Despite being “rich with human and natural resources and enormous untapped economic and social potential,” General Assembly President Abdulla Shahid told the high-level The Africa We Want dialogue that the continent “still faces challenges” in realizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Hard-won struggles
Africa has undergone a dramatic transformation since the end of the colonial era, with many countries struggling post-independence to secure socio-economic development, peace and security.
“Africa today is a region that has adopted and pursued a transformational agenda towards sustainable development, and is chartering a path towards prosperity, unity, peace, and integration,” said the senior UN official.
Noting its commitments throughout the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), Agenda 2063, and the SDGs, he said, “we are moving in the right direction, but we still need to do more”.
Challenges
Against the 2021 targets of Agenda 2063, Africa as a whole is only 51 per cent on track, according to a report issued in February.
While facing world challenges, such as climate change, COVID-19, rising fuel prices, and inequality, Africa has shown underlying vulnerabilities.
“Yet, progress remains possible,” Mr. Shahid affirmed, underscoring the importance of investing in people.
Ambition required
Describing Africa’s sustainable development as a “priority” for the UN and international community, he said collective action had often fallen short on delivery.
The Assembly President urged everyone to recommit to sustainable development on the continent, assess where action is lacking, foster progress, and fulfil existing commitments while generating new ones “that reflect our ever-changing world”.
“With resolve, continued commitment, perseverance and support from the international community and the UN system,” The Africa We Want could become a reality, he concluded.
Turn triple crises into an opportunity
Speaking on behalf of the Secretary-General, his deputy, Amina Mohammed confirmed that the UN shares the AU’s vision of a continent shaped by its own narrative, informed by its own citizens, and representing a dynamic force on the world stage.
However, the pandemic, climate change and the war in Ukraine have placed at risk previous development gains.
She outlined measures to tackle these challenges, maintaining that Africa’s goals are still within reach.
To get there however, mindsets must change and the triple crisis must be turned into an opportunity.
UN Photo/Mark Garten
Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed addresses the High-level Dialogue on
Silver lining
Collen Kelapile, President of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and co-organizer of the session, called it “both timely and relevant”.
He advocated for “collective action and international solidarity to address the looming threat of food insecurity and famine…[and] the impacts of the Ukraine war on energy and the economy”.
“The silver lining here is that there is an unprecedented opportunity for Africa to step up to these challenges, speed up its industrialization and economic diversification, and integrate itself further upstream in global supply chains through increased value addition at source,” spelled out the ECOSOC chief.
Support the agendas
For the first time in a generation, Africa has displayed the “collective decisive measures and leadership” required, to take its destiny in its own hands, he continued.
“As we are drawing nearer to the end of Agenda 2063’s First 10-Year Implementation Plan 2013-2023, this is the right moment to have this forward-looking dialogue”.
The “mutually reinforcing and complementary” agendas bear testimony to the new narrative on Africa’s development
“I urge African Member States to accelerate implementation of both agendas, and to continue to show leadership, political will and vision as we move towards the target deadline of 2030 and beyond,” said Mr. Kelapile.
Financing Africa’s Development
Noting that external financing, such as Official Development Assistance (ODA), has “consistently fallen short of commitments,” he described domestic resources as “key” to development financing.
The question is how to “create and preserve the policy space needed” to reform and transform Africa’s “still untapped potential”.
“As African policymakers, we have a critical role to play in implementing and advocating for reforms that will strengthen Africa’s institutions and governance mechanisms, which will in turn improve its tax and revenue collection capacity and rationalize the expenditures in a transparent and accountable way”.
Vulnerable to climate change
He pointed out that while Africa has only contributed around 3.8 per cent to global carbon emissions, it is extremely vulnerable to global warming manifested through extreme weather, heatwaves, droughts, crop failures and hunger.
It also leads to further pressures in accessing resources, which result in vicious cycles of conflict on the continent and negative spill over to the rest of the world.
Dubbed the “African COP,” the next UN climate conference, COP27, set for Egypt in November is “a critical opportunity to address this imbalance,” said Mr. Kelapile.
It will provide opportunities to invest in renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, efficient low-carbon transportation, digital transformations and climate resilient crops to break Africa’s dependence on food imports.
Empowering women and youth
Noting that by investing in human capital, every African can “earn a fair income, live a healthy life, and contribute to society,” he encouraged the participants to “harness its demographic dividend” and empower the region’s youth and women.
Investing in women and youth will “put the continent on track to realize the 2030 Agenda and its SDGs, as well as the aspirations and targets espoused in Agenda 2063,” said Mr. Kelapile.
In closing, he welcomed initiatives of the AU, UN, international and regional financial institutions and others to scale up their support for transformative change in Africa.
“Polarization has been deepening over recent months and there are troubling indications that an anti-rights movement is gaining ground. With local and regional elections due in October, I am concerned that hate speech, discrimination and violence could further increase,” she said.
Ms. Bachelet recalled that although Peru already has “important tools” in place to counter any regression in upholding human rights, efforts are needed to ensure these laws, policies and protocols are implemented.
Act with generosity
The way forward requires different sectors of society coming together for an inclusive national dialogue that represents the country’s rich diversity.
“To this end, I urge all political parties to act with what I call generosity, and with a sense of political responsibility, to address the challenges that the country faces. State institutions that are strong, transparent, accountable and ready to root out corruption are fundamental for this process,” she said.
Ms. Bachelet met with a wide swath of society during her visit, including the President and members of his cabinet, lawmakers, and representatives from the justice system, civil society, the private sector, indigenous communities and victims of human rights violations.
The South American country is still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, and Ms. Bachelet addressed its devastating impacts. Peru had the world’s highest per capita death rate, with some 213,845 people succumbing to the disease.
“The pandemic laid bare the deep socio-economic divisions in Peruvian society, and its effects will reverberate for years,” she said, noting that rural areas, impoverished people, and marginalised and discriminated groups were among those particularly affected.
Extend protection measures
Rising food and fuel prices, stemming from the war in Ukraine, are also having an impact on recovery in a country where some 15.5 million people are considered to be food insecure.
As the planting season approaches, the High Commissioner feared this “troubling situation” could worsen due to fertilizer shortages.
“I have raised with all my interlocutors that socio-economic protection measures should be extended and be focused on generating tangible improvements for the most marginalised. Supporting small-scale agriculture and prioritizing efforts to help people move from the informal labour market are clear ways to build back better,” she said.
UN Human Rights Chief Michelle Bachelet (left) is welcomed by Peruvian Foreign Minister César Landa (centre) and Justice Minister Félix Chero.
Allies against impunity
Ms. Bachelet also focused on issues affecting indigenous peoples and human rights defenders, who are on the frontline when it comes to the impact of threats such as climate change, illegal mining, illegal logging, and drug trafficking, especially in the Amazon region.
“They should be seen as allies in efforts to tackle the impunity of criminal groups,” she said, adding that “indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation are also affected by illicit activities.”
Although mining and other extractive industries have been central to Peru’s economy for centuries, Ms. Bachelet said their “development promises” have often failed to benefit affected communities, especially indigenous peoples and rural populations.
“Agreements reached to address social discontent provoked by extractive and other projects should be based on prior consultation, ensure protection for underlying rights to land and resources, incorporate social and environmental safeguards and mitigate any negative impacts,” she said.
The private sector also has an important role to play through the development of voluntary and mandatory measures to implement corporate due diligence.
“Private sector representatives whom I met stressed to me their commitment to advance the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. I also encourage initiatives to move towards renewable and green energy,” she added.
Still seeking justice
The High Commissioner spoke about her meetings with people who suffered violations, including a woman who was tricked and forcibly sterilized. Decades later, she is still seeking justice.
“She was one of thousands of women and men – mostly rural, poor and Quechua-speaking – who experienced this violation,” she said.
The High Commissioner’s visit coincided with the 30th anniversary of the “horrific” Tarata bombing by the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) guerilla group, which resulted in the deaths of 25 people, and the La Canuta massacre, in which nine students and a university professor were abducted and killed by a military death squad.
“Coming to terms with Peru’s period of violence from 1980 to 2000 is vital to overcome key challenges of today, including current levels of political and social polarization,” she stated.
“Peru’s human rights challenges are clear, as we have heard over the past two days. Based on the discussions I have had, I am convinced that they can be overcome and a way to a more inclusive future found. It is important to not lose hope.”
The deadly attack in the Zakho district, took place close to the border with Türkiye.
According to news reports, Iraqi State media claimed that Turkish forces had been responsible for the shelling – a claim refuted by the Turkish Government.
Among the dead was a one-year-old, according to a statement released by the Kurdish health minister, who said the victims had all died before they could reach a hospital.
UNAMI expressed its deepest condolences to the families of the victims and wished the injured a speedy recovery.
Civilians suffer again
“Civilians are once again suffering the indiscriminate effects of explosive weapons. Under international law, attacks must not be directed at the civilian population”, said the UNAMI statement.
“UNAMI therefore calls for a thorough investigation to determine the circumstances surrounding the attack and emphasizes that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Iraq must be respected at all times.”
Turkish forces are engaged in military activity in the area, as part of Government counter-terrorism operations against outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants, and the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, both of which are seen by Ankara as terrorist groups. The PKK began military action against Türkiye in the mid-1980s.
The ‘new normal’?
When the UN Special Representative in Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert briefed the Security Council in May, she warned of the dangers of rising violence, UNAMI noted.
“What are we looking at? Shelling and missiles as the new normal for Iraq? This is a very risky way to advance interests, and one which further weakens the State of Iraq”, she told ambassadors.
UNAMI urged all parties engaged in military operations in the region, to cease any violations against civilians, without delay.
“Sri Lanka’s economic collapse needs immediate global attention, not just from humanitarian agencies, but from international financial institutions, private lenders and other countries who must come to the country’s aid,” they said in statement.
The nine experts expressed alarm over record high inflation, rising commodity prices, power shortages, a crippling fuel crisis and economic collapse, as the country grapples with unprecedented political turmoil.
Prolonged crisis
On Wednesday, lawmakers elected six-time Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as Sri Lanka’s new President.
Former leader Gotabaya Rajapaksa stepped down last week after fleeing the country as protestors stormed key government buildings in the capital, Colombo.
Sri Lanka has been rocked by mass protests which erupted in March in response to shortages of food, fuel, medicines, and other essential items.
The situation was compounded by economic reforms such as deep tax cuts and servicing debt payments, which ate into the country’s foreign exchange reserves.
Structural gaps exposed
The crisis has had a serious impact on human rights, the experts said. Prolonged disrupted access to food and healthcare, has severely affected people with illnesses, pregnant women and lactating mothers who are in serious need of life-assistance.
“Time and again, we have seen the grave systemic repercussions a debt crisis has had on countries, exposing deep structural gaps of the global financial system, and affecting the implementation of human rights,” said Attiya Waris, UN independent expert on foreign debt and human rights.
In April, UN experts urged the government to guarantee the fundamental rights of peaceful assembly and expression during peaceful protests, as thousands gathered in front of the President’s office demanding his resignation over corruption and mishandling of the economic crisis.
UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet condemned the violence that broke out across the country, resulting in at least seven deaths.
Human rights approach
As foreign reserves dried up, Sri Lanka defaulted on its $51 billion foreign debt in May. The government took steps to restructure the debt with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which in June noted that significant progress had been made.
“Any response towards mitigating the economic crisis should have human rights at its core, including in the context of negotiation with the IMF,” said Ms. Waris.
The issue of Sri Lanka’s rising institutional debt had been flagged in a report issued following an expert visit in 2019.
The report found that debt repayments were the country’s largest expenditure, and highlighted the need for complementary alternatives and pursuit of less harmful policies.
Inflation hit a record high of 54.6 per cent this month, while food inflation rose to 81 per cent.
The experts said the “snowballing economic and debt crisis” was deepened by the government’s hasty and botched agricultural transition, adding that the World Food Programme (WFP) has launched an emergency response as nearly 62,000 citizens are in need of urgent assistance.
The experts who issued the statement receive their mandates from the UN Human Rights Council, which is based in Geneva.
They operate in their individual capacity and are neither UN staff, nor are they paid for their work.
