ReportWire

Tag: Opinion

  • Water is Life: How the UN in Samoa is Responding to the Triple Planetary Crisis

    Water is Life: How the UN in Samoa is Responding to the Triple Planetary Crisis

    [ad_1]

    Only 55 percent of people across the Pacific Islands have access to basic drinking water and just 30 percent have sanitation services – the lowest rate in the world. Photo Credit: UN Samoa
    • Opinion by Simona Marinescu (apia, samoa)
    • Inter Press Service

    APIA, Samoa, Apr 14 (IPS) – Water is life. No other definition captures quite so aptly what this essential element means for our lives, livelihoods and the natural environment.

    Although it is considered both a renewable and a non-renewable resource, water is becoming scarce and is expected to reach a critical point by 2040.

    Out of the total volume of water present on earth, 97.5% is saline- coming from the seas and oceans, while only 2.5% is freshwater, of which only 0.3% is present in liquid form on the surface, including in rivers, lakes, swamps, reservoirs, creeks, and streams.

    Due to irresponsible usage, including pollution from agriculture and the construction of dams, liquid freshwater on the surface of the earth is rapidly diminishing. We are the only known planet to have consistent, stable bodies of liquid water on its surface, yet we are not doing enough to preserve and provide access to all people everywhere to this critical source of life.

    According to the 2021 UN Water report, in 2020, around 2 billion people (26% of the global population) lacked safely managed drinking water services and around 3.6 billion people lacked safely managed sanitation.

    Some 2.3 billion people live in countries facing water stress of whom 733 million are in high and critically water-scarce environments.

    Credit: UN Samoa

    Samoa’s connected crises

    In Samoa and other Pacific Small Island Developing States, access to clean water represents a huge challenge. Although these islands enjoy abundant rainfall – 2 to 4 times the average global annual precipitation, poor waste management systems and lack of adequate infrastructure means that the availability of clean water is severely limited.

    Only 55 percent of people across the Pacific Islands have access to basic drinking water, and just 30 percent have sanitation services—the lowest rate in the world.

    According to a joint study by the National University of Samoa, the Ministry of Natural Resources and other partners, water sources tested contained a high concentration of minerals, toxic pesticides, microplastics and bacteria such as e-coli, which increases the rate of water-borne diseases and poses significant health risks.

    For our UN country team in Samoa, improving water quality is a central, cross-cutting priority which not only protects communities and helps prevent disease, but also feeds into our broader efforts to address the Triple Planetary Crisis of climate disruption, nature loss and pollution.

    The use of the Triple Planetary Crisis framework provides a valuable basis for the measurement of losses and damages which countries like Samoa experience due to climate change and pollution including deterioration of water ecosystem services.

    With this in mind, we have engaged extensively with communities and partners across Samoa over the past six months to develop the Vai O Le Ola (Water of Life) Report.

    Launched ahead of the UN Water Conference in New York (22-24 March), the report draws on insights from these consultations to set out a response to the Triple Planetary Crisis and propose integrated approaches of restoring the quality and resilience of Samoa’s water system.

    An integrated path forward

    From rivers, mangrove swamps, lakes, wetlands, territorial waters, and the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) – water represents a major part of the environment system which supports the livelihoods for over 200,000 people in Samoa and also forms a significant part of Samoan cultural identity. Improving the quality of this critical source of life must begin with the integration of all relevant policies and strategies on climate change, ocean management, socio-economic development, waste management, and biodiversity conservation into one overarching framework.

    Targeted interventions including the Vai O Le Ola Trust Fund and Knowledge Crowdsourcing Platform, and programmes on Innovative Climate and Nature Financing, Social Entrepreneurship for Climate Resilience, Community Access to Clean Energy, Zero Plastic Waste, are central to the Triple Planetary Crisis Response Plan in Samoa and across the Pacific.

    Nature-based Watershed Management is another key initiative outlined in the Vai O Le Ola report which will support agro-forestry, reforestation and invasive species management, flood management and biodiversity conservation linked to water systems.

    On the legislative side as well, new opportunities to strengthen environmental protection and conservation are emerging. Last year, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution recognizing for the first-time access to a clean, safe, and sustainable environment including water as a fundamental human right.

    With the adoption of this resolution, global attention on the legal rights of ecosystems and natural resources has significantly increased.

    In 2022, Ecuador was the first country in the world to recognize and implement the “rights of nature” followed by Colombia which established legal personality for the Atrato River in recognition of the biocultural rights of indigenous communities.

    In Samoa, the National Human Rights Institution is already discussing how the right to a clean, safe and sustainable environment will be operationalized into law.

    As an ‘ocean state’, water is a defining feature of Samoa’s national wealth and people’s way of living – known as ‘Fa’a Samoa.’ To find long lasting solutions to water scarcity and pollution across Samoa and other Pacific Islands, we must therefore look not only towards science, technology and innovation, but also to the centuries of wisdom and experience of the communities who live here.

    We must recognize that for the people of Samoa, as Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa explains below, their waters are a source of life as well as a source of beauty.

    Simona Marinescu, PhD, is UN Resident Coordinator in Samoa, Cook Island, Nieu, and Tokelau. Editorial support by UNDCO.

    Source: UNDCO

    The Development Coordination Office (DCO) manages and oversees the Resident Coordinator system and serves as secretariat of the UN Sustainable Development Group. Its objective is to support the capacity, effectiveness and efficiency of Resident Coordinators and the UN development system as a whole in support of national efforts for sustainable development.

    DCO is based in New York, with regional teams in Addis Ababa, Amman, Bangkok, Istanbul and Panama, supporting 130 Resident Coordinators and 132 Resident Coordinator’s offices covering 162 countries and territories.

    IPS UN Bureau

    © Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

    [ad_2]

    Global Issues

    Source link

  • International Human Rights Law As a Tool To Stop Rising Homophobia in Africa

    International Human Rights Law As a Tool To Stop Rising Homophobia in Africa

    [ad_1]

    Currently, there are four African countries that operate capital punishment for being gay. These are Mauritania, Niger, Somalia and South Sudan. Credit: Dai Kurokawa/EPA
    • Opinion by Stephanie Musho (nairobi)
    • Inter Press Service

    NAIROBI, Apr 14 (IPS) – Imagine your government enacted a law where you and all people of your race or economic status were imprisoned for extended periods, with some facing the death penalty, simply for existing. In Uganda, sexual and gender minorities are facing this possibility should President Yoweri Museveni sign into law a recently passed Anti-Homosexuality Bill that discriminates against people based on their sexual orientation.

    This comes almost a decade after a similar law dubbed ‘Kill the Gays’, was repealed on procedural grounds. For years, the issue of LGBTQ+ rights in the country has been a game of psychological and emotional ping-pong where every so often the worst fears come close to becoming a reality with the enactment and repeal of these laws. Consider the renewed anguish that members of the LGBTQ+ community now face with the alarming possibilities that this draconian Bill seeks to make law.

    Under this legislative proposal, homosexual ‘conduct’ by adults is not recognized as consensual. This would essentially categorize LGBTQ+ persons with sex offenders including rapists. Additionally, persons who simply identify as LGBTQ+ would face a penalty of up to 10 years in prison. The Bill also seeks, among other things, to punish the ‘promotion of homosexuality’ – that extends to family members and allies including the staff of human rights organizations.

    The Bill seeks to introduce the offence of ‘aggravated homosexuality’ where offenders would be subjected to mandatory HIV testing to ascertain the status of the offender. If found to be HIV positive or is a serial offender, could face the death penalty. Not only is this discrimination on sexual orientation, but discrimination based on health status. This is illegal, immoral and unethical.

    Despite the last execution happening in 2005, Uganda still maintains the laws and structures to carry out execution orders. Currently, there are four African countries that operate capital punishment for being gay. These are Mauritania, Niger, Somalia and South Sudan.

    These homophobic ideologies have also gained traction in West Africa, where Ghana’s parliament is also considering an anti-gay proposed law officially known as the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021. If passed, LGBTQ+ persons face between three to five years imprisonment.

    Marrying a person that has had gender reassignment surgery would be outlawed and so would cross-dressing. The government could also force ‘’corrective surgery’’ for intersex persons. Additionally, advocates and allies of the LGBTQ+ community could face jail time for offering their support and protection to sexual and gender minorities.

    Since the introduction of these Bills, the LGBTQ+ community and allies in Uganda and Ghana have been the subject of numerous hate crimes including harassment and intimidation, arbitrary arrests and assaults. Just recently, a senior ranking government official in Uganda declared that gay people should not be treated in state-owned public health facilities.

    In Kenya, a Member of Parliament, Peter Kaluma, has recently submitted to the Speaker of the National Assembly an anti-homosexuality proposed law through the Family Protection Bill. The homophobic Bill has similarities with the ones in Uganda and Ghana. It criminalizes homosexuality and its promotion.

    Additionally, the Bill seeks to limit the rights to assembly, demonstration, association, expression, belief, privacy, and employment in child care institutions in respect of homosexuality convicts and those engaged in LGBTQ behavior. If the Bill goes through, LGBTQ+ persons in Kenya will also be unable to adopt children and found families. Worth noting is that the Bill also seeks to ban sexual health & rights, and sexual education.

    This came shortly after the Supreme Court in Constitutional Petition 16 of 2019 ruled that the government’s refusal to register an organization of persons within the LGBTQI+ community amounts to violation of the freedom of association and freedom from discrimination. Mr. Kaluma compares the natural act of two consenting adults deciding to love each other, ‘a vice that will destroy the society’. He even likened it to bestiality. Other leaders have been vocal against LGBTQ+ rights including the President – William Ruto, who is heavily influenced by religion.

    This opposition extends to the wider ambit of sexual and reproductive health rights. Here there is a coordinated attack on bodily autonomy and choice, driven majorly by foreign organizations. There also remains steadfast opposition within the gender and reproductive justice movement, particularly in Kenya.

    It is a fallacy to claim to be an organization working on sexual and reproductive health and/or rights but draw the line at access to contraceptives and comprehensive sexuality education for adolescents; or at access to safe abortion. Similarly, it is logically impossible to be a human rights organization but take issue with LGBTQ+ rights. The underpinning principles and values of human rights stipulate that they are interdependent. The absence of one right negates the fulfillment of another.

    Uganda, Ghana and Kenya all have obligations under international human rights law. These are legally binding and not merely suggestive. By allowing the progression of these anti-LGBTQ+ laws, these governments will have violated the human rights of their own people. These include freedom from torture and cruel punishment, freedom from discrimination, freedom of expression, the right to privacy and all other rights that pertain to the security of person.

    One might argue that the homophobic wave in Africa is quickly spreading because LGBTQ+ rights are un-African. The opposite is true. In pre-colonial Uganda, the King of the Buganda Kingdom, Kabaka Mwanga II, was an openly bisexual man. He did not face any resistance until the advent of the white Christian missionaries.

    Many other African cultures had women husbands where same-sex marriage was allowed. There are 19 African countries where homosexuality is legal. Does it then mean that these countries are less African than the rest? The criminalization of gay rights in Africa is in fact another detrimental product of colonialism on the continent.

    Additionally, religious dogma is often advanced to curtail human rights. Despite whichever faith we subscribe to, none is underpinned on hate and intolerance. It is therefore ironic that the proponents of such like legislative proposals are seeking to legalize targeted violence and killings on people not because they have done harm, but merely because they are different.

    Regional and international human rights mechanisms must therefore be ready and willing to hold these three African states accountable to their international legal obligations should the proposed homophobic laws pass in the respective jurisdictions.

    Member states of the United Nations and other multilateral organizations must follow through with sanctions that are targeted at government officials including the legislators that introduce the inhumane Bills. African states must no longer hide under the principle of sovereignty to claw back on human rights in justifying the mistreatment and deaths of human beings.

    Stephanie Musho is a human rights lawyer and a Senior Fellow with the Aspen Institute’s New Voices Fellowship.

    © Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

    [ad_2]

    Global Issues

    Source link

  • Buffett is buying in Japan. This overseas value-stock fund is also making bets there. Is it a good way to diversify?

    Buffett is buying in Japan. This overseas value-stock fund is also making bets there. Is it a good way to diversify?

    [ad_1]

    After a long period of underperformance when compared with the U.S. equity market, stocks in other countries are holding their own this year. One way to lower your overall risk with real diversification is to add exposure to an active international management style that doesn’t mirror a broad stock index.

    One example is the $2.7 billion Columbia Overseas Value Fund COSZX, which is rated four stars out of five by Morningstar in its Foreign Large Value category. Fred Copper and Daisuke Nomoto co-manage the fund and described…

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Comoros Has Huge Untapped Investment Potential

    Comoros Has Huge Untapped Investment Potential

    [ad_1]

    Kingsley Ighobor. Africa Renewal
    • Opinion by Kingsley Ighobor (moroni, comoros)
    • Inter Press Service

    MORONI, Comoros, Apr 13 (IPS) – In February 2023, the Union of Comoros ratified the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Later that month, the country’s President Azali Assoumani took over as Chairperson of the African Union.

    In this interview with Africa Renewal’s Kingsley Ighobor, the UN Resident Coordinator in Comoros François Batalingaya explains the UN support for the country during the ratification process and highlights investment opportunities in the country.

    These are excerpts from the interview:

    Q: Comoros recently ratified the AfCFTA. What kind of support did the UN provide the national authorities in ensuring a successful ratification process?

    A: As you know, President Azali Assoumani was one of the first African leaders to sign the African Continental Free Trade Agreement in Kigali in 2018. So, Comoros was always there with a high-level political will.

    Two fishermen set out for the days catch off the coast of Comoros in the Indian Ocean.

    However, there were some concerns about a potential loss of customs revenue, which represents between 40 per cent and 50 per cent of the total government revenue. Not all the Members of Parliament or senior government officials were convinced that the AfCFTA is a good idea.

    Comoros’ main trading partners are in (Asia) and the Middle East, not the African mainland. For example, India and Pakistan. As well as China and Brazil. We import most of our chicken from Brazil.

    Q: Now, what did the UN do?

    A: First, the UN organized local and national consultations. Under the leadership of the Regional Economic Commission, the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP), there were workshops on the three islands to discuss the AfCFTA’s opportunities.

    We had the consultation workshop in the capital Moroni, attended by President Assoumani, the Speaker of Parliament Moustadroine Abdou, governors, cabinet ministers, MPs, the private sector and others.

    Kingsley Ighobor. Africa Renewal Second, the UN assisted the country in drafting a national implementation strategy. UNDP and the ECA were able to help the government to identify the prerequisites needed to maximize the benefits of the trade agreement.

    Third, high-level advocacy was my role as the UN Resident Coordinator: to encourage the political leadership to ratify the agreement.

    Comoros has significant untapped potential or business opportunities. For example, the tourism industry could be further developed. Looking at the tourism industry in the region, Comoros is the only country whose tourism industry is still not well developed. Neighbouring Seychelles and Madagascar receive between 400,000 and 500,000 tourists per year.

    Q: How did you allay fears about loss of customs revenues?

    A: When you look at what Comoros imports and where it gets customs revenues from, these are not goods that will be affected much by the AfCFTA. Most imported products are from Middle Eastern countries, India and China. But basic foodstuffs come from Tanzania, Mozambique, Kenya, and other African mainland countries. Importation of these foodstuffs will not significantly affect customs revenue.

    Francois Xavier Batalingaya. UN Resident Coordinator in ComorosAgain, remember that Comoros will benefit if it increases industrialisation. If we increase the value chain around key products, Comoros will benefit through access to over a billion consumers on the continent.

    Q: What are some made-in-Comoros products the country could potentially export to the larger African market?

    A: These are essential oils like ylang-ylang of which Comoros is the number one producer in the world; we have spices that are beloved in places like India; we have vanilla and cloves.

    We need to create value chains around these products and export to countries like Kenya, Sudan, Somalia, Djibouti and others. Comoros needs to access these markets.

    Q: Now that the Agreement is ratified, what next?

    A: As I said, Comoros is heavily dependent on imports. Therefore, the AfCFTA must be an engine of economic growth, sustainable development and, importantly, poverty reduction.

    We need to mobilize the private sector to take full advantage of new trading opportunities on the continent. We need to support the industrialisation of Comoros—facilitate trade and promote foreign direct investment.

    For example, with funding from the European Union, the UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and the International Trade Centre (ITC) are implementing a project to support production, industrialisation and free trade in Comoros. That’s a good initiative.

    Another initiative is the digitalisation of the customs process, and that’s with the support of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

    The AfCFTA is an instrument for strengthening social inclusion; therefore, we must ensure that women and youth are involved in these discussions and can take full advantage of trading opportunities in Africa.

    Q: An issue much talked about is a lack of awareness among some African traders regarding how they can benefit from AfCFTA. What is the situation with the private sector in Comoros?

    A: What we have done is talk to the leaders of the private sector. We need to continue to engage them and at a lower level. The sensitization has to continue. Having ratified the Agreement, we need to raise awareness so they know how they could benefit from it.

    Q: What other key development activities is the UN undertaking in Comoros that are impacting the lives of ordinary citizens?

    A: Well, let me tell you this: in July 2021, the UN (21 UN agencies, funds and programmes) and the government signed a new generation Cooperation Framework, a five-year initiative—from 2022 to 2026—divided into four pillars: the planet, prosperity, people and peace.

    On the planet, we want to strengthen resilience to climate change, natural disasters and other humanitarian crises. Of course, with sustainable integration and management of marine ecosystems. At the AU Summit, the Head of State said it is a priority for Africa, and it would be a priority for us over the next five years.

    The other pillar is prosperity. Basically, we need to create a competitive and inclusive economy and partner with the private sector using a sustainable development approach that focuses on sectors with high potential, such as the blue and the digital economy.

    Then we need to invest in people. We need to make better use of opportunities and foster inclusive and equitable, gender-sensitive development, providing high-quality nutrition, education and social protection, and the protection of the survivors of sexual and gender violence.

    The last pillar is peace. Social cohesion is a priority for us. Human rights, gender equality and democracy are important. That’s why the elections next year are critical. We need to have public institutions that are more inclusive, efficient and accountable to the citizens.

    We are committed to accompanying the government to achieve emerging market status and the SDGs.

    These are essential oils like ylang-ylang of which Comoros is the number one producer in the world; we have spices that are beloved in places like India; we have vanilla and cloves. We need to create value chains around these products and export to countries like Kenya, Sudan, Somalia, Djibouti and others. Comoros needs to access these markets

    Q: Comoros is an island state, meaning there could be climate change challenges. What are these challenges?

    A: A good example is Cyclone Kenneth that hit Comoros four years ago and destroyed schools and hospitals. We are still feeling the impact. In addition to the cyclones, rising waters are also a major concern.

    We have a water access problem. We have an active volcano called Karthala, which could erupt any time. That’s why we are always in preparedness and disaster management mode.

    Q: There are also great opportunities, I guess. What do you tell anyone intending to explore investment opportunities in Comoros?

    A: Comoros has significant untapped potential or business opportunities. For example, the tourism industry could be further developed. Looking at the tourism industry in the region, Comoros is the only country whose tourism industry is still not well developed. Neighbouring Seychelles and Madagascar receive between 400,000 and 500,000 tourists per year.

    Comoros, before the pandemic, received only about 45,000 tourists per year, mostly Comorians from the diaspora. If I were to invest in Comoros, I would invest in hotels. We need quality hotels.

    Comoros now chairs the AU, and it needs quality infrastructure for high-level conferences.Comoros is a welcoming society. I hope other people can come and enjoy that welcoming culture. And the weather is great. So, please, come over!

    Q: What are young Comorians doing in terms of innovation?

    A: Young Comorians like to join their brother and sisters in especially Marseille, France. The youth are attracted to migration. The good thing is that the girls in Comoros are going to school at a higher rate than the boys, which is not the same in the African mainland. That’s quite encouraging. Girls are attracted to disciplines such as law and administration and less to vocational training. So, we need to get them interested in vocational training too.

    Q: What is being done to address this imbalance?

    A: Youth employment is a priority for the government and for us as the UN. We are working with the International Labour Organization to invest in youth employment. Every single one of us has a youth mandate. Again, I will not forget the women.

    Finally, let me say that Comoros is one of the countries that needs support, particularly investments.

    The GDP per capita in Comoros is approximately $1,500. About 20 per cent of Comorians live in extreme poverty. We have more to do to achieve the SDGs. The country needs the UN and foreign direct investors. Let’s work together to support them.

    Source: Africa Renewal, United Nations

    IPS UN Bureau


    Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram

    © Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

    [ad_2]

    Global Issues

    Source link

  • During Ramadan Let’s Focus on Solidarity with Future Generations

    During Ramadan Let’s Focus on Solidarity with Future Generations

    [ad_1]

    UN Resident Coordinator in Indonesia Valerie Julliand plants trees in Bogor, West Java. Credit: UN Indonesia
    • Opinion by Valerie Julliand (jakarta, indonesia)
    • Inter Press Service

    JAKARTA, Indonesia, Apr 12 (IPS) – As Ramadan continues through next week, the world’s 2 billion Muslims will focus on the core values of the holy month: helping the poor and committing oneself to the service of others.

    These are values that are at the heart of many religions – and also are core values of the United Nations. The UN, including here in Indonesia, works to serve those less fortunate, under the motto to Leave No One Behind.

    Committing oneself to the service of others includes future generations. Taking care of our planet to make sure it remains habitable and can support life on earth as we know it for those who come after us is one of our key responsibilities.

    “Future generations” refers to people who will come after us, those who are not yet born. More than 10 billion people are projected to be born before the end of this century alone, predominantly in countries that are currently low- or middle-income.

    As the global population is expected to grow, we need to ensure that sufficient resources remain available to them. The lives of the future generations, and their ability to effectively enjoy human rights and meet their needs are strongly determined by today’s actions.

    Do we over-exploit the resources of the planet or do we only take as much as we really need and use resources sustainably, bearing in mind the generations to come?

    At a time when millions of Indonesians are going to gather for iftar with friends and family evening after evening, let us pause for a moment to think not only about those who have passed away but also about those not yet with us.

    As the UN Secretary General’s Our Common Agenda policy brief “To think and act for future generations”, released last week, makes it abundantly clear, stopping climate change and pollution ARE our prime tasks when it comes to serving those not yet born. And the world is failing in these tasks – and needs to do more, much more.

    Another UN report, released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change just last week, points out that we are currently on track to a global warming of 2.8 degrees above pre-industrial levels. That is much above the Paris Agreement’s goal to keep global warming to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius. Countries have made commitments to reduce emissions but are not fulfilling them.

    Indonesia is among the few countries that heeded the call to strengthen their Paris Agreement commitments last year. In November, the government announced a new set of targets, with more ambitious climate change mitigation goals than before, including a commitment to generate over a third of the country’s energy from renewables as early as 2030.

    The UN in Indonesia supports the government in its plans to meet climate commitments and balance the needs of current and future generations through development that is sustainable. We advise the government on climate financing.

    We support PLN in modernizing its Java-Madura-Bali power grid, so that it can take in more electricity from intermittent renewable sources like solar and wind. We support Transjakarta in its plans to convert its 10,000-strong bus fleet to electric buses.

    Late last year, the government, the UN and development partners signed the National Blue Agenda Actions Partnership in support of Indonesia’s plans to create a more sustainable ocean-based economy.

    Eight UN agencies and several donors work in tandem with the government to ensure that the sea can provide livelihoods to coastal communities not only today but also tomorrow.

    A sustainable blue economy is vital for Indonesia as it helps boost revenues from ocean-based activities while conserving marine biodiversity and the health of the ocean through the restoration, sustainable use and protection of marine ecosystems.

    The world needs more partnerships like this, so that we can safeguard the planet for those who are not yet born. A UN General Assembly resolution adopted last September calls for a Summit of the Future in 2024, where world leaders are expected to agree on multilateral solutions for a better tomorrow, strengthening global governance for both present and future generations.

    May the values embodied by Ramadan—peace, compassion and generosity—prevail during this holy month, and throughout the year, and the years, decades and centuries to come.

    Valerie Julliand is UN Resident Coordinator in Indonesia.

    This article was originally published as an oped in the Jakarta Post.

    Source: DCO

    The Development Coordination Office (DCO) manages and oversees the Resident Coordinator system and serves as secretariat of the UN Sustainable Development Group. Its objective is to support the capacity, effectiveness and efficiency of Resident Coordinators and the UN development system as a whole in support of national efforts for sustainable development.

    DCO is based in New York, with regional teams in Addis Ababa, Amman, Bangkok, Istanbul and Panama, supporting 130 Resident Coordinators and 132 Resident Coordinator’s offices covering 162 countries and territories.

    IPS UN Bureau

    © Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

    [ad_2]

    Global Issues

    Source link

  • The Saudis New Geostrategic Doctrine

    The Saudis New Geostrategic Doctrine

    [ad_1]

    • Opinion by Alon Ben-Meir (new york)
    • Inter Press Service

    NEW YORK, Apr 11 (IPS) – The resumption of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and the Saudis’ diplomatic overtures toward Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, are part and parcel of the Saudis’ overall reassessment of their geostrategic interests, which rest on three distinctives goals: regional stability, exerting greater regional and international influence, and uninterrupted oil exports. These three fundamental goals are tightly linked and are within the Saudis’ reach.

