The World Economic Outlook Update July 2022: Gloomy and More Uncertain, highlights the significant consequences of the stalling of the world’s three main economic powerhouses – the United States, China and the major European economies.
The world may soon be teetering on the edge of a global recession – IMF economist
“The outlook has darkened significantly since April,” said Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, IMF Economic Counsellor and Director of Research.
“The world may soon be teetering on the edge of a global recession, only two years after the last one”.
The baseline forecast for global growth is for it to slow from 6.1 per cent last year, to 3.2 per cent in 2022 – 0.4 per cent lower than forecast in the last Outlook update in April.
Three key economies
With higher-than-expected inflation – especially in the US and the largest European economies – global financial conditions are becoming tighter.
In the US, reduced household purchasing power and tighter monetary policy will drive growth down to 2.3 per cent this year and one percent next year, according to the outlook.
China’s slowdown has been worse than anticipated amid COVID-19 outbreaks and lockdowns, with negative effects from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continuing.
Moreover, further lockdowns and a deepening real estate crisis there has pushed growth down to 3.3 per cent this year – the slowest in more than four decades, excluding the pandemic.
And in the Eurozone, growth has been revised down to 2.6 per cent this year and 1.2 percent in 2023, reflecting spillovers from the Ukraine war and tighter monetary policy.
“As a result, global output contracted in the second quarter of this year,” said Mr. Gourinchas.
Inflation
Despite the global slowdown, inflation has been revised up, in part due to rising food and energy prices.
This year it is anticipated to reach 6.6 per cent in advanced economies and 9.5 per cent in emerging market and developing economies – representing upward revisions of 0.9 and 0.8 percentage points respectively. And it is projected to remain elevated for longer.
Broadened inflation in many economies reflects “the impact of cost pressures from disrupted supply chains and historically tight labour markets,” the IMF official stated.
Downward risks
The report outlines some risks ahead, including that the war in Ukraine could end European gas supply from Russia altogether; rising prices could cause widespread food insecurity and social unrest; and geopolitical fragmentation may impede global trade and cooperation.
Inflation could remain stubbornly high if labour markets remain overly tight or inflation expectations are too optimistic and prove more costly than expected.
And renewed COVID-19 outbreaks and lockdowns threaten to further suppress China’s growth.
“In a plausible alternative scenario where some of these risks materialize…inflation will rise and global growth decelerate further to about 2.6 per cent this year and two per cent next year, a pace that growth has fallen below just five times since 1970,” said the IMF economist.
“Under this scenario, both the United States and the Euro area experience near-zero growth next year, with negative knock-on effects for the rest of the world”.
Mounting tensions in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and continued settlement activity and settler-related violence continue.
“Immediate steps to reverse negative trends and support the Palestinian people are essential,” said Lynn Hastings, UNSCO’s deputy chief, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, speaking on behalf of Special Coordinator Tor Wennesland.
“The violence must stop”.
Corrosive situation
For years, illegal settlement expansions in the occupied West Bank have been steadily shrinking Palestinian land and eroding the prospects for a viable Palestinian State as violence against civilians exacerbate mistrust and trigger a growing sense of hopelessness that Statehood, sovereignty and a peaceful future is slipping away.
“Three hundred and ninety-nine demolitions and seizures of Palestinian-owned structures and evictions this year have left over 400 Palestinians displaced,” the UN official said.
Meanwhile, a crumbling Palestinian economy, lack of intra-Palestinian unity, and the urgent need to renew national institutions have also raised Israeli awareness of the perils of continuing along the current path.
Biden visit
Against the worrying backdrop of endless cycles of violence and a constant risk of escalation – with no end in sight – US President Joe Biden’s visit earlier this month signalled renewed consensus for a two-State solution based on the 1967 lines, said Ms. Hastings.
For the first time in years, Israeli, Palestinian and American leaders reiterated their support for a two-State solution as being essential for Palestinians and Israelis alike.
“We must build on these reaffirmed commitments and work collectively to encourage steps that allow for a return to a meaningful political process,” she added.
Death and violence
From clashes to shootings and stabbings throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the Resident Coordinator outlined examples of violence that killed close to 300 Palestinians and some Israelis.
She recounted that the bullet used to kill Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh underwent forensic testing overseen by a senior US security official. However, examiners “could not reach a definitive conclusion” due to its damaged condition.
After viewing the results of both Israeli and Palestinian investigations into Ms. Aqleh’s death, it appeared that gunfire from Israel Defence Forces (IDF) positions was likely responsible but “it ‘found no reason to believe that this was intentional’”, said Ms. Hastings.
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Evictions and demolitions
Citing a lack of Israeli-issued building permits, demolitions recently displaced 61 Palestinians, including 31 children, with Ms. Hastings pointing out that the permits are nearly impossible for Palestinians to obtain.
And in the wake of a ruling by the Israeli High Court of Justice allowing evictions in the southern West Bank hamlets of Masafer Yatta to proceed, Israeli forces continued to adopt restrictive measures affecting Palestinian communities and humanitarian actors.
“I remain deeply concerned by the potential implications of the High Court’s ruling and the humanitarian toll on the communities in question if eviction orders are carried out,” she stated.
There is no substitute for a legitimate political process that will resolve the core issues driving the conflict — UN Resident Coordinator
Vulnerable in Gaza
Turning to the fragile situation in Gaza, UN and humanitarian partners continue to deliver vital assistance and further ease movement restrictions on people and goods into and out of the Strip.
However, on 16 July, militants in the enclave launched four rockets towards Israel. The IDF retaliated with airstrikes against what it said were Hamas targets. No injuries were reported on either side.
For the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha, Israel announced that 400 permits would be issued for men over 55 and women over 50, to visit Jerusalem from Gaza for the first time since 2017.
Legitimate political process needed
In closing, the Deputy UNSCO chief warned that if left unaddressed, the corrosive situation will only deteriorate further and advocated for “the ultimate goal” of two States, living side-by-side in peace.
“There is no substitute for a legitimate political process that will resolve the core issues driving the conflict,” she said assuring that the UN “remains committed” to a just and lasting peace and will continue to work with all concerned to achieve that objective.
Coastal view from the Kalinago Territory in Dominica. Credit: Alison Kentish/IPS
by Alison Kentish (united nations)
Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 26 (IPS) – According to the 2021 World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Latin America and the Caribbean report, extreme events have worsened the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Region, especially for the small island states of the Caribbean.The highest deforestation rates since 2009. The third most active hurricane season on record. Extreme rainfall, floods, and landslides displaced tens of thousands of people. Rising sea levels. Glaciers in Peru lost more than half their size. Add the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic to the mix, and 2021 was a challenging year for Latin America and the Caribbean.
It states that “sea levels in the region continued to rise in 2021 at a faster rate than globally, notably along the Atlantic coast of South America south of the equator, and the subtropical North Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico,” a worrying development for the small island states of the Caribbean and large populations concentrated in coastal communities.
The 2021 Atlantic hurricane season brought 21 named storms that included seven hurricanes and was the sixth consecutive above-average season.
It adds that extreme rainfall led to tens of thousands of homes being destroyed or damaged and hundreds of thousands of people displaced
The record-setting drought in Chile continued in 2021, marking the 13th consecutive year of the “Central Chile Mega-drought,” which placed the country at the center of the region’s water crisis.
“Increasing sea-level rise and ocean warming are expected to continue to affect coastal livelihoods, tourism, health, food, energy, and water security, particularly in small islands and Central American countries,” said Professor Petteri Taalas, Secretary General of the World Meteorological Organization.
Head of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) Mami Mizutori said as the second most disaster-prone region in the world, Latin America and the Caribbean are proof of how complex risks can be, adding that shocks that affect one sector can create damaging consequences in another, impacting the most at-risk communities.
“The COVID-19 pandemic offers a quintessential example of how interconnected risks can create severe upheaval, particularly when intersecting with climate change impacts. Last year, the fallout from hurricanes Eta and Iota collided with lingering COVID-19 impacts. The result was that 7.7 million people in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua faced high levels of food insecurity,” she said.
While the report outlines the dire impacts of extreme weather and climate change on the region, it is also prescriptive in its calls for long-term regional and national solutions.
One of these is a ‘risk to resilience’ goal.
The UNDRR head says the Bali Agenda for Resilience is a critical instrument in understanding the nature of risks and promoting mitigation and adaptation measures. The document promotes policies to shield communities from climate and other disasters and thwart a predicted global rate of 1.5 disasters a day by 2030.
“First and foremost is the need for risk management to become a shared responsibility across sectors. Getting on track to achieve the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the Sustainable Development Goals requires decision makers to adopt comprehensive climate and disaster risk management that puts people first, using current data and timely information.”
The report also recommends the expansion of access to multi-hazard early warning systems (EWS). Investment in these systems has been touted as one of the most powerful tools to adapt to climate change, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has challenged the WMO to present an action plan that ensures all people everywhere are covered by an early warning system in the next 5 years. The WMO is expected to present that plan to the 2022 UN Climate Conference in Egypt in November.
“Altogether, there is a need for a 1.5 billion US dollar investment in the next 5 years to get 100 percent coverage of early warning services and improve basic observing systems. We have major gaps in island states, Africa, and some parts of Latin America, and that needs to be improved,” the WMO Secretary-General said.
The report’s launch coincides with the impending peak of the annual Atlantic hurricane season. According to officials of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNECLAC), there is no question that countries in the region, particularly the small states of the Caribbean and Central America, remain highly vulnerable to the impacts of a changing climate
“2021 was yet another very active season. Many countries experienced major flooding and landslides that were compounded by a volcanic eruption in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, causing major dislocation, damage, and loss, and there was heavy rainfall and floods across Guyana, Suriname, and regions of Central America, affecting housing, fresh water sources and increasing food insecurity,” said ECLAC’s Subregional Office Chief Diane Quarless.
Quarless added that for small states in the region, the post-disaster need to continually source or reassign already scarce resources has eroded the ability of countries to build back better. ECLAC is supporting the call to strengthen and expand early warning systems to improve forecasting and planning for multi-hazards.
The State of the Climate in Latin America and the Caribbean report provides science-based, timely information for policymakers on the realities of climate change and weather-related events and the best course of action.
The representatives of the UN agencies involved in sourcing and compiling the report says that the region has the needed data. It is now time to act.
But “time is going by and we all need to pull together to make that happen”, warned Dr Rosamund Lewis, WHO Technical Lead on Monkeypox, who was speaking the regular press briefing Geneva.
More than 15000 cases, over two thirds reported in the WHO European Region.
We spoke to two clinicians in Portugal and Italy about their experience of treating patients with #monkeypox to find out how concerned they are about the outbreak.https://t.co/Rkq1O9S12a
On Saturday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared the spread of the virus to be a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), the organization’s highest level of alert. “Through this, we hope to enhance coordination, cooperation of countries and all stakeholders, as well as global solidarity,” Dr Lewis said.
WHO assessed the risk posed to public health by Monkeypox in the European region as high, but at the global level as moderate.
With “other regions not at the moment as severely affected”, declaring a PHEIC was necessary “to ensure the outbreak was stopped as soon as possible”.
This year, there have been more than 16,000 confirmed cases of monkeypox in more than 75 countries. Dr Lewis said the real number was probably higher.
She pointed out that in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, several thousand cases were suspected, but testing facilities are limited. “The global dashboard did not include suspected cases,” she said.
Some 81 children under the age of 17 were reported as having been infected globally, she added, with the majority of cases being among young men, with the median age being 37.
‘Stigma as dangerous as virus’
First identified in monkeys, the virus is transmitted chiefly through close contact with an infected person (you can read our detailed explainer on the disease, here).
Until this year, the virus which causes Monkeypox has rarely spread outside Africa where it is endemic. But reports of a handful of cases in Britain in early May signalled that the outbreak had moved into Europe.
Dr. Lewis pointed out that stigma and discrimination must be avoided, as that would harm the response to the disease.
“At the moment the outbreak is still concentrated in groups of men who have sex with men in some countries, but that is not the case everywhere,” she said. “It is really important to appreciate also that stigma and discrimination can be very damaging and as dangerous as any virus itself,” she said.
Monkeypox could cause a range of signs and symptoms, including painful sores. Some people developed serious symptoms that need care in a health facility. Those at higher risk for severe disease or complications include pregnant women, children, and immunocompromised persons.
Coordinating vaccines
Dr. Lewis said WHO was working with Member States and the European Union on releasing vaccines, and with partners to determine a global coordination mechanism. She emphasized that mass vaccination was not required, but the WHO had recommended post-exposure vaccination.
Vaccine sharing should be done according to public health needs, country by country and location by location. Not all regions had the same epidemiology, she explained.
Dr. Lewis stressed that countries with manufacturing capacity for smallpox and Monkeypox diagnostics, vaccines or therapeutics should increase production.
Countries and manufacturers should work with WHO to ensure they are made available based on public health needs, solidarity and at a reasonable cost to countries where they were most needed.
