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.
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.
Combined with skyrocketing levels of pollution, the degradation of the natural habitat and biodiversity loss are having serious impacts on communities around the world.
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.
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.
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
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)
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.
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.
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.
Following the International Day of Epidemic Preparedness, marked annually on 27 December, we took a look at how two renowned actors helped the UN health agency in 1959.
A singing legend, Mr. Sinatra lent his golden voice to WHO for a UN Radio story, telling the tale of two victims of polio in Indonesia, and Hollywood great Mr. Robinson went in search of the “murderess” malaria in northern Lebanon and beyond.
A health worker in Kenya holds vials of malaria vaccine to be administered at a vaccination campaign.
Listen to UN Radio shows featuring Mr. Sinatra here and by Mr. Robinson here, part of our #ThrowbackThursday series showcasing epic moments across the UN’s past, cultivated from the UN Audiovisual Library’s 49,400 hours of video and 18,000 hours of audio recordings.
Catch up on our series here, and watch UN Video’s Stories from the UN Archive playlist here. Join us next Thursday for another dive into history.
UNICEF/Bagla
A worker sprays insecticide on the surfaces of a shelter to control the spread of mosquitoes and mitigate the risk of malaria.
Locations in the north and south of the enclave were hit as Israeli ground forces also reportedly pushed into central areas, along with the firing of rockets by Palestinian armed groups into Israel, prompting concerns from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, about the safety of civilians uprooted time and again.
Rafah governorate in the southern Gaza Strip is now “bursting at the seams”, Director of UNRWA Affairs in Gaza Tom White said on X – formerly Twitter – late on Tuesday, his video post showing a long line of cars crawling forwards tail to bumper, laden with mattresses strapped down and other belongings.
Roads smashed
In its latest update on the crisis, UN aid coordination office OCHA said that Israeli forces had reportedly carried out “heavy” bombardment from air, land and sea “across most of the Gaza Strip, specifically the Middle Area” from 23 to 26 December.
This included “more than 50 strikes” from 24 to 25 December on three refugee camps – Al Bureij, An Nuseirat and Al Maghazi – that reportedly killed dozens and hindered the work of aid teams confronted by destroyed roads connecting the camps.
It has been more than 80 days since Israeli Defense Forces’ bombardment of the Strip began, in response to Hamas-led terror attacks in southern Israel, in which roughly 1,200 people were massacred and approximately 240 others were taken hostage.
The enclave’s health authority has reported that at least 20,915 Palestinians have been killed there since 7 October – including 858 people between last Saturday and Tuesday. “About 70 per cent of those killed are said to be women and children…Many people are missing, presumably buried under the rubble, with many still waiting for rescue or recovery.”
OCHA also reported that 164 Israeli soldiers have died with another 874 injured during ground operations in Gaza.
Renewed health fears
The development followed a new evacuation order issued by the Israeli Defense Forces impacting people living in Gaza’s middle area. At the same time, UNRWA Director of Communications Juliette Touma issued a fresh warning about the dire situation impacting people sheltering in tented camps in the south.
“You have 400 people sharing one toilet,” Ms. Touma said, echoing repeated concerns about disease spread linked to the lack of basic necessities including water, sanitation and food.
UN humanitarians have already described how hungry Gazans have stopped aid trucks en route to their destination to offload food, amid repeated warnings that it is becoming impossible to meet the needs of all those in the south, where population density is estimated at 12,000 people per square kilometre (about 7.5 miles).
The COVID-19 pandemic affected hundreds of millions of lives, caused millions of deaths and inflicted devastating impacts on humanity.
After three years of unprecedented global efforts, on 5 May the World Health Organization (WHO) declared an end to COVID-19 as a public health emergency, stressing however, that it does not mean the disease is no longer a global threat.
“Economic damage inflicted by the pandemic endures. Many healthcare systems are struggling. Millions of children are threatened by disease after missing out on routine childhood vaccinations,” said Mr. Guterres.
Lessons to learn
The UN chief noted that three years after the first COVID-19 vaccines were developed, billions of people remain unprotected – overwhelmingly in developing countries.
“When the next pandemic arrives, we must do better. But we’re not yet ready. We must prepare and act on the lessons of COVID-19,” he urged.
“We must renounce the moral and medical disaster of rich countries hoarding and controlling pandemic healthcare supplies, and ensure everyone has access to diagnostics, treatments and vaccines,” he stressed, adding that WHO’s authority and financing must also be strengthened.
Joint efforts
He said the way forward lies through global cooperation. The world must improve surveillance of viruses, strengthen health systems, and make the promise of Universal Health Coverage a reality.
The Secretary-General said these efforts are making progress. He recalled that the High-level meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response, held in September, concluded with a robust political declaration which complements negotiations underway towards a pandemic accord.
This first-ever global agreement aims to enhance collaboration, cooperation, and equity in responding to pandemics of the future, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in his end-of-year message published on Tuesday.
The pandemic accord will help to create a safer and healthier world with a universal system of response to disease eruptions, he added.
Mr. Guterres urged countries to build on this momentum by delivering a strong, comprehensive accord, focused on equity.
“Together, let’s act on the lessons of COVID-19, prepare, and build a fairer, healthier world for all,” he said.
Four people, including two girls under the age of 10, were killed in the incident, which occured in the Croix de Bouquet district.
Four other family members were kidnapped.
‘Unprecedented’ escalation in crime
Similar attacks occurred in the same neighbourhood a week ago, said Bruno Maes, UNICEF Representative in Haiti, in a statement issued on Tuesday.
“Regrettably, such killings are not isolated,” he added. “From July to September 2023 alone, Haiti has witnessed 88 grave violations of children’s rights, with 37 of these resulting in the tragic loss of lives or injuries during armed conflicts.”
Rampant gang violence, mainly affecting the capital city, continues to plague the Caribbean country, where nearly half the population, roughly five million people, needs humanitarian support.
Mr. Maes said major crimes, including homicides and kidnappings, are escalating at an unprecedented rate, particularly in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince and the Artibonite department.
Between July and September, the Haitian National Police recorded a staggering 1,239 homicides, compared to 577 in the same period in 2022. Abductions also surged to 701 victims, representing a shocking 244 per cent increase.
Furthermore, in areas controlled by armed groups, places such as schools, health facilities and protection services have also come under attack.
Protect civilians, respect humanitarian law
UNICEF and partners have repeatedly called for the protection of civilians, in particular children and women, and for the respect of international humanitarian law.
“Killing children is a grave violation of human rights,” said Mr. Maes.
He added that the repeated attacks, and access restrictions caused by the violence and insecurity, are hampering the ability to reach people in need.
He underlined UNICEF’s commitment “to take all measures to ensure the safety of children and their families and to reduce the suffering of the victims.”
World Health Organization (WHO) Emergency Medical Teams coordinator Sean Casey said that “100-plus patients” had been brought into Al-Aqsa Hospital on Monday in the space of 30 minutes, following reported blasts, including near Al-Maghazi refugee camp.
All of them needed urgent treatment for serious wounds, the WHO official told UN News, while “about 100” more lifeless bodies were brought into the hospital at around the same time.
Trapped under the rubble
The UN human rights office, OHCHR, also expressed deep concern on Tuesday at the ongoing “intense” bombing of central Gaza involving more than 50 strikes by the Israeli Defense Forces.
Attacks have killed more than 100 Palestinians since 24 December, OHCHR reported, adding that this was particularly concerning given that Israeli forces had “ordered residents from the south of Wadi Gaza to move to Middle Gaza and Tal al-Sultan in Rafah”.
Three refugee camps were hit, OHCHR spokesperson Seif Magango said in a statement, naming Al Bureij, Al-Nuseirat and Al-Maghazi. “Two strikes hit seven residential buildings in Al-Maghazi camp, killing an estimated 86 Palestinians and injuring many more,” he said. “An unknown number of people are still believed to be trapped under the rubble.”
Tedros ire
In a social media post on X (formerly Twitter), WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus condemned the “carnage” caused by Israeli airstrikes in retaliation for Hamas’s 7 October terror attacks on communities in southern Israel, in which some 1,200 people were slaughtered and another 240 taken hostage.
“WHO is extremely concerned about the unbearable strain that escalating hostilities are putting on the few hospitals across Gaza that remain open – with most of the health system decimated and brought to its knees,” the WHO chief said on Monday.
In a social media post, WHO’s Mr. Casey described the situation in Al-Aqsa Hospital as a “bloodbath”. He pointed to a boy of nine, Ahmed, who lay dying on the floor of the facility after sustaining terrible blast injuries as he crossed the street near Nuseirat.
‘It’s a bloodbath’
“We’ve seen children, women, young men, old men and women, people bleeding out,” he said, noting that patients could not easily be referred elsewhere for lifesaving treatment. “There’s blood everywhere in these hospitals at the moment. We’re seeing almost only trauma cases come through the door, and at a scale that’s quite difficult to believe. It’s a bloodbath as we said before, it’s carnage.”
The development follows a joint WHO and UN aid coordination office (OCHA) Christmas Day visit to Al-Aqsa Hospital to assess needs after strikes in Gaza’s central area at the weekend.
Although Al-Aqsa Hospital has medical supplies and fuel to run generators, Mr. Casey confirmed that the facility was taking in far more patients than its bed capacity and staff could handle, meaning that many injured patients would not survive the wait for treatment.
This situation was happening up and down the Gaza Strip, the WHO official continued, speaking from the UN Joint Humanitarian Operations Centre in Rafah in the south, that also doubles as a medical facility.
Fighting all night long
“There’s nowhere actually safe in Gaza,” he continued. “Right now in Rafah outside the door of this building, 50 metres from where I am sitting right now, there’s a camp of thousands of people who have been settled here…They’re in plastic shelters, plastic sheeting shelters right outside the door. And last night, we heard fighting almost all night long with reports coming in during the day today of many, many injuries presenting to the hospitals here in the south.”
Hospital capacity in Gaza is about 20 per cent of what it was before the 7 October escalation but “almost all” hospital services have stopped functioning, the WHO officer explained. “Either because the facilities themselves have been affected, because the staff have been forced to flee, because they’ve run out of power or they’ve run out of medical supplies, or staff have not been able to access them.”
Waiting to die
Providing an update about gravely ill patients in northern Gaza who he said previously were “waiting to die” in a church in the grounds of one hospital, Mr. Casey said that many were still “sleeping on pews” on Monday. The level of destruction “is so incredible, is so significant the roads are full of rubble”, he continued, highlighting the logistical difficulties of reaching the most vulnerable.
“We still need to do more to try to move these patients, but the options are becoming more and more limited as health facilities become less accessible, as health workers themselves are displaced,” he said.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, around 20,000 people are believed to have been killed in the latest escalation to date.
And in a related development, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that the number of Palestinian properties demolished and related displacement in the nearby occupied West Bank have reached record levels.
Latest data from OCHA indicates that 1,094 structures have been razed so far this year with 2,127 people uprooted, a record high matched only in 2016, when more than 1,500 people were displaced.
The development follows a series of meetings with the sides held in Riyadh and Muscat, his office said in a statement on Saturday.
Special Envoy Hans Grundberg welcomed their commitment to a set of measures to implement a nation-wide ceasefire, improve living conditions, and engage in preparations for the resumption of an inclusive political process under UN auspices.
“Thirty million Yemenis are watching and waiting for this new opportunity to provide for tangible results and progress towards lasting peace,” he said.
“The parties have taken a significant step. Their commitments are, first and foremost, an obligation to the Yemeni people to progress towards a future that meets the legitimate aspirations of all Yemenis,” he added.
Roadmap and restraint
Mr. Grundberg will now engage with the parties to establish a roadmap under UN auspices that includes these commitments and supports their implementation.
The UN roadmap will include, among other elements, the parties’ commitment to implement a nationwide ceasefire, pay all public sector salaries, resume oil exports, open roads in Taiz and other parts of Yemen, and further ease restrictions on Sana’a Airport and the Hudaydah port, according to the statement.
The roadmap will also establish implementation mechanisms and prepare for a Yemeni-owned political process under UN auspices.
Mr. Grundberg expressed deep appreciation for the key roles played by Saudi Arabia and Oman in supporting the parties to reach this point.
He urged all sides to exercise maximum restraint at this critical time to allow for a conducive environment for dialogue and the successful conclusion of agreement on the roadmap.
“The parties have taken a significant step. Their commitments are, first and foremost, an obligation to the Yemeni people to progress towards a future that meets the legitimate aspirations of all Yemenis,” he said, adding that “we are ready to accompany them on every step of the way.”
Sitting in a small, windowless room in a government building in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, Mohamed Yusuf Mohamed loops another audio tape onto the dilapidated machine and presses a few buttons.
He’s beginning a time-intensive process to digitize some seven decades of unique historical recordings belonging to the government-run Radio Mogadishu.
One down, a couple of hundred thousand to go
After a few clicks, the antiquated device starts to whir, and its wheels spin. One tape down and another couple of hundred thousand or so to go. In the adjoining room, there are shelves more than three metres high which teeter under a layer of dust and thousands of audio reels.
Given the decrepit equipment and limited staffing at hand, the project Mr. Mohamed and other colleagues are embarking on will take many decades to complete.
“I arrive here at 8am and work until 4pm, digitizing around 30 to 40 audio tracks per day with very limited equipment,” he said.
UN Photo/Mukhtar Nuur
Much of Radio Mogadishu’s analogue archive is in a poor state.
First broadcaster
At stake are the only remaining audio recordings of much of Somalia’s history, with thousands of reels of music, poetry, religious texts, political speeches and drama shows going all the way back to the station’s creation in 1951. Much of it is in a poor state.
“I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to participate in improving the history of my country,” he said, adding that he is conscious of the task’s importance.
Radio Mogadishu was established during the period when Somalia was held under the trusteeship of the United Nations and administered by its former colonial power, Italy.
It began broadcasting news in Italian, and Somali programming followed soon afterwards.
In the 1960s, Radio Mogadishu was modernized with assistance from the Soviet Union, and began broadcasting in Amharic, Oromo, Somali and Italian.
War breaks out
The station closed soon after the start of Somalia’s civil war in 1991, and its premises fell into the hands of warring factions. Two years later, the archives sustained some damage during clashes between one of the factions and international peacekeepers deployed in the city at the time.
The violence that engulfed the country led to the destruction of much of Somalia’s cultural heritage. Museums were stripped of their collections, with items destroyed or sold on the black market, and the material in Radio Mogadishu’s vaults was targeted.
The majority of the magnetic, reel-to-reel tape recordings in the Radio Mogadishu archives – made up of Somali-language tapes, records and limited manuscripts – survived the war, although most of its foreign language collection was not so fortunate.
UN Photo/Mukhtar Nuur
Digitizing analog recordings is painstaking and time-consuming work.
Digital hopes
The introduction of digital technology has breathed new life into Radio Mogadishu, but its analogue archives have been rapidly deteriorating.
The fragile reel-to-reel tapes made from acetate, polyester or polyvinyl chloride (PVC) are at risk of distortion and degradation, according to Daud Aweis, Somalia’s federal Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism.
“This is the only archive for this nation after the civil war,” he said. “As time passes, if we do not preserve it, it will only be seen in pictures.”
Radio Mogadishu’s director, Abdifatah Dahir Jeyte, echoed those concerns.
“Urgent action is imperative to safeguard the history, language, culture and literature of the Somali nation stored within these archives, considering the vastness of Radio Mogadishu’s archives, which contain around 225,000 tapes and vinyl records, the digital conversion is currently incomplete, covering less than 30 per cent of the total content,” he said.
Initial attempts at digitization began in 2013, with the support of the French government, African Union, United Nations and Somalia’s information ministry. Staff worked to preserve the collection and make the music, speeches, plays and prayers available to a generation who had never known how vibrant Somalia was prior to the war.
But, the attempt foundered, with less than a third of the items digitized.
UN Photo/Mukhtar Nuur
Radio Mogadishu is now broadcasting using digital technology.
UN mission to preserve cultural treasure
Working with the Government’s information ministry, the UN in Somalia has been exploring options for a solution to the urgent digitization needs of Radio Mogadishu’s archives.
“The open-reel tape collection of Radio Mogadishu is a cultural treasure that all Somalis would benefit from,” said Kirsten Young, Chief of the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia’s (UNSOM) Human Rights and Protection Group.
“Radio continues to play an important role in access to information in Somalia,” she said, “and having access to these rich archives would bring recent history into the homes of many Somalis.”
In an interview with UN Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications Melissa Fleming on the sidelines of SDG Summit 2023 held at UN Headquarters in New York in September, Ms. Portman discussed combatting violence against women and reframing masculinity to be less aggressive and more empathetic towards gender issues.
Melissa Fleming: The UN 2023 Gender Snapshot report painted a worrisome picture on how far away we are from reaching gender equality. What can we do to shift these trends?
Natalie Portman: Investing in women and girls’ education, safety and economic and social empowerment. More investment will accelerate the drive toward parity.
Melissa Fleming: Why is there under-investment in girls?
Natalie Portman: There is a deeply ingrained bias against women and girls that we really need to combat and obviously, education is a big part of that. The Spotlight Initiative that the UN launched [in partnership with the European Union and others] in 2017 is addressing a lot of the ingrained cultural biases that lead to the inequalities and injustices that we see.
It really is such a core part of women’s freedom to be free from the threat of violence. And until women and girls can feel safe walking down the street, going to school and going to work, nothing else can be achieved to the extent that we dream of.
Spotlight’s work has been really extraordinary at reaching many different countries to change laws, implement educational tools and change culture such that masculinity is reframed as empathy rather than aggression.
UNFPA/Olivier Girard
Young girls in the village of Danja in Niger hold signs in support of the Spotlight Initiative.
Melissa Fleming: We now have an online environment that has made a dangerous and threatening space for so many girls growing up in the social media age. Is that something you are concerned about?
