While 12 of the Council’s 15 members voted in favour of the Brazilian-led text, one (United States) voted against, and two (Russia, and the United Kingdom) abstained.
A ‘no’ vote from any one of the five permanent members of the Council stops action on any measure put before it. The body’s permanent members are China, France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Russian amendments
Prior to the vote, two amendments proposed by Russia, calling for an immediate, durable and full ceasefire, and to stop attacks against civilians were rejected by the Security Council.
Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said “the time for diplomatic metaphors is long gone.” Anyone who did not support Russia’s draft resolution on this issue bears responsibility for what happens, he said. The current draft “has no clear call for a ceasefire” and “will not help to stop the bloodshed”.
He said Russia’s amendments proposed a call to end indiscriminate attacks on civilians and infrastructure in Gaza and the condemnation of the imposition of the blockade on the enclave; and adding a new point for a call for a humanitarian ceasefire.
“If these are not included in the current draft, it would not help to address the human situation in Gaza and polarize positions of the international community,” he said.
US rejection
US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield explained her country’s veto in the Council chamber saying “this resolution did not mention Israel’s right of self-defence.”
“Israel has the inherent sight of self-defence as reflected in Article 51 of the UN Charter,” she added, noting that the right was reaffirmed by the Council in previous resolutions on terrorist attacks, “this resolution should have done the same.”
She said that though the US could not support the resolution, it will continue to work closely with all Council members on the crisis, “just as we will continue to reiterate the need to protect civilians, including members of the media, humanitarian workers, and UN officials.”
Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield also noted the US is also engaged in on the ground diplomacy, with the visit of President Joseph Biden, and other senior officials.
“Yes, resolutions are important, and yes, this Council must speak out. But the actions we take, must be informed by the facts on the ground and support direct diplomacy that can save lives,” she said.
Opinion by Jomo Kwame Sundaram (kuala lumpur, malaysia)
Inter Press Service
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Oct 18 (IPS) – A senior manager of the world’s largest investment firm has ‘blown the whistle’ on ESG (environment, social and governance) ‘greenwashing’, especially on supposed climate finance.
Wall Street whistle-blowerTariq Fancy was Chief Investment Officer (CIO) for Sustainable Investing at BlackRock, managing over $9 trillion in assets. Founded in 1988, headquartered in New York City, and with the world’s largest investment portfolio, BlackRock can move financial markets.
Jomo Kwame SundaramHence, Fancy’s insider critique of corporate ESG pretensions – often associated with ‘responsible’ and ‘impact investing’ – has had a major impact. It has been seen as confirming and even elaborating on longstanding criticisms of ESG ‘greenwashing’.
Rejecting ‘stakeholder capitalism’, shareholder capitalism guru Milton Friedman long emphasized that a corporation’s primary and sole duty is to maximize profits for shareholders.
Managers are legally required to prioritize shareholder financial interests above all else. This means corporations must never sacrifice profits or their funds, however noble the cause.
Ethical or responsible actions can only be justified if they enhance ‘shareholder value’. Thus, companies can take morally desirable actions to improve their ESG ratings only if and when they enhance profitability.
As Friedman emphasized, corporate executives have strict fiduciary responsibilities under the law in ‘shareholder capitalism’ in the US, UK and elsewhere. Their managerial obligations and conduct thus limit potentially positive ESG impacts.
Prioritizing their corporate fiduciary duties above all else, they cannot enhance social or environmental benefits without maximizing returns for shareholders. By law, social, community or national ethical duties or moral values must always be secondary.
Is green financing progressive?
Corporate practices respond to changing understandings of profit-maximization in the medium to long-term. With changing national and international requirements, companies may be able to maximize long-term financial gains by investing in sustainability.
Thus, investing in green transitions – e.g., renewable energy or re-afforestation – can become profitable in the longer-term if the regulatory environment changes soon enough to sufficiently change incentives for long-term investments.
So, long-term profitability can be enhanced at the expense of short-term gains if conducive regulations, incentives and deterrents are introduced early enough.
Companies changing to more environmentally sustainable practices – like adopting solar panels, investing in re-afforestation, or other green initiatives – may thus become more profitable over the longer-term.
But ‘business-as-usual’ investments are still likely to yield more short-term gains in the near-term. And stock markets are more interested in short-term corporate performance, undermining longer-term profitability considerations. Thus, short-termist corporate governance norms deter green transitions.
Do green bonds accelerate green transitions?Larry Lohmann has shown how difficult it is to confirm that finance raised by companies issuing ‘green bonds’ is actually additional. It is often difficult to verify such bonds are funding new projects that would not have happened anyway.
Sometimes, companies had already planned to make certain investments using conventional financing. With ready access to such finance, they would not have issued green bonds if not for the pecuniary advantages of doing so.
In such circumstances, green bonds have the same results as conventional finance if not for the incentives to claim otherwise. Hence, green bonds cannot claim credit for green investments and transitions if they would have happened anyway by other means.
This raises larger questions about the supposedly transformative impact of green bonds. Companies may even obscure environmentally unsustainable or even harmful practices by bundling them together with ostensibly ‘green’ investments.
Thus, green bonds may finance certain genuinely sustainable or environment-friendly projects without changing the rest of their investment portfolios and business practices.
Stock market discipline?
Despite lacking strong supportive empirical evidence, advocates claim ESG-compliant stocks outperform non-compliant ones in the share market. Similarly, they claim such compliance improves overall ESG indicators and contributes significantly to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
But there is no strong evidence that ESG-inspired stock market or corporate strategies have improved the environment, society or governance. After all, shareholders and companies prioritize short-term financial goals over longer-term considerations, including ESG and long-term profitability.
Divestment of shares in companies which are not ESG-compliant may only have limited impact if others buy non-compliant stocks, especially after their prices have fallen.
Also, even if some investors sell their shares in companies which are not ESG-compliant, it is unlikely the stock market will ‘green’ corporate behaviour more broadly.
Such stocks are mere drops in the ocean of wealth and finance, and one cannot realistically expect the tail to ‘wag the dog’. In 2021, the world economy had $360 trillion worth of wealth, with nearly $6 trillion in private equity.
Disciplining companies
Divestment means selling shares and thus losing ‘voice’ in company governance. But for shareholder engagement, it is necessary to retain stock ownership. Holding stock gives shareholders voice which can be used to try to pressure companies to be more ESG-compliant.
Without financially damaging effects for its reputation and share price, a company would not be compelled to become more ESG-compliant. Only significant stock price collapses – following massive share divestment due to reputational damage – are likely to motivate companies to become ESG compliant.
Undoubtedly, adverse publicity for particular companies hurts their stock prices, at least temporarily. And this may force companies to improve their behaviour. But such success implies a ‘name and shame’ approach – not ESG-compliance – can be effective.
And while some share prices may be more sensitive to adverse ESG publicity in some societies, there is no strong evidence this is true everywhere. Nor is there any strong evidence that systematic ESG reporting has generated desirable outcomes in most societies.
Divestment may not strongly affect company profitability or share prices. But actions such as consumer boycotts directly influence company revenue and financial performance. This may prompt strong corporate responses due to their impacts on companies’ ‘bottom lines’.
Cattle quench their thirst at a drying river as worsening drought conditions continue in Isiolo County, Kenya. Credit: ILRI/Geoffrey Njenga
by Maina Waruru (nairobi)
Inter Press Service
NAIROBI, Oct 17 (IPS) – Women in pastoralist areas of East Africa are critical to the health of livestock in their communities, holding the key to effective animal vaccination campaigns meant to protect herds against deadly diseases.
They are, therefore, an important part of any vaccination strategies designed to guard the animals against killer outbreaks and need to be involved in such efforts for them to be successful.
Achieving the goals of such campaigns has become increasingly important as the effects of climate change introduce new diseases that threaten the sector and, by extension, household incomes.
It has become critically important to integrate females in such health campaigns, and one barrier to their success is the failure of authorities and development agencies to involve them.
While women, due to cultural reasons, do not commonly own livestock, they act as caregivers when the animals are sick, and with incidents of disease outbreaks rising, involving them, in the end, ensures improved food and financial security for families.
Besides, an increasing number of households in the region where livestock keeping is the economic mainstay are being headed by women who also act as providers to their families.
Unsurprisingly, as many as 43 percent of livestock insurance policyholders in northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia, where the policies have been introduced in the recent past, are women, scientists at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) say.
“Besides taking care of animals when they are sick, women influence the allocation of resources at the household level, determining things such as how money should go to buying vaccines, for example. Therefore, a strong gender strategy to allow women access to disease control is very important,” said Dr Bernard Bett, ILRI Senior Scientist, Animal and Human Health Program.
In its disease surveillance and response strategy, ILRI engaged “community disease reporters,” local leaders, and village women’s champions, including women heads of households, to gather information on outbreaks and to create awareness about vaccination campaigns, says Bett.
At times he noted, women got intimidated in queues by men during mass vaccination exercises, making them lose valuable time for other chores at home as they waited for their turn in the queue.
Authorities and organizations carrying out the missions have responded by enforcing a first–come–first–serve policy in the interest of fairness and increased animal health personnel staffing levels for orderly vaccinations, he explained.
Recognizing that conflict with household tasks was a permanent reality for women, ILRI practiced and advocated for early communication to enable better planning through community messaging while actively supporting females’ role in caring for livestock, he added.
Climate change, evidenced by frequent droughts and flood incidents in arid and semi-arid areas of East Africa that are the home of pastoralism in the region, Bett observed, presented a major disease burden with incidents of outbreaks of diseases such as Rift Valley Fever being a major threat.
“Highly climate-sensitive diseases causing pathogens attracted by changes in weather conditions, including those caused by vectors such as ticks and tsetse flies, become common. Efficient delivery of disease control measures, including vaccinations, is therefore important,” he told a recent media briefing in Nairobi.
Owing to the nomadic nature of pastoralists in search of pastures and water in times of shortage it is women are the ones who take care of households when the men are away with cattle and camels, while women are left behind caring for goats, calves, and vulnerable animals, making them also effectively in charge of their households.
Like their counterparts in the crop farming areas of the region, women pastoralists are faced with the challenge of providing food for their families, which is made worse by lack of income due to livestock deaths, noted Dr Rupsha Bernerjee, ILRI senior scientist attached to livestock and climate initiative.
“Whenever there are shocks such as droughts which in turn lead to food shortages, women skip meals to ensure their families are fed. It is therefore important to promote social inclusion in livestock health programs to ensure no one is left behind,” she said.
The impressive uptake of livestock insurance among women increases the resilience of herder communities, enabling them to cope with climate-induced risks, she added.
“Payments made to herders when droughts are very severe help in reducing distress sales of livestock guaranteeing that families are cushioned against possible malnutrition, thus the importance of women livestock health,” she told the briefing at the global body’s Nairobi headquarters.
In appreciating the important role in the health of livestock IDRC, Global Affairs Canada and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation established the Livestock Vaccine Innovation Fund (LVIF), which supports the development and production of innovative vaccines to improve livestock health and the livelihoods of farmers.
The agency notes that worldwide, more than 750 million people keep livestock as a source of income, 400 million being women, but animal diseases, such as Newcastle disease in chickens and peste des petits ruminants (PPR) in goats, create widespread devastation, with women disproportionately affected because “they are less likely than men to be able to access vaccines to prevent such losses.”
“Millions of women livestock holders face financial and animal losses when diseases sweep through their farms. These infections are often highly preventable with a simple vaccination, so what is preventing women from taking measures to protect their assets?” the IDRC poses.
To answer find answers to the imbalance, the partners launched a regional livestock vaccine initiative called SheVax+ research project was launched in 2019, bringing together Cumming School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University-US, the Africa One Health University Network (AFROHUN) together and implementing partners, Makerere University, University of Nairobi, and University of Rwanda.
Helen Amuguni, the SheVax+ principal investigator, identifies three primary barriers to livestock vaccine uptake among women smallholder livestock farmers in East Africa, including gender norms, which lead to women having less access to information on vaccinations, animal health, and livestock management practices.
Stereotypes, she says, affect the way women are viewed in relation to livestock ownership, leading to their exclusion during vaccination information campaigns. Power relations also mean some women require permission from the male household head to attend training or control livestock-related resources.
As a result, many women lack understanding of, among other things, the availability and importance of vaccines, while those who do have awareness may be prevented from acting upon it, she explains.
Besides carrying out disease control and management initiatives insuring livestock, as happens with the Index-Based Livestock Insurance pioneered by ILRI to ‘de-risk’ the sector, was a critical component of cushioning the sector’s well-being and incomes for households, according to Bernard Kimoro, head of climate change and livestock sustainability in the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Kenya.
Operational in northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia, the insurance utilizes satellite data to determine and read the conditions of the vegetation, where herders get compensation when the vegetation turns brown/yellow to indicate drought or shortage of foliage.
Desperation in the pure livestock systems in the region due to frequent climate change-linked droughts in the region called for both new animal disease control and feeds and nutritional strategies, he said.
The droughts have led to keepers using unsustainable feeds with high methane gas levels owing as the owners tried to keep animals alive during the dry spells, the official regrets.
The Greater Horn of Africa region is predicted to experience El Nino weather conditions characterized by higher than usual rainfall beginning this October to early 2024.
The past 10 days of conflict have claimed the lives of 4,200 people, forced more than one million individuals to flee their homes following an order from the Israeli authorities and left large areas in the Gaza Strip “reduced to rubble”, according to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
“We have grave fears about the toll on civilians in the coming days,” said OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani, “with military operations showing no signs of abating, a continued siege on Gaza affecting water supply, food, medicines and other basic needs and daily indications of violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law.”
Secure corridors
In southern Gaza where a humanitarian emergency is already playing out, UN relief agencies reiterated their call for a secure and reliable humanitarian corridor to deliver stockpiled aid into the Occupied Territory.
Both Egypt and Israel have faced multiple calls from the UN and international community to protect non-combatants impacted by the war.
“We call for unimpeded access, safe passage for desperately needed humanitarian supplies to Gaza,” said Abeer Etefa, UN World Food Programme (WFP) Regional Communications Lead for the Middle East and North Africa. Some 300 tonnes of food “are either at or on the way to the Egyptian border in Rafah”, said Ms. Etefa. “That’s enough to feed around a quarter million people for one week.”
According to the UN human rights office, “a large number” of women and children are among the dead in Gaza, as well as at least 11 Palestinian journalists, 28 medical staff and 14 UN colleagues.
Tombs of rubble
“It remains unclear how many more bodies may be buried in the rubble – with many families missing loved ones, terrified about their uncertain fate,” Ms. Shamdasani said, speaking in Geneva.
Echoing urgent warnings from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA about the desperate situation in Gaza amid heavy Israeli bombardments, from the air, sea and land, humanitarians echoed deep concern that healthcare facilities had been targeted – raising concerns about medical care for the injured, including pregnant women and those with chronic health issues.
Additionally, civilians attempting to relocate to southern Gaza have been struck and killed by explosive weapons, demanding urgent and independent investigation, OHCHR says.
The world body has called for an immediate humanitarian pause to facilitate aid delivery and prevent further suffering.
Strict compliance with the laws of war and the protection of civilians is essential to prevent further loss of life in this dire crisis, Ms Shamdasani said.
NEW YORK, Oct 17 (IPS) – Israel will recover over time from its colossal intelligence failure and its tardiness in responding militarily to Hamas’ massacre. But it cannot do so unless it upholds its moral values and makes every effort to spare the lives of innocent Palestinians as it pursues Hamas’ destruction
The unfathomable massacre of Israeli Jews by Hamas and its insatiable thirst for Jewish blood has rightfully evoked the most virulent condemnation from many corners of the world, including many Arab states. The call for revenge and retribution by many Israelis was an instinctive human reaction that can be justified in a moment of incomparable rage and devastation.
The Israeli decision to crush Hamas and decapitate its leaders must indeed be pursued with determination and vigor by the Israeli army. That said, the pursuit of destroying Hamas and preventing it from being reconstituted so that it can never threaten Israel again should under no circumstances justify any acts of revenge against innocent Palestinian men, women, and children who have nothing to do with Hamas’ evil act.
In fact, most of the Palestinians in Gaza have been victimized by Hamas itself, which has subjected them to a life of destitute and despair while they are frequently imperiled due to a lack of basic necessities like fuel, electricity, medicine, and drinking water.
Meanwhile, Hamas has been concentrating on battling Israel and using the people of Gaza as human shields as it invested much of its financial resources in buying and manufacturing weapons, training its warriors, building tunnels, and preparing to waging yet another destructive battle against Israel.
Hamas blames the plight of its people on Israel, using the 17-year-old blockade as a justification, which allows it to sow hatred and unrelenting enmity among the people against the Jewish state.
That said, Israel’s indiscriminate bombing of Gaza that has already leveled entire neighborhoods, killed, as of this writing, in excess of 2,300 Gazans, one-quarter of whom are children, and injured nearly 10,000 with little or no access to medical care, only affirms rather than refutes Hamas’ claims against Israel.
None of the dead or injured were asked by Hamas’s leaders whether they should go and massacre innocent Israelis at an unprecedented scale, but Hamas knew full well the unimaginable price these ordinary Palestinians, who just want to live, would end up paying.
Hamas’ unprecedent onslaught against Israeli civilians and soldiers put a significant dent in Israel’s military invincibility that could have hardly been imagined only two weeks ago. And whereby the colossal failure of Israeli intelligence to detect what Hamas was planning may well be rectified over time, the carnage that Israel is inflicting on Gazans severely damages the high moral ground the Israeli army has proudly claimed.
As the death toll and destruction rise in Gaza by the minute, the initial overwhelming sympathy toward Israel’s tragic losses is waning even among many of its friends. Indeed, once Israel loses its moral compass in dealing with the crisis, it will no longer be seen as the victim who rose from the ashes of the Holocaust and has every right to defend itself, but the victimizer whose survival rests on the ashes of its real or perceived enemies.
Prime Minister Netanyahu, who has been busy trying to dismantle Israel’s democracy, will stop short of nothing to try to redeem himself by exploiting these tragic events, hoping to emerge as a “war hero” and save his political skin.
How adversely his public call for revenge might impact Israel’s standing and its future relationship with the Palestinians is of no concern to him. Imposing a total siege on Gaza and depriving more than two million Palestinians of receiving basic necessities and demanding that over a million Gazans evacuate their homes and go south while bombing them to smithereens is a collective punishment that defies morality (and legality) by any measure.
Netanyahu is justifying this collective punishment by dehumanizing the Palestinians, deeming them unworthy of humane treatment. Whereas he rightfully condemned the unimaginable evil act of Hamas that killed over 1,400 innocent Israelis, he is waging a merciless campaign against innocent Palestinians who had nothing to do with Hamas’ acts of terror.
For Netanyahu, there is simply no moral equivalence. For him and many of his followers, the Palestinians are sub-humans and their lives are unequal to those of Israeli Jews.
The dehumanization of Palestinians will come back to haunt the Israelis simply because the Palestinians have no other place to go. And whether they are ordinary human beings with hopes and aspirations, or subhuman, Israel is stuck with them. And regardless of how the war will end, Israel will have to address the conflict with the Palestinians. The depth of the scars of the war will define the relationship for years to come.
Former Defense Minister and Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, Benny Gantz, who has just joined the government along with the current Defense Minister Yoav Galant, must resist Netanyahu’s call for vengeance. Yes, they will fight with their military might to crush Hamas, but they must also fight to safeguard Israel’s democracy and Jewish values, which forbid the indiscriminate killing of innocent people.
Israel will win this war; the question is, will it win it while adhering to these moral values, or win it by leaving behind deep moral wounds that will be etched in memory and in history books as one of Israel’s darkest chapters?
They must remember that just about every Arab country will quietly (and some even overtly) cheer the demise of Hamas, but they will be loud and clear about their objection to the killing of innocent Palestinians, especially women and children, and scuttle further any prospect of normalization of relations with other Arab countries.
The imminent invasion of Gaza will result in the destruction of this enclave, the likes of which we have never seen before. However, as long as the invasion is not driven by revenge and retribution and instead seeks, as the war comes to an end, to create a new paradigm to bring an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, then all the sacrifices made by all sides will not have been in vain.
This unprecedented breakdown in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict could lead to a historic breakthrough, if only the moderate Israeli, Arab, and Palestinian leaders grasp the unparalleled moment this crisis presents.
Dr. Alon Ben-Meir is a professor of international relations at the Center for Global Affairs at New York University (NYU). He teaches courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies.
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 16 (IPS) – When the United Nations commemorated the 75th anniversary of the UN Charter back in 2020, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres paid a supreme compliment to Civil Society Organizations (CSOs).
The CSOs, he pointed out, were a vital voice in the San Francisco Conference (where the UN was inaugurated). “You have been with us across the decades, in refugee camps, in conference rooms, and in mobilizing communities in streets and town squares across the world.”
“You are our allies in upholding human rights and battling racism. You are indispensable partners in forging peace, pushing for climate action, advancing gender equality, delivering life-saving humanitarian aid and controlling the spread of deadly weapons”.
And the world’s framework for shared progress, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), is unthinkable without you’, he declared.
But in reality, CSOs are occasionally treated as second class citizens, with hundreds of CSOs armed with U.N. credentials, routinely barred from the United Nations, specifically when world leaders arrive to address the high-level segment of the General Assembly sessions in September.
The annual ritual where civil society is treated as political and social outcasts has always triggered strong protests. The United Nations justifies the restriction primarily for “security reasons”.
A coalition of CSOs– including Access Now, Action for Sustainable Development, Amnesty International, CIVICUS, Civil Society in Development (CISU), Democracy Without Borders, Forus, Global Focus, Greenpeace International, Human Rights Watch, Oxfam International, TAP Network, and UNA-UK— is now proposing the creation of a Special UN Civil Society Envoy to protect, advance and represent the interests of these Organizations.
Credit: United Nations
In a letter to Guterres, the coalition points out the disparity in access for civil society delegates viz. UN staff and members of government delegations who face no such restrictions stand as a critical reminder of the hurdles faced by accredited civil society representatives who travel great distances to contribute their perspectives at the UN.
“It is also a missed opportunity for civil society delegates to engage in key negotiations inside the UN headquarters and for policymakers to benefit from their critical and expert voices buttressed by lived experience in advancing the principles enshrined in the UN Charter,” the letter says.
Considering this recurring disparity, the letter adds, “we believe it’s vital to correct this injustice promptly to ensure opportunities for all stakeholders to contribute to discussions of global consequences”.
“This issue once again underscores the necessity for civil society to have a dedicated champion within the UN system, in the form of a Civil Society Envoy, who can help promote best practices in civil society participation across the UN and foster outreach by the UN to civil society groups worldwide, particularly those facing challenges in accessing the UN.”
“We would also like to express our support for the revision of modalities to ensure meaningful civil society participation at all stages of UN meetings and processes as well as Unmute Civil Society recommendations supported by 52 states and over 300 civil society organizations from around the world”.
“We believe that addressing the above concerns could lead to significant strides in advancing the ideal of a more inclusive, equitable, and effective UN in the spirit of ‘We the Peoples.’ “
Mandeep Tiwana, Chief Officer, Evidence and Engagement, at CIVICUS told IPS civil society representatives have long complained about asymmetries across UN agencies and offices in engaging civil society and have called for a champion within the UN system to drive best practices and harmonise efforts.
One such medium, he said, could be the appointment of a Civil Society Envoy along the lines of the UN Youth Envoy and Tech Envoy to drive key engagements.
Notably, a Civil Society Envoy could foster better inclusion of civil society and people’s voices in UN decision-making at the time when the UN is having to grapple with multiple crises and assertion of national interests by states to the detriment of international agreements and standards, he pointed out.
Five reasons why it’s time for a Civil Society Envoy:
1. Without stronger civil society participation, the SDGs will not get back on track. The UN’s own assessment laments the lack of progress on the SDGs. We desperately need stronger civil society involvement to drive innovations in public policy, effectively deliver services that ‘leave no one behind’ and to spur transparency, accountability and participation. A Civil Society Envoy can catalyse crucial partnerships between the UN, civil society and governments.
2. Civil society can help rebalance narratives that undermine the rules based international order. With conflicts, human rights abuses, economic inequality, nationalist populism and authoritarianism rife, the spirit of multilateralism enshrined in the UN Charter is at breaking point. Civil society representatives with their focus on finding global solutions grounded in human rights values and the needs of the excluded can help resolve impasses caused by governments pursuing narrow self-interests.
3. A civil society envoy can help overcome UNGA restrictions on citizen participation and create better pathways to engage the UN. As it does every year, this September the UN suspended annual and temporary passes issued to accredited NGOs during UNGA effectively barring most civil society representatives from participating. Further, civil society access to the UN agencies and offices remains inconsistent. Reform minded UN leaders and states that support civil society can prioritise the appointment of an envoy for improved access.
4. More equitable representation. The few civil society organizations who enjoy access to UNGA heavily skew toward groups based in the Global North who have the resources to invest in staff representation in New York, or the right passports to enter key UN locations easily. A UN civil society envoy would lead the UN’s outreach to civil society across the globe and particularly in underserved regions. Moreover, a civil society envoy could help ensure more diverse and equitable representation of civil society at UN meetings where decisions are taken.
5. A civil society envoy is possible. Getting anything done at the UN requires adhering to what is politically feasible. A civil society special envoy is within reach. The Unmute Civil Society initiative to enable meaningful participation at the UN is supported by 52 states and over 300 civil society organizations. It includes among other things a call for civil society day at the UN and the appointment of a UN envoy.
“History is watching,” Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths told UN News in Geneva, highlighting the desperate situation facing around one million Gazans uprooted in the last week, after the Israeli military warned of an imminent offensive following the deadly 7 October attacks on Israel by militant group Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza strip since 2006.
“Aid access is our overwhelming priority. And we are in deep discussions hourly with the Israelis, with the Egyptians, with the Gazans about how to do that,” Mr. Griffiths said, adding that he was optimistic about hearing “some good news” soon that a solution could be found to the political impasse which has prevented aid convoys crossing from Egypt’s Rafah into southern Gaza.
The top UN aid official was speaking before heading to the Middle East, “trying to help, working with diplomats from all countries” to secure aid access and de-escalate the tinderbox situation, which UN Secretary-General described on Sunday as being on the “verge of the abyss”.
International responsibility
“It’s all Member States who have obligations…not just those in the region” to defuse the worst Israeli-Palestinian conflagration in decades, Mr. Griffiths continued. “The United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and the Arab world all have obligations” to ensure that the lives of civilians are protected and the rules of war observed.
“Don’t attack civilian infrastructure, protect civilians when they move,” the UN official insisted. “Make sure they get the aid they need and make sure that there are corridors which allow them some respite from the relentless attacks that are happening upon them.”
Hostage crisis
Among the key issues facing diplomats is securing the release of a reported 199 Israeli hostages, seized during the Hamas raid, the UN emergency relief chief continued.
“This war was started by taking those hostages. Of course, there’s a history between Palestinian people and the Israeli people, and I’m not denying any of that. But that act alone lit a fire, which can only be put out with the release of those hostages.”
Amid ongoing airstrikes in Gaza and concerns over a regional escalation of the conflict – especially on the northern border with Lebanon – Mr. Griffiths reiterated the need for humanity to prevail.
“History is watching to see if the consequences of this war are going to be generationally bad or if there are going to be ways in which swiftly that can be rebuilt, some kind of comity or neighbourliness between those two tragic peoples. …(Those are) the messages I’ll be taking to the region about biased in favour of one or the other, that biased in favour of humanity.”
Toll mounts
Since the start of the war, which has claimed the lives of some 1,300 Israeli citizens and injured 3,200 more, a reported 2,750 people have been killed in Gaza and more than 7,500 wounded.
Fourteen staff from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNWRA, have also been killed. “They were teachers, engineers, guards and psychologists, an engineer and a gynecologist,” Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini told journalists on Sunday.
Medical aid to Lebanon
The World Health Organization (WHO) has rushed critical medical supplies to Lebanon in order to be ready to respond to any potential health crisis there.
Two shipments arrived in Beirut on Monday from WHO’s logistics hub in Dubai, and include enough surgical and trauma medicines and supplies to meet the needs of 800 to 1000 injured patients. The Lebanese Ministry of Health is in the process of identifying the referral hospitals that will receive these vital supplies.
Lebanon’s health system has been crippled as a result of an economic crisis, the Beirut port blast that occurred in August 2020, and the additional burden of the Syrian refugee crisis. There are severe shortages of specialized medical doctors and health workers, and medicines and medical equipment.
Since violence escalated between Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory last Saturday, there have also been reports of clashes on the border between Israel and south Lebanon, resulting in casualties among civilians.
Latest updates from UNRWA:
Over one million people – almost half the total population of Gaza – have been displaced. Some 600,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are in the Middle Area, Khan Yunis and Rafah, of those, nearly 400,000 are in UNRWA facilities – much exceeding our capacity to assist in any meaningful way, including with space in our shelters, food, water or psychological support.
Despite the Israeli Forces’ evacuation order, an unknown number of IDPs remain in UNRWA schools in Gaza city and the North. UNRWA is no longer able to assist or protect them. Over 160,000 IDPs were sheltering in 57 UNRWA premises.
The number of killed is increasing. There are not enough body-bags for the dead in Gaza.
There is some water available in local shops, but rations are still down to one litre of water per person per day for the UNRWA teams in the Rafah logistics base (to cover drinking and all other needs).
People across Gaza have severely limited access to clean drinking water. As a last resort, people are consuming brackish water from agricultural wells, triggering serious concerns over the spread of waterborne diseases.
After five days, Gaza has had no electricity, pushing vital services, including health, water and sanitation to the brink of collapse.
UNRWA has sent an advance team to Egypt to prepare for the possible opening of a humanitarian corridor to bring humanitarian aid supplies into the Strip.
As of Sunday only eight UNRWA health centres were operational across Gaza providing primary health-care services, with estimated supplies of less than one month.
There are a total of 3,500 hospital beds in Gaza. Evacuation orders apply to 23 hospitals in Gaza and north Gaza, adding up to 2,000 beds.
EAST JERUSALEM, Oct 16 (IPS) – As of today, my UNRWA colleagues in Gaza are no longer able to provide humanitarian assistance.
As I speak with you, Gaza is running out of water and electricity. In fact, Gaza is being strangled and it seems that the world right now has lost its humanity.
If we look at the issue of water – we all know water is life – Gaza is running out of water, and Gaza is running out of life.?Soon, I believe, with this there will be no food or medicine either. ?
There is not one drop of water, not one grain of wheat, not a litre of fuel that has been allowed into the Gaza Strip for the last eight days. ?
The number of people seeking shelter in our schools and other UNRWA facilities in the south is absolutely overwhelming, and we do not have any more the capacity to deal with them.
My team, who relocated to Rafah to sustain operations following the Israeli ultimatum, is working in the same building as thousands of desperate displaced people rationing also their food and water.
In fact, an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding under our eyes.
And already – and we should always remember that – before the war, Gaza was under a blockade for 16 years, and basically, more than 60 per cent of the population was already relying on international food assistance. It was already before the war a humanitarian welfare society.
Every hour, we receive more and more desperate calls for help from people across the Strip. ? ?
We, as UNRWA, have already lost 14 staff members. They were teachers, engineers, guards and psychologists, an engineer and a gynecologist. Most of our 13,000 UNRWA staff in the Gaza Strip are now displaced or out of their homes.?
My colleague Kamal lost his cousin and her entire family.? My colleague Helen and her children were pulled out of the rubble. I was so relieved to learn that they were still alive.?
My colleague Inas fears that Gaza will no longer exist.?Every story coming out of Gaza is about survival, despair and loss.?
Thousands of people have been killed, including children and women. ?Gaza is now even running out of body bags. Entire families are being ripped apart.??
