, have yet to be made public—it will not be enforced until January 9, 2024, and until then, no one is likely to be any the wiser about its practical implementation, says Anatolii.

    But its vagueness—critics point out that no “international LGBT movement” exists as an organization—has already fueled fears that it could lead to the arbitrary prosecution of anyone involved in any activities supporting the LGBT community.

    And the potential punishments for such support are draconian, with participating in or financing an extremist organization carrying a maximum 12-year prison sentence under Russian law.

    In the weeks since the ruling was announced, fear has spread among LGBT people.

    “Russian queers are really scared,” Anatolii tells IPS.

    But while fearful, many see it as the latest, if potentially the most drastic, act in a decade-long campaign by the Kremlin to marginalise and vilify the LGBT community in the country through legislation and political rhetoric.

    The first legislative attack on the community came in 2013, not long after Vladimir Putin had returned to power as President, when a law came into effect banning “the propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations” to anyone under the age of 18.

    This was followed by increasingly homophobic political discourse, and Kremlin campaigns—prominently backed by the country’s powerful Orthodox Church—promoting ‘traditional family values’ in society and casting LGBT activism as a product of the degenerate West and a threat to Russian identity.

    Then in 2022, the ban on “LGBT propaganda” was extended to cover all public information or activities supporting LGBT rights or displaying non-heterosexual orientation and implicitly linked the LGBT community with paedophilia—the law refers to the “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations and/or preferences, paedophilia, and sex change.”

    A ban on same sex marriage has also been written into the constitution; authorities have labelled a number of LGBT organizations as “foreign agents,” stigmatizing them and forcing them to adhere to a set of funding and bureaucratic requirements that can be liquidating, and earlier this year a law was passed banning transgender people officially or medically changing their gender.

    With each new piece of pernicious legislation, and an accompanying rise in intensity and normalization of homophobic hate speech from politicians, the LGBT community has suffered, its members say.

    “The Supreme Court ruling is just a continuation of Russia’s homophobic policies. The amount of physical violence against LGBT people has been growing in Russia for 10 years. After each such law, it intensifies even more noticeably,” Yaroslav Rasputin, editor at the Russian-language LGBT website www.parniplus.com, told IPS.

    “We expect homophobes will feel justified in attacking LGBT people , both through cyberbullying and physical assaults,” he added.

    Members of the LGBT community and rights campaigners who spoke to IPS said there was a desperate fear among many LGBT people now. While the threat of physical violence was often felt as being very real, there was also a crippling concern over the uncertainty many would now face in their daily activities.

    Many do not know what will constitute “support” for the LGBT community. Some are trawling through years of social media records, deleting any possible positive references to LGBT or reposted messages on the topic for fear of the information being used against them by authorities.

    And there are worries that simply being openly gay could somehow be interpreted as extremism.

    Lawyers who have advised LGBT people and groups in the past say that it will be much easier for security forces to initiate and prosecute cases of extremism than propaganda, as the latter is more difficult to prove.

    “Although the government says these ‘repressions’ concern only political activists, in reality this is not the case. We know this from previous homophobic laws. Sometimes people spontaneously get caught for who they are. No one knows when it will be safe to come out and when not,” said Rasputin.

    Anatolii said the organisation he works for has been inundated with calls from people “in panic and despair” over the ruling, many of whom are looking for help to leave the country.

    LGBT groups outside Russia have also reported a huge uptick in calls from people trying to find safe passage to other countries.

    “We have seen a dramatic increase in the number of people contacting us, perhaps three or four times more. LGBT people in Russia are really worried about the ruling; they don’t know what might be defined as extremist,” Aleksandr Kochekovskii from the Berlin-based organisation Quarteera e. V, which helps LGBT refugees and migrants to arrive and find their way around Germany, told IPS.

    “Unfortunately, a lot of people will leave Russia because of this ruling because they feel in danger. There is a ubiquitous psychological pressure on LGBT people in Russia now,” he added.

    Even some openly gay figures in Russia have publicly acknowledged that LGBT people may be forced to flee the country.

    “This is real repression. There is panic in Russia’s LGBT community. People are emigrating urgently. The actual word we’re using is evacuation. We’re having to evacuate from our own country. It’s terrible,” Sergei Troshin, a gay municipal deputy in St Petersburg, told the BBC.

    But others warn the Kremlin may be looking to use the ruling to crack down on the community as a whole as much as individuals.

    “At this point, the state’s main goal is to erase the LGBT community from society and history,” Mikhail*, a Russian LGBT activist who recently left the country and now works for a pan-European NGO campaigning for minority health rights, told IPS. “It is hard to imagine how many organisations defending the rights of LGBT people will be able to exist in Russia any more since such support is advocating terrorism,” he added.

    Some such organisations have already decided to close in the wake of the ruling. The Russian LGBT Sports Federation announced it had stopped its activities, and one of the most prominent LGBT groups in the country, Delo, which provided legal assistance to people in the community, also closed following the court decision.

    But other mainstays of the LGBT community are also shutting their doors. The owners of one of the oldest gay clubs in Russia, “Central Station” in St Petersburg, said they had been forced to close the club after the site’s owners refused to rent to them. Its closure came as other gay clubs and bars in Moscow were raided by police just 24 hours after the Supreme Court ruling. People’s names taken, and ID documents copied.

    Although police said the raids were part of anti-drug operations, LGBT activists said they could see the true purpose behind them.

    “The state has made it very clear that it is ready to use the apparatus of force against LGBT people in Russia,” said Mikhail.

    But the ruling is also expected to have effects for LGBT people beyond their interactions with other individuals or groups within the community.

    Accessing specific healthcare services, for instance, seems likely to become more difficult.  Some practitioners, such as psychiatrists and psychologists, have until now openly indicated their services as LGBT-friendly. But according to some Russian media reports, it is thought many will no longer be able or willing to do so, and that others may simply stop providing their services to LGBT people altogether out of fear of repercussions.

    Experts warn that without qualified help, the risks of suicide, PTSD, and the development of other mental disorders will rise, especially among children, something that was seen after the first law banning the promotion of LGBT to minors was passed in 2013.

    International rights groups have condemned the court ruling and urged other countries to provide a safe haven for those forced to flee Russia and to support Russian LGBT activists working both inside and outside the country.

    Whatever the effects of the law eventually are once it is fully implemented, it looks unlikely there will be any improvement for the LGBT community in the near future.

    Activists predict anti-LGBT political rhetoric will probably only intensify as President Putin looks to cement support among voters ahead of elections in March, and as the Kremlin tries to draw the public’s attention away from the country’s problems, not least those connected to the war raging in Ukraine.

    “It’s easier to create an artificial enemy than to struggle with the real problems the war has caused. The LGBT+ community in Russia is a kind of collective scapegoat, taking a punch and feeling the people’s wrath,” said Anatolii.

    Others say that as the war drags on, repression of the LGBT community may start being repeated among other minority groups.

    “Everything the Kremlin does in Russia is an attempt to divert people’s attention from the war. ‘Othering’ is typical for all dictatorial regimes. I am quite sure that soon will start targeting other groups like migrants and foreigners,” Nikolay Lunchenkov, LGBT Health Coordinator for the Eurasian Coalition on Health, Rights, Gender, and Sexual Diversity NGO, which works with the LGBT community in Russia, told IPS.

    Note: *Names have been changed for safety reasons.


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  • Nigeria Prioritizes Climate Action to Mitigate Natural Disasters

    Nigeria Prioritizes Climate Action to Mitigate Natural Disasters

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    • Opinion by Leon Usigbe (abuja, nigeria)
    • Inter Press Service

    ABUJA, Nigeria, Jan 02 (IPS) – In 2022 alone, flooding killed at least 662 people, injured 3,174, displaced about 2.5 million, and destroyed 200,000 houses individuals.

    As far back as 2012, the World Bank reported that erosion was affecting over 6,000 square kilometres of land in the country, with about 3,400 square kilometres highly exposed.

    Back then, gully erosion was doing an estimated $100 million worth of damage each year, according to the team behind the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP).

    Under the NEWMAP, the country began working with the World Bank to rehabilitate degraded lands and reduce erosion and climate vulnerability in 23 states. The project had four work streams:

      1. Investing in erosion and watershed management infrastructure to reduce land degradation,
      2. Developing information services to strengthen erosion and watershed monitoring and disaster risk management,
      3. Strengthening Nigeria’s strategic framework for climate action to promote low carbon development, and
      4. Supporting project management at federal and state levels with financial, social and environmental safeguards and oversight, outreach, and project monitoring and evaluation.

    The outcomes reported in 2021 were positive: the project benefitted 35,000 people directly and more than 100,000 indirectly through small grants to community interest groups. The team trained 185,058 persons, 42 percent of them women.

    On the first work stream, the project more than doubled the land under sustainable management, completed nearly five dozen participatory surface water management plans and reduced gully erosion considerably.

    On the second, it made drafted environmental impact assessment guidelines and launched over a hundred automated hydrology and meteorology and flood early warning systems in the region.

    The government is restoring lands in the northern states of Bauchi, Jigawa and Sokoto by planting thousands of tree seeds and seedlings.

    On the third, the country issued green bonds to spark private investment in climate smart projects, such as distributing fuel-efficient cookstoves and developing solar-based electricity generators for rural health centers.

    On the fourth, the team tested the use of remote sensing, geographic information system techniques, and 360-degree cameras and drones for remote supervision and grievance resolution.

    Overall, NEWMAP showed Nigeria’s appetite for action and results.

    Calls for accelerated action

    Currently, about 178 local government areas (LGAs) in 32 of 36 states in Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory fall within the highly probable flood risk areas, according to the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA). Another 224 of the country’s 744 LGAs fall within moderately probable flood risk areas, and 372 fall within probable flood risk areas.

    Nigeria’s more than 830 kilometres of coastline are increasingly threatened by floods, erosion, water and air pollution. Communities in the Niger Delta states bordering the Atlantic Ocean have lost or fear losing their homes and farmlands due to the eroding bedrock shielding the shoreline.

    Forests are disappearing because of desertification. According to Action Against Desertification, only half the forests that existed in 2007 remain in the area where it operates.

    Suleiman Hussein Adamu, minister of water resources through May 2023, had warned that floods would take a high toll on life and livelihoods, agriculture, livestock, infrastructure and the environment.

    The frequency of natural disasters in the country links to climate change, according to Alhaji Musa Zakari, director of human resource management at the National Emergency Management Agency, responsible for managing disasters in Nigeria.

    “Nigeria may need to re-examine some fundamentally new and more efficient approach to disaster management,” Mr. Zakari said in an interview.

    New approaches

    In August, Nigeria’s National Defence College (NDC) presented the government with its research findings, “Building Climate Resilience for Enhanced National Security: Strategic Options for Nigeria by 2035.” It recommended adopting strategies to achieve the short-, medium- and long-term objectives in climate adaptation programmes.

    Vice President Kashim Shettima said the current administration was prioritizing climate change interventions to address desertification, coastal erosion and flooding by collaborating with relevant individuals and institutions.

    The government shares the “concerns for the security implications of underestimating the devastations of climate change,” he said, while receiving the NDC report.

    Part of the government’s strategy is to inform the public of preventive measures that save lives and reduce damage to property and infrastructure.

    In addition, through the Great Green Wall initiative, which aims to increase the size of arable land in the Sahel, the government is restoring lands in the northern states of Bauchi, Jigawa and Sokoto by planting thousands of tree seeds and seedlings.

    Said Vice President Shettima, “It is heartening to witness the alignment between findings and our government’s policy objectives, reinforcing our belief that a holistic and comprehensive approach is essential to tackling these challenges effectively.”

    Source: Africa Renewal, a United Nations digital magazine that covers Africa’s economic, social and political developments.

