ReportWire

Tag: global issues

  • The West’s Addiction to War Must End in Gaza

    The West’s Addiction to War Must End in Gaza

    [ad_1]

    • Opinion by Melek Zahine (kabul, afghanistan)
    • Inter Press Service

    KABUL, Afghanistan, Feb 02 (IPS) – Two months ago, an opinion piece I wrote, “The Cries of Gaza Reach Afghanistan,” was published with the hope of reminding American and other Western leaders of how quickly wars ON terror descend into wars OF terror because of their disproportionate impact on civilians and the unpredictability once unleashed.

    The United States and its Western alliance of ‘forever wars’ since 9/11 were all entered under the pretext of defeating terrorism. Instead, they strengthened the political and military standing of those they aimed to destroy while simultaneously causing unimaginable suffering for millions of civilians, including their own citizens.

    According to Brown University’s Cost of War Project and various other independent research groups, a catastrophic 4.5 million direct and indirect deaths are attributed to Western efforts to “defeat terrorism” since 9/11.

    If Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Syria, and Libya have taught us anything, it should be this. Today, the Taliban once again rules Afghanistan, and Iraq, after years of sectarian violence resulting from the U.S. invasion has moved closer to the political influence of Iran. In Syria, Bashar al-Assad’s autocratic rule remains firmly in place. The U.S./European NATO-led air war to rid Libya of Muammar Qaddafi and usher in democracy in 2011 was so naively executed that no consideration was paid to how such a reckless, violent endeavor would ultimately trigger a civil war, terrorism, and mass migration. In Yemen, U.S. support for Saudi Arabia’s war against Houthi rebels has led to the deaths of more than 200,000 Yemenis and strengthened the Houthis to the point where, for the “first time in history, a naval blockade is being successfully enacted” by a non-state actor with “no navy and cheap, low-grade technology.”

    The same hubris that has blinded the West’s addiction to answering terrorism with war since 9/11 is the same hubris and hypocrisy that fuels its unconditional support for Israel’s war against Hamas today. To be clear, the attacks of Hamas on October 7, like the attacks of Al Qaeda on 9/11, deserve the harshest global condemnation and a proportional, strategic response that respects international law. It does not justify the unconditional support and shielding of Israel’s punitive war on Gaza’s unarmed civilian population, its civilian infrastructure, and its cultural and religious heritage while further risking the lives of the remaining Israeli hostages held by Hamas. Moreover, this war serves no military objective for Israel and offers no strategic benefit for those aiding and abetting Israel’s war from Washington, London, and various EU capitals.

    In seeking to wipe out Hamas, all that Israel and its supporters led by the United States are doing is wiping out Gaza. In 100 days, Israel has succeeded in decimating 4 percent of Gaza’s population. Ninety thousand men, women, and children in the Gaza Strip have been killed, seriously injured, or disappeared. 75% of those killed are women and children (Source: Euro-Med Monitor), not Hamas fighters.

    If Gaza was called an open-air prison before this war, now it’s an open-air graveyard. A closer look at the 4 percent shows an even bigger tragedy unfolding by the minute. Unchallenged by those who are supplying it with arms and political cover, Israel is targetting Palestinian healthcare workers, humanitarian relief specialists, journalists, artists, poets, civil society activists, and educators, along with their families. As if the killing of Gaza’s children and its brightest wasn’t enough, Israel, through the collaboration of its Western allies, is also obliterating Gaza’s residential and public service infrastructure.

    According to a Wall Street Journal satellite imagery survey, “Israel has bombarded and destroyed 70 percent of homes in Gaza.” According to the W.H.O., “none of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are functioning,” and universities, including its primary medical teaching college, have been blown up by the I.D.F. Even places of worship, mosques, and churches, historically places of refuge during times of war, haven’t been spared the wrath of the Israeli-Western assault on Gaza.

    Investigations conducted by The Washington Post and Truthout state, “Israel has deployed over 22,000 U.S. produced bombs on Gaza including 2,000-pound ‘bunker bombs’ which experts warn are not meant for densely populated areas as well as white phosphorus produced by munitions manufacturer, the Pine Bluff Arsenal, in the U.S. state of Arkansas (source: Arkansas Times) and supplied to Israel by the U.S. government over the years. Despite massive protests in major U.S. cities calling for a cease-fire, President Biden has bypassed Congress on two occasions to get even more weapons to Israel. The U.K. and Europe, for their part, have also continued to supply key weapons to Israel since the start of the war (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute) despite loud calls from their citizens for an immediate cease-fire.

    When asked about these atrocities, the only reply from Israeli, American, British, and European officials is, “Do you condemn Hamas?” The answer should always be yes, but Hamas’s crimes against Israeli citizens on October 7 are not a license for Israel and the West to kill, maim, and displace the entire unarmed civilian population of Gaza. Furthermore, Israel’s reasoning that Hamas is using the civilians of Gaza as human shields and, therefore, justified in deploying any form of military action it deems necessary is not war but a crime against humanity. It’s also a disingenuous argument meant to create a fog of war repeated with criminal negligence by countless U.S., U.K., and European leaders and government officials.

    It’s hard to imagine today, but the suffering being inflicted upon two million Palestinians and the remaining 132 Israeli hostages in Gaza, fatefully connected by history, geography, and the tragic events of October 7, will eventually come to an end. Perhaps the historic ruling by the International Criminal Court of Justice (I.C.J.) will prevail, but this could take months. In the meantime, the atrocities being committed on Gazans will intensify, and the plight of the Israeli hostages will enter an even darker, more desperate stage.

    The recent ruling of the world’s highest court, while legally binding, doesn’t have the power of enforcement. Furthermore, the court’s order to Israel to “take measures which prevent further harm on Palestinians” without actually ordering a cease-fire fails to take into consideration the entrenched and sick appetite for war that exists between the world’s political elites who are not providing their unconditional support for Israel’s war on the civilian population of Gaza, but participating and profiting from it.

    According to EuroMed Monitoring, “Since the I.C.J.’s ruling, Israel has maintained its rate of killing in Gaza” with either no or muted reactions from Western leaders. The fury but also the inertia of powerful states, regardless of political governance and persuasion, is virtually impossible to stop once their war machines are set in motion. It’s no different for Israel.

    It took the United States twenty years to end its war in Afghanistan and almost ten years in Iraq. It still maintains counter-terrorism operations with Saudi Arabia in Yemen despite the deadly impact on Yemeni civilians. Europe continues its unwavering support for continued war in Ukraine for no reason other than political arrogance. Russia, for its part, despite its upper hand in Ukraine, continues to fight with devastating consequences for both Russians and Ukrainians. So, why should Netanyahu and his war cabinet be counted on to rein in their war in Gaza? Like their militarily powerful peers, Israel’s warmongering has no bounds.

    The entire population of Northern Gaza is now internally displaced, forced by Israel to move south towards Rafah on the Egyptian border. Despite the I.C.J.’s ruling, Israel has intensified its ground operation towards Rafah, where hundreds of thousands from the North of Gaza are already taking refuge on the outskirts of the city, living for weeks in a harsh desert landscape. If Israel continues its violent push into Rafah as it has warned Egypt it plans to do, the entire population of Gaza will be trapped in a tiny corner of the desert with no protection and no safe passage out.

    Those who survive the daily air strikes are now dying of hunger, disease, and injuries left untreated because of the destruction of Gaza’s health care system. Two million people are now also forced to endure the extreme traumas of trying to survive without any viable shelter, food, clean water and sanitation, electricity, and safe passage while surrounded by constant air and ground bombardment, snipers, drone attacks, the cold and rain of winter and perhaps worse of all the inaction of world leaders who have it in their power to end Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza and, now it’s frightening assault on the civilian population of the West Bank, where Hamas isn’t even in power.

    Only the United States, specifically President Biden, is uniquely positioned to pressure Israel to respect each of the I.C.J’s rulings. Perhaps, given its reliance on war as an answer to every foreign policy challenge since 9/11, the United States has forgotten it also has something called soft power- something it has sorely neglected the past twenty years.

    The easiest way for President Biden to prove that he and the United States are still committed to international law is by announcing his personal support for an immediate cease-fire and showing proof that he’s pressuring Israel to do the same. He will also need to push for a robust and independent humanitarian assistance effort without any interference from Israel at either border crossing into Gaza.

    Of course, all of this assumes that President Biden is willing to stop listening to the impenetrable wall of aides and advisors he’s created around himself and start seeing with his own eyes the scale of the suffering and the dire risks of a wider, regional war that is already endangering American lives.

    According to a confidential source with extensive U.S. foreign policy experience, the deadly attack on U.S. troops on the border between Jordan and Syria this past week “exhibits how even the projection of U.S. military power serves to fuel conflict rather than mitigate it.” For totally preventable reasons, now the families of these American soldiers can join all the Palestinian and Israeli lives torn apart by the sheer insanity of this preventable war and unfolding humanitarian disaster.

    Above all, President Biden needs to start hearing the calls of his fellow citizens, including the many thousands of Jewish Americans, who are demanding that their taxes and their nation not be used to wage yet another senseless war in their names. A failure to do so will have unimaginable consequences not just for Israelis and Palestinians but for the world.

    IPS UN Bureau


    Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram

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



    [ad_2]

    Global Issues

    Source link

  • Inclusive & Sustainable Businesses Set New Pathways for Sri Lanka

    Inclusive & Sustainable Businesses Set New Pathways for Sri Lanka

    [ad_1]

    • Opinion by Marta Perez Cuso, Yihan Zhao (bangkok, thailand)
    • Inter Press Service

    BANGKOK, Thailand, Feb 02 (IPS) – Selyn, a women-led handloom business, offers flexible employment and valuable income opportunities to about 1,000 women artisans and persons from marginalized groups in rural Sri Lanka. Selyn develops and exports high-value craft products in global markets.

    The bigger revenue margins of quality products translate into better incomes for women artisans. Thanks to its pioneering use of blockchain in the supply chain – consumers can track how their purchases translate into earnings for women in the informal economy.

    The Small Organic Farmers Association (SOFA) of Sri Lanka, produces and exports organic food while creating a sustainable and equitable environment for smallholder farmers. It facilitates fair trade certification for smallholders and links more than 3,600 organic farmers to export markets.

    WindForce, the largest renewable energy developer in Sri Lanka, owns, develops and operates renewable energy power plants that provide clean energy access to businesses, communities and industries. WindForce allocates a portion of the profits into community development projects to support the welfare of local communities including livelihood support, education and childhood development, environmental conservation and health care.

    These are a few examples of inclusive and sustainable businesses that go beyond the usual “profit-first” market approach to provide affordable goods, services and livelihoods to low-income people and to support environmental sustainability in Sri Lanka.

    With ambitious reforms taking centre-stage towards rebuilding Sri Lanka into a resilient and sustainable economy, the Government of Sri Lanka is exploring opportunities to harness the potential of the private sector in fostering inclusive and sustainable growth.

    On 31 January, a groundbreaking Strategy to Promote Inclusive and Sustainable Businesses to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals was officially launched by the Government of Sri Lanka. Designed by the Sustainable Development Council of Sri Lanka in collaboration with the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and United Nations Sri Lanka, this strategic roadmap envisions a strong and dynamic ecosystem where inclusive and sustainable businesses like Selyn, SOFA and WindForce can not only emerge but thrive.

    Inclusive and sustainable businesses are purpose-driven enterprises that deliberately seek positive change in communities and the environment. These impact businesses can play a crucial role to achieve national social development and environment sustainability goals. Inclusive and sustainable businesses use market-based approaches to achieve positive social and environmental impacts, while ensuring their own commercial sustainability.

    The Strategy seeks to put in place regulations that encourage and recognise inclusive and sustainable businesses, provide training and services that help businesses pivot towards more inclusive and sustainable practices, and improve access to finance for businesses.

    It builds on and brings together for the first time the collaborative and cross-sectoral efforts of government agencies, private sector organizations and development partners, to shape an inclusive, sustainable and resilient economy.

