According to Government figures, the number of inmates are four times over the planned capacity, making the Philippines one of the most overcrowded penal systems in the world alongside countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti and Uganda.
But now the Government, with the support of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), is trying to ease congestion by prioritizing, amongst other things, the release of elderly prisoners.
Toto Aquino, who is 70 years old, spoke to UN News’ Daniel Dickinson at his home in the Pandacan neighbourhood of the capital Manila.
“I was released two weeks ago and I feel good. I was incarcerated for eight years, four years in pre-trial detention at Manila City Jail and, four years after I was convicted, in Bilibid prison.
It was very crowded and I slept on a piece of cardboard in a corridor in Bilibid during those four years. I was housed in a maximum-security wing, 4C-2, alongside members of a gang, but I was not a gang member myself. There is a hierarchy in gangs and this is why I did not have a good place to sleep.
We had to go to our sleeping quarters at 6pm every day and wake up at 4am. Every day I ate porridge, coffee, bread and rice and sometimes hotdogs. This is rancho food, the food that prisoners receive from the prison kitchen. You can buy other food, but I didn’t have the money, so I survived off rancho.
UNODC/Laura Gil
Detention facilities in the Philippines are amongst the most crowded in the world.
It feels good to be free! I am living with my younger brother in the house that I grew up in with my five siblings. Life is very different now as I can eat and sleep when I want. I have a comfortable bed and my own room and my brother cooks good food.
In prison, I dreamt of chicken adobo [Filipino chicken stew] and a soft mattress and today I have both of these things; sleeping and eating is now my joy.
UN News/Daniel Dickinson
Since I was released from prison I have stayed at home. I am comfortable here. I sit on a stool on my doorstep and watch the neighbourhood go by.
I grew up here, so I know my neighbours. I sometimes sweep the yard and burn the rubbish and I also continue to do 15 press-ups several times a day, which I started in prison to keep fit.
I have not seen my daughter for ten years. She lives in another part of the country and I hope to see her soon as she is pregnant with her second child.
I think it is important for convicted people to serve their sentences, but I also think the release of old people like me should be prioritized. I was released with other elderly prisoners, but I know men who are 75 years old and who are still being held.”
Displacements in this Caribbean country have reached record levels, with nearly 600,000 people forced to leave their homes this year – double the number from last year. This makes Haiti the country with the highest number of displacements due to violence.
Support from the NGO TOYA
Louise and Chantal* both received support from the Haitian NGO TOYA, a partner of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the regional branch of the World Health Organization (WHO).
People continue to flee their homes in Port-au-Prince due to gang-related violence.
Louise, 47, is a single mother of five children. Currently, only one of her children, an 11-year-old, is with her, while the other four are scattered elsewhere in the country. “We were driven out by bandits; they burned our homes,” she recounts in a testimony collected by a PAHO official.
Her mother recently died due to hypertension and the stress resulting from repeated forced displacements. “My mother had to be forcibly displaced twice in a short time,” she laments.
‘I took a big step back in my life’
Chantal, 56, and a single mother of six children, shares Louise’s sufferings. Her house was also burned. “The bandits raped me and my daughter. I contracted HIV as a result. They beat me, and I lost four teeth. The father of my children is no longer able to care for them. I am now destitute. I took a big step back in my life and don’t know how to recover,” she explains.
A funeral procession passes through the Grand Cemetery in downtown Port-au-Prince.
“The insecurity took everything from me; I was half-crazy. I even thought about drinking bleach to commit suicide after the events,” she testifies.
Louise was at another displacement site before getting to Carl Brouard Square in Port-au-Prince. During this time, the TOYA Foundation helped her by providing kits with essential items and funds that allowed her to start a small business.
However, this respite was short-lived. One day, “the bandits” invaded the site at Carl Brouard Square, and once again, she lost everything. “My business, my belongings, I couldn’t take anything during the attack,” she says.
The insecurity took everything from me; I was half-crazy. I even thought about drinking bleach to commit suicide after the events. — Chantal
Chantal went to the TOYA Foundation’s premises, where she received psychosocial support, training sessions, and funds.
‘Life is not over’
“In the training sessions, TOYA’s psychologists taught me what life is and its importance. They showed me that life is not over for me, that I can become what I want, and that I still have value. I received considerable support from everyone at TOYA”, she emphasizes.
Currently, she lives with a relative and some of her children. Some of her offspring are in the provinces, including her teenage daughter, who was raped along with her.
“Thank God she was not infected with HIV. But she has been traumatized since. She doesn’t want to return to Port-au-Prince. She was supposed to graduate this year but stopped everything because of this incident,” Chantal recounts.
She says she has faced a lot of discrimination from her family due to her HIV-positive status. “They think I can infect them because I live under the same roof,” she states, noting that she continues to take her medication without issue.
Despite this difficult situation, she focuses on her life and how she can earn money to send to her children scattered in various places.
‘I want to see my children grow up’
For her part, Louise currently has no support because she lost her only source of income, which was her business.
“All I want is to live in peace,” she says. “Life in the sites is really difficult. The classrooms where we sleep flood every time it rains. We have to wait for the rain to stop to clean up and find a small space to rest and try to sleep.”
It’s been a long time since Louise has been able to visit some of her children whom she sent to the provinces. “I can’t go there due to the cost of living and the bandits who extort passengers on the roads,” she explains. “I’m tired of having to flee under the sound of gunfire. We are always at risk of being attacked at any moment.”
In this difficult context, Louise’s greatest goal “is to live.”
“All I want is to live,” Chantal echoes. She still suffers from hypertension “because the stress of the situation in Haiti is really unbearable.”
“But I still have to go about my business because I have mouths to feed. I want “to see my children grow up; I want to see them succeed in life,” she says.
*The names have been changed to protect their identities.
Established by Security Council resolution 1757 in 2007, the Special Tribunal’s jurisdiction also extended to other attacks that were judicially determined to be connected to the Beirut attack on 14 February 2005.
The assassination of Mr. Hariri involved explosives equivalent to 2,500 to 3,000 kilograms of dynamite, detonated as his motorcade travelled across downtown Beirut and left behind an 11-metre-wide crater.
Independent tribunal
Inaugurated in 2009, the independent tribunal was based in the outskirts of The Hague in the Netherlands and comprised Lebanese and international judges. It prosecuted suspects using Lebanese law, but was not part of Lebanon’s justice system nor was it a UN tribunal.
The Special Tribunal held proceedings in absentia and convicted Salim Jamil Ayyash in connection with the 2005 attack, sentencing him to five concurrent life sentences in 2020. In 2022, the tribunal reversed its initial acquittal of Hassan Habib Merhi and Hussein Hassan Oneissi, finding both guilty.
All three men remain at large.
2,641-page-long judgment
The trial record comprised the evidence of 297 witnesses and 3,135 exhibits, totalling more than 171,000 pages. To promote public access to the 2,641-page-long judgment, a summary was posted on the chamber’s website in Arabic, English and French.
The UN Secretary-General’s thoughts “continue to be with the victims and their families of the attack of 14 February 2005 and the connected attacks” that resulted from it, his spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, said in a statement on Saturday night.
“The Secretary-General expresses his deep appreciation for the dedication and hard work of the judges and staff at the Special Tribunal throughout the years and for the support provided by the Government of Lebanon, the Government of the Netherlands as the host State, and the Member State donors,” he said.
The discussions at the international anti-corruption conference, convened in Atlanta by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), held between 11 and 15 December, built on the ground-breaking Global Report on Corruption in Sport, produced by the UNODC in 2021, which pointed to a dramatic increase in illegal betting, fuelled by the billions of dollars flowing through professional sports, as well as globalization, and technological advances.
UNODC, which is at the forefront of international efforts to support governments and sports organizations in preventing and punishing offences in sport through its Programme to Protect Sport from Corruption and Economic Crime, estimates that up to $1.7 trillion is wagered on illicit betting markets controlled by organized crime.
Speaking at a session on sport and corruption at the conference, James Porteous, Research Head of the Asian Racing Federation Council on Anti-Illegal Betting and Related Financial Crime, said that illegal betting is now the “number one factor fuelling corruption in sports,” and pointed out that many of the regulations were drafted in the 19th century and are not fit for the internet world.
UNODC
Representatives of crime fighting organizations present at the event underscored the scale of the corruption problem.
Humaid Al Ameemi, Coordinator of the Anti-Corruption Unit of INTERPOL (the International Criminal Police Organization, an intergovernmental body), explained that manipulation of sporting competitions, colloquially known as match fixing, is a highly organized crime involving money laundering and other illegal activities, and called for improved data sharing.
Mr Al Ameemi described the manipulation of competitions as a “gateway to crime”: Joseph Gillespie, Chief of the Transnational Organized Crime Threats Unit at the FBI (the USA’s Federal Bureau of Investigation), expanded on the theme, emphasizing that the Bureau has a keen interest in addressing corruption in sport, as it provides organized crime with opportunities to make profit through extortion, illegal betting, and other unlawful activities.
