“The Moldovan people and Government have shown remarkable solidarity with refugees since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began nearly one year ago”, Filippo Grandi told the media during his visit to the country.
“This support was visible from the first days and weeks of the war, when tens of thousands of refugees – mainly women and children – fled Ukraine and continues to this day”.
“Opening homes”
Despite many pressing economic challenges and limited resources, “Moldovans opened their country and their homes”, the senior UN official continued.
During the past 11 months, almost 750,000 Ukrainian refugees entered and over 102,000 have remained – almost half of whom are children.
“The Government’s decision earlier this week to activate temporary protection is another concrete and tangible expression of continued and sustained solidarity with the Ukrainian people”, he stated.
The UN refugee chief explained that the move provides a more secure legal status for refugees and paves the way for a more sustainable planning and response.
“Temporary protection will help refugees access employment, become self-reliant, and will also allow them to contribute to their host communities until they can return home in safety and dignity”.
It also provides the framework for even more long-standing access to education and other basic services as well as stability during trauma and upheaval.
Stepped-up support needed
The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, is committed to supporting Moldova and deepening its cooperation on refugee inclusion, while simultaneously mobilizing support for host families and communities.
Since the beginning of the refugee influx, it has delivered to Moldova more than $100 million worth of assistance and support.
“We will continue to invest in strengthening social protection systems in Moldova for refugees and Moldovans alike”, assured Mr. Grandi.
“But it is imperative that the international community steps up to provide renewed support for the refugee response and for the communities generously hosting refugees in Moldova”.
This means urgent and enhanced development investments in the country, as well as significant international efforts to shore up and grow the State’s economy, including encouraging private sector investment that can provide sustainable opportunities for both Moldovans and refugees.
In Parque das Tribos, an indigenous neighbourhood in Manaus, the capital of Brazil’s Amazonas state, violence against women is not uncommon.
“As a leader, I have experienced many things,” says Lutana Ribeiro, a member of the Kokama ethnic group, and the only female chief in Parque das Tribos, which is home to around 4,500 people. “Women knock on my door asking for help.”
Sparsely populated and relatively isolated in terms of air, road and sea access, the state of Amazonas faces particular challenges in access to public services, including for sexual and reproductive health support and gender-based violence response.
UNFPA Brazil/Isabela Martel
Indigenous Brazilian women discuss gender violence in a UNFPA workshop.
Huge increase in femicide
In 2021, at least one person called the national police emergency number in Brazil every minute to report domestic violence. From 2016 to 2021, the rate of femicide – defined as the intentional killing of a woman, motivated at least in part by her gender – was reported to have increased by over 44 per cent, with one woman dying as a result of femicide every seven hours.
In the state of Amazonas, of all women killed intentionally by another person, more than one in five were cases of femicide.
Ms. Ribeiro, who is well known among her community as a staunch defender of human rights, recently facilitated a series of workshops for survivors of gender-based violence, which were attended by 50 women from the area. “On the first day, few spoke. Today, most of them have spoken.”
The workshops, run by the UN reproductive and sexual health agency, UNFPA, explored different types of violence and explained how to access local social support networks and available legal protection mechanisms.
These include the Maria da Penha Law, which changed Brazil’s penal code in 2006 to not only allow for aggressors to be arrested for an act of violence against a woman or girl, but also for them to be detained, if the risk of them committing such an act was deemed a threat to a person’s life.
UNFPA Brazil/Isabela Martel
Drawings by children of indigenous Brazilian women participating in UNFPA workshops.
A safe space for women
Ms. Ribeiro described how, from the second day of the workshop, the women were eager to share their experiences with each other and with the UNFPA team. “After the first lecture, many women felt stronger. The next day, people said ‘enough’ to violence. These men will no longer do what they want with them, because now the women are more empowered.”
The workshops are aimed at training women from indigenous communities to help spread life-saving information among their friends, family, and peers.
Children also joined in recreational activities so their mothers could attend. “The initiative was very important for us to become increasingly stronger and have this support through dialogue and experience,” says Ms. Ribeiro.
“The workshops created a safe space for women to reflect together on the different forms of violence that affect their daily lives and on coping strategies,” says Débora Rodrigues, head of the UNFPA office in Manaus, “which include expanding the supply of and access to services that guarantee protection and rights for all the Parque das Tribos community”.
With financial support from the United States Agency for International Development, UNFPA is implementing projects across Brazil’s northern states of Amazonas and Roraima to strengthen the local capacities in preventing and confronting gender-based violence.
In 2022, more than 36,000 women and girls benefited from the initiative, with increased access to services such as shelters and safe spaces for survivors, as well as workshops that also engaged men and boys.
Ms. Ribeiro says the participants in the Parque das Tribos workshop felt collectively strengthened, asserting: “We, as indigenous people, are not afraid.”
Jens Laerke from UN aid coordinating office, OCHA, said that three trucks had been granted access to the heavily disputed city in the Donbas region, which has been an intense battleground, as Russian forces seek to advance on the strategically important town of Bakhmut.
He told journalists at Friday’s briefing in Geneva that the convoy consisted of food, water, hygiene kits, medicines and other medical supplies, provided by UN agencies.
“It is intended for 800 people who remain in this area”, he said, “which has seen its fair share of hostilities and of widespread destruction. So, people are in dire need of aid there, so we are happy that this convoy has indeed reached (it’s destination).”
More convoys are expected in the days ahead and OCHA Spokesperson Laerke said that the UN and its partners are striving to increase inter-agency relief operations to areas close to the frontlines in Ukraine, where needs are acute.
IAEA ‘expanding and intensifying’ nuclear safety efforts
On another key front and a source of international concern over the battle for Ukraine, the head of UN-backed International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, briefed President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Thursday, on the agency’s “expanding and intensifying activities…to help Ukraine ensure nuclear safety and security at its nuclear facilities”.
He told the Ukrainian leader that several permanent IAEA expert missions had been established across the country this week, according to a press release issued on Friday.
They also continued discussion to set up a nuclear safety and security protection zone around the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), Europe’s largest, which has repeatedly come under fire in recent months, triggering deepening nuclear safety and security concerns.
Mr. Grossi stressed that the zone was essential for preventing a severe nuclear accident and said he would press ahead with his efforts to make it happen.
“Everybody agrees that the plant – located on the frontline in an active combat area – needs to be protected, but these are very complex negotiations. I will not stop until the much-needed zone is a reality. I will continue my intensive consultations with both Ukraine and the Russian Federation in the coming days and weeks,” he said.
‘Daily dangers’ at Zaporizhzhya
“This major nuclear power plant continues to face daily dangers. Our team there continues to hear explosions close to the site, including two on Thursday,” he added.
“Across Ukraine – from north to south – this week has seen a major expansion in the IAEA’s on-the-ground support for the country’s efforts to prevent a severe nuclear accident during the war. At Ukraine’s request, the IAEA flag is now flying at these important nuclear facilities.