    Actions will cover five core areas:

      1) Setting the direction for Sri Lanka to become an inclusive and sustainable export and investment hub;
      2) Raising awareness on the economic and social value that impact businesses bring and recognizing local success stories, through award and formal accreditation;
      3) Building the capacities of businesses and governments to develop and to promote inclusive and sustainable businesses;
      4) Supporting impact measuring and reporting; and
      5) Enhancing access to finance for impact businesses.

    Sri Lanka’s commitment to this Strategy is a testament to its aspiration for a sustainable and inclusive future where businesses are not just economic entities but forces for positive change.

    Marta Perez Cuso is Economic Affairs Officer, UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP); Yihan Zhao is Associate Economic Affairs Officer, ESCAP.

    IPS UN Bureau


    Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram

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



    [ad_2]

    Global Issues

    Source link

  • Is the Reform of the UN Security Council a Good Try in a Lost Cause?

    Is the Reform of the UN Security Council a Good Try in a Lost Cause?

    [ad_1]

    UN General Assembly meets on the question of equitable representation– and increase in membership of the Security Council. November 2023. Credit: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
    • by Thalif Deen (united nations)
    • Inter Press Service

    UNITED NATIONS, Feb 02 (IPS) – The myriads of proposals for the reform of the much-maligned Security Council have been kicked around the United Nations for more than two decades—with no significant progress.

    Speaking at the General Assembly’s (GA) annual debate, GA President Dennis Francis told delegates last November that without structural reform, the Council’s performance and legitimacy will inevitably continue to suffer.

    “Violence and war continue to spread in regions across the world, while the United Nations seems paralyzed due largely to the divisions in the Security Council,” he said.

    With the world changing quickly, the Council is “dangerously falling short” of its mandate as the primary custodian for the maintenance of international peace and security, he said.

    Meanwhile, a proposed new model for reforms, initiated by the Group of Four (G4: Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan), has been doing the rounds.

    Not surprisingly, all four countries have been longstanding contenders for permanent seats (P5s) which have remained the privilege of five countries since the creation of the world body 79 years ago: the US, UK, France, China and the Russian Federation (replacing the USSR of a bygone era).

    The G4 is calling for a total of 11 permanent members (P11): China, France, The Russian Federation, UK and the US, plus six others.

    In the event of possible expansion, and upon the adoption of a comprehensive framework resolution on Security Council reform, interested Member States prepared to assume the functions and responsibilities of permanent members of the Security Council would submit their candidatures in writing to the President of the General Assembly.

    The General Assembly will then proceed, as soon as possible, at a date to be determined by the President, to the election of six new permanent members, by a vote of two thirds of the members of the General Assembly. through a secret ballot. The rules of procedure of the General Assembly will be applied to the election of the new permanent members.

    The criteria of Article 23 (1) should also apply to the election of the new permanent members: “due regard shall be paid, in the first instance to their contributions to the maintenance of international peace and security and to the other purposes of the Organization, and also to equitable geographical distribution”.

    The non-permanent members with a two-year term, currently at 10, will be increased to a total of 14/15 seats – The election process for non-permanent members will follow current practices.

    According to the G4 proposal, the six new permanent members of the Security Council shall be elected according to the following pattern: (i) Two from African Member States: (ii) Two from Asia-Pacific Member States, (iii) One from Latin American and Caribbean Member States; (iv) One from Western European and Other Member States.

    The four/five new non-permanent members of the Security Council shall be elected according to the following pattern; (i) One/Two from African Member States: (ii) One from Asia-Pacific Member States: (iii) One from Eastern European Member States; (iv) One from Latin American and Caribbean Member States.

    Member States should give due consideration during the nomination and election of non-permanent members to adequate and continuing representation of small and medium size Member States, including Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

    Andreas Bummel, Executive Director, Democracy Without Borders, told IPS any reconfiguration of the Security Council would have to be adopted in line with Article 108 of the Charter, which means it requires the support of two thirds of UN members and the P5.

    “Given the fact that Security Council reform has been discussed for decades, I think it is legitimate to pursue such a vote instead of consensus. Whether it is politically wise is a different question.”

    In essence, he said, the G4 are not willing to compromise. “If they can mobilize a two thirds majority and the P5, fine. But if not, it’s finally game over for them. I can’t see how a broad agreement is possible without introducing new concepts that go beyond today’s permanent and non-permanent seats.”

    Re-electable seats rotating among the membership of certain regions is a good approach, in my mind. New permanent seats vested with a veto will make the Security Council even more unworkable.

    This option should be off the table. Delaying a decision for fifteen years does not solve this, he declared.

    On the question of the veto, the G4 says Member States should be invited to continue discussions on the use of the veto in certain circumstances.

    The new permanent members, would as a principle, have the same responsibilities and obligations as current permanent members.

    However, the new permanent members shall not exercise the veto-right until a decision on the matter has been taken during a review, to be held fifteen years after the coming into force of the reform.

    Amendments to the charter shall reflect the fact that the extension of the right of veto to the new permanent members will be decided upon in the framework of a review.

    The enlarged Security Council would be encouraged to, inter alia, hold regular consultations with the President of the General Assembly; submit an analytical and comprehensive evaluation of the Council’s work in the annual report to the General Assembly; submit more frequently special reports to the General Assembly in accordance with Articles 15 (1) and 24 (3) of the Charter, improve participation of the Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission and the chairs of the country-specific configurations of the Commission in relevant debates and, in an appropriate format, in informal discussions

    Asked for her comments, Barbara Adams, Senior Policy Analyst, Global Policy Forum, told IPS: Surely, now 11 (not 5) veto-wielding powers, will not correct the inability of P5 or P11 to put their chartered responsibility for international peace and security above their national security interests.

    She pointed out that the G4 proposal for a 15-year pause on use of the veto acknowledges the tension between expanding the number of permanent members and the veto.

    Re the proposal for seats for developing countries, and countries from other regions, they should not need to be justified by the concept of regional representation, she argued.

    “The privilege of permanency in the Security Council extends beyond the use of veto. The “chill factor” of this privilege reaches into many parts of the UN system in ways formal and informal such as preferential treatment for senior UN positions,” Adams declared.

    Joseph Chamie, a consulting international demographer and a former director of the UN Population Division, told IPS reform of the United Nations Security Council is not a new proposal; it’s been around for decades.

    Despite committees, discussions and calls by many Member States for reform of the Council, he pointed out, little progress has been achieved towards equitable representation, inclusiveness and legitimacy.

    “Increasing numbers of both governments and people consider the Council to be ineffectual and unjust and require reform, including expanding membership and restricting vetoes”.

    While enormous changes have occurred in the world over the past eight decades, he said, the Council continues to have the same five permanent members.

    When established, the five permanent members accounted for about 35 percent of the world’s population. Today, they represent 25 percent and by mid-century they are expected to represent 20 percent of the world’s population, said Chamie, author of numerous publications on population and related issues.

    In brief, the desire for reform of the Security Council is both understandable and reasonable and despite the geo-political challenges, reform should be undertaken without further delays, he declared.

    IPS UN Bureau Report


    Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram

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



    [ad_2]

    Global Issues

    Source link

  • Gaza: Rafah a ‘pressure cooker of despair’ as exodus south continues

    Gaza: Rafah a ‘pressure cooker of despair’ as exodus south continues

    [ad_1]

    The warning from the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, comes nearly four months since Israel commenced a devastating bombing campaign in response to Hamas-led terror attacks on 7 October that left some 1,200 people butchered in southern Israeli communities and more than 250 taken hostage.

    “In recent days, thousands of Palestinians have been fleeing to the south to Rafah, which is already hosting over half of Gaza’s population of some 2.3 million people,” said OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke.

    Repeating deep concerns that nowhere in Gaza is safe amid reports of Israeli shelling on the periphery of Rafah on Friday, Mr. Laerke told journalists that most of the new arrivals were “living in makeshift structures, tents, or out in the open. Rafah is now a pressure cooker of despair and we fear for what happens next.”

    To date, 100,000 people in Gaza “are either dead, injured, or missing and presumed dead” as a result of bombing raids and fighting on the ground between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militants, according to the UN World Health Organization (WHO).

    Sixty per cent of the 27,019 fatalities reported by the enclave’s health authorities have been women and children, the UN health agency reported, with more than 66,000 now injured and requiring medical care that remains difficult to access.

    Highlighting the “extremely challenging” task of replenishing hospitals and medical centres throughout the wartorn enclave, WHO Representative in the Occupied Palestinian Territory Dr. Rick Peeperkorn explained that of 15 planned missions to the north in January, three had been carried out, four had been impeded by impassable routes, one postponed and eight were denied.

    Dr Peeperkorn added that of the 11 planned missions to the south last month, four had gone ahead, two were postponed, two were impeded either because checkpoints opened late or owing to excessive delays. Authorisations were denied for three missions.

    “Lack of safety guarantees and humanitarian corridors in Gaza are making it increasingly challenging to safely and rapidly carry out humanitarian operations,” the WHO official said, speaking from Jerusalem. “Lack of sustained access to hospitals could dismantle the health system.”

    The development came as UN Children’s Fund UNICEF reported that at least 17,000 children in Gaza are unaccompanied or separated.

    “Each one, a heartbreaking story of loss and grief,” said Jonathan Crickx, UNICEF Chief of Communication in the State of Palestine.

    Speaking from Jerusalem to journalists in Geneva, the UNICEF official described meeting youngsters in Gaza earlier this week. Among them was 11-year-old Razan who lost almost all her family during a bombing raid in the first weeks of the war.

    “Her mother, father, brother, and two sisters were killed,” Mr. Crickx continued. “Razan’s leg was also injured and had to be amputated. Following the surgery, her wound got infected. Razan is now being taken care of by her aunt and uncle, all of whom have been displaced to Rafah.”

    Because of the lack of food, water and shelter, extended families are struggling to look after themselves, let alone orphaned or unaccompanied children, the UNICEF officer said.

    “I met these children in Rafah. We fear that the situation of children who have lost their parents is much worse in the north and the centre of the Gaza Strip.”

    [ad_2]

    Global Issues

    Source link

  • Israel Could Face Further Legal Action For Non-Compliance of ICJ Ruling

    Israel Could Face Further Legal Action For Non-Compliance of ICJ Ruling

    [ad_1]

    Displaced families living in an UNRWA school-turned shelter in Deir al-Balah, Middle Areas, The Gaza Strip, January 2024. Credit: Mohamed Hinnawi/UNRWA
    • by Naureen Hossain (united nations)
    • Inter Press Service

    UNITED NATIONS, Feb 02 (IPS) – South Africa’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Mathu Joyini, said the country would take further legal action should Israel ignore the provisional measures set out by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

    She was speaking at the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People this week. The meeting saw the adoption of its agenda for 2024, for which the Committee will engage with member states and regional groups to support the realization of the rights and dignities of the Palestinian people. This has become all the more relevant in the face of the current humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.

    The ICJ ruled that Israel should take all measures within its power to prevent a genocide in the Gaza Strip. It stopped short of ordering a ceasefire. According to the Hamas Health Ministry, 7,000 people have been killed and 66,000 wounded in Gaza since Israel started it’s military offensive in reaction to the October 7, 2023, attack.

    The Permanent Representative of Senegal, Cheikh Niang, who was re-elected to his position as Committee Chair, lamented that the current war between Israel and Hamas spoke to a “collective failure” to realize the rights of the Palestinian people and expressed hope that the Security Council “will hear the many voices” that are calling for a ceasefire.

    “It is time to begin to heal the wounds that have been reopened in so many places,” he said as he advocated for a two-state solution, wherein Israel and Palestine would co-exist in peace and security within recognized borders based on the pre-1967 border lines.

    Secretary-General António Guterres convened the meeting and delivered the opening statement, beginning with reiterating his condemnation of Hamas and other extremist groups and calling for the safe release of the Israeli hostages while also condemning the ensuing violence that has afflicted the people of Gaza.

    “There is no justification for the intentional killing, injuring, torture, or kidnapping of civilians, using sexual violence against them, or launching rockets towards civilian targets,” he said. “At the same time, nothing can justify the collective punishment of the people in Gaza.”