Natalie Portman: Absolutely. The threat and danger that women and girls are subjected to in real life is just as bad, if not worse, online. I mean, it’s all different varieties of trying to silence us.
The more we can support and celebrate women and girls’ voices, the more we’re combating this horrible abuse of power.
Melissa Fleming: You were very much behind the Time’s Up movement supporting victims of sexual harassment. Why is it so important for women in Hollywood to raise their voices? Does this set an example for women in other industries?
Natalie Portman: Time’s Up was incredible because we gathered with women in other industries as well. We gathered with female farm workers, healthcare workers, journalists and women in tech and we noticed we were all facing the same sorts of challenges. Obviously in different locations or different flavours, but really the same threat.
The head of the Farm Workers Union, Monica Ramirez, said to me, “They tell us to shut up because we’re in the shadows and nobody cares about us and they tell you actresses to shut up because nobody cares.”
But, the common thread is that they’re trying to silence all our voices. That was really the power of Tarana Burke’s #MeToo movement. It was breaking out of that silence and it was empowering women. We need to make their voices heard and not feel shame around these experiences. We must recognize that these were extreme injustices and that perpetrators needed to be held to account.
I think that people are very aware now and there isn’t a sense that you can just abuse as you wish without facing any consequences. People are a lot more open about it now.
We still have a far way to go, of course, but I think the #MeToo movement really cracked open a door that is not going to be shut anymore.
UNDP India
UNDP’s entrepreneurship development training programme is changing the lives of women in India.
Melissa Fleming: Is there a difference for women and girls that live in developing countries?
Natalie Portman: I think women and girls around the world can relate to each other in regard to living under the threat of violence. That, unfortunately, is everywhere.
Of course, there are different manifestations of violence toward women and girls in different places. Some girls are threatened with violence for going to school which, in the United States, we do not experience. But, in the United States, the number one cause of death for pregnant women is being murdered by their intimate partner. In Iran, we’re seeing women who are being murdered for exposing their hair.
So really the threat of women and girls being threatened and murdered exists everywhere.
Melissa Fleming: You mentioned the masculinity issue and educating men that masculinity is actually empathy. How does one do that?
Natalie Portman:I think that culture can play a big role in shaping that. I think when we see different models of masculinity on screen or in literature, we open up more possibilities for men.
I think that film and television can absolutely help shape new forms of masculinity that are much more reflective of what we know to be the human soul and not just this very narrow kind of aggressive, macho-type that we see so deeply ingrained in our culture.
And then of course education as well, showing the effects of toxic masculinity.
It opens up boys and men’s worlds too, to have more options of how you can be and not this very narrow, prescriptive definition of masculinity.
Melissa Fleming: You are a part owner of the Angel City Football Club in Los Angeles that made their debut at the Women’s Soccer League last year. Can you tell us a bit more about why you got involved?
Natalie Portman: It was very much about seeing both women and men in different ways than we traditionally have seen them. When I saw my son watching the Women’s World Cup four years ago, I realized that he looked up to the women athletes the same way he looked up to the male athletes. I realized, “Why don’t we have this on at home?”
What a different world it would be if all boys and girls could see women athletes given the value that they deserve, like the men are, so we started this women’s football club. We started playing two years ago and it’s just been an incredible thing to be a part of, to see the virtuosic athletes celebrated on a big stage.
In actions taken late evening on Friday, the 193-member General Assembly also adopted nearly $50 million in additional funding for decisions taken by the Human Rights Council, UN’s primary forum on human rights matters.
It also decided to establish the Peacebuilding Account, a dedicated multi-year special account, as a modality to finance the Peacebuilding Fund. Additionally, it approved $50 million of assessed contributions per annum to fund the Account, starting 1 January 2025.
The Peacebuilding Fund is the UN’s leading instrument to invest in prevention and peacebuilding efforts and supports joint responses to address critical peacebuilding opportunities, connecting development, humanitarian, human rights and peacebuilding pillars.
Secretary-General’s proposal
Back in October, the Secretary-General had presented a $3.3 billion budget proposal to the General Assembly, stressing to delegates at the Assembly’s main budget committee that “the role of the United Nations has never been more vital.”
In his presentation, the UN chief also voiced concern over the deteriorating liquidity situation of the Organization, urging countries to ensure timely and full payments.
Strengthening communications
The Assembly further adopted a resolution that includes provisions to expand the coverage of UN official intergovernmental meetings in Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish languages.
The 20 positions, classified as general temporary assistance (GTA), includes editors, press officers and assistants working in the four languages.
As of Saturday, 142 UNRWA staff members have been killed and 123 installations damaged. Other UN agencies, including the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) have also lost their personnel.
On Friday, Issam Al Mughrabi, a UNDP staff member alongside his wife, children and members of his extended family, were killed in an Israeli air strike.
TORONTO, Canada, Dec 22 (IPS) – The year 2023 has brought so much tragedy, with incomprehensible loss of lives, whether from wars or devastating ‘natural’ disasters, while our planet has seen yet more records broken as our climate catastrophe worsens.
Farhana Haque RahmanAnd so as the clock ticks towards the (mostly western) New Year, readers are traditionally subjected by media outlets like ours to the ‘yearender’ – usually a roundup of main events over the previous 12 months, one horror often overshadowed by the next.
So forgive us if for 2023 IPS takes a somewhat different approach, highlighting how humanity can do better, and how the big depressing picture should not obscure the myriad small but positive steps being taken out there.
COP28, the global climate conference held this month in Dubai, could neatly fit the ‘big depressing’ category. Hosted by a petrostate with nearly 100,000 people registered to attend, many of them lobbyists for fossil fuels and other polluters, it would be natural to address its outcomes with scepticism.
However, while Yamide Dagnet, Director for Climate Justice at the Open Society Foundations, described COP28 as “imperfect”, she said it also marked “an important and unprecedented step forward in our ‘course correction’ for a just transition towards resilient and greener economies.”
UN climate chief Simon Stiell acknowledged shortcomings in the compromise resolutions on fossil fuels and the level of funding for the Loss and Damages Fund. But the outcome, he said, was also the “beginning of the end” for the fossil fuel era.
Imperfect as it was and still based on old structures, COP28 hinted at the possible: a planetary approach to governance where common interests spanning climate, biodiversity and the whole health of Earth outweigh and supersede the current dominant global system of rule by nation states.
As we have tragically witnessed in 2023, the existing system – as vividly reflected in the repetitive stalemate among the five veto-bearing members of the UN Security Council – is failing to find resolution to the major conflicts of this year, Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Gaza. Not to mention older and half-forgotten conflicts in places like Myanmar (18.6 million people in need of humanitarian aid) and in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (seven million displaced).
The unrestrained destruction of Gaza and the disproportionate killings of over 17,000, (now the death toll is “at least 20,000 people” according to Palestinian officials) mostly civilians– in retaliation for 1,200 killings by Hamas and 120 hostages in captivity– have left the Palestinians in a state of deep isolation and weighed down by a feeling of being deserted by the world at large.
The United Nations and the international community have remained helpless– with UN resolutions having no impact– while American pleas for restrained aerial bombings continue to be ignored by the Israelis in an act of defiance, wrote IPS senior journalist Thalif Deen.
The hegemony of the nation-state system is surely not going to disappear soon but – without wanting to sound too idealistic — its foundations are being chipped away by civil society where interdependence prevails over the divide and rule of the existing order. And so for a few examples encountered in our reporting:
CIVICUS Lens, standing for social justice and rooted in the global south, offers analysis of major events from a civil society perspective, such as its report on the security crisis gripping Haiti casting doubt over the viability of an international plan to dispatch a Kenya-led police contingent.
Education Cannot Wait, a global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, lobbied at COP28 for a $150 million appeal to support school-aged children facing climate shocks, such as the devastating drought in Somalia and Ethiopia, and floods in Pakistan where many of the 26,000 schools hit in 2022 remain closed.
Leprosy, an ancient but curable disease, had been pegged back in terms of new case numbers but the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 made it harder for patients to get treatment and for new cases to be reported. Groups such as the Sasakawa Health Foundation are redoubling efforts to promote early detection and treatment.
With 80 percent of the world’s poorest living closer to the epicenters of climate-induced disasters, civil society is hammering at the doors of global institutions to address the challenges of adaptation and mitigation.
Lobbying on the sidelines of COP28 in Dubai was activist Joshua Amponsem, co-director of the Youth Climate Justice Fund who questioned why weather-resilient housing was not yet a reality in Mozambique’s coastal regions despite the increasing ferocity of tropical cyclones.
“My key message is really simple. The clock is ticking,” Dr Simeon Ehui told IPS as the newly appointed Director General of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture which works with partners across sub-Saharan Africa to tackle hunger, poverty and natural resource degradation.
Dr Alvaro Lario, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), which has received record-breaking pledges in support of its largest ever replenishment, warns that under current trends 575 million people will still be living in extreme poverty in 2030.
“Hunger remains a political issue, mostly caused by poverty, inequality, conflict, corruption and overall lack of access to food and resources. In a world of plenty, which produces enough food to feed everyone, how can there be hundreds of millions going hungry?” he asked.
Empowering communities in a bid to protect and rejuvenate the ecosystems of Pacific communities is the aim of the Unlocking Blue Pacific Prosperity conservation effort launched at COP28 by Palau’s President Surangel Whipps who noted that the world was not on track to meet any of the 17 sustainable development goals or climate goals by 2030.
“We really have reached planetary limits and I think interest in oceans is rising because we have very dramatically reached the limits of land,” says Dr Obura, “What the world needs to understand is how strongly nature and natural systems, even when highly altered such as agricultural systems, support people and economies very tangibly. It’s the same with the ocean.”
An ocean-first approach to the fight against climate change is also the pillar of a Dalhousie University research program, Transforming Climate Action, launched last May and funded by the Canadian government. Traditional knowledges of Indigenous People will be a focus.
As Max Roser, an economist making academic research accessible to all, reminds us: for more people to devote their energy to making progress tackling large global problems, we should ensure that more people know that it is possible.
Focusing on the efforts of civil society and projecting hope amidst all the heartbreak of 2023 might come across as futile and wasted, but in its coverage IPS will continue to highlight efforts and successes, big and small, that deserve to be celebrated.
Farhana Haque Rahman is the Executive Director of IPS Inter Press Service Noram and Senior Vice President of IPS; she served as the elected Director General of IPS from 2015 to 2019. A journalist and communications expert who lived and worked in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America, she is a former senior official of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization FAO and the International Fund for Agricultural Development IFAD.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
For business leaders, weighing in publicly on current issues has become a minefield. In the damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t-era of social media, both voicing an opinion and staying on the sidelines imply business consequences.
Mixed signals from consumers and the public muddy the waters further. On the one hand, employees want to hear from their leaders: they’re 14.5 times more likely to work for a company that publicly supports human rights. Yet a recent Gallup poll found that less than half of U.S. adults thought that businesses should take a public stance on current events.
So, what’s the best course of action for a business leader to take in fraught times? I’ve worked with dozens of CEOs at both startups and huge consumer brands on exactly this communication challenge — and there are few easy answers.
Before pressing publish on that latest X post or LinkedIn update, consider these five guidelines.
Shoot-from-the-hip hot takes and half-baked opinions are an obvious no-no. But what about when you really have something to say — or at least think you should chime in?
Before weighing in on a hot-button topic, business leaders need to ask themselves, “Why?” from both a corporate and personal standpoint.
On the corporate side, the fundamental question is: How is making this statement strategic for my company? Does my opinion benefit employees, customers, and/or other stakeholders? A clear yes here is a strong incentive to speak up.
Nor should the personal level be ignored. If you feel you must say something on a topic because doing so aligns with your beliefs and values, then that might trump more pragmatic considerations. The key is to be honest about whether you’re prepared to face the potential consequences, personal and professional.
Take the example of Chobani’s CEO, Hamdi Ulukaya. A Turkish immigrant of Kurdish descent, Ulukaya has been an outspoken supporter of immigration reform in the U.S. This has little to do with his yogurt empire and has earned backlash from some sectors. But it’s a stand he’s personally committed to making.
2. Are you truly being additive?
The concept of decentering can also provide a helpful benchmark. In short, leaders need to ask themselves if they should weigh in at all, thereby shifting the spotlight away from the issue and onto themselves.
Do you truly have anything to add to the conversation, or are you just muddying the waters? Do you have unique insights? Or are you just talking to be heard or to be noticed? Or because you feel obligated to say something?
Listening and learning can often be a more fruitful path than empty statements that add noise without adding value. A simple gut check — Am I truly staying in my lane? — often goes a long way.
3. Remember internal channels
Business leaders often overlook the option of internal communications. But you can get the same benefits with fewer drawbacks by sharing your thoughts via your company mailing list, newsletter, or an all-hands meeting with your employees.
Shows of concern on closed channels scratch the itch to make your voice heard and satisfy employees who believe that the company should take a side or who are wondering why it isn’t. If your customers are wondering where you stand, bring up the situation in an email list that goes out to subscribers.
The upside of internal communications is that it can avoid the appearance of being theatrical or indulging in virtue-signaling or exploiting a situation.
In the military, war games are standard fare. Generals go through the motions of combat in advance, illuminating unforeseen risks.
Leaders need to take a similar approach before weighing in on hot-button topics. What will the likely pushback be? Are you willing to suffer the consequences if your comments go sidewise? Is it really worth it, or does it make more sense to stay on the sidelines?
5. When in doubt, wait
The timeless advice to wait a day or two before sending out a heated letter or email applies doubly to business leaders.
The news cycle may move at a breakneck pace, but that doesn’t mean you have to. Take the extra time to deliberate with colleagues, advisors and confidantes before sharing a view on a contentious issue. For CEOs accustomed to speed and decisiveness, this pause for reflection can be frustrating. But it’s often time well spent.
Media attention will, inevitably, move on. An impulsive Tweet, however, may last a lifetime.
Ultimately, in an era when social media can make all topics seem pressing and all opinions urgently needed, it can also be useful to remember the advice Marcus Aurelius shared 2,000 years ago: “You always own the option of having no opinion — These things are not asking to be judged by you.”
NEW YORK, Dec 22 (IPS) – Benjamin Netanyahu must go. Under the guise of judicial reform, Netanyahu has undermined the rule of law and divided the country. He is toxic to Arab states, even those which have signed the Abraham Accords. Netanyahu has become an impediment to Israel’s democratic development and regional relations.
Israel needs a new government committed to peace and a cabinet that champions reconciliation. Perpetual war plays into the hands of Hamas. It placates Jewish hardliners who oppose the national aspirations of Palestinians. War also serves Netanyahu by distracting voters and delaying accountability for his government’s intelligence failures on October 7.
It took up to ten hours for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to react to Hamas’ invasion. Known for its security and intelligence services, Israel was caught flat-footed. Panicked residents of kibbutzim cowered in safe rooms, while 1,200 Israelis were killed, butchered in their homes and on the grounds of the Nova Music Festival. Hundreds were taken hostage by Hamas, gang-raped and turned into sexual slaves. One hundred and thirty remain in captivity.
It is impossible to reconcile Israel’s objectives. Israel cannot eradicate Hamas and free hostages captive in the subterranean world of Gaza’s tunnel network. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin just visited Jerusalem to discuss priorities and scaling back Israel’s offensive.
In the fog of war, the IDF killed three Israeli hostages last week displaying a white flag and speaking in Hebrew. Shooting people, even Hamas members who surrender, violates the laws of war and Israel’s military code. Exhausted and trigger happy, the incident is under investigation. The Israeli army chief of staff and the intelligence chief issued apologies. Netanyahu prevaricated, delaying his meeting with hostage families.
The incident caused outrage across Israel, raising questions about Israel’s conduct of the war. The Hamas Ministry of Health claims that 20,000 Palestinian civilians have died as a result of IDF activities. Hostage families are demanding an investigation.
There is a growing clamor to bring the hostages home. Hostage families are also demanding a plan to end the war. They have generally been supportive of Netanyahu’s response, but they are wavering. They believe that continued action in Gaza risks the lives of the remaining 130 hostages. The bungled operation has brought Israeli institutions – the IDF, Shin Bet and Mossad – into disrepute.
Even President Joe Biden, Israel’s biggest backer, criticized the IDF for its “indiscriminate bombing.” France, Germany and Britain are also fed up and have demanded a “sustainable ceasefire.”
Netanyahu said there will be a time and place for an inquiry into the Hamas attack and Israel’s response. He believes that the longer it takes for an inquiry, the more the passions of hostage families will be mollified.
Israel’s slow grinding war with Hamas must stop. Israel was justified in launching a reprisal after October 7, especially as details of the brutality came to light. Two months later, the IDF seems to be flailing about. Israel has been characterized as the aggressor and has lost the moral high ground. For sure, Israel has every right to defend itself. But what started as calculated counterterrorism now seems more like rage and revenge.
Can Hamas even be defeated? Hamas is more than an organization. It is a movement. For every Hamas terrorist that Israel kills, more Palestinian militants are waiting in the wings.
It’s time for a new approach. An interim government overseen by the Palestinian Authority should be established and make plans for an eventual Palestinian state living side-by-side at peace with Israel.
Indiscriminate bombing is counterproductive. A more surgical approach would differentiate between Hamas and Gazans, addressing claims of collective punishment.
Internationally mediated talks would ensue when the hostages are freed. Palestinians need a national horizon to separate themselves from the clutches of Hamas.
Israeli elections would likely repudiate Netanyahu and lead to the creation of a peace cabinet, putting Israel back on track as a democracy that respects minority rights and values good neighborly relations.
It is unimaginable that Netanyahu can survive his putrid performance. Prosecutors are waiting to charge Netanyahu with corruption. Israelis can debate the details of government formation for months, but polling suggests that regime change is something that Israelis agree on now.
David Phillips is an Adjunct Professor at the Security Studies Program of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.
Displaced families in a school in Gaza. 21 December 2023 Credit: WFP/Arete/Abood al Sayd
by Thalif Deen (united nations)
Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 22 (IPS) – As the killings of civilians in Gaza rose to over 20,000, the besieged city — which has been virtually reduced to rubble by Israeli bombardments — is also being ravaged by hunger and starvation.
In new estimates released December 21, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a global partnership, which includes the World Health Organization (WHO), said Gaza is facing “catastrophic levels of food insecurity,” with the risk of famine “increasing each day.”
An unprecedented 93% of the population in Gaza is facing crisis levels of hunger, with insufficient food and high levels of malnutrition.
At least 1 in 4 households are facing “catastrophic conditions”: experiencing an extreme lack of food and starvation and having resorted to selling off their possessions and other extreme measures to afford a simple meal. Starvation, destitution and death are evident.
The World Food Programme warns that these levels of acute food insecurity are unprecedented in recent history and that Gaza risks famine.
Shaza Moghraby, Spokesperson for the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said: “I have been exposed to many IPC reports on various countries throughout my time at WFP and I have never seen anything like this before. The levels of acute food insecurity are unprecedented in terms of seriousness, speed of deterioration and complexity.”
Gaza risks famine. The population falling into the “catastrophe” classification of food security in Gaza or IPC Level 5 is more than four times higher than the total number of people currently facing similar conditions worldwide (577,000 compared to 129,000 respectively).
A family cooks a meal in a temporary accommodation in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. Credit: WFP
“We need an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, the opening of all border crossings and the resumption of commercial cargo to provide relief, put an end to the suffering and avert the very serious threat of famine. We cannot wait for famine to be declared before we act,” she said.
On recent missions to north Gaza, WHO staff say that every single person they spoke to in Gaza is hungry. Wherever they went, including hospitals and emergency wards, people asked them for food.
“We move around Gaza delivering medical supplies and people rush to our trucks hoping it’s food,” they said, calling it “an indicator of the desperation.”
Meanwhile, in a new report released this week, Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused the Israeli government of using “starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in the occupied Gaza Strip, which is a war crime.”
“Israeli forces are deliberately blocking the delivery of water, food, and fuel, while willfully impeding humanitarian assistance, apparently razing agricultural areas, and depriving the civilian population of objects indispensable to their survival”.
Since Hamas-led fighters attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, high-ranking Israeli officials, including Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Energy Minister Israel Kat have made public statements expressing their aim to deprive civilians in Gaza of food, water and fuel – statements reflecting a policy being carried out by Israeli forces, HRW said.
Other Israeli officials have publicly stated that humanitarian aid to Gaza would be conditioned either on the release of hostages unlawfully held by Hamas or Hamas’ destruction.
“For over two months, Israel has been depriving Gaza’s population of food and water, a policy spurred on or endorsed by high-ranking Israeli officials and reflecting an intent to starve civilians as a method of warfare,” said Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch.
“World leaders should be speaking out against this abhorrent war crime, which has devastating effects on Gaza’s population.”
Human Rights Watch interviewed 11 displaced Palestinians in Gaza between November 24 and December 4. They described their profound hardships in securing basic necessities. “We had no food, no electricity, no internet, nothing at all,” said one man who had left northern Gaza. “We don’t know how we survived.”
Abby Maxman, President and CEO of Oxfam America said the shocking figures describing the high levels of starvation in Gaza are a direct, damning, and predictable consequence of Israel’s policy choices – and President Biden’s unconditional support and diplomatic approach.
“Anyone paying attention cannot be surprised by these figures after more than two months of complete siege, denial of humanitarian aid, and destruction of residential neighborhoods, bakeries, mills, farms, and other infrastructure essential for food and water production,” she said.
“Israel has the right to defend its people from attacks, but it does not have the right to use starvation as a weapon of war to collectively punish an entire civilian population in reprisal. That is a war crime.”
“The US government has repeatedly given Israel diplomatic cover, but now must urgently change course and put politics aside to prioritize the lives of civilians”, said Maxman.
“ As humanitarians, we know no amount of aid can meaningfully address this spiraling crisis without an end to the bombing and siege, but it is unconscionable to deny it to Palestinian families who are starving”.
She argued the Biden administration must use all of its influence to achieve an immediate ceasefire to stop the bloodshed, allow for the safe return of hostages to Israel, and allow aid and commercial goods in, “so we can save lives now.”
“The US cannot continue to stand by and allow Palestinians to be starved to death.”
According to WHO, Gaza is also experiencing soaring rates of infectious diseases. Over 100, 000 cases of diarrhoea have been reported since mid-October. Half of these are among young children under the age of 5 years, case numbers that are 25 times what was reported before the conflict.
Over 150 000 cases of upper respiratory infection, and numerous cases of meningitis, skin rashes, scabies, lice and chickenpox have been reported. Hepatitis is also suspected as many people present with the tell-tale signs of jaundice.
“While a healthy body can more easily fight off these diseases, a wasted and weakened body will struggle. Hunger weakens the body’s defences and opens the door to disease,” WHO warned.
Meanwhile, HRW said international humanitarian law, or the laws of war, prohibits the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) provides that intentionally starving civilians by “depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including willfully impeding relief supplies” is a war crime.
Criminal intent does not require the attacker’s admission but can also be inferred from the totality of the circumstances of the military campaign.
In addition, Israel’s continuing blockade of Gaza, as well as its more than 16-year closure, amounts to collective punishment of the civilian population, a war crime. As the occupying power in Gaza under the Fourth Geneva Convention, Israel has the duty to ensure that the civilian population gets food and medical supplies.
“Starvation must never be a means or result of warfare,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Türk said, responding to an alarming food security report released on Thursday that confirmed repeated warnings of catastrophic hunger levels in the besieged enclave amid ongoing fighting.
In a tweet, Mr. Türk urged Israel to act immediately to ensure that all those not involved in the clashes between Israeli Defense Forces and Hamas fighters “to facilitate humanitarian food deliveries commensurate with needs”.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report explained that famine could happen within the next six months if the current situation of intense conflict and restricted aid access persists.
The entire population of Gaza – roughly 2.2 million people – is already living with crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity.
The IPC report stressed that although the threshold of famine has not been crossed, humanitarians are particularly concerned about malnutrition among children, pregnant and breastfeeding women and the elderly.
Ordeal for teenage girls
Highlighting the extent of the humanitarian crisis throughout the enclave, the UN agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, has warned that more than 690,000 women and teenage girls barely have any access to menstrual hygiene products.
“UNRWA distributes sanitary napkins, but like everything else we distribute, it is a drop in the bucket compared to the needs of those in Gaza,” said spokesperson Tamara Alrifai in a tweet.
Meanwhile, UN aid coordination office OCHA reported heavy Israeli bombardments on Thursday from air, land, and sea across most of the Gaza Strip, along with Hamas rocket fire into Israel.
“Intense ground operations and fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups continued, in most areas of Gaza, with the exception of Rafah. The firing of rockets by Palestinian armed groups into Israel continued,” according to the OCHA situation report.
Opinion by Alice Wolfle, Tanja Sejersen (bangkok, thailand)
Inter Press Service
BANGKOK, Thailand, Dec 21 (IPS) – Have you ever tried to register a birth, a death or maybe your own marriage? Unfortunately, many of these vital events in Asia and the Pacific remain unregistered often with dire consequences for individuals, families and communities.
Civil registration can be a labyrinth to navigate, comprising of multiple stages with many bureaucratic hurdles. Such complex systems discourage individuals from either commencing or completing the arduous registration process.
But what if the process of registering a birth or death could be made less stressful for a new parent or a grieving relative? As an implementing partner of the Bloomberg Philanthropies Data for Health Initiative, ESCAP has been working with selected countries in the region to improve their Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) systems using the CRVS Systems Improvement Framework.
This framework provides the tools for a participatory approach to identify bottlenecks and solutions to streamline registration processes. The framework has now been used in Niue, Maldives, Nauru, Fiji, Vanuatu, Samoa, and Turkmenistan.
In many cases, people are not aware of the legal timeframes for registering vital events, leading to late registration of births often at school enrolment age, which often means having to pay additional late registration fees or the submission of additional documentation.
People living overseas may be unaware of the need to notify a vital event in their home country or are unable to visit a civil registration office to register the event. Lack of systems for recording overseas vital events in many countries means that events are either not captured, or in some cases may be double counted.
So, why is registering a vital event so complex?
In many countries, notification of a birth or death occurs at a health facility, but an individual must then register the event at a civil registration office. This multi-stage process means several trips to different offices for family members, which can be expensive and time-consuming, especially for those in remote areas.
Additionally, births or deaths occurring outside of health facilities frequently remain unregistered.
Civil registration processes are not only cumbersome for people attempting to register an event, but also for staff engaged in the process. Paper-based registration forms slow down the transfer of information between health facilities and civil registration offices and sometimes staff must (re)enter personal information by hand.
Where digital civil registration systems are used, staff often encounter obstacles in leveraging the potential benefits due to outdated ICT hardware and software, as well as limited internet connectivity. This ‘system’ may be something as simple as a spreadsheet or an MS Access database.
It is hardly surprising that this process is time-consuming for already understaffed facilities, often resulting in long queues at registration offices, not to mention the increased scope for errors or misplaced forms. In many countries, replacing lost forms or changing a mistake is akin to reaching a dead end in the registration labyrinth!
The lack of training and inconsistent forms for coding causes of death in line with the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) is also an issue. This means that accurate statistics on causes of death cannot be utilized by government agencies for future planning. Additionally, in many countries, the sharing of data may not be possible among government agencies due to regulations or the absence of integrated digital data systems. This means important data is not utilized to its full potential.
Once the main obstacles for registering a birth or death have been identified, stakeholders are able to develop redesigned civil registration processes. Although CRVS Business Process Improvement aims to encourage longer-term sustainable solutions to strengthen CRVS systems, (e.g., changing legislation, developing digitized platforms, improving interoperability, integrity and efficiency), ‘quick win’ solutions also constitute an important outcome of this work.
These facilitate immediate improvements that require minimal investment (e.g. amending a field on a registration form) to minimize the burden on families and combat the lack of awareness about the importance of registering vital events. ‘Quick win’ solutions may be used as an advocacy tool for increasing future resources for CRVS system improvements.
Examples of longer-term sustainable solutions have included the development of online registration forms, appointment booking systems, SMS mobile messaging communications and development of standard operating procedures for civil registry staff.
The process of implementing a simplified CRVS system is iterative, monitoring progress until complete and timely civil registration is achieved in the Asia and Pacific region as outlined in the Ministerial Declaration to “Get every one in the picture’ in Asia and the Pacific. A smooth experience encourages people to register events, increasing registration completeness alongside accuracy and timeliness of vital statistics, supporting the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development where no one is left behind.
Opinion by Jomo Kwame Sundaram (kuala lumpur, malaysia)
Inter Press Service
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Dec 20 (IPS) – The World Bank insists commercial finance is necessary for achieving economic recovery and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but does little to ensure profit-hungry commercial finance serves the public interest.
By failing to address pressing challenges within their purview, the second-ever Bretton Woods institutions’ (BWIs) annual meetings on the African continent, in Marrakech in October 2023, set the developing world even further back.
Jomo Kwame SundaramThe International Monetary and Financial Committee, which oversees the International Monetary Fund (IMF), could not agree, by consensus, on the usual end-of-meeting ministerial communique for ‘geopolitical’ reasons. The Development Committee, which governs the World Bank Group, fared little better.
New World Bank playbook
Little was achieved on crucial outstanding issues of governance reform and sovereign debt. Implicitly acknowledging past failure, World Bank Governors endorsed a “new vision to create a world free of poverty on a livable planet”.
After all, even the World Bank now acknowledges recent increases in global poverty have been the worst since the Second World War as economic stagnation, debt distress and inflation spread across the developing world.
The Bank’s new Evolution Roadmap proposes a just energy transition plan to mobilise private capital to scale up, secure and deploy climate finance. This is mainly for mitigation, rather than adaptation, let alone losses and damages.
The blueprint wants international financial institutions to help developing country governments de-risk private investments. For Muchhala, this reflects “the failure of the Bank’s wealthy shareholders to help ensure a more equitable multilateral system that is truly fit for purpose to meet the challenges of the 21st century”.
Blending finance for private profits
The strategy proposes ‘de-risking’ foreign investment with various types of ‘blended finance’ – such as co-financing, loan guarantees, political risk insurance or public equity co-investments – as well as complementary legal and other reforms.
The Bank and its allies have been promoting ‘blended finance’ for development, the environment and global warming since before the 2008 global financial crisis. Their main recommendation has been to induce profit-seeking private capital to fill growing financing gaps.
Undoubtedly, most poor developing countries have limited public resources to make needed social and environmental, including climate investments. In such arrangements, public funds are used to ‘de-risk’ or otherwise subsidise commercial finance, ostensibly to serve public policy priorities.
However, private commercial involvement in public services and infrastructure is costly and risky for the public sector and citizens, by deploying limited public resources for private gain. Civil society and other critics have already expressed grave concerns about the new Roadmap.
The World Bank Group also set up a Private Sector Investment Lab to scale up private finance in developing economies. It claims to be creating a “business enabling environment that unleashes private financing”.
Billions to trillions
The World Bank’s ‘billions to trillions’ slogan has been the pretext for privileging commercial finance as supposedly necessary to achieve the SDGs. But it has done little to ensure that such profit-seeking private investments will help achieve the SDGs or otherwise serve the public purpose.
The Bank does not consider that profit-seeking private investments expecting attractive returns may not serve the public interest and priorities. Nor do they necessarily support desirable transformations. Worse, their economic, social and environmental consequences may be for the worse.
The privatisation of previously public social services and infrastructure has worsened development and distribution. Unequal access to public services – increasingly linked to affordability and ability to pay – threatens hundreds of millions.
Such blended finance arrangements have also contributed to the debt explosion in the Global South – exacerbating, rather than alleviating developmental, environmental and humanitarian crises.
Debt distress spreading
Developing countries are in their worst-ever debt crises, with debt service obligations higher than ever before. Current debt-to-GDP ratios are more than twice those of LICs before the 1996 HIPCs’ debt relief came into effect, and even higher than for Latin American nations before the 1989 Brady plan.
Unlike the 1980s’ sovereign debt crises, market finance is now more important. Much more government debt from commercial sources involves relying on bond markets, rather than commercial bank borrowings.
With official credit much less important, commercial finance has become much more important compared to the 1980s. Unlike official creditors, most private creditors typically refuse to participate in debt restructuring negotiations, making resolution impossible.
Debt servicing costs equal the combined expenditure for education, health, social protection and climate. In Africa, debt servicing has risen by half. Debt service levels of the 139 World Bank borrowers are higher than during the heavily indebted poor countries’ (HIPCs) and Latin American debt crises peaks.
Debt service is absorbing 38% of budget revenue and 30% of spending on average by developing country governments. In Africa, the levels are much higher, at 54% of revenue and 40% of spending!
The BWIs’ joint debt sustainability framework insists debt-distressed economies must have lower debt-to-GDP ratios than other countries, limiting this LICs’ external ratio to 30% or 40%. This BWI policy effectively penalises the poorer and more vulnerable nations.
In 38 countries with over a billion people, loan conditionalities during 2020-22 resulted in regressive tax reforms and public spending cuts. Less expenditure has hit fuel or electricity subsidies and public wage bills, deepening economic stagnation.
Despite severe debt distress in many developing countries, no meaningful debt relief has been available for most. The most recent debt restructuring deals have left debt service levels averaging at least 48% of revenue over the next three to five years.
Debt distress limits government spending capacity, desperately needed to address social and environmental crises. Hence, overcoming stagnation and achieving the SDGs will require much more debt cancellation, relief and borrowing cost cuts.
The longstanding methods of fundraising by African NGOs are shaped by unique challenges, often rooted in economic, political, and cultural factors as well as vestiges of colonialism.
Opinion by Angela Umoru David, Tafadzwa Munyaka (new york / washington dc)
Inter Press Service
NEW YORK / WASHINGTON DC, Dec 19 (IPS) – Across Africa, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) bearing different monikers such as community-based organisations (CBOs), civil society organisations (CSOs) and nonprofits have long borne the duty of designing and implementing developmental interventions to address varying challenges.
The World Association of Non-governmental Organizations (WANGO) lists 4912 of such entities operating in the Continent, which is safe to say is only a fraction of the true number since many may not be registered on that platform. These non-state actors often rely on the goodwill of volunteers, individual donors, local grant-making bodies, international philanthropy and humanitarian aid to fund and facilitate their operations.
As lofty as their mission or magnanimous as their benefactors might be, the sheer number begs the question of how sustainable their funding methods truly are.
As practitioners in the African development space, we have observed over the years that the longstanding methods of fundraising by African NGOs are shaped by unique challenges, often rooted in economic, political, and cultural factors as well as vestiges of colonialism. These factors breed an over-reliance on funding from outside the continent, mainly from Western donor countries and international development organisations.
Overview of the Current Funding Landscape
Philanthropy and humanitarian aid from the Global North constitute a large chunk of the funding that African NGOs depend on each year. More often than not, such funding comes with ‘strings attached’ like specifying the issues that the local organisations should focus on, the proportion of the funding that should go to areas of concern and rigorous reporting demands.
It is quite common for funding to be unceremoniously withdrawn when an organisation is termed non-compliant to donor requirements.
“The global flow of aid resources hinders the effectiveness and sustainability of local NGOs, as well as their ability to scale and build capacity”, writes Carlos Mureithi, Kenyan journalist. In addition, funding is usually routed through larger international non-profits while local ones only serve as ‘implementing partners’.