Dr. Lewis explained that some 16.4 million vaccines were currently available in bulk but needed to be finished. The countries currently producing vaccines are Denmark, Japan, and the United States.
She reminded that the current recommendation for persons with Monkeypox was to isolate and not travel until they recovered; contact cases should be checking their temperature and monitoring possible other symptoms for the period of 9 to 21 days.
“When someone is vaccinated it takes several weeks for the immune response to be generated by the body”, she said.
What’s in a name?
According to Dr. Lewis, the name “Monkeypox” is already present in the International Classification of Diseases, and a process had to be followed in order to potentially change its name.
Opinion by Jomo Kwame Sundaram, Anis Chowdhury (sydney and kuala lumpur)
Inter Press Service
SYDNEY and KUALA LUMPUR, Jul 26 (IPS) – Like so many others, Africans have long been misled. Alleged progress under imperialism has long been used to legitimize exploitation. Meanwhile, Western colonial powers have been replaced by neo-colonial governments and international institutions serving their interests.
‘Shithole’ pots of gold
US President Donald Trump’s “shitholes”, mainly in Africa, were and often still are ‘pots of gold’ for Western interests. From 1445 to 1870, Africa was the major source of slave labour, especially for Europe’s ‘New World’ in the Americas.
Anis ChowdhuryWalter Rodney’s How Europe Underdeveloped Africa noted “colonised Africans, like pre-colonial African chattel slaves, were pushed around into positions which suited European interests and which were damaging to the African continent and its peoples.”
The ‘scramble for Africa’ from the late nineteenth century saw European powers racing to secure raw materials monopolies through direct colonialism. Western powers all greatly benefited from Africa’s plunder and ruin.
European divide-and-conquer tactics typically also had pliant African collaborators. Colonial powers imposed taxes and forced labour to build infrastructure to enable raw material extraction.
Racist ideologies legitimized European imperialism in Africa as a “civilizing mission”. Oxford-trained, former Harvard history professor Niall Ferguson – an unabashed apologist for Western imperialism – insists colonialism laid the foundations for modern progress.
Richest, but poorest and hungriest!
A recent blog asks, “Why is the continent with 60% of the world’s arable land unable to feed itself? … And how did Africa go from a relatively self-sufficient food producer in the 1970s to an overly dependent food importer by 2022?”
Deeper analyses of such uncomfortable African realities seem to be ignored by analysts influenced by the global North, especially the Washington-based international financial institutions. UNCTAD’s 2022 Africa report is the latest to disappoint.
Jomo Kwame SundaramIt does not guide African governments on how to actually implement its long list of recommendations given their limited policy space, resources and capabilities. Worse, their proposals seem indistinguishable from an Africa-oriented version of the discredited neoliberal Washington Consensus.
With 30% of the world’s mineral resources and the most precious metal reserves on Earth, Africa has the richest concentration of natural resources – oil, copper, diamonds, bauxite, lithium, gold, tropical hardwood forests and fruits.
Africa remains the world’s least industrialized region, with only South Africa categorized as industrialized. Incredibly, Africa’s share of global manufacturing fell from about 3% in 1970 to less than 2% in 2013.
About 60% of the world’s arable land is in Africa. A net food exporter until the 1970s, the continent has become a net importer. Structural adjustment reform conditionalities – requiring trade liberalization – have cut tariff revenue, besides undermining import-substituting manufacturing and food security.
Structural adjustment
Many of Africa’s recent predicaments stem from structural adjustment programs (SAPs) much of Africa and Latin America have been subjected to from the 1980s. The Washington-based international financial institutions, the African Development Bank and all donors support the SAPs.
SAP advocates promised foreign direct investment and export growth would follow, ensuring growth and prosperity. Now, many admit neoliberalism was oversold, ensuring the 1980s and 1990s were ‘lost decades’, worsened by denial of its painfully obvious consequences.
While World Bank SAPs were officially abandoned in the late 1990s following growing criticism, replacements – such as Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers – have been like “old wine in new bottles”. Although purportedly ‘home-grown’, they typically purvey bespoke versions of SAPs.
Can the West be trusted?
Earlier, G7 countries reneged on their 2005 Gleneagles pledge – to give $25 billion more yearly to Africa to ‘Make Poverty History’ – within the five years they gave themselves. Since then, developed countries have delivered far less than the $100 billion of climate finance annually they had promised developing nations in 2009.
The Hamburg G20’s 2017 ‘Compact with Africa’ (CwA) promised to combat poverty and climate change effects. In fact, CwA has been used to promote the business interests of donor countries, particularly Germany.