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  • Europes Shift to the Far Right and its Impact on Immigration

    Europes Shift to the Far Right and its Impact on Immigration

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    • Opinion by Daud Khan, Leila Yasmine Khan (rome and amsterdam)
    • Inter Press Service

    ROME and AMSTERDAM, Jan 02 (IPS) – The recent elections in the Netherlands signals the increasing power of the far right in Europe. The populist party of Geert Wilders, the Party for Freedom, won a decisive, albeit unexpected, victory taking 37 seats out the 150 seat in parliament. Wilders will likely be the head of the next Government. His policies include stopping all immigration into the Netherlands, holding a referendum on leaving the EU, and banning mosques and the Quran.

    Daud Khan

    Welder’s victory is part of a general shift to the far-right in Europe. It follows that of Giorgia Meloni in Italy who has been heading a coalition, headed by the strongly anti-immigrant Brother of Italy, for over a year. In Germany, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) has been increasing its power at both national and regional level. In France there is already talk of the far-right, anti-immigrant leader, Marie Le Pen being the next president.

    So what explains the success of far-right, anti-immigrant parties in countries that have a long history of being relatively liberal and inclusive. And, more importantly what will happen now that they are in power, or are increasingly influential.

    A key factor in their rise to power is their ability to peddle the narrative that the problems of the Common People are largely due to immigrants, and to an ill-defined political and economic Elite that is only interested in maintaining their power and profits.

    According to the populist right, Europe is being overrun by people of a different skin color, with different language or accents, and with a different culture or religion. These foreign people are taking our jobs and businesses, depriving us of housing and acting as a drain on the welfare system. They are also responsible for most of the crimes, in particular theft, drugs and violence against women.

    This narrative had strong appeal in economically deprived areas, among the lesser educated, and among workers who have lost jobs due to globalization, automation and outsourcing. These people form the core support group of the right wing populist parties. However, their recent successes have been largely due to their appeal to the middle classes that makes up the bulk of the population in Europe.

    Leila Yasmine Khan

    This middle class is increasingly fearful and apprehensive with regard to the future. The reasons include growing inequality and stagnant real wages; economic difficulties due to rising prices and high interest rates; anxieties about the impact of climate change, automation and AI; and uncertainties about the future due to rising international tensions and the fragmentation of global supply chains that had brought trillions of dollars of cheap consumer good into Europe. Many people in Europe now believe that the next generation may have a lower standard than this one.

    This middle class has been disillusioned with the traditional parties of the left and of the right. They see little real difference between the two and are looking for what they consider real change. Initially the choice fell to parties that were new, but not too radical – parties such as Emmanuelle Macron’s En Marche! Party, or the Five Star Movement in Italy. However, as perceived problems deepened, the choice has shifted to the more radical right.

    But now that the far-right parties have power and influence, what should one expect they will do particularly with regard to immigration which was a major aspect of their appeal. Will they really try to fulfill their election promises to stop or reduce immigration. The scope for maneuver is limited.

    Due to slower population growth, there are fewer people of working age in most of Europe. Moreover, they tend to avoid jobs that imply long hours and hard physical effort, such as unskilled and semi-skilled jobs in agriculture, industry, construction and logistics. There is also little interest in jobs that require unsocial hours, such as home help, cleaning, care for the elderly and nursing. Immigrants are essential to fill these gaps.

    In addition, immigrants are increasingly propping up the welfare state in most western European countries. Notwithstanding the rhetoric about “scroungers” on the welfare state, immigrants are net contributors to state coffers – they generally pay more in taxes than they draw in benefits. And, as low reproductive rates continue and populations continue to age, Governments expenditures on pensions and health care will rise. The tax contribution of immigrants will be critical to fund this.

    For these reasons it is simply not possible to stop immigration or to send immigrants back. Given the limited space for maneuver, anti-immigrant parties will most likely not make any serious attempt to get rid of immigrants or even to reduce immigration. They may soften or even backtrack on their positions on immigration. Maybe they will come up with qualifiers such as “we are only against illegal immigrants; only immigrants involved in criminal activities will be expelled; and actually, all honest, hardworking immigrants are welcome”.

    However, explicitly backtracking may be politically risky. It is more likely that these right wing parties will continue with their anti-immigrant rhetoric. This would serve several purposes. It will instill uncertainty and fear in the minds of immigrants; ensure that they do not organize and ask for higher wages or benefits; and that they stay in the shadows and not try to occupy political space.

    These actions will very much appeal to unemployed workers and the apprehensive middle classes who voted in the right wing parties. More critically, it will also appeal to “big business” who are now caught between a tight domestic labor markets and rising costs.

    If correct, does this mean that the swing to the far-right in Europe is here to stay? It would be such a pity as it would mean that one of the bastions of liberal values will transform into a classist society with a low wage sub-proletariat who have few rights and privileges.

    Daud Khan a retired UN staff based in Rome. He has degrees in economics from the LSE and Oxford – where he was a Rhodes Scholar; and a degree in Environmental Management from the Imperial College of Science and Technology.

    Leila Yasmine Khan is an independent writer and editor based in the Netherlands. She has Master’s degrees in Philosophy and in Argumentation and Rhetoric from the University of Amsterdam, as well as a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy from the University of Rome (Roma Tre). She assisted in the preparation on this article.

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  • Last UN peacekeepers poised for complete withdrawal from Mali

    Last UN peacekeepers poised for complete withdrawal from Mali

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    The UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) was deployed to Mali in 2013 following a violent insurrection by separatist rebels attempting to take control of the north of the country and a subsequent military-led coup.

    Established by UN Security Councilresolution 2100, the mission included more than 15,000 troops and personnel who served in cities and towns around the country.

    “I think our work impacted the lives of many civilians in Mali,” said El-Ghassum Wane, outgoing Special Representative of the Secretary-General and head of MINUSMA.