With such intermediaries in the picture, local NGOs are forced to work within the confines of their funding partner’s stipulations. While there have been recent calls for localisation and shifting agency to Africa-based organisations, the reverberations are yet to be felt across the NGO landscape in Africa.
Similarly, smaller nonprofit organisations are completely cut off from international funding because they lack the social credibility and popularity. This creates a cycle where only the most ‘visible’ local non-profits continually receive funding. The ‘invisible’ nonprofits are inadvertently dependent on local grant-making bodies (which are often implementing partners of international funders), individual donors in the communities they serve, self-funding and crowdfunding platforms.
A classic scenario is a case in the South-Eastern part of Zimbabwe. A particular district had been grappling with pervasive issues of child marriages, an alarming rate of teen pregnancies, and school dropouts. In 2019, this plight of vulnerable youths caught the attention of a UN agency who reached out to offer a helping hand.
However, there were differences of opinion on what the agency was willing to support and what the District termed to be the true need. Historically, the District had been marked by severe economic challenges stemming from periods of political instability and other socio-economic issues.
These challenges had created poverty and youth restiveness that left communities to grapple with the effects presenting themselves as students dropping out, child marriages and teen pregnancies exacerbated by inadequacies in healthcare and poor education systems. To the District leadership, tackling these effects was most urgent but the international donor agency wanted to fund birth registrations instead, which according to District records, were already at a 95% coverage and success rate.
While birth registration is crucial, the highlighted issues called for a more comprehensive and holistic approach. Therefore, local needs, while pressing, may be overshadowed by the specific preferences and guidelines set by external funders.
Of a truth, the historical dependence on external funding has been both a blessing and a curse. While it provides necessary resources, it sometimes restricts the flexibility of communities to address their challenges autonomously and radically.
Why the Existing Fundraising Model is not Sustainable
1 – Agenda-setting: The landscape of international funding for community development is often a double-edged sword. While financial support from international donors can be a lifeline for communities facing various drawbacks, the attached conditions for such funding sometimes lead to clashes of values.
This poses a significant problem to the existing model of fundraising, as communities may find themselves at a crossroads between meeting immediate needs through the funding provided and adhering to their core values and principles. The model also perpetuates an imbalance of power between international donors and local communities.
The power dynamics can hinder genuine, bi-lateral collaboration and may result in decisions that prioritise the donor’s interests over the community’s needs. The Big Brother syndrome is real. Furthermore, like in the story above, international donors may have specific agendas driven by global concerns, political leanings or their organisational mandates. These may not always align with the grassroots objectives of communities. For example, a donor might prioritise teaching people their rights, while the community seeks expansion of its immunisation program.
2 – Poverty: The fundraising status quo does little to transform systems, creates an over-dependence on foreign aid and perpetuates a cycle of poverty. On the flipside, small NGOs who are not on the radar of foreign donors rely on individual giving or are self-funded and this means that the resources only trickle in.
This limits the impact of projects and forces the staff to live on the barest minimum. In Nigeria, an ongoing jab at development workers is that the NGO staff’s standard of living is so below par that they should also be beneficiaries of their own projects (especially in livelihood and economic empowerment projects).
This is due to the high poverty and unemployment rates in most African cities. Even though the Continent has a long and rich history of local organising, most community members simply cannot afford to spare the little they have for altruistic purposes.
In the same vein, the high poverty levels breeds discontent towards the government and does not inspire many Africans to support the initiatives of local NGOs. It is a widespread notion that the citizens are already doing too much by spearheading the provision of basic amenities like electricity, pipe-borne water and roads. Therefore, the questions are, “Why should we keep doing so much? Why are NGOs forced to do the work that the government should be doing?” This high poverty rate and disillusionment often stops people from donating to NGOs around them.
How Can We Improve Fundraising in Africa?
Nonprofit fundraising in Africa has been marred by economic disparities, external dependencies, and changing political landscapes. In the pursuit of sustainable development, we propose a shift that makes us look inwards at diaspora investments, local organising, and planned giving (including endowments) to provide African NGOs with the tools to navigate the historical challenges while securing long-term financial stability.
1 – Planned giving: Also known as legacy or deferred giving, it is a unique and strategic approach to fundraising that focuses on securing long-term financial support for NGOs. It comprises several key components including bequests, charitable gift annuities, life insurance, or retirement plans.
Unlike traditional donations, planned giving involves arrangements made during a donor’s lifetime that will take effect at a future date. This form of philanthropy allows individuals to leave a lasting legacy, ensuring that their contributions continue to support a cause dear to their hearts even beyond their lifetime.
The well-heeled in our African communities can be encouraged to seriously consider planned giving as not only a strategic avenue for them as donors to create a lasting impact on the causes they care about but to leave a meaningful legacy that reflects their values and commitment to positive change.
We recognize that planned giving decisions are highly personal and influenced by individual circumstances. Nonetheless, in the dynamic landscape of African fundraising, securing sustainable funding is a perpetual challenge.
Planned giving, with its focus on long-term philanthropy, presents an impactful solution for these nonprofits if they began creating educative campaigns to draw attention to this form of philanthropy. We believe that this piece also creates an opportunity for the well-to-do to explore this possibility.
In the same vein, another beacon of financial stability and long-term sustainability for NGOs in Africa are endowments. An endowment in the context of nonprofit fundraising refers to a dedicated fund established by an organisation, typically through donations or other financial contributions, with the intention of maintaining and growing the principal amount over time.
In the context of the African Union Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want and achieving the mantra ‘African solutions to African problems’, endowments offer a strategic avenue for securing a reliable source of income, fostering autonomy and resilience. Endowments, just like planned giving initiatives, offer opportunities for sustained funding, allowing organisations to plan for the future and achieve lasting impact.
The continent boasts of a large array of individuals who have the capacity to provide endowments to causes that align with their interests. In an age of social status and obscene wealth being flaunted on social media, we ask, “How might this wealth be harnessed for long-term benefits in addressing community challenges?”
The continent also boasts of a large diaspora community that can be invited to partner with local organisations through endowments in service of pressing social and community needs.
2 – Diaspora investment: The United Nations reports that in 2022 diaspora remittances reached $100 billion, surpassing funds received through Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Official Development Assistance (ODA).
This whopping sum is largely due to high poverty levels in the continent that compels family members who live abroad to send money back home but it shows two things– the resources collectively owned by Africans in the diaspora can make a huge difference and a strong culture of giving back already exists, so it could be structured and leveraged for a greater good.
We acknowledge that diaspora remittances are private (sent directly by immigrants to their families in Africa for personal/family use) but it still presents an exciting possibility of sustainable fundraising for local NGOs.
A Nigerian non-profit, Jela’s Development Initiatives employs this tactic through personal connections to Nigerians living abroad, and requests for recurring donations of $20 or £20, depending on the donor’s country of residence.
In Zimbabwe, Sisonke ZW Family Trust has some of their board members who live in the diaspora contributing varying amounts monthly with a minimum of $100 to support the organisation’s activities. While these have not yet yielded large scale results, with targeted campaigns and narrative change on giving, diaspora investment presents a unique way of channelling resources directly to the organisations that need them the most.
3 – Local organising: By nature, Africans are largely communal and this has resulted in many community members banding together to address societal injustice and developing local solutions.
This trait is one that can be organised and explored to fundraise for local non-profits. For example, in North-Central Nigeria, Vaccine Network for Disease Control mobilises female small business owners to ‘adopt’ a primary healthcare centre, where she makes a donation towards the facility, takes on responsibility to support the monitoring of that facility and holds it accountable in its service delivery.
The donations are not cumbersome to the women and it creates a local networked system of accountability and ownership. A similar initiative exists in Zimbabwe where the Citizen Initiative saw the construction of classroom blocks and ablution facilities in rural areas with citizens financing the projects.
These examples show that local organising works, even if it is on a small scale. However, if more grassroot NGOs adopted this methodology, involving community members in the identification of problems and design of local solutions, they would be more than willing to co-execute and monitor the success of such initiatives towards desired outcomes.
Too often, local NGOs are more concerned with catching the attention of the international funders that they neglect the advantage Africans have as a communal society and the power within that to secure lasting change.
Conclusion
Addressing the existing fundraising system in Africa and its linked challenges requires a multifaceted approach. By empowering local organisations, promoting cultural sensitivity, and advocating for supportive policies, we can pave the way for sustainable development that originates from within communities themselves.
While international funding undoubtedly plays a crucial role in community development and we are not advocating for throwing the baby with the bath water, we maintain that addressing the clash of values and power imbalance is paramount for the success and sustainability of projects.
We also recognize the effort of pan-African philanthropic organisations like the African Visionary Fund to democratise the funding space and abide by game-changing principles like multi-year funding and institutional capacity development but one organisation is definitely not enough to serve the needs of the Continent.
Such visionary approaches need to be duplicated by other indigenous philanthropic organisations. Thus, it is through collaborative efforts that we can build a more resilient and self-reliant future for Africa’s community-based initiatives. Ultimately, it is time to look inward and restructure how we give. The time is now.