“For the first time, we will have our top experts permanently present at all of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants as well as the Chornobyl site. Their vital work will help reduce the very real nuclear dangers the country is facing,” Director General Grossi said.
In the next few days, an IAEA expert team will also be stationed at the Khmelnitsky plant, west of the capital Kyiv.
IAEA, ‘here to stay’
With IAEA teams permanently present at all of Ukraine’s NPPs and the Chornobyl site, the Agency will have at least 11 nuclear safety and security experts simultaneously in the country, an unprecedented undertaking by the organization.
“We are determined to do everything in our power to reduce the risk of a nuclear catastrophe during this tragic war”, said the IAEA chief. “This week was an important step forward in our efforts in this regard. But the work is far from over. The IAEA is here to stay, for as long as we are needed”.
Focusing on remote Androy and Anosy regions – some four hours’ drive from the capital, Antananarivo – WFP’s Rapid Rural Transformation initiative delivers solar-powered hubs, a sustainable water source and digital health check-ups, in partnership with the Government.
The benefits for communities are multiple and welcome: energy, water and digital platforms, all provided in an environmentally responsible and sustainable manner, the UN agency said.
Boosting empowerment
Equally important, the project seeks to stimulate grassroots development, while addressing rural communities’ most pressing needs. If successful, WFP plans to take the idea to other villages and regions.
“With this pilot project, we will facilitate rural transformation even in geographically isolated areas, through the provision of clean water for irrigation, the operation of healthcare facilities, the expansion of entrepreneurial opportunities, and the development of their agricultural value chains,” said Jocelyn Raharimbola, Governor of Anosy region.
“Following years of food insecurity, data on the ground shows an improvement in the nutritional situation thanks to emergency interventions and collaboration with agencies such as WFP.”
The initiative is managed by regional authorities and allows partners to offer additional services including entrepreneurial training for women and younger members of the community.
Classes are available online on sustainability, business skills and farming, which is enhanced by easily installed solar-powered drip irrigation and hydroponics systems. The programme’s environmentally responsible and sustainable approach is a “game-changer”, maintained Tomson Phiri, WFP Regional Communications Lead and Spokesperson for Southern Africa.
Abundant sun
“If there is anything that the people in the south have, it is the abundance sunlight; it is hot, it is dry…we are establishing solar powered hubs that will provide a sustainable water source to the sites that I visited, we’ve introduced ICT (Information Communications Technology) in these remote areas, allowing for the provision of essential services be it energy, green energy, be it water, and digital platforms to members of the community.”
Mr. Phiri, speaking via Zoom from the capital, Antananarivo, told journalists in Geneva that while it was cyclone season in the north, the south was experiencing near-drought conditions.
Food insecurity remains an ever-present threat, the WFP spokesperson continued, with 2.2 million people in the southern and southeastern regions of Madagascar facing high levels of food insecurity during the pre-harvest period between now and April 2023.
WFP/Tsiory Andriantsoarana
The combined effects of the drought, COVID-19 and the insecurity upsurge have undermined the already fragile food security and nutrition situation of the population of southern Madagascar.
Mr. Phiri said that the hubs were providing digital classrooms for learners: “I saw young people, we are nurturing dreams there, I met people, we are even sparking artisanal enterprises. I saw a welder just starting to use solar energy for his own enterprise, saw a barbershop, I saw a community that is being brought together by technology.”
Unenviable record
Madagascar is among the 10 countries most vulnerable to disasters in the world and is considered the most cyclone-exposed country in Africa, according to WFP.
The UN agency added that Androy and Anosy regions are at the sharp end of the climate crisis and have high rates of chronic malnutrition among children under five.
The Rapid Rural Transformation (RRT) initiative combines two climate risk mitigation strategies to assist people: better natural resource management through enhanced agricultural techniques to protect food production and diversifying their livelihoods to withstand climate shocks.
The UN WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian organization saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters, and the impact of climate change.
“Lawyers, judges, prosecutors and other actors involved with the legal system in Afghanistan face grave risks to their safety, and those still practicing must navigate a deeply challenging, non-independent legal system”, Special Rapporteurs Margaret Satterthwaite, on the independence of judges and lawyers, and Richard Bennett, on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, said in a joint statement.
‘Brazen discrimination’
Lawyers in Afghanistan – especially women – are risking their lives in efforts to protect the rule of law, they said ahead of the International Day of the Endangered Lawyer, marked on 24 January.
“We are gravely concerned by the extreme exclusion of women from the legal system”, the UN experts underscored, calling on the international community for “urgent support”.
They said that in “an act of brazen discrimination”, the Taliban have attempted to effectively ban all women from participating in the legal system.
More than 250 women judges, and hundreds of female lawyers and prosecutors, have already been removed.
“Many women judges have fled the country or gone into hiding”, the Special Rapporteurs added.
At ‘grave risk’
Prosecutors have been “systematically side-lined”, the statement continued, noting that their previous work in investigating, and prosecuting Taliban members under democratically-elected Governments, have put them at “grave risk”.
“More than a dozen prosecutors, the majority men, reportedly have been killed by unknown individuals in Kabul and other provinces. Many remain in hiding”.
By suspending the 2004 Constitution, ousting all judges from the bench, and stripping the Attorney General’s office of its key role, the Taliban has “precipitated the collapse of the rule of law and judicial independence in Afghanistan”, the UN experts explained.
“Instead of an independent legal system, the country has an all-male regime implementing the Taliban’s version of Sharia law”.
De facto judicial positions have been filled primarily by Taliban members with a basic religious education and advised by Muslim legal experts empowered to rule on religious matters, called muftis.
Moreover, laws and rules concerning legal procedure have been suspended and women may appear only when they are a party to a dispute.
“Alleged perpetrators are often detained, sentenced and punished on the same day by the police and other security agencies, denying any semblance of due process or judicial review”, the Rapporteurs continued.
Call to action
They called for greater international support to lawyers, legal aid providers, and non-governmental organizations working to advance justice and human rights – and for special attention to be paid to the situation of women lawyers and those working to promote gender rights.
“International actors should provide protection and safe passage to lawyers, judges, prosecutors, and other actors involved with the legal system, especially women, who are at risk of reprisal and attacks by the Taliban and others”, the statement detailed.
Despite “unimaginable obstacles” since the de facto authorities took control, legal professionals have persisted in their efforts to meet the legal needs of Afghans.
“They deserve far more in the way of support”, argued the experts.
They called on the Taliban to “immediately reverse” their abusive practices excluding women from the legal system, protect the lives of everyone working for the administration of justice, and ensure the right to fair trial for all Afghans.
Special Rapporteurs are appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a specific human rights theme or a country situation. The positions are honorary and the experts are not paid for their work.
The High Commissioner for Human Rights acknowledged on Thursday that addressing the violent legacy of intercommunal relations in Northern Ireland from the 1960s to the 1990s was “hugely complex and sensitive”.
‘Conditional immunity’
But he warned against plans to give conditional immunity from investigation and prosecution to those accused of serious human rights violations and other international crimes, other than sexual offences.
Such an amendment to the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill would be incompatible with the UK’s international human rights obligations, which calls for accountability, Mr. Türk explained.
There are also concerns about whether the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery, which the Bill would establish, would be able to work independently and undertake human rights-compliant reviews and investigations.
Justice essential
In an appeal for the rights of victims, survivors and their families to be respected, the High Commissioner (OHCHR) insisted that their search for justice and reparations were “essential for reconciliation”.
The draft Bill risked obstructing these rights, he said, also noting that the text had only been made public one week before it was due to be examined in the Upper House of Parliament, the House of Lords.
“This gives the public and relevant stakeholders, including victims and survivors, insufficient time to scrutinize the amendments and participate meaningfully in this hugely significant legislative process,” the High Commissioner said.
Obstruction risk
“Concerns remain that the Bill would obstruct the rights of victims, survivors and their families to effective judicial remedy and reparations, including by prohibiting most criminal prosecutions and civil actions for Troubles-related offences,” he added.
The Bill is set for further review at the House of Lords committee stage on 24 and 31 January.
The OHCHR chief urged the UK to “reconsider its approach and engage in further meaningful and inclusive consultations on how best to advance a human rights-centred way to address the legacy of the Troubles”.
Before he died, Johanna Devico Ohana’s father asked her to promise him one thing: “if I ever die when I’m in France”, he insisted, “bring me to Fez”.
He also asked her to take care of the Jewish cemetery, a role that was his responsibility before he passed away. His daughter agreed to both requests, and her father is laid to rest in the cemetery she now maintains.
‘We lived in harmony’
“My father was a lover of Morocco and a lover of Fez”, says Ms. Ohana, who was born and raised in the city. “We lived in harmony. There was no tension. We all knew we were Jews, Muslims, or Catholics, and we never had any problems on that side”.
Located in northern Morocco, on the Wadi Fez, the city was founded in the ninth century, and was the ancient capital of Morocco for hundreds of years. In the year 809, King Idris II encouraged Jews to move to Fez, so the city could benefit from their skills.
Today, Fez is known for its religion, art, sciences, craftwork, and trade activities. The Fez Medina, often described as Morocco’s cultural and spiritual centre, is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
It also retains a mix of cultures and identity, and a Jewish neighbourhood, named ‘Mellah’. The word literally means ‘salt’ or ‘saline area’, in reference to either a saline water source in the area or to the former presence of a salt warehouse, but ‘Mellah’ is now used as the name for Jewish quarters in other Moroccan cities, including Rabat and Marrakech.
The Jewish cemetery, nestled in the Mellah, is distinguished by its semi-cylindrical tombs, which capture the history of Morocco’s flourishing Jewry.
A ‘convergence of confluents’
The age-old intermingling of peoples made Fez an appropriate location for the ninth Forum of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC), which took place in November 2022.
Opening the event, Andre Azoulay, the senior adviser to King Mohammed VI of Morocco – and father of UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay – who is himself Jewish, declared that Morocco “is built around a model of openness, harmony and synergy that has seen the convergence of Arab-Islamic, Amazigh and Saharan-Hassanian confluents, and that has, at the same time, been enriched by African, Andalusian, Hebrew and Mediterranean tributaries”.
When asked about how she felt when she learnt that Fez was chosen to host the UNAOC ninth Forum, Ms. Ohana said she felt proud that Fez was chosen: “for Morocco, it reflects exactly the reality of our image, our culture”.
“Only renewables can safeguard our future, close the energy access gap, stabilize prices and ensure energy security,” he said in a video message to the 13th Session of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) Assembly, taking place this weekend in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
“Together, let’s jumpstart a renewables revolution and create a brighter future for all.”
‘Death sentence’ for many
The world is still addicted to fossil fuels and the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius is fast slipping out of reach, the UN chief warned.
“Under current policies, we are headed for 2.8 degrees of global warming by the end of the century. The consequences will be devastating. Several parts of our planet will be uninhabitable. And for many, this is a death sentence,” he said.
Renewable energy sources currently account for about 30 per cent of global electricity.
Mr. Guterres said this must double to over 60 per cent by 2030, and 90 per cent by mid-century.
Global public goods
His Five-point Energy Plan first calls for removing intellectual property barriers so that key renewable technologies, including energy storage, are treated as global public goods.
Countries also must diversify and increase access to supply chains for raw materials and components for renewables technologies, without degrading the environment.
“This can help create millions of green jobs, especially for women and youth in the developing world,” said Mr. Guterres.
Sergei Gapon / UNDP Belarus
In Belarus,UNDP helped build the country’s biggest wind-farm. Wind energy could help Belarus become energy-independent by 2050.
Subsidize the shift
The Secretary-General urged decisionmakers to cut red tape, fast-track approvals for sustainable projects worldwide and modernize power grids.
His fourth point focused on energy subsidies. He stressed the need to shift from fossil fuels to clean and affordable energy, adding “we must support vulnerable groups affected by this transition.”
The final point highlighted how public and private investments in renewables should triple to at least $4 trillion dollars a year.
Noting that most investments in renewables are in developed countries, the Secretary-General urged countries to work together to reduce the capital cost for renewables and ensure that financing flows to those who need it most.
Multilateral development banks must also invest massively in renewable energy infrastructure, he added, while richer nations must work with credit agencies to scale up green investments in developing countries.
Strengthening energy sovereignty
The President of the UN General Assembly, Csaba Kőrösi, underlined how success in climate protection depends on the transition to clean energy.
“But the energy transition we have foreseen was a peace time agenda,” he said in a pre-recorded message. “How will it work in times of major political confrontations when energy supplies are turned into a tool of conflict?”
Although setbacks might occur in the short term, along with a probable rise in the greenhouse gas emissions that drive global warming, Mr. Kőrösi pointed to the long-term benefits of green energy.
“If we look into the investment trends, the long-term impact of the conflict might be the opposite. From solar to wind, wave, and geothermal, renewable energy sources are available for every climate. Their use has a potential ofstrengthening energy sovereignty,” he said.
Weather and climate-related disasters – extreme floods, heat and drought affected millions of people and cost billions in 2022, as tell-tale signs and impacts of climate change intensified.
‘Desperate race against time’
The General Assembly President outlined steps that must be taken for renewable energy to comprise 60 per cent of global power generation by 2030.
They include investing in scientific tools of measurement, creating a follow-up mechanism to assess progress, removing intellectual property barriers, and bolstering partnerships for sustainable energy initiatives.
Mr. Kőrösi stressed the urgency to act now.
“We are in a desperate race against time. We need bold transformative action to curtail climate change,” he said. “We have the knowledge. We have the means. We should only have the will.”
The study presents the latest data on electrification of healthcare facilities in low- and middle-income countries, and projects investments required to achieve adequate and reliable power.
It was published by the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), and Sustainable Energy for All (SEforAll).
A matter of life and death
“Electricity access in healthcare facilities can make the difference between life and death,” said Dr Maria Neira, WHO interim Assistant Director-General for Healthier Populations.
“Investing in reliable, clean and sustainable energy for health-care facilities is not only crucial to pandemic preparedness, it’s also much needed to achieve universal health coverage, as well as increasing climate resilience and adaptation.”
Access to electricity is critical for providing people with quality healthcare, from delivering babies to managing emergencies like heart attacks, or ensuring children receive lifesaving vaccines.
Electricity is required to power the most basic devices – lighting, communications equipment and refrigeration, for example, or those that measure vital signs like heartbeat and blood pressure. It is also crucial for both routine and emergency procedures.
Disparities in access
However, more than one in 10 health facilities in South Asia and sub-Saharan African countries lack any electricity access whatever, according to the report, and power is unreliable in half of all facilities in sub-Saharan Africa.
Despite recent progress, approximately one billion people are served by healthcare facilities without reliable electricity supply, or none at all – a number that is nearly as large as the entire populations of the United States, Indonesia, Pakistan and Germany combined.
There also stark disparities in access within countries themselves. Primary healthcare centres and rural facilities are considerably less likely to have electricity access than hospitals and facilities in urban areas, according to the report.
Urgent intervention needed
The report stressed that electrification of healthcare facilities “must be considered an utmost development priority”.
A World Bank needs analysis, included in the report, showed that almost two-thirds of healthcare facilities in low and middle-income countries require some form of urgent intervention, such as a new electricity connection or backup power supply.
Nearly $5 billion is urgently needed to bring them to a minimal standard of electrification.
Sustainable solutions available
The authors said decentralized sustainable energy solutions are available which would have a huge impact on health delivery, citing the example of solar photovoltaic systems which convert sunlight into electricity.
Such solutions are cost-effective, clean and rapidly deployable on site, meaning there is no need to wait for the arrival of the central energy grid.
Healthcare systems and facilities are increasingly affected by the impacts of the climate emergency, the authors added.
Therefore, making them more resilient calls for building facilities and services that can meet the challenges of climate change while improving environmental sustainability.
China COVID-19 data welcomed
In other health news,
The World Health Organization (WHO) has welcomed data from China on its COVID-19 surge, according to a statement issued following a conversation on Saturday between Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Minister Ma Xiaowei, Director of the country’s National Health Commission.
“WHO appreciates this meeting, as well as the public release of information on the overall situation,” the UN agency said.
Chinese officials have provided information to WHO, and in a press conference, on topics that include outpatient clinics, hospitalizations, patients requiring emergency treatment and critical care, and COVID-19 related hospital deaths.
WHO is analyzing the data, which covers the period from early December 2022 to 12 January 2023, recalling that it has been requesting China to share detailed information.
The current intense COVID-19 surge has been caused by known Omicron subvariants, according to the data. It is mainly affecting older people and those with underlying health conditions, similar to waves of infections experienced by other countries.
“The reported data indicate a decline in case numbers, hospitalizations, and those requiring critical care. WHO has requested a more detailed breakdown of data by province over time,” said the statement.
During the call, Tedros also reiterated the importance of China’s deeper cooperation and transparency on understanding the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, and in carrying out recommendations detailed in the report by its Strategic Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens.
President Joko Widodo reportedly acknowledged “gross human rights violations” during his country’s past, and expressed regret for a dozen past incidents, stretching back more than 50 years.
These included the 1965-1966 anti-Communist crackdown, the 1982-1985 protester shootings, enforced disappearances in 1997 and 1998, and the Wamena Incident in Papua in 2003.
“I strongly regret that those violations occurred”, he said on Wednesday.
“The President’s gesture is a step on the long road to justice for victims and their loved ones”, Liz Throssell, Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, told journalists at a regular press briefing in Geneva.
Historical outrage
An estimated half a million people were killed in the anti-Communist crackdown of the 1960s and scores of pro-reform protesters lost their lives in killings during the 1980s, she said.
The violence was unleashed after communists were accused of killing six generals in an attempted coup amid a struggle for power between Communists, the military and Islamist groups, according to news reports.
Mr. Widodo is reportedly the second Indonesian president to publicly admit the 1960s bloodshed, after the late Abdurrahman Wahid’s public apology in 2000.
Moving forward
The President’s statement came as a result of findings by the Team for the Non-Judicial Resolution of Past Serious Human Rights Violations, which he commissioned last year, fulfilling an election promise from 2014.
“We hope the report will be made public to encourage discussion and debate”, said Ms. Throssell.
While noting that the President’s statement “does not preclude further judicial action and commits to reforms that should guarantee non-recurrence”, OHCHR also urged the authorities to build on the “tangible steps” taken, in order to “take forward a meaningful, inclusive and participatory transitional justice process”.
The OHCHR Spokesperson said this needed to include “guaranteeing truth, justice, reparations and non-recurrence to victims and affected communities, including victims of conflict-related sexual violence.”
She added that a full transitional justice process “will help to break the decades-long cycle of impunity, advance national healing, and strengthen Indonesia’s democracy.”
Click here to watch the press briefing in its entirety.
The hearing involving 24 volunteers and activists began on Tuesday on the Greek island of Lesvos, prompting OHCHR to warn of the “chilling effect” that it has had on other rights defenders, who’ve now halted their work in Greece and other European Union countries.
Those on trial were all associated with Emergency Response Centre International, or ERCI; between 2016 and 2018, the group helped more than 1,000 people to reach safety and provided survivors with medical and other assistance on Lesvos, OHCHR said.
Voice of reason
“I think it’s absolutely clear, that you have people who are in distress at sea, people who are on boats that may have capsized, or may have sunk; they are in the water and there is nobody to rescue them,” said UN rights office spokesperson, Liz Throssell.
“That is why we are saying that this trial, and trials like it, are absolutely concerning because they criminalise actions that save people’s lives.”
Speaking to journalists in Geneva, Ms. Throssell noted that those on trial included a Syrian refugee and foreign nationals, such as the Irish-German national, Sean Binder.
The OHCHR official explained that the defendants face charges that include several alleged misdemeanours related to the facilitation of migrant smuggling, and she welcomed the news on Friday that the prosecution had recommended the annulment of some of the accusations.
Cut adrift
Today, there are no civil society rescue teams operating in Greek waters, Ms. Throssell reiterated, despite the fact that 492 migrants have either died or gone missing in the Eastern Mediterranean since 2021, according to the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Similar trials of other rights activists have already taken place in a number of other EU countries including Hungary, Italy and Malta, the OHCHR official continued.