INTERPOL, UNODC and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have collaborated on a guide for policymakers, to help them to address, and effectively investigate competition manipulation.
Anita DeFrantz, a member of the IOC and a medal winner at the 1976 Games in Montreal, underlined the importance of strong collaboration between sporting organizations and law enforcement agencies in ensuring integrity and credibility, and highlighted the role of the International Partnership Against Corruption in Sport (IPACS), which includes international sports organizations, governments, and inter-governmental bodies including UNODC.
UNODC
As the world’s most popular sport, awash with huge sums of money, football is particularly prone to corruption. Even the sport’s world governing body, FIFA, has faced criminal accusations and scandals, most notably in 2015, when several FIFA officials were arrested at a prominent Swiss hotel.
Following the investigation by the US Department of Justice into corruption in FIFA in 2016, the international community’s attention on corruption and crime in sport has increased significantly, along with calls to act.
The current FIFA President, Gianni Infantino, delivered a video message to the conference, in which he said that protecting football from corruption and ensuring sporting justice is the most important topic for the organization.
“Football is a multi-billion dollar global industry which makes it a potential target for corruption and other kinds of criminal activity and that is something that we should avoid and combat to ensure that the playing field is always level,” said Mr. Infantino.
A renewed Memorandum of Understanding between FIFA and UNODC has, he said, been beneficial in developing over 60 projects linked to anti-corruption, notably the Global Integrity Programme addressing match-fixing, “a platform that facilitates important information exchange between all those combating corruption in all walks of life.”
In the wake of the Programme, which involved training over 400 Football Integrity Officers and government officials and tackling competition manipulation, UNODC took part in the Qatar FIFA World Cup Integrity Task Force, to monitor 64 matches for match manipulation (no threats were flagged to the Task Force).
The members of the Security Council strongly condemned the efforts to unconstitutionally change the legitimate government of the Republic of Niger on 26 July 2023.
Earlier this week, the demand to release the President of Niger was voiced by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres. Late on Wednesday, a group of Nigerien military officers made a television announcement declaring a coup, after members of the president’s own guard detained him inside his offices in the capital city of Niamey. According to news reports, the attempted coup did not have the backing of the entire military, but the head of the army announced that he supported the move.
In their statement, the Security Council members expressed concern over the negative impact of unconstitutional changes of government in the region, increase in terrorist activities and the dire socio-economic situation. They also underlined their regret over the developments in Niger, which undermine efforts at consolidating the institutions of governance and peace in that country.
Support to international formats
The Council expressed support for the efforts of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Union (AU) and the United Nations and welcomed their statements reaffirming their opposition to any seizure of power by unconstitutional means, as well as the calls to the forces involved to refrain from violence, hand over power and return to their barracks.
Reiterating support for efforts to reverse unconstitutional government changes, the Council backed ECOWAS and the AU in strengthening governance and normative frameworks. In solidarity with the people of Niger, the Council emphasized the importance of protecting civilians and providing humanitarian assistance during this challenging time.
The trial of Ntabo Ntaberi Sheka was the most emblematic, complex case the court in North Kivu province had ever handled, and its proceedings and final judgement in 2020 provide a compelling example of how to bring a war criminal to justice.
The case also illustrates the importance of UN peace operations’ support to national justice and security institutions.
The crimes: ‘On a scale never seen’
On 30 July 2010, armed members of the militia Nduma Défense of Congo (NDC) fanned out across 13 remote villages in restive, resource-rich Walikale, the largest territory in North Kivu, 150 kilometres west of the provincial capital of Goma.
Situated within a large equatorial forest, the area had been plagued by two decades of conflict, with myriad armed groups fighting to control lucrative mines, including those extracting tin’s primary mineral, cassiterite.
The then 34-year-old Mr. Sheka – a former miner who founded a year earlier what Goma’s chief military prosecutor called the area’s “most organized” armed group, complete with units, brigades, battalions, and companies – had given his orders.
For four days and nights, his recruits discharged them.
“Sheka wasn’t just anyone,” Nadine Sayiba Mpila, Public Prosecutor in Goma, told UN News. “Sheka committed crimes on a scale never seen in DR Congo.”
She described how his soldiers “would slaughter people and put the heads of these people on stakes and walk through the streets of the villages to say this is what awaits you if you don’t denounce what he called ‘the enemies’”.
By 2 August 2010, the armed militia had begun to fully occupy the villages.
The warrant: Wanted for war crimes
UNHCR/S. Schulman
A staff member from the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, talks to displaced Congolese women in Lushebere Camp in 2012. (file)
Those who could, fled to safety. Some sought medical help from a nearby non-governmental organisation (NGO).
Within two weeks, the survivors’ stories had reached the authorities. Media reports headlined the attacks as “mass rapes”. The UN Mission in the country, MONUSCO, supported the deployment of a police contingent.
By November 2010, a case was brought against the warlord. Congolese authorities then issued a national arrest warrant for Mr. Sheka, and the UN Security Council added him to its sanctions list.
Mandated to protect civilians and support national authorities, MONUSCO launched Operation Silent Valley in early August 2011, helping residents to safely return to their villages.
‘No choice but to surrender’
Mr. Sheka was now a fugitive.
Also known as the Mai-Mai militia, NDC continued to operate in the area along with other armed groups.
“Cornered on all sides, he was now weakened, and had no choice but to surrender,” said Colonel Ndaka Mbwedi Hyppolite, Chief Prosecutor of the Operational Military Court of North Kivu, which tried Mr. Sheka’s case.
He turned himself in on 26 July 2017 to MONUSCO, who handed him over to Congolese authorities, which in turn charged him with war crimes, including murder, sexual slavery, recruitment of children, looting, and rape.
“The time had come to tell the truth and face the consequences of the truth,” Ms. Sayiba said.
The trial: 3,000 pieces of evidence
Ahead of the trial, UN peacekeepers helped to build the detention cells that housed Mr. Sheka and the courtroom itself, where military court proceedings unfolded over two years, pausing from March to June 2020 due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Starting in November 2018, the court would consider 3,000 pieces of evidence and hear from 178 witnesses at 108 hearings.
Their testimonies played a key role, representing the prosecution’s “last resort” to prove that crimes had been committed, said Patient Iraguha, Senior Legal Advisor for TRIAL International in DRC, who helped authorities with the case.
But, getting victims to testify was a serious challenge, the Congolese prosecutors said.
During the trial, Mr. Sheka had “reached out to certain victims to intimidate them”, jeopardizing their willingness to appear in court. However a joint effort involving the UN and such partners as TRIAL International changed that, Ms. Sayiba explained.
Colonel Ndaka agreed, adding that some rape victims also feared being stigmatised by society.
Protection measures were established, and judicial authorities were able to gather evidence in collaboration with MONUSCO, which also trained the judiciary in international criminal law procedures, giving the court sufficient knowledge to properly investigate the case, he said.
“When the Congolese authorities had to go into the field to investigate or to listen to the victims, they were surrounded by a MONUSCO contingent,” he said. “The victims who did appear, did so thanks to the support provided by our partners.”
“The harrowing testimonies I heard from survivors in 7 villages from Kibua to Mpofu in Walikale in 2010 are indelibly etched on my mind,” he wrote on social media at the time.
The first witnesses to appear in court were six children, with victims testifying through July 2020.
“After his testimony before the jury, Sheka started crying,” Ms. Sayiba recalled. “A defendant’s tears are a response. I believe Sheka realized that he was now alone. He had to take responsibility for his actions.”
The verdict: Congolese justice ‘did it’
On 23 November 2020, the Operational Military Court sentenced Mr. Sheka to life in prison.
“This marks an important step forward in combating impunity for perpetrators of child recruitment and other grave violations,” the UN Secretary-General wrote about the case in his report on children and armed conflict in the DRC.
Ms. Sayiba said the sentencing sent “a great message” and “an assurance to the victims who could now see that their testimonies were not in vain”.
For Colonel Ndaka, the verdict was “a source of pride for myself, for my country, for Congolese justice”.
Today, the UN continues to support efforts to end impunity in the DRC, Central African Republic, Mali, South Sudan and other nations. In North Kivu, the Public Prosecutor’s Office expanded in June, with UN support, into the Peace Court of Goma.
Mr. Sheka, now 47, continues his life sentence in a facility in the capital, Kinshasa.
“The fact that Sheka was tried and sentenced is proof that the rule of law exists and that you cannot remain unpunished when you have committed the gravest, most abominable crimes,” Colonel Ndaka said. “Congolese justice could do it, with will, determination, and means. It was able to do it, and it did it.”
UN Photo/Sylvain Liechti
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and MONUSCO set apart demobilized child soldiers as the Mai-Mai militia surrenders itself to Congolese Government forces. (file)
The trainee police officers are part of a network of law enforcement specialists in Thailand, but also across the region, who are cooperating across borders to stem trafficking operations by international crime syndicates.
They are collaborating under the border liaison office (BLO) network, supported by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
Lt. Colonel Amonrat Wathanakhosit is based at the Thai Police Training Centre Region 5 in northern Thailand.
“I’m currently working with trainees at a police checkpoint on Highway 1 approximately 40 kilometres south of the Thai-Myanmar border in the far north of Thailand. There is a continual circulation of traffic from and towards the border area, including private and commercial vehicles as well as public transport.
This checkpoint is here in order to try and slow the flow of drugs like methamphetamine from Myanmar to the north through Thailand and on to other countries in the region. In a way this is work which is saving our country from the danger of drugs.
This is hands-on work. The students are stopping and searching vehicles by one by one. They are not using any technology, but just their knowledge of trafficking and their commitment to serving and protecting their communities.
UN News/Daniel Dickinson
Police officers carry out security checks at a roadblock in northern Thailand.
Intercepting drugs
They choose drivers randomly to question and then gauge the behaviour of the person to come to a decision as to whether they may be concealing drugs. Little by little these trainees are becoming more confident and thus more effective at their jobs and are able to support colleagues from other law enforcement agencies to intercept the drugs. Recently, we have had a great deal of success seizing methamphetamine pills.
If drivers are suspected of being under the influence of drugs, then they can also be tested here, after they provide a urine sample.
UNODC has supported the training programme, which provides trainees with useful insights into spotting suspect vehicles and other abnormal activity.
The training has been very successful, and I think in the future we could even train officers from neighbouring Myanmar and Laos. I think this type of cross-border collaboration would allow for joint operations to stop the manufacturing and trafficking of drugs.
UN News/Daniel Dickinson
Individuals suspected of taking drugs can be tested at roadside facilities set up by law enforcement agencies.
Excessive production of methamphetamine
One of the biggest challenges we face is having enough officers working at these checkpoints to counter the excessive production of methamphetamine. These officers have other duties and responsibilities and so do not spend their whole interdicting drugs.
Nevertheless, the training work that I am involved with is my inspiration, passion, and strength. It’s not hard work for me. I’m grateful to have the continued support of the Office of Narcotics Control Board and UNODC.
My son is 18 years old and a university student, and I tell him about the bad guys that I come across in my work and the danger of narcotics, how they can destroy people and societies. He understands that my job is trying to stop drugs.”
UN News/Daniel Dickinson
A police officer questions passengers on a bus travelling from the north of Thailand.
Quick facts on border liaison offices (BLOs)
Some 120 BLOs have been established across Southeast Asia.
BLOs are established in pairs – on either side of an international border crossing.
BLOs address myriad cross-border issues, including drug and precursor chemical trafficking, migrant smuggling, human trafficking, wildlife and forestry crime, and, in some locations, the movement of terrorist fighters alongside public health and pandemic-related matters.
The BLO network works to enhance relationships between the law enforcement and border communities, community policing efforts, and the role and leadership of women in law enforcement agencies.
In this feature, part of a series exploring trafficking in the Sahel, UN News focuses on migrant smuggling.
Migrant smugglers have been reaping rich dividends over the past decade in the Sahel, where armed violence, terrorist attacks, and climate shocks have displaced three million people and triggered growing numbers of others to flee, according to a new threat assessment report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
External threats like the crisis in Sudan are creating a “snowball effect” on the region, Mar Dieye, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Coordinator in the Sahel, told UN News.
“Not stopping this fire that started from Sudan and then spilled over in Chad and other regions could be an international disaster that will trigger a lot of more migrants,” said Mr. Dieye, who also heads the UN Integrated Strategy for the Sahel (UNISS).
UNODC
Main migrant smuggling routes in and towards Mali (2020/2021)
‘We will take you anywhere’
Right now, Mr. Dieye said, most trafficking occurs at porous ungoverned border areas where the State is “extremely weak”.
The latest UNODC report identified other drivers alongside solutions buttressed by interviews with migrants and the criminals smuggling them, who revealed how the cross-border crime is unfolding in towns across the Sahel.
Many interviewees said smugglers were cheaper and quicker than regular migration, the report found. In Mali, where monthly income averages $74, a passport costs nearly $100.
In Niger, a key informant said authorities can take three to four months to process official documentation.
“But with us, if you want, we will take you anywhere,” the informant said.
If a passport is needed, a smuggler in Mali said in the report, “I will have it in 24 hours.”
IOM/Monica Chiriac
Due to border closures decreed by governments to prevent the spread of COVID-19 across West Africa, at least 30,000 migrants were stranded at borders, according to the UN.
‘Cash-cash’ partnerships
The report pointed to corruption as both a motivator to use smugglers and a key enabler for the crime.
Migrant smugglers could earn around $1,400 a month, or 20 times the average income in Burkina Faso, according to UNODC.
“Lucky smugglers” can earn as much as $15,000 to $20,000 per month, a smuggler in Niger said in the report.
The degree of collaboration with public officials is so entrenched, a smuggler in Mali explained, that he “has no fear of punishment from the authorities”, according to the report.
“I have never been worried by the authorities,” the smuggler said. “We are in a cash-cash partnership.”
Recalling instances when arriving at police checkpoints, a key informant interviewed in Niger shared his experience.
“You go to see them and give them their envelope, but, if you don’t know anyone in the team, you are obliged to take the migrants out and put them on motorcycles to bypass the checkpoint,” the informant added.
UNICEF/Romenzi
Migrants sit on mattresses laid on the floor at a detention centre located in Libya.
Ever greater risks
Increased demand from men, women, and children seeking to escape worsening violence and the consequent rising food insecurity has fuelled the cross-border crime, according to UNODC.
Since the discovery in 2012 of gold lacing the region, UNODC said research points to mining sites, where women are trafficked for sexual exploitation, and men are forced into indentured labour.
Smuggling routes have also become more clandestine and diverse in attempts to evade growing efforts by security forces, exposing refugees and migrants to even greater risks and dangers, according to the agency.
On the ground, operations are succeeding, UNODC reported. Among many examples cited in the report, a 2018 operation saw Nigerien police officers arrest ringleaders and dismantle a highly organized network suspected of having smuggled thousands of migrants to Spain, including through the Niger, Libya, and Algeria.
To build on these achievements, UNODC recommended actions States can take to tackle migrant smuggling, address the root causes, combat corruption, and create local job opportunities. The agency also suggested that counter-smuggling policies include development and human rights approaches.
A young migrant from Niger is being accommodated in a UN-supported camp in Burkina Faso.
Uprooting the causes
For many UN agencies and Sahelian nations, cooperation is key. Ongoing International Office for Migration (IOM) efforts include boosting livelihoods for returning migrants and forging new partnerships, including a recent agreement with the G5 Sahel Force, a multinational mission aimed at stabilizing the region.
“For IOM, regional cooperation is essential to ensure safe, orderly, and regular migration and respond effectively to challenges,” said IOM Director General António Vitorino.
The new agreement provided an opportunity for tailored, joint approaches that address the complex drivers of conflict, instability, and forced displacement, he said, adding that “seeking such solutions will stand as a stepping stone in our overall collaborative frameworks toward improving conditions for populations in the Sahel.”
A Mauritanian veil produced traditionally, in shop run by a migrant returnee.
Meanwhile, UNISS continues working with all UN entities and partner nations on such efforts as the Generation Unlimited Sahel and helping Sahelians support their families, said Mr. Dieye, emphasizing that the current situation remains “extremely worrisome”.
“It will require a collective response,” he said. “No one country can deal with it alone. I think this has to land on the lap of the international community. After all, it is an international crime.”
What’s the difference between migrant smuggling and human trafficking?
Migrant smuggling and human trafficking are two distinct but often interconnected crimes, according to UNODC.
While human trafficking aims to exploit a person, who may or may not be a migrant, the purpose of smuggling is, by definition, to make profits from facilitating illegal border crossing.
Human trafficking can take place within the victim’s home country or in another country.
Migrant smuggling always happens across national borders.
Some migrants might start their journey by agreeing to be smuggled into a country illegally, but end up as victims of human trafficking when they are deceived, coerced or forced into an exploitative situation later in the process, for example being forced to work for no or very little money to pay for their transportation.
Criminals may both smuggle and traffic people, employing the same routes and methods of transporting them.
Smuggled migrants have no guarantee that those who smuggle them are not in fact human traffickers.
Migrants as Messengers’ Volunteers in Senegal participated in a creative residency with Guy Régis Jr, a Haitian playwright and theatre director, and Fatoumata Bathily, a Senegalese filmmaker.
In this feature, part of a series exploring the fight against trafficking in the Sahel, UN News focuses on the illegal arms trade that is fuelling conflict and terrorism.
In the Sahel, home to 300 million people, it’s a buyer’s market for guns. Insurgency and banditry plague the region, rooted in, among other things, endemic intercommunal tensions, clashes between farmers and herders, a spread of violent religious extremism, and competition over such scarce resources as water and arable land amid extreme climate shocks.
“Non-State groups are fighting among themselves for supremacy, pushing States to the margin, and causing untold misery to millions of people who had to flee their communities to seek safety,” Giovanie Biha, Officer-in-Charge of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), told the UN Security Council, presenting the Secretary-General’s report on the region.
‘We bought more rifles’
Behind the chaos and misery simmers a thriving illicit arms trade.
Many arms trafficking hubs in the Sahel rim borders or transportation routes where multiple criminal activities take place, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Illegal markets – often hidden in plain sight in towns and villages along strategic corridors – lay unhampered by the presence of authorities.
All the groups involved in clashes are now dealing with firearms and ammunition, according to a recent UNODC report on firearms trafficking. As the numbers of group members multiply, so too do business opportunities for traffickers.
The report tracks cases with a view to better understand the phenomenon and its drivers. When Nigerian authorities asked a suspect how his group had spent the $100,000 ransom paid to free the schoolgirls they had kidnapped, he said “we bought more rifles”, according to the report.
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
Fleeing her village in northern Cameroon after armed insurgents seized control, Mamma Hamidou (centre) received income-generating funding from UNDP and, with her earnings, built a small house and sends her children to school. (February 2019)
Cascade of consequences
A cascade of consequences spilled across the region over the past decade, destabilizing nations and spreading a tide of trafficked weapons into villages, towns, and cities. In Nigeria, Boko Haram expanded its area of control and spidered into Cameroon, Chad, and Niger.
MINUSMA/Marco Dormino
Small arms ammunition at the unexploded ordnance pit at the Malian Army Camp in Timbuktu, Mali.
In the first of the Trafficking in the Sahel features, we described the 2011 NATO intervention in Libya as a pivotal moment. Tuareg soldiers serving in the Libyan army looted weapons, returning to Mali, where a series of rebellions created a dangerous, chaotic security vacuum.
Extremist groups captured Malian military and police bases, adding fresh stockades of weapons to their expanding arsenals. The Liptako-Gourma transborder area became a battlefield and bartering ground for a burgeoning illegal arms trade.
The chronic violence has killed thousands and displaced more than two million Sahelians, as of December 2022.
Meanwhile, the ongoing conflict in Sudan has caused further disruptions, said Mar Dieye, who heads the UN Integrated Strategy for the Sahel (UNISS).
“Soldiers are selling their guns to get food, and this will add fuel to fire,” he told UN News. “This is extremely serious, and we are calling for all international actors to scale up their support.”
Women care for a market garden in Tillaberi. Niger, located in the Liptako-Gourma area, which has felt a heavy impact from local conflicts and the spillover of fighting in Mali and Burkina Faso.
African-tailored terrorism
Against this backdrop sits the ever-present threat of terrorism, according the UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee’s Executive Directorate (CTED).
In a bid to appeal to local audiences, Islamic State (ISIL) affiliates have, since 2017, attempted to “Africanize” references and languages, using African literature to justify the terrorist group’s views, CTED said in its report ISIL in Africa: Key Trends and Developments.
In the background, the illicit weapons trade perpetuates the chaos. The UNODC report showed that flows of illegal arms from Libya since 2019 have expanded to include newly manufactured assault rifles.
Reflecting this sinister trend, weapons seizures increased by 105 per cent between 2017 and 2021, and sting operations continue, said Amado Philip de Andrès, UNODC’s regional representative for West and Central Africa.
Joint investigations and cross-border cooperation are a winning combination, he said. One such operation crushed a terrorist network’s firearms supply route in December, and new partnerships are flourishing, including Niger’s military cooperation agreements with Benin and Burkina Faso.
UNODC/INTERPOL
Firearms, ammunition and explosives were seized by INTERPOL across the Sahel.
To fight terrorism and violent extremism, concerned nations in the region launched the Accra Initiative in 2017, deploying joint operations, initiating confidence-building efforts in hotspot areas, and calling for operationalizing a multinational joint task force comprising 10,000 soldiers.
For its part, the UN and the region’s countries work to strengthen the resilience of border communities and facilitate the return of displaced persons. Traction in advancing the African Union’s ground-breaking Silencing the Guns initiative is also under way, with a UN task force supporting an annual amnesty month and lending technical assistance on small arms control.
To build on these successes, UNODC recommended that Sahel countries reinforce efforts to collect data on firearms trafficking to improve understanding of and stop national and transnational flows.
But, political and operational support of partners remains essential to stabilize the region, said Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee, the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Africa.
“Decisive progress in the fight against terrorism, violent extremism, and organized crime in the Sahel must be made desperately,” she said. “Without significant gains, it will become increasingly difficult to reverse the security trajectory in the Sahel and the continued expansion of insecurity to coastal countries in West Africa.”
UN Photo/Ky Chung
A UN peacekeeper with firearms collected from militias in Côte d’Ivoire.
‘We are all Burkinabes’
The backlash of the illicit arms trade is felt strongest on the ground. In the village of Bolle, Burkina Faso, a fragile security landscape crumbled frighteningly in 2019, when fierce fighting among heavily armed groups along the Malian border drove more than 100,000 people into the area to seek safety.
Sahelians like Chief Diambendi Madiega have worked together to welcome as many as they could.
“The concern I had was how to take care of the displaced people,” he said, upon receiving a UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, award in 2021 for hosting more than 2,500 people.
“The responsibility is mine,” he explained. “Anything I can to do help them, I will. I am happy for what this community has done. This shows that we are all Burkinabes.”
UN in action
The UN, partners, and Sahelians themselves working for peace in the Sahel are making inroads and introducing new efforts, including these:
UN Peacekeeping adopted a strategy for disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of former combatants.
The UN Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa (UNREC) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP), in a joint project, assisted nine Sahelian countries in adopting a regional action plan to combat the illicit arms trade.
UNDP facilitated the voluntary surrender of over 40,000 small arms and light weapons in West Africa, built more than 300 houses, nearly 300 market stalls, and clinics and schools in northeastern Nigeria, and provided livelihoods for youth to protect them from sliding into poverty or being recruited into violent extremism.
The UN Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) supports the regional G5 Sahel Force in a project focused on criminal justice, border security management, and preventing radicalization and violent extremism.
A UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) programme helps adolescents learn about the danger of small arms, combining basic gun safety education with leadership development, vocational training, and conflict resolution techniques.
UN regional directors and UNOWAS approved in November the launch of a revamped “peace and security offer” for the Sahel and works with the Timbuktu Institute and the non-governmental organization Dialogue sans frontières on an initiative aimed at strengthening traditional dialogue and trust-building platforms between communities in the border regions of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger.
“I want to make the most of my time, even in prison, and this training should help me find a job later,” said Denny, 31, who has just over two years left of a five-year prison sentence. “Of course, I knew how to make a coffee before, but here I am learning about different flavours, smells and aromas, and about the artistic side of coffee making.”
Denny is one of 200 inmates in the Tangerang Class IIA Correctional Facility and among more than 35,000 inmates across Indonesia who are involved in vocational training, from eco-printing on textiles to farming. While learning how to be a barista behind bars, he said he hopes to get a job in a café following his release.
Salis Farida Fitriani, who heads the correctional facility, said the programme aims at building a better future, but skills training alone is not enough for inmates to succeed in the outside world.
To deal with a society that often stigmatizes them for life, she said, the prison offers training in personality development, counselling, and religious teaching.
“Our goal is to provide positive activities and training for the inmates,” she said. “The programme includes personality development as well as vocational training to help with their future livelihoods.”
UNIC Jakarta
Starting a business is hard after serving time in prison, said Haswin, a 32-year-old former drug offender who opened a coffee shop after leaving Tangerang Class IIA Correctional Facility in Indonesia in January 2022.
Breaking the ‘ex-con’ stigma
Starting a business is hard after serving time in prison, said Haswin, a 32-year-old former drug offender. Leaving Tangerang correctional facility in January 2022, he now operates his own coffee shop, mixing modern and traditional coffee styles alongside mocktails and snacks.
“Life is so much better now,” said Haswin, adding that his former bartending job was a prime factor in his involvement with drug-related offences that led to his arrest in 2018.
“I am more content with life and proud of my creativity,” he explained. “I had never thought I could find a career outside nightlife.”
Now, his work is not just a “means to make ends meet”, but a new opportunity.
“I want to break the stigma around ‘ex-cons’ by showing that former offenders can also be independent and creative,” he said.
UNIC Jakarta
Studying for a university degree is part of a UN-supported pilot programme at the Tangerang Class IIA Correctional Facility in Indonesia.
From sports to university programmes
Tangerang Class IIA gives prisoners a chance to do that. They can also compete in professional sports at Tangerang, a prison unique in Indonesia for offering a full university education programme. Open to prisoners across Indonesia, a pilot programme currently serving 200 inmates is poised to roll out countrywide, subject to funding, Ms. Fitriani said.
Asep, a third-year Islamic studies student with Syekh Yusuf Islamic University, said he, like many in the programme, could not afford to go to university in his life before prison.
“I was always keen to learn, but my economic situation did not make it possible for me to study,” he said.
Following the same curriculum the university offers to its regular students, Asep and his schoolmates attend classes thrice weekly for six hours each day. After graduation and before the end of his prison sentence, Asep said he hopes to help his fellow prisoners by offering religious counselling.
“I get to learn a lot about the world and about life outside,” he said. “It helps me cope better with my long sentence. It will help the others, too.”
UNIC Jakarta
Inmates at the Tangerang Class IIA Correctional Facility in Indonesia can compete in professional sports through a pilot programme.
Tailored to inmates’ needs
Supported by the UN Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC), the training programmes are designed with help from a set of assessment tools that provide evidence-based approaches tailored to inmates’ individual needs.
Corrections officers use these tools to evaluate and better understand inmates, including the level of security risk they may pose, their compatibility with the programme, and their likely response to education.
Within UNODC’s prisoner rehabilitation initiative, which focuses on education, vocational training, and employment during incarceration, the goal is to contribute to the prisoners’ employability after release, thus reducing chances of recidivism.
United Nations
SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.
With this in mind, the agency partnered with Indonesia’s Directorate-General of Corrections to create an assessment matrix that helps corrections officers to build psychological and security profiles of prisoners and enables staff to keep track of their progress, said Rabby Pramudatama, a programme manager at UNODC’s Jakarta office.
“We need to make sure, for instance, that we get inmates who are unlikely to disturb the classes and will cooperate with teachers and their fellow students,” he said.
Second chances
UNODC also collaborates and supports such non-governmental organizations as Second Chance, which help inmates to reintegrate into society once they are out of the facility.
On a quiet morning, some inmates were reviewing verses from the Quran, while others gathered around to watch a pair of sparring kickboxers. As rain set in, they spoke of the sunshine that was bound to break through, sooner or later.
For Denny, he said the sunshine will come on the day when he, too, can get out and find a job.
“My main drive right now is to be a better person than I was before,” he said, adding that until that day, he will focus on religious activities and brewing perfect cappuccinos in barista classes.
Learn more about how UNODC is helping to reform prisons across the world here.
WFP’s Country Director in Sudan, Eddie Rowe, told reporters in Geneva that in a major breakthrough, the agency distributed food assistance to 15,000 people in both Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) controlled areas of Omdurman, part of the Khartoum metropolitan area, beginning on Saturday.
Speaking from Port Sudan, Mr. Rowe highlighted other recent food distributions, in Wadi Halfa in Northern State to reach 8,000 people fleeing Khartoum and on their way to Egypt, as well as to 4,000 newly displaced people in Port Sudan.
Rapidly scaling up support
In total, WFP has been able to reach 725,000 people across 13 states in the country since it resumed its operations on 3 May, following a pause brought on by the killing of three aid workers at the start of the conflict.
Mr. Rowe said that WFP was rapidly scaling up its support, which they expected to expand depending on progress in negotiations for humanitarian access for all regions, including the Darfurs and Kordofans, strongly impacted by violence and displacement.
Hunger on the rise
In addition to the 16 million Sudanese who were already finding it “very difficult to afford a meal a day” before the fighting started, Mr. Rowe warned that the conflict compounded by the upcoming hunger season, could increase the food insecure population by about 2.5 million people in the coming months.
With the lean season fast approaching, WFP’s plan was to reach 5.9 million people across Sudan over the next six months, he said.
He stressed that WFP needed a total of $730 million to provide required assistance as well as telecommunications and logistics services to the humanitarian community, including all of the UN agencies operating in Sudan.
17,000 tonnes of food lost to looting
He also reiterated the humanitarian community’s call on all parties to the conflict to enable the safe delivery of urgently needed food aid, and deplored that so far, WFP had lost about 17,000 metric tonnes of food to widespread looting across the country, particularly in the Darfurs.
Just two days ago, he said, the agency’s main hub in El Obeid, North Kordofan, came under threat and looting of assets and vehicles was already confirmed.
Over 13 million children in need
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported that “more children in Sudan today require lifesaving support than ever before”, with 13.6 million children in need of urgent assistance. “That’s more than the entire population of Sweden, of Portugal, of Rwanda,” UNICEF spokesperson James Elder told reporters in Geneva.
According to reports received by UNICEF, hundreds of girls and boys have been killed in the fighting. “While we are unable to confirm these due to the intensity of the violence, we also have reports that thousands of children have been maimed,” Mr. Elder said.
‘Death sentence’
He also pointed out that reports of children killed or injured are only those who had contact with a medical facility, meaning that the reality is “no doubt much worse” and compounded by a lack of access to life-saving services including nutrition, safe water, and healthcare.
Mr. Elder alerted that “all these factors combined, risk becoming a death sentence, especially for the most vulnerable”.
UNICEF called for funding to the tune of $838 million to address the crisis, an increase of $253 million since the current conflict began in April, to reach 10 million children. Mr. Elder stressed that only 5 per cent of the required amount had been received so far, and that without the therapeutic food and vaccines which this money would allow to secure, children would be dying.
Healthcare under attack
The dire situation of healthcare in the country has been aggravated by continuing attacks on medical facilities. From the start of the conflict on 15 till 25 May, the World Health Organization (WHO) verified 45 attacks on healthcare, which led to eight deaths and 18 injuries, the agency’s spokesperson Tarik Jašarević said.
He also cited reports of military occupation of hospitals and medical supplies warehouses, which made it impossible for people in need to access chronic disease medicines or malaria treatment. Mr. Jašarević recalled that attacks on healthcare are a violation of international humanitarian law and must stop.
Keep borders open: Grandi
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, concluded a three-day visit to Egypt on Tuesday, with an urgent call for support for people fleeing Sudan – and the countries hosting them – insisting that the borders must remain open.
More than 170,000 people have entered Egypt since the conflict started – many through Qoustul, a border crossing that Grandi visited close to the end of his trip. The country hosts around half of the more than 345,000 people who have recently fled Sudan.
Mr. Grandi met newly arrived refugees and Egyptian border officials, to get a sense of the hardships being endured.
Loss ‘on a huge scale’
“I heard harrowing experiences: loss of life and property on a huge scale,” Grandi said. “People spoke of risky and expensive journeys to arrive here to safety. Many families have been torn apart. They are traumatized and urgently need our protection and support.“
The UNHCR chief also held talks with the Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, and discussed how best to support refugees and mobilize resources for host countries, not least Egypt.
“I commend Egypt for its long-standing commitment to providing a safe haven to those fleeing violence,” Mr. Grandi said. “The Government, the Egyptian Red Cresent and the people, have been very generous in supporting arrivals. We urgently need to mobilize more resources to help them to maintain this generosity.”
Prior to this conflict, Egypt was already host to a large refugee population of 300,000 people from 55 different nationalities.
After registering with UNHCR, refugees and asylum-seekers have access to a wide range of services including health and education. UNHCR’s emergency cash assistance programme started during the last week.
“I can’t think of a better way than using food to bring everyone to the table,” said Elroi Yee, an investigative reporter and producer of the Dari Dapur campaign. “We need shared stories that show migrants and refugees have a place in the Malaysian narratives.”
Tales and tastes of Tamil puttu, Cambodia’s nom banh chok, Kachin jungle food shan ju, Yemeni chicken mandy, and Rohingya flatbread ludifida flavour those narratives, telling their stories in Dari Dapur’s videos featuring Malaysian celebrities who sampled culinary history and heritage.
Launched by OHCHR in December 2022, the campaign partnered with untitled kompeni, a Kuala Lumpur-based social impact production team, with a view to putting these delicious stories at the heart of public discourse.
‘Food always brings people to the table’
Through seven short videos, celebrities visited the kitchens of migrant workers and refugees to share a home-cooked meal around the same table, hearing about each other’s lives, hopes and dreams, and learning what they have in common.
“Anytime you cook food and you bring your guests, everyone turns to smile and be happy because food always brings people to the table,” said Chef Wan in an episode with Hameed, who served up a scrumptious Pakistani ayam korma.
“Regardless of which culture, where we come from, everybody will need to eat,” he said.
Plantation day trip
Liza, a Cambodian plantation worker, shared more than just a meal with her guests, Malaysian comedian Kavin Jay and food Instagrammer Elvi. During a day trip to visit her on the plantation, Liza showed them how she cooks nom banh chok, a fragrant fermented rice noodle dish.
“To have someone come here to visit me, to see me and to see my friends, I’m so happy,” Liza said.
Exchanging jokes around the table, Mr. Jay said “everyone has a migration story”.
“It doesn’t matter what your race is, if you look back far enough, you will find your migration story,” he said.
Similar exchanges around dinner tables unfolded in other Dari Dapur episodes that starred migrant and refugee chefs with social justice influencer Dr. Hartini Zainudin, hijabi rapper Bunga, educator Samuel Isaiah, Tamil film star Yasmin Nadiah, Chinese-language radio DJ Chrystina, and politician and activist Nurul Izzah Anwar.
‘It’s exactly the same!’
From Myanmar to Malaysia, breaking fast was common ground in an episode that brought broadcast journalist Melisa Idris and US Ambassador Brian McFeeters tableside with Ayesha, a Rohingya community trainer.
“I would like to know them, and I am also very happy that I can explain what I am doing and who I am [to them],” Ayesha said, as she prepared an iftar feast for her guests.
Sitting them down at a table laden with traditional dishes along with some of her friends, Ayesha was frank.
“Before this, I’ve never cooked for other communities,” she admitted, ahead of a lively conversation about Eid celebrations.
Ms. Idris and Ayesha’s friend, Rokon, shared similar childhood memories, from her Malaysian village and to his family home in Rakhine, Myanmar.
The way they treated me today, if we could be as gracious a host as a country, it would go such a long way. – journalist Melisa Idris
“It’s exactly the same!” Ms. Idris exclaimed. “Sometimes we focus on the differences and don’t realize we have almost exactly the same traditions.”
Post-feast, she shared gratitude and a revelation.
She said it was clear how “complicit the media has been in othering refugees and migrants, in normalizing the hate, in sowing the division, and targeting an already marginalized community as a scapegoat of our fears during a pandemic.”
“They gave us the best; they gave everything to us,” she said, tearfully. “The way they treated me today, if we could be as gracious a host as a country, it would go such a long way.”
‘Cut through the noise’
To design the campaign, OHCHR commissioned research that revealed a complex relationship between migrants and Malaysians. Findings showed respondents overwhelmingly agreeing that respect for human rights is a sign of a decent society and that everyone deserves equal rights in the country.
Some 63 per cent agreed that their communities are stronger when they support everyone, and more than half believed they should help other people no matter who they are or where they come from. Around 35 per cent of respondents strongly or somewhat strongly believed that people fleeing persecution or war should be welcomed, with an equal number wanting to welcome those who are unable to obtain healthcare, education, food, or decent work.
“Migration is a complicated and often abstract issue for many Malaysians,” said Pia Oberoi, senior advisor on migration in the Asia Pacific region at OHCHR, “but storytelling is a good way to cut through the noise.”
Cow’s feet and camaraderie
“Our research found that people want to hear and see the everyday lives of people on the move, to understand and appreciate that we have more in common than what divides us,” she said, adding that the campaign was built on shared realities and values that personify the words of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which turns 75 this year.
With the production of these short films, she said “we hope to inspire Malaysian storytellers to share the narrative space, and for all of us to rethink the way we relate to our migrant and refugee neighbours.”
On a sprawling oil palm estate, actress Lisa Surihani tucked into a meal of kaldu kokot – cow’s feet soup – dished up by her host Suha, an Indonesian plantation worker.
“What I learned was ‘try and not let what you do not know of affect the way you treat other human beings’,” actress Lisa Surihani said in a Dari Dapur episode.
“No matter who it is, our actions should be rooted in kindness,” Ms. Surihani said.
Period poverty, or the inability to afford menstrual products, is a serious issue especially in developing countries, an issue menstruating girls and women grapple with monthly and a spotlight topic on Menstrual Hygiene Day, observed annually on 28 May.
“I’m happy to come work here because I meet and work with other people,” said Ms. Fatty, who operates a special machine to install snaps on each pad. “This place gives me joy because I can forget about my disability while working here.”
The sturdy, long-lasting pads she produces help women like her with a mobility impairment, who have trouble going to the restroom. After working there for a year, Ms. Fatty hopes to continue. While her disabilities bring many challenges and she struggled to make ends meet for a long time, her life has become better since she joined the project.
Keeping girls in school
In The Gambia, Africa’s smallest nation, period poverty is prevalent across the country, but it hits harder in rural areas, according to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA). Some girls skip school for around five days every month due to the lack of menstrual products and sanitary facilities.
The girls are afraid of staining their clothes and become a target of bullying or abuse, the agency said. As a result, gender inequality widens; boys will have an advantage as they attend school more often than girls, who have a higher chance of dropping out of education.
To tackle this problem, UNFPA developed a project in Basse, in the country’s Upper River Region, to produce recyclable sanitary pads. These pads are distributed at schools and hospitals in local communities.
The agency takes it as an opportunity to talk about bodily autonomy and sexual and reproductive health with young girls to mitigate period shaming and stigma.
Empowering young women
The project is also a way of empowering young women in the community as it provides them with a secure job and an opportunity to learn new skills.
United Nations
SDG Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation
Since 2014, Menstrual Hygiene Day has been observed on the 28th day of the fifth month of the year as menstrual cycles average 28 days in length and people menstruate an average of five days each month.
Poor menstrual health and hygiene undercuts fundamental rights – including the right to work and go to school – for women, girls and people who menstruate, according to UNFPA.
It also worsens social and economic inequalities, the agency said. In addition, insufficient resources to manage menstruation, as well as patterns of exclusion and shame, undermine human dignity. Gender inequality, extreme poverty, humanitarian crises and harmful traditions can amplify deprivation and stigma.
With that in mind, the theme for Menstrual Hygiene Day this year is “Making menstruation a normal fact of life by 2030”, said UNFPA Executive-Director Natalia Kanem.
“A girl’s first period should be a happy fact of life, a sign of coming of age with dignity,” she said. “She should have access to everything necessary to understand and care for her body and attend school without stigma or shame.”
The Day brings together governments, non-profits, the private sector, and individuals to promote good menstrual health and hygiene for everyone in the world. The occasion also aims at breaking the silence, raise awareness around menstrual issues and engaging decision-makers to take actions for better menstrual health and hygiene.
Learn more about what UNFPA is doing to eliminate period poverty here.
Eliminating period poverty
UNFPA has four broad approaches to promoting and improving menstrual health around the world:
Supplies and safe bathrooms: In 2017, 484,000 dignity kits, containing pads, soap and underwear, were distributed in 18 countries affected by humanitarian emergencies. UNFPA also helps to improve the safety in displacement camps, distributing flashlights and installing solar lights in bathing areas. Promoting menstrual health information and skills-building, projects include teaching girls to make reusable menstrual pads or raising awareness about menstrual cups.
Improving education and information: Through its youth programmes and comprehensive sexuality education efforts, UNFPA helps both boys and girls understand that menstruation is healthy and normal.
Supporting national health systems: Efforts include promoting menstrual health and provide treatment to girls and women suffering from menstrual disorders. The agency also procures reproductive health commodities that can be useful for treating menstruation-related disorders.
Gathering data and evidence about menstrual health and its connection to global development: A long overlooked topic of research, UNFPA-supported surveys provide critical insight into girls’ and women’s knowledge about their menstrual cycles, health, and access to sanitation facilities.
This feature, which focuses on the illegal trade in substandard and fake medicines, is part of a UN News series exploring the fight against trafficking in the Sahel.
From ineffective hand sanitizer to fake antimalarial pills, an illicit trade that grew during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 is being meticulously dismantled by the UN and partner countries in Africa’s Sahel region.
Substandard or fake medicines, like contraband baby cough syrup, are killing almost half a million sub-Saharan Africans every year, according to a threat assessment report from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
The report explains how nations in the Sahel, a 6,000-kilometre-wide swath stretching from the Red Sea to the Atlantic, which is home to 300 million people, are joining forces to stop fake medicines at their borders and hold the perpetrators accountable.
Health care is scarce in the region, which has among the world’s highest incidence of malaria and where infectious diseases are one of the leading causes of death.
“This disparity between the supply of and demand for medical care is at least partly filled by medicines supplied from the illegal market to treat self-diagnosed diseases or symptoms,” the report says, explaining that street markets and unauthorized sellers, especially in rural or conflict-affected areas, are sometimes the only sources of medicines and pharmaceutical products.
Fake treatments with fatal results
The study shows that the cost of the illegal medicine trade is high, in terms of health care and human lives.
Fake or substandard antimalarial medicines kill as many as 267,000 sub-Saharan Africans every year. Nearly 170,000 sub-Saharan African children die every year from unauthorized antibiotics used to treat severe pneumonia.
Caring for people who have used falsified or substandard medical products for malaria treatment in sub-Saharan Africa costs up to $44.7 million every year, according to World Health Organization (WHO) estimates.
Motley trafficking
Corruption is one of the main reasons that the trade is allowed to flourish.
About 40 per cent of substandard and falsified medical products reported in Sahelian countries between 2013 and 2021 land in the regulated supply chain, the report showed. Products diverted from the legal supply chain typically come from such exporting nations as Belgium, China, France, and India. Some end up on pharmacy shelves.
The perpetrators are employees of pharmaceutical companies, public officials, law enforcement officers, health agency workers and street vendors, all motivated by potential financial gain, the report found.
Traffickers are finding ever more sophisticated routes, from working with pharmacists to taking their crimes online, according to a UNODC research brief on the issue.
While terrorist groups and non-State armed groups are commonly associated with trafficking in medical products in the Sahel, this mainly revolves around consuming medicines or levying “taxes” on shipments in areas under their control.
Snip supply, meet demand
Efforts are under way to adopt a regional approach to the problem, involving every nation in the region. For example, all Sahel countries except Mauritania have ratified a treaty to establish an African medicines agency, and the African Medicines Regulatory Harmonization initiative, launched by the African Union in 2009, aims at improving access to safe, affordable medicine.
All the Sahel countries have legal provisions in place relating to trafficking in medical products, but some laws are outdated, UNODC findings showed. The agency recommended, among other things, revised legislation alongside enhanced coordination among stakeholders.
Custom and law enforcement officers prevent huge quantities of contraband from entering the markets of destination countries.
States taking action
Law enforcement and judicial efforts that safeguard the legal supply chain should be a priority, said UNODC, pointing to the seizure of some 605 tonnes of fake medicines between 2017 to 2021 by authorities in the region.
Operation Pangea, for example, coordinated by UN partner INTERPOL in 90 countries, targeted online sales of pharmaceutical products. Results saw seizures of unauthorized antivirals rise by 18 per cent and unauthorized chloroquine, to treat malaria, by 100 per cent.
“Transnational organized crime groups take advantage of gaps in national regulation and oversight to peddle substandard and falsified medical products,” UNODC Executive Director Ghada Waly said. “We need to help countries increase cooperation to close gaps, build law enforcement and criminal justice capacity, and drive public awareness to keep people safe.”
Following the death of 70 children in The Gambia in 2022, the World Health Organization identified four contaminated paediatric medicines in the West African nation.
Volker Türk was issuing a clarion call to protect and expand civic space, arguing that it’s the only way to enable us all “to play a role in political, economic, and social life, at all levels, from local to global.”
Hate speech going unchecked
He said with more and more decision-making migrating online, “with private companies playing an outsized role, having an open, safe digital public square has never been more important”.
And yet, States are struggling and “often failing” to protect online space for the common good, “swinging between a laissez-faire approach that has allowed violence and dangerous hate speech to go unchecked, and overbroad regulations used as a cudgel against those exercising their free speech rights, including journalists and human rights defenders,” he added.
Invest in multilingual markets
He called on big business to step up and increase investment in preventing and responding to online harms, especially in the non-English language environment, stressing that “doing business in any location requires making sure you can do so safely, in line with the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.”
The UN rights chief said that carving out civic space was key to human rights, to peace, development, and for “sustainable and resilient societies”, but coming under more and more pressure from undue restrictions, and laws.
This includes crackdowns on peaceful assembly, internet shutdowns and bullying and harassment online.
Expand space as a ‘precondition’
“States must step up efforts to protect and expand civic space as the precondition for people to be able to sustainably enjoy all other entitlements enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, from access to healthcare and clean water and quality education to social protection and labour rights”, Mr. Türk argued.
Pressure on civil space continues despite the inspiring commitment of civil society groups, he continued.
“Civil society is a key enabler of trust between governments and the populations they serve and is often the bridge between the two. For governments to reduce barriers to public participation, they must protect this space, for the benefit of all – both online and offline”.
“The escalating war is taking a heavy toll on civilians who live close to the front lines, people who cannot go back to their homes, and people across the country living under almost daily threats of attacks,” said Jens Laerke, from the UN’s humanitarian affairs office, OCHA.
More than a year since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, mine contamination and lack of access to Russia-controlled areas remain obstacles to reaching those in need, he said.
Delivering emergency assistance
Assistance has included cash to more than 2.1 million people and food for 3.5 million people, while nearly 3 million gained access to health services and medicines, Mr. Laerke said.
The assistance also included support for survivors of gender-based violence, he said, adding that more than 60 per cent of those reached with aid are women and girls.
Other types of assistance include access to clean water and hygiene products, emergency shelter, education services for children, and protection services, including prevention of gender-based violence and support to survivors, he said.
Volunteers play vital role
“Hundreds of humanitarian organizations are involved in this effort working with local groups and community-based volunteers who play a vital role in getting the assistance delivered on the last mile,” he said.
However, assistance to areas under Russian military control remains extremely limited, he said.
This year, because of the worsening security situation and shifts in the front lines, humanitarian partners have lost access to almost 60,000 people in around 40 towns and villages close to the front lines in the Donetsk, Kharkiv and Luhansk regions, he said.
Mine action casualties
At the same time, mines and explosive remnants of war in Ukraine have left 263 killed or injured in 2023. That is more than 50 per month on average, according to the UN human rights office, OHCHR, which believes that the actual figures are considerably higher.
The agency’s latest report indicates that from 1 to 21 May, 46 civilians were killed or injured by mines, 44 in April, 102 in March, 36 in February and 35 in January.
Mine contamination remains a deadly threat to farmers and humanitarians delivering assistance. In the agricultural regions of Kharkiv, Mykolaiv and Kherson, dozens of mine-related accidents are being reported every month, Mr. Laerke said.
Denise Brown, UN resident and humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, said recovery work hinges on demining.
“Ukraine is considered as one of the most mine-contaminated countries in the world,” she said. “Demining agricultural land is one of the Government’s priorities so that farmers can get back to work, and the UN, through WFP World Food Programme] and FAO [Food and Agriculture Organization], working with the Ministry of Agriculture, are contributing to this.”
Learn more about what the UN is doing to help the people of Ukraine here.
UNDP Ukraine/Oleksandr Simonenko
A deminer for the State Emergency Service of Ukraine sweeps the ground for unexploded ordnance and landmines.
“The United Nations and its partners made strides in rolling back the worst food insecurity last year, but these gains remain fragile, and 17 million people are still food insecure in Yemen,” said David Gressly, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for the country.
Compared to the same period in 2022, the levels of acutely malnourished people rose in 2023, indicating a need for more funding to stave off extreme hunger, according to the latest findings of a new report by three UN agencies that are closely monitoring the situation, following eight years of intense warfare.
Drivers of hunger
Yemen remains one of the most food insecure countries globally, mainly driven by the impact of conflict and economic decline, according to the report from the UN food agency, FAO, the World Food Programme (WFP), and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
The integrated phase classification (IPC) analysis provides an outlook for the period between now until the end of this year, indicating the need for more programme investments, as the modest improvements may be eroded, the agencies said.
Their report showed that the people of Yemen continue to require attention, with hunger stalking millions. The agencies cautioned that the situation could worsen if nothing is done to address the key drivers of food insecurity.
The new report showed that between January and May 2023, about 3.2 million people experienced high levels of acute food insecurity in government-controlled areas, representing a 23 per cent reduction from the period between October and December 2022.
During the June to December 2023 period, the report estimated that the number of people likely to experience high levels of acute food insecurity could increase to 3.9 million, out of which 2.8 million people are projected to reach crisis levels of hunger.
Life-saving interventions
FAO Yemen representative Hussein Gadain, said the agency is focused, through various interventions, on improving household food security and income by strengthening agricultural production practices, increasing labour opportunities, and diversifying livelihoods in a sustainable way that fosters peaceful coexistence.
We are working directly with farmers on the ground to enable them to maintain their livelihoods,” he said. “We make sure that smallholder farmers in Yemen will withstand any shocks which impact food security.”
UNICEF and partners reached around 420,000 children suffering from severe and acute malnutrition with life-saving interventions in 2022, said the agency’s Yemen representative, Peter Hawkins.
“This is the highest ever reached in Yemen, thanks to the scale-up of nutrition services,” he said, adding that despite this, malnutrition levels remain critical in many areas of the southern governorates.
“A multisectoral approach to address all forms of malnutrition is essential and together with partners UNICEF is strengthening the provision of primary health care, including early detection and treatment of severe acute malnutrition”, he said.
Averting famine
The UN food agency’s assistance is critical for getting people to firmer ground, for averting crisis and famine, said WFP Country Director, Richard Ragan. Yemen’s food insecurity situation remains fragile, and the hard-won gains of the past 12 months will be lost without continued and urgent support, he said.
“There are women, men, and children behind these IPC statistics, whose lives straddle the fine line between hope and utter devastation,” he said, urging donors to renew their commitment to supporting the most vulnerable Yemenis. “We simply cannot take our foot off the gas now.”
Learn more about what the UN is doing to help the people of Yemen here.
In the first of a series of features exploring the fight against trafficking in the Sahel, UN News takes a closer look at what’s behind the growth of the phenomenon.
A tangled trafficking web has been woven across the Sahel, which spans almost 6,000 kilometres from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea, and is home to more than 300 million people, in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, The Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, and Senegal.
The Sahel is described by the UN as a region in crisis: those living there are prey to chronic insecurity, climate shocks, conflict, coups, and the rise of criminal and terrorist networks. UN agencies expect that more than 37 million people will need humanitarian assistance in 2023, about 3 million more than in 2022.
Food insecurity is affecting millions of people in Burkina Faso.
Unravelling security
Security has long been an issue in the region, but the situation markedly degraded in 2011, following the NATO-led military intervention in Libya, which led to the ongoing destabilization of the country.
The ensuing chaos, and porous borders stymied efforts to stem illicit flows, and traffickers transporting looted Libyan firearms rode into the Sahel on the coattails of insurgency and the spread of terrorism.
Armed groups now control swathes of Libya, which has become a trafficking hub. The terrorist threat has worsened, with the notorious Islamic State (ISIL) group entering the region in 2015, according to the UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee’s Executive Directorate (CTED).
MINUSMA/Harandane Dicko
The G5 Sahel Force headquarters was destroyed by a terrorist attack in 2018 in Mopti, Mali.
Markets across the Sahel can be found openly selling a wide range of contraband goods, from fake medicines to AK-style assault rifles. Trafficking medication is often deadly, estimated to kill 500,000 sub-Saharan Africans every year; in just one case, 70 Gambian children died in 2022 after ingesting smuggled cough syrup. Fuel is another commodity trafficked by the main players – terrorist groups, criminal networks, and local militias.
Closing corridors of crime
In order to fight trafficking and other evolving threats, a group of countries in the region – Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Chad – formed, with the support of the UN, the Joint Force of the Group of Five for the Sahel (G5 Sahel).
Meanwhile, cross-border cooperation and crackdowns on corruption are on the rise. National authorities have seized tons of contraband, and judicial measures have dismantled networks. Partnerships, such as the newly signed Côte d’Ivoire-Nigeria agreement, are tackling the illegal drug trade.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is a leading player in efforts to bolster security by stopping trafficking attempts.
In 2020, for example, KAFO II, a UNODC-INTERPOL operation, successfully choked off a Sahel-bound terrorist supply route, with officers seizing a bounty of trafficked spoils: 50 firearms, 40,593 dynamite sticks, 6,162 ammunition rounds, 1,473 kilograms of cannabis and khat, 2,263 boxes of contraband drugs, and 60,000 litres of fuel.
Sting operations such as KAFO II provide valuable insights into trafficking’s increasingly complex and interwoven nature, demonstrating the importance of connecting the dots between crime cases involving firearms and terrorists across different countries, and taking a regional approach.
Corruption crackdown
These insights are backed up in a raft of new UNODC reports, mapping out the actors, enablers, routes, and scope of trafficking, reveal common threads amongst the instability and chaos, and provide recommendations for action.
One of those threads is corruption, and the reports call for judicial action to be bolstered. The prison system also needs to be engaged, as detention facilities can become “a university for criminals” to broaden their networks.
“Organized crime is feeding on the vulnerabilities and also undermining stability and development in the Sahel,” says François Patuel, head of the UNODC Research and Awareness Unit. “Combining efforts and taking a regional approach will lead to success in addressing organized crime in the region.”
Crisis poses ‘global threat’
Fighting organized crime is a central pillar in the wider battle to deal with the security crisis in the region, which UN Secretary-General António Guterres poses a global threat.
“If nothing is done, the effects of terrorism, violent extremism, and organized crime will be felt far beyond the region and the African continent,” Mr. Guterres warned in 2022. “We must rethink our collective approach and show creativity, going beyond existing efforts.”
How the UN supports people of the Sahel
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has provided direct support to the G5 Sahel Force to operationalize and implement measures to reduce civilian harm and respond to violations.
UNODC routinely joins national and global partners, including INTERPOL, to choke supply routes.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) crisis response plan aims at reaching almost 2 million affected people while addressing the structural causes of instability, with a specific focus on cross-border fragility.
WHO launched an emergency appeal to fund health projects in the region in 2022, and works with 350 health partners in six countries.
The UN Integrated Strategy for the Sahel (UNISS) provides direction for on-the-ground efforts in 10 countries.
The UN Support Plan for Sahel continues to foster coherence and coordination for greater efficiency and results delivery related to the UNISS framework, in line with Security Council resolution 2391.
“This action is a victory for multilateralism and for global efforts to counter the destructive trends facing ocean health, now and for generations to come,” said the UN chief in a statement issued by his Spokesperson late Saturday evening just hours after the deal was struck at UN Headquarters in New York, where tough negotiations on the draft treaty have been under way for the past two weeks.
The agreement reached by delegates of the Intergovernmental Conference on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, better known by its acronym BBNJ, is the culmination of UN-facilitated talks that began in 2004.
Already being referred to as the ‘High Seas Treaty’, the legal framework would place 30 per cent of the world’s oceans into protected areas, put more money into marine conservation, and covers access to and use of marine genetic resources.
Through his Spokesperson, Mr. Guterres said the treaty is crucial for addressing the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.
“It is also vital for achieving ocean-related goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework,” said the statement, referring to the so-called ‘30×30’ pledge to protect a third of the world’s biodiversity – on land and sea – by 2030 made by a historic UN conference in Montreal this past December.
Noting that the BBNJ decision builds on the legacy of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the Secretary-General commended all parties for their ambition, flexibility and perseverance, and saluted Ambassador Rena Lee, of Singapore, for her leadership and dedication.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the ship has reached the shore,” Ms. Lee said last night, announcing the agreement to an extended standing ovation in the meeting room. Delegations will reconvene later to formally adopt the text.
The statement issued by the UN Spokesperson said the Secretary-General also recognized the critical support of non-governmental organizations, civil society, academic institutions and the scientific community.
“He looks forward to continuing working with all parties to secure a healthier, more resilient, and more productive ocean, benefiting current and future generations,” the statement concluded.
Keenan Anderson died in Los Angeles after being repeatedly tased by police following a chase resulting from a traffic stop, according to news reports, and Tyre Nichols in Memphis, died after being severely beaten as he lay on the ground, by five officers in Memphis, Tennessee, who have since been charged with murder and other offences.
‘Urgency to act’
“The brutal deaths of Keenan Anderson and Tyre Nichols are more reminders of the urgency to act,” said Yvonne Mokgoro, Chairperson of the UN Human Rights Council-appointed International Independent Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in the context of Law Enforcement.
The experts have asked for detailed information on the deaths of Mr. Anderson and Mr. Nichols, from the US Government, “on the ongoing investigations and regulations applicable to the use of less-lethal weapons vis-à-vis applicable human rights standards”, according to a statement issued by UN human rights office OHCHR.
Juan Mendez, a member of the Expert Mechanism, said that “while we acknowledge the role of less lethal options to reduce the risk of death or injury inherent in police conduct, any use of force by law enforcement officials must be guided by principles of legality, precaution, necessity, proportionality, non-discrimination and accountability”.
Morris Tidball-Binz, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions said that the use of “less lethal” weapons like stun-guns, “continues to raise serious concerns when it comes to States’ obligation to protect the right to life and the right to be free from torture and other ill-treatment. Such weapons can cause death, serious body injuries and permanent disability”.
‘Excessive use’ of Tasers
UN News
Alice Jill Edwards, Special Rapporteur on torture interviewed by UN News.
“We observe that, in cases like these, police officers use Tasers as a routine protocol” to incapacitate those who aren’t following orders, or individuals who are “going through mental health crises, who often do not appear to pose a serious danger to themselves or others”, added Ms. Mendez.
“We remain highly concerned about the excessive use of tasers in law enforcement, especially in light of their inherent potential for misuse.”
“Police and law enforcement bear special responsibilities to protect their citizens and to uphold their rights”, said Alice Jill Edwards, UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
“When this basic function is overtaken by unlawful and uncontrolled violence, it causes ordinary people to fear their own police. Only community-led and -designed solutions will do, in such circumstances.”
Hiding behind the badge
Responding to the death of Tyre Nichols which drew worldwide condemnation, the experts stressed that as well as prosecuting the officers involved, it was time for US authorities to show “determination in questioning and reforming an institutionalised police culture that permits criminal assault under the guise of law enforcement and public safety.”
Tracie Keesee, another member of the Mechanism, said the independent experts had called on authorities in the US to “ensure prompt accountability and reparation”.
Call for a ‘genuinely new approach’
Despite the charges against the five police officers who were swiftly fired from the Memphis force, accused of murdering Mr. Nichols, “the horrifying footage of his beating is an alarming reminder of the urgent need of genuinely new approaches to traffic safety, traffic stops, and public safety more broadly.”
Following and invitation from the US Government received last December, to visit the country, members of the Expert Mechanism will be conducting a “much-needed official mission to the US in April”, said Chairperson Mokgoro.
“We will engage with the Government and all relevant stakeholders to ensure that police brutality is addressed with determination and that victims and their families obtain justice”, she added.
Special Rapporteurs and other independent human rights experts appointed by the Human Rights Council in Geneva, work on a voluntary basis and serve in their individual capacity. They are not UN staff and are not paid for their work.