    He reiterated his call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, warning that the “humanitarian system in Gaza collapsing. The current hostilities have lasted over 120 days, and the casualties and devastation on the Gaza Strip and West Bank stand as a “scar on our shared humanity and conscience.”

    Guterres also noted that the recent hostilities in the Red Sea, Iraq, and Syria signal the impact the ongoing violence has on the region and that this could trigger “broader escalation, risking regional stability.”

    Gréta Gunnarsdóttir, Director of the UNRWA Representative Office in New York, appealed to the Committee and to donor states that had made the decision to suspend their funding of UNRWA.

    “Every day, our staff is making a direct impact on the ground for the people of Palestine,” she said.

    She added that other humanitarian organizations, including its UN partners, depend on UNRWA to deliver humanitarian aid. As the largest humanitarian agency in the region, it has been made particularly vulnerable. UNRWA facilities, notably schools, shelters, and health care centers, have not been spared from bombardments. Disease outbreaks and the risk of famine in the region are as likely to be the cause of deaths for civilians as gunfire and bombardments.

    Gunnarsdottir warned that if UNRWA were to collapse, then all humanitarian operations in Palestine would collapse.

    Recently, the agency has faced allegations that some of its staff were actively involved in Hamas attacks on October 7. As a result, at least 17 major donor countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, and the European Union, have suspended donations.

    The dossier Israeli intelligence shared with the United States, which details the allegations, had not been presented to UNRWA, according to Gunnarsdottir.

    She told the Committee that UNRWA’s Commissioner General has terminated the contracts of eight out of the twelve staff members accused; two were confirmed dead, one has not been identified, and one does not match with the staff lists.

    Joyini accused Israel of continuing “to behave in a manner that is contrary to the court order” and said that if Israel did not comply with the court’s order, then South Africa would be willing to take legal measures to enforce that ruling.

    Joyini asked the Committee to extend public support to South Africa’s case to strengthen it further in the ICJ through Article 63 of the ICJ’s Statute of the Court of Justice, which would allow member states to request permission from the court to intervene if the state holds an interest that may be affected by the decision of the court case.

    Riyad H. Mansour, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine, noted that Israeli leaders and the military should “face justice… and accountability in every place possible, including the international legal system.” When speaking of the situation in Gaza, he remarked that the crimes were “beyond description,” adding that it was the international community’s “collective duty” to prevent any further trauma.

    Mansour called for Palestine to become a full-fledged member of the United Nations, aligning with the demand for a two-state solution that the Committee and the Secretary-General have made. He proposed that an international peace conference should be convened, which would put the status of Palestine at the forefront. A draft resolution will be brought forward to the General Assembly with support from Nigeria.

    IPS UN Bureau Report


    Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram

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



    [ad_2]

    Global Issues

    Source link

  • How Soil Microbes Could save the World

    How Soil Microbes Could save the World

    [ad_1]

    Five-month old cassava plants growing in the greenhouse of Wageningen University, the Netherlands. Credit: Rene Geurts/ENSA
    • Opinion by Rene Geurts (wageningen, netherlands)
    • Inter Press Service

    WAGENINGEN, Netherlands, Feb 01 (IPS) – The 500 per cent increase in global agricultural productivity over the past 60 years has largely been made possible by the scientific advances of the “Green Revolution” – from the ability to breed higher yielding varieties to improvements in farm inputs, especially fertiliser.

    But this has come with both environmental trade-offs and widening inequality. Half the world is now fed thanks to synthetic nitrogen fertiliser, but its use generates an estimated 10.6 per cent of agricultural emissions, including up to 70 per cent of nitrous oxide emissions, one of the less prevalent greenhouse gases that is nevertheless almost 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

    To address this, scientists are embarking on a new frontier of the Green Revolution, built on fresh understanding about soil microbes and crop biology. This offers the potential for a “genetic revolution” that enables agricultural production without the need for as much costly chemical fertiliser use.

    The genetic revolution is partly born of a need to address the fact that the gains of the Green Revolution in the 1960s were not evenly spread. Smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa continue to have limited access to the latest varieties of planting material and fertiliser, while contending with some of the most degraded soil in the world.

    Rene Geurts of Wageningen University visiting a smallholder farmer’s cassava field near Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire in October 2022. Credit: Christian Rogers/ENSA

    Meanwhile in Africa, key staple crops such as cassava have not yet fully benefited from the progress in modern breeding technologies.

    Recent advances in scientific knowledge about how crops interact with soil bacteria and fungi to obtain nutrients therefore offer the opportunity to optimise plant biology to reduce the need for fertiliser, helping to solve both agriculture’s environmental challenges and the inequality that has held back food security in Africa.

    It also happens that cassava, Africa’s most important crop after maize, is the perfect starting point for a next chapter of agricultural science and innovation.

    In the evolution of crop species, cassava narrowly missed the opportunity to develop the same natural ability as legumes to interact with soil bacteria to convert nitrogen from the air. Legumes engage with rhizobia in soil to naturally fix nitrogen, meaning beans, peas and lentils do not need synthetic nitrogen fertiliser to grow.

    While cassava did not evolve with this trait, the root crop does make good use of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, a soil fungus, to source mineral nutrients such as phosphate. The biological system that allows cassava to interact with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi was the evolutionary ancestor of nitrogen fixation.

    This makes cassava something of a stepping stone between legumes, which do not need nitrogen fertiliser, and other crops, which currently rely on artificial sources of nutrients.

    Scientists including those of us at the Enabling Nutrient Symbioses in Agriculture (ENSA) project are investigating the possibility of using cassava’s existing mechanism for engaging with fungi to also interact with bacteria to fix nitrogen.

    Transgenic cassava plantlets possessing legume genes, which may enable the plants to recognize nitrogen-fixing rhizobium bacteria. Credit: Rene Geurts/ENSA

    This research is at a very early stage but increasing the ability of more crops to source nutrients organically without the need for fertiliser would in theory have multiple benefits.

    Such a development would help improve the uptake of crop nutrients, which would translate into increased growth and higher yields. This is particularly valuable for African farmers, who have seen cassava yields remain stagnant since the 1960s.

    Pursuing the development of nitrogen-fixing cassava could also lead to reductions in the need for fertiliser, which would help bring down agricultural emissions while unlocking productivity gains in regions otherwise limited by access to fertiliser. This would mean smallholder farmers in Africa could benefit from yield increases similar to those achieved elsewhere in the Green Revolution.

    Finally, if scientists can introduce the trait to fix nitrogen to cassava, it opens the possibility of translating it to other, related crop species.

    Researchers are at the start of their exploration of this new frontier but the potential of a “genetic revolution” is ultimately for a “doubly green revolution” that accelerates agricultural intensification without the need for chemical fertiliser.

    Not only would this help to feed a growing population more sustainably, but it would also level the playing field for those who have been historically left behind by agricultural innovation.

    Rene Geurts, Associate Professor, Wageningen University, and principal investigator at the Enabling Nutrient Symbioses in Agriculture (ENSA) project

    IPS UN Bureau


    Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram

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



    [ad_2]

    Global Issues

    Source link

  • Poverty and Inequality Mark Rural Life in Latin America

    Poverty and Inequality Mark Rural Life in Latin America

    [ad_1]

    • by Humberto Marquez (caracas)
    • Inter Press Service

    CARACAS, Jan 31 (IPS) – Rural life in Latin America and the Caribbean continues to be marked by poverty and inequality compared to the towns and cities where the vast majority of the population lives. A new focus on rural life in the region could help reveal and address the challenges and neglect faced by people in the countryside.

    “Many people in our countryside simply no longer have a way to live, without services or incentives comparable to those in the cities, producing less and for less pay, under the threat of more disease and poverty,” Venezuelan coffee producer Vicente Pérez told IPS.

    In Mexico, whose countryside was home to 24 million of its 127 million inhabitants at the beginning of this decade, according to the World Bank, a study by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) showed that eight out of every 10 rural inhabitants lived in poverty, and six in extreme poverty.

    It was in the Mexican capital where experts from ECLAC and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) proposed this January “a new approach” to the concept of rural life in the region, to help public action to reduce inequality and contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

    The project’s director, Ramón Padilla, told IPS from Mexico City that “we need a new narrative about rural Latin America that goes beyond the traditional static and dichotomous vision, and that sees rural areas not as backward places, but as territories with great potential for development and connections.”

    Building a new narrative “is important for a better visualization, treatment and reduction of inequalities in income, infrastructure, education, health, gender, etc.,” added Padilla, head of ECLAC’s Economic Development Unit in Mexico.

    “Those who have access to electricity, drinking water, communications and transport to work or school in a big city are at a great distance from life in many depressed rural areas,” said Pérez, executive director of the Venezuelan Confederation of Agricultural Producers (Fedeagro).

    Entrenched rural poverty

    Hilda, the head of her household in Los Rufinos, a village of 40 families in the middle of a sandy dry forest in the northwestern department of Piura, Peru, told visitors from the Argentina-based Latfem regional feminist communication network what it is like to live without electricity and drinking water, to cook with firewood and, among other hardships, to get her granddaughters the schooling she did not have.

    In their dirt-floored houses with fences and walls made of logs, plastic and tin sheeting, the women in Los Rufinos cook in the early hours of the morning for the men of the village who go to work in the agro-exporting fruit plants in Piura, the departmental capital.

    “When there is no moon, the night is really dark, you can’t see a thing. It’s not like in the city, where there is so much light,” Hilda commented to the Latfem representatives.

    In Peru, a country of 33.5 million inhabitants (80 percent urban and 20 percent rural), 9.2 million people are poor, according to the government statistics institute. Poverty measured by income affects 24 percent of the urban population and 41 percent of the rural population, while extreme poverty affects 2.6 percent of the urban population and 16.6 percent of the rural population.

    Farther north, in a rural area of the department of Cundinamarca in central Colombia, Edilsa Alarcón showed on the television program “En los zapatos de” (In the Shoes of), on the Caracol network, how she goes every day to two small fields near her home to milk four cows, her family’s livelihood.

    She carries 18 liters of milk on the back of a donkey every morning, which she sells for 14 dollars, barely enough to live on. She owns no land and her biggest expense is renting pastureland for 860 dollars a year.

    Colombia’s rural areas are home to 12.2 million people (51.8 percent men and 48.2 percent women), 46 percent of whom live in poverty, according to ECLAC.

    “Gente de Guate”, produced by Guatemalan Youtubers , collects and delivers food, household goods and even cash for families in the countryside who barely scrape by in houses with four walls made of corrugated metal sheeting, boards and logs, wood stoves and a few chickens running around among corn and cooking banana plants.

    Of Guatemala’s 17.2 million inhabitants, 60 percent live in poverty and between 15 and 20 percent in extreme poverty, according to figures from official entities and universities. Half of the population lives in rural areas, where poverty affects two thirds of the overall population – and 80 percent of indigenous people – and extreme poverty affects nearly one-third of the total population.

    Regional data

    Some 676 million people live in Latin America and the Caribbean, of whom 183 million are poor (29 percent), and 72 million are in extreme poverty (11.4 percent), according to ECLAC data for 2022 and 2023.

    While 553 million people (81.8 percent) live in towns and cities, 123 million (18.2 percent) live in rural areas. And while in urban areas poverty stands at 26.2 percent and extreme poverty at 9.3 percent, in rural areas 41 percent of the inhabitants are poor and 19.5 percent are extremely poor.

    Gender inequality also persists, stubbornly. One figure that reflects it is that only 30 percent of rural women (58 million) have access to some form of land ownership, their jobs are often more precarious and less well paid, and at the same time they spend more time on household and family care tasks.

    Time to migrate from the countryside

    Latin America has experienced a massive exodus from rural to urban areas in the 20th century and so far in the 21st. “In 1960, less than half of the region’s population lived in cities. By 2016 that proportion had risen to over 80 percent,” wrote Matías Busso, a researcher at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

    This process, driven by the search for better employment opportunities and living conditions, first fueled the expansion of the region’s major cities – to form megalopolises such as São Paulo and Mexico City – and more recently migration to foreign destinations, such as the United States.

    The largest migratory phenomenon abroad that the region has known, the exodus of more than seven million Venezuelans in the last decade, has involved numerous urban and suburban inhabitants, but also people from many rural areas.

    Pérez said that, in addition, in countries like Venezuela there is now a tendency to move from the countryside to urban areas, “but not to the big cities, like Caracas or Maracaibo, but to nearby towns or small cities, maintaining their ties to the plot of land where the family has crops or a few animals.”

    “New shantytowns form in small towns next to agricultural areas, such as coffee plantations in the Andes (southwest) or grain fields in the (central) Llanos, and people work for a few days in some urban job and then return to the countryside at the weekend. A sort of double life,” said Pérez.

    Seeking a new narrative

    New realities such as these prompted the ECLAC-IFAD initiative to “overcome the traditional view that contrasts rural and urban areas, recognizing the existence of different degrees of rurality in the territories and greater interaction between them,” according to its advocates.

    “The project seeks to replace the dominant narrative – which is reductionist and marginalizing – of rural areas as static and backwards, with one that recognizes the challenges and opportunities of today’s new rural societies,” said Peruvian economist Rossana Polastri, regional director of IFAD.

    The basis of the initiative is that between what is defined as rural and urban – the limit in countries such as Mexico is to consider urban areas as those with more than 2,500 inhabitants and rural areas as those below that level – there is a variety, degree and wealth of possibilities and opportunities to address issues of equity and development.

    Padilla from Mexico said that a first element of the work they propose is to collaborate with the public bodies in charge of designing and implementing policies for rural areas, since “technical work, well grounded in concepts and theories, has to go hand in hand with a dialogue with the public sector.”

    “A second element is continuous dialogue with the communities. The new understanding has to be translated into participatory solutions, in which each community and each territory creates a new vision, a renewed plan for sustainable development,” said the head of the project to build a new approach to rural life in Latin America.

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



    [ad_2]

    Global Issues

    Source link

  • Prospects for Commonwealth Countries, Addressing Gaps and Shaping Expectations for COP29

    Prospects for Commonwealth Countries, Addressing Gaps and Shaping Expectations for COP29

    [ad_1]

    • Opinion by Unnikrishnan Divakaran Nair, Nirupama Vinayan (london)
    • Inter Press Service

    LONDON, Jan 31 (IPS) – The 28th Conference of Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) marked a pivotal moment in the global efforts to combat climate change. Held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) with the participation of delegates from around the world, COP28 showcased a commitment to drive genuine strides in climate action, bringing optimism and progress to the forefront. Here we explore the implications of COP28 outcomes for small and other vulnerable Commonwealth countries and identify the gaps that still need attention. Additionally, it will discuss concrete expectations for COP29, focusing on critical discussions held at COP28.

    Unnikrishnan Divakaran Nair

    COP28 Highlights

    COP28 was distinctive in its comprehensive approach, covering a diverse range of topics crucial for addressing the climate crisis. Notable discussions included the First Global Stocktake, the Operationalization of the Loss and Damage Fund, the Business and Philanthropy Climate Forum, the UAE Leaders’ Declaration on the Global Climate Finance Framework, and the UAE Climate and Health Declaration.

    First Global Stocktake

    The First Global Stocktake at COP28 provided a comprehensive assessment of collective progress towards the goals of the Paris Agreement. It involved a thorough review of individual countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and their efforts to limit global temperature rise. This mechanism served as a vital tool for accountability and transparency, fostering a sense of shared responsibility among nations.

    For the Commonwealth countries, the Global Stocktake offers an opportunity to showcase their commitment to climate action and demonstrate tangible progress. However, challenges persist in ensuring that the Stocktake remains fair and inclusive, addressing the diverse circumstances of the Commonwealth nations, including those that are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

    Operationalization of Loss and Damage Fund

    Addressing loss and damage associated with the impacts of climate change is a critical aspect of climate action. COP28 saw discussions on the operationalization of the Loss and Damage Fund, aiming to provide financial and technical assistance to countries facing the most severe consequences. For the Commonwealth nations, particularly those in low-lying regions, this initiative is crucial for building resilience and adapting to climate-induced challenges.

    Nirupama Vinayan

    Despite positive strides, gaps remain in determining the fund’s scale and ensuring swift disbursement to affected countries. COP29 must prioritize finalizing the operational details of the Loss and Damage Fund to ensure its effectiveness and responsiveness in times of need.

    Business and Philanthropy Climate Forum

    The Business and Philanthropy Climate Forum at COP28 facilitated crucial discussions on the role of private sector engagement and philanthropy in climate action. Commonwealth countries, with their diverse economies, can leverage partnerships with businesses and philanthropic organizations to accelerate sustainable initiatives.

    However, challenges persist in ensuring that such collaborations align with the principles of climate justice and contribute to the overall well-being of communities. COP29 should focus on refining frameworks for private sector involvement, emphasizing transparency, accountability, and the alignment of business practices with climate goals.

    UAE Leaders’ Declaration on the Global Climate Finance Framework

    The UAE Leaders’ Declaration at COP28 outlined a framework for global climate finance, acknowledging the need for increased financial support to developing countries. For Commonwealth nations, many of which are developing economies, this declaration holds promise for accessing the necessary funds to implement ambitious climate actions.

    Nevertheless, a significant gap exists in defining the specifics of the finance framework, including the sources of funding and the mechanisms for distribution. COP29 should prioritize establishing a clear and robust climate finance framework to ensure that developing Commonwealth countries receive the support needed for sustainable development.

    UAE Climate and Health Declaration

    The UAE Climate and Health Declaration emphasized the interconnectedness of climate change and public health. Commonwealth countries, facing diverse health challenges exacerbated by climate impacts, can benefit from a holistic approach that integrates climate and health policies.

    While the declaration at COP28 recognized the importance of this intersection, concrete steps for implementation and resource allocation are crucial. COP29 should prioritize the development of strategies that integrate climate and health considerations, ensuring the well-being of Commonwealth populations in the face of a changing climate.

    Shaping Expectations for COP29

    COP28 concluded on a note of optimism and progress, with participants committing to genuine strides in climate action. However, acknowledging the herculean task ahead is essential. COP29, set to be held in Azerbaijan, becomes a crucial milestone for the international community.

    Concrete expectations for COP29 include deciding on a new climate finance goal and framing new and ambitious NDCs. The Commonwealth, as a collective voice for equitable and sustainable growth, is expected to play a more prominent role in the global climate action scene. Ensuring that all parties move as one entity with a clear vision is imperative for deriving the desired outcomes and addressing the gaps highlighted at COP28.

    Looking ahead, the international community anticipates decisive actions at COP29, setting the stage for framing new NDCs at COP30, hosted by Brazil. The Commonwealth’s involvement will be pivotal in achieving a sustainable and resilient future, fostering global cooperation and ensuring that no nation is left behind in the pursuit of a climate-safe world.

    Unnikrishnan Divakaran Nair is the Head of Climate Change at the Commonwealth Secretariat covering 56 small and other vulnerable Commonwealth countries.

    Nirupama Vinayan is an intern at the Commonwealth Secretariat working in the area of climate finance for the small and other vulnerable member countries of the Commonwealth.

    IPS UN Bureau

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

    [ad_2]

    Global Issues

    Source link

  • Blinkens Visit to Africa: Is US Counterterrorism Counterproductive?

    Blinkens Visit to Africa: Is US Counterterrorism Counterproductive?

    [ad_1]

    The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, with CAF President, Dr Patrice Motsepe while on tour in Africa. Some commentators have questioned the effectiveness of US foreign policy in Africa. Credit: CAF media
    • by Promise Eze (abuja)
    • Inter Press Service

    ABUJA, Jan 30 (IPS) – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s week-long tour across four African countries was aimed at strengthening the US-Africa relationship—a relationship, according to some commentators, already waning as China and Russia are increasing their influence.

    Blinken made his first stop in Cape Verde, a small island in West Africa, where he engaged Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva in discussions and reiterated the US dedication to deepening and expanding its collaborations with Africa. Continuing his diplomatic journey, he then proceeded to Ivory Coast, Nigeria, and concluded his tour in Angola.

    While Blicken, on his tour, touted the US as a crucial economic and security ally for Africa, particularly during times of regional and global challenges, analysts say that US foreign policy towards Africa has suggested that the continent may have been “pushed to the back burner.” Their assertions are not baseless.

    At the US-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington in November 2022, President Joe Biden made commitments to support democracy in Africa and announced his endorsement for a permanent seat for the African Union at the Group of 20. Biden also promised to visit the continent but that dream never materialised as Washington was preoccupied with a host of global challenges, such as the war in Gaza and the Russia-Ukraine war.

    Addressing questions about Biden’s unsuccessful visit during an interview in Nigeria, Blinken defended the president by saying, “It is just the opposite. The President very much wants to come to Africa. We have 17 cabinet-level or department-level officials come since the Africa Leaders Summit.”

    US Counterproductive Counter-terrorism Fight

    In Abidjan, the capital of Ivory Coast, Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged USD 45 million to bolster security along the West African coast. This commitment extends the funding for an ongoing program in the region, bringing the total to USD 300 million. Blinken commended the Ivorian military for their counterinsurgency efforts in combating armed groups, acknowledging the difficulty of the region’s location between Mali and Burkina Faso and recognizing hotspots for violence in the Sahel.

    For over two decades, the US has made consistent efforts to enhance security and promote democracy, particularly in the Sahel. However, despite these investments, terrorism persists, leading to frequent coups that pose a continuous threat to the stability of the continent.

    Last year saw President Mohamed Bazoum of the Niger Republic—a crucial US ally—forcibly ousted from power by disgruntled US–trained military officers. This coup dealt a significant blow to Niger’s sprouting democracy, as President Bazoum had ascended to power through the country’s first democratic elections. Moreover, it marked a setback to the longstanding US endeavours to foster democracy in the Sahel.

    Facing international pressure, the coup plotters justified their actions by pointing to President Bazoum’s perceived inability to effectively address the threat of insurgency in the country, despite substantial investments by the US in regional security.

    Since 2012, the US has allocated more than USD 500 million in security assistance to Niger, positioning it as the leading recipient of US military aid in West Africa and the second-highest in sub-Saharan Africa.

    In addition to having troops on the ground, the US currently operates a drone base in sub-Saharan Africa, a USD 100 million facility based in Agadez. However, despite these advancements, counterinsurgency operations funded by taxpayers have given rise to splinter groups associated with jihadist militancy, causing distress in villages and towns.

    Experts attribute the insurgency in Sub-Saharan Africa to the US-led invasion of Libya, which failed to bring stability to the country and resulted in the proliferation of arms and violent groups across the region when foreign fighters, especially the Turareg rebels loyal to Libya’s dictator, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, fled the country after his death.

    A recent report by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, a US defense department research institution, indicates that the Sahel experienced the largest increase in violent events linked to militant Islamists in the past year compared to any other region in Africa, with 2,737 violent events. The report notes that attacks linked to militant Islamist groups in the Sahel have surged by 3,500% since 2016.

    “If the US had not destabilised Libya, there is no way Nigeria, Mali, Niger, Chad, and Burkina Faso would have been in chaos,” argues Zainab Dabo, a Nigerian-based political analyst.

    “With military takeovers in , along with a general distrust for the West, Blinken is here to offer an irresistible package of promises in a bid to remain relevant, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, where Russia is gaining influence,’’ she added.

    For the US, Russia’s expanding influence in Africa is a cause for worry. The rivalry between the two nations intensified significantly following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Russia justified its actions by citing the US-led NATO expansion in Ukraine, which it deemed a threat. Although the US has refrained from direct involvement in the conflict, it has provided substantial financial and military assistance to Ukraine.

    Meanwhile, tensions between the US and Russia are escalating in Africa. This is evident as coup plotters, many of whom have undergone military training in the US, are now ditching the West to seek military support from the Russian-backed private military Wagner group in their efforts to combat terrorism. Russia is also actively seeking to gain influence in Africa and challenge the dominance of the dollar through the BRICS.

