Tom Andrews, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, insisted that current conditions there were “anything but conducive” for the return of Rohingya refugees.
Death trap
He stressed that the very generals who had launched “genocidal” attacks against the Rohingya, causing hundreds of thousands to flee the country, were now in power and “attacking civilian populations while denying the Rohingya citizenship and other basic rights”.
According to Mr. Andrews’ statement, Bangladesh officials have been planning to send back to Myanmar, potentially very soon, an initial group of 1,140 Rohingya refugees, using a combination of threats and financial rewards.
Confined to ‘designated area’
The returnees would reportedly pass through “transit” centres in Rakhine state before being resettled in a “designated area of 15 newly constructed villages” which they will “not be allowed to leave freely”.
“The return of Rohingya refugees under these conditions would likely violate Bangladesh’s obligations under international law and expose Rohingya to gross human rights violations and, potentially, future atrocity crimes,” Mr. Andrews said.
In March, Bangladesh authorities facilitated two visits by Myanmar junta authorities to the Bangladesh camps, said the UN rights office OHCHR.
According to reports, at least some of the refugees were coerced into participating in so-called ‘verification’ interviews with junta officials. Bangladesh and the military regime’s officials also coordinated a ‘go see’ visit to Rakhine State for some Rohingya refugees.
Bangladeshi officials said the refugees had expressed “general satisfaction” with the arrangements being made for their return, but these assurances were contradicted by reports that those who participated in the trip had unequivocally rejected the repatriation plans, OHCHR said.
“I implore Bangladesh to immediately suspend the repatriation pilot programme,” Mr. Andrews said.
Stand with Rohