Tag: Economic development

Empty shelves and rising prices linked to Ukraine crisis push Tunisians to the brink — Global Issues

“There is no sugar, I have to take a taxi very far away to buy one kilogramme of sugar,” one woman explains in frustration, at a market in Kairouan, a town several hours drive south of the capital, Tunis.

“The prices are going up! Poor people can no longer afford anything. It is like the world is on fire,” another woman explains, as she opens her purse to pay for a bagful of tomatoes, jumbled together on a wooden cart by the side of the road.

Surprise appeal

Nodding his head in agreement, the stallholder takes her money and makes an astonishing, if discreet, appeal. “Please, make it easier for us to migrate across the sea, so we can leave,” he says.

Although the elderly customer scoffs at the idea – “He wants to drown! He wants to drown!” – for many younger Tunisians, leaving the country in search of work and security is a frequent topic of conversation.

This is despite the fact that many thousands of people have died trying to cross the Central Mediterranean Sea from North African nations to Europe on unsafe boats in recent years, and regular TV news reports that announce yet another missing person – or family – at sea.

UN News/Daniel Johnson

In Tunis, Tunisia, a local newspaper says that there will be a sugar delivery soon in the country.

Migration pressures

“I think what the crisis in Ukraine has brought up again, is the hard choices that people have to make on a daily basis, because people forced to flee their homes, people forced to flee their country, are not taking that decision lightly,” says Safa Msehli, spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

For many Tunisians, it remains a challenge to source basic staples, although more than 85,000 metric tonnes of Ukrainian wheat have arrived in Tunisian ports in the two months since the Black Sea Grain Initiative kicked into action, its Joint Coordination Centre in Odesa, said on Thursday.

The agreement was described as a “beacon of hope” by UN Secretary-General António Guterres at the signing ceremony for the Black Sea Grain Initiative on 27 July in Istanbul, with representatives from Russian and Ukraine.

Since 1 August, 240 vessels have sailed from Ukrainian ports with some 5.4 million metric tons of grain and other foodstuffs.

Spreading the load

At an enormous mill in the Tunisian capital, there’s an abundance of flour, as workers stand under a conveyor belt which transports an apparently endless supply of semolina, packaged up into large, heavy-duty plastic sacks.

As the bags start to fall, the men grab them in turns and load them into a large flat-bed lorry until it is full, their faces covered in fine white flour.

The scene is industrious, but the mill is not nearly as busy as it should be, thanks in no small part to the impact of the Ukraine conflict on cutting grain exports from Black Sea, and its role in accentuating existing economic uncertainty.

“Now, we are not in crisis, the crisis is always happening,” says Redissi Radhouane, the chief mill operator at La Compagnie Tunisienne de Semoulerie. “When we look for the wheat, we don’t find any. The wheat is not abundant like before.”

Redissi Radhouane is the chief mill operator at La Compagnie Tunisienne de Semoulerie flour mill in Tunis, Tunisia.

UN News/Daniel Johnson

Redissi Radhouane is the chief mill operator at La Compagnie Tunisienne de Semoulerie flour mill in Tunis, Tunisia.

‘It’s like hunting without bullets’

At a wholesaler’s outlet in Mornag, a town on the outskirts of Tunis, customer Samia Zwabi knows all about the shortages and rising prices.

She explains to UN News that she has to borrow money or buy goods on credit for her grocery store, assuming she can find them in the first place. Like many parents, the fact that it’s the start of the school year is an additional concern.

Half capacity

“We are working at half capacity,” says Samia Zwabi, who reels off a wishlist that includes milk, sugar, cooking oil and fruit juice. “When a client comes, he can’t get all the basics. Clients ask for something I don’t have. We have no options. We need to be able to work to feed our kids.”

Echoing that message, wholesaler Walid Khalfawi’s main headache is the lack of available cooking oil, as his bare storerooms indicate. Another growing worry is the number of customers who pay on credit, he tells us, as he waves a thick wad of handwritten IOU chits.

“If a grocery owner comes here for cooking oil and finds it, he’ll automatically buy pasta, tomatoes, couscous and other products,” says the married father-of-three. “If he doesn’t find it, he won’t buy anything…It’s like going into the forest to hunt with your rifle but you have no bullets. What can you do?”

UN News/Daniel Johnson

Wholesaler Walid Khalfawi talks with UN News at local grocery store in Tunis, Tunisia.

Sole breadwinner

From her modest single-storey home in the city of Kairouan, Najwa Selmi supports her family making traditional handmade bread patties known as “tabouna”, twice in the morning and once in the evening.

The process is laborious and time-consuming, a batch of eight flat rolls taking around 15 minutes to knock into shape from semolina flour, water, yeast and a drop of olive oil.

Once prepared, Najwa wets the surface of the soft patties and slaps them into the inside of a concrete oven that’s been stoked with firewood outside. She grimaces in pain as she removes them with her scorched hands, once she’s satisfied that they’re cooked.

The bread is delicious and Najwa has loyal customers, but it is not easy getting hold of a regular supply of flour, she tells us.

UN News/Ahmed Ellali

Najwa Selmi, at home with her daughter, demonstrates to a UNTV film crew how to make traditional ‘tabouna’ bread.

Classroom blues

 “My youngest daughter will start school soon and I haven’t bought her anything yet, no bag, no books, no school stationery, no clothes,” she says. “If for any reason I had to stop working …or if I got sick, we do not know what the future holds, my family will be hungry, what will they eat?

“From where will they get the money? We do not have another alternative source of income.”

In the bustling Tunis neighbourhood of Ettadhamen, bakery owner Mohamed Lounissi is open about the stresses and challenges of keeping his business afloat, thanks to chronic shortages of flour caused by the war in Ukraine.

“For us, it’s a big problem, if I order eight tonnes, they only give me one tonne. They say you need to wait and then when I tell them I can’t work and I might close, they say, ‘Ok, close, it is not our business!’”

Essential oils

For olive grove and cereal farmer Inès Massoudi, the Russian invasion of Ukraine this February is just the latest in a series of problems that are beyond her control, coming after five years of failed rains and two years of economic uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In particular, she worries that everything she needs for her 50-hectare holding in Beja is now more expensive – and more scarce – than before the war.

Never mind having to pay for more expensive grain for planting, without pesticides to treat common wheat fungus, along with fertilizer to promote growth – a key Russian export before the war – Inès’s harvest could be down by as much as 60 per cent.

“My farm is part of the world and it feels it when something happens outside,” she says of her 50-hectare holding, where olive trees stretch away into the distance in a green haze.

Ahead of the upcoming planting season, “everybody is hesitating”, Inès continues, “because the cost of planting the wheat today is the equivalent of a car, or a new apartment…There is also the crisis in Ukraine that made the cereal prices increase, along with the prices of agrochemicals and fertilizers which have become very expensive.”

UN News/Daniel Johnson

Inès Massoudi (back to camera) is olive grove and cereal farmer who owns a 50-hectare holding in Beja, Tunisia.

Feeling the heat

Back in Tunis, in the bustling Ettadhamen neighourhood, baker Mohamed Lounissi accepts that he is struggling. “It is a daily challenge,” he explains:

“There are no goods and raw material at all; it is (all) too little: no flour, no sugar, oil is not available all the time, everything is not available all the time, along with the price increase, the prices have increased terrifically, they are big increases.”

Standing in front of a sweltering bread oven that he worries he might lose his livelihood, unless he can repay his mortgage, Mohamed concedes that the stress of running a business in the current situation is getting to him. “If I don’t get the raw material I can’t work and I feel that I have a big responsibility in terms of paying the workers.”

In an outdoor storeroom, Mohamed shows us his meagre supply of wheat flour – a small pile of sacks barely reaching knee-height. He carefully locks the door on leaving, quietly chiding himself for not doing so earlier.

Getting hold of the precious ingredient “is a big problem”, he says. “If I order eight tonnes, they only give me one tonne. They say you need to wait and then when I tell them I can’t work and I might close, they say, ‘Ok, close, it is not our business!’”

UN News/Daniel Johnson

A customer chats with UN News at a Tunis neighbourhood bakery in Ettadhamen.

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Put the people first, Guterres urges, with extended and expanded truce — Global Issues

In a statement on Friday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said it was time for Government forces and their allies, together with Houthi rebels and their international backers, to “choose peace for good.”

The hiatus since 2 April, has been twice renewed, providing the longest period of relative calm since the beginning of the intensified conflict, in 2015, Mr. Guterres said. In a statement calling for the truce to be expanded earlier this month, the Security Council said casualties were down 60 per cent since it began.

“I strongly urge the Yemeni parties not only to renew but also to expand the truce’s terms and duration, in line with the proposal presented to them by my Special Envoy, Hans Grundberg.”

In a tweet on Thursday, Mr. Grundberg said he had held “intense discussions” in the capital this week, and said renewal and expansion was a “humanitarian imperative and a political necessity.”

‘Tangible benefits’

The UN chief said the truce had “delivered tangible benefits and much needed relief to the Yemeni people, including a significant reduction in violence and civilian casualties countrywide”.

It has also allowed an increase in fuel deliveries via the main Red Sea port of Hudaydah, and the resumption of international flights to and from the Houthi-controlled airport in the capital, Sa’ana, for the first time in nearly six years.

“Yet more needs to be done to achieve its full implementation, including reaching an agreement on the reopening of roads in Taiz”, in the south, and other governorates, the Secretary-General added.

Beginning to pay civil service salaries, would further improve the day-to-day life of ordinary Yemenis, said, proposing progress “long-term political, economic and military issues”, which “would signal a significant shift towards finding lasting solutions.”

Seize the day

Mr. Guterres strongly urged all those involved in the long-running conflict, to “seize this opportunity.”

“This is the moment to build on the gains achieved and embark on a path towards the resumption of an inclusive and comprehensive political process, to reach a negotiated settlement to end the conflict. The United Nations will spare no efforts to support the parties in this endeavour.”

IOM/Rami Ibrahim

An IOM worker distributes aid kits to newly displaced communities in Ma’rib, Yemen.

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World Maritime Day showcases technology for ‘greener’ shipping — Global Issues

This year’s theme – ‘New technologies for greener shipping’ – promotes innovation and solutions that support a transition in the sector.

Maritime transport represents more than 80 per cent of global trade, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in his message for the Day.

Meanwhile, the war in Ukraine –and the Black Sea Grain Initiative – have highlighted the vital role shipping plays in feeding the world.

Curb shipping emissions

“As shipping continues to connect humanity, it must play an essential part in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and building a fair and prosperous future for people and planet,” he said.

The UN chief stressed that the maritime sector “must accelerate its voyage to decarbonization.” Emissions from shipping are projected to grow considerably unless there is concerted global action, he warned.

“Governments and private companies need to work together to harness innovative technologies such as digitalization and automation and foster a just transition that includes developing countries and promotes renewable energy and alternative fuels,” he said.

“The vessels to be deployed in this decade will determine whether the shipping sector achieves net zero emissions by 2050. Smarter and greener zero emission ships must become the default choice and commercially available for all by 2030.”

Concern for seafarers

The celebrations on World Maritime Day provide a platform to showcase inclusive maritime innovation, research and development, and the demonstration and deployment of new technologies.

This year’s theme opens up a larger conversation about where shipping is headed, and how digitalization and automation can support the sector, said Kitack Lim, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

“But technological solutions for cleaner, safer and more sustainable shipping must also benefit people,” he stressed. “In this regard, the impact on seafarers and other marine personnel, including the need for training, must be considered.”

The theme also entails support for developing nations, particularly small island developing states (SIDS) and least developed countries (LDCs).

Saving lives at sea

In related developments, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is using the Day to underscore the importance of marine meteorology to ensure safety at sea.

WMO has released a new publication and video showcasing how it works with partners, including national meteorological services and IMO, in providing forecasts and early warnings to save lives.

The growing impacts of climate change and more extreme weather are making marine meteorological services more critical than ever before, according to the UN agency.

“This has been underlined yet again by a recent succession of tropical cyclones in the Atlantic and Northwest Pacific, which have led to hazardous shipping conditions. Forecasts and warnings are essential to protect vessels, their cargo and sailors,” it said.

WMO is committed to the International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea, known as the SOLAS convention, through the broadcast of meteorological maritime safety information as part of the IMO Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS).

The SOLAS convention is generally regarded as the most important of all international treaties concerning the safety of merchant ships.

It was first adopted in 1914, in response to the Titanic disaster.

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Barbados Prime Minister Motley calls for overhaul of unfair, outdated global finance system — Global Issues

During her speech, Ms. Motley spoke extensively about the need to reform the ageing global financial architecture to better reflect today’s realities, for instance making it easier for climate-stricken countries to access capital.