    However, while the Biden administration is considering designating the Wagner Group, a Russian group, as a terrorist organisation for its human rights violations, the US has always shied away from its own misdeeds in Africa.

    US military partnerships on the continent have been marred by a record of human rights abuses, fostering distrust of Western influence.

    In Nigeria, where Blicken promised support for improved security, a US-Nigerian airstrike in 2017 hit a refugee camp in Raan, near the Cameroon border, killing at least 115.  Until today, no one has been held accountable for the massacre, and the victims have not gotten justice.

    In Somalia, where the US military has conducted numerous airstrikes against the Islamic Jihad group Al-Shabaab for more than a decade, civilian casualties have become inevitable, many leaving family members in agony and with no hope of justice.

    In 2020, Amnesty International slammed the US Africa Command (AFRICOM) for killing a woman and a young child in an airstrike in Somalia. Despite the families of the victims of this strike contacting the US Mission to Somalia, Amnesty International reported that neither US diplomatic staff nor AFRICOM had reached out to them to offer reparation.

    US, China, Russia and the Scramble for Africa

    According to Frank Tietie, a lawyer and human rights activist in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, Blinken’s visit coincides with a period when America’s influence is perceived to be at a low point in the recent scramble for Africa. Tietie maintains that the US needs to go beyond merely advocating for democracy and should actively match China and Russia’s efforts by deploying both financial and developmental resources.

    Since 2003, Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) in Africa has experienced a substantial increase, rising from a modest USD 74.8 million in 2003 to USD 5.4 billion in 2018. Although it saw a decline to USD 2.7 billion in 2019, the trend reversed, despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, with a resurgence to USD 4.2 billion in 2020. However, concerns arise regarding China’s infrastructural investments and over USD 170 billion worth of loans in Africa, which are perceived as exploitative, given the expectation of natural resources in exchange.

    During a meeting with President João Lourenço of Angola, Blinken praised the advancements in one of the US’s most significant investments in Africa: the construction of the Lobito Corridor, a crucial rail link for metals exports from the central African Copper Belt. However, for Tietie, who holds that the US is bent on containing the influence of Russia and China in Africa, such developments are insufficient.

    “The gospel of democracy by the Americans has not been able to match the alluring and tantalising presence of the Chinese with their loans and offer to exploit natural resources in exchange for cash. The Americans must do more than ordinary promises, many of which we have had in the past that have not translated to growth and development for African countries,” Tietie told IPS.

    For Dabo, Africa, which she described as “the land of opportunities,” will keep being exploited for its natural resources by the US and China if the US does not put its capacities to good use.

    IPS UN Bureau Report


    Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram

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



    [ad_2]

    Global Issues

    Source link

  • Should We Attribute All Climate-Related Disasters Only to Global Warming?

    Should We Attribute All Climate-Related Disasters Only to Global Warming?

    [ad_1]

    • Opinion by Ameenah Gurib-Fakim (port louis, mauritius)
    • Inter Press Service

    PORT LOUIS, Mauritius, Jan 29 (IPS) – Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, PhD, Former President of the Republic of MauritiusThe Republic of Mauritius, an island nation, experienced its latest flash floods since the last bad one in 2013. These floods resulted in the loss of lives and hefty bills for car insurers with over 3000 cars have been damaged.

    Unfortunately, we will go through more climate-related traumas because as an island nation we are sorely ill-prepared and we seem to be blithely oblivious to climate challenges especially when one takes a look at our development trajectory.

    There is an urgent need to factor in resilience of our infrastructure; our adaptation strategy, the use of appropriate technology to inform and educate our people for better awareness and preparedness. When we look at recent tragedies, we cannot and must not put everything on the back of a changing climate, although I am sure the temptation is great in order to absolve one of his/her responsibilities. Urgent measures need to be put in place to counteract this new reality and also address our vulnerabilities.

    There is no doubt that we will experience more devastating cyclones and they will take our economies back several decades.

    It is the becoming increasingly clear that the way we urbanise, the resilience of our infrastructures, how ‘green’ we keep our buildings and landscape will all underscore how well we adapt to a changing climate.

    Locally and in many parts of the world, there is a high proclivity to cut down big swath of forests, drain the ‘Ramsar-protected’ swamps which are the lungs the world; build bungalows on sea fronts; sacrifice century-old trees in the name of ‘development’; century-old drains which have survived the test of time, are now increasingly seeped in cement!

    In many surrounding islands including Mauritius, buildings are seen popping up on the slopes of mountains. There’s also massive investment in infrastructure projects with no visibility on the ‘Environment Impact Assessments – EIA’ (absence of Freedom of Information Act in Mauritius prevents the public from accessing to these critical documents).

    There’s also locally, no visibility on the Flood-prone zones which imply that people will keep building in these regions with the surreal consequences we have seen last week in Port Louis – cars piling up, flooded cemeteries reaching people’s homes, people being carried away by the sheer force of the water.

    It is becoming abundantly clear that climate-related events will recur and we, as the human race, we have no choice but to adapt to our new realities. Time and time again, the rhetoric of ‘saving the planet’ is mentioned. It has to be brought home to all of us that Nature has existed before our appearance 200.000 years ago and will do well after we have gone. So let us not be presumptuous to even think that we can ‘tame’ or ‘save the planet’.. Our rhetoric must be couched in a the following language ‘how we save ourselves in the light of the crisis we have unleashed’!.. That would be more appropriate and much more in line of this truism which is facing us.

    Part of our adaptation realities demand a culture of transparency, participatory-leadership, promote greater awareness among the general public on what’s at stake and more importantly, there has to be accountability from those who we vote to decide on our behalf. They cannot suddenly go mum when they are questioned or pass the buck to technical staff whose roles are, often purely advisory, when things start going south. The personal and material loss for the general public are simply too painful to see when entire lifetime efforts and savings are washed away by the gushing waters.

    I am a resident of town called Quatre Bornes and which got badly affected by the recent floods. I am tempted to ask for this ‘confidential’ EIA report for the Quatre Bornes tram project so that we can be enlightened on the remedial actions going forward?

    May be those who were at the helm in 2016 when the decision was taken to start this mega project can enlighten us ? No?

    But this is where “Real politik” kicks in..

    Those who were vociferously against this project during the electoral campaign, when they were in the Opposition (that was before they switched side and joined the winning party) are now its greatest defenders.

    Some of those who actioned the decisions when in government are now in the Opposition and are expressing outsized aspirations for higher posts ..hmm.. at the next general elections??.

    Really?

    Transparency, Justice and Accountability are the virtues that the public demands what we certainly DONOT need are empty rhetoric and promises … The survival of our children and grandchildren depends on it and we have NO right to sacrifice their future through our inaction.

    IPS UN Bureau


    Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram

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



    [ad_2]

    Global Issues

    Source link

  • Illegal Artisanal Mining Threatens Amazon Jungle and Indigenous Peoples in Brazil

    Illegal Artisanal Mining Threatens Amazon Jungle and Indigenous Peoples in Brazil

    [ad_1]

    An area of illegal mining activity was raided by the Brazilian Federal Police in the eastern Amazon on Jan. 17, where their precarious installations and housing, as well as their equipment, were destroyed. The fight against illegal mining, especially in indigenous territories, intensified after a new tragedy of deaths of Yanomami indigenous people caused by encroaching garimpeiros or informal miners became headline news. CREDIT: Federal Police
    • by Mario Osava (rio de janeiro)
    • Inter Press Service

    RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan 29 2024 (IPS) – Artisanal mining, or “garimpo” as it is known in Brazil, has returned to the headlines as a factor in the deaths of Yanomami indigenous people, whose territory in the extreme north of Brazil suffers constant encroachment by miners, which has intensified in recent years.

    In the first few days of the year, Yanomami spokespersons denounced new invasions of their land and the suspension of health services, in addition to the violence committed by miners or “garimpeiros”, which coincided with the fact that the military withdrew from areas they were protecting.

    Furthermore, the media published new photos of extremely malnourished children. In response, the government promised to establish permanent posts of health care and protection in the indigenous territory.

    “But what they are involved in there is not garimpo but illegal and inhumane mining practices,” said Gilson Camboim, president of the Peixoto River Valley Garimpeiros Cooperative (Coogavepe), which defends the activity as environmentally and socially sustainable when properly carried out.

    “Garimpo is mining recognized by the Brazilian constitution, with its own legislation, which pays taxes, is practiced with an environmental license and respects the laws, employs many workers, strengthens the economy and distributes income,” he told IPS by telephone from the headquarters of his cooperative in Peixoto de Azevedo, a town of 33,000 people in the northern state of Mato Grosso.

    Coogavepe was founded in 2008 with 23 members. Today it has 7,000 members and seeks to promote legal garimpo and environmental practices, such as the restoration of areas degraded by mining.

    But it is difficult to salvage the reputation of this legal part of an activity whose damage is demonstrated by photos of emaciated children and families decimated by hunger and malaria, because the encroachment of miners pollutes rivers, kills fish and introduces diseases to which indigenous people are vulnerable because they have not developed immune defenses.

    Garimpeiros and indigenous deaths

    The humanitarian tragedy among the Yanomami people became big news in January 2023 when Sumaúma, an Amazonian online media outlet, denounced the deaths of 570 children under five years of age, due to malnutrition and preventable diseases, during the far-right government of former president Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022).

    Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who took office on Jan. 1, 2023, visited Yanomami territory and mobilized his government to care for the sick and expel illegal miners, destroying their equipment and camps. But a year later, the resumption of mining activity and a resurgence of hunger and deaths were reported.

    Moreover, the entire extractivist sector has a terrible reputation due to tragedies caused by industrial mining. Two tailings dams broke in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais in 2015 and 2019, killing 289 people and muddying an 853-kilometer-long river and a 510-kilometer-long river.

    Brazil is the world’s second largest producer of iron ore, following Australia. Iron ore is the main focus of industrial mining in the country.

    Garimpo is mainly dedicated to gold, and accounts for 86 percent of its production. Garimpeiros also produce cassiterite (the mineral from which tin ore is extracted) and precious stones, such as emeralds and diamonds. Its major expansion, many decades ago, was along rivers in the Amazon jungle, to the detriment of indigenous peoples and tropical forests.

    Indigenous people protest in the state of Roraima in northern Brazil against the invasion of Yanomami territory by garimpeiros or artisanal miners, who often practice illegally. CREDIT: Alberto César Araújo / Amazônia Real
    Indigenous people protest in the state of Roraima in northern Brazil against the invasion of Yanomami territory by garimpeiros or artisanal miners, who often practice illegally. CREDIT: Alberto César Araújo / Amazônia Real

    Threat to the environment and health

    Currently, 97.7 percent of the area occupied in Brazil by artisanal mining is in the Amazon rainforest, where it reaches 101,100 hectares, according to MapBiomas, a project launched by non-governmental organizations, universities and technology companies to monitor Brazilian biomes using satellite images and other data sources.

    The production of gold uses mercury, which has contaminated many Amazonian rivers and a large part of their riverside population, including indigenous groups, such as the Munduruku people, who live in the basin of the Tapajós River, one of the great tributaries of the Amazon with an extension of 2,700 kilometers.

    Garimpo dumps about 150 tons of mercury in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest every year, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) estimates. The fear is that the tragedy of Minamata, the Japanese city where mercury dumped by a chemical industry in the mid-20th century killed about 900 people and caused neurological damage in tens of thousands, may be repeated here.

    Brazil produced 94.6 tons of gold in 2022, according to the National Mining Agency. But the way it is extracted varies greatly, based mainly on informal mining, of which illegal mining makes up an unknown percentage.

    Three prices govern this production, according to Armin Mathis, a professor at the Núcleo de Altos Estudos Amazónicos of the Federal University of Pará, who lives in Belém, the capital of this Amazonian state, with 1.3 million inhabitants.

    The price of gold in Brazil; the price of diesel, which represents a third of the cost of gold mining; and the cost of labor are the three elements that determine whether the garimpo business is profitable, the German-born PhD in political science, who has been studying this activity since he arrived in Brazil in 1987, explained to IPS from Belém.