    Tackling range of challenges

    In its decade of operations, MINUSMA aided Mali in tackling multiple challenges. Among the UN’s most challenging peacekeeping missions, it has suffered more than 300 fatalities of its troops and personnel amid continuing extremist violence and rampant insecurity across much of the north and centre.

    On Saturday evening, the UN Secretary-General expressed his deepest gratitude to MINUSMA personnel, including the Head of Mission, Mr. Wane, who “has provided outstanding leadership in a challenging context”, said Stéphane Dujarric, the UN spokesperson.

    Paying tribute to the 311 MINUSMA personnel who lost their lives and the more than 700 who were injured in the cause of peace during the 10 years the Mission was deployed in Mali, he and “the entire United Nations family stands in sympathy and solidarity with the loved ones, friends and colleagues of the fallen staff as we remain inspired by their selfless devotion to the cause of peace”, Mr. Dujarric said.

    Mr. Guterres also recognized “the key role MINUSMA has played in protecting civilians, the mission’s support to the peace process, including by ensuring respect for the ceasefire in the context of the 2015 peace and reconciliation agreement, as well as to the transition, its efforts towards the restoration of State authority and the provision of peace dividends to the population”, Mr. Dujarric said.

    MINUSMA/Harandane Dicko

    Election officials in Mali prepare materials for the second round of the presidential elections on the day of the vote at a polling station in the Banaconi district in Bamako in 2018. (file)

    Supporting political process

    MINUSMA supported the political process and carried out a number of security-related stabilization tasks, with a focus on major population centres, protecting civilians, human rights monitoring, creating conditions for providing humanitarian assistance and the return of displaced persons as well as preparing free, inclusive and peaceful elections.

    The peace operation also was tasked with using all necessary means to address threats to the implementation of its mandate, which included the protection of civilians under imminent threat of physical violence and protection of UN personnel from residual threats, within its capabilities and its areas of deployment.

    A UN civilian staff member explains the mandate of the peacekeeping mission, MINUSMA, to students in Bamako, Mali, in 2013. (file)

    UN Photo/Marco Dormino

    A UN civilian staff member explains the mandate of the peacekeeping mission, MINUSMA, to students in Bamako, Mali, in 2013. (file)

    Mission terminated

    Mali’s foreign affairs minister requested the withdrawal of MINUSMA in a related UN Security Council meeting on 16 June. On the same day, the transitional government issued a communiqué reiterating its demand for the UN mission to leave without delay.

    UN peacekeeping mandates are determined by the Security Council, but politically and practically, missions cannot operate without the support and cooperation of the host authorities.

    On 30 June, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 2690 effectively terminating MINUSMA’s previous mandate and requesting the transfer of its tasks as well as the safe and orderly drawdown and withdrawal of the Mission by 31 December 2023, to be followed by a liquidation period.

    A Rwandan peacekeeper from the MINUSMA Formed Police Unit speaks with children while patrolling the streets of Gao in northern Mali.

    UN Photo/Marco Dormino

    A Rwandan peacekeeper from the MINUSMA Formed Police Unit speaks with children while patrolling the streets of Gao in northern Mali.

    Integrated withdrawal plan

    To fulfill this goal, MINUSMA developed an integrated withdrawal plan based on ensuring the safety and security of UN personnel, meeting the 31 December deadline, safeguarding the mission’s legacy and preserving an environment conducive to long-term UN engagement in Mali.

    Since 1 July, MINUSMA has gradually withdrawn its personnel and handed over its bases to Malian civilian authorities where possible.

    Over the past six months, MINUSMA has been withdrawing its personnel under challenging security circumstances. On Sunday, the mission will have completed its drawdown.

    Liquidation period begins

    The start of the liquidation period begins on Monday, 1 January 2024.

    A smaller team and the rear parties of troop- and police-contributing countries will remain at sites in Gao and Bamako to oversee the orderly transportation of assets and appropriate disposal of UN-owned equipment, the UN spokesperson said.

    In this regard, the UN chief is counting on the transitional government’s full cooperation to ensure this process is completed as soon as possible, he added.

    MINUSMA leaves, but UN will stay

    MINUSMA chief Mr. Wane said the mission might be leaving, but the UN will remain in Mali.

    “UN funds, agencies and programmes were in Mali well before the deployment of MINUSMA and will stay in Mali well after the withdrawal,” he said.

    UN peacekeepers from Chad patrol the streets of Kidal, Mali, in 2016. (file)

    MINUSMA/Sylvain Liecht

    UN peacekeepers from Chad patrol the streets of Kidal, Mali, in 2016. (file)

    Echoing that statement, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Saturday reaffirmed the UN’s commitment to work with the Malian people and transitional government towards the restoration of constitutional order, as well as the promotion of peace and security and sustainable development, his spokesperson, Mr. Dujarric, said.

    The entire UN system, including the 21 agencies, funds and programmes of the Country Team in Mali, in collaboration with the UN Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS) and the Special Coordinator for Development in the Sahel, will continue its support in pursuit of the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development in the country.

    These efforts include advancing the UN-Government of Mali jointly agreed objectives of the Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework for 2020 to 2024, Mr. Dujarric added.

    For a look back at MINUSMA’s efforts over the past decade, take a look at our photo essay here.

    Residents of Timbuktu pass by Djingareyber Mosque, among the historical architectural structures that earned the city the designation of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

    UN Photo/Marco Dormino

    Residents of Timbuktu pass by Djingareyber Mosque, among the historical architectural structures that earned the city the designation of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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  • Justice served: Lebanon’s Special Tribunal closes

    Justice served: Lebanon’s Special Tribunal closes

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    Established by Security Council resolution 1757 in 2007, the Special Tribunal’s jurisdiction also extended to other attacks that were judicially determined to be connected to the Beirut attack on 14 February 2005.

    The assassination of Mr. Hariri involved explosives equivalent to 2,500 to 3,000 kilograms of dynamite, detonated as his motorcade travelled across downtown Beirut and left behind an 11-metre-wide crater.