At least 1 million people were forced to flee their homes in one week alone. A river of people continues to flow south. No place is safe in Gaza.
At least 400,000 displaced (persons) are now in UNRWA schools and buildings, and most are not equipped as emergency shelters.
Sanitary conditions are just appalling, and we have reports in our logistics base, for example, where hundreds of people are just sharing one toilet.
Old people, children, pregnant women, people with disabilities are just being deprived of their basic human dignity, and this is a total disgrace! Unless we bring now supplies into Gaza, UNRWA and aid workers will not, be able to continue humanitarian operations. ?
The UNRWA operations is the largest United Nations footprint in the Gaza Strip, and we are on the verge of collapse.
This is absolutely unprecedented. ?
We keep reminding that International Humanitarian Law has now to be at the center of our concerns. Wars, all wars, even this war, have laws. ?
International humanitarian law is the law of any armed conflict. ?It explicitly sets the minimum standards that must prevail at any, any time. ??
The protection of the wounded and civilians, including humanitarian workers, is non-negotiable under humanitarian law.? Last week’s attack on Israel was horrendous – devastating images and testimonies continue to come out. ??
The attack and the taking of hostages are a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law. ?But the answer to killing civilians cannot be to kill more civilians. ?
Imposing a siege and bombarding civilian infrastructure in a densely populated area will not bring peace and security to the region. ?
The siege in Gaza, the way it is imposed, is nothing else than collective punishment. So, before it is too late, the siege must be lifted and aid agencies must be able to safely bring in essential supplies such as fuel, water, food and medicine. And we need this NOW.
Over the last few days, we have advocated for fuel to come in because we need fuel for the water station and the desalination plant in the south of Gaza. Unfortunately, we still have no fuel.
All parties must facilitate a humanitarian corridor so we can reach all those in need of support. ??
UNRWA and aid agencies must be able to do their work and save lives. And we must do so safely, without risking our own lives.?
Finally, we are also calling for a suspension of hostilities for humanitarian reasons, and this needs to take place without any delay if we want to spare loss of more lives.
Philippe Lazzarini is Commissioner-General, United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)
Up to 9,000 people have been reportedly killed, more than 5.6 million driven from their homes and 25 million people need aid, because of the conflict that erupted in mid-April between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and other armed groups.
In a statement marking the grim milestone, Martin Griffiths, who is also the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affair, noted that for half a year, civilians – particularly in Khartoum, Darfur and Kordofan – “have known no respite from bloodshed and terror”, with horrific reports of rape and sexual violence emerging continuously.
Basic services crumbling
With the number of ethnic clashes increasing, access of aid workers to the people in need is hindered due to lack of security and bureaucratic barriers, explained the Under-Secretary-General.
“At least 45 aid workers have been killed or detained since 15 April – almost all of them are national staff,” he lamented.
However, even in those areas that humanitarians can access, they are “hamstrung by underfunding”. Only 33 per cent of the $2.6 billion required to help those in need in Sudan in 2023 has been received.
The healthcare situation in Sudan is dire: as more than 70 per cent of health care facilities in conflict areas are out of service, cholera is already stalking the country, with more than 1,000 suspected cases.
Basic services are crumbling. The conflict has kept 19 million children are out of school, significantly setting back their education and the country’s future.
‘This cannot go on’
As communities are torn apart, vulnerable people have no access to life-saving aid. Humanitarian needs are mounting in the neighbouring countries where millions have fled.
“This cannot go on,” the UN relief chief said, appealing to the conflict parties. He urged them to uphold obligations under international humanitarian law and to recommit to dialogue at the highest levels to end this conflict.
He stressed that the time had come for them to honour the commitments made in Jeddah to protect civilians and allow humanitarian aid.
“The international community cannot desert the people of Sudan,” underscored Mr. Griffiths requesting also the donors to step up their support.
The statement came as the Israeli-imposed deadline for some 1.1 million civilians to leave the northern part of the enclave, ahead of what is expected to be a major advance into Gaza by Israeli ground forces, expired.
“UNRWA shelters in Gaza and northern Gaza are no longer safe. This is unprecedented,” said the statement.
The agency reminded that according to the rules of warfare, civilians, hospitals, schools, clinics and United Nations premises cannot be a target.
“UNRWA is sparing no efforts to advocate with parties to the conflicts to meet their obligations under international law to protect civilians, including those seeking refuge in UNRWA shelters,” the agency emphasized.
UNRWA pointed out that many of the vulnerable, particularly pregnant women, children, the elderly and persons with disabilities simply will be unable to flee south.
“They have no choice and must be protected at all times.”
Taps run dry
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said that with water supplies running dry due to Israel cutting off all utilities to Gaza, “it has become a matter of life and death”.
“It is a must. Fuel needs to be delivered now into Gaza to make water available for two million people”, he said.
More than 1,300 people were killed in Israel after Hamas fighters raided settlements close to Gaza last Saturday. In response, more than 2,200 have been killed during Israel’s aerial offensive on Gaza, according to Palestinian authorities.
On Friday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said it would be “impossible” for civilians in Gaza to comply with the evacuation order without devastating humanitarian consequences.
The UN chief called on the world to unite in support of the fundamental principle of protecting civilians, and “finding a lasting solution to this unending cycle of death and destruction.”
‘Agonising choice’ for hospital workers amid Israeli order to evacuate
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Saturday strongly condemned Israel’s repeated order for 22 hospitals in northern Gaza to be evacuated, describing it as a “death sentence” for the sick and injured.
With around 2,000 desperately ill patients inside their wards, WHO said the forced evacuation of both patients and health workers “will further worsen the current humanitarian and public health catastrophe.”
The statement said the lives of those in intensive care or who rely on life support – including newborns in incubators and those needing hemodialysis – now hang in the balance.
“Health facilities in northern Gaza continue to receive an influx of injured patients and are struggling to operate beyond maximum capacity. Some patients are being treated in corridors and outdoors in surrounding streets due to a lack of hospital beds”, said WHO.
WHO
A boy picks through his belongings in the remains of his destroyed home in Gaza.
‘Tantamount to a death sentence’
“Forcing more than 2000 patients to relocate to southern Gaza, where health facilities are already running at maximum capacity and unable to absorb a dramatic rise in the number patients, could be tantamount to a death sentence.”
Those running the hospitals now face an agonizing choice, the agency said: either abandon the critically ill, put their own lives at risk by staying amid the bombing, or endanger patients’ lives “while remaining on site to treat patients, or endanger their patients’ lives “while attempting to transport them to facilities that have no capacity to receive them.”
The agency said that overwhelmingly, staff have chosen to stay behind rather than risk lives by moving those who are critically ill.
WHO airlifts vital health supplies
A plane carrying life-saving health supplies from the WHO logistics hub in Dubai landed in Egypt on Saturday to aid civilians in Gaza – as soon as access across the border into the enclave can be established.
WHO
Health supplies for Gaza are dispatched from the WHO logistics hub in Dubai.
The shipment includes trauma medicines, healthcare essentials, and equipment sufficient to treat around 1,200 who have suffered injuries during the bombing raids and around 1,500 chronically ill patients.
The cargo also includes basic health supplies to meet the needs of 300,000 others, including pregnant women.
With hospitals in Gaza either completely out of action, or simply overwhelmed, the supplies will help save the lives of the wounded wherever they can find shelter, WHO said.
Access essential
WHO said it was critical for the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian border to be reopened. “While the Egyptian side of the crossing is accessible, the Israeli side remains closed”, said the statement.
“Every hour these supplies remain on the Egyptian side of the border, more girls and boys, women, and men, especially those vulnerable or disabled, will die while supplies that can save them are less than 20 kilometres (12 miles) away.”
WHO said it would be working with the Egyptian and Palestinian Red Crescent Societies to ship the supplies across the border into Gaza, as soon as practicable.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on Monday who endorsed the request to facilitate medical aid across the border into Gaza.
‘I fear the worst is yet to come’: UN relief chief
Following a week of “utter anguish and devastation” for civilians in both Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the UN relief chief on Saturday said he fears “the worst is yet to come.”
“In Israel, families are reeling from the horror of last Saturday’s attack”, said Humanitarian Affairs chief Martin Griffiths. “More than a thousand people have been killed and many more have been injured. Over 100 people are held captive.
“In Gaza, families have been bombed while inching their way south along congested, damaged roads, following an evacuation order that left hundreds of thousands of people scrambling for safety but with nowhere to go.”
The past week has been a test for humanity, and humanity is failing – Martin Griffiths
He warned that the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, “already critical, is fast becoming untenable.”
The OCHA chief warned that violence is on the rise in the occupied West Bank, with a surge in civilian deaths and injuries leaving families “facing ever greater movement restrictions.”
“And in Lebanon, the risk of the conflict spilling into the country is a major concern.”
He called for all civilians and civilian infrastructure, including humanitarian workers, to be protected by all combatants.
Mr. Griffiths echoed the UN chief’s appeal saying all countries with influence must exert it to ensure respect for the rules of war and to avoid any further escalation and spillover.
“The past week has been a test for humanity, and humanity is failing.”
UN independent expert warns of ‘mass ethnic cleansing’
An independent UN-appointed human rights expert warned on Saturday that Gaza’s civilian population was now in grave danger of “mass ethnic cleansing” on the international community to urgently mediate a ceasefire.
“The situation in the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel has reached fever pitch,” said Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967.
She called on the UN and Member States to intensify efforts to mediate an immediate ceasefire between the parties, before “a point of no return” is reached.
The UN Human Rights Council-appointed expert reminded the international community of its responsibility to prevent and protect populations from atrocity crimes.
‘Both deserve to live in peace’
“Time is of the essence. Palestinians and Israelis both deserve to live in peace, equality of rights, dignity and freedom,” Ms. Albanese said. “Any continued military operations by Israel have gone well beyond the limits of international law. The international community must stop these egregious violations of international law now, before tragic history is repeated.”
Special Rapporteurs and other independent experts work on a voluntary basis, they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work.
Lebanon frontier: Peacekeepers warn of further ‘tragedies’ following journalist’s death
The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon on Saturday extended its heartfelt condolences to the family of a Reuter’s news agency video journalist who was killed in the south of the country, covering the exchange of fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militia.
In a statement, UNIFIL, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, confirmed there had been firing across the Blue Line, the unofficial frontier between the two countries, with Israeli forces striking a position on Friday close to the village of Alma As Shab.
According to Reuters, Issam Al Abdullah, a Lebanese videographer, was killed during the exchange of fire and six other journalists were injured.
UNIFIL wished the injured media workers a swift recovery and stressed that it could not say exactly how the group had been hit.
An 11-year-old boy stands at the entrance to his home in Gaza City.
Stop the escalation
“If the situation continues to escalate, we will most likely see more such tragedies. Any civilian loss of life is a tragedy and should be prevented at all times.
“This is why we urge everyone to cease fire and allow us, as peacekeepers, to help find solutions”, the statement added. “No one wants to see more people hurt or killed.”
According to news reports, Israeli authorities have pledged to investigate the incident.
Some 100,000 refugees have arrived in Armenia since the end of September and many have received support from the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Ophelia Aghajanyan: We are pensioners. My husband, who used to be a soldier, is a disabled man. My son as well. My sister’s only child was brought here in a closed coffin.
We buried a lot of our relatives. I have left my holy dead, and I don’t blame myself; I have brought a handful of soil with me. What are we going to do? I don’t know. Who cares about pensioners?
IOM/Joe Lowry
Andranik Harutyunyan
Andranik Harutyunyan: The same day as they started striking our village, our whole community moved into to a cave. When it was time for all of us to leave the village, no one took anything from Berdadzor. Some people were able to get their family out by car, at least. But some were not.
If anyone can help anyone in our community with a place to live, the rest will be taken care of by us. We all are working families. We all will work to provide for our families.
Svetlana Lazaryan: (previously living in Armenia) When I decided to return back to Karabakh, the woman who I was living with asked me a question: ‘Where are you going? You have no residence, no possessions. I said, ‘I don’t know where, but I’m needed there.’
I don’t know… The call of the heart… The call of blood. My parents are buried there. I have left my brother’s grave. I have left my father’s grave.
We understand our own pain. We must support each other and not wait for some external assistance. Why does no one want to hear and see us, understand our pain?
Edgar Yedigaryan: I am engaged, and my fiancée is currently displaced in Hadrut region. We had decided to get married, but unfortunately this tragedy happened. But again, we are not breaking apart, we are not falling into despair. We will be able to overcome this and stand up again.
In terms of finding a job, if there’s no vacancy in state institutions, we will definitely do agriculture, farming, and take care of our family. We are working folk; we all can create something.
Marianna Grigoryan: My mum and grandma fled in the 1990s and we don’t have a house. I am unaware of the concept of owning a house. And to be honest, I don’t even want to know what that is. Because I have seen how people build up those walls, put bricks on each other, make a home to live in and then be obliged to destroy what they have worked on for 30, 20, 15 years, in one second.
On the 19th, when that massive war situation started, people flowed to Stepanakert. Under bombardment and shooting, we started running from basement to basement. We figured out the amount of people per place and started quickly collecting blankets, shoes, everything we had. What’s happening here (aid distributions), we were doing the same things under bombing.
The peacekeeping mission which for many years has been the deadliest place to serve as a UN ‘blue helmet’, is due to draw down fully by 31 December, in accordance with its Security Council mandate.
At that point, MINUSMA’s 12 camps and one temporary operating base will be closed and handed over the transitional authorities there. Since it was established 10 years ago, over 300 peacekeepers have lost their lives amid continuing extremist violence and rampant insecurity across much of northern and central Mali.
Timely withdrawal
Close to 13,000 uniformed personnel will be repatriated, and civilian staff will leave while equipment is due to be relocated to other missions or repatriated to those countries which supplied items such as vehicles.
The UN said it was still determined to complete the withdrawal by the deadline following Mali’s request to leave without delay.
MINUSMA said it had been working hard to meet the deadline, but since 24 September its logistics convoys have not been allowed to move from Gao to retrieve equipment from Aguelhok, Tessalit, and Kidal.
This could “adversely impact the Mission’s ability to adhere to the stipulated timeline”.
Withdrawal without retrieval
A spike in tensions in Northern Mali, the note says, increases the likelihood of the Mission being forced to depart without being able to retrieve equipment belonging to Troop-Contributing Countries or to the UN, resulting in significant financial losses and potentially preventing the UN from distributing it to other peace operations.
The situation also jeopardizes the air operations conducted by the Mission to protect its drawdown and ensure the safety of all personnel.
As all parties in the process have the obligation to refrain from any action or statement that could jeopardize a safe and timely exit, the UN also stressed that Security Council resolution 2690 calls upon Malian authorities to cooperate fully with UN peacekeeping during the drawdown, withdrawal, and liquidation.
Tuberculosis remains the leading infectious cause of death in the world, responsible for 1.6 million deaths a year, and is an active and acute crisis in many countries. Credit: Athar Parvaiz/IPS
Opinion by Maria Beumont (new york)
Inter Press Service
NEW YORK, Oct 13 (IPS) – Maria Beumont, MD, is Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for the TB AllianceAt the end of September, two weeks after the United Nations held a High-Level Meeting on Tuberculosis (TB), a torrential storm dropped 6” of rain on New York City. The intensity of the storm recalled that of Hurricane Ida two years earlier, which—in the largest city in the United States—damaged more than 3% of buildings, killed 13 people, and left 380 families homeless.
As recently as the early 1990s, New York City was a hotspot for TB. Throughout the decade, the city spent more than a billion dollars to contain the disease, which had become entrenched in its more impoverished communities—including those without homes. TB has plagued the world for millennia, for as long as communities have been separated by wealth.
Today, it remains the leading infectious cause of death in the world, responsible for 1.6 million deaths a year, and is an active and acute crisis in many countries.
The low-resource settings where much of the world’s TB burden is concentrated are the same places set to bear most of the impact of climate change and whose health systems are ill-equipped to handle added burden.
In August, two typhoons slammed into the coast of Southern China, forcing the evacuation of almost one million people. At the same time, a surprise cyclone hit Southern Brazil, leaving 1,600 people without homes. And earlier this year, Cyclone Freddy hammered Mozambique and Malawi, forcing hundreds of thousands of people into temporary shelter. All four countries have a high burden of TB cases, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
India, another high-burden TB country, has been hit hard this year by heat waves and drought. It is estimated that 17 million Indians will face climate-change induced hunger by 2030. Increases in climate-induced food insecurity will only add to the existing crisis; the UN estimates that 735 million people around the world faced food shortage in 2022.
If rises in human displacement and hunger are tragic first order effects of climate change, TB is a giant, looming second order effect. Displacement and malnutrition are established risk factors for TB, and both are exacerbated by climate change. Though such impacts are not directly tracked, we can assume that recent climate-enhanced superstorms, heat waves, and droughts amplified the TB burden in Brazil, China, India, Malawi, and Mozambique.
While climate change is a leading topic at major global forums around the world, including at the UN, the TB pandemic remains largely ignored. In 2018, TB appeared on the global radar when the UN held its first High-Level Meeting (HLM) on TB. National delegations agreed to four ambitious goals on providing treatment to people with TB, preventive treatment to people at risk, and drastically increasing the amount of funding devoted to tackling the disease and developing new tools for this effort.
The world was already behind in fulfilling these commitments when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, derailing TB funding and care. As COVID-19 raged, the limited funding and attention for TB had to be diverted to face the new threat. As a result, TB deaths increased for the first time in more than 20 years. Ultimately, not one of the primary commitments from the HLM were met. As climate change intensifies along with the effects of displacement and malnutrition, it may lead to future TB outbreaks and further strain already fragile health systems.
Despite these setbacks, there have been notable achievements in TB research and care. A treatment for the highly drug-resistant forms of the disease was approved by the US FDA and other regulatory authorities, and was endorsed by the WHO. Additionally, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued guidance on a four-month treatment for drug-sensitive TB, reducing treatment duration for the first time in decades.
TB researchers remain optimistic. Changing the way we fight TB is achievable, and we have a strong research pipeline of promising new TB treatments, diagnostics, and vaccines. Breakthroughs are on the horizon—and they are sorely needed. The impact of safe, shorter, effective, and affordable tools to control TB is anticipated to be significant.
At the UN’s second High-Level Meeting on TB this past September, another batch of ambitious goals were adopted—including a six-fold increase in funding for services and research. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we all witnessed the results of focused efforts and appropriate funds. The same is true for TB: with adequate funding and resources, we can develop the next generation of tools to fight TB. Support from world leaders now is critical, as we can end one of humanity’s oldest diseases if we come together, while also mitigating the impact of one of the climate change crisis. This opportunity cannot be missed.
Earthquake orphans are cared for at the Kuramaa Center in the Idlib Governorate, Northern Syria. Credit: Sonia Al Ali/IPS
by Sonia Al Ali (idilib, syria)
Inter Press Service
IDILIB, SYRIA, Oct 13 (IPS) – Seven-year-old Salim al-Bakkar was orphaned in the earthquake that struck southern Turkey and northern Syria on February 6, 2023.
Saved by members of the civil defense team who pulled him from the rubble, doctors had to amputate his left leg – which had been crushed in the 7.7 magnitude quake that killed more than 55,000 people and destroyed at least 230,000 buildings.
Salim, from Jenderes, north of Aleppo, Syria, was pulled from the rubble but, suffering from crush syndrome, had his leg amputated.
His only surviving relative, his grandmother Farida al-Bakkar, tells IPS of the pain and the sadness of caring for her grandchild.
“When my grandson woke up and saw me, he asked me about his mother, but I could not tell him that his mother and father had died because he was devastated.”
Salim is not alone; thousands of children survived without their families and now experience loneliness, psychological stress, and physical pain.
Even seven months after the earthquake, the fear Salim felt that day has remained engraved in his memory, according to his grandmother.
Dr Kamal Al-Sattouf, from Idlib, in northern Syria, says the earthquake resulted in many diseases.
“Thousands of buildings were completely and partially destroyed as a result of the earthquake, while the infrastructure of water and sanitation networks in the regions was damaged, increasing the risk of epidemics and infectious diseases such as cholera.”
The doctor stressed the spread of respiratory diseases, such as lung infections, especially among children and the elderly, and diarrhea of all kinds, viral and bacterial, cholera, and malaria, due to vectors spreading among the rubble, such as mosquitoes, flies, mice, and rodents.
Al-Sattouf said that people pulled alive from the rubble were often also affected by what is known as ‘crush syndrome.’ The hospital where he works received many cases, the severity of which is often related to the time the survivors spent under the rubble, usually made up of heavy cement blocks.
According to the doctor, crush syndrome results when force or compression from the collapsed buildings cuts off blood circulation to parts of the body or the limbs.
Psychological Impacts
A 10-year-old girl, Salma Al-Hassan, from Harem, in northern Syria, keeps asking to visit her old house destroyed by the earthquake. This was where she lost her mother and her sister.
Her father explains: “My daughter suffers from a bad psychological condition that is difficult to overcome. With panic attacks, fear, and continuous crying, she refuses to believe that her mother and sister are dead.”
He points out that his daughter became withdrawn after she witnessed the horrors of the earthquake. She loves to be alone and refuses to talk to others. She also refuses to go to school.