    This mining was in fact artisanal, but it began to use machines, especially the backhoe, in the 1980s, which is why diesel increased its costs. And unemployment and periods of economic recession, in the 1980s and in 2015-2016, made garimpo more attractive.

    In those periods and the following years, invasions of Yanomami territory, which also extends through the state of Amazonas in southwestern Venezuela, became more massive and aggressive. But the consequences for the native people living in vast areas of the rainforest only become news on some occasions, like now.

    Small airplanes seized by police and environmental authorities were at the service of illegal miners in Roraima, an Amazonian state in the extreme north of Brazil. This is where most of the Yanomami Indians live, currently the main victims of illegal, mechanized mining. CREDIT: Federal Police
    Small airplanes seized by police and environmental authorities were at the service of illegal miners in Roraima, an Amazonian state in the extreme north of Brazil. This is where most of the Yanomami Indians live, currently the main victims of illegal, mechanized mining. CREDIT: Federal Police

    From artisanal to mechanization

    Mechanization has restructured the activity. Machines are expensive and require financiers. Entrepreneurs have emerged to manage the now more complex operations, as well as others who only own and rent out the equipment.

    In addition, the owners of small airplanes that supply the mining areas and facilitate the trade of the extracted gold became more powerful. The hierarchy of the business has expanded.

    “We must differentiate between garimpo and the garimpeiros. This is not a rhetorical distinction. The garimpeiro, who works directly in the extraction of gold, is more a victim than a perpetrator of illegal, predatory and criminal mining. The person responsible lives far away and gets rich by exploiting workers in slavery-like labor relations,” observed Mauricio Torres, a geographer and professor at the Federal University of Pará.

    “The garimpeiro, depicted as a criminal by the media, pays for the damage,” he told IPS by telephone from Belém.

    The workers recognize that they are exploited, but feel that they are a partner of the garimpo owner, as they earn a percentage of the gold obtained. They work hard because the more they work, the more they earn.

    A large part of the garimpeiros along the Tapajós River, where this kind of mining has been practiced since the middle of the last century, are actually landless peasant farmers who supplement their income in the garimpo business, when agriculture or fishing does not provide what they need to support their families, Torres explained.

    Therefore, agrarian reform and other government initiatives that offer sufficient income to this population could reduce the pressure of the garimpo on the environment in the Amazon rainforest, which affects the region’s indigenous and traditional peoples, he said.

    The situation of the garimpeiros also differs according to the areas where they work in the Amazon jungle, Mathis pointed out. In the Tapajós River, where the activity has been taking place for a longer period of time and is already legal in large part, coexistence is better with the indigenous Munduruku people, some of whom also became garimpeiros.

    In Roraima, a state in the extreme north on the border with Venezuela and Guyana, where a large part of the territory is made up of indigenous reserves, illegal mining is widespread and includes the more or less violent invasion of Yanomami lands.

    On the other hand, as the local economy depends on gold, the population’s support for garimpo, even illegal and more invasive practices, is broader than elsewhere. There, former president Bolsonaro, a supporter of garimpo, won 76 percent of the votes in the 2022 runoff election in which he was defeated by Lula.

    Another component that aggravates the violence surrounding garimpo and, therefore, the crackdown on the activity, is the expansion of drug trafficking in the Amazon rainforest. The informality of the mining industry has facilitated its relationship with organized crime, whether in the drug trade or money laundering, said Mathis from Belém.

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

    [ad_2]

    Global Issues

    Source link

  • From The Field: Story of an aid worker trying to survive in Gaza

    From The Field: Story of an aid worker trying to survive in Gaza

    [ad_1]

    Many displaced people are living in tents in Tal Al-Sultan neighbourhood, in the southern Gaza Strip.

    When war began on 7 October, life changed dramatically overnight for mother-of-four Hala, as it did for the more than two million Palestinians who live in the Gaza Strip. She kept a diary of her experiences and shared it with the UN humanitarian agency (OCHA).

    It recounts her struggles to find safety in an abandoned apartment in the southern city of Rafah, her attempts to remain in contact with her family amid communications and electricity cuts, and the lack of food and sanitation.

    You can read the diary entries, with photos of Hala and her family in Gaza, here.

    [ad_2]

    Global Issues

    Source link

  • UN chief urges countries to reverse UNRWA funding suspension

    UN chief urges countries to reverse UNRWA funding suspension

    [ad_1]

    In a statement on Sunday, the UN chief said that the Organization is promptly responding to the extremely serious allegations that several UNRWA personnel were involved in the 7 October terror attacks in southern Israel.

    An investigation by the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), the highest investigative body in the UN system, was immediately activated.

    “Any UN employee involved in acts of terror will be held accountable, including through criminal prosecution,” Mr. Guterres said.

    “The Secretariat is ready to cooperate with a competent authority able to prosecute the individuals in line with the Secretariat’s normal procedures for such cooperation,” he added.

    UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini had previously announced on 17 January a full, independent review of the agency.

    Out of the 12 individuals implicated, nine were immediately identified and terminated by the UNRWA head. One is confirmed dead, and the identities of the remaining two are being clarified.

    Vital humanitarian efforts at risk

    Over two million civilians in the Gaza Strip depend on lifesaving aid provided by UNRWA. The Agency operates shelters for over one million people and has been providing food and healthcare since the start of the conflict.

    However, its current funding is insufficient to meet all requirements to support them in February.

    Acknowledging the concerns of the countries that halted funds and expressing his own horror at the accusations, Mr. Guterres strongly appealed to the governments that suspended contributions to, at least, guarantee the continuity of UNRWA’s operations.

    “The abhorrent alleged acts of these staff members must have consequences. But the tens of thousands of men and women who work for UNRWA, many in some of the most dangerous situations for humanitarian workers, should not be penalized,” he said.

    “The dire needs of the desperate populations they serve must be met.”

    [ad_2]

    Global Issues

    Source link

  • Remembering Holocaust victims, Guterres urges a stand against division

    Remembering Holocaust victims, Guterres urges a stand against division

    [ad_1]

    Observing Saturday’s International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, he highlighted the millions of Jewish children, women and men, along with countless others, who suffered persecution and death during that dark period.

    “We honour their memory. We stand with the survivors, their families and descendants. We pledge never to forget – nor let others forget the truth of what happened,” he said.

    The International Day of Commemoration is marked annually on 27 January, the date on which the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi concentration and extermination camp was liberated in 1945.

    This year’s observance, on the theme ‘Recognizing the Extraordinary Courage of Victims and Survivors of the Holocaust’ pays tribute to the bravery of all those who stood up to the Nazis, despite the grave risks.

    ‘We must remember’

    Mr. Guterres underscored the ongoing relevance of the commemorative day in today’s world, where antisemitic hate is spreading rapidly, particularly online.

    “But today of all days, we must remember,” he said, “that demonization of the other and disdain for diversity is a danger to everyone … and that bigotry against one group is bigotry against all.”

    ‘We must resolve’

    Quoting the former Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom, Jonathan Sacks, the UN chief reminded the international community that “the hate that begins with Jews never ends with Jews.”

    “So today – especially in the wake of the abhorrent 7 October terror attacks by Hamas — we must resolve to stand up against the forces of hate and division,” he said, calling for strongly condemning all forms of racism, hatred and prejudice.

    Mr. Guterres emphasized the imperative to speak out against discrimination and intolerance, insisting on the defense of human rights and the dignity of every individual.

    “Let us never lose sight of each other’s humanity, and never let down our guard,” he urged.

    “To all who confront prejudice and persecution, let us clearly say: you are not alone. The United Nations stands with you.”

    ‘Our essential duty’

    Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) called for strengthening our commitment to sharing the memory of the victims of the Holocaust “to pass the torch on to future generations.”

    “To honour the victims, but also to train future generations to identify and combat hate speech, this International Day reminds us of our essential duty to remember,” she said.

    “May we remain vigilant,” she added, recalling the warning given by Hungarian writer and camp survivor Imre Kertész, that “Auschwitz was not an accident of history, there are many signs that its repetition is possible.”

    UN Photo/Manuel Elías

    Sisters Selma Tennenbaum Rossen and Edith Tennenbaum, survivors from Poland, address the UN Holocaust Memorial Ceremony, held in observance of the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims.

    Commemorative events

    Memorial ceremonies were held at UN offices worldwide, including the United Nations Headquarters in New York, the UN Office at Geneva, and the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.

    At the ceremony in New York on Friday, Holocaust survivors Christian Pfeil and sisters Edith Tennenbaum Shapiro and Selma Tennenbaum Rossen shared their stories, alongside a prayer by Cantor Daniel Singer, and performances by violinist Doori Na, singers Petra and Patrik Gelbart.

    A video of the ceremony is available here.

    [ad_2]

    Global Issues

    Source link

  • Serbia’s Suspicious Election

    Serbia’s Suspicious Election

    [ad_1]

    Credit: Vladimir Zivojinovic/Getty Images
    • Opinion by Andrew Firmin (london)
    • Inter Press Service

    LONDON, Jan 26 (IPS) – Serbia’s December 2023 elections saw the ruling party retain power – but amid a great deal of controversy.

    Civil society has cried foul about irregularities in the parliamentary election, but particularly the municipal election in the capital, Belgrade. In recent times Belgrade has been a hotbed of anti-government protests. That’s one of the reasons it’s suspicious that the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) came first in the city election.

    Allegations are that the SNS had ruling party supporters from outside Belgrade temporarily register as city residents so they could cast votes. On election day, civil society observers documented large-scale movements of people into Belgrade, from regions where municipal elections weren’t being held and from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro. Civil society documented irregularities at 14 per cent of Belgrade voting stations. Many in civil society believe this made the crucial difference in stopping the opposition winning.

    The main opposition coalition, Serbia Against Violence (SPN), which made gains but finished second, has rejected the results. It’s calling for a rerun, with proper safeguards to prevent any repeat of irregularities.

    Thousands have taken to the streets of Belgrade to protest about electoral manipulation, rejecting the violation of the most basic principle of democracy – that the people being governed have the right to elect their representatives.

    A history of violations

    The SNS has held power since 2012. It blends economic neoliberalism with social conservatism and populism, and has presided over declining respect for civic space and media freedoms. In recent years, Serbian environmental activists have been subjected to physical attacks. President Aleksandar Vu?i? attempted to ban the 2022 EuroPride LGBTQI+ rights march. Journalists have faced public vilification, intimidation and harassment. Far-right nationalist and anti-rights groups have flourished and also target LGBTQI+ people, civil society and journalists.

    The SNS has a history of electoral irregularities. The December 2023 vote was a snap election, called just over a year and a half since the previous vote in April 2022, which re-elected Vu?i? as president. In 2022, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) pointed to an ‘uneven playing field’, characterised by close ties between major media outlets and the government, misuse of public resources, irregularities in campaign financing and pressure on public sector staff to support the SNS.

    These same problems were seen in December 2023. Again, the OSCE concluded there’d been systemic SNS advantages. Civil society observers found evidence of vote buying, political pressure on voters, breaches of voting security and pressure on election observers. During the campaign, civil society groups were vilified, opposition officials were subjected to physical and verbal attacks and opposition rallies were prevented.

    But the ruling party has denied everything. It’s slurred civil society for calling out irregularities, accusing activists of trying to destabilise Serbia.

    Backdrop of protests

    The latest vote was called following months of protests against the government. These were sparked by anger at two mass shootings in May 2023 in which 17 people were killed.

    The shootings focused attention on the high number of weapons still in circulation after the wars that followed the break-up of Yugoslavia and the growing normalisation of violence, including by the government and its supporters.

    Protesters accused state media of promoting violence and called for leadership changes. They also demanded political resignations, including of education minister Branko Ruži?, who disgracefully tried to blame the killings on ‘western values’ before being forced to quit. Prime Minister Ana Brnabi? blamed foreign intelligence services for fuelling protests. State media poured abuse on protesters.

    These might have seemed odd circumstances for the SNS to call elections. But election campaigns have historically played to Vu?i?’s strengths as a campaigner and give him some powerful levers, with normal government activities on hold and the machinery of the state and associated media at his disposal.