    Independent tribunal

    Inaugurated in 2009, the independent tribunal was based in the outskirts of The Hague in the Netherlands and comprised Lebanese and international judges. It prosecuted suspects using Lebanese law, but was not part of Lebanon’s justice system nor was it a UN tribunal.

    The Special Tribunal held proceedings in absentia and convicted Salim Jamil Ayyash in connection with the 2005 attack, sentencing him to five concurrent life sentences in 2020. In 2022, the tribunal reversed its initial acquittal of Hassan Habib Merhi and Hussein Hassan Oneissi, finding both guilty.

    All three men remain at large.

    2,641-page-long judgment

    The trial record comprised the evidence of 297 witnesses and 3,135 exhibits, totalling more than 171,000 pages. To promote public access to the 2,641-page-long judgment, a summary was posted on the chamber’s website in Arabic, English and French.

    The UN Secretary-General’s thoughts “continue to be with the victims and their families of the attack of 14 February 2005 and the connected attacks” that resulted from it, his spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, said in a statement on Saturday night.

    “The Secretary-General expresses his deep appreciation for the dedication and hard work of the judges and staff at the Special Tribunal throughout the years and for the support provided by the Government of Lebanon, the Government of the Netherlands as the host State, and the Member State donors,” he said.

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  • Security Council holds emergency meeting on attacks in Belgorod, Russia

    Security Council holds emergency meeting on attacks in Belgorod, Russia

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    At least 18 civilians were killed and more than 100 injured in an attack on Belgorod, said Khaled Khiari, Assistant Secretary-General in the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (UN DPPA), briefing the Council on the latest developments.

    Russia had called for the emergency meeting following reported attacks on Belogorod. Located about 40 km north of the Ukrainian border, Belgorod is home to more than 300,000 residents.

    The emergency session was held less than 24 hours after the Council convened a meeting on Ukraine following large scale attacks by Russia against Ukrainian towns and cities.

    ‘We unequivocally condemn attacks’

    “We unequivocally condemn all attacks on cities, town and villages, in Ukraine and in the Russian Federation,” Mr. Khiari said. “Attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure violate international humanitarian law, are unacceptable and must end now.”

    He said that even as the Council meets today, reports of new air raid alerts were also coming in from across Ukraine, including in the Kharkiv, Sumy, Mykolaiv, Kherson, Cherkasy, Poltava and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

    Indeed, just a few hours ago, the city of Kharkiv was reportedly attacked, resulting in civilians injured and civilian infrastructure damaged, he said.

    Civilian deaths in Belgorod

    Mr. Khiari said attacks on locations in the Belgorod city centre reportedly resulted in damage to civilian infrastructure, including the regional government office and the medical college of Belgorod State University.

    “The strikes were reported as among the deadliest cross-border attacks on the Russian Federation since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, launched in violation of the UN Charter and international law,” he said.

    At the same time, he said, the Russian military authorities reported separate overnight Ukrainian drone attacks in the Bryansk, Oryol, Kursk and Moscow regions of Russia.

    Meanwhile, Ukrainian authorities reported new overnight Russian drone attacks targeting the Kherson region, he said.

    “As the war continues, we will see more Ukrainian and Russian civilians killed and injured,” he said. “Protection of civilians must be the main priority. The fighting and bloodshed must cease, the war must come to an end.”

    United Nations

    Vassily Nebenzia (centre), Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Russia, addresses the Security Council.

    Russia: EU complicit in ‘terrorist attack’

    Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said the city centre of Belgorod was struck with missiles and attacks using prohibited cluster munitions as well as Czech-produced Vampir missiles. Targets included a sports centre, ice skating rink and a university.

    “This is a deliberate act of terrorism,” he said, requesting Czechia and other Western States to account for where their assistance is going.

    “There’s no use pretending,” he said. “The European Union countries are complicit in the crimes committed by the gang in Kyiv.”

    Council members: Civilians should not be a target

    Council members roundly condemned attacks targeting civilians.

    Schools should be safe havens for children, said UAE Deputy Ambassador Mohamed Issa Abushahab.

    “Civilians must be protected, and civilian objects should not be targets for attacks,” he said.

    French Ambassador Nicolas de Rivière echoed a point raised by several Council members, emphasizing that if Russian troops were not on Ukrainian soil, “we wouldn’t be here this afternoon”.

    Calls for Russia to end war

    The United Kingdom’s representative Thomas Patrick Phipps said that Russia is trying to draw equivalence to Friday’s Council meeting on Russian strikes against Ukrainian cities and towns.

    However, Russia started this war and can end it, he said.

    Many speakers agreed, calling on Russia to withdraw from Ukrainian territory and end hostilities.

    The United States’ representative John Kelly said Russia alone is responsible for starting this war, in violation of the UN Charter.

    “As long as Russia persists, the US will support Ukraine in its right to defend itself,” he said, calling on Moscow to immediately end the war and for the protection of all civilians on all sides in every conflict.

    China’s representative Geng Shuang was deeply concerned about the long, drawn out crisis in Ukraine.

    “There are no winners in conflict,” he said, reiterating China’s willingness to work towards a peaceful solution.

    Serhii Dvornyk, Counsellor and Political Coordinator at Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the United Nations, addresses the Security Council meeting on threats to international peace and security.

    United Nations

    Serhii Dvornyk, Counsellor and Political Coordinator at Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the United Nations, addresses the Security Council meeting on threats to international peace and security.

    Ukraine: Still recovering from Russia’s ‘horrendous’ strikes

    Ukraine’s representative Serhii Dvornyk said his country is “still recovering from Friday’s horrendous strikes”.

    “Just hours ago, Russia again terrorized Kharkiv with S-300 missiles, hitting a residential building and a hotel,” he said. “Since this morning a number of cities and villages in Ukraine have come under Russian fire.”