Angela Umoru-David is a creative social impact advocate whose experience cuts across journalism, program design and corporate/development communications, and aims to capture a plurality of views that positively influence the African narrative.
Tafadzwa Munyaka is a nonprofit/social change professional with crosscutting expertise in fundraising, program management, and child rights advocacy.
Two women together in a ‘friendly space’, a woman-only zone in an IDP site in Unity State, South Sudan. Credit: OCHA-Alioune Ndiaye
by Naureen Hossain (united nations)
Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 18 (IPS) – Funding humanitarian programs will continue into the new year, but the funding cuts of the previous year may impact the prioritization of the most immediate and most life-threatening needs.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) released the Global Humanitarian Overview (GHO) for 2024. This annual assessment of the global humanitarian sector provides insight into the humanitarian action undertaken by the UN and its partners and reviews current and future trends in this sector.
Major crises have been the result of violent conflicts or global climate disasters. The economic impact of these crises has been a contributing factor to the increasing humanitarian needs in places like Afghanistan and Syria, or indicative of greater economic instability. The need for food, water, shelter, and health services, have also contributed to the assessment of needs among affected communities. As a result of these crises, 1 in 73 people have been forcibly displaced. Over 258 million people have experienced acute food insecurity. Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, has remarked that the international community has not been “keeping pace with the needs” brought on by these crises.
For this year, there was a reported decrease in funding from the year prior. In the previous year, in spite of efforts and repeated calls from UN officials to increase funding, the UN received only one-third of the requested $57 billion for 2023. In 2024, the UN and its humanitarian partners are calling for USD$46.4 billion to assist 180.5 million in 72 countries. The North Africa and Middle East region, which includes the Palestinian Territory, Syria and Yemen, will require US$13.9 billion, which is the largest amount being asked. East and Southern Africa is next, requiring US$10.9 billion, followed by Central and West Africa requiring US$8.3 billion, and Asia and the Pacific, which is calling for US$5.5 billion.
Two women together in a ‘friendly space’, a woman-only zone in an IDP site in Unity State, South Sudan. Credit: OCHA-Alioune Ndiaye
The current plans from the UN and its humanitarian partners, as indicated by the report, will be to prioritize the communities dealing with the most life-threatening needs, and therefore require urgent action. The response plans that have been formulated promise a more stream-lined approach that will take into consideration the realities of the organizations’ capacity to deliver humanitarian assistance. Given that funding – or the lack therof, – was a particular concern over the last year, and resources were quickly dwindling, this pragmatic approach is founded.
Even with this focus on immediate needs, the predicted funds required for certain regions would suggest that protracted crises with long-term impacts are among the issues that will be addressed. The tragedy of humanitarian work seems to be that with multiple situations and escalations to address, attention and assistance are only further divided between today’s disaster and yesterday’s crisis. The crisis may not have been fully resolved.
For instance, under the Rohingya Joint Response Plan, which will be led by UNHCR and IOM, US$872.7 million has been requested to fund this plan that will provide ongoing humanitarian support to the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. It is six years since the Rohingya refugee camps have been set up. The need for food, shelter, and protection, and the pressure to keep these camps running have only exacerbated and may continue to do so the longer it persists. The prolonged presence of the camps, and the number of people still seeking refuge by crossing the border, will only leave them more vulnerable to the risks of abuse, exploitation, disease, and other security issues that developed within the settlements.
The GHO attests that humanitarian organizations will aim to deliver better results. This will include acknowledging and supporting local and national humanitarian groups through funding, increasing accountability and people-centered responses, and engaging in humanitarian diplomacy. There is also a call to promote inclusive responses that acknowledge the unique, intersecting, and complex needs of vulnerable peoples, including those from marginalized communities.
Women and girls, for instance, are particularly vulnerable during humanitarian crises. OCHA Director, Coordination Division, Ramesh Rajasingham, remarked on this during a high-level event in Addis Abbaba, Ethiopia. He stated that women are fourteen times more likely to be killed during climate disasters. Women and girls are also at a greater risk of gender-based violence; only 53 percent were able to access GBV services through groups like UN Women. Women and girls also face barriers in receiving life-saving healthcare, especially when it comes to reproductive health. Humanitarian organizations, and the international community that supports them, should be expected to improve their response to the gender-specific needs.
“We need to get better at acting on gender-specific analyses that strengthen our ability to meet the diverse and distinct needs of all the people we serve,” he said. “We need far greater investment in protection and other services in humanitarian settings that are tailored for women and girls.”
What is evident in the GHO is that the compassion and urgency to help those in need remain a driving force for the UN’s humanitarian actors. Yet, one cannot help but lament at the adjusted funding request, which is lower than last year’s. When it is now, more than ever, that millions of people are living through dire situations, through conflict or displacement, and many more are at risk of falling.
Azzawieh Market in Gaza City lies in ruins. Credit: UNICEF/Omar Al-Qattaa
Opinion by Mouin Rabbani (montreal, canada)
Inter Press Service
MONTREAL, Canada, Dec 18 (IPS) – The political significance of US-Israeli differences is easily exaggerated.
It is certainly true that tensions in the relationship exist. Israel is currently committing genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The US would like Israel to reduce – not cease, but reduce – its slaughter Palestinian civilians,
Israel has stated its intention to indefinitely maintain a military presence within at least parts of the Gaza Strip, and rejects any role for the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the governance of the Gaza Strip. The US has indicated it would like to see Israel withdraw to the 1967 boundary and supports replacing Hamas rule with that of the PA, which it believes to be in Israel’s best interest.
Washington would like to resume bilateral Israeli-Palestinian negotiations under US supervision, and has paid lip service to a two-state settlement. Israel has repeatedly and emphatically rejected both proposals.
Neither these nor other disagreements resulting from the current crisis have resulted in any reduction of US military, political, or diplomatic support for Israel, which remains total and unconditional. In other words, US-Israeli tensions have the political significance of a loving couple deciding whether to dine on steak or sushi for their next date.
It has been widely reported, for years, that Biden and his key lieutenants detest Netanyahu, and intensely so. If so, the Israeli prime minister must be thinking: “With enemies like these, who needs friends?”.
On December 12, the 193-member UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on “Protection of civilians and upholding legal and humanitarian obligations” during the 45th plenary meeting of the resumed 10th Emergency Special Session. Member States adopted a resolution, demanding an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire”, the unconditional release of all hostages as well as a call for “ensuring humanitarian access”. It was passed with a majority of 153 in favour and 10 against, with 23 abstentions. Credit: UN Photo/Loey Felipe
The US is not only complicit in Israel’s genocide, it is a full and active partner. For it to propose a “humanitarian pause” under present conditions, which in addition to the continuous, relentless bombing include measures intended to produce starvation, dehydration, and epidemic disease is tantamount to advocating for a Khmer Rouge coffee break.
A meaningless and diversionary charade if ever there was one.
If the Biden administration does take action to enforce international law during the current crisis it won’t be against Israel, but rather against Yemen for interfering with global shipping. Israeli impunity might as well be incorporated into the US constitution.
The performance of the UN Secretariat also leaves much to be desired. It has been extremely slow off the mark, hesitant to a fault, and excessively deferential to the US and Israel. It’s head of Political and Peacekeeping Affairs, Rosemary DiCarlo, has been enveloped in an impenetrable invisibility cloak.
For his part Secretary-General Guterres has been condemning Hamas in the strongest possible terms on an almost daily basis since 7 October but has yet to explicitly condemn Israel for anything.
Candidates for Guterres’s censure would include the mass killings of thousands of children; a medieval siege designed to produce widespread starvation, dehydration, and epidemic disease; an unprecedented campaign to destroy an entire territory’s health sector; the bombing of UN facilities sheltering civilians fleeing hostilities, and a record number of UN staff killed in a conflict, often together with their families.
Among senior officials only Martin Griffiths, the UN’s Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, the World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus, and to a lesser extent Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of UNRWA, have defied the echo chamber and been more explicit in framing the atrocities in the Gaza Strip.
To his credit, Guterres on 6 December invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter, thereby identifying the crisis as not only a humanitarian emergency but also a threat to the maintenance of international peace and security.
Its significance notwithstanding, history will question why Guterres dithered for two months when it came to calling out Israel for its ferocious onslaught on Gaza before suddenly reaching for his heaviest weapon.
Rather than using the stature and authority of his office during the crucial months of October and November to call for an immediate and comprehensive cessation of hostilities and accountability for all who have violated the laws of war or international humanitarian law, he instead chose to advocate for a vaguely-defined “humanitarian ceasefire”.
For Guterres, the Gaza Crisis constitutes a low point in an already unremarkable and frankly mediocre tenure. There’s a reason morale at the UN is disintegrating.
One does not require the benefit of hindsight to conclude that Guterres would have done better to align himself with the overwhelming majority of UN member states, who on 12 December, in numerous speeches from the floor, once again spoke out against the horrors of this war and called for it to end forthwith.