Indeed, the Bretton Woods Agreement that gave rise to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) “no longer serve the purpose in the 21st century that they served in the 20th century,” she said.

She called for a global compact establishing that financing for development cannot be short term, but instead should be at least a 30-year loan.

“The world recognized this when allowed Britain to participate in the refinance of its World War I bonds which were only paid eight years ago, 100 years after World War I started,” she said by an example.

She also argued that Germany was allowed to cap its debt payments at the equivalent of 5 per cent of its exports, under the premise that the “cataclysm” experience of a war would not allow them to finance reconstruction while repaying debts incurred during the war.

“We are no different, we have incurred debts for COVID-19, for climate, and now to fight this difficult moment of the inflation and [supply crisis]. Why [must the] developing world find money in 7 to 10 years when others had the benefit of longer terms to repay their [loans]?”, she asked the General Assembly.

Loss and damage

Ms. Motley also referred to the issue of loss and damage and praised Denmark for becoming the first central Government in a developed country to propose a fund devoted to this purpose, which in practical terms would directly help nations at the frontline of climate crisis.

“Any attempt to deny that the climate crisis has man-made origins is an attempt to delude ourselves and to admit that we want to be accomplices in the continuing death and loss of damage that ensues to the people who are the victims of it”, she said.

The Prime Minister asked countries to take responsibility because otherwise, the world is not going to see any change.

“The commitments of loss and damage are absolutely critical if we are to make serious progress in saving our world… the trust that is needed to propel us to fight the great causes of our time will not be won by breaching promises,” she said.

She also highlighted that while small States like Barbados have made net zero commitments, the current state of global affairs, including Atlantic hurricanes, the war in Ukraine, and the absence of financing, does not allow them to stop accessing their natural gas resources right now.

UN Reform and fairness

The Barbados leader also referred to the United States President’s words earlier this week and supported a reform of the Security Council.

“We call an echo for that, but we go further. We believe that a Security Council that retains the power of veto in the hands of a few, will still lead us to war as we have seen this year, and therefore the reform cannot simply be in its composition but also [must include] the removal of that veto,” she said.

Ms. Motley also called for the reform of the G20 and G7 groups, arguing that Barbados “cannot accept” these “informal committees of governance” when they have no African-descent representation and exclude 1.5 billion people in the world.

“How could it be expected to reflect fairness and transparency in its decision making?”, she underscored.

She argued that to be able to move from “possibilities” to “realities” it is essential to embrace a transparency framework that would allow the people who are losing faith in institutions that fairness does mean something.

“Fairness and togetherness are needed to bring about peace, love and prosperity in this world. And this is not romanticism these are hard realities that simply require decisions,” she explained.

Speak the truth

Finally, the Prime Minister said that world leaders must have mature conversations and speak to their people instead of relying on headlines and soundbites, to avoid a disconnect between the government and the governed.

“With those commitments, we can make a difference in this world and let us do so recognizing that a world that reflects an imperialistic order, hypocrisy and lack of transparency will not achieve that mission, but one that gives us freedom transparency and levelled playing field will allow for a difference,” she concluded.

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Closing gender pay gaps is more important than ever — Global Issues

While individual characteristics such as education, working time, occupational segregation, skills, or experience explain part of the gender pay gap, ILO says that a large part is due to discrimination based on one’s gender or sex.

Further building on the UN’s commitment against all forms of discrimination, including that against women and girls, Equal Pay Day represents longstanding efforts towards achieving the same wage for work of equal value.

Women hardest hit

Meanwhile, women have been among the worst affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, including in terms of income security, representation in sectors hardest hit, and gendered division of family responsibilities.

This, in turn, has led negatively impacted their employment and threatened to reverse decades of progress made towards gender equality.

As countries emerge from the pandemic, taking action to address gender equality setbacks is not only relevant and timely but also critical for an inclusive, sustainable, and resilient recovery.

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Closing the gap

Governments, employers, and workers organizations recognize that closing gender pay gaps is more important than ever. 

Over the past few years, increasingly more governments are proposing transparency measures and information sharing to address gender wage gaps.

According to recent research, depending on how they are put into place, pay transparency measures can effectively identify compensation differences and reduce broader gender inequalities in the labour market.

“These are still early days for pay transparency,” said Manuela Tomei, Director of the ILO Conditions of Work and Equality Department, noting that countries are pursuing different approaches to advance it.