    They include Dnipro, Nikopol and Vyshetarasivka in Dnipropetrovsk region, Kharkiv, Vovchansk, Kupyansk and Velyka Shpakivka in Kharkiv region and Antonivka and Tomina Balka in Kherson region.

    “The Security Council convened yesterday and is meeting again today, and you should be ready to meet tomorrow, the day after tomorrow – every day that the Russian war against Ukraine lasts,” he said. “Because as long as this war, unleashed by the Kremlin dictator, endures, the toll of death and suffering will continue to grow.”

    Once “Russia’s bloody war” is over there will be no more human suffering, no more civilian casualties in Europe and no more reason for further Security Council meetings on this issue, he said.

    Watch the meeting here, and visit UN Meetings Coverage for full summaries of this and other UN meetings, in English and French.

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  • Report card 2: Half-way to the global goals deadline

    Report card 2: Half-way to the global goals deadline

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    Launched in 2015, the Agenda set out a 15-year plan to realize 17 interconnected targets, known as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and change that trajectory.

    In the second of a two-part series, UN News looks at how far the world has come since 2015 in tackling climate change, creating clean energy and sustainable food production and protecting the planet.

    Broken record: UNEP’s #EmissionsGap Report 2023

    2015: Overconsumption, under-protection

    In 2015, only a small fraction of the world was officially protected: 14 per cent of land and less than nine per cent of marine ecosystems. One third of global marine fish stocks were being harvested at unsustainable levels.

    Meanwhile, more and more plastics were polluting the world’s oceans, rivers, and lakes. By 2015, 60 per cent of all plastic ever produced was discarded as waste.

    All country commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions combined put the world on a trajectory of a 3°C temperature rise by 2100, compared to pre-industrial levels.

    That is double the 1.5°C global temperature rise that a series of UN reports, scientists and governments agreed would help to avoid the most destructive impacts of higher temperatures and maintain a liveable climate.

    United Nations

    SDG 12

    SDG 12: SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION

    • Achieve sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources
    • Halve per capita global food waste at retail and consumer levels and encourage companies to adopt sustainable practices
    • Support developing countries to strengthen their scientific and technological capacity to move towards more sustainable consumption and production patterns
    • Implement policies to promote sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture
    • Phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption

    Despite calls for a global phase-out, fossil fuel subsidies doubled between 2020 and 2021, in large part due to global crises.

    2023: Stopping the war on nature

    At the halfway mark to the 2030 deadline, global awareness of biodiversity protection has increased, but efforts to transform human interaction with nature and resource consumption still lag behind in terms of speed and scale.

    In 2023, three quarters of land on Earth and about 66 per cent of the marine environment have been significantly altered by human actions. More than one third of the world’s land surface and nearly 75 per cent of freshwater resources are now devoted to crop or livestock production.

    Combined with skyrocketing levels of pollution, the degradation of the natural habitat and biodiversity loss are having serious impacts on communities around the world.

    In 2023, an estimated 100 to 300 million people are at increased risk of floods and hurricanes because of loss of coastal habitats.

    Many communities are building back better, from Pakistan’s launch of the biggest climate initiative in the country’s history to the UN Secretary-General’s new global Early Warnings for All initiative.

    Increasing investments in solar, wind power, hydropower and biomass will be essential to reduce global reliance on coal and oil.

    © UNDP Georgia

    Increasing investments in solar, wind power, hydropower and biomass will be essential to reduce global reliance on coal and oil.

    2015: Fossil fuel versus clean energy

    When the SDGs were adopted in 2015, 87 per cent of the world had access to some form of electricity, but nearly 1.1 billion people did not, with most living in Africa and Asia.

    Oil prices plunged to an all-time low and fossil fuels dominated the market with global investments amounting to nearly $1.3 billion. Coal alone accounted for nearly 40 per cent of global electricity generated.

    But, just 60 per cent of the world’s population had access to clean cooking fuels; the numbers in sub-Saharan Africa were much lower.

    Women, in particular, bore a heavier health burden as a result, were vulnerable to indoor air pollution and respiratory disease.

    2023: Drive towards renewables

    A drive towards clean energy is making some inroads. While 91 per cent of the world now has access to electricity, progress hasn’t been fast or inclusive enough. The number of people with access to electricity has increased to 675 million since 2015.

    Global investment in clean energy has hit near record highs at $ 1.7 trillion, and renewables now account for more than 28 per cent of global electricity, growing by nearly 5 per cent since 2015.

    Nevertheless, 2.3 billion people still continue to rely on coal, kerosene or solid biomass as their primary cooking fuel. A lack of clean cooking is contributing to nearly 3.7 million premature deaths annually, with women and children most at risk.

    About 80 per cent of the world’s population without electricity continues to live in rural areas, predominantly in sub-Saharan Africa.

    Studies now show that meeting these clean energy goals will require the world to triple its annual investments between now and 2030. Nations are already walking the talk, from Indonesia’s Just Energy Transition Partnership to a fresh approach of the Nairobi Declaration, adopted in September at the African Climate Summit.

    SDG 7

    United Nations

    SDG 7

    SDG 7: CLEAN ENERGY FOR ALL

    • Increase share of renewable energy globally
    • Double global rate of improvement in energy efficiency
    • Expand infrastructure and upgrade technology for supplying modern, sustainable energy services
    • Enhance international cooperation to facilitate access to clean energy research and technology, including renewable energy, energy efficiency and advanced and cleaner fossil-fuel technology
    • Expand infrastructure and upgrade technology for supplying modern and sustainable energy services for all in developing nations, in particular least developed countries, small island developing States and land-locked developing countries

    International funding for clean energy in developing countries has dropped to just $10.8 billion in 2021 from a peak of $26.4 billion in 2017.

    2015: Zero hunger pledge

    When the SDGs were adopted in 2015, more than 795 million people were facing hunger. That is 11 per cent of the global population.

    In countries enduring protracted crises, hunger rates were more than three times higher than elsewhere. Poor nutrition contributed to impaired growth and development for 159 million children under age five.