ROME, Jul 20 (IPS) – Interview with Roberto Savio by Sebastián Do Rosario and Federico LarsenFor years, Russia’s relations with the European Union and the United States have been one of the main areas of conflict in the media. Washington and Brussels accuse Moscow of manipulation and disinformation and, after the invasion of Ukraine, decided to close their media outlets to Russian companies.
Excerpts from the Q&A:
Q: What do you think about the way this issue has been handled and what repercussions could it have on the management of the media, especially non-mainstream media such as Inter Press Service (IPS) or OtherNews?
A: Information has always been used by power, both economic and political. Information is, by definition, top-down. Whoever transmits it, whether in print form in newspapers and magazines, or in electronic form on radio and TV, sends it to an audience that cannot intervene in the process. That is why power has always tried to use it.
The Gutenberg era represented by this phenomenon lasted six centuries. Communication, which is a more recent phenomenon and which until now has only been possible with the Internet, is different. Communication is horizontal: I am a receiver, but I can also be a sender. There, power has much more power.
The media that provide information are closer and closer to power, they are no longer a business, and every year they are less and less powerful. And politics today is increasingly oriented towards social media. The most recent example was former US President Donald Trump, who had 80 million followers with Twitter (during his tenure at the White House) and completely gave up control of the media. (Trump was permanently banned from twitter in January 2021, right after he supported the attack on the capitol. So, Trump doesn’t actually have any twitter followers now.).
It must be added, however, that the Internet has been captured by the market, which has eliminated the horizontality we all hailed in the beginning. Today we have moved from the era of Gutenberg to the era of Zuckerberg, and we users are data, not people.
This is of great importance for young people, who today find themselves involved in vertically created turmoil, brought about by search engines, which divide users into affinity groups, thus eliminating dialogue, because when someone from part A meets someone from part B, they clash, end up insulting each other, without listening or sharing. And search engines, in order to keep the user, prioritise what generates the most impact, so that the strangest news ends up taking precedence.
The extreme polarisation of America would not have been possible without social media. Newspapers increasingly focus on events and abandon processes, and international relations cannot be understood without analysing the process in which events take place.
In Nairobi in 1973 there were 75 foreign correspondents; today there are three. No European TV has correspondents in Africa. It is therefore easy for a government to decide to expel correspondents, but it is almost impossible to shut down social networks, even if autocratic governments try to do so. That is why the Russian public knows little about the reality of the war.
But if someone is determined, they can always find a way to overcome censorship, even if it is a skill of the young, the old are not on the Internet and still rely on traditional media.
In Italy, the main daily newspaper, Il Corriere della Sera, had the front page for forty days with a nine-column headline dedicated to Ukraine. This was followed by the first twenty pages, all dedicated to Ukraine. The rest of the world had disappeared. And the same happened with most of the European media.
Only with the French elections were newspapers forced to give significant space to Macron and not Zelensky. In this respect, representatives of the quality American press, such as the Washington Post, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, have been more balanced. Of course, the longer the war goes on, the more the repetition of events in the media becomes insufficient.
But the European press, like Europe itself, has sided with NATO, and with little argument. In Russia, of course, the press has been an amplifier for the government. The US media, for its part, often at odds with the government on domestic and national issues, tends to support the official foreign policy position. Factors such as national identity, nationalism and a lack of knowledge of international realities in newsrooms come into play.
It was surprising to see the European press become a megaphone of NATO positions. Putin was demonized as was Hitler, and Zelensky praised as a Greek hero. The Russians are portrayed as barbarians killing Minos. There has never been any negative news about Ukrainians, when in war violence and dereliction of ethics are inevitable and unfortunately widespread.
It is as if the Cold War has never ended, and we are ready to accept an escalation that can become scorching hot. GDP has contracted, the cost of living is rising, inflation is on the rise, and so far, there has been no reaction. This is really surprising.
For OtherNews, which is a news service on global issues, it was a very complex challenge. OtherNews represents a new design. The idea is that the non-profit association is owned by the readers, who can become members by paying a modest annual fee of 50 euros.
They elect the board of directors and discuss the editorial line, thus guaranteeing full independence and a pluralistic and inclusive line. There are 12,000 readers, in 82 countries around the world: academics, international civil servants, global civil society activists, etc.
Q: How would you define the role of the media in covering the conflict between Ukraine and Russia?
A: The war in Ukraine is exclusively an affair of the global North. The global South is only a victim of the increase in food, energy and transport. In Africa it has reached 45% of the population. Articles from the North were criticised by readers from the South and vice versa.
OtherNews lost almost 300 readers, almost all from the North, for publishing articles that criticised or questioned the war. I believe that this North-South divide will increase with the explosion of the multipolar world, as the values on which multilateralism was based are disappearing.
An ‘active non-alignment’ could be recreated, which the press in Europe and the US will struggle to understand. The West still believes it is the centre of the world, the United States in particular.
But today, mainly because of the need to prioritise national interests over international cooperation, a path opened by (former President Ronald) Reagan and (former British Prime Minister Margaret) Thatcher in 1981, we have moved from a multilateral to a multipolar world. In the Bush junior era, neo-conservatives preached the arrival of an American century, that the US should remain the dominant power. Since then, the US has lost in every conflict it has been involved in, from Iraq to Afghanistan.
And Trump took the logic of the end of multilateralism to the extreme, advising all countries to put their own interests first. Today the result is that the multipolar world is not based on the idea of international cooperation for peace and development, but on the most brutal competition.
And Biden now wants to revive multilateralism. But it is too late. Biden will lose the mid-term elections in November and become a lame duck, with a Congress of Trumpist Republicans vetoing everything. And in 2024 Trump is likely to return, and this whole NATO boom will go into deep crisis. But until November, if the war does not escalate and remain as it is, the European press will basically keep the war helmet on.
Q: After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the identity of the international blocs seems to have reconfigured: on the one hand, the United States and the European Union, which defend the liberal tradition, have drawn a very wide dividing line, at home and abroad, between ‘pro-Russian’ and ‘pro-democratic’; on the other hand, Russia, China and their allies are considered ‘illiberal’. What do you think of this construction and what can it lead to in the future?
A: This vision of a world divided into two blocs, China and Russia on one side and liberal democracies, Europe and the United States, on the other, is an easy illusion to see. In this multipolar world, countries stand alone.
A good example is Turkey, which is part of NATO, but does not participate in the embargo against Russia and is very close to China. Or India, which continues to buy Russian arms, is on China’s New Silk Road, but does not want any problems with the US. Indonesia, which has always been a loyal US ally, continues to maintain Putin’s participation in G20 despite US protests.
And also in Europe: Hungary and Poland are openly defying Brussels, splitting into a pro-NATO Poland and a pro-Russia Hungary. Saudi Arabia, Washington’s great ally, ignores Biden’s request to increase oil production, despite having been invited to the summit of democratic countries convened by Biden. This homogeneous bloc of liberal countries is a good marketing slogan, but it crumbles at the slightest analysis.
Q: How do you see the impact of US domestic political polarisation on the international scene? Why?
A: The Cold War was a confrontation between two political and ideological visions that clashed in a proxy war. America is no longer Kennedy’s America and it is no longer Obama’s America. It is a country where political polarisation has reached unprecedented extremes. In 1980, 12% of Democrats and 15% of Republicans told the Pew Institute that they would not want their daughter to marry a man of the other party. Today it is 91% of Democrats and 96% of Republicans.
And the US Supreme Court is already part of this polarisation. 72% of Republicans believe Trump was a victim of electoral fraud. And the crowd that stormed the Capitol is described by the Republican Party as a ‘display of political opinion’. Is this the exemplary leader of democracy’s fight against the world’s dictators? And we are only at the beginning of a process of radicalisation.
Right-wing states, with the endorsement of the Supreme Court, are banning abortion, reducing social protections, minority voting power and changing schoolbooks. With the return of Trump, or Trumpism, in two years the coexistence between the two camps will become even more difficult and few will see America as the beacon of the free world. And that won’t matter much to Trump either.
Q: What lessons do you see for Latin America, both politically and economically, after Donald Trump’s four years in office? And for Europe?
A: My opinion is that there will be great chaos in international relations, with a growing power struggle between the United States and China, with Russia, which we had the intelligence to push into Beijing’s arms. Of course, this struggle will be disguised as something political, but in reality, it will be a pure struggle for economic and military hegemony.
It is a fight that the US cannot win. And China is a self-referential country that has never left its borders and has built walls to keep the enemy out. While the US has exploited its soft power, its music, food, clothing, sports and lifestyle, China has little interest in this kind of imperialism.
I have been going to China since 1958 and have always been struck by how little they care to make a foreigner understand Chinese culture. But there are tens of thousands of Chinese students studying abroad, while the same cannot be said of Americans. The two countries are two big islands, which consider themselves surrounded by inferior nations.
Latin America has always been considered a second-rate region by the US, despite many declarations, and I doubt that China sees the region beyond its raw materials and Latin Americans beyond its buyers.
My opinion, especially in light of Trump’s experience, is that Latin America should adopt a policy of active non-alignment, declaring that it will not get involved in a proxy war that is not in its interest, and that it will do exactly what the multipolar dynamic advises: put its interests as a region first.
This would give it greater consideration and weight in international negotiations, and a clear advantage in a world divided by the New Cold War that is brewing. A war that, unlike the current NATO war against Russia, cannot be military, because it would mean the destruction of the planet. Of course, history and the present do not help to have great faith in the intelligence of power.
The big problem is that Latin America continues to be a continent divided by the inability to leave behind the experience of its ancestors. It is the most homogeneous region in the world, much more so than Asia and Africa, and in some ways more so than Europe and the United States, since the latter are experiencing a real disintegration.
However, the Latin American integration process has been an optical illusion. Latin America is a region of permanent political experimentation, which has stifled any economic logic due to the rivalry between successive presidents, between whom there is a constant change of compass.
I fear that instead of putting up a united front in the face of the next cold war, they will allow themselves to be bought off individually, convinced that they are doing what is best for their country. The only thing that can change the situation is a great popular movement. But this has always been directed at global issues, such as women or the environment, and of course at national issues: never at regional issues.
And in the press, the issue of integration has at best been relegated to its bureaucratic aspects, to the various bodies that have sprung up and failed in modern times. So, in my opinion, I don’t think we have learnt a real lesson from what has happened in the world since the fall of the Berlin Wall to express an inclusive regional policy, with a strong identity, and which places us as important players in the inter-national arena of this century.
Sebastián Do Rosario and Federico Larsen are researchers at the Institute for International Relations of Mar del Plata, Argentina. The interview was first published in the newsletter of the Institute.
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 20 (IPS) – The French writer and philosopher Voltaire (1694-1778), once famously remarked: “I disagree with what you have to say, but I will defend unto death, your right to utter them.”
But that political axiom hardly applies to multiple governments in Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America—including Greece, UK, Thailand, Hong Kong, India, Myanmar, Chile, France, Democratic Republic of Congo and Cyprus – where the right to protest, along with freedom of speech, are increasingly in jeopardy.
The government clamp down– on free speech and right to protest– has also taken place in Sudan, Belarus, Turkey and Colombia.
The London-based human rights organization, Amnesty International (AI), says protesters across the globe are facing a potent mix of pushbacks, with a growing number of laws and other measures to restrict the right to protest; the misuse of force, the expansion of unlawful mass and targeted surveillance; internet shutdowns and online censorship; and abuse and stigmatization.
AI says the right to protest is “under unprecedented and growing threat across all regions of the world”, as the organization launched a new global campaign to confront states’ widening and intensifying efforts to erode this fundamental human right.
According to AI, “from Russia to Sri Lanka, France to Senegal, and Iran to Nicaragua, state authorities are implementing an expanding array of measures to suppress organized dissent.”
Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, said that in recent years “we have seen some of the biggest protest mobilizations for decades”.
She pointed out that Black Lives Matter, MeToo, and the climate change movements have inspired millions the world over to take to the streets and online to demand racial and climate justice, equity and livelihoods, and an end to gender violence and discrimination.
Elsewhere, she said, people have stood up in their thousands against police violence and killings, state repression and oppression.
Asked for a response, Mandeep S. Tiwana, Chief Programmes Officer at CIVICUS, the global civil society alliance, told IPS major political transformations in history have been catalysed through protest.