    Regional stability

    The resumption of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran mediated by China was central to its strategy. Both countries have come to the conclusion that notwithstanding their enmity and regional rivalry, they have to coexist in one form or another.

    They realized that the eight-year-long war in Yemen has done nothing to improve their regional standing. It was a lose-lose proposition. Iran failed to establish a strong and permanent foothold in the Arabian Peninsula and although Iran continues to support the Houthis, they have no illusion about converting Yemen into an Iranian satellite.

    Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, having prevented Iran from dominating Yemen, no longer feels that the continuation of the war will yield any further benefit regardless of how much more money and human resources they pour into the war effort.

    This explains why they have agreed on the ceasefire and further extended it until they could find a mutually accepted solution. The resumption of diplomatic relations would accelerate this reconciliation process.

    This, needless to say, is not guaranteed because the adversarial relations between the two countries run deep, but their national interest resulting from their rapprochement overrides, for the time being, those concerns.

    Both sides know that it will take time to fully normalize relations while testing each other’s true intentions as well as their conduct.

    For the same reason, the Saudis decided that Syria’s President Assad is not going anywhere. He has weathered the most devastating war since the last World War, albeit at the expense of destroying half of the country while inflicting massive suffering on nearly half of Syria’s population.

    Millions are still refugees languishing in camps in many countries in the region, especially in Turkey, and millions more are still internally displaced. Thus, mending relations with Syria will be a win-win for the Saudis as this would only enhance its influence.

    Regional influence

    The Saudis fully understand that they cannot boost their regional influence by remaining disengaged from their neighbors. Given Iran’s nuclear weapons program and the Saudis’ extreme concerns, the resumption of diplomatic relations could potentially ease those apprehensions.

    How the Saudis can help change the dynamic of Iran’s nuclear program remains to be seen. One thing, however, is certain: the Saudis have placed themselves where they can potentially bring Iran back to negotiating with the US, albeit indirectly. Whether or not they succeed, they can still exert greater influence in this area by engaging Iran, which they did not have before.

    And to further exert regional influence, the Saudis wisely decided to invite Syria’s Assad to the Arab League summit that Riyadh is hosting in May. Syria was suspended from the organization in 2011, and was sanctioned by many Western powers and Arab states because of Assad’s fierce onslaught against protesters that led to a long, drawn-out civil war during which more than 600,000 lost their lives.

    The Saudi invitation certainly signals an extremely important development that will bring about the reintegration of Syria into the Arab fold—a move that would lead to the resumption of full diplomatic relations between the two countries.

    There is no doubt that other Arab states will follow suit, which only strengthens Saudi Arabia’s leadership role among its fellow Arab countries.

    By reopening diplomatic relations with both Iran and Syria, the Saudis will have a say about any future settlement to the Syrian conflict, where Iran still exerts considerable influence.

    Given that the Saudis have deep pockets and the Syrian regime is dire economic strains and needs tens of billions to rebuild, the Saudis can do a great deal more than Iran to provide financial aid to Syria. And, of course, with financial aid comes influence.

    President Assad is more than eager to cooperate not only for the critically important financial aid, but also to begin the process of ending Damascus’ isolation. Restoring diplomatic relations between Syria and the other Arab states will contribute significantly to calming the region and making it possible for Saudi Arabia to sustain its ability to supply oil in huge quantities without interruption.

    Uninterrupted oil export

    For the Saudis, continuing to export oil in enormous quantities and the revenue it generates is central to its objective to becoming a regional player to be reckoned with. Having the largest reservoir of oil gives the Saudis significant advantages, as many of its oil customers know they can rely on the Saudis for energy supplies for many years to come.

    Thus, its resumption of diplomatic relations with Iran and Syria and financially aiding other Arab states like Egypt, would invariably contribute to stabilizing the region and in turn allow the Saudis to continue its oil exports with the least interruptions.

    None of the above however will impact adversely the Saudis’ relationship with the US nor its tacit relations with Israel. The Saudis are fully aware of how critical the US’ role in both, as the main supplier of weapons to the kingdom and the region’s ultimate security guarantor.

    Moreover, regardless of its discord with Israel regarding the Palestinian conflict, Saudi Arabia’s tacit cooperation with Israel on intelligence sharing and transfer of Israeli technology are and will remain an integral part of its geostrategic objective.

    Riyadh wants to develop inroads into both its past adversaries including Iran and Syria while maintaining its current relations with the US and Israel, regardless of the occasional ups and downs between them.

    At the same time, Riyadh is cementing its bilateral relations with China, the world’s second-largest superpower to which Saudi Arabia exports one quarter of its annual oil output ($43.9 billion’s worth in 2021, out of $161.7 billion in total exports), while becoming the de facto leader of the Arab states.

    To be sure the Saudis have, thus far, been able to successfully utilize its wealth to its advantage.

    Needless to say, however, many external and regional occurrences could directly and indirectly impact Saudi Arabia’s new geostrategic calculus, including the Ukraine war, the growing tension between the US and China and Russia, and the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

    However, under any circumstances the Saudis stand to gain as time and circumstances are on their side.

    Dr. Alon Ben-Meir is a retired professor of international relations at the Center for Global Affairs at New York University (NYU). He taught courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies for over 20 years.

    IPS UN Bureau


    Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram

    © Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

    [ad_2]

    Global Issues

    Source link

  • When workers are an employer’s No. 1 priority, stockholders benefit too

    When workers are an employer’s No. 1 priority, stockholders benefit too

    [ad_1]

    The deep uncertainty that the COVID pandemic created in the workforce hasn’t waned. U.S. workers are struggling with inflation, burnout, and fresh waves of layoffs. This comes as people expect more from employers — more leadership, more urgency, more action, and better jobs.

    The public’s perspective is clear and consistent: companies need to prioritize their employees. In today’s unstable economic climate, worker wages and treatment are more important to Americans than ever.

    When it comes to creating U.S. jobs with strong wages, good benefits, safe environments and opportunities for upward mobility, a handful of companies lead the pack.

    Bank of America
    BAC,
    NVIDIA
    NVDA
    and Microsoft
    MSFT
    are the top-three companies in JUST Capital’s 2023 rankings of America’s most JUST companies. They all share one crucial thing in common — a clear commitment to addressing worker issues and investing in employees.

    Since 2018, JUST Capital’s rankings have provided a snapshot of how U.S. companies are measuring up to the public’s priorities, as determined through an annual survey to identify issues that define principled business behavior. Companies that are just provide a clear benefit for investors. For example, If an investor purchased an index tracking the JUST 100 companies at its March 2019 inception, the index would have generated 13.3% in excess return versus the Russell 1000 as of December 2022.

    Worker issues have risen to the forefront of Americans’ vision for what is a just business. Paying a fair and living wage, supporting workforce advancement, protecting worker health and safety, and providing benefits and work-life balance are top priorities for the public. Notably, regardless of demographic differences including political affiliation, Americans agree that companies should do more to address worker needs. 

    What makes a great company?

    Bank of America demonstrates strong leadership on the top priority — paying a fair, living wage – by raising its minimum wage to $22 per hour, a key step in its pledge to offer a $25 starting wage by 2025. In addition, employees receive an extensive benefit package, including 16 weeks of paid parental leave for primary- and secondary caregivers, and career development opportunities through tuition assistance and professional training.

    NVIDIA works to ensure equal pay for equal work, performing detailed pay equity analyses, and is one of only a few companies to disclose pay-analysis results separated by racial and ethnic categories. Like Bank of America, NVIDIA is one of 10% of Russell 1000
    RUI
    companies that offer at least 12 weeks of paid parental leave for both caregivers, providing 22 weeks of paid leave to primary caregivers.

    Microsoft offers at least 12 weeks of parental leave for both caregivers, in addition many other generous paid-time-off benefits, including 15 days of paid vacation and an additional 10 days of paid sick leave for every worker — a policy still rare for many companies. Additionally, Microsoft discloses the results of its pay-equity analyses, going above and beyond other companies by disaggregating pay ratios for specific racial and ethnic categories — including Black, Asian and Latinx — all of whom are paid on par with their white counterparts.

    “ When companies ensure the economic security, advancement, equity and safety of their workforces, employees are more engaged and productive. ”

    These efforts provide tangible benefits to employees, but prioritizing workers offers much more to companies than just an assurance of moral good. When companies ensure the economic security, advancement, equity, and safety of their workforces employees are more engaged and productive, strengthening their companies’ business in turn.

    Americans expect the private sector to better support employees. Effective business leadership today puts workers at the center of an organization’s strategy. When businesses take this approach, we get much closer to an economy that works for all Americans.

    Alison Omens is chief strategy officer at JUST Capital. 

    Also read: Tech companies are hiring — a lot — despite recent wave of layoffs

    More: Unemployment rate is now 3.5%. Is this the last chance for job switchers to jump ship?

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • With the unemployment rate now at 3.5%, is this your last chance to jump ship?

    With the unemployment rate now at 3.5%, is this your last chance to jump ship?

    [ad_1]

    Have you got itchy feet?

    The U.S. economy added 236,000 jobs in March, just shy of the 238,000 forecast by economists polled by the Wall Street Journal. The unemployment rate declined to 3.5% in March from 3.6% in February.

    The latest data was calculated before the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank last month, an event that…

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Platitudes not Enough: Urgent Investment Needed in Health Workforce

    Platitudes not Enough: Urgent Investment Needed in Health Workforce

    [ad_1]

    A nurse walks into a hospital ward in Janakpur in Dhanusha District in southern Nepal. Credit: UNICEF/Rupadhayay
    • Opinion by Roopa Dhatt, Susannah Schaefer (washington dc / new york)
    • Inter Press Service

    WASHINGTON DC / NEW YORK, Apr 07 (IPS) – As World Health Worker Week draws to a close on April 7, health organizations from around the world have been celebrating women’s vital role in the health workforce and sharing stories about the enormous value they bring to all areas of health and care.

    But platitudes are not enough. It’s time for global health leaders to step up and turn these words into action.

    Globally, women make up almost 70% of the global health workforce and 90% of the frontline health workforce, contributing over $3 trillion to global health each year. The health systems in which they work play a significant role in remote and marginalized groups’ access to health, especially in times of crisis. Despite this, the challenges faced by community health workers (CHWs) are frequently overlooked.

    CHWs play a critical role in providing care to vulnerable populations, but they are undervalued and accorded lower status in the “informal” workforce. Upwards of six million women are estimated to be either unpaid or grossly underpaid despite working in core health systems roles and just 14% of CHWs in Africa are salaried.

    It is unjust that global health systems rely on the labor of unpaid women who are creating social and economic value that is uncounted and unrewarded. Unpaid work reduces women’s economic security and increases their lifetime poverty.

    It also weakens health systems. The pandemic has demonstrated the need for strong and resilient health systems, but there can be no global health security while health systems are subsidized by some of the world’s poorest women.

    Women health workers continue to make huge sacrifices to work on the frontlines. They went door-to-door educating households on the COVID-19 virus, tracing contacts, and delivering vaccines.

    At last year’s World Health Assembly, India’s one million women community health workers known as accredited social health activists (ASHAs) were honored for successfully protecting the health of millions of people during the pandemic.

    At the start of the pandemic, however, reports were coming out of India about the unacceptable risk faced by ASHA workers who were being sent into communities without lack of infection controls and facing stigma and abuse as perceived vectors of the virus.

    In 2020, they launched widespread street protests and strikes to demand better pay, protection, and working conditions. ASHA workers may have been acknowledged as global health leaders, but they continue to be underpaid with small performance-based honorariums. They are still fighting for a fair and regular salary and the benefits that come with formal sector roles.

    Pre-pandemic the World Health Organization (WHO) projected a global shortage of 10 million health workers by 2030, which COVID-19 now has deepened. Health workers lost their lives to the virus and significant numbers are unable to work, affected by ‘long-COVID’. There have been increased reports of violence towards women health workers during the pandemic–from colleagues as well as patients and their families.

    In a 2018 report on health policy and system support to optimize CHW programs, one of the primary WHO recommendations included fair remuneration for CHWs, but this is still far from the norm. When CHWs are compensated, it often fails to align with WHO recommendations, which call for financial packages that are commensurate with the demands of the job, the level of complexity, the training required, and the hours worked.

    This World Health Workers Week, we come together with our partners to call on global health leaders, governments and policy makers to disrupt the status quo. We believe that every person, regardless of gender, should have access to quality health and care and opportunities to thrive.

    We know a fairly-compensated health workforce–alongside training, supervision, and safe working environments–leads to improved productivity, wider access to healthcare, and better patient outcomes.

    The gender pay gap in health of 24% is one of the largest of any sector. We are calling on leaders to take measures to close that gap. We stand with our partners in calling for and focusing on transformative change, including gender-equal leadership in global health and a new social contract for women health workers centered on the need for fair and equal pay and safe and decent work.

    There is increasing urgency in both high-income and low- and-middle income countries to prioritize changes in guidelines, funding, and policies. After three years of COVID-19, women health workers, who have been the majority in patient-facing roles, are burned out and traumatized.

    Understandably, women are leaving the health sector at all levels in a ‘Great Resignation,’ which threatens to deepen the global health worker shortage crisis.

    Addressing these injustices is a moral obligation and an economic necessity. Investing in health workers is a win-win proposition and will send a message that we recognize and value them as professionals.

    Not only can we restore justice to neglected global health systems, but we can improve the working conditions and pay of health workers, unleashing broader economic benefits.

    We would like to send a clear message that as heads of global health organizations we are committed to building stronger health systems and a more equitable world. Achieving true health equity includes quality care for all–including health workers.

    Dr Roopa Dhatt is Executive Director and Co-Founder Women in Global Health, a fast- growing women-led movement with 47 chapters worldwide.

    Susannah (“Susie”) Schaefer is Executive Vice Chair, President, and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Smile Train, the world’s largest cleft-focused organization with a sustainable and local model of supporting surgery and other forms of comprehensive cleft care.

    IPS UN Bureau

    © Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

    [ad_2]

    Global Issues

    Source link

  • Cuba: Elections Without Choices

    Cuba: Elections Without Choices

    [ad_1]

    • Opinion by Ines M Pousadela (montevideo, uruguay)
    • Inter Press Service

    MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, Apr 07 (IPS) – The uncertainty that’s the hallmark of a democratic election was absent on 26 March, the day Cubans were summoned to appoint members of the National Assembly of People’s Power, the country’s legislative body. A vote did take place that day – people went to the polls and put a ballot in a box. But was this really an election? Cubans weren’t able to choose their representatives – their only option was to ratify those selected to stand, or abstain.

    If each seat already had an assigned winner, why even bother to hold an election? Why would people waste their Sunday lining up to vote? And why would the government care so much if they didn’t?

    Voting, Cuban style

    According to its constitution, Cuba is a socialist republic in which all state leaders and members of representative bodies are elected and subjected to recall by ‘the masses’. Cuba regularly goes through the motions of elections, but it’s a one-party state: the Communist Party of Cuba (CPC) is constitutionally recognised as the ‘superior driving force of the society and the state’.

    The CPC is indistinguishable from the state, and the party and its ideology penetrate every corner of society. This means the nomination process for elections can be presented as ‘non-partisan’, with candidates nominated as individuals rather than party representatives – they are all party members anyway.

    Cubans vote in two kinds of elections: for municipal assemblies and the National Assembly. Candidates for municipal assemblies are nominated by a show of hands at local ‘nomination assemblies’. The most recent local elections took place on 27 November 2022, with a record-breaking abstention rate of 31.5 per cent – an embarrassment in a system that’s supposed to routinely deliver unanimous mass endorsement.

    According to the new constitution and electoral legislation, National Assembly candidates are nominated by municipal delegates alongside nominations commissions controlled by the CPC through its mass organisations, from whose ranks candidates are expected to emerge. The resulting slate includes as many names as there are parliamentary seats available. There are no competing candidates, and as most districts elect more than two representatives, options are limited to selecting all proposed candidates, some, one or none. But all a candidate needs to do is obtain over half of valid votes cast, so ratification is the only possible result. That’s exactly what happened on 26 March.

    At the minimum, democracy could be defined as a system where it’s possible to get rid of governments without bloodshed – where those in power could lose an election. In all of Cuba’s post-revolution history, no candidate has ever been defeated.

    A different kind of campaign

    Unsurprisingly, since there is no real competition, there are typically no election campaigns in Cuba. Instead, there’s a lot of political and social pressure to participate, while abstention is accordingly promoted by the political opposition and democracy activists.

    Eager to avoid the abstention rate seen in the November municipal elections, the government spared no effort. Against its own legal prohibitions of election campaigns, it ran a relentless propaganda assault.

    Eyewitness accounts abounded of a voting day characterised by apathy, with no evidence of lines forming at voting places. A number of irregularities were reported, including coercion and harassment, with people who hadn’t voted receiving summons or being picked up from their homes. The official statement published the following day – that lack of independent observation made impossible to verify – reported a 76 per cent turnout that the government presented as a ‘revolutionary victory’. It might have helped that the electoral rolls had been purged, with over half a million fewer voters than in the previous parliamentary election held in 2018.

    But a closer look suggests that abstention is becoming a regular feature of Cuban election rituals – this was the lowest turnout ever in a legislative election – and beyond this, other forms of dissent in the polls are growing, including spoilt ballots.

    What elections are for

    In Cuba, elections are neither the means to select governments nor a channel for citizens to communicate their views. Rather, they serve a legitimising purpose, both domestically and internationally, for an authoritarian regime that seeks to present itself as a superior form of democracy. They also serve to co-opt and mobilise supporters and demoralise opposition.

    Ritual elections just one of many tools the regime employs to maintain power. Determined to prevent a repetition of mobilisations like those of 11 July 2021, the government has criminalised protesters and activists and curtailed the expression of dissent online and offline.

    But all this, and the efforts to present a lacklustre election as a glittering victory, only reveal the cracks running through an old system of totalitarian power in decay. In Cuba, the fiction of a unanimous general will is a thing of the past.

    Inés M. Pousadela is CIVICUS Senior Research Specialist, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.


    Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram

    © Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

    [ad_2]

    Global Issues

    Source link

  • Transforming Education With Equitable Financing

    Transforming Education With Equitable Financing

    [ad_1]

    Credit: UNICEF/UN0658410/But
    • Opinion by Robert Jenkins (new york)
    • Inter Press Service

    NEW YORK, Apr 06 (IPS) – With schools now reopened around the world, countries are called to take transformative action on education financing to recover and accelerate learning for all children, especially the poorest and most marginalized.

    Findings from our recent study, however, reveal that we have yet to overcome hurdles to equitable education financing: in far too many countries, the poorest children often benefit the least from public education funding.

    To transform education for every child, governments must address all three aspects of education financing: adequacy, efficiency, and equity. Our analysis covering 102 countries zeroed in on the equity challenge in education.

    Many dimensions of equity are important to address, as vulnerable children can face simultaneous disadvantages related to poverty, disability, gender, location and more.

    However, our study focuses on the poorest children, often hit the hardest by multiple, compounding barriers to quality education and learning.

    Unfortunately, children from the poorest households often benefit the least from public education spending. On average, the poorest learners receive only 16 per cent of public funding for education, while the richest learners receive 28 per cent.

    In 1 out of every 10 countries, learners from the richest 20 per cent of households receive four or more times the amount of public education spending than the poorest.

    In Guinea, Mali and Chad, the richest learners benefit from over six times the amount of public education spending compared to the poorest learners.

    Moreover, despite repeated commitments towards equitable financing – including the Incheon Declaration adopted at the World Education Forum 2015, the Paris Declaration of the 2021 Global Education Meeting, and most recently at the Transforming Education Summit in 2022 – data suggests that progress in delivering on these promises has been far too slow.

    Evidence from 46 countries indicates that public education spending has become more inequitable in 4 out of every 10 countries. The data speaks for itself: the poorest learners are not receiving their fair share of public education funding, and we must intensify efforts to address these inequities.

    Equitable education spending is critical and can reverse the effects of the global learning crisis before an entire generation loses its future. Our analysis shows that if public education spending stagnates, a one percentage point increase in the allocation of public education resources to the poorest 20 per cent is associated with a 2.6 to 4.7 percentage point reduction in learning poverty rates – translating to up to 35 million primary school-aged children that could be pulled out of learning poverty.

    How can we address the equity challenge and ensure education funding reaches the poorest? One way is to ensure public funding prioritises lower education levels.

    This financing principle refers to ‘progressive universalism’, by which resource allocation initially prioritises lower levels of education, where poor and marginalized children tend to be more represented. These first few years of learning lay the groundwork for children to acquire basic foundational skills. Then, when coverage at lower levels is near universal, resource allocation is gradually increased to higher levels, with a continued focus on the poorest and most marginalized.

    Finally, it is important to note that inequity issues exist not only in domestic education financing, but also in international aid to education.

    For instance, over the past decade, official development assistance (ODA) to education allocated to the least developed countries (LDCs) has never exceeded 30 per cent, far from the 50 per cent benchmark set forth by the Addis Ababa Action Agenda.

    Moreover, appeals for education in emergencies often receive just 10 to 30 per cent of the amounts needed, with significant disparities across countries and regions. On average, the education sector receives less than 3 per cent of humanitarian aid.

    The global community must come together to ensure that children living in the poorest countries and in emergencies can benefit from equitable education financing.

    To respond to the equity challenge in education, we call on governments and key stakeholders to take the following key actions:

    • Most critically, unlock pro-equity public financing to education through broader coverage and volume of decentralized allocations, resources to schools, resources to students of disadvantaged backgrounds (by education and social protection ministries), and strengthened resource allocation monitoring.
    • Prioritize public funding to foundational learning by securing funding for all in pre-primary and primary education and targeting the poor and marginalized at higher levels of education.
    • Monitor and ensure equitable education aid allocation in developmental and humanitarian contexts between and within countries, including sub-sector levels, when applicable.
    • Invest in innovative ways of delivering education to complement gaps in existing public funding through multiple and flexible pathways, including quality digital learning.

    We cannot hope to end the learning crisis if we invest the least in children who need it the most.

    We must act now to ensure education resources reach all learners and progress towards achieving the goal of inclusive and quality education for all – allowing every child and young person a fair chance to succeed.

    Source: UNICEF Blog

    The UNICEF Blog promotes children’s rights and well-being, and ideas about ways to improve their lives and the lives of their families. It brings insights and opinions from the world’s leading child rights experts and accounts from UNICEF’s staff on the ground in more than 190 countries and territories. The opinions expressed on the UNICEF Blog are those of the author(s) and may not necessarily reflect UNICEF’s official position.

    IPS UN Bureau


    Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram

    © Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

    [ad_2]

    Global Issues

    Source link

  • Take MarketWatch’s 2023 Financial Literacy Quiz. Will you get 10/10?

    Take MarketWatch’s 2023 Financial Literacy Quiz. Will you get 10/10?

    [ad_1]

    April is National Financial Literacy Month. To mark the occasion, MarketWatch will publish a series of “Financial Fitness” articles to help readers improve their fiscal health, and offer advice on how to save, invest and spend their money wisely. Read more here.

    Do you know the difference between a stock and a bond, or a mutual fund and an exchange-traded fund? MarketWatch put together a meat and potatoes — although that’s always relative — quiz for our savvy readers. We’ve stuck to some familiar topics — taxes, stocks, interest rates, savings and inflation. There are 10 questions — with one bonus question thrown in for good measure.

    You don’t know what you don’t know until you get an incorrect answer in a financial literacy quiz. Some of the questions are tricky, but we hope they are fun and that — most importantly — readers learn something new. Financial literacy helps us to plan for the future, gives us peace of mind and brings more understanding and less fear about the complex world of investing and retirement.

    Our aim is to raise awareness of Financial Literacy Month. If you get 10/10, including the bonus question, buy yourself (and a friend) a popsicle. If you didn’t answer all the questions correctly, buy yourself a popsicle anyway. We, at MarketWatch, aim to democratize and demystify financial news, and make this sometimes intimidating subject as accessible as possible.

    If you found it useful and/or entertaining, share it with a friend.

    –Quentin Fottrell

    Question 1: What is the difference between a tax deduction and a tax credit? 

    (a) A tax deduction reduces your income taxes directly. A tax credit reduces your taxable income. 

    (b) A tax deduction reduces your taxable income. A tax credit reduces your income taxes directly.

    (c) Both reduce your income taxes directly.

    Question 2: Which way do bond prices move when interest rates rise? 

    (a) Bond-market prices fall as interest rates rise. Bond prices rise when interest rates decline.

    (b) Bond-market prices rise as interest rates rise. Bond prices fall when interest rates decline.

    (c) Bond-market prices fall as interest rates rise, but bond prices also fall when interest rates decline.

    Question 3: What has been the average annual total return, with dividends reinvested, for the S&P 500 over the past 30 years? 

    (a) 9.7%, according to FactSet.

    (b) 3%, according to FactSet.

    (c) 6.5%, according to FactSet.

    Question 4: What is compound interest and how does it work? 

    (a) Compound interest reflects the linear gain that comes from all the reinvested interest of your savings and investments, which allows your initial investment/deposit to gain value regardless of the amount of interest you pay.