Powerful Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development governments successfully blocked developing countries’ efforts at the 2015 Addis Ababa UN conference on financing for development for inclusive UN-led international tax cooperation and to stem illicit financial outflows.
Africa lost $1.2–1.4 trillion in illicit financial flows between 1980 and 2009 – about four times its external debt in 2013. This greatly surpasses total official development assistance received over the same period.
Africa must unite
Under Nelson Mandela’s leadership, Africa had led the fight for the ‘public health exception’ to international intellectual property law. Although Africa suffers most from ‘vaccine apartheid’, Western lobbyists blocked developing countries’ temporary waiver request to affordably meet pandemic needs.
African solidarity is vital to withstand pressures from powerful foreign governments and transnational corporations. African nations must also cooperate to build state capabilities to counter the neoliberal ‘good governance’ agenda.
Africa needs much more policy space and state capabilities, not economic liberalization and privatization. This is necessary to unlock critical development bottlenecks and overcome skill and technical limitations.
KINSHASA, Jul 26 (IPS) – The writer is the International Project Leader for the Congo Basin Forest, Greenpeace AfricaFrom the fall-out of the pandemic to the interlocking cost of living and energy security crises currently gripping the world, it has been fascinating to see the world’s richest governments bending over backwards to help fossil fuel companies.
Meanwhile households are battling a cost of living crisis while the climate crisis is raging on, threatening lives and livelihoods everywhere – from north to south.
After oil demand and prices briefly fell during the lockdowns of 2020, we’re seeing Big Oil enjoying unprecedented war-time profits, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drives up prices. Recall BP’s boss Bernard Looney crassly comparing his company to a “cash machine”.
This latest boon for fossil fuel companies makes the pledges from last year’s COP26 climate talks in Glasgow seem like a distant memory. Indeed, a £420m ($500m) deal for the Democratic Republic of Congo has become increasingly useless in protecting its forests, with oil companies set to cash in and eventually paved the way for more forest destruction.
The DRC, home to most territory of the world’s second largest rainforest, prides itself in being a “solution country” for the climate crisis. However, the country, which already sees deforestation rates second only to Brazil, has already stated last year its intention to lift a 20 year ban on new logging concessions.
As of April this year, the DRC is set on trashing huge areas of the rainforest and peatland and – as of this week – it’s set to auction no less than 27 oil and three gas blocks.
Oil exploration and extraction would not only have devastating impacts on the health and livelihoods of local communities, but the oil driven “resource curse” raises the risk of corruption and conflict.
This auction also is sacrificing at least four parts of a mega-peatland complex, often labelled a carbon bomb, along with at least nine Protected Areas (contrary to denials by the Congolese Oil Ministry).
Following the enlargement of the auction this week, it also poses a direct threat (https://www.ft.com/content/5ea6f899-bb55-478f-a14a-a6dd37aae724) to the Virunga National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site made famous thanks to a Netflix documentary on a previous campaign to keep the oil industry out of it.
Instead of steering us into a climate catastrophe,the international community must stop serving as the handmaiden of Big Oil. Instead, let’s see them focus on ending energy poverty by supporting clean, decentralised renewable energies. Whether it’s the cost of living crisis unfolding on our doorsteps or climate destruction sweeping the globe – the solutions are the same.
Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi must abandon the colonial notion of development through extractivism and look at its legacy in Africa, which has only deepened poverty and hardship for Africans. It has only served to enrich a small and closed circle of local beneficiaries and foreign nations.
It is telling that Africa’s largest oil producer, Nigeria, is also the one with the highest number of people suffering extreme poverty (just behind India) and with the highest number of people without access to electricity. Instead of following an economic model that hurts both people and nature, the DRC should resist pressures from greedy multinationals and prioritise connecting 72 million of its people to the grid.
You can bet Big Oil is salivating at the chance to seize yet more profits from climate destruction. Yet shamefully, none of the eight members who are part of the Central African Forest Initiative that is paying £420m of taxpayers’ money to protect DRC’s forests – the UK, the EU, Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, South Korea – have uttered one word against this prospective oil auction.
That’s not surprising, given the “forest protection” deal does nothing to prevent oil activity in peatlands or anywhere else.
As Boris Johnson approaches his final weeks in office, his own environmental legacy and that of the COP26 risk being all targets, no action. Speeches are made and press releases are disseminated, while the rights of vulnerable people everywhere are being run over by short-sighted extractive industries.