“Sustained mass mobilisations have resulted in significant rights victories including expansion of women’s right to vote, decolonization in the Global South, passing of essential civil rights laws, dismantling of military dictatorships, victory over apartheid, legalisation of same-sex marriage, recognition of the climate emergency and much more,” he said.
“Exercise of the right to peaceful protest is powerful check on high level corruption, abuse by the powerful and authoritarianism. Yet, because of this it remains a much abused and much reviled by right by anti-democratic forces,” declared Tiwana.
Over the past year, according to the latest CIVICUS Monitor, civil society across the world has faced a variety of legal and extra-legal restrictions as captured in the Monitor.
The CIVICUS Monitor currently rates 39 countries and territories as Open, 41 rated as Narrowed, 42 rated as Obstructed, 50 rated as Repressed and 25 rated as Closed.
Andreas Bummel, Executive Director, Democracy Without Borders, told IPS the ability to express dissent and discontent through peaceful protest is a fundamental human right and a key component of democracy.
“Restricting and denying this democratic right is plain wrong. This new campaign is important and comes at the right time,” he said.
Spelling out the outcomes of the recently-concluded 50th Session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, the US State Department said the United States co-sponsored a resolution on “the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of peaceful protests”.
This resolution urged member states “to facilitate peaceful protests by providing protesters with access to public space within sight and sound of their intended target audience and to promote a safe and enabling environment for individuals to exercise their rights to freedoms of peaceful assembly, expression, and association– both online and offline.”
AI says its “Protect the Protest” campaign is aimed at challenging attacks on peaceful protest, stand with those targeted and support the causes of social movements pushing for human rights change.
“Almost without exception, this wave of mass protest has been met with obstructive, repressive and often violent responses by state authorities. Instead of facilitating the right to protest, governments are going to ever greater lengths to quash it”.
“This is why, as the world’s biggest human rights organisation, we have chosen this moment to launch this campaign. It’s time to stand up and loudly remind those in power of our inalienable right to protest, to express grievances, and to demand change freely, collectively and publicly,” said AI in a statement released July 19
A range of issues including the environmental crisis, growing inequality and threats to livelihoods, systemic racism and gender-based violence have made collective action ever more necessary. Governments have responded by introducing legislation imposing illegitimate restrictions on the right to protest.
For example, says AI, “we have seen blanket bans on protests, as seen in Greece and Cyprus during the Covid-19 pandemic. In the UK, a new law contains provisions providing police officers with wide-ranging powers, including the ability to ban ‘noisy protests’, while in Senegal, political demonstrations in the centre of Dakar have been banned since 2011, precluding protests near government buildings”.
Governments of all kinds are also increasingly using emergency powers as a pretext to clamp down on dissent. This was seen at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in countries including Thailand, while in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a government-imposed ‘state of siege’ has provided military and police officers with extensive powers to restrict protest in the provinces of Ituri and North Kivu since May 2021.
“Governments across the world are justifying restrictions by arguing that protest constitutes a threat to public order and by stigmatizing protesters, branding them “troublemakers”, “rioters”, or even “terrorists”. By casting protesters in this light, authorities have justified zero-tolerance approaches: introducing and misusing vague and draconian security laws, deploying heavy handed policing, and taking pre-emptive deterrent measures.”
This approach was witnessed in Hong Kong, where the National Security Law and its expansive definition of “national security” have been used arbitrarily, among other things, to restrict protest.
And, in India, the anti-terror Unlawful Prevention (Activities) Act (UAPA) and the crime of “sedition”, have been used repeatedly against peaceful protesters, journalists, and human rights defenders.
While governments have long relied on aggressive tactics to police protests, security forces have increased the amount of force they use in recent years.
AI said so-called less lethal weapons, including batons, pepper spray, tear gas, stun grenades, water cannons, and rubber bullets are routinely misused by security forces.
And, since the early 2000s, AI has documented a trend towards the militarisation of state responses to protests, including the use of armed forces and military equipment.
In countries including Chile and France security forces in full riot gear are often backed by armoured vehicles, military-grade aircraft, surveillance drones, guns and assault weapons, stun grenades and sound cannons.
During the mass uprising that followed the 2021 coup in Myanmar, the military used unlawful lethal force against peaceful protesters. More than 2,000 people have been killed, according to monitors, and more than 13,000 arrested since the military seized power.
“People who face inequality and discrimination, whether based on race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, age, disability, occupation, social, economic or migratory status are also more affected by restrictions on their right to protest and face harsher repression”, according to AI.
For example, women, LGBTI and gender-non-conforming people are facing different types of gender-based violence, marginalization, social norms and legislation.
In countries including Sudan, Colombia and Belarus, women have been sexually assaulted for participating in protests, while in Turkey, for example, Pride marches have been banned for years.
“Our campaign comes at a critical juncture. The precious right to protest is being eroded at a terrifying pace, and we must do all we can to push back,” said Callamard.
“Countless protesters have been killed in recent years, and it is partly on their behalf that we must now raise our own voices and defend our right to speak truth to power through protests in the streets and online.”
Footnote: The briefing, Protect the Protest!: Why we must save our right to protest, is available here.
A hundred Central American migrants were rescued from an overcrowded trailer truck in the Mexican state of Tabasco. It has been impossible to stop people from making the hazardous journey of thousands of kilometers to the United States due to the lack of opportunities in their countries of origin. CREDIT: Mesoamerican Migrant Movement
by Edgardo Ayala (san salvador)
Inter Press Service
SAN SALVADOR, Jul 19 (IPS) – The immigration agreement reached in Los Angeles, California at the end of the Summit of the Americas, hosted by U.S. President Joe Biden, raises more questions than answers and the likelihood that once again there will be more noise than actual benefits for migrants, especially Central Americans.
And immigration was once again the main issue discussed at the Jul. 12 bilateral meeting between Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Biden at the White House.
At the meeting, López Obrador asked Biden to facilitate the entry of “more skilled” Mexican and Central American workers into the U.S. “to support” the economy and help curb irregular migration.
Central American analysts told IPS that it is generally positive that immigration was addressed at the June summit and that concrete commitments were reached. But they also agreed that much remains to be done to tackle the question of undocumented migration.
That is especially true considering that the leaders of the three Central American nations generating a massive flow of poor people who risk their lives to reach the United States, largely without papers, were absent from the meeting.
Just as the Ninth Summit of the Americas was getting underway on Jun. 6 in Los Angeles, an undocumented 15-year-old Salvadoran migrant began her journey alone to the United States, with New York as her final destination.
She left her native San Juan Opico, in the department of La Libertad in central El Salvador.
“We communicate every day, she tells me that she is in Tamaulipas, Mexico, and that everything is going well according to plan. They give them food and they are not mistreating her, but they don’t let her leave the safe houses,” Omar Martinez, the Salvadoran uncle of the migrant girl, whose name he preferred not to mention, told IPS.
She was able to make the journey because her mother, who is waiting for her in New York, managed to save the 15,000-dollar cost of the trip, led as always by a guide or “coyote”, as they are known in Central America, who in turn form part of networks in Guatemala and Mexico that smuggle people across the border between Mexico and the United States.
The meeting of presidents in Los Angeles “was marked by the issue of temporary jobs, and the presidents of key Central American countries were absent, so there was a vacuum in that regard,” researcher Silvia Raquec Cum, of Guatemala’s Pop No’j Association, told IPS.
In fact, neither the presidents of Honduras, Xiomara Castro, of Guatemala, Alejandro Giammattei, or El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, attended the conclave due to political friction with the United States, in a political snub that would have been hard to imagine just a few years ago.
Other Latin American presidents boycotted the Summit of the Americas as an act of protest, such as Mexico’s López Obrador, precisely because Washington did not invite the leaders of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, which it considers dictatorships.
From rural communities like this one, the village of Huisisilapa in the municipality of San Pablo Tacachico in central El Salvador, where there are few possibilities of finding work, many people set out for the United States, often without documents, in search of the “American dream”. CREDIT: Edgardo Ayala/IPS
More temporary jobs
Promoting more temporary jobs is one of the commitments of the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection adopted at the Summit of the Americas and signed by some twenty heads of state on Jun. 10 in that U.S. city.
“Temporary jobs are an important issue, but let’s remember that economic questions are not the only way to address migration. Not all migration is driven by economic reasons, there are also situations of insecurity and other causes,” Raquec Cum emphasized.
Moreover, these temporary jobs do not allow the beneficiaries to stay and settle in the country; they have to return to their places of origin, where their lives could be at risk.
“It is good that they (the temporary jobs) are being created and are expanding, but we must be aware that the beneficiaries are only workers, they are not allowed to settle down, and there are people who for various reasons no longer want to return to their countries,” researcher Danilo Rivera, of the Central American Institute of Social and Development Studies, told IPS from the Guatemalan capital.
The Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection states that it “seeks to mobilize the entire region around bold actions that will transform our approach to managing migration in the Americas.”
The Declaration is based on four pillars: stability and assistance for communities; expansion of legal pathways; humane migration management; and coordinated emergency response.
The focus on expanding legal pathways includes Canada, which plans to receive more than 50,000 agricultural workers from Mexico, Guatemala and the Caribbean in 2022.
While Mexico will expand the Border Worker Card program to include 10,000 to 20,000 more beneficiaries, it is also offering another plan to create job opportunities in Mexico for 15,000 to 20,000 workers from Guatemala each year.
The United States, for its part, is committed to a 65 million dollar pilot program to help U.S. farmers hire temporary agricultural workers, who receive H-2A visas.
“It is necessary to rethink governments’ capacity to promote regular migration based on temporary work programs when it is clear that there is not enough labor power to cover the great needs in terms of employment demands,” said Rivera from Guatemala.
He added that despite the effort put forth by the presidents at the summit, there is no mention at all of the comprehensive reform that has been offered for several years to legalize some 11 million immigrants who arrived in the United States without documents.
A reform bill to that effect is currently stalled in the U.S. Congress.
Many of the 11 million undocumented migrants in the United States come from Central America, especially Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, as well as Mexico.
While the idea of immigration reform is not moving forward in Congress, more than 60 percent of the undocumented migrants have lived in the country for over a decade and have more than four million U.S.-born children, the New York Times reported in January 2021.
This population group represents five percent of the workforce in the agriculture, construction and hospitality sectors, the report added.
Despite the risks involved in undertaking the irregular, undocumented journey to the United States, many Salvadorans continue to make the trip, and many are deported, such as the people seen in this photo taken at a registration center after they were sent back to San Salvador. CREDIT: Edgardo Ayala/IPS
More political asylum
The Declaration also includes another important component of the migration agreement: a commitment to strengthen political asylum programs.
For example, among other agreements in this area, Canada will increase the resettlement of refugees from the Americas and aims to receive up to 4,000 people by 2028, the Declaration states.
For its part, the United States will commit to resettle 20,000 refugees from the Americas during fiscal years 2023 and 2024.
“What I took away from the summit is the question of creating a pathway to address the issue of refugees in the countries of origin,” Karen Valladares, of the National Forum for Migration in Honduras, told IPS from Tegucigalpa.
She added: “In the case of Honduras, we are having a lot of extra-regional and extra-continental population traffic.”
Valladares said that while it is important “to enable refugee processes for people passing through our country, we must remember that Honduras is not seen as a destination, but as a transit country.”
Raquec Cum, of the Pop No’j Association in Guatemala, said “They were also talking about the extension of visas for refugees, but the bottom line is how they are going to carry out this process; there are specific points that were signed and to which they committed themselves, but the how is what needs to be developed.”
Meanwhile, the Salvadoran teenager en route to New York has told her uncle that she expects to get there in about a month.
“She left because she wants to better herself, to improve her situation, because in El Salvador it is expensive to live,” said Omar, the girl’s uncle.
“I have even thought about leaving the country, but I suffer from respiratory problems and could not run a lot or swim, for example, and sometimes you have to run away from the migra (border patrol),” he said.
Herder D. Chimiddulam waits at home for her son, who is looking for missing livestock. Credit: Namuunbolor Tumur-Ochir/IPS
by Namuunbolor Tumur-Ochir (bat ulzii district, mongolia)
Inter Press Service
BAT ULZII DISTRICT, Mongolia, Jul 19 (IPS) – “My son went after his cow. He will come soon. Our work starts as soon as the sun rises — milking the cows, herding the sheep, rearing the calves, and on it goes. There is nothing more difficult than losing cows and calves on hot summer days,” says herder D. Chimiddulam, standing in green grass on one side of a tall wooden fence, looking at dozens of black and white sheep and goats in the enclosure.