    (b) Compound interest reflects the exponential gain that comes from all the reinvested interest of your savings and investments, which allows your initial investment/deposit and the additional interest to increase in value.

    (c) Compound interest reflects the amount of interest you pay every month on a loan, and the total amount of interest you have paid over the lifetime of that loan.

    Question 5: What is APR and how is it different from a regular interest rate?

    (a) APR is the annual interest on a loan calculated on the initial loan, including additional costs and fees, but not on the accumulated interest incurred on the loan. 

    (b) APR is the annual interest on a loan calculated on the initial loan and the accumulated interest over the first year.

    (c) APR is the annual interest on a loan calculated on the initial loan, including additional costs and fees, and the accumulated interest over the lifetime of the loan loan.

    Question 6: What percentage of your income should you spend on rent?

    (a) Most real-estate experts say you should spend no more than 20% of your income on housing costs, which is considered to be a tipping point for becoming “cost-burdened.”

    (b) Most real-estate experts say you should spend no more than 50% of your income on housing costs, which is considered to be a tipping point for becoming “cost-burdened.”

    (c) Most real-estate experts say you should spend no more than 30% of your income on housing costs, which is considered to be a tipping point for becoming “cost-burdened.”

    Question 7: What’s an ETF? 

    (a) ETFs, or Exchange-Traded Funds, are baskets of investments — stocks, bonds, or commodities — that investors can buy throughout the trading day like stocks. 

    (b) ETFs, or Exchange-Traded Funds, are baskets of investments — stocks, bonds, or commodities — that investors can only buy at the end of the trading day. 

    (c) ETFs, or Exchange-Traded Funds, are baskets of investments — stocks, bonds, or commodities — that investors can only buy during or at the end of the trading day.

    Question 8: What is the difference between a stock and a bond? 

    (a) A stock is a temporary investment in a company, while a bond is issued by a company to reward shareholders. 

    (b) A stock is a share in the ownership of a company, while a bond is issued by a company to finance a loan. 

    (c) A stock is a share in the ownership of a company, while a bond is issued by a company to finance the stock.

    Question 9: If you were born in 1960 or later, at what age can you receive your full Social Security in the U.S.? Bonus question: At what age can you receive your maximum Social Security benefit?

    (a) Full retirement age in the U.S. is 65 for those born in 1960 and after. While you can start collecting your Social Security retirement benefits as early as 62, your benefits are permanently reduced. Your Social Security benefits max out at age 70. By delaying until 70, your benefit is 76% higher than if you had claimed at the earliest possible age (62).

    (b) Full retirement age in the U.S. is 65 for those born in 1960 and after. While you can start collecting your Social Security retirement benefits as early as 62, your benefits are permanently reduced. Your Social Security benefits max out at age 67. By delaying until 67, your benefit is 76% higher than if you had claimed at the earliest possible age (62).

    (c) Full retirement age in the U.S. is 67 for those born in 1960 and after. While you can start collecting your Social Security retirement benefits as early as 62, your benefits are permanently reduced by a small percentage each month until you reach 67. Your Social Security benefits max out at age 70. By delaying until 70, your benefit is 76% higher than if you had claimed at the earliest possible age (62).

    Question 10: What is the Federal Reserve’s desired rate of inflation? 

    (a) 2%

    (b) 3%

    (c) 2.5%

    Bonus question! What is considered a good credit score?

    (a) 560

    (b) 680

    (c) 800

    If you get 10/10, including the bonus question, buy yourself a popsicle.


    Getty Images/iStockphoto

    Answer 1: 

    (b) A tax deduction reduces your taxable income. A tax credit reduces your income taxes directly.

    Answer 2: 

    (a) Bond-market prices fall as interest rates rise. Bond prices rise when interest rates decline. 

    Answer 3: 

    (a) 9.7%, according to FactSet. 

    Answer 4: 

    (b) Compound interest reflects the exponential gain that comes from all the reinvested interest of your savings and investments, which allows your initial investment/deposit and the additional interest to increase in value.

    Answer 5: 

    (c) APR is the annual interest on a loan calculated on the initial loan, including additional costs and fees, and the accumulated interest over the lifetime of the loan. 

    Answer 6: 

    (c) Most real-estate experts say you should spend no more than 30% of your income on housing, which is considered to be a tipping point for becoming “cost-burdened.”

    Answer 7: 

    (a) ETFs are Exchange-Traded Funds. These are baskets of investments — stocks, bonds, or commodities — that investors can buy or sell throughout the trading day.  

    Answer 8: 

    (b) A stock is a share in the ownership of a company, while a bond is issued by a company to finance a loan. 

    Answer 9: 

    (c) Full retirement age in the U.S. is 67 for those born in 1960 and after. While you can start collecting your Social Security retirement benefits as early as 62, your benefits are permanently reduced. Your Social Security benefits max out at age 70. By delaying until 70, your benefit is 76% higher than if you had claimed at the earliest possible age (62).

    Answer 10: 

    (a) 2%

    Answer for bonus question! 

    (b) 680. Although credit scores vary depending on the model, according to Experian, credit scores between 580 and 669 are considered “fair,” scores between 670 and 739 are regarded as “good”; 740 to 799 are considered “very good”; and scores of 800 and above are considered “excellent.”

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • 14 dividend stocks yielding 4% or more that are expected to increase payouts in 2023 and 2024

    14 dividend stocks yielding 4% or more that are expected to increase payouts in 2023 and 2024

    [ad_1]

    If you invest in dividend stocks, you are probably looking for long-term growth to go with the income. Otherwise you might be content to hold one-month U.S. Treasury bills, which yield 4.5% or park your money in an online savings account for a yield close to 4%.

    Below is screen of stocks with current dividend yields ranging from 4.14% to 8.46%. What sets these apart from other stocks with high dividend yields is that their payout increases are expected to accelerate in 2023 and 2024 from those in 2022.

    On Tuesday, S&P Dow Jones Indices said in a press release that it expected dividend payments by publicly traded U.S. companies to continue to hit record levels in 2023. But Howard Silverblatt, a senior index analyst with the firm, said that the pace of dividend increases in the first quarter had slowed and that he expected this year’s increases to be “at half the pace of the double-digit 2022 growth.”

    Silverblatt also said current events in the banking industry were “expected to negatively impact future spending from both consumers and companies, which in turn may curtail corporate dividend growth.”

    For many banks, there’s another big item on the table. A focus on share buybacks in recent years is very likely to end — this is a use of cash that can raise earnings per share if the share count is reduced, but there can be consequences, especially after a year of rising interest rates that pushed down the market value of banks’ investments in bonds.

    In a note to clients on March 16, Dick Bove, a senior research analyst with Odeon Capital, predicted that stock repurchases in the banking industry would be “meaningfully cut back if not flat out eliminated.” He made three general points about buybacks in the banking industry:

    • Buybacks remove working capital that would otherwise provide returns to a bank.

    • Buybacks mean a bank’s board of directors is “in favor of flat-out giving capital away to investors that want nothing to do with the bank — they are selling its stock.”

    • Buybacks do “nothing to increase bank stock prices – many bank stocks are selling at below their prices of five years ago.”

    A company might find it much easier to curtail or stop buying back shares to preserve cash than it is to cut regular dividends. Preserving and increasing the dividend over time has been correlated with good performance for stocks over time. These articles provide examples of how dividend compounding is correlated with long-term growth as income streams build up:

    Dividend stock screen

    The S&P Dow Jones Indices report raises the question of which stocks might buck the trend.

    Starting with the S&P 500
    SPX,
    -0.50%    ,
    there are 71 companies stocks with current dividend yields of at least 4.00% indicated by annual payout rates. Among these companies, 68 increased dividends during 2022, according to data provided by FactSet.

    Then we looked at the pace of dividend increases in 2022 and the consensus estimates for dividends paid during 2023 and 2024, among analysts polled by FactSet. Among the remaining 68 companies, there are 29 for which the estimated 2023 dividend increase is higher than the 2022 dividend increase. Narrowing further, there are 14 for which the estimated 2024 dividend increases are higher than the estimated 2023 dividend increases.

    Here are the 14 stocks that passed the screen, sorted by current dividend yield:

    Company

    		 Ticker

    		 Dividend yield

    		 Dividend increase – 2022

    		 Expected dividend increase in 2023

    		 Expected dividend increase in 2024
    Altria Group Inc.

    		 MO,
    +0.27%         		8.46%

    		 4.5%

    		 4.7%

    		 4.9%
    Newell Brands Inc.

    		 NWL,
    -1.19%         		7.55%

    		 0.0%

    		 0.1%

    		 0.6%
    Boston Properties Inc.

    		 BXP,
    -0.94%         		7.42%

    		 0.0%

    		 0.7%

    		 1.0%
    KeyCorp

    		 KEY,
    -2.22%         		6.99%

    		 5.3%

    		 6.7%

    		 6.8%
    Prudential Financial Inc.

    		 PRU,
    +0.17%         		6.08%

    		 4.3%

    		 4.7%

    		 4.8%
    ONEOK Inc.

    		 OKE,
    +0.60%         		5.87%

    		 0.0%

    		 2.2%

    		 2.4%
    Healthpeak Properties Inc.

    		 PEAK,
    -0.32%         		5.54%

    		 0.0%

    		 2.1%

    		 2.2%
    Dow Inc.

    		 DOW,
    -0.53%         		5.16%

    		 0.0%

    		 1.1%

    		 2.2%
    Iron Mountain Inc.

    		 IRM,
    -1.00%         		4.70%

    		 0.0%

    		 1.8%

    		 5.4%
    NRG Energy Inc.

    		 NRG,
    +1.34%         		4.50%

    		 7.7%

    		 7.9%

    		 7.9%
    Franklin Resources Inc.

    		 BEN,
    -0.58%         		4.50%

    		 3.6%

    		 4.3%

    		 5.7%
    Federal Realty Investment Trust

    		 FRT,
    -0.53%         		4.38%

    		 0.9%

    		 1.7%

    		 2.1%
    Ventas Inc.

    		 VTR,
    -0.57%         		4.26%

    		 0.0%

    		 3.3%

    		 5.5%
    Kraft Heinz Co.

    		 KHC,
    +1.42%         		4.14%

    		 0.0%

    		 0.7%

    		 0.8%
    Source: FactSet

    Click on the ticker for more about each company.

    Click here for Tomi Kilgore’s detailed guide to the wealth of information available for free on the MarketWatch quote page.

    Any stock screen is limited, but can be useful as a starting point or supplement to your own research. If you see any companies of interest, do some research to form your own opinion of how likely they are to remain competitive over the next decade, at least.

    Don’t miss: This stock ETF keeps beating the S&P 500 by selecting for quality

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Political Settlement First, Refugee Return Second

    Political Settlement First, Refugee Return Second

    [ad_1]

    • Opinion by Malik al-Abdeh, Lars Hauch (london)
    • Inter Press Service

    LONDON, Apr 05 (IPS) – Europe’s current approach to facilitating refugee returns and containing new arrivals from Syria is based on wishful thinking. Europeans have come to terms with the fact that a political settlement for Syria’s 12-year conflict is not on the horizon.

    In conversations with diplomats, one hears a reoccurring theme these days: Syria is not a priority anymore. Notoriously hesitant to lead and busy with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Europeans want to keep things as calm as possible.

    But what stands in the way of this old-fashioned wait-and-see approach is the issue of refugees. Not only are significant numbers not returning to Syria, but tens of thousands more continue to set out to the EU each year.

    Against this background, Europeans have indicated to president Bashar al-Assad that concessions on the ‘refugee issue’ could prompt them to re-think their policy of ostracising the Syrian dictator and his regime.

    Notably, discussions on refugee return have almost exclusively been about their return to regime-held Syria. Much of the official thinking on the matter, which includes that of the UN envoy, envisages Assad conceding to taking back refugees in return for the normalisation of relations with other Arab countries and Western political and financial inducements.

    Putting refugee return on the negotiating table with Assad makes sense from a diplomatic expediency angle. And it is certainly attractive: if voluntary and dignified returns can be realised, this would please the domestic audience in Europe and foreign ministries as well as EU institutions could sell it as an indicator that political progress is being achieved.

    However, Europe’s current approach to facilitating refugee returns and containing new arrivals is based on wishful thinking.

    Assad’s ‘population warfare’

    First of all, Europe falsely assumes that Assad wants his people back. Apart from the crippling pressures that any sizeable refugee return would place on resources in regime areas – water, electricity, fuel, food, etc. – there is the more important matter of security.

    The regime considers all Syrians who have fled to neighbouring countries to be at best cowards and at worst traitors. By placing themselves out of the reach of the regime’s military conscriptors, they are seen as having voted with their feet in Syria’s civil war.

    ‘We will never forgive or forget’ echoes a longstanding view among regime supporters of those perceived to have skipped the war but now want to return once the fighting is over.

    The testimonies of those who have returned only to see their loved ones arrested and killed suggest that it is not an empty threat. Those connected to rebels or their families by blood or marriage, or those that have been reported as having anti-Assad views by informants, immediately fail the regime’s security check for returning refugees, as will most that hail from former rebel strongholds.

    Additionally, living in a neighbouring country for many years and establishing roots there, as most refugees have done, enables the regime to brand them as ‘politically suspect’. Syria’s Foreign Minister claims that refugees can return ‘without any condition’, but this magnanimity is only voiced when around Western reporters.

    ‘Perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of the Syrian regime’s discourse on refugees is that there barely is one’, a study on the matter finds. This should not come at all as a surprise.

    Syria’s mass population displacement has for too long been seen as an unfortunate secondary effect of the war rather than an intended goal. But in civil wars that take on an ethnic or sectarian nature, de-population becomes a strategic goal in itself.

    According to one study, ‘combatants displace not only to expel undesirable populations but also to identify the undesirables in the first place by forcing people to send signals of loyalty and affiliation based on whether, and to where, they flee.’

    In Syria, population displacement was at the heart of Assad’s counter-insurgency strategy. Moreover, Assad’s use of chemical weapons and its wider war effort are inextricably linked – tactically, operationally and strategically.

    Whether it be artillery strikes, barrel bombs, or sarin gas, the overall war strategy was collective punishment of the population in opposition-held areas.

    Assad’s ‘population warfare’ doctrine aims to ensure the population balance of pre-war Syria – so nearly fatal to his family and clan – cannot be recreated. ‘Two-thirds of the population was Sunni and half of it has been scattered to the winds, as refugees or internal exiles’, writes one observer – a favourable outcome for the Alawite president.

    For Assad, the country has now gained a ‘healthier and more homogenous society’. With that in mind, it is understandable that most Syrians reject returning to areas under the control of his regime.

    Working with Turkey

    Does this mean that Europeans should remove the ‘refugee file’ from the negotiating table? Not quite. But they would be well advised to be sober about their goals. If they try to utilise the refugee file as an entry point for advancing a moribund political process, it would be ethically irresponsible.

    In fact, EU diplomats have already signalled that credible steps allowing refugee returns could pave the way for gradual engagement with the Assad regime. This is concerning given that turning refugees into a diplomatic currency to trade concessions with Assad hardly passes the ‘do no harm’ test.

    If the goal is to get results where refugees actually return to Syria in large numbers and fewer people leave the country, Europeans should be talking not with Damascus but with Ankara.

    The inconvenient truth about refugee return is that it will only work if enough refugees are willing to return voluntarily, given realistic conditions and a serious partner on the ground with an active interest in seeing returns happen.

    Right now, only Turkey and a share of its Syrian refugees can tick both boxes, given the connectivity between populations on both sides of the border and Turkey’s ability to assure relative security.

    According to UNHCR figures, about 800 Syrian refugees are returning to Syria from Turkey every week despite the UN agency’s assessment that conditions are not suitable for a large number of voluntary returns.

    Moreover, of the nearly 750,000 refugees that have returned to Syria since 2016, most of them (500,000) have returned from Turkey to opposition-controlled areas in the north and northwest of Syria. In contrast, only 10,766 refugees returned to regime-controlled areas between January and October 2022. A greater number have fled Assad’s Syria in the same period.

    The absence of security hurdles to return and compulsory military conscription (both major push factors in regime areas and those controlled by the US-allied Syrian Democratic Forces) and the fact that Sunni internally displaced people (IDPs) and refugees feel relatively safe under Turkey’s protection are solid foundations on which to build a realistic returns policy.

    Perhaps most important for European policymakers, Turkey controls the territory in northern Syria through which large numbers from regime and SDF areas are passing through to enter Turkey and continue to Europe, all for vast sums of money.

    Dealing with Ankara on a programme for voluntary refugee return would create a firebreak in the logistical chain of the people traffickers that ends in Berlin and Amsterdam but begins at the M4 Highway.

    In sum, Europeans should recognise that significant refugee returns to areas currently controlled by the Assad regime cannot precede a political settlement. Talk of ‘post-conflict reconstruction’ and investments in local development labelled as ‘Early Recovery assistance’ will not change that fact.

    This also applies to limiting new refugee movements. Any sort of minor concession from the regime has the purpose of maintaining the momentum of normalisation, but it cannot alter the calculus of Syrians who have no illusions about the regime’s unalterable nature.

    The facts support the case for European engagement with Turkey both on returns and border security. Europeans are of course entitled to take a critical stance on Ankara’s Syria policy. Notwithstanding their condemnation of Turkey’s incursions into Syria, new realities have emerged that require a nuanced position rather than blissful ignorance.

    Unless Europeans adapt to the reality that Syria is now a de facto divided country, their policy response will remain poor. If areas outside of the regime’s control continue to be seen as not being part of Syria proper, and therefore not integral to any credible nationwide refugee return programme, there will be much more talk but no delivery.

    Individual diplomats may be very much aware of this reality, but as long as this realisation does not translate into actual policy, the EU will continue to deceive itself.

    Malik al-Abdeh is a conflict resolution expert focused on Syria. He is managing director of Conflict Mediation Solutions, a consultancy specialized in Track II work.

    Lars Hauch works as a researcher and policy advisor for Conflict Mediation Solutions, a London-based consultancy specialising in Track II diplomacy.

    Source: International Politics and Society (IPS) Journal published by the International Political Analysis Unit of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Hiroshimastrasse 28, D-10785 Berlin

    IPS UN Bureau


    Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram

    © Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

    [ad_2]

    Global Issues

    Source link

  • Rethinking Public Debt as Positive Investment in Sustainable Development

    Rethinking Public Debt as Positive Investment in Sustainable Development

    [ad_1]

    Financing is vital for growth. Credit: Unsplash / Towfiqu Barbhuiya
    • Opinion by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana (bangkok, thailand)
    • Inter Press Service
    • The writer is UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)

    BANGKOK, Thailand, Apr 04 (IPS) – The unprecedented fiscal firepower used to protect the vulnerable from the harsh socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting economic contraction have pushed the average government debt level in the Asia-Pacific region to its highest since 2008.

    Public debt distress is expected to worsen amid the global economic slowdown, record high inflation and rising interest rates, and uncertainty induced by the war in Ukraine.

    And surging debt service payments are expected to put public debt sustainability of several developing Asia-Pacific economies at risk. Most concerning, debt distress risk is highest for countries with the highest development finance needs, including small island developing States.

    Public debt is a powerful development tool in need of a major rethink

    Yet, a higher debt level is not necessarily a bad thing, according to this year’s edition of the Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific. Current policy debates on public debt sustainability do not take into account the long-term positive socio-economic and environmental impact of public investments in laying the foundations of inclusive, resilient and sustainable prosperity.

    Indeed, left unaddressed, development deficits and climate risks hurt economic prospects and public debt sustainability itself. Our analysis shows that social spending cuts increase poverty and inequality and undermine economic productivity in the long term.

    Conversely, investing in healthcare, education, social protection and climate action is good economics.

    Multilateral lenders and credit rating agencies focus excessively on keeping debt sustainable in the short term. Such perceived optimal debt levels are too low and lead to suboptimal development outcomes.

    Revisiting current debt sustainability norms has also become necessary with the emergence of major non-traditional bilateral creditors and a drastic fall in concessional development lending to Asian and Pacific countries over the past decade.

    It is time for a bold shift in thinking about public debt sustainability. We propose an augmented approach that assesses public debt viability that takes into account a country’s SDG investment needs, government structural development policies aiming to boost economic competitiveness, and national SDG financing strategies.

    It is time for creditors, international financial institutions and credit rating agencies to consider the positive long-term economic, social and environmental outcomes of investing in the SDGs, while assessing public debt sustainability.

    Our research finds that public debt is found to decline over the long term when the socio-economic and environmental benefits of public investments are incorporated.

    Rather than penalizing bold fiscal support for people and the environment, international creditors should consider if such spending would boost economic productivity.

    Lenders and credit rating agencies should see debt relief as helping support the fiscal outlook, rather than as a sign of an upcoming debt default.

    Developing countries should also strive to balance investing in the SDGs with ensuring debt sustainability. Governments should not feel deterred from borrowing for essential, high-impact sustainable development spending; rather, funds should be used efficiently and effectively.

    Public coffers should also be boosted by resource mobilization strategies designed to generate social and/or environmental benefits, such as through progressive taxation.

    Effective public debt management reduces fiscal risks and borrowing costs, with several examples of good public debt management practices in the Asia-Pacific region. At the same time, countries with high debt distress levels may need pre-emptive, swift and adequate sovereign debt restructuring, while efforts towards common international debt resolution mechanisms and restructuring frameworks needs to be accelerated.

    We are in the fourth year of the Decade of Action to accelerate progress towards the SDGs with not much to show in gains. It is time for Asia and the Pacific to rise to the challenge of mobilizing the financial resources to realise the dream of resilient and sustainable prosperity for all.

    The Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2023 will be launched on 5 April 2023.https://www.unescap.org/events/2023/launch-survey-2023-rethinking-public-debt

    IPS UN Bureau


    Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram

    © Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

    [ad_2]

    Global Issues

    Source link

  • Ending Discrimination Against Women in Family Law is Vital for Economic Progress

    Ending Discrimination Against Women in Family Law is Vital for Economic Progress

    [ad_1]

    • Opinion by Hyshyama Hamin (colombo, sri lanka)
    • Inter Press Service

    COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Apr 03 (IPS) – Discriminatory family laws and policies that restrict women’s access to educational opportunities, employment, inheritance, property ownership and equal pay, are making women disproportionately vulnerable to the impacts of the global economic downturn.

    Not only is it unjust to deny women equal economic rights, but it is also significantly hampering socio-economic progress of nation states. Governments urgently need to reform discriminatory family laws that privilege men over women because countries cannot afford to sideline half their population.

    Women shoulder a greater burden of unpaid labor

    Many countries are currently mired in financial crisis, soaring inflation, and debilitating debt. The backdrop to this is a global economic slowdown triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s war on Ukraine, and extreme weather fuelled by climate change. Research shows that gender inequality at home is exacerbated by such economic slumps, with women more likely than men to be saddled with increases in unpaid domestic work like cooking, cleaning, and caring for family members.

    According to the International Labour Organisation, up to 76% of unpaid care work is done by women and girls. The unequal division of informal labor requires women to forgo paid employment, work more hours, and can curtail their financial and career prospects.

    Unpaid care work can account for anywhere between 10% and 39% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and a potential tenth of the world’s economic output. It contributes hugely to a society’s economic well-being, but is excluded from official GDP figures that measure the economic performance of countries. This is because many people, including some economists and policymakers, view unpaid domestic labor as women and girls “fulfilling their family duty.”

    Discriminatory gender stereotypes of this kind are embedded within patriarchal family structures and are both encoded in and perpetuated by sex-discriminatory family laws that limit women’s ability to participate in the economic sphere.

    Legally prohibiting women from equal education and economic involvement limits their earning potential, reduces their decision-making power, and widens the gender pay gap.

    All this traps women in a cycle of poverty and forces many to remain financially dependent on male relatives, thus putting them at greater risk of a range of human rights violations, including sexual and gender-based violence and exploitation.

    Around half of countries have economic status laws that treat women unequally

    Equality Now’s policy brief, Words & Deeds: Holding Governments Accountable to the Beijing +30 Review Process – Sex Discrimination in Economic Status Laws, highlights how around half of countries still have economic status laws that treat women unequally, making them more vulnerable to exploitation in real life and online.

    Recent data from the World Bank’s Women, Business and the Law 2023 report shockingly shows that only 14 out of 190 economies surveyed have achieved full legal equality, and a typical economy only grants women 75% of the same rights as men.

    According to the same report, women face restrictions in marriage and divorce matters in 89 economies. Lamentably, 43 economies do not grant equal inheritance rights to male and female surviving spouses and 41 economies still favor sons in the division of property.

    One factor highly corresponds with these statistics – family laws that discriminate against women and girls. In Gender-Discriminatory Laws and Women’s Economic Agency, Mala Htun, Francesca R. Jensenius, and Jami Nelson Nunez analyzed World Bank data. They found a strong correlation between restrictions on women’s economic agency and gender-discriminatory legislation relating to family laws and personal status laws that regulate relationships between individuals, such as in marriage, divorce, child custody, and inheritance.