    A woman shops at an indoor market in Hissar, Tajikistan. (file)

    © FAO/Nozim Kalandarov

    A woman shops at an indoor market in Hissar, Tajikistan. (file)

    2023: New approach to food security

    The question of how food is produced, traded and consumed in a sustainable manner has come to the fore, with one third of all food produced globally ending up lost or wasted and more than three billion people unable to afford healthy diets.

    The prevalence of hunger has dropped only marginally since 2015, to 9.2 per cent of the global population. Progress has been frustrated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise in climate shocks and conflict, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has driven up the costs of food, fuel and fertilizers.

    In 2022, approximately 735 million people faced hunger, which is still well above the pre-pandemic level, and 148 million children still faced stunting from poor nutrition; just over a two per cent decrease since 2015.

    SDG 2

    United Nations

    SDG 2

    SDG 2: END FOOD INSECURITY

    • End hunger and malnutrition, and ensure access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food year-round for all
    • Double small-scale food producers’ agricultural productivity and income
    • Ensure sustainable food production systems, and implement agricultural practices that increase productivity/production and strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change and disasters
    • Correct and prevent trade restrictions in world agricultural markets

    Globally, one in three people struggles with moderate to severe food insecurity.

    At the same time, not enough is being done to support developing economies adapt their food production to the impacts of climate change. Small-scale farmers from developing countries produce one third of the world’s food, yet they receive only 1.7 per cent of climate finance.

    To transform this trend, the UN Food Systems Summit in Rome in 2021 and a subsequent stocktaking moment in 2023 have provided a platform for countries to share their experience. That led to the launch in July of the UN Secretary-General’s Call to Action for accelerated food systems transformation.

    The adoption of more sustainable agriculture practices is key to increasing the productivity and income of rural farmers.

    © FAO

    The adoption of more sustainable agriculture practices is key to increasing the productivity and income of rural farmers.

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  • Report card 1: Half-way to the global goals deadline

    Report card 1: Half-way to the global goals deadline

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    Launched in 2015, the initiative set out a 15-year plan to realize 17 interconnected targets, known as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

    Since then, the ambitious goals have shaped national action plans, from building resilient cities and reducing inequalities to taking climate action and forging strong public and private sector partnerships.

    This two-part series looks the progress made between 2015 and 2023 in key areas. The first part examines bridging the digital divide, education for all and decent work.

    Amina J. Mohammed – Empowered UN country teams implementing 2030 Agenda

    2015: Dawn of the digital divide

    When the SDGs were adopted in 2015, the world was already in the midst of a fast-paced digital revolution, with 3.2 billion people using the internet and more than 7 billion mobile phone subscribers, according to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

    At the same time, the first instances of a digital divide were already taking root. While 80 per cent of households in developed countries had internet access, only 34 per cent of households in developing countries were connected. Least developed countries lagged further behind, with only 7 per cent of households having online access.

    For millions of people around the world, a life without digital connectivity is unthinkable, from accessing information to paying for services to getting medical help and studying online.

    2023: Digital inequalities starker than ever

    With a click of a button, millions of people of all ages around the world engage every single day with digital infrastructure. Yet, digital divides and inequalities are starker than ever. More than two thirds of the planet use the internet, and as of 2022, there were 8.63 billion mobile subscribers.

    There was a massive jump in the number of people in least developed countries with access to the internet – 36 per cent of the population, compared to seven per cent in 2015. In comparison, 92 per cent of the population in high-income countries and 79 per cent of the population upper-middle-income countries are connected to the internet.

    On a global scale, less women use the internet than men: 63 per cent of women, compared to 69 per cent of men. Meanwhile, new technologies, turbo-charged by risks posed by the increased and unchecked use of artificial intelligence (AI), can easily drive loss of data privacy and escalate risks of online harm, spreading online violence and hate speech along with mis/disinformation.

    UN agencies and partners are working hard to address bridge the digital divide led by the UN Secretary-General’s call for developing a global digital compact and the launch of his policy brief on information integrity on digital platforms.

    © UNIC Pakistan

    Today, globally, some 250 million children are out of school.

    2015: Education, for some

    When the SDGs were adopted in 2015, primary school enrolment in developing countries stood at 91 per cent. Still, 59 million children of primary school age remained out of school; about 33 million of these were girls.

    Other disparities were striking. In conflict-affected countries, nearly 36 per cent of all children were out of school. About 757 million people globally could neither read nor write, of whom two-thirds were women.

    The SDGs represented world leaders’ first attempt to also focus on quality education and learning across levels. With its transformative effect and impact across all other goals, education is a steppingstone for sustainable development and enduring hope for a better future, from the remote archipelagos of the Pacific to the forests of Latin America and islands of the Caribbean, the make-shift classrooms in war-torn Ukraine and refugee camps in northern Kenya.

    SDG 4

    United Nations

    SDG 4

    SDG 4: EDUCATION FOR ALL

    • Ensure all children complete free, equitable and quality education and have access to quality early childhood development
    • Increase number of young adults with employment skills for
    • Eliminate gender disparities and ensure equal access to all levels of education
    • Ensure all youth and most adults achieve literacy and numeracy
    • Build and upgrade education facilities to be child, disability and gender sensitive
    • Increase number of qualified teachers

    Without additional measures, 84 million children will be out of school, 300 million students will lack basic numeracy and literacy skills, and only one in six countries will achieve the target of universal secondary school completion.

    2023: Half-time report card

    While strides have been made, the COVID-19 global pandemic outbreak saw education across the planet take a significant hit. Nearly 1.5 billion children and youth globally were affected by school closures.

    Today, globally, some 250 million children are out of school. Of this, about 64 million children of primary school age now remain out of school. Nearly half of all refugee children globally also lack access to education. Globally, 763 million adults are illiterate.

    By 2030, it is estimated that nearly 84 million children and young people will still be out of school.