Chimiddulam was born and has been raising livestock for more than 40 years in Bat-Ulzii district, 452 km southwest of Mongolia’s capital city Ulaanbaatar. During those decades she has spent many hours tracking down her wandering animals, but thanks to a new digital record-keeping project she can now find her livestock much faster.
Bat-Ulzii is one of four districts in Uvurkhangai Province to host the web-based Animal Identification and Registration system (AIRS), managed by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Nearly 200,000 animals were fitted with an ear tag that has a unique number and barcode. Each code is entered in a database. The result: when it is time to sell, locate or simply learn the background of a particular animal, the information is available online.
“Over 200 families have 7,200 cows and more than 56,000 sheep and goats tagged,” says L. Batchuluun, former head of the municipal state office, who was responsible for the project in Bat-Ulzii.
Livestock are registered with a 12-digit code. The first two digits represent the province, the next two numbers are for the district, the next two represent the village number, and the remaining six digits are the personal number of the animal. Using a smartphone application, officials can register the information on the ground, doing away with tedious paperwork.
“By tagging livestock, their origin becomes clear, enabling us to monitor whether the products that meet quality standards have reached the hands of the consumer,” Batchuluun adds in an interview. That will make the food supply safer he says.
In 2021, 188,500 households in rural areas raised a total of 67.3 million livestock in Mongolia, making up an important 38.4 percent of the GDP of provinces and local areas. The animals also supply more than half a million tonnes of meat for the domestic market.
Not only are livestock a major source of food, farmers also earn income by selling by-products including dairy products, cashmere, and wool.
According to Chimiddulam, AIRS has had many positive impacts. For example, because most livestock are registered in the system, disputes over ownership can be prevented. And if animals from different herds get mixed together, they can be quickly identified and separated. The system also discourages theft.
Because animals can be identified by number, herders can leave messages and communicate with each other when their livestock disappear or wander far away to graze. For instance, a family six km from Chimiddulam’s house recognized her cows by their tags and called her to report the news.
Also, says the herder, she would previously have to drive 20-30 km to the district centre to have the origin of the animals verified. If a veterinarian was not available, she would have to return. Meanwhile, doubts about the origin of the animal could arise. Today, that proof of authenticity is available at the click of a mouse, or even via a smartphone with a barcode reader.
“We have made about 300 small earrings… by tagging the cattle and having a registration database, it is no longer necessary to obtain a certificate of origin for livestock, which makes our work easier,” she adds.
The system also enables officials to act quickly in case of a disease outbreak and will improve breeding programmes, according to FAO’s Mongolia Country Office.
56,000 small animals in Bat-Ulzii were fitted with an ear tag after being registered in AIRS. Credit: Namuunbolor Tumur-Ochir/IPS
In the long term, herders might also benefit from a potential increase in price for livestock products that are traceable, insurance and tax benefits, and documentation they can use for banking purposes. The new system will also support the government’s priority to develop export markets for meat, adds FAO.
Phase 2 of AIRS will include an application designed for herders, which would allow them to keep track on their smartphone of the animals they have registered, bought and sold.
Bat-Ulzii soum is an important tourist destination, well known for its natural beauty. Ankle-high grass and colourful flowers are growing, and tourist numbers seem to be rebounding after slow years during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. This makes the herders smile, as they earn extra income by providing their horses and yaks as transportation for tourists.
Some farmers have taken advantage of digitalization by fitting their horses with microchips in a programme related to AIRS.
According to L. Batchuluun, “more than 2,200 horses have been installed with locators. By allowing us to know where our herds are it will be a great improvement in the lives of herders. It will also help to prevent livestock theft.”
The Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry says it is preparing to expand AIRS throughout the country.
UNCTAD’s analysis shows that a 10 per cent increase in food prices will trigger a five per cent decrease in the incomes of the poorest families, roughly equivalent to the amount those families would normally spend on healthcare.
Unsafe products have long been a threat across borders.
But 60% of countries – many in the developing world – lack experience in enforcing transnational consumer protection.
As consumers try to reduce their spending, they will pay a high price if they buy cheaper, but unsafe products. The United States reports 43,000 deaths and 40 million injuries per year associated with consumer products, with yearly costs of over $3,000 per capita.
“Governments must strive to continue and succeed in their long-term mission of protecting their consumers, a mission of renewed relevance today,” said UNCTAD Secretary General Rebeca Grynspan at the organization’s intergovernmental meeting on consumer protection held on 18 and 19 July.
Cross-border threat
Keeping consumers safe is generally a top priority for governments around the world. UNCTAD research shows , with a developed network of laws and standards promoting product safety.
While more developed countries have put in place product safety frameworks, including laws, enforcement institutions, recall mechanisms and communication campaigns, developing countries with weaker systems, UNCTAD said, are less able to regulate the scourge of unsafe products.
More international cooperation is therefore needed to improve product safety for all.
In 2020 UNCTAD adopted its first recommendation on product safety. It aims to curb the flow of unsafe products being traded internationally, by strengthening ties among consumer product safety authorities and sensitizing businesses and consumers.
‘Huge potential’
“UNCTAD’s recommendation offers a huge potential for protecting consumers in my country and in yours, if implemented on a broad scale,” said Alexander Hoehn-Saric, chair of the US Consumer Product Safety Commission. “By working together, we can improve product safety for all our consumers.”
UNCTAD says consumers’ vulnerability is heightened since they may be unaware that health or safety requirements vary from country to country and may assume that all products on sale online are safe.
As consumers often underestimate risk and may decide to purchase the cheapest products out of financial necessity.
“Product safety is one of the key pillars or drivers of consumer trust,” said Helena Leurent, director general of Consumers International, “the lack of consumer understanding is a substantive challenge,” she added.
Regional is safer
According to UNCTAD’s World Consumer Protection Map, 60 per cent of countries lack experience in cross-border enforcement when it comes to consumer protection.
“Most countries in Africa do not have the capacity or experience to deal with the distribution of unsafe products,” said Willard Mwemba, CEO of the COMESA Competition Commission, “but regional efforts can build those capacities and benefit all participating countries.”