    Religious and legal discrimination entwines

    Sri Lanka is one of many countries with sex-discriminatory family laws. It has also recently been experiencing a severe economic crisis and public demands for political change.

    Lawyer and activist Ermiza Tegal highlights how this upheaval tallies with an uptick in domestic violence and sexual abuse.

    Tegal is calling for legal reform, citing mounting evidence of the “direct relationship between discriminatory family laws and women’s physical and mental health, and vulnerability to exploitation and violence,” with unjust legal provisions and practices driving women and children to destitution and excluding them from education and development.

    Examples of Sri Lanka’s discriminatory laws include the Muslim Intestate Succession Law, which stipulates that daughters can only inherit half of parental property compared to sons, and the Jaffna Matrimonial Rights and Inheritance Ordinance (or Thesawalamai) that applies specifically to Jaffna Tamils and prevents a married woman from disposing of real estate without her husband’s consent.

    Another example is the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA), which allows child marriage, denies women the ability to sign their own marriage documents, and does not recognize the concepts of matrimonial property or alimony.

    Currently, Sri Lanka is in the process of reforming the MMDA following widespread public demand for reform, led by Muslim women’s rights groups.

    In Tunisia too, women do not have equal inheritance rights, despite a very progressive Personal Status Code enacted in 1956 that promoted equality between spouses and abolished polygamy.

    Samia Fessi is President of Kadirat, an NGO working to repeal discriminatory laws, and she is part of a vibrant women’s rights movement that has campaigned for decades for equal inheritance.

    According to Fessi, “Women rights activists argue rightfully that equality in the inheritance will benefit economically marginalized women as half is better than nothing. We believe that discriminatory laws should be abolished if we want women’s conditions to improve.”

    In 2017, there were hopes that equal inheritance would be granted as part of progressive amendments to Tunisia’s Personal Status Code announced by former president Beji Caid Essebsi.

    Despite opposition from conservatives arguing that equal inheritance is a violation of Islamic Shari’a law, he succeeded in getting the reform Bill approved by the Ministerial Council.

    Unfortunately, Essebsi’s death in 2019 meant the loss of presidential support, and the Bill has not passed. The likelihood of imminent reform has faltered under the new president, Kais Saeid. He holds conservative views on inheritance and other social issues, and has overseen the passing of a new Constitution that declares Tunisia is an Islamic nation and the state must work to achieve “the goals of pure Islam in preserving life, honour, money, religion and freedom.”

    Reforming family laws benefits everyone

    Equality Now’s report summarizes that “women’s legal capacity – their ability to act and make choices independently of the men in their lives about money, travel, work, property, and children – by far is the strongest predictor of the share of women with bank accounts, the share of women who participate in firm ownership, and female labor force participation.”

    Mala Htun et al.’s study concurs, concluding that egalitarian reform of family laws “may be the most crucial precondition to empower women economically,” and this should be everyone’s priority because it would “unleash massive economic potential.”

    Global data demonstrates that accelerated progress toward gender equality can result in huge economic gains for a country, and compelling evidence shows that nations have more diverse, dynamic, and resilient economies when they foster environments that enable women to enter and thrive in labor markets.

    Employment and property rights can grant women access to loans, insurance, and social protection schemes like pensions and provident funds, reducing the likelihood of old-age poverty, and making women and their families more resilient during economic crises.

    Women with full legal capacity and agency are more likely to pursue education, fund skills and income-building, and contribute to the national economy. Women are also more likely to invest in their family’s welfare, such as by prioritizing their children’s education, nutrition, and healthcare.

    To advocate for much needed legal change, the Global Campaign for Equality in Famly Law was launched by eight leading women’s rights and faith-inspired organizations, alongside UN Women.

    The campaign calls on governments to prioritize equality in family law, policy, and practice, especially in light of severe economic crises that affect women and girls disproportionately. Sexist family and related laws need to be repealed or reformed and attempts to introduce new discriminatory laws should be blocked.

    Ensuring that laws which govern the family and personal status protect and promote women’s economic and legal rights must be a prerequisite for every country striving to overcome economic challenges. This must also be a priority for multi-lateral and bilateral agencies supporting countries. Economic equality in the family culminates in economic equality in society. The time for family law reform is now!

    Hyshyama Hamin is Campaign Manager, Global Campaign for Equality in Family Law, Equality Now

    IPS UN Bureau


    Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram

    © Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

    [ad_2]

    Global Issues

    Source link

  • Our Wonderful Differences Enriches Societies

    Our Wonderful Differences Enriches Societies

    [ad_1]

    • Opinion by Saima Wazed, Zain Bari Rizvi (dhaka, bangladesh)
    • Inter Press Service

    DHAKA, Bangladesh, Mar 31 (IPS) – On the occasion of World Autism Awareness Day on 2 April 2023, IPS is republishing ‘When Is Too Much Autism Awareness Still Not Enough?’ When is too much Autism awareness still not enough? This thought recurs every April as we near World Autism Day on April 2, and parents reach out to me after reading enthusiastic and well-meaning news and journal articles – which are actually harmful and hurtful.

    Saima W. Hossain

    In 2008, along with a few dedicated parents and professionals, we began our effort to raise awareness around Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). We eventually came together to form an advocacy, capacity-building, and research-based not-for-profit organization (Shuchona Foundation) established in 2014.

    Today, we feel our work in Bangladesh, through effective national and international partnerships with equally dedicated parents and professionals, has impacted the country. Professional training, extensive awareness activities, and inclusion in social situations are demonstrable. The best part is that parents no longer view themselves as victims punished by fate for having a child with a disability.

    Despite all the efforts in educating people in the many sectors of our country, including the formulation of a detailed National Strategic Plan, it is shocking to still find blatant disregard for the truth. I have, therefore, requested a parent, a former Shuchona Foundation head of operations and now a member of our executive board, to share her thoughts. Nothing speaks the truth louder and stronger than the person who has been on the receiving end of the discriminatory, hurtful, and unethical behaviour than the parent who hears it over and over again.

    Here below excerpts of what I learned from Zain Bari Rizvi

    If I had a Taka (Bangladesh currency) for each time someone said: ‘But he looks so normal,’ when I share that my son is on the Autism Spectrum, I would have been able to take early retirement at a villa in the Maldives!

    Zain Bari Rizvi

    I do not blame these mostly well-meaning people and their lack of awareness when widely read, and circulated dailies choose to use photos of children with Downs Syndrome to illustrate what children with Autism look like. Autistic traits cannot be captured with a still photograph, and most individuals with ASD look just like any other typical peer.

    This sort of misrepresentation is not innocent and borders on dangerously harmful.

    Deliberately associating a congenital genetic condition with a neurodevelopmental one will confuse the readers into thinking they are the same. This may also prevent parents and caregivers of children with Autism from seeking early intervention services that could potentially improve outcomes because they will have the false sense of comfort that their child ‘looks normal’, aka neurotypical.

    There is no one true face of Autism because it is a not-one-size-fits-all spectrum disorder. It stays true to this famous quote by an Autism Advocate and Autistic person, Dr Stephen Shore: “If you’ve met one individual with autism, you’ve met one individual with autism.”

    I am not a psychologist nor an expert, but as a parent who had the privilege to be educated and used my spare time and resources to do research, this incorrect and harmful visual misrepresentation enrages and upsets me.

    Bangladesh has made considerable strides in Autism advocacy and policy changes due to extraordinary efforts by the leadership team at Shuchona Foundation. The Foundation has selflessly spearheaded the job of educating and opening the minds and hearts of people about what it entails to be on the Autism Spectrum. Because of their single minded dedication to this cause, we, in Bangladesh, are finally having a discourse on what Autism is and acknowledge and accept the differences in our children with Autism. We also have access to world-class services like early interventions such as ABA therapy and parent/caregiver engagement without shame or guilt.

    And if there is one thing I learnt working closely with Shuchona Foundation, the key to making a difference is “to acknowledge that people will not always get it right but to look out for whether they want to learn to make it right”.

    As World Autism Day on April 2 nears, my humble request to journalists and mainstream media is to do your duty of imparting factual and medically sound knowledge and information. Learn from your mistakes and ensure your stories and visual representations are accurate because media has the power to help or harm.

    As I watch my feisty, opinionated and uber affectionate ASD child thrive in a typical school and social setting thanks to early childhood interventions and therapy, I shudder at the thought of what could have been our reality if I had paid heed to the photos of what Autism looks like in Bangladesh media.

    I hope those reading this will take heed. Autism is a complex state of being, and no two autistics are alike. Every time I meet and spend time with someone with Autism, I am amazed at how unique, creative, and what a gift they are to the world. I want to change how we treat those we deem to be different, not change who they are.

    For centuries all we have done is find creative ways to separate the majority from the minority. I hope the two years of the global pandemic will finally make us realize that when one group of people mistreat another, be it through military, financial or social power, we all suffer, not just the ones we discriminate against.

    Saima Wazed Hossain is Advisor to the Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO), on Mental Health and Autism. She is Chairperson, National Advisory Committee for Autism and NDDs, Bangladesh and Chairperson, Shuchona Foundation. She is a specialist in Clinical Psychology and an expert on Neurodevelopment disorders and mental health. Her efforts have led to international awareness, policy and program changes, and the adoption of three international resolutions at the United Nations and WHO.

    Zain Bari Rizvi is a Board Member of Shuchona Foundation, an Operations and Finance professional who is a passionate advocate for people with Autism and a mother of two children.

    IPS UN Bureau

    © Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

    [ad_2]

    Global Issues

    Source link

  • Bahrains Botched Whitewashing Attempt

    Bahrains Botched Whitewashing Attempt

    [ad_1]

    • Opinion by Ines M Pousadela (montevideo, uruguay)
    • Inter Press Service

    MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, Mar 31 (IPS) – The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), an organisation whose motto is ‘For democracy. For everyone’, just held its global assembly in a country with a mock parliament and not the slightest semblance of democracy.

    For Bahrain’s authoritarian leaders, the hosting of the IPU assembly was yet another reputation-laundering opportunity: a week before, they’d hosted Formula One’s opening race.

    The day after the race, Ebrahim Al-Mannai, a lawyer and human rights activist, tweeted that the Bahraini parliament should be reformed if it was to be showcased at the assembly. His reward was to be immediately arrested for tweets and posts deemed an ‘abuse of social media platforms’.

    That same week, the Bahraini authorities revoked the entry visas for two Human Rights Watch staff to attend the assembly.

    Rather than opening up to host the event, Bahrain further shut down.

    A mock parliament and no democracy

    Bahrain is member of the IPU, which defines itself as ‘the global organization of national parliaments’, because, on paper at least, it has a parliament. But its parliament is neither representative nor powerful. Bahrain is an absolute monarchy.

    The king has power over all branches of government. He appoints and dismisses the prime minister and cabinet members, who are responsible to him, not to parliament. The two prime ministers the country has had so far – the first served for over 50 years – have been prominent members of the royal family, and many cabinet ministers have been too.

    The king appoints all members of the upper house of parliament, along with all judges. Parliament’s lower chamber is elected – but everything possible is done to keep out those who might try to hold the government to account.

    Political parties aren’t allowed; ‘political societies’, loose groups with some of the functions of political parties, are recognised. To be able to operate, they must register and seek authorisation, which can be denied or revoked.

    In recent years the government has shut down most opposition political societies, arresting and imprisoning their most popular leaders. All members of dissolved groups and former prisoners are banned from competing in elections. And just in case new potential opposition candidates somehow emerge, voting districts are carefully gerrymandered so the opposition can’t get a majority.

    In November 2022 Bahrain once again went through the motions of an election. A large number of eligible voters were excluded from the electoral roll as punishment for abstaining in previous elections – a tactic used to ensure any boycott attempts wouldn’t affect turnout. Exactly as it was meant to, the election produced a legislative body with no ability to counterbalance monarchical power.

    No space for dissent

    In 2018, the king issued a decree known as the ‘political isolation law’. It banned members of dissolved opposition parties standing for election. It also gave the government control of the appointment of civil society organisations’ board members, limiting their ability to operate, and has been used to harass and persecute activists, including by stripping them and their families of citizenship rights.

    In 2017, Bahrain’s last independent newspaper, Al-Wasat, was shut down. No independent media are now allowed to operate. The government owns all national broadcast media outlets, while the main private newspapers are owned by government loyalists.

    Vaguely worded press laws that impose harsh penalties, including long prison sentences, for insulting the king, defaming Islam or threatening national security encourage self-censorship. Many people, including journalists, bloggers and others active on social media, have been detained, imprisoned and convicted.

    This has turned Bahrain into a prison state. It’s estimated that almost 15,000 people have been arrested for their political views over the past decade, at least 1,400 of whom are currently in jail. Most have been convicted on the basis of confessions obtained under torture. Appallingly, 51 people have been sentenced to death.