    Only this time it seems the SNS didn’t think all its advantages would be quite enough and, in Belgrade at least, upped its electoral manipulation to the point where it became hard to ignore.

    East and west

    There’s little pressure from Serbia’s partners to both east and west. Its far-right and socially conservative forces are staunchly pro-Russia, drawing on ideas of a greater Slavic identity. Russian connections run deep. In the last census, 85 per cent of people identified themselves as affiliated with the Serbian Orthodox Church, strongly in the sway of its Russian counterpart, in turn closely integrated with Russia’s repressive machinery.

    The Serbian government relies on Russian support to prevent international recognition of Kosovo. Russian officials were only too happy to characterise post-election protests as western attempts at unrest, while Prime Minister Brnabi? thanked Russian intelligence services for providing information on planned opposition activities.

    But states that sit between the EU and Russia are being lured on both sides. Serbia is an EU membership candidate. The EU wants to keep it onside and stop it drifting closer to Russia, so EU states have offered little criticism.

    Serbia keeps performing its balancing act, gravitating towards Russia while doing just enough to keep in with the EU. In the 2022 UN resolution on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it voted to condemn Russia’s aggression and suspend it from the Human Rights Council. But it’s resisted calls to impose sanctions on Russia and in 2022 signed a deal with Russia to consult on foreign policy issues.

    The European Parliament is at least prepared to voice concerns. In a recent debate, many of its members pointed to irregularities and its observation mission noted problems including media bias, phantom voters and vilification of election observers.

    Other EU institutions should acknowledge what happened in Belgrade. They should raise concerns about electoral manipulation and defend democracy in Serbia. To do so, they need to support and work with civil society. An independent and enabled civil society will bring much-needed scrutiny and accountability. This must be non-negotiable for the EU.

    Andrew Firmin is CIVICUS Editor-in-Chief, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.

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

    [ad_2]

    Global Issues

    Source link

  • ICJ Orders Israel to Take All Measures to Prevent Genocide in Gaza

    ICJ Orders Israel to Take All Measures to Prevent Genocide in Gaza

    [ad_1]

    The International Court of Justice orders Israel to “take all measures within its power” to prevent further bloodshed in Gaza in line with Genocide Convention obligations. The Court also calls for the immediate release of all hostages. The order was read by the Judge Joan E Donoghue, President of the Court. Credit: UN
    • by Cecilia Russell (johannesburg)
    • Inter Press Service

    JOHANNESBURG, Jan 26 (IPS) – The International Court of Justice today told Israel to take all measures to prevent a genocide in the Gaza Strip.

    The order with provisional measures was read by Judge Joan E Donoghue, President of the Court, which ordered the State of Israel to adhere to an order to prevent a further deterioration of the humanitarian crisis experienced by the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.

    Donoghue told the court that the facts and circumstances were sufficient to conclude that some of the “rights claimed by South Africa and for which it is seeking protection were plausible.

    The ICJ, which is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, delivered its order in the case submitted by South Africa in the case concerning the application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip.

    “The court is not called upon for purposes of its decision on the request for the indication of provisional measures to establish the existence of breaches of obligations under the Genocide Convention, but to determine whether the circumstances require the indication of provisional measures for the protection of rights under that instrument,” she explained.

    Quoting from UN General Assembly Resolution 96 of December 11, 1946, she said genocide shocks “the conscience of mankind.”

    Before going through the list of provisional measures, she quoted high-profile members of the United Nations, including its Secretary General, António Guterres, who warned the Security Council on December 6, 2023, that health care in Gaza was collapsing.

    “Nowhere is safe in Gaza, amid constant bombardment by the Israel Defense Forces and without shelter or the essentials to survive. I expect public order to break to completely break down soon, due to the desperate conditions rendering even limited humanitarian assistance impossible.”

    He then went on to warn that the situation could get worse, “including epidemic diseases and increased pressure for mass displacement into neighboring countries. We are facing a severe risk of the collapse of the humanitarian system. The situation is fast deteriorating into a catastrophe, with potentially irreversible implications for Palestinians as a whole.”

    Donoghue told the court that it considers the rights in question in the proceeding plausible.

    “The court considers that the plausible rights in question in this proceeding, namely, the right of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to be protected from acts of genocide and related prohibited acts identified in Article Three of the Genocide Convention and the right of South Africa to seek Israel’s compliance with the latter’s obligation under the convention, are of such a nature that prejudiced them and was “capable of causing irreparable harm.”

    She pointed out that the provisional measures didn’t have to match those South Africa requested.

    In terms of the order:

    • Israel must, in accordance with its obligations under the Genocide Convention, take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts within the scope of Article 2 of the Convention, which deals with the destruction of a group in whole or in part. This includes killing groups of members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, and deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part. It was also prevented from imposing measures that were intended to prevent births within the group. Article 2
    • The court further considered that Israel must ensure, with immediate effect, that its military forces do not commit any of the acts designed to destroy a group, and the State of Israel must take measures within its power to prevent and punish the direct and public incitement to commit genocide in relation to the members of the Palestinian group in the Gaza Strip.
    • The court ordered Israel to take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions of life faced by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
    • Israel must also take effective measures to prevent the destruction and ensure the preservation of evidence related to allegations of acts within the scope of Articles 2 and 3 of the Genocide Convention against members of the Palestinian group in the Gaza Strip.
    • Israel must submit a report to the court on all measures taken to give effect to the order within one month of the order. “The report so provided shall then be communicated to South Africa.

    “The court reaffirms the decision given in the present proceedings and in no way prejudges the question of the jurisdiction of the court to deal with the merits of the case or any questions related to the admissibility of the application or to the merits themselves.”

    She added that the court was gravely concerned about the fate of the hostages abducted during the attack in Israel on October 7, 2023, and held since then by Hamas and other armed groups, and called for their immediate and unconditional release.


    Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram

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

    [ad_2]

    Global Issues

    Source link

  • International Court of Justice Set to Deliver Order in Genocide case.

    International Court of Justice Set to Deliver Order in Genocide case.

    [ad_1]

    The International Court of Justice in the Hague heard the South Africa versus Israel case earlier this month. Credit: ICJ
    • by Cecilia Russell (johannesburg)
    • Inter Press Service

    JOHANNESBURG, Jan 26 (IPS) – The International Court of Justice will deliver it’s order for provisional measures submitted by South Africa in the case of South Africa versus Israel today.

    South Africa argued that the scale of destruction resulting from the bombardment of Gaza and the deliberate restriction of food, water, medicines, and electricity demonstrated that the government of Israel and its military were intent on destroying Palestinians as a group.

    The case was argued on January 10 and 11, 2024, and today’s decision is only likely to deal with jurisdiction and the provisional measures that South Africa asked the court to impose.

    The provisional measures include:

    • that military operations are immediately ceased;
    • that the State of Israel take reasonable measures within its power to prevent genocide, including desisting from actions that could bring about physical destruction;
    • rescind orders of restrictions and prohibitions to prevent forced displacement and ensure access to humanitarian assistance, including access to adequate fuel, shelter, clothes, hygiene, sanitation and medical supplies;
    • avoid public incitement;
    • ensure the preservation of evidence related to allegations of acts and
    • submit a report to the court on all measures taken to give effect to the order.

    South Africa argued that the scale of destruction resulting from the bombardment of Gaza and the deliberate restriction of food, water, medicines, and electricity demonstrated that the government of Israel and its military were intent on destroying Palestinians as a group.

    Israel disputed this, saying that the country had a right to defend itself in the face of the October 7 massacre in Israel. It was argued that South Africa brought a fundamentally flawed case. 

    IPS will update the outcome later today.

    IPS UN Bureau Report


    Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram

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

    [ad_2]

    Global Issues

    Source link

  • Zimbabweans Gambling for a Living Amid Escalating Hardships

    Zimbabweans Gambling for a Living Amid Escalating Hardships

    [ad_1]

    Many unemployed youth in Zimbabwe are taking to gambling to support themselves. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo/IPS
    • by Jeffrey Moyo (harare)
    • Inter Press Service

    HARARE, Jan 24 (IPS) – Twenty years after completing high school in Zimbabwe, 38-year-old Tinago Mukono still has not found employment, and in order to survive, he has switched to betting, turning it into a form of employment.

    Every day throughout the week, Mukono leaves his home to join many others like him in betting clubs strewn across Harare, the Zimbabwean capital, with the hope of making it.

    With Zimbabwe’s economy underperforming over the past two decades since the government seized white-owned commercial farms, unemployment has stood out as the country’s worst burden.

    According to the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), over 90 percent of Zimbabweans are jobless.

    Such are many, like Mukono, who has desperately found betting to be the panacea.

    “I wake up every day to come bet here in town. I do soccer betting, and sometimes I win, but sometimes I also lose, but I keep trying,” Mukono told IPS.

    He (Mukono) spoke recently from inside a soccer shop, typically a local betting hall, where other men like him sat with their eyes glued to television and computer screens displaying soccer games, horse races, and dog races.

    Littering the floor with betting receipts, many, such as Mukono, closely studied television and computer screens displaying payout dividends and other information gamblers like him hoped would help them bet victoriously.

    Yet in the past, betting never used to be popular in this southern African nation, but as economic hardships grew, affecting many like Mukono, betting has become the way to go.

    In the past, where it occurred in Zimbabwe, betting was often limited to the state lottery, horse betting, and casinos.

    Now, whether they win or lose as they bet, with no survival options, many, like Mukono, find themselves hooked on the vice, which local police have gone on record moving in to quell, with claims that some of the betting clubs are illegal and behind a spate of robberies and money laundering in the country.

    Of late, betting clubs have seen a rise in the number of patrons who frequent these places each day from morning until late as people try out their luck, battling for redemption from mounting economic hardships.

    Mukono, like many other people involved in betting, said that without a job for years on end, betting for him has turned into a profession.

    “I might not be reporting to someone, but for me, this is some form of job because at times I earn money, which feeds my family,” said Mukono.

    Rashweat Mukundu, researcher with the International Media Support (IMS), said, “I think there are significantly reduced means or ways upon which young people, especially the youth and young male adults, can survive in Zimbabwe because of the high rate of unemployment and lack of economic opportunities, and so betting and gambling have become a way of survival.”

    “So, you see the increasing number of betting houses; you see the increasing numbers of young people who go out to bet. This is a clear indication that the economic fundamentals are off the rails and many people are having to look for ways to survive outside of what you would normally expect such people to be doing,” Mukundu told IPS.

    However, economists like Prosper Chitambara see otherwise.

    Chitambara, who is the chief economist with the Labor and Economic Development Research Institute of Zimbabwe (LEDRIZ), said: “There are some people who are more predisposed to risk-taking through gambling or betting activities, but mental health conditions and even substance abuse are key drivers of gambling, and of course mental health is also a function of the state of the economy.”

    With countrywide economic hardships coupled with unemployment, many, like Mukono, have taken to sports betting in order to raise money for survival.

    In fact, across Zimbabwe, local authority halls that used to team with recreational activities have now been converted into betting clubs where gambling thrives, with many, like Mukono, frequenting them in their desperate quest to earn a living.

    Meanwhile, there are no stringent rules governing Zimbabwe’s gambling sector, with betting still viewed as a pastime rather than an economic activity.

    But with many Zimbabweans like Mukono now taking up betting as employment, betting club employees have a word of advice.

    “Honestly, one cannot substitute betting with employment. Surely, it should not be something individuals should opt for to rely on for their economic needs,” Derick Maungwe, one of the staffers at a local betting club in central Harare, told IPS.

    But owing to joblessness, said Maungwe, it has become some form of employment for many Zimbabweans.

    IPS UN Bureau Report


    Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram

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

    [ad_2]

    Global Issues

    Source link

  • Rwandas Biodiversity Conservation Gains Momentum With Bird Sounds Recording

    Rwandas Biodiversity Conservation Gains Momentum With Bird Sounds Recording

    [ad_1]

    Young Rwandan citizen scientists record bird sounds in the forests in a project that plays a pivotal role in the country’s bird protection. Credit: Planet Birdsong Foundation
    • by Aimable Twahirwa (kotiang, rwanda)
    • Inter Press Service

    KOTIANG, RWANDA, Jan 23 (IPS) – Claver Ntoyinkima wakes up early in the morning, at least three times a week, and goes into the Nyungwe rainforest to record bird vocalizations.