He and his daughter were extracted alive from under the rubble more than 8 hours after the earthquake.
Dalal Al-Ali, a psychological counselor from Sarmada, Northern Syria, told IPS: “Many people who survived the earthquake disaster, especially children, still suffer from anxiety disorders and depression, which is one of the problems. Symptoms of this disorder are persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness, loss of interest in activities, and changes in appetite and sleep patterns.”
She pointed out that the child victims of the earthquake urgently need psychosocial support in addition to life-saving aid, including clean water, sanitation, nutrition, necessary medical supplies, and mental health support for children, both now and in the long term.
Al-Ali stresses the need to provide an atmosphere of safety and comfort for children and to establish a sense of security and protection by moving them to a safe place as far as possible from the site of danger, in addition to providing group therapy and individual therapy sessions for parents, as well as for children, to help them overcome anxiety, and allow them to express their feelings by practicing sports and the arts.
She confirms that children need more attention than adults in overcoming the impacts of the earthquake because children saw their whole world collapse before their eyes and continue to feel the trauma acutely.
Victims of Earthquake, also Victims of Syrian Conflict
The Syrian Network for Human Rights, in a report published earlier this year, said it had documented the deaths of 6,319 Syrians due to the earthquake.
Of these, 2,157 victims were killed in areas of Syria not under the control of the Syrian regime and 321 in areas controlled by the Syrian regime. regime, while 3,841 Syrian refugees died in Turkey.
The group stressed the need to investigate the reason for the delays in the response of the United Nations and the international community because this led to more preventable deaths of Syrian people – and those responsible for the delays should be held accountable.
The network says the high death toll was in a highly populated area because of internal displacement due to conflict within the Syrian regime.
Even more tragically, the report adds, these traumatized people had to live through the horrors of indiscriminate bombing by the Syrian regime in the IDP camps in which they live.
With the aim of caring for the earthquake orphans in Idlib Governorate, Northern Syria, the (Basmat Nour) Foundation opened the Kuramaa Center to take care of the children.
The director of the Kuramaa Center, Muhammad Al-Junaid, says to IPS: “Many children lost their families and loved ones during the devastating earthquake, so we opened this center that provides care for orphaned children, and provides all their educational requirements, psychological support activities, and entertainment.
There are now 52 children at the center, which can take up to 100.
Al-Junaid added: “The staff work hard to put a smile on the children’s faces, and our goal is to make them forget the pain that they cannot bear and take care of them by all possible means to live a normal life in a family.”
Eight-year-old Fatima Al-Hassan, from Idlib, lost her entire family in the earthquake. She lives in the center and has found tenderness and care.
“I spend my time teaching, drawing, and playing with my peers in the care home.”
But Fatima still remembers her family with love and sadness.
An image illustrating the ‘No-senior zone’ in a Korean café. Credit: The Nation
Opinion by Hyunsung Julie Lee (seoul)
Inter Press Service
In this, the fourth of IPS’ Youth Thought Leaders series, the author looks at suicide rates in older persons and concludes we should break barriers and celebrate the diversity each generation brings.
SEOUL, Oct 13 (IPS) – Growing up in a culture that values respect for elders, I was acutely aware of the importance of caring for our aging population. However, my journey to understanding the gravity of this issue truly began with a personal anecdote. I watched my grandmother, a pillar of strength throughout my childhood, gradually withdraw from the vibrant world in which she once thrived. The cheerful twinkle in her eyes began to dim, replaced by an eerie sense of isolation.
Some may argue that these figures are insignificant, but the persistence of a high suicide rate cannot be dismissed. Moreover, they are poised to become even more critical as we approach a world where, according to WHO, the elderly population over the age of 60 is expected to double by 2050, and those 80 years or older are projected to triple.
So how severe are the elderly suicide rates due to isolation in Korea and Japan? Well, research highlights that this is due to the significant rise in the elderly population. Such an increase has been concurrent with the rising elderly suicide rates. The Global Burden of Disease study emphasizes that the global elderly suicide rate is almost triple the suicide rates across all other age groups. For example, in South Korea alone, there has been a 300% increase in elderly suicide rates.
If the world’s elderly population has increased overall, why is it that the elderly suicide rates within Korea and Japan have been especially severe? This was particularly confusing as I believed that due to cultural and social standards of filial piety and respecting your elders, such suicide rates would be low. However, I found the answer to my own question when I visited Korea in July this year.
When I arrived in the country, one of the first things I did was to visit a cafe to meet with a friend. However, as I was about to enter the cafe, I saw a group of elderly men and women leaving the cafe while comforting each other, saying, “It’s okay; it’s not the first time we’ve been rejected.” As I later found out, this was because the cafe was a ‘no-senior zone.’
Similar to how some places are designated as ‘no-kid zones,’ this cafe, and others, did not allow people over the age of 60 to enter. According to Lee Min-ah at Chung-Ang University, “The continuous emergence of ‘no-something zones’ in our society means that exclusion among groups is increasing, while efforts to understand each other are disappearing.”
I also discovered that age discrimination is also present in other aspects of the elderly’s life, more specifically, in the workplace. According to a survey by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, in 2018, 59 percent of the Korean elderly found it difficult to be employed due to age restrictions, and a further 44 percent experienced ageism within their workplace. The increase in discrimination against the elderly has heightened their sense of isolation, eventually leading to cases of suicide in extreme circumstances.
Jung Soon Park, the Secretary General of World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization (WeGo) with the author Hyunsung (Julie) Lee. Interview with Jung Soon Park, the Secretary General of WeGo at the Seoul Global Center
I wanted to learn more about the current action being taken to help the elderly feel more included in our society, as I believed this would be key to preventing isolation-related suicide cases. To gain further insight, I decided to interview Jung Soon Park, the Secretary General of the World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization (WeGo).
WeGo is an international association of local governments, smart tech solution providers, and institutions committed to transforming cities worldwide into smart and sustainable cities through partnerships. I believe that by interviewing the Secretary General of WeGo, I would be able to learn more about the specific solutions that governments and organizations are implementing collaboratively.
Through my interview, I gained an understanding that the South Korean government and social organizations are currently focusing on addressing age discrimination, recognizing it as a key factor in isolationism.
Park mentioned that one specific approach to resolving this issue involves the use of ‘meta spaces’ and technological wristbands. She emphasized that in today’s technology-driven world, enabling the elderly to adapt to such technology could bridge the generation gap between the younger and older generations. She further explained that meta spaces, allowing for anonymous communication, and technological wristbands, which could include features like a metro card and direct access to emergency services, would facilitate the elderly’s integration into modern society. Park concluded that enabling the elderly to adapt efficiently to the current social setting could break down the generational barrier between youth and the elderly, fostering a direct connection between these two disparate groups.
During my research, I coincidentally came across a website called Meet Social Value (MSV). MSV is a publishing company that specializes in writing and publishing insightful articles about contemporary social issues. Their most recent article, titled ‘Senior,’ delves into the social challenges faced by the elderly in Korean society and explores solutions involving inclusive designs and spaces.
MSV serves as a prime example of how contemporary social organizations are taking steps to address the issue of elderly discrimination. This is especially significant because, through youthful and trendy engagement on social media, it becomes easier to raise awareness of this issue among younger generations.
Meet Social Value’s most recent article, titled ‘Senior,’ delves into the social challenges faced by the elderly in Korean society and explores solutions involving inclusive designs and spaces.
As I continued my research, I started pondering what I, as an 18-year-old, could do to contribute to resolving this issue. Even though I’m still a student, I wanted to find ways to make a difference, especially after witnessing age discrimination and its consequences firsthand.
I found the answer to my question when I learned about the initiatives undertaken by the government of Murakami City and the Murakami City Social Welfare Council to bridge the gap between the youth and senior citizens. They introduced the Murakami City Happy Volunteer Point System, which aimed to encourage more people to assist seniors through various volunteering activities such as nursing facility support, hospital transportation services, and operating dementia cafes, among others. The system rewarded volunteers with points that could be exchanged for prepaid cards, creating an incentive for more individuals to get involved in helping their senior citizens.
Taking this into consideration, I believe that the younger generation, especially students, may contribute by creating such an incentivization system. For example, students may create senior volunteering clubs within their schools and take turns volunteering and connecting with elderly citizens every weekend. By doing so, clubs may incentivize their members through points which may later be traded for a snack or lunch at the school cafeteria. Through small incentives, this may naturally encourage more students to participate and thus naturally allow for the youth to create a relationship with the elderly, hence contributing to mitigating the issue of elderly isolation.
The webpage of the Murakami City Happy Volunteer Point System contains the system’s details.
In Korea’s battle against ageism, we find ourselves at a turning point. To navigate this societal shift successfully, we must recognize that age discrimination not only undermines the dignity of our elders but also hampers our collective progress. The solution requires a comprehensive approach. Policy reforms are crucial, emphasizing stringent anti-ageism measures in the public space and the workplace. Equally significant solutions are awareness campaigns to challenge stereotypes and foster inter-generational understanding.
However, true change starts with the youth. By confronting our biases and engaging in volunteering activities, we can break down barriers and celebrate the diverse experiences each age group brings. Through such efforts, we can create a society where age is not a determinant of worth but a source of strength and wisdom. It’s a journey demanding our collective commitment, but one that will lead us towards a more inclusive and harmonious future for all.
WASHINGTON DC, Oct 13 (IPS) – As the Minamata Convention on Mercury’s fifth Conference of the Parties (COP5) approaches, momentum builds to adopt the Africa Region’s proposed amendment to phase out dental amalgam – a cavity filling material that is approximately 50% mercury.
Specifically, the Africa Region has filed a proposal to amend the Minamata Convention to add a 2030 phase-out date for amalgam, bringing it in line with many other mercury products. The proposal also adds common-sense measures to facilitate this phase-out, including (1) submitting to the Secretariat a national plan for phasing out the use of dental amalgam and (2) excluding the use of dental amalgam in government insurance policies and programs.
This amendment is already getting support from governments around the world. On 9 October the World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry hosted a webinar on phasing out amalgam, featuring distinguished speakers ranging from the Honorable MP Nilto Tatto of Brazil to the Honorable Minister Roger Baro of Burkina Faso, from Dr. Luu Hoang Ngoc of Vietnam, the longest-serving Minamata delegate in Asia, to Joshua Sam of SPREP, architect of the Mercury-Free Pacific campaign—as well as dentists from three continents.