Instead, I would like to see donor countries like the UK government, as host of the COP26 and one of the chief architects behind the DRC forest protection deal, to work with my country to move beyond the model of destructive extractivism and leapfrog towards a future of renewable and clean energy for all.
Despite some progress, a constitutional and political stalemate continues, prolonging tensions and fuelling insecurity, while clashes in and around Tripoli surge, she added.
“The economic situation remains dire,” she continued. “We have witnessed demonstrations by frustrated Libyans over the lack of progress on elections and poor State services. In addition, the human rights situation in the country remains of “serious concern”.
Leaders must ‘heed the call’
While promising progress has been achieved on the constitutional track, consensus on the eligibility requirements for a presidential candidate remains elusive.
Earlier this month, demonstrators across Libya expressed their frustration over political divisions and deteriorating living conditions.
They demanded that elections be held soon, and solutions to the country’s electricity crisis and fuel shortage. Some stormed and damaged the Parliament building in Tobruk, the centre of power for the eastern faction vying to control the country.
“We urge Libya’s political actors to heed the call of their people, and to demonstrate responsible leadership by addressing their grievances,” said the senior UN official.
Divisions provoke violence
As armed groups rally behind their leaders, military activity has increased in the western region – power base of the internationally-recognized Government based in the capital – including on the eastern flank of Tripoli, Misrata and in the outskirts of Sirte.
“We are deeply concerned about the armed clashes in Tripoli that took place on the night of 21 July and the skirmishes in Misrata on 23 July, between armed groups resulting in an unconfirmed number of civilian casualties,” she stated, calling for the ceasefire to be maintained.
IOM/Moayad Zaghdani
UN health teams in Libya continue to ensure that all migrants have the right and access to health care.
Oil production
At the same time, Ms. Pobee expressed concern over the ongoing disagreement regarding the leadership of the National Oil Corporation (NOC).
Since 16 April, a shutdown had reduced Libyan oil exports by two thirds and cost the country $4 billion in lost revenue.
On 12 July, the UN and internationally backed interim premier, Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah, appointed the former Libyan Central Bank governor as new NOC chairperson, with oil exports resuming on 19 July.
Although it is too soon to confirm whether oil production will return to full capacity and how it will impact oil production and exports going forward, Ms. Pobee underlined the need for the Corporation to “remain neutral and free from the pressure of political interests”.
Threat to basic human rights
Meanwhile, the economic situation has impacted people’s fundamental rights to basic services and access to food, water and sanitation, healthcare, and education.
Moreover, the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) has received reports that medical facilities lacked surgical supplies and faced severe challenges from extended power cuts and lack of generator fuel; protestors have been arbitrarily arrested by armed groups; and serious allegations of torture have been made against Libyans, migrants, and asylum-seekers in detention facilities and prisons.
“Of most concern, a radio station in Zawiya broadcasted hate speech against migrants, asserting they were responsible for spreading diseases,” warned the Assistant Secretary-General.
“Libyan authorities must investigate all allegations of torture and other human rights violations…[and] those responsible must be held accountable”.
Voices of youth
While the UN prioritizes a return to the electoral process, Ms. Pobee underscored the need to keep supporting, and encouraging Libyan counterparts to focus on effectively addressing the key drivers of the political and economic stalemate.
Young Libyans want their leadership to improve living conditions and for elections to be held as soon as possible so they may choose their legitimate representative, according to the UN political affairs official.
“We count on the members of this Council and the wider international community to continue supporting the United Nations in its efforts to facilitate a mutually agreeable solution which will put an end to the continuing crisis,” she concluded.
Climate change is here and disproportionately impacting children’s present and future.
UNICEF’s new report recommends nine principles to protect the rights and wellbeing of children on the move in the face of climate change. https://t.co/zP1yKb2BaT
They were launched by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Georgetown University in Washington, DC, and the United Nations University (UNU), located in Tokyo, Japan.
Safeguarding future generations
The partners explained that currently, most child-related migration policies do not consider climate and environmental factors, while most climate change policies overlook the unique needs of children.
“The climate emergency has and will continue to have profound implications for human mobility. Its impacts will be most severe with particular segments of our communities such as children; we cannot endanger future generations,” said António Vitorino, the IOM Director General.
He added that although migrant children are particularly vulnerable when moving in the context of climate change, their needs and aspirations are still overlooked in policy debates.