“The fact of saving lives, providing humanitarian help is crucial and it should never be criminalised by any State, and that is why in this particular case we are saying that that the charges against these defendants should be dropped,” she said.
IOM’s Missing Migrants project updates migrant fatalities in the region and has recorded nearly 1,700 deaths and disappearances on the Eastern Mediterranean sea route since 2014, including nearly 500 children.
Many of the victims are known to have come from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Addressing a private meeting of the Council, Roza Otunbayeva reiterated to ambassadors that Taliban decisions including the ban on girls attending high school, preventing women from going to university, and barring them from doing humanitarian work, are all “grave violations of fundamental rights”, according to UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric.
He told reporters at the noon briefing in New York that the Taliban had also “contradicted assurances” given, following their nationwide takeover of Afghanistan, about the role women would play in the country under their fundamentalist rule.
Aid deliveries thwarted
“The Special Representative also outlined the potential negative impact of such decisions, including, most immediately, on the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Afghans in desperate need”, said Mr. Dujarric. “She stressed the need for Council unity in the face of these decisions.”
Following the ban on women from working for non-governmental organisations or other aid sector jobs last month, many NGOs suspended their lifesaving operations, on the grounds that it would be impossible to distribute aid and staff operations, without local women’s participation.
Distributions ‘severely impacted’
The UN aid coordination office (OCHA) in Afghanistan, tweeted on Friday that humanitarian partners were providing winterization support to families there, including heating and cash for fuel and warm clothes as temperatures dip towards -35C, “but distributions have been severely impacted” by the ban on female aid workers.
The UN Spokesperson noted that the Council was also briefed by the Executive Director of UN Children’s Fund UNICEF, “who focused her briefing on the situation of girls and children in Afghanistan.”
Ahead of the meeting, the Security Council members who are signatories and supporters of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda, issued a statement “to express grave concern regarding the critical situation of women and girls in Afghanistan.”
Measures must be immediately reversed
The 11 nations urged the Taliban “to immediately reverse all oppressive measures against women and girls”, adhere to commitments made to the Security Council, respect women and girls’ rights, “and their full, equal and meaningful participation and inclusion across all aspects of society in Afghanistan, from political and economic, to education and public space.”
The statement delivered outside the Council chamber by current president for the month of January, Japanese Ambassador Kimihiro Ishikane, underlined that women are “central and critical” to humanitarian operations and have “unique expertise” to access populations that male colleagues cannot reach.
The WPS group also reaffirmed their strong support for the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA, “not least in their valuable contribution to gender equality”.
The statement reiterated the demand for full, safe and unhindered access for humanitarian actors, “regardless of gender”.
Condemnation of deadly ISIL attack
On Thursday, the Security Council issued a statement condemning “in the strongest terms”, the attack near the Afghan Foreign Affairs ministry on 11 January, which was claimed by the ISIL or Da’esh terrorist group, which news reports – quoting Taliban sources – said resulted in at least 20 deaths, with dozens more wounded.
Council members “underline the need to hold perpetrators, organisers financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism accountable, and bring them to justice.”
News reports said that a suicide attacker blew himself up outside the ministry in Kabul, after he failed to gain access to the building.
Rosemary DiCarlo reiterated the view of the Secretary-General, in reminding that Russia’s invasion of 24 February, was a violation of the UN Charter and international law.
“It has created a humanitarian and human rights catastrophe, traumatized a generation of children, and accelerated the global food and energy crises”, she told ambassadors.
“And yet, this grave damage could pale in comparison with the consequences of a prolonged conflict”.
Deadly holidays
Many Ukrainians spent the Orthodox holiday season in bomb shelters and mourning the loss of loved ones, she said.
At year’s end, Russian forces targeted Dnipro, Kherson, Kirovohrad, and Kyiv – with multiple strikes reported in Kharkiv, Odesa, Lviv, Zhytomyr, and the capital.
By New Year’s Eve all administrative regions were under air raid warnings, continued the peacebuilding chief.
And the attacks continued in January, threatening all remaining civilians in Kherson, Bakhmut and Soledar.
Following the most recent fighting, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, verified 18,096 civilian casualties since the invasion began.
“This total includes 6,952 people killed and 11,144 injured”, said Ms. DiCarlo, adding that “the actual figures are likely considerably higher”.
Attacks on health
Purposeful, systematic targeting of critical civilian infrastructure, including energy and healthcare facilities, has pushed some 5.91 million women and girls to flee internally.
And 745 recorded attacks on healthcare facilities as of 4 January, were a record for any conflict currently taking place.
“Reportedly 15 per cent of facilities are either partially or completely non-functional, and up to 50 per cent in Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv and Kharkiv”, she said.
‘Invisible scars’
“The war is also leaving invisible scars”, she continued, pointing to the long-lasting impacts that the destruction and closing of schools will have on youth.
An estimated 5.7 million students have been directly affected, including 3.6 million shut out of educational institutions early in the conflict.
Citing the World Health Organization (WHO), Ms. DiCarlo said that “nearly a quarter of the population is reportedly at risk of developing a mental health condition because of this war”.
Hundreds of displaced and local children in Ukraine celebrated the new year at Kharkiv’s Spilno Child Spot, run by UNICEF and partners.
Life-saving aid effort
Meanwhile, as of 5 January, humanitarian partners have provided food and critical healthcare support to almost nine million people.
Around 7.3 million have received clean water and hygiene products and over three million uprooted people have received emergency shelter or critical household items.
Since the war began, almost 14 million people have received assistance from over 740 partners, including one million in areas not under Ukrainian Government control.
However, severe access constraints hamper the humanitarian response.
“In line with international humanitarian law, parties must facilitate rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for all civilians in need”, said the senior UN official.
Grave rights violations
Turning to allegations of grave human rights violations, OHCHR has documented over 90 cases of conflict-related sexual violence since last February.
Of those, men have been predominantly affected by torture and ill-treatment in detention, while women and girls in areas under Russian control have been sexually violated, including gang rape.
“It is imperative that all perpetrators of human rights violations are held accountable”, spelled out the senior UN official.
Since May, the International Criminal Court (ICJ) has continued working inside- the country, focusing on the unlawful transfer and deportation of civilian objects and people from Ukraine to Russia, including children.
A doctor takes care of patients at a hospital in Kharkiv, Ukraine.
Black Sea Grain Initiative
Despite challenges, the Black Sea Grain Initiative meanwhile continues to make a difference, including by helping to lower global food prices.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has reported a continued decline of its Food Price Index.
Ms. DiCarlo said that more than 17 million metric tons of food have now been moved under the initiative to some 43 countries, roughly 20 per cent of which is for countries under the World Bank category of low-income or lower-middle-income economies.
The UN also continues to work towards removing remaining obstacles to Russian food and fertilizer exports as “key to keep prices down and mitigate food insecurity”.
Military logic
In closing, the political chief reiterated that there is no sign of an end to the fighting, and that the prevailing logic “is a military one, with very little, if any, room for dialogue right now”.
“But all wars end, and so too will this one”.
“Ukraine, Russia, the world cannot afford for this war to continue”, she underscored, reminding that the Secretary-General is ready to assist the parties to “end this senseless, unjustified conflict”, on the basis of the UN Charter and international law.
In an alert, the agency also explained that 2022 was the eighth consecutive year that global temperatures rose at least 1C above pre-industrial levels, fuelled by ever-rising greenhouse gas concentrations and accumulated heat.
La Niña impact
The cooling effect of the La Niña phenomenon – now in its third year – prevented 2022 from being the warmest ever.
“This cooling impact will be short-lived and will not reverse the long-term warming trend caused by record levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in our atmosphere,” the WMO warned, adding that there is a 60 per cent chance that La Niña will continue until March 2023, followed by “ENSO-neutral” conditions (neither El Niño nor La Niña).
Regardless of La Niña, 2022 was still marked by dramatic weather disasters linked to climate change, from catastrophic flooding in Pakistan, deadly heatwaves in China, Europe, North and South America, and relentless drought and misery for millions in the Horn of Africa.
In late December, severe storms also began ripping across large areas of North America, bringing high winds, heavy snow, flooding and low temperatures.
WMO chief: invest in preparedness
These emergencies have “claimed far too many lives and livelihoods and undermined health, food, energy and water security and infrastructure”, said WMO Secretary-General, Professor Petteri Taalas, who called for all nations to step up preparedness for extreme weather events.
“Today only half of 193 (UN) Members have proper early warning services, which leads to much higher economic and human losses,” the WMO chief explained. “There are also big gaps in basic weather observations in Africa and island states, which has a major negative impact on the quality of weather forecasts.”
Data analysis by the UN agency showed that the average global temperature in 2022 was about 1.15C (34.07F) above pre-industrial (1850-1900) levels. This compares with 1.09C (33.96F) from 2011 to 2020 and indicates that long-term warming shows no signs of stopping.
Scientific approach
“Since the 1980s, each decade has been warmer than the previous one. This is expected to continue,” the UN agency said, adding that the warmest eight years have all been since 2015, with 2016, 2019 and 2020 constituting the top three. “An exceptionally strong El Niño event occurred in 2016, which contributed to record global temperatures,” WMO explained.
To reach its findings, the UN agency collated and compared weather datasets from the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (NASA GISS); the United Kingdom’s Met Office Hadley Centre, and the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit (HadCRUT); the Berkeley Earth group, the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts and its Copernicus Climate Change Service; and the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA).
Millions of meteorological and marine observations were used, including from satellites, said WMO, adding that combining observations with modelled values made it possible to estimate temperatures “at any time and in any place across the globe, even in data-sparse areas such as the polar regions”.
WMO also cautioned against placing too much importance on individual year rankings, as the “differences in temperature between the fourth and eighth warmest year are relatively small”.
Dr. Hans Kluge, head of the World Health Organization for Europe, explained that this is because the two variants circulating in China are already present in European countries, according to data provided by the Chinese authorities.
“We share the current view of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) that the ongoing surge in China is not anticipated to significantly impact the COVID-19 epidemiological situation in the WHO European Region at this time.”
Restrictions ‘not unreasonable’
The WHO senior official acknowledged that China had shared virus sequencing information, but he appealed for more “detailed and regular information”, especially concerning local epidemiology and variants “to better assess the evolving situation”.
Dr Kluge also said that travel restrictions by European countries on visitors from China were “not unreasonable…while we are waiting for more detailed information that is shared through publicly available databases”.
But he said it was important for the precautionary travel measures being introduced by European countries “to be rooted in science, to be proportionate and non-discriminatory”.
Visas halted
The message comes as Chinese embassies suspended issuing new visas for South Koreans and Japanese visitors on Tuesday. The announcement covered tourist, business and some other visa categories.
The move appears to be in response to COVID-19 testing requirements recently imposed by those countries on travellers from China.
A notice posted in Seoul reportedly said the ban would continue until South Korea lifts its “discriminatory entry measures” against China.
At least ten countries in Europe, North America and Asia have announced new virus testing requirements for travellers from China, with officials expressing concern about a lack of adequate information about rapidly spreading virus outbreaks in China.
UNICEF/Bruno Amsellem/Divergence
A three-year-old child at home in Lyon, France, during a COVID-19 lockdown.
Warning against complacency
In two further messages to the WHO European Region, Dr Kluge warned against countries greatly reducing their surveillance capacity for COVID-19.
In the first five weeks of 2022, variant information on 1.2 million cases was submitted as part of weekly surveillance data to the WHO and the ECDC.
However, this declined to about 90,000 cases in the last 5 weeks of the year.
Dr Kluge stressed that countries must build upon the lessons learned over the last three years and be able to anticipate, detect and respond in time to SARS-CoV-2, and any emerging health threat.
XBB.1.5 spreading
He commended European countries, including Denmark, France, Germany and the United Kingdom, that have maintained strong genomic surveillance and pointed out that their recent data has started to indicate the growing presence of the new XBB.1.5 recombinant virus, derived from the Omicron variant, that has already been spreading rapidly across the United States.
The new strain is being “picked up in small, but growing numbers, and we are working to assess its potential impact,” he said. “With many countries grappling with overstretched health systems, shortages in essential medicines and an exhausted health workforce – we cannot afford more pressures on our health systems.”
Finally, Dr Kluge urged countries across Europe and Central Asia to step up efforts to put effective strategies in place to combat the spread of COVID-19 and avoid being complacent.
“My grandma and my grandfather are now washed out in the sea,” says Mario Muschamp, gazing out at the coast near his close-knit Creole community. “You know, their graves are gone. That really hurts.”
This is the reality for the inhabitants of Monkey River, who have watched on, powerless, as their football field, their homes, and even the graves of deceased loved ones, are claimed by the sea.
Man-made activity has been identified by experts as the main cause of the coastal erosion which is devastating the village and causing such deep suffering, notably industrial salt mining and water diversion. The situation has deteriorated to the extent that some members of the community have moved away.
The geotube fightback
Others, however, have decided to stay and fight, and, in the words of local schoolteachers Audra Castellanos, “put Monkey River back on the map”.
Mr. Muschamp is the President of the Monkey River Watershed Association, a community-based organization working to conserve and restore the integrity of the entire Monkey River Watershed, and ensure that it continues to provide a multitude of benefits to local residents and the coastal ecosystem.
To this end, the Monkey River Watershed Association partnered with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to install one hundred and sixty feet of sand filled “geotubes” in front of the most threatened properties.
Residents are teaming up with UNDP to install the geotubes, massive synthetic sandbags that create physical barriers to wave energy and erosion, and take other measures to slow the disintegration of the shoreline.
‘We need climate justice’
“Monkey River Village is one of those coastal communities that we prioritize,” said Leonel Requena, UNDP’s National Coordinator of the GEF Small Grants Programme. “Monkey River’s inhabitants are not responsible for the climate crisis, yet they are the ones that are suffering the greatest loss and damage. What we need is climate justice.”
The story of Monkey River is about a hub of biodiversity where the river meets the sea – but more than that, it is about a community that, like so many others, is joining forces to turn the tide on climate change, with the support of the United Nations.
Since a 2022 United Nations Global Lens video documentary on the community was produced in 2022, yet another home has been claimed by the sea, but the residents who have resolved to protect their village say nothing will wash away their resolve to fight coastal erosion.
“We have been doing our best to try and keep what we have,” said Mr. Muschamp. “I don’t want to see any more graves go to the sea.”
As the sun sets over the Celebes sea, and its orange glow turns the horizon gold, a couple of dozen tourists are on the pier at Budo, a village of 2400 perched on the ocean, 25 kilometres northeast of the regional capital Manado.
They snap photos and marvel at the view; a woman visiting from a nearby town exclaims that, even for the locals, the sun setting on the volcanoes is an extraordinary sight.
However, until a few years ago, the pier – about 300 meters long, crossing a mangrove forest to connect the village to the open sea – was dilapidated and used only by fishers heading out to sea.
But those were different times, explains Hani Lorens Singa, President of the Village Enterprise Association (BUMDES): back then there were far more fish, and no tourists.
Budo, like many coastal villages in North Sulawesi, in far northeastern Indonesia, has traditionally been dependent on small scale fishing, but fish stocks have shrunk, prompting a new focus on tourism as a way of creating livelihoods.
A programme set up by the International Labour Organization (ILO, a UN agency), is helping the rural community of Budo, and four other villages, to diversify into sustainable tourism, providing skills to local entrepreneurs, mostly women.
The pier has been renovated and painted, with support from the government, and benches and wooden huts have been added for the convenience of tourists, who pay an entrance fee of 10,000 Rupiahs ($0.65), to walk along it and enjoy the view.
Visitors can buy local delicacies and drinks at the ticket counter, and the orders are prepared and delivered to the pier by available members of the village association. “We share the work, we share the income – this is tourism at a human scale”, says Mr. Lorens Singa.
Since the renovation, a fifth of the visitors spend more, ordering local delicacies and drinks at the ticket counter with the occasional visitor also staying the night.
Thanks to support from ILO and its partners, Budo has increased its income from tourism fivefold and now appears on the tourist trail: the village was the winner of the digital marketing category at the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy’s Top 50 Village Tourism Award this year.
Despite the improvements, a lot still remains to be done, and Mr. Lorens Singa is not complacent. “We need to offer more reasons for people to stay for a meal or overnight,” he insists.
M. Gaspar / UNIC Jakarta
The Indonesian government supplied wooden buildings on top of or next to villagers’ houses in Marinsow
Homestays, hashtags, and home cooking
About an hour’s drive east of Budo, the inhabitants of Marinsow have taken a crash course in the bed and breakfast business, a steep learning curve for many of them.
“Many of the entrepreneurs we work with have never been tourists themselves, so without training, it is not obvious for them to know what tourists expect,” says Mary Kent, the ILO Chief Technical Adviser for the project.
Marinsow is in a mining region, several kilometres away from Indonesia’s pristine beaches, so tourists previously had no reason to stop by. But, since Marinsow was designated as a “priority tours destination” by the Government, the village has received a significant financial boost, aimed at diversifying the economy.
More than 50 villagers received small wooden bungalows on their plots to start bed and breakfast businesses, or homestays, as they are known in Indonesia. ILO, with local partners Klabat University and the Manado State Polytechnic, is helping to teach local people the skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur, such as bookkeeping, cost calculation and marketing, hospitality, and tourism.
M. Gaspar / UNIC Jakarta
Yeni Alelo at her homestay in Marinsow, Indonesia
“I was very surprised to learn that tourists prefer their sheet white and a diversity of meals,” says Yeni Alelo. Ms. Alelo and the other participants have also learned the importance of using hashtags in social media marketing posts, so that tourists looking for a place to stay in the area find them more easily.
“The women’s small businesses are financed through microfinance credits, and they have been able to make all the payments on time,” says Gabriel Tamasengge, the village’s mayor. “We are very proud of our women, of the business acumen we never knew they had.”
The investment in skills for marketing and quality control in these communities is paying off, with about half of the few hundred tourists spending the night in Marinsow last year coming from outside the province, including an increasing number from abroad.
Back in Budo, there is interest in building more homestays, and increasing overnight stays, perhaps by creating a marketing campaign to convince foreign tourists from nearby world-class diving destinations within the Bunaken Marine Park to hop over for an evening meal and make a visit to a typical village, rather than sticking to the usual mass tourism destinations. The Village Enterprise Association also plans to offer cooking and handicraft classes, as well as fishing trips.
“Our task now is to make sure that when the funding from ILO and the government stops, we will have a fully formed business that allows us to stand completely on our own feet,” says Mr. Lorens Singa. “We had the vision, and we have the commitment – I am confident we will succeed.”
M. Gaspar / UNIC Jakarta
Members of the Budo tourism association prepare local delicacies for tourists.
In a statement released on Friday, Mr. Türk said that the decision by the authorities to investigate the deaths was encouraging, but he added that it should be “prompt, thorough, impartial and transparent”. “I have sent a letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs underlining this exact message”, declared the High Commissioner. “The victims and their loved ones are owed no less.”
The 28 bodies were found in the north-western town of Nouna, in the Kossi Province, in the Boucle du Mouhoun region. According to local sources, the victims, who were all men, were killed when members of the Volontaires pour la Défense de la Patrie (VDP), armed auxiliaries to the defence and security forces, descended on the town, in apparent retaliation for an earlier attack on the group’s military base the previous night by suspected members of the Jamāʿat nuṣrat al-islām wal-muslimīn (JNIM) armed group.
Burkina Faso has been in the grip of political instability for several years, and its people have suffered a series of deadly terrorist attacks. The country’s severe humanitarian crisis has seen more than a million people displaced from their homes, victims of ongoing conflict and poverty.
In launching its investigation on 2 January, the Burkina Faso transitional government declared that it is “fundamentally opposed to any form of abuse or human rights violations on any grounds” and reiterated its commitment to protect all civilians without any distinction.
Mr. Türk has previously raised concerns directly with the authorities regarding the potential human rights risks linked to recruitment, arming and deployment of auxiliaries in Burkina Faso.
The statement noted that there is an urgent need to strengthen their vetting procedures, pre-deployment training on international human rights and humanitarian law, their effective supervision by the security and defence forces and to ensure inclusion and transparency during their recruitment.
“The release of political prisoners in Myanmar is not only a relief to those unfairly detained, but also their families”, OHCHR Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence told journalists in Geneva.
“Importantly, however, we take this opportunity to call for the release of the thousands of others who remain in detention for opposing military rule”.
Tortured in prison
To mark the country’s 75th anniversary of independence, the military junta which seized power nearly two years ago, announced this week that it would free some 7,000 prisoners.
However, it did not specify whether those jailed as part of its brutal crackdown on dissent would be included.
Citing credible sources, the OHCHR spokesperson said that the military regime has incarcerated some 300 political prisoners.
“Even as news emerged about the amnesty to mark the country’s independence day, we continued to receive reports of people being detained for opposing military rule, many of whom have been subjected to torture and ill-treatment”, he said.
Freedom during crackdown
Since the military coup of 1 February 2021, nearly 17,000 people have been arrested and over 13,000 remain in detention, he said.
The local monitoring group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners also believes that 300 political prisoners had been released – having identified 223, while working to verify the others.
In welcoming the amnesty, the UN official pointed out that on the very day that they were released, another 22 political prisoners were detained.
“Such detentions are not only intended to silence the junta’s critics, but are also designed to instil fear”, he stated.
Freedom call
As this year marks the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, has called for an end to arbitrary detention once and for all.
Regarding human rights as “the force that come in and unify us”, bringing everyone “back to the fundamentals of who we are, of human dignity and to what connects us all with each other”, he argued that one person’s pain ultimately hurts everyone.
The UN rights chief called on governments and all detaining authorities globally to put the milestone Declaration into action by granting an amnesty, pardon or by simply releasing all those detained for exercising their rights.
“The pathway out of Myanmar’s crisis is not by locking people up – it is by allowing them to freely, fully, and effectively participate in political life”, underscored Mr. Laurence.
Call for release of Aung San Suu Kyi
Turning to former democratically elected leader of Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi’s further sentencing earlier in the week, OHCHR appealed for her immediate release and for the arbitrary detention of individuals to cease.
On Tuesday, the UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq said that Secretary-General António Guterres had also expressed his “deep concern” at the latest verdicts and sentencing of Aung San Suu Kyi, “and reiterates his calls for her immediate release and that of President Wyn Myint and of all arbitrarily detained prisoners in Myanmar.”
Mr. Laurence told journalists in Geneva that OHCHR was in constant engagement with the authorities, and that the High Commissioner would be releasing a new report soon on Myanmar.
In a detailed statement, more than two dozen UN-appointed independent human rights experts – including representatives from three different working groups and multiple Special Rapporteurs – called out chief executives by name, saying that the companies they lead “must urgently address posts and activities that advocate hatred, and constitute incitement to discrimination, in line with international standards for freedom of expression.”
Time to change
They said the new tech billionaire owner of Twitter, Elon Musk, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai, who heads Google’s parent company Alphabet, Apple’s Tim Cook, “and CEOs of other social media platforms”, should “centre human rights, racial justice, accountability, transparency, corporate social responsibility and ethics, in their business model.”
They reminded that being accountable as businesses for racial justice and human rights, “is a core social responsibility, advising that “respecting human rights is in the long-term interest of these companies, and their shareholders.”
“We urge all CEOs and leaders of social media to fully assume their responsibility to respect human rights and address racial hatred.”
As evidence of the corporate failure to get a grip on hate speech, the Human Rights Council-appointed independent experts pointed to a “sharp increase in the use of the racist ‘N’ word on Twitter”, following its recent acquisition by Tesla boss Elon Musk.
This showed the urgent need for social media companies to be more accountable “over the expression of hatred towards people of African descent, they argued.
Soon after Mr. Musk took over, the Network Contagion Research Institute of Rutgers University in the US, highlighted that the use of the N-word on the platform increased by almost 500 per cent within a 12-hour period, compared to the previous average, the experts said.
There has been a sharp increase in the use of hate speech on Twitter after its recent acquisition.
Uphold human rights
“Although Twitter advised this was based on a trolling campaign and that there is no place for hatred, the expression of hatred against people of African descent is deeply concerning and merits an urgent response centred on human rights.”
They added that hate speech, “advocacy of national, racial and religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination and violence, as well as racism on social media, are not just a concern for Twitter but also for other social media giants such as Meta”, the company formerly known as Facebook.
The experts said although some companies claimed not to allow hate speech, there was a clear gap between stated policies, and enforcement.
Rampant disinformation
“This is particularly salient in the approval of inflammatory ads, electoral disinformation on Facebook, and content that talks of conspiracy theories. Research from Global Witness and SumOfUs recently revealed how Meta is unable to block certain advertisements”, the experts state.
Meta “took a significant step with the establishment of an oversight board in 2020”, in response to complaints, they said, noting that the “group of experts from diverse areas of expertise is in place to ‘promote free expression by making principled, independent decisions regarding content on Facebook and Instagram and by issuing recommendations on the relevant Facebook Company Content policy’”.
Long-term oversight
The experts acknowledged that the board had been well funded, received around two million appeals regarding content, and made a number of recommendations and decisions.
“However, the effectiveness of the Oversight Board can only be seen over a long-time horizon and will require continued commitment at the highest levels” to reviewing and modifying tools to combat racial hatred online, the experts said.
“There is a risk of arbitrariness and profit interests getting in the way of how social media platforms monitor and regulate themselves”, they added.
Unsplash/Dan Edge
Hate speech, whether online or offline, poses a threat to democracy and human rights.
Free speech, not a ‘free pass’
They pointed out that High Commissioner Volker Türk who heads up OHCHR, had recently penned an open letter to Twitter CEO Elon Musk, emphasizing that free speech did not mean “a free pass to spread harmful disinformation that results in real world harms.
“As he underlined, human rights law is clear – freedom of expression stops at hatred that incites discrimination, hostility or violence. We see too often that the spread of hatred and hate speech against people of African descent, and other groups, not only undermines their rights but creates major fissures in societies. These are increasingly difficult to overcome and a source of various forms of destabilisation within countries.”
‘Race-based traumatic stress’
The independent experts said that allowing and tolerating incitement to hatred and expression, or advocacy of hatred against people of African descent and other marginalized groups, “not only encourages the perpetrators, but also constitutes a continuous source of chronic race-based traumatic stress and trauma.”
The presence of racial hatred further undermines confidence on the part of those impacted, in using social media and seeking justice.
“It is especially alarming” considering that so many youngsters “live a significant part of their lives” online, they added.
Social media at a crossroads
“Content moderation can only address a part of what happens in cyber space but does not take into account the intended and unintended effects in society. There are deeper issues about advocacy of racial hatred, lack of accountability for abuses, and an absence of efforts to promote tolerance.
“If addressed, these can be strong determining factors in building a positive future both online and offline.”
Acknowledging the power for good that social media represents if put to positive use, the experts said that it has “a major role to prevent further rifts, so that racial justice and human rights can be upheld, to build less racist, less devisive, more tolerant, just and equitable societies.”