The momentum to end use of this primitive pollutant from the colonial era is substantial; more than 40 nations have enacted amalgam bans or partial bans:
• Ending amalgam use in children, pregnant women, and breastfeeding women (e.g., the European Union, Vietnam)
• Setting a phase-out date for all amalgam use (e.g., Tanzania, Italy)
• Banning amalgam use by law (e.g., Philippines, Moldova, Mongolia, Bolivia, New Caledonia)
• Ending amalgam use by shareholder consensus (e.g., St. Kitts & Nevis, Zambia)
• Ending amalgam imports (e.g., Cuba, Colombia)
• Ending amalgam use in public programs (e.g., Indonesia, Poland)
• Ending amalgam use in armed forces (e.g., India, Bangladesh)
These countries are working to end amalgam because they understand the many benefits of moving away from mercury products like amalgam – and toward a mercury-free world.
First, moving away from amalgam protects the environment from amalgam’s mercury. Between 226 and 322 tonnes of dental mercury is used around the world annually. Dental mercury enters the environment via many unsound pathways, polluting air via cremation, dental clinic emissions, and sludge incineration; water via dental clinic releases and human waste; and soil via landfills, burials, and fertilizer.
Studies show that after environmental costs are factored in amalgam is more expensive than mercury-free fillings, but these mercury-free alternatives eliminate the high environmental costs of amalgam.
Second, moving away from amalgam reduces human exposure to mercury. Dental amalgam releases mercury throughout its lifecycle. Higher levels of exposure to mercury (for both patients and dental workers) are associated with placement and removal of dental amalgams.
Once implanted in teeth, dental amalgam continues to release low levels of mercury vapor, with higher amounts released during mastication, gum chewing, tooth grinding, and tooth brushing. Phasing out amalgam will eliminate this source of exposure.
Third, moving away from amalgam actually improves oral health because of the advantages of mercury-free fillings. Studies show mercury-free composite fillings can last as long as – and even longer than – amalgam.
They preserve tooth structure that must be removed to place an amalgam filling, which can increase the longevity of the tooth itself. They can even help prevent future caries.
While support for the Africa Region’s proposed amalgam phase-out amalgam has been steadily building, the amalgam industry has been pushing back. Led by the pro-mercury World Dental Federation, the industry has issued a controversial letter that seemingly promotes a two-tiered system of dentistry: toxic-free dentistry for wealthy countries and mercury-based dentistry for lower-income countries.
Such health inequity and environmental injustice is unacceptable. The world has witnessed such outrageous disparities before, such as when Western nations banned lead paint at home but sold it to Asian, African, and Latin American nations. All countries worldwide, not only wealthy ones, deserve to benefit from mercury-free dental care.
At COP4, held last year in Indonesia, the Parties to the Minamata Convention added the Children’s Amendment, which requires each Party to “…Exclude or not allow, by taking measures as appropriate, or recommend against the use of dental amalgam for the dental treatment of deciduous teeth , of patients under 15 years and of pregnant and breastfeeding women…”
Now the Parties have a great opportunity take the next logical step at COP5: phase out the 200-year mistake of mercury amalgam dental fillings. During the week of 30 October to 3 November, the world will choose whether to accept the industry’s two-tiered system of dentistry that off-loads mercury into Africa, into Asia, and into Latin America – or embrace a mercury-free future for dentistry. It’s time to make dental mercury history!
Charlie Brown is president, World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry
The man dressed in white represents the Ministry for Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. His presence causes fear on the emptying streets of Kabul. Credit: Learning Together
Inter Press Service
Oct 12 (IPS) – The author is an Afghanistan-based female journalist, trained with Finnish support before the Taliban take-over. Her identity is withheld for security reasonsAfghanistan can be likened to an open prison, where nearly 20 million women struggle daily for their freedom. What these women demand is a simple right – the right to lead dignified lives, equal to their male counterparts. Unfortunately, this aspiration seems distant and despairingly unattainable.
Ever since the Taliban swept back to power in Afghanistan two years ago, the treatment meted out to women is a reflection of how they are viewed in society: “imperfect mind, incompetent, weak, and should be under the control and administration of a man”, says Abdul Hakim Haqqani, the head of the Supreme Court.
In his new book, titled, “Islamic Emirate and the System”, published by the Taliban, Haqqani considers women as mainly meant to produce children for the continuity of generations.
Education, work outside the home, and social and cultural activities of women, which are considered their basic rights, have been declared blasphemous and contrary to the divine system that they themselves believe in.
However, in the divine system that we Muslims are familiar with, studying is mandatory for both men and women.
Under the Taliban’s rule, women are banned from attending school and university; are not allowed to sit around in parks; women’s gyms are shuttered. Even the sound of music is prohibited at wedding ceremonies.
Women are also denied access to justice in Taliban courts for crimes like theft and rape unless filed through a male guardian. Those who dare to protest their fundamental rights face arrest, forced confessions under brutal torture, and, if their crime is considered serious, as judged by the Taliban, they are stoned or shot in public.
A few examples follow as testimony to the Taliban’s violent and heinous acts against women.
Last a year, a district court in Badakhshan province sentenced a woman and a man to be stoned to death. Their crime was their desire to live together.
Celebrating Mother’s Day is declared a crime by the Taliban, and a group of women paid dearly in May this year. A trip to the shop in Kabul to buy cakes for the celebration ended them being thrown into the back of Ranger car by armed men.
They were driven to an unknown place and not heard of since. Eyewitnesses said no one could approach to help the women by asking why they were arrested. Their loved ones are anxiously waiting for their return.
Zainab Abdul Hai, another young girl was shot dead by the Taliban at a checkpoint while returning from a wedding party. The reason, according to the Taliban, was not wearing a full hijab.
I myself also fell victim to the enforced restrictions put in place by the Taliban. Although I was fully covered in a hijab, I was interrogated for 20 minutes by an armed group at a checkpoint in Shah Do Shamshire just because a few strands of hair could be seen under my hijab.
As I was crossing the road after my release, the stare of accusation and mocking laughter felt like a sword sunk deep into my soul.
Today in Afghanistan, simply walking the streets has become an arduous and nearly impossible task for women. Credit: Learning Together
Twenty-nine-year-old Ruqiyeh Sai was among a group of women protesting for their right to work and for their daughters to go to school. In the space of three months in 2022 and 2023, she was arrested twice by the Taliban and tortured in a dreaded torture centre.
Ruqiyeh, told Nimrokh magazine in an interview: “One of them punched me, the other kicked me, and another one hit me with a water pipe. “They cursed me”, ‘to which country did you sell yourself, you prostitute? For whom do you spy?’ “I passed out under their torture,” she said.
Ruqiyeh Sai was released from prison with a guarantee from the elders and a promise to the Taliban not to protest anymore. Nevertheless, she was video-recorded and threatened to be stoned to death if she raised her voice again.
“I was very confused, and I am still confused to the extent that sometimes I think of suicide, but when I see my children, I abandon the thought”, she said. Ruqiyeh has since fled to Pakistan with her children.
Suicide among Afghan women has increased since the Taliban returned to power, according to a UN Report. It is mainly due to depression stemming from the severe crackdown on women and girls’ human rights, especially since many have been forced to abandon their education.
However, women and girls’ suicide is not widely reported due to the Taliban’s clamp down on the press.
Women’s voices are also silenced over the radio. In their latest decree the Taliban have ordered that if a woman’s voice is heard over the radio – whether as a presenter or even in commercials – the owner of that radio station would be punished.
In essence, the Taliban today mirrors the oppressive regime of two decades ago, perpetuating the suffering of Afghan women.
Opinion by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana (bangkok, thailand)
Inter Press Service
BANGKOK, Thailand, Oct 12 (IPS) – This year we pass the halfway mark both on our journey towards implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, and the signing of the Paris Agreement on climate change.
Asian and Pacific countries have seen mixed progress on both. One of the most pressing challenges is the transition to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all, as encapsulated by SDG 7.
Without a significant acceleration of effort, reaching SDG 7 and its targets for energy access, renewable energy and energy efficiency will elude our region. Given the significance of Asia and the Pacific in terms of global energy supply and consumption, actions taken here will set the tone for the global trajectory of progress on SDG 7 and the fight against climate change.
The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) will place these issues at center stage during next week’s (19-20 October) Asian and Pacific Energy Forum. This meeting will provide a platform for the region’s energy ministers to plan a regional agenda for a sustainable energy transition.
Looming large among these issues is the lack of access to electricity and clean cooking fuels for hundreds of millions of people. This deprivation has far-reaching consequences, and is a harsh reminder that, while the region has made significant strides in economic development, not everyone has enjoyed the fruits of progress.
Lack of access to electricity hinders healthcare, education and economic opportunities. Moreover, the reliance on traditional cooking fuels such as fuelwood contributes to respiratory diseases that disproportionately affect women and children. Energy poverty exacerbates existing inequalities, trapping communities in a cycle of deprivation.
To bridge the energy gap and promote climate-friendly sustainable development, increasing renewable energy and energy efficiency is an imperative. The transition to renewables opens avenues for economic growth and job creation.
Energy efficiency lowers the need for new supplies, relieves pressures on our energy systems, increases productivity and reduces waste, simultaneously saving money for households and businesses. Together, renewable energy and energy efficiency foster energy security.
Realizing the SDG 7 targets requires increased financial flows. According to the Secretary-General’s Global Roadmap for Accelerated SDG Action, annual investments in access to electricity must increase by $35 billion and by $25 billion for clean cooking by 2025.
A tripling of renewable energy and energy efficiency investment is needed by 2030. Scaling up finance at this rate requires a large infusion of private finance to bolster insufficient public sources, alongside a shifting of national budgets away from fossil fuels. Carbon pricing mechanisms can incentivize businesses to transition towards cleaner energy solutions. Innovative business models and financial instruments can attract international finance. But for these to be successful, governments must provide predictable and enabling policy environments.
To ensure the stability of the energy transition over the long term, governments must keep an eye on over-the-horizon risks. Key among these is the ensuring and adequate, stable and predictable supplies of critical raw materials needed to construct the millions of solar panels, wind turbines and batteries of the future.
Our region holds immense potential for critical raw materials production, making it a key player in the global energy transition. However, regional collaboration is needed alongside responsible mining and extraction practices that minimize environmental damage and social disruptions. Moreover, investing in recycling of critical raw materials can reduce our consumption of finite resources.
While transitioning towards clean energy is a moral and environmental imperative, a just transition ensures that no one is left behind as countries move away from fossil fuels and towards sustainable resources and technologies. This includes reskilling and reemployment opportunities for workers in declining industries, as well as community support to mitigate the socio-economic impacts of the energy
transition.
Achieving SDG 7 requires a multifaceted approach. This is not a challenge that any one country or sector can solve in isolation; it demands collaboration, innovation and shared responsibility. As we reflect on our progress at this halfway point, it is timely for countries across Asia and the Pacific to recommit to a regional vision where all citizens have access to clean and modern energy and the full potential of renewables and energy efficiency are realized.
The momentum behind these changes is growing and the opportunity to close these gaps must be seized.
Armida Salsiah Alisjahban is Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
Press Briefing was held at Ministry of Foreign Affairs ahead of the XXI anniversary meeting of the Secretariat of the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions on October 11, 2023. The agenda for the meeting includes an exchange of views on the outcomes of the VII Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions. Discussions will also focus on the Concept of Development of the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions for 2023-2033. Credit: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan
Opinion by Katsuhiro Asagiri (astana, kazakhstan)
Inter Press Service
ASTANA, Kazakhstan, Oct 11 (IPS) – In the heart of Central Asia, a nation renowned for its rich cultural diversity, multi-ethnic society, and spiritual traditions has emerged as a global beacon of interfaith harmony and understanding. Over the past two decades, Kazakhstan’s Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions (The Congress) has played an instrumental role in promoting dialogue, forging unity, and advocating for peace among diverse faiths worldwide. Rooted in Kazakhstan’s deep spiritual heritage and wisdom, this initiative has evolved into a symbol of international cooperation and tolerance. As we reflect on its remarkable journey and look ahead to its future under the leadership of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, it becomes evident that the Congress is poised to make even greater strides toward fostering global harmony and unity.
A History of Resilience and Tolerance
Kazakhstan’s history is a tapestry woven with threads of resilience, tolerance, and spiritual fortitude. A nation that transitioned from a nomadic civilization to a modern, multi-ethnic, and multi-religious society faced numerous trials and tribulations along the way. Yet, the Kazakh people maintained a steadfast connection to their spiritual roots, allowing them to thrive in a diverse and inclusive society.
The hardships endured by the Kazakh people throughout history have shaped their deep spirituality and wisdom. From Russian imperial expansion to the ravages of the USSR era, Kazakhstan faced tremendous challenges. Forced settlement policies, famine, and the suppression of cultural and religious identity were stark realities. However, these trials also ignited a collective spirit of survival and resilience, demonstrating the importance of cultural preservation and the celebration of diversity.
Press Briefing was held at Ministry of Foreign Affairs ahead of the XXI anniversary meeting of the Secretariat of the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions on October 11, 2023. The agenda for the meeting includes an exchange of views on the outcomes of the VII Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions. Discussions will also focus on the Concept of Development of the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions for 2023-2033. Credit: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan’s journey to independence brought with it a commitment to religious freedom and tolerance. From 1949 to 89, the USSR conducted 456 nuclear tests at the Semipalatinsk nuclear testing site in eastern Kazakhstan, an area roughly equivalent in size to Belgium. It is estimated that about 1.5 million people suffered health effects because of these tests. Despite this history of adversity, when the USSR dissolved, Kazakhstan, not only guaranteed equality for all ethnic groups and religious freedom but also successfully secured the closure of the Semipalatinsk nuclear testing site and the complete abandonment of the world’s fourth-largest nuclear arsenal. Since then, Kazakhstan has been one of the most active countries in advocating for a “nuclear-free world” based on the UN framework.
Despite Soviet policies aimed at eradicating nomadic culture and promoting settlement, Kazakhstan successfully preserved its rich cultural heritage. The nation not only maintained traditions passed down from ancestors but also enshrined in its constitution a policy that treats the traditions, cultures, and religions of non-Kazakh people as equal to Kazakh culture. This forward-thinking approach promotes social harmony and serves as a powerful lesson from the suppression of Kazakh culture during the USSR era.
The Congress: A Shining Beacon
The Congress stands as a beacon of interfaith harmony, powered by Kazakhstan’s deep commitment to religious tolerance. Serving as a distinctive forum, it unites leaders from myriad faiths to jointly foster global peace. Kazakhstan, with its mosaic of Islamic, Turkic, and nomadic influences, offers a melting pot for dialogues that intertwine East with West and bridge diverse religious doctrines. Upholding a neutral stance in global affairs, Kazakhstan ensures the Congress remains a sanctuary for unbiased, apolitical discussions. Addressing urgent issues like religious extremism, terrorism, and environmental threats, the Congress strives for collective solutions.
President Tokayev’s Vision for the Future
As the Congress is poised for further evolution. President Tokayev’s leadership brings a renewed focus on interfaith dialogue and cooperation in a world grappling with increasing complexity. While he believes diplomacy is essential in facilitating cooperation, he sees religious leaders (Approximately 85% of the world’s population identifies with a religion) as indispensable agents of change in building a new world system focused on peace. He emphasizes the shared principles of all religions, such as the sanctity of human life, mutual support, and the rejection of destructive rivalry and hostility, as the foundation for such a system.
President Tokayev outlines practical ways in which religious leaders can contribute to world peace, including healing societal wounds following conflicts, preventing negative trends that undermine tolerance, and addressing the impact of digital technology on society. He highlights the need to cultivate spiritual values and moral guidelines to navigate the challenges posed by rapid technological advancements.
A Future of Unity and Harmony
As the Congress continues to evolve, it serves as a beacon of hope in an increasingly divided world. Kazakhstan’s steadfast dedication to interfaith dialogue reminds us that spirituality and wisdom can pave the path to a more peaceful and harmonious global society.
Kazakhstan’s journey from its tumultuous past to a beacon of hope for interfaith dialogue is a testament to the deep spirituality and wisdom of its people. The Congress continues to illuminate the path to global harmony and unity, demonstrating the power of dialogue, mutual understanding, and the enduring human spirit.
Men walk through a heavily damaged area of central Gaza. Credit: UN News/Ziad Taleb
by Joyce Chimbi (nairobi)
Inter Press Service
NAIROBI, Oct 11 (IPS) – It is a bloodbath and unmitigated mayhem as heavy fighting unfolds between Israeli forces and the Palestinian group Hamas which has taken the world by surprise. Amidst raids, rockets and sustained fierce gunfire, bombs, and death, a humanitarian crisis is unfolding. Now, both sides are warned to consider the impact of their actions on the civilian population.
Thousands have been killed on both sides and injured in unexpected violent clashes since Saturday, October 7, 2023. Israel has since cut off electricity, water, and food supplies to Gaza, further tightening the illegal siege it has imposed on the estimated 2.2 million Palestinians – half of them children – in Gaza since 2007 and is reportedly preparing for a large-scale ground invasion in addition to ongoing air strikes.
“More than 900 Israelis and at least 750 Palestinians have been killed. It is a time of unprecedented grief, anguish, and sorrow for many people in Palestine-Israel, and we want to start this Webinar by recognizing that all human lives are precious. That the deliberate attacks against civilians we have seen thus far are always wrong and can never be justified,” said Josh Ruebner, Institute for Middle East Understanding’s (IMEU) Director of Government Relations, while moderating a virtual emergency briefing on the Palestine-Israel conflict.
As violent clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian groups continue, panellists analyzed the human, political, legal, and historical dimensions of the ongoing escalating violence. Photo: Joyce Chimbi/IPS
“While the violence may be unprecedented in scope in terms of what Israeli civilians are facing today, sadly, this scope of violence directed towards civilians is not unprecedented for Palestinian civilians. And, of course, we have to understand that the conflict did not start on Saturday. There is a history and a context that we need to discuss to have a proper understanding of the events that we are seeing unfold today.”
Ruebner stressed that now is the time to approach the Palestine-Israel situation with wisdom and understanding and to save lives.
“It is not the time to exacerbate the violence by providing Israel with more weapons. Now is the time to re-evaluate the actions that all of us can take to deliver the peace that everyone, Palestinian and Israeli, deserves. There is no going back to the status quo of Israeli apartheid and oppression in Israel’s denial of freedom to the Palestinian people. It is time to pursue and realize justice so that peace may resume.”
Against this backdrop, Mara Kronenfeld, executive director of UNRWA USA – the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in the Middle East – painted a dire picture of the situation in Gaza. Heavy airstrikes since Saturday have displaced nearly 190,000 people in Gaza, so the UN relief agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, is sheltering 137,500 men, women, and children in 83 of its 288 schools, according to the agency’s latest situation report. As of Tuesday, 18 UNRWA facilities sustained collateral and direct damage from airstrikes, with injuries and deaths reported.
She said that except for the bread that the World Food Programme is distributing under great difficulties, there is nothing else to eat in the Gaza Strip as shops and grocers that have survived the bombing remain closed. It is a moment-to-moment survival against the violent onslaught that is likely to worsen if Israel brings Gaza under a total siege as already promised. In this context, panellists analyzed the human, political, legal, and historical dimensions of the ongoing escalating violence.
UNRWA on X gives details of the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza. Credit: X
“Since Saturday, we have not been able to get a hold of our whole family – they live up North. The internet and phone services have been disrupted, and the electricity has been cut off. We are having great difficulties connecting with family. We came back from Gaza two months ago and were happy to see that people were starting to access opportunities. There is a sense of life in Gaza in the summer because it is a beach town, but a very sad beach town right now, and the reality is that death is all around,” explained Hani Almadhoun.
“My sister escaped death by a minute the other day when she ventured out to buy bread, and there was a massacre of about 50 people. My sister said that it was a bloodbath of civilians. My father has a grocery store, and he has not been able to open it. People are going without the very basic necessities.”
On international legal obligations in the context of the Israel-Palestine conflict, ZahaHassan – Outreach Associate of Just Vision in Gaza – said both Israel and Hamas are under a legal obligation to avoid targeting civilians or recklessly engaging in military activity without regard to civilian lives. Israel is the occupying power and, as such, bears the duty and responsibility to protect civilian life in Gaza, the same way it has a duty to protect Israeli civilians.
“Gaza is still occupied territory. Israel controls all aspects of Palestinian life in Gaza, from birth to death and everything in between – whether it is access to food, water, and electricity. Israel can come in and out of Gaza at will. We are now waiting for the Israeli military to possibly enter Gaza with ground troops. It should be noted that Palestinians have an international legal right to resist occupation, but like Israel, Palestinian’s resistance fires must be guided by the legal doctrine of distinction and proportionality. What we know from past bombardment invasions of Gaza is that Israel has not made these distinctions,” Hassan emphasized.
Daniel Levy, President of the U.S./Middle East Project (USMEP) and former advisor to former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, spoke about the policy ramifications of Israel declaring war on Gaza. He was appalled that even though the events that unfolded last Saturday were regrettable, a promise could be made on the back of those events to commit heinous war crimes in Gaza. He was speaking about the public announcement that Israel was at war with Hamas and that what was therefore before will no longer be – a dire warning of the atrocities to come.
Levy said that it was inexcusable that the world shrugged at this promise of death and destruction, committed support to Israel and promised more weapons to undertake and execute a war crime. He urged the global community to step back and acknowledge that the Israel-Palestine history did not begin at 6 am in the morning on Saturday. There is a long history as to why Palestinians in Gaza are still refugees and why they are trying to go back home.