High-level officials participating in the UNCTAD meeting agreed that preventing cross-border distribution of known unsafe consumer products is a priority for countries, as it can improve consumer confidence and boost sustainable economic development.
“A blue dress, black tights and boots. That’s what I was wearing,” said Jessica Long, a sexual violence survivor who has been campaigning for the rights of survivors, for the past six years. “That’s what I was wearing the night I was drugged. I was raped. And I was left alone to die”.
This and other offensive questions are consistently put to traumatized victims around the world – placing blame on their shoulders for a crime perpetrated against them.
UN News/Elizabeth Scaffidi
To highlight the victim-blaming that underpins these kind of questions, US civil rights organization Rise partnered with the UN Spotlight Initiative to stage an exhibition at UN Headquarters in New York, that confirms the pervasiveness of sexual violence across all cultures and underscores that what a victim is wearing, should have no bearing in the investigation of a heinous crime.
Search for justice
Sexual violence is a universal issue that demands greater international recognition.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 35 per cent of women globally, or more than one-third of the world’s population, have survived sexual violence.
This is equivalent to the combined populations of North America and Europe. Rape is an epidemic.
Clothing is irrelevant, it is never an invitation for violence, and does not cause attacks. Perpetrators do.
“What I was wearing should not matter,” said survivor Samantha McCoy, an attorney and activist from Texas.
She stressed that her geographical location should not determine “whether I received proper care”, reminding that consent cannot be given, if a person is “not responsive”.
Since 2018, through her tireless advocacy work Samantha has been successful in advocating for new legislation on the issue, in Indiana and Texas. And she continues to seek legal reform, on behalf of all survivors.
Shifting the narrative
In the fashion world, the question “what were you wearing?” can empower, celebrate creativity and mark influence. But for survivors of sexual violence, it becomes a ritualistic blame tactic.
Spotlight Initiative
During the launch, Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed observed that “by asking the question What Were You Wearing?, this exhibition flips the narrative on victim-shaming and blaming”.
“They mirror the diversity of people who experience violence from every region of the world, including a two-year-old child…[and] demonstrate more clearly than any legal argument could, that women and girls are attacked regardless of what they are wearing,” she said.
General Assembly President Abdulla Shahid said the exhibit “underscored the reality that the threat of rape looms over the lives of all women, regardless of their station in life…their occupation, [or] their clothing choices”.
“This exhibition should be a catalyst to spur important conversations about our collective responsibility to eliminate violence against women and girls”.
Setting the stage
Representing each of the five UN Regional Groups, mannequins were clothed in the outfits worn by women as they were being sexually assaulted – 103 in all, symbolizing the 1.3 billion survivors of sexual violence across the globe.
“They were worn by women and girls just going about their daily lives – until they were attacked,” said the deputy UN chief. “No one should be assaulted based on their choice of clothing. No one should be abused. Full stop”.
No one should be abused. Full stop – UN deputy chief
Survivor Amanda Nguyen, CEO and Founder of Rise, underscored that “what we were wearing at the time of our attack was not an invitation for violence…did not cause the attack…[and] is irrelevant”.
“By boldly answering the question and showing the world what we were wearing, we see an opportunity to open minds and shift attitudes about what sexual assault looks like,” she explained.
Shifting mindsets
The project highlights the bravery and resilience of survivors. And displaying inside UN Headquarters the visceral and mundane reality of sexual assault, adds a powerful layer of international symbolism.
Survivor Kadijatu Grace described herself as a “lucky one” who gets to speak for those who cannot, “like young Khadija, my namesake, that was raped and killed two years ago”.
She recalled that when civil war broke out in Sierra Leone, rebels abducted and raped girls. Then 13-years-old, the young teenager’s mother bought her a boat ticket and in desperation, entrusted Kadijatu’s escape to a stranger.
“He took me to where the engines were, so nobody would hear, strangled me, put my hands behind my back, stuffed my mouth with his shirt, warned he would throw me over if I spoke out and threatened to go back and kill my mother,” she recounted.
It took time, but Kadijatu was finally able to acknowledge that she was raped through no fault of her own.
“You thought you broke me, but you gave me a platform,” she said triumphantly. Now, “I will never stop telling my story”.
Changing the system
Back in 2019, Britney Lane was sexually assaulted by a coworker during a night out with friends.
“I repeated my story numerous times that day, starting with local police and ending with staff from two different hospitals. The first question I was asked by almost every police officer and doctor was: what were you wearing?”
At the time of the attack, the officer who took her statement advised Britney against pressing charges, saying that there did not seem to be enough evidence.
“Like many other survivors, I was filled with embarrassment, shame and guilt,” she said. “I can’t change what happened to me that night, but I can work to change the system to ensure no one is failed again”.
I can work to change the system to ensure no one is failed again – Survivor-turned-activist
Advocating for justice
Amanda still remembers spending six hours in the hospital the night after she was raped.
“I felt so alone”.
The first time she told her story to public officials, the woman who later founded Rise, went home and cried.
“They didn’t care. But the next morning, I got back up and I did it again”.
En route to speak to Congress, Amanda’s stoic Uber driver asked where she was going. After being told, he began to cry, opening up that his daughter was also raped.
“Can I shake your hand?” he asked upon their arrival. “Thank you so much for fighting for my daughter”.
Resolution
Although protesters march worldwide demanding justice for survivors, and hashtags, such as #MeTo, have become massive on social media, the UN General Assembly has yet to pass a resolution focused solely on protection of sexual violence survivors.
It did however, unanimously adopt a new agenda item that enshrines access to justice for sexual assault survivors and permanently places it on the Assembly’s docket to be the discussed annually by UN Member States.
At the same time, a resolution has been drafted, which would provide universal jurisdiction to prosecute offences, the ability to terminate legal ties with the assailant, and the ability to report the crime without financial cost to the survivor.
Paris Hilton, granddaughter of the US hotel magnet, was at age 16, woken up by two men with handcuffs and transported across state lines to a residential treatment facility.
“For two years, I endured physical, psychological and sexual abuse by staff. I felt so powerless. I’m here today because this abuse is still happening,” she said in support of the proposed draft.
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