She pointed out that “there is no ‘one-size fits all’ solution”.

“While more time is needed to assess the effectiveness of the different measures and practices, it is encouraging that Governments, workers’ and employers’ organizations seek to devise innovative solutions, such as pay transparency, to tackle a stubborn problem”.

Surprising facts

  • Women are concentrated in lower-paid, lower-skill work.
  • For every dollar men earn, women earn 77 cents.
  • Women are under-represented in decision-making roles.
  • Women carry out at least 2.5 times more unpaid work than men.
  • At the current rate, it will take 257 years to close the global gender pay gap.

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Sharing indigenous knowledge with tourists — Global Issues

Indigenous entrepreneur Celestina Ábalos runs a tourism business in the UNESCO World Heritage site of Quebrada de Humahuaca in Jujuy province, northern Argentina, sharing her community’s culture and knowledge of medicinal herbs.

“I am a child of Pachamama, Mother Earth. Earth is everything to us. It is life. We cannot conceive of ourselves without her. My community dates back 14,000 years. On behalf of 60 families, I led a 20-year fight for the right to land, education and freedom.

We used to live under a rental system where we had a landlord who delineated the spaces for us to occupy and to live in, both for sowing crops and raising cattle.  It was a life very much governed by what the master said, by the space you had to occupy, and by what I saw my parents having to pay at the end of each year.  These were very powerful moments for a teenager.  

Through the process of reclaiming our territory I began to think more about how to make my history and the history of my people known. I have always seen, and I continue to see in the media, the stigma that is placed on us indigenous peoples.   I wanted to show and make the other side of the story known.  That motivated me but I was thinking: “How do I do it, how do I show this?”

‘We are the guardians of our culture’

In 2003, our mountain valley, the Quebrada de Humahuaca, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site. This marked a milestone in the history of our people. I saw that many people were talking about our mountains, our culture, our food.  And I said to myself: “but this is us: we know how to do it, we are the guardians of our culture”.

Culture, for us, is part of our daily life, it is the knowledge and skills that have been transmitted from generation to generation. We learn it from the moment we are born. It’s in our medicinal herbs and in our food, in our crops.
So I thought, “Why not dare to do what I know, what I have learned?” That is how my tourism business, a tea house called the Casa de Celestina, was born.

Sharing ancestral knowledge

When tourists come to the Casa de Celestina, I welcome them, I introduce them to the use of medicinal herbs, such as mate, which we drink in the morning and in the afternoon to energize ourselves. I talk about which herb we take when we are sick, when to harvest it, how to dry it, how to preserve them. 

I talk about our diet. We have our different corns here and we make our own flour, so we have flour for soup, flour for tamales, flour to make cookies, flour to make our juices, our drinks, flour to make our pastries

All that knowledge is there because it has been transmitted from generation to generation. Our mothers, our grandmothers, for me, are the real treasure troves of biodiversity. Our grandparents are those living libraries in our communities. Without them and without that knowledge, I could not be speaking today. 

I have learned, by observing, watching, sharing. You have to be contributing to the land, putting wood on the fire, lighting an oven and making your offering. You have to be there at sunset, when the goats are already back in the corral and the grandparents are sitting down.

The tourists prepare a dish with me. It can be a culli corn flour pudding, with nuts, with chocolate chips. Or they can also prepare a delicious meal, quinoa croquettes stuffed with goats cheese, with sautéed potatoes, rosemary and herbs. Or we can also prepare a llama casserole.

Then we visit my town and our church, which dates back to 1789. We visit the path of herbs, where they also learn about other medicinal herbs such as Muna-Muna, which is for bruises, for muscle pains. 

They get to know our stories, our ceremonies, like the dispatch of souls or the story of how we reclaimed our territory. I share what my day is like and what I do. And then we go down and we drink tea together and eat the pudding they have prepared. 

I renew their energies with the herbs that we have also brought from the path. They leave feeling renewed, they leave with a different view of us. They experience a living culture, the essence of culture.

That is what I like about tourism, about those who come to visit us. You see how this relationship of culture goes beyond sharing an experience. It is about looking at each other in a different way, to look at each other as human beings.

‘I am achieving my dream’

The pandemic hit my business very hard.  The reservations I had were cancelled. The little savings I had went to feeding my family.  I felt so impotent.  The government said that there were subsidies for entrepreneurs, but I did not qualify and had to continue to pay taxes.  Many small business entrepreneurs have had a very difficult time.  It was very hard.

I was invited to take part in a virtual Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) course, run by the International Labour Organization (ILO), that was going to take place between October and November 2021. I was very interested in improving my entrepreneurship and developing a business plan because it was one of the reasons why I could not access loans and subsidies. So, I said yes right away.  

The ILO course provided me with tools to scale up my business. I am still using them today. They included how to make a business plan, estimate costs, prepare a budget and inventory and manage social media. Some of the people on the course had already started their own businesses, others were about to start. It was a chance to share and exchange our experiences. What I liked the most were the course manuals. They are very, very useful, very good.

My business is steadily improving. I am achieving my dream.  

I still remember a speech that I gave a long time ago to Argentina’s then President Néstor Kirchner. I told him: “We, the indigenous peoples, want an opportunity, the opportunity for development, the opportunity to improve our quality of life.”

It is important for my community to see that it is possible, that we women can carry out our businesses with the tools we have. We do not have to wait until we have everything, but we can start with what we have now.”

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Young Jordanians innovate to tackle food insecurity — Global Issues

Jordanians are dealing with multiple overlapping challenges including slow economic growth, high youth unemployment, water scarcity and increased cost of living.

With 63 per cent of its population under the age of 30, Jordan has one of the youngest populations in the world, and youth engagement and mobilization is crucial to finding solutions to food insecurity. 

This is why the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP) launched the Youth in Food Security Innovation Programme, which saw a group of young Jordanians, aged between 18 and 26, presenting a wide range of ideas, from addressing the problem of solid waste, to recycling fruit and vegetable peel.

As part of the project, the participants received training on the implications of food insecurity, the opportunities and challenges directly linked to food security, the role of technology in shaping the future of food, and strategies for changing the traditional food chain.

UNICEF/ Nadia Bseiso

Aya Kraik, a participant in a WFP/ UNICEF youth innovation project in Jordan.

Reviving the soil

Aya Kreik, an architecture student in Amman is one of those young innovators. Ms. Kreik and her team succeeded in converting farms waste into organic fertilizers rich in nutrients, reviving the soil and encouraging farmers to avoid the use of chemical fertilizers.

“My innovation idea aims to increase plants’ immunity to diseases and helps the soil to retain water in a large proportion, which reduces the amount of irrigation water needed. A modern method for treating waste and does not produce greenhouse gases”. she explains. “We started our project at the beginning of the pandemic. With the lockdowns, we thought of ideas to become self-sufficient when it comes to food.”

“The Jordanian Capital, Amman, is a very crowded city and there are no available spaces for farming”, she adds. “In addition, not all people are interested in healthy and organic food, because of lack of awareness and high prices. So, we were determined to raise awareness about the importance and benefits of organic food”.

“I am proud of where I got to today. We are about to start the first multiple-output, women-led farm in Jordan,” declares Ms. Kreik. “We, young people, need to think out of the box and come up with new ideas related to environmental sustainability”.

UNICEF/ Nadia Bseiso

Alaa Al-Hijazeen and Nourhan Al Gharabli, participants in a youth innovation project by UNICEF/ WFP in Jordan.

Self-feeding plants

Banking and Finance graduate Alaa Al-Hijazeen and Business Intelligence student Nourhan Al Gharabli launched a startup that produces self-watering and self-feeding plants using a new type of hydrogel, consisting of self-absorbing polymers, that can transform moisture in the air into pure water.

“Our goal is not to make money”, says Alaa, “but to leave an impact and change people’s lives. Climate change is having direct impacts on food security, the air we breathe and the water we drink. We all need to take action.”

“Our next step is to turn this idea into a reality. And we are considering further exploring environmental businesses. Our environment is a great resource, and we can use it sustainably,” she adds.

UNICEF/ Nadia Bseiso

Alaa Thalji,participant in a WFP/ UNICEF youth innovation project in Jordan.

From peel to polymer

Agricultural engineer Alaa Thalji participated in the innovation training. Her project entails recycling the peels of fruits and vegetables to produce a chemical polymer that removes 99 per cent of heavy metals from water.

“I am an agricultural engineer, specializing in water treatment. I came up with the idea during my second year at university. I took a class called Environmental Chemical Pollutants, that introduced us to the dangers that pollutants pose to our health, and another class called Drinking Water Treatment, where our professor kept telling us how water containing heavy metals cannot be used for drinking purposes.

So, I thought about the many water sources that we unfortunately cannot make use of, and I started working on a chemical polymer that is organic and safe,” says Ms. Thalji. 
 

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Young workers have been hit hardest by COVID fallout, says UN labour agency — Global Issues

According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), the pandemic has caused many additional problems for 15 to 24-year-olds who’ve experienced “much higher” unemployment losses than older workers since the global health emergency was declared in early 2020.

Young women have struggled more than their male counterparts to find work, while Arab nations are expected to see the highest levels of youth unemployment by the end of the year, compared to the global average.

“We know that the COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on youth labour markets around the world,” said Martha Newton, ILO Deputy Director-General for Policy. “It’s exposed a number of shortcomings in the way the needs of young people are addressed, especially the most vulnerable first-time job seekers, school dropouts, fresh graduates with little experience and those who remain inactive not by choice.”

Speaking at the launch of ILO’s report, Global Employment Trends for Youth 2022: Investing in transforming futures for young people,  Ms. Newton said that the share of youth not in employment, education or training in 2020 rose to 23.3 per cent.

That represents an increase of 1.5 percentage points from 2019 and represents a level not seen in at least 15 years, the ILO report found.

“This group of young people are at particular risk of seeing their labour market opportunities and outcomes deteriorate also over the longer-term as ‘scarring’ effects take hold,” the report noted.

Gender inequality

The report’s takeaways include the worrying finding that young women are worse off than young men when it comes to finding a job. This year, fewer than three in 10 young women globally are expected to be in work, compared to well over four in 10 young men.

“The gender gap, which has shown little sign of closing over the past two decades, is largest in lower-middle-income countries, at 17.3 percentage points, and smallest in high-income countries, at 2.3 percentage points,” the ILO report stated.

Only high-income countries on course to recover

Latest labour data scrutinised by ILO also indicated that only high-income counties are likely to see a recovery in youth unemployment levels “close to those of 2019” by the end of this year.

In lower-income countries, youth unemployment rates are projected to remain more than one percentage point above pre-crisis values.

In Africa, the continent’s youth unemployment rate of 12.7 per cent masks the fact that many youths have chosen to withdraw from the labour market altogether, ILO said. It noted that “over one in five young people in Africa was not in employment, education, or training in 2020, and the trend has been deteriorating”.

UNICEF

Young girls in Central African Republic. Youth represents 70% of the population in CAR

The Arab States have the highest and the fastest growing unemployment rate of young people worldwide, projected at 24.8 per cent in 2022. “The situation is worse for young women in the region, with 42.5 per cent unemployment in 2022, which is almost three times as high as the global average for young women (14.5 per cent),” ILO said.

In Europe and Central Asia, unemployment among 15 to 24-year-olds is expected to be 1.5 per cent higher than the rest of the world this year (16.4 per cent compared with 14.9 per cent). Although there has been “substantial progress” in reducing youth unemployment for both women and men, ILO said that the fallout of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was “highly likely to affect the results”.

While the Asia Pacific region is set to see 14.9 per cent of young workers still looking for a job by the end of the year, in line with the global average, the picture will likely remain worrying in Latin America, where the rate is expected to be 20.5 per cent.

“Historically, young women’s unemployment rates have been higher than young men’s (in Latin American countries), but the crisis exacerbated this trend,” ILO’s report stated.

The picture is radically different in North America, however, where the youth and young adult unemployment rate is expected to be well world average levels, at 8.3 per cent.

Solutions are green and blue

To address the problem, the UN labour agency urged governments to implement sustainable green and blue (ocean) policy measures. According to the report, this could generate an additional 8.4 million jobs for young people by 2030.

Targeted investments in digital technologies could also absorb high numbers of young workers, ILO maintained. By achieving universal broadband coverage by 2030, some 24 million new jobs could be created worldwide it said, with young workers taking 6.4 million of them.



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UN trade body calls for halting cryptocurrency rise in developing countries — Global Issues

Although private digital currencies have rewarded some individuals and institutions, they are an unstable financial asset that can bring social risks and costs, the agency warned. 

UNCTADsaid their benefits to some are overshadowed by the threats they pose to financial stability, domestic resource mobilization, and the security of monetary systems. 