“With these guiding principles we aim to ensure visibility to their needs and rights, both in policy debates and programming. Managing migration and addressing displacement of children in the context of climate change, environmental degradation and disasters, is an immense challenge that we must address now.”
Young lives at risk
Climate change is intersecting with existing environmental, social, political, economic and demographic conditions that are contributing to people’s decisions to move.
Nearly 10 million children were displaced following weather-related shocks in 2020 alone. Additionally, nearly half of the world’s 2.2 billion children, or roughly one billion boys and girls, live in 33 countries at high risk of the impacts of climate change.
The partners warn that millions more children could be forced to move in the coming years.
“Every day, rising sea levels, hurricanes, wildfires, and failing crops are pushing more and more children and families from their homes,” said Catherine Russell, the UNICEF Executive Director.
“Displaced children are at greater risk of abuse, trafficking, and exploitation. They are more likely to lose access to education and healthcare. And they are frequently forced into early marriage and child labour.”
Children walk through the mud in a displaced persons camp in Maiduguri in northeast Nigeria.
Collaboration with young activists
The guiding principles provide national and local governments, international organizations, and civil society groups with a foundation to build policies that protect children’s rights.
They were developed in collaboration with young climate and migration activists, academics, experts, policymakers, practitioners, and UN agencies. The principles are based on the Convention on the Rights of the Child and are informed by existing operational guidelines and frameworks.
David Passarelli of UNU recalled that the international community has been sounding the alarm on climate change and environmental degradation for years, as well as the likelihood of mass displacement.
These predictions have come true as climate-related migration has been observed in all parts of the world, with children increasingly affected.
“While these children benefit from a range of international and national protections, the subject matter is highly technical and difficult to access, creating a protection deficit for child migrants,” said Mr. Passarelli, Executive Director of the university’s Centre for Policy Research.
He added that the partners have stressed the need for concise guidelines that communicate risks, protections and rights, in clear and accessible language.
Protection today and tomorrow
The Guiding Principles “were developed with this specific objective in mind. This tool helps navigate the complex nexus of migrant rights, children’s rights, and climate change in order to respond more quickly and effectively to the needs of children on the move in the context of climate change.”
Governments, local and regional actors, international organizations, and civil society groups are being urged to embrace the principles.
While the new framework does not include new legal obligations, they distill and leverage key principles that have already been affirmed in international law and adopted by governments around the world, said Elizabeth Ferris, Director of Georgetown University’s Institute for the Study of International Migration.
“We urge all governments to review their policies in light of the guiding principles and take measures now that will ensure children on the move in the face of climate change are protected today and in the future.”
Yusuf Zahab, 17, had been taken to Syria when he was 11 by older relatives who had become radicalized, according to various media reports.
He is believed to have died from injuries sustained during and after the ISIL siege on Al Hasakah camp in January, compounded by lack of adequate medical treatment.
Never should have happened
The extremist group attacked the prison in a bid to free its fighters detained there, sparking a deadly week-long battle with Kurdish-led Syrian Defence Forces (SDF) who control the facility.
“Zahab’s death was utterly preventable, he should simply never have been held in this prison,” the UN experts said in a statement.
“He should have been returned to his homeland and his family with the possibility of living a full and decent life, the right to a protected and safe childhood.”
The experts had written to the Australian government on three previous occasions, expressing concern over the detention of children and boys in northeast Syria, including in the Al Hakasah prison.
They highlighted the dire conditions at these facilities and urged the authorities to repatriate their nationals.
‘Victims of terrorism’
Furthermore, the experts have repeatedly advocated for “a human rights compliant solution” to address the situation of boys and teenagers being held at Al Hasakah and other arbitrary detention sites in the region.
“None of these boys, including Yusuf Zahab were subject to any judicial process justifying their detention, and all of them are being held in conditions that could amount to torture, or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment under international law and which have a strong impact on their physical and mental health”, they said.
“The boys are victims of terrorism and deserve to be treated with compassion, dignity and a modicum of human decency. Their release from these prisons and detention sites is necessary and overdue.”
Protect vulnerable children
Meanwhile, other children injured and harmed in the attack, whether physically or mentally, should be immediately removed from the prison and given access to medical assistance, care, rehabilitation and psychological support.
Governments that have “boy-children” nationals remaining in detention are also pressed to bring them home, in line with accepted international human rights obligations to protect youngsters’ lives.
States also must abide by their obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and ensure assistance and protection to children who may be victims of trafficking.