    Ntoyinkima is one of several community members in a remote village in rural southwestern Rwanda who volunteer with a group of scientists to help boost wildlife conservation.

    Relying on a voice application installed on his mobile phone, which is connected to a parabolic reflector with a dedicated cable, the 50-year-old tour guide and his team walk long distances every week to collect sounds from various birding hotspots in this area.

    “Love for birds is critical when it comes to engaging many young people in this career,” Ntoyinkima told IPS while referring to his second profession of bird sound recording.

    To better protect the birds, the veteran tour guide has been able to launch the Nyungwe Birding Club, bringing together about 86 members of local communities living in Gisakura, a remote village located on the outskirts of the Nyungwe rainforest in southwestern Rwanda. Thanks to this mobilization, members of the club, which also consists of 26 young students from primary and secondary schools, were equipped with skills on how to record bird sounds.

    The initiative is part of joint efforts by the Planet Birdsong Foundation, an international UK-based charity organization, and the Center of Excellence in Biodiversity and Natural Resource Management at University of Rwanda seeking to connect people with nature through bird sound listening, recording, and audio processing.

    Conservation experts believe that birds are important indicators for the biodiversity and health of a habitat where they are sometimes visible but more widely audible. Researchers are now convinced that audio recognition skills are vital for effective monitoring and guiding, especially in forests and wetlands.

    “We are engaging youth from rural communities through local bird clubs, site guides, schools, and colleges,” Hilary MacBean, founder of the Foundation, told IPS.

    It is a major task to collect mass data covering the sounds of various species across various birding hotspots in this East African country.

    Nyungwe natural reserve is known to be home to 278 species of birds—26 of those are found only in the few forests of the Albertine Rift. The latest scientific estimates show that there are seven other important birding areas in Rwanda, including three wetland areas at Akanyaru (south), Nyabarongo river system (south), and Rugezi swamp (north), where there are efforts to recover the biodiversity from human activities that led to the degradation of these hotspots. The urban wetland in Kigali city has also received massive investment and is radically improving.

    “This task requires much practice for people so that they are able to decode all those different bird songs and calls,” Ntoyinkima said.

    At present, the first ever Rwandan citizen science initiative, which has been running since 2021, focuses on equipping young students, many from rural communities, with the skills to observe, audio record, and scientifically label birds by their sounds, songs, and calls.

    By using affordable sound recording equipment aimed at entry-level citizen scientists, participants are trained in audio-data collection, verification, preparation, and storage for both higher-level scientists and other citizen scientists.  Currently, different existing teams deployed across birding hotspots in Rwanda are divided into categories, including recordists and verifiers.

    Experts also point out that using the available dataset with multiple records of the songs and calls of the bird population has been crucial to ensuring the protection of species that are forest-dependent.

    Through the “Bioacoustics Recording” initiative, which the foundation and other stakeholders jointly run, MacBean has been involved in mentoring and training young bird guides from Rwanda for international tourism while also educating local guides and students about bird sounds.

    Hilary MacBean of Planet Birdsong Foundation has been involved in mentoring and training Rwandan young bird guides for international tourism while bringing awareness and knowledge of bird sounds to local guides and students. Credit: Planet Birdsong Foundation
    Hilary MacBean of the Planet Birdsong Foundation has been involved in mentoring and training Rwandan young bird guides for international tourism while bringing awareness and knowledge of bird sounds to local guides and students. Credit: Planet Birdsong Foundation

    “Key focus has been on equipping communities with skills on how to work with bioacoustics data collected in the field as a move to identify bird species in the recordings with confidence,” she said in an exclusive interview.

    During the implementation phase, data collection is done by using a smart phone with downloadable free apps and a ParaChirp an acoustic mirror designed for educational use to promote learning about birds and product design.  The technology focuses mainly on individual bird songs and calls collected in their natural or semi-natural habitat.

    The latest official estimates by the Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA) show that Rwanda boasts more than 703 bird species, making it one of the countries with the highest concentration of bird populations in Africa.

    However, Protais Niyigaba, the Nyungwe Forest National Park’s manager, told IPS that much effort has been put into providing migratory birds with safe habitats and breeding sites.

    “These solutions with available recording data are currently helping to understand the routes of these migratory birds and make sure visitors are able to locate them easily by sound,” Niyigaba said.

    The project had uploaded 226 recordings as of the time of the Foundation’s 2023 audit report, with 37 of those being in national parks. The number of recordings is constantly growing, with multiple records of the songs and calls of about 120 bird species across Rwanda.

    By December 2024, the Foundation has set a goal of generating 275 recordings, including 75 bird sounds, from existing national parks across Rwanda. The target set for 2025 is 300 species, according to official projections.

    “We create music from bird sound and, in the Rwandan context, focus on the community benefits of citizen science, bird sound collection for scientific monitoring, and building the identification skills of tourist guides,” MacBean said.

    With this integration of bird sound recordings to protect and preserve these species and their habitats, stakeholders focus on labeling the collected data so that their identification, locational and time data, behavioral data, and habitat data are all recorded. The sounds are then validated by assigned verifiers, processed, and stored for use in science.

    Recordings generated by Planet Birdsong’s citizen scientists are stored globally with e-bird, and researchers are collaborating with the Macaulay Library at Cornell University to ensure access to locally recorded bird sounds for both citizen scientists and specialists. For the specific case of Rwanda, data collected in Rwanda is also supplied to the Rwanda Biodiversity Information System for use in local natural science.

    Yet these innovations are playing pivotal roles in Rwanda’s bird protection, and some researchers believe that maintaining data availability is essential for effective bird biodiversity conservation.

    Professor Beth Kaplin, a prominent conservation scientist based in Rwanda, told IPS that getting local researchers, students, and youth involved in data collection and management is important to developing a sense of ownership and stewardship of the data recording for bird sounds.

    Despite current efforts, conservation experts point out that limited funding to support people and pay their fieldwork expenses is another major challenge affecting project implementation since the majority of local residents work mainly on a volunteer basis. Some individuals engaged in the project also have problems with equipment such as phones and PCs, plus the cost of the internet.

    Dr Marie Laure Rurangwa, a Rwandan female conservation scientist, told IPS that one of the challenges facing people engaged in this activity is much about processing time with much editing and the skillsets needed in terms of sound recognition for different bird species.

    Rurangwa is a co-author of the latest peer review study showing how land use change (modification from primary forest to other land use types) has affected bird communities within Nyungwe forest in Rwanda

    “Access to some of these remote birding hotspots has been another challenge for recordists because of limited resources and a lack of appropriate equipment to reach these remote areas,” Rurangwa points out.

    But in Gisakura, a remote village nestled on the outskirts of Nyungwe Forest, Ntoyinkima and his team are trying to use affordable means in their field recording by splitting into small groups of five people each.

    Before their deployment to various sites inside and outside the forest, each group has to travel several kilometers to reach the selected birding hotspots.

    As they walk quietly along a narrow trail and water flows beneath their feet, the team has to stop sometimes to better identify birds through their vocalizations.

    Yet most trained people are able to capture data and generate robust, sound recognition results. Expert verifiers are sometimes asked to provide support when some recordists are stuck for identification or to confirm when in doubt.

    “These young people are still volunteering here, but in most cases, the majority of them end up being hired as tour guides because they are well trained in bird vocalizations,” Ntoyinkima said.

    IPS UN Bureau Report


    Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram

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

    [ad_2]

    Global Issues

    Source link

  • Settling the Middle East Vs West Asia Debate

    Settling the Middle East Vs West Asia Debate

    [ad_1]

    • Opinion by Ehtesham Shahid (abu dhabi)
    • Inter Press Service

    ABU DHABI, Jan 22 (IPS) – “Middle East” or “West Asia?” This somewhat divided nomenclature adds another layer to the region’s already “complicated” label. Is it the “Middle East” because it is in the “middle” of the East? Is it “West Asia” because it is in the western part of Asia? So, why is the region mostly called the Middle East? It is “geographically ambiguous” to some, as it is “East” only from the “West’s” perspective. The term West Asia has fewer challengers, but it isn’t used as much.

    Ehtesham Shahid

    According to Principles of Nomenclature and Classification, a fundamental problem for nomenclature is the existence of two or more names for the same taxon, for only one name can be considered correct or valid. Taxon is not so much of a contention in this case; a lack of unison exists. The names of geographical regions have had historical, cultural, and sometimes even linguistic significance.

    Some region’s names are based on events that took place there. For instance, the “Balkans” in South-eastern Europe is named after the Balkan Mountains, which have played a significant role in the region’s history. Geographical features often influence names, too. North America’s “Rocky Mountains” are named for their rugged terrain, while the Amazon rainforest is named after the Amazon River.

    Some regions have been named after prominent geographic features or valuable resources. For instance, the Sahara Desert is named after the Arabic word for “desert,” and Sierra Nevada means “snowy range” in Spanish. More importantly, political factors have played a role in naming regions with borders and administrative divisions, leading to new names, often for practical or administrative purposes.

    The widespread perception behind the term “Middle East” is that it originated in the 1850s in the British India Office. It is also documented that the name was more widely used after American naval strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan used the term in 1902 to “designate the area between Arabia and India.” However, the term was used mainly in a Eurocentric context to refer to the countries and territories of the Ottoman Empire and the surrounding regions.

    The Middle East is geographically situated on the western edge of Asia, bordered by Asia to the east and northeast. This geographical proximity and the interconnected history, culture, and trade between the Middle East and other Asian regions have contributed to its classification as part of Asia. Fortunately or otherwise, these terms have no strict, universally accepted definition, and their usage can vary depending on context and perspective.

    “West Asia” is a more modern term that has gained popularity, especially in academic and geopolitical contexts, and is often seen as a more neutral and geographically accurate descriptor for the region. It is often used as an alternative to “Middle East,” avoiding some historical and cultural connotations associated with the region. Whichever way one looks at it, a nomenclature clash goes against the ethos of constructivism in international relations, which emphasizes the role of ideas, norms, and identities in shaping state behavior and global politics.

    Another school of thought maintains that the term Middle East has been associated with the broader region’s cultural and historical ties to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Arab world and often implies a broader cultural and historical context. The exact boundaries of the Middle East or West Asia can vary depending on these perspectives. Moreover, both the terms have evolved and have historical, geopolitical, and cultural significance.

    Some definitions may include specific countries, while others may exclude them. For example, Egypt and Turkey are sometimes included in the Middle East but are more accurately described as transcontinental countries. These terms are primarily geopolitical and do not necessarily reflect cultural, historical, or linguistic differences. Political considerations and regional sensitivities may also often influence the choice of terminology.

    Both terms are widely used in practice, and their boundaries can be somewhat fluid. The choice between “Middle East” and “West Asia” often depends on the context, the specific focus of the discussion, and regional preferences. It only shows that naming countries and regions has often been a source of incongruities and anomalies due to historical, political, cultural, and linguistic factors.

    Some examples from outside the region illustrate this argument. Geographic names can sometimes lead to anomalies when they do not accurately reflect the territory they encompass. For instance, the Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire) was named after its principal export, but it does not cover the entire country.

    The legacies of imperialist powers have been the most potent factor behind incongruous names. These examples illustrate how a complex interplay of historical events, political power dynamics, linguistic diversity, and cultural identities has shaped naming conventions. Seen in its entirety, incongruities in nomenclature can persist and often reflect colonial legacy, territorial disputes, or changing political circumstances.

    Ehtesham Shahid is an Indian editor and researcher based in the UAE. X: @e2sham

    “The article first appeared in Khaleej Times.” (https://www.khaleejtimes.com/opinion/settling-the-middle-east-vs-west-asia-debate)

    IPS UN Bureau


    Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram

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

    [ad_2]

    Global Issues

    Source link