Rise of crypto 

Cryptocurrencies are an alternative form of payment. Transactions are done digitally through encrypted technology known as blockchain. 

The use of cryptocurrency rose globally at an unprecedented rate during the COVID-19 pandemic, reinforcing a trend that was already in motion. Some 19,000 are currently in existence.  

In 2021, developing countries accounted for 15 of the top 20 economies when it comes to the share of the population that owns cryptocurrencies.

Ukraine topped the list with 12.7 per cent, followed by Russia and Venezuela, with 11.9 per cent and 10.3 per cent, respectively.  

Not so golden 

The first brief – All that glitters is not gold: The high cost of leaving cryptocurrencies unregulated – examines the reasons behind the rapid uptake of cryptocurrencies in developing countries, including facilitation of remittances and as a hedge against currency and inflation risks. 

“Recent digital currency shocks in the market suggest that there are private risks to holding crypto, but if the central bank steps in to protect financial stability, then the problem becomes a public one,” UNCTAD said. 

Furthermore, if cryptocurrencies continue to grow as a means of payment, and even replace domestic currencies unofficially, the “monetary sovereignty” of countries could be jeopardized. 

UNCTAD also highlighted the particular risk that stablecoins pose in developing countries with unmet demand for reserve currencies.  As their name implies, stablecoins are designed to maintain stability as their value is pegged to another currency, commodity or financial instrument. 

“For some of these reasons, the International Monetary Fund has expressed the view that cryptocurrencies pose risks as legal tender,” the agency said. 

The second policy brief focuses on the implications of cryptocurrencies for the stability and security of monetary systems, and to financial stability in general. 

“It is argued that a domestic digital payment system that serves as a public good could fulfil at least some of the reasons for crypto use and limit the expansion of cryptocurrencies in developing countries,” said UNCTAD. 

For example, monetary authorities could provide a central bank digital currency or a fast retail payment system, though measures will depend on national capacities and needs. 

However, UNCTAD has urged governments “to maintain the issuance and distribution of cash”, given the risk of deepening the digital divide in developed countries. 

Tax evasion fears 

The final policy brief discusses how cryptocurrencies have become a new channel for undermining domestic resource mobilization in developing countries, and warns of the dangers of doing too little, too late. 

While cryptocurrencies can facilitate remittances, UNCTAD warned that they may also enable tax evasion and avoidance through illicit financial flows – similar to a tax haven, where ownership is not easily identifiable. 

“In this way, cryptocurrencies may also curb the effectiveness of capital controls, a key instrument for developing countries to preserve their policy space and macroeconomic stability,” the agency added. 

Curbing crypto 

UNCTAD has outlined several actions aimed at halting cryptocurrency expansion in developing countries. 

The agency urged authorities to regulate crypto exchanges, digital wallets and decentralized finance to ensure the comprehensive financial regulation of cryptocurrencies. 

Furthermore, regulated financial institutions should be banned from holding cryptocurrencies, including stablecoins, or offering related products to their clients. 

Advertising related to cryptocurrencies also should be regulated, as is the case with other high-risk financial assets.

Governments are advised to provide a safe, reliable and affordable public payment system adapted to the digital era. 

UNCTAD also advocates for global tax coordination regarding cryptocurrency tax treatments, regulation and information sharing.

Additionally, capital controls should be redesigned to take account of what the agency described as “the decentralized, borderless and pseudonymous features of cryptocurrencies”.

To hear UNCTAD’s latest podcast which focuses on the highs and lows of the cryptocurrency world, click here.

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Outreach across the Horn of Africa — Global Issues

The region is home to some 600,000 people, many of whom the UN tries to support as they face challenges ranging from inter-clan conflict to gender-based violence and human rights violations. 
 
Travelling such long distances is all part of the regular work of human rights staff and other UN officials in their efforts to meet those in need.
 
The recent trip involved discussions with local government officials, civil society groups and human rights activists, with the latter calling for stronger press freedom, modern facilities for law enforcement agencies to better serve local residents, and improvements to camps for internally displaced people.

Security for UN teams on such outreach missions is a major consideration, as is navigating long stretches of roads of varying quality and avoiding wildlife – especially herds of camels

Find out more about the road trip, and how the UN is helping vulnerable people in the Horn of Africa here.

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