Repatriate Australian nationals
The experts strongly regretted that Australia has so far failed to repatriate its nationals from camps and detention facilities in northeast Syria, most of whom are women and children.
They urged the authorities to move speedily to prevent further deaths and safeguard the health and welfare of child nationals by returning them to their homeland.
“The repatriation of vulnerable women and children is entirely feasible and possible. The Government of Australia has the capacity to do so. Many other governments are currently doing it,” they said.
“Australia has an advanced child welfare, education, criminal justice and health system which is imminently capable of addressing the needs of these children and their mothers. Failure to repatriate is an abdication of Australia’s treaty obligations and their deeper moral obligations to protect Australia’s most vulnerable children.”
The 18 experts who issued the statement were appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, which is based in Geneva.
They have been mandated to monitor and report on specific themes, such as the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism, and the right to health.
They are neither UN staff nor are they paid for their work.
Ambassador Lachezara Stoeva said in her opening statement that she was “honoured and humbled” to have been elected to lead one of the principal organs of the UN, while noting that the upcoming session will be “especially challenging for the world”.
In addition to COVID recovery, she highlighted the ongoing war in Ukraine, which has “triggered massive food insecurity, energy shortages and financial crises”.
The new ECOSOC chief elaborated on initiatives to assist in overcoming “the crises that have engulfed our societies”.
Setting her agenda
As ECOSOC President, Ms. Stoeva’s said her first priority was to ensure that the Council and the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) which is the climax of its work each year, provides “solid, evidence-based, innovative and actionable policy guidance” to curb and address the pandemic’s impacts on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Secondly, she aims to help bridge the “great finance divide” that has sharply curtailed the ability of many developing nations to recover.
Her third priority is to ensure preparations advance for the SDG Summit taking place in September 2023, by building momentum and reviving “the passion that characterized the elaboration and implementation of the SDGs”, which were agreed in 2015.
Fourth, she aims to build on the success of this year’s Humanitarian Affairs Segment to “support and reinforce” the UN and its humanitarian partners in addressing “profound humanitarian challenges” worldwide.
Fifth, Ambassador Stoeva aims to follow-up on the recommendations made to ECOSOC in the Secretary-General’s Our Common Agenda blueprint for action, while her sixth priority will be to provide better access to youth, civil society and others.
Her final priority she said, would be to implement the recommendations adopted by the General Assembly in June 2021 for reforming the work of ECOSOC and the HLPF.
Ambassador Stoeva assumed her duties as Bulgaria’s Permanent Representative to the UN in February last year and has served as ECOSOC Vice-President responsible for the Management Segment, where she successfully led the Council’s review of the Functional Commissions and Expert Bodies.
Fond farewell
In a heartfelt speech, outgoing President Collen Kelapile said that he was “deeply honoured and elated” to have served in the top job for the past year.
Reminding that it was the first time that Botswana had occupied the seat, he described it as “a momentous occasion for both my country and I personally”.
Before handing over the reins, Mr. Kelapile looked back at the main theme of both ECOSOC and the HLPF this month, highlighting the “eight broad priorities”, of his term, which included vaccine equity, inequalities, post-conflict recovery, and youth engagement.
He also highlighted the Council’s new Coordination Segment and a revitalized Partnership Forum to guide its subsidiary bodies, reminding that it has dealt with conflict, post-conflict and humanitarian emergencies, including in Haiti, South Sudan, and the Sahel region.
The outgoing President also drew attention to meetings during his tenure surrounding the climate crisis, implementing the New Urban Agenda, and supporting the advance of the SDGs during the recent months of crises on multiple fronts.
A girl walks home from school after the Nile river flooded on the outskirts of Juba, South Sudan.
Championing the vulnerable
As President, he reminded that ECOSOC continued to advocate for Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS), as well as a special push on behalf of African countries, “providing them a platform to share their experiences and development challenges”.
Ambassador Kelapile has called for strengthened international cooperation, global solidarity and partnerships to overcome their development challenges and lent support for inclusive and sustainable recovery in these countries.
Looking ahead
In passing the gavel to Ambassador Stoeva, he wished her “all the best” in leading ECOSOC’s work on COVID-19 recovery, and implementing the 2030 Agenda during the Decade of Action.
He thanked all who supported him and asked that they “extend the same support and cooperation” to her.
In closing, Ambassador Kelapile stressed the need to work together “harder” and coordinate further.
“With less than eight years to 2030, it is clear that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals must remain our guiding framework”.
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