    The UN Secretary-General convened the 2022 Transforming Education Summit, which called for more urgent and escalated measures to deliver inclusive and quality education, particularly for girls, low-income students, students with disabilities or in the midst of crisis.

    Access to quality education is a growing concern. Globally, nearly 617 million globally are failing to meet minimum proficiency standards in reading and mathematics.

    © UN Cambodia

    Access to quality education is a growing concern. Globally, nearly 617 million globally are failing to meet minimum proficiency standards in reading and mathematics.

    2015: World of work

    In 2015, 6.1 per cent of the global population of people of working age were unemployed. This number was higher for women, who were overrepresented in vulnerable and informal jobs and more likely to be unpaid caregivers. In most countries, women employed in full-time jobs earned between 70 and 90 per cent of what men earned.

    A total of 1.5 billion people around the world were employed in vulnerable jobs without formal work arrangements, according to the World Employment Social Outlook by the International Labour Organization (ILO).

    SDG 8

    United Nations

    SDG 8

    SDG 8: ENSURE DECENT WORK FOR ALL

    • Take immediate measures to eradicate forced labour, modern slavery and human trafficking
    • Protect labour rights, and promote safe, secure environments for all workers
    • Sustain per capita economic growth and at least seven per cent gross domestic product growth per annum in least developed countries
    • Achieve higher levels of economic productivity through diversification, technology and innovation
    • Improve global resource efficiency in consumption and production
    • Decouple economic growth with environmental degradation

    Global unemployment is expected to fall below pre-pandemic levels, although not in low-income countries

    2023: Working out post-pandemic progress

    Wage losses, job insecurity, and a rising cost of living crisis have been a common thread in the past few years, across the world, directly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The global unemployment rate has overall fallen slightly to 5.8 per cent, but it is still impacted by the pandemic. In 2021, ILO found that an estimated 125 million full-time jobs were lost as a result of the pandemic, which disproportionately affected women and young people.

    Last year, more than 2 billion workers globally were employed in the informal sector without social protection coverage, according to the agency’s latest employment outlook report.

    In 2021, the UN Secretary-General launched the Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions, to expand social protection to the four billion people and to create at least 400 million decent jobs. From 2020 to 2022, the Joint SDG Fund’s Portfolio on Integrated Social Protection provided critical financing to sustain and expand social protection coverage in 39 countries around the world, with UN country teams supporting governments in reaching 147 million vulnerable people with access to new or extended social protection benefits.

    Indonesia has been a trailblazer in the shift away from fossil fuels to clean energy, securing greener jobs and livelihoods for communities.

    © UNDP Indonesia

    Indonesia has been a trailblazer in the shift away from fossil fuels to clean energy, securing greener jobs and livelihoods for communities.

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  • Gaza: UN calls for urgent aid scale-up amid new mass exodus to Rafah

    Gaza: UN calls for urgent aid scale-up amid new mass exodus to Rafah

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    “A traumatized and exhausted population” is being “crammed into a smaller and smaller sliver of land,” UN emergency relief chief Martin Griffiths warned on social platform X on Friday.

    But serious obstacles persist to bringing more aid to those in need amid relentless Israeli bombardment and intense fighting on the ground.

    UN humanitarian affairs coordination office OCHA cited reports from Gaza’s health authorities that half of all the pregnant women seeking safety in shelters in the Strip suffer from thirst, malnutritionand a lack of health care, there is a lack of vaccinations for newborns and one in every two displaced children faces dehydration, malnutrition and disease.

    Some 1.9 million Gazans, or 85 per cent of the enclave’s population, have been internally displaced since the start of Israel’s retaliation following Hamas’ deadly terror attacks in southern Israel on 7 October.

    Dire overcrowding

    According to OCHA, the latest wave of displacement was prompted by an intensification of hostilities in the southern town of Khan Younis and central Gaza’s Deir al Balah, as well as evacuation orders issued by the Israeli military.

    Some 10 days ago Rafah was already estimated to be the most densely populated area in Gaza, exceeding 12,000 people per square kilometre, OCHA said, which is more than in New York City.

    Aid access compromised

    Despite a UN Security Council resolution adopted last week calling for a scale-up in aid deliveries to the enclave, access to people in need has remained overwhelmingly insufficient.

    Only 76 trucks entered Gaza from Egypt through the Rafah crossing on Thursday, “well below the daily average of 500 truckloads (including fuel and private sector goods) that entered every working day prior to 7 October”, OCHA noted.

    “You think getting aid into Gaza is easy? Think again,” the UN’s Mr. Griffiths wrote on X on Friday. He listed the impediments faced by humanitarians working to help people in the Strip, including “three layers of inspections before trucks can even enter”, insufficient entry points, “constant bombardment” and damaged roads.

    “This is an impossible situation for the people of Gaza and for those trying to help them. The fighting must stop,” he insisted.

    Last week UN chief António Guterres said that “an effective aid operation in Gaza requires security; staff who can work in safety; logistical capacity; and the resumption of commercial activity”.

    “These four elements do not exist,” he concluded.

    ‘Race against time’ to bring food

    Despite the challenges, humanitarians have continued doing their utmost to assist desperate Gazans. On Thursday the UN World Food Programme (WFP) distributed food parcels for 10,000 displaced families in makeshift camps in Rafah.

    OCHA reported that some 200 community leaders were identified to collect assistance on behalf of surrounding families in their communities, with each parcel covering a family’s food needs for 10 days.

    “Incredible to see the collab[oration] between the team and communities as we race against time to deliver life-saving food in Gaza,” WFP representative in Palestine Samer AbdelJaber wrote on social platform X.

    The distribution was set to continue on Friday after time and safety constraints meant that only 45 per cent of people targeted with assistance were reached on the first day.

    Last week, humanitarians warned that more than one in four households in Gaza were enduring “catastrophic” hunger. The risk of famine occurring in the Strip within the next six months was confirmed by the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report, which showed that the entire population of Gaza, some 2.2 million people, is living with “crisis or worse” levels of acute food insecurity.

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