    An advocacy opportunity

    Given the IPU’s evident lack of interest in the human rights records of host states, civil society focused its advocacy on parliamentary delegations from democratic states.

    Ahead of the assembly, two dozen civil society groups published a joint statement addressed at parliamentarians who would be attending, urging them to publicly raise concerns over Bahrain’s lack of political freedoms, including violations of the rights of parliamentarians, and to ensure their presence wouldn’t be used to legitimise the authoritarian regime.

    Civil society’s calls for the freedom of political prisoners were loudly echoed by parliamentary delegations from countries including Denmark, Ireland and the Netherlands, among several others.

    The director of the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy described the event as ‘a PR disaster for the Bahraini regime’, a failure of its image-laundering plan.

    The response of the Bahraini authorities was however far from encouraging. They reminded foreign parliamentarians they shouldn’t interfere in Bahrain’s domestic affairs and continued to deny evidence of imprisonment and torture.

    Sustained international pressure is needed to urge the Bahraini regime to free its thousands of political prisoners and allow spaces for dissent. That, rather than high-level image-laundering events, is what will fix the country’s well-deserved bad reputation.

    Inés M. Pousadela is CIVICUS Senior Research Specialist, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.


    Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram

    © Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

    [ad_2]

    Global Issues

    Source link

  • The Need for a Strong Legal Treaty on Business & Human Rights

    The Need for a Strong Legal Treaty on Business & Human Rights

    [ad_1]

    The open-ended intergovernmental working group on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights was established in 2014 in response to Human Rights Council resolution 26/9 with a mandate to elaborate an international legally binding instrument to regulate, in international human rights law, the activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises.
    • Opinion by Simone Galimberti (kathmandu, nepal)
    • Inter Press Service

    KATHMANDU, Nepal, Mar 31 (IPS) – The ongoing discussions on an internationally treaty, described as a “legally binding instrument” on business and human rights, remains one of the most neglected issues that should instead command the attention of the public.

    Such a legal tool would bind companies to uphold high standards and most importantly, it would entail mandatory guarantees for accessible and inclusive remedy and therefore, clear liabilities for victims of alleged abuses perpetrated by companies.

    It all started in 2014 when two nations of the South, Ecuador and South Africa successfully pushed for a resolution at the UN Human Rights Council on the establishment of a so called “international legally binding instrument on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights”.

    By reading the title of the resolution you can immediately realize that one of the conundrums being discussed is the overarching scope of such treaty especially in the reference of the nature of the companies being subject to it.

    In practice, would only multinational or also national private corporations come under its jurisdiction?

    Interestingly, at the Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG) created to draft the text of the treaty, many developing nations, for example, like Indonesia, were strongly advocating for only multinationals to be included.

    This is a position of convenience that would exclude local major operators involved in the plantations business from coming under scrutiny of the treaty.

    Other complex issues are centered on the liability especially in relation to instances where a corporation is “only” directly linked to the harm rather than cause.

    As explained by Tara Van Ho, a lecturer at the University of Essex School of Law and Human Rights Centre, if “a business is only “directly linked to” the harm, it does not need to provide remedies but can instead use its “leverage” to affect change in its business partners.”

    The difference between causing or contributing to harm and instead being only liked to it can be subtle and remain an exclusive debate among scholars, but its repercussions could or could not ensure justice to millions of people victims of corporate abuses.

    Another point of attrition is the complex issue of the statutes of limitations and the role of domestic jurisdiction over the future treaty.

    With all these challenges, after 8 years of negotiations, the drafting is moving in slow motion amid a general disinterest among state parties, as explained by Elodie Aba for Business & Human Rights Resource Centre

    An issue that should capture global attention has instead become a realm of technical discussions among governments, academicians and civil society members without generating mass awareness about it.

    The need for a treaty related to abuses of corporations is almost self-evident, considering the gigantic proofs that have been emerging both in the North and South.

    Despite nice words and token initiatives, the private sector has been more than often keen to close its eyes before abuses occurring through its direct actions or throughout its supply chains.

    Amid weak legislations, especially in developing countries, the hard job of trying to keep companies accountable, until now, has depended on a set of non-binding, voluntary procedures formally known as the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

    The Principles, prepared by late Harvard Professor John G. Ruggie in his capacity as UN Special Representative on Business and Human Rights, proved to be a useful but at the same time inadequate tool.

    It has been useful because it was instrumental in raising the issue of human rights within the corporate sector, something that was for too long and till recently, a taboo.

    In order to further mainstream it, for example, a UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights has been established as a special procedure within UN Human Rights.

    Along the years, this independent group, composed by pro bono academicians, has carried out considerable work to strengthen both the understanding of and the adherence to the Principles.

    There is no doubt that there have been attempts at going deeper, especially from the legal point of view on the Principles, especially on their articles related to right to remedy, the thorniest issue.

    In this regard, the Accountability and Remedy Project have been providing a whole set of insights through multiple consultations and discussions, a process that still ongoing with the overall purpose of making a stronger cases on “the right to remedy, a core tenet of the international human rights system”.

    Yet principles, UN Global Compact, are toothless tool and showed considerable limitations, starting from the most obvious element, the fact that they are not binding.

    In the meantime, in 2021 the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, on occasion of their 10th anniversary of the Principles, launched road map for the next 10 years.

    It is actions, despite their intrinsic limitations due to the nature of the Principles, should be supported but more financial resources are indispensable. Yet finding the financial resources or better the political will to do so remains an issue.

    A recommendation from late Prof. Ruggie to create a Voluntary Fund for Business and Human Rights did not go anywhere.

    “The Fund would provide a mechanism for supporting projects developed at local and national levels that would increase the capacity of governments to fulfill their obligations in this area as well as strengthen efforts by business enterprises and associations, trade unions, non-governmental organizations and others seeking to advance implementation of the Guiding Principles”.

    Even more worrisome is the fact that till now a new Special Representative for Business and Human Rights has not been appointed yet.

    Having an authoritative figure, especially a former head of state rather than an academician, could help bring more visibility to the ongoing “behind the curtain” discussions related to the need for a strong Treaty.

    Such a political figure could not only command a stronger attention on the issue but also provide “cover” to the delicate work of the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, complementing and strengthening its mandate.

    Engagement with the education sector, law and business schools, as advocated by a report published by Business and Human Rights Asia, a UNDP Program, can be essential.

    Together with a stronger media coverage, students and academicians can help elevate the issue of human rights and its linkages with the private sector.

    We could imagine competitions among students at national and international levels on how the principles can be better implemented as a “bridge” tool towards a binding legal mechanism.

    Students could also have a major say on the opaque drafting process of this treaty.

    At the end of the day, there will be compromises and shortcomings, but with a bigger bottom-up approach, a strong Treaty could become a “global” Escazu’, the first ever binding environment agreement in Latin America and the Caribbean.

    UNDP with its Business and Human Rights Asia unit that recently organized in Kathmandu an excellent 4th UN South Asia Forum on Business and Human Rights. But it could also be bolder.

    The forum did a great job at giving voice to indigenous people, one of the key stakeholders in the global negotiations for the treaty.

    A lot of discussions were rightly held on the impact of issues like climate change and migration and their links with businesses’ attitudes and behaviors towards local populations.

    Yet, there was no conversation nor on the treaty nor on the future evolution of the principles. It might certainly be an issue of a limited “mandate” but UNDP could, together with UN Human Rights, be a neutral enabler on a global discussion on the treaty and on how the Principles can further evolve while we wait for such a legal tool.

    The Principles should also be better linked with the UN Compact, creating more synergies and coordination between the two.

    The fact that nations like France, Germany and the Netherlands have been stepping up with new vigorous legislations in the field of business and human rights is extremely positive.

    Equally important is the commitment of the EU to come up with Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) or the OECD to revise its Guidelines on Responsible Business Conduct but the nations behind these initiatives must commit to the drafting process of the Treaty.

    Otherwise, we run the risk that discussions will continue without anyone caring about them. Such an unfortunate situation must truly be “remedied’ with the right smart mix, political will, starting from the Secretary General and a powerful alliance of progressive nations in the both South and North driving the process and involving other peer nations.

    Ultimately civil society must also step up beyond their technical and legal recommendations and truly engage the people.

    Simone Galimberti is the co-founder of ENGAGE and of the Good Leadership, Good for You & Good for the Society.

    Opinions expressed are personal.

    IPS UN Bureau

    © Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

    [ad_2]

    Global Issues

    Source link

  • Ethiopian Government Must Prioritize Access To Quality Surgery in Post-War Reconstruction

    Ethiopian Government Must Prioritize Access To Quality Surgery in Post-War Reconstruction

    [ad_1]

    The cumulative needs of injured patients from the war have created a medical crisis. Credit: James Jeffrey/IPS
    • Opinion by Abdo Husen (addis ababa)
    • Inter Press Service

    ADDIS ABABA, Mar 30 (IPS) – There are about 5 billion people globally who cannot access surgery. In Ethiopia, for every 5,000 needed surgeries per 100,000 people, the country’s health system can only provide 192. Yet, this is Africa’s second largest population, with over 120 million people.

    The statistics are worrying. This is further exacerbated by a recently ended two-year war in the northern part of the country that devastated among others, the health sector. There is however an opportunity to build back better as the government institutes post-war reconstruction. This is possible through prioritizing access to surgical care as part of restoring the country’s health system in post-war reconstruction efforts.

    Armed conflict increases the demand for health services yet hampers the system’s ability to deliver these services as it disrupts the supply chain, results in direct damage to health facilities, and forces health workers to flee their duty stations. In Ethiopia, unofficial estimates put the proportion of health workers who fled their duty stations at over 90% of the pre-conflict numbers.

    The cumulative needs of injured patients from the war have created a medical crisis. It is a vicious cycle whose victims are innocent civilians. Take for instance patients with open fractures and bullet wounds who require some form of reconstructive surgery. This service is largely unavailable in affected regions, particularly in Tigray. If left untreated, these injuries can result in infections, amputation, permanent disability, or even death.

    This was the case for 17-year-old Hakeem* (not his real name). He suffered bone and nerve damages as a casualty of the war. Hakeem was facing the threat of disability from abnormal bone healing and wrist-drop, which is paralysis of the muscles that enable hand function.

    Fortunately, he received surgical care that allowed him to return to his daily activities with reduced physical challenges. Not many people have been as lucky. Reports show that over 100,000 people died from lack of access to medical care in war time. This includes lack of access to surgical care.

    Additionally, the influx of surgical patients owing to the war has slowed down the already strained health system’s ability to provide non-emergency surgical care. Although not life threatening, these surgical needs have a major impact on improving the quality of life of those in need.

    These include cleft lip and cleft palate, which are birth defects that occur when a baby’s lip or mouth do not form properly during pregnancy. Failure to correct this, often results in social and economic exclusion of patients who are often ostracized by their communities for allegations based on false and harmful cultural and religious beliefs including their participation in witchcraft.

    Arguably, the Federal Government of Ethiopia has indeed made efforts toward the rehabilitation of health infrastructure in conflict areas. For example, the government’s effort to restore 36 hospitals in Afar and Amhara. There is however much more to be done. Rebuilding the health system will cost the country an estimated 74.1 billion ETB (Approx. US$1.4 billion).

    To restore all social service infrastructure- including health facilities damaged by conflicts in the country, the government has allocated 20 billion ETB into the capital budget for the current fiscal year. This is way below the requisite threshold to rebuild the health services alone.

    There is indeed urgent need to prioritize surgical care at the forefront of rehabilitation efforts. The Ministry of Health must provide health workers – including specialist surgical and anesthesia workforce with monetary and non-monetary incentives to return to their pre-war duty stations to fill the gaping vacuum in human resourcing.

    The federal government must allocate resources towards the rehabilitation and equipping of all health facilities including surgical theatres in northern Ethiopia. This budgetary allocation must be included in the 2023/2024 budget cycle (2016 Ethiopian fiscal year). Critics could argue that there is simply not enough money to this end.

    While the government could be cash-strapped to rebuild different sectors of the economy; it is its ultimate responsibility to ensure the life and health of its citizens. It must therefore seek innovative ways to fund reconstruction efforts. One such way could be through leveraging public private partnerships.

    Not only will this provide the necessary funds but has the prospect of being an accountability mechanism to ensure lasting peace as a condition of the disbursement of funds or gifts in kind. These would be tangible steps towards reconstruction, alleviating the suffering of Ethiopians who without these services, continue to suffer preventable medical conditions and deaths.

    Abdo Husen is a public health specialist by training, Program Lead at Operation Smile Ethiopia, and a 2023 Global Surgery Advocacy Fellow

    © Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

    [ad_2]

    Global Issues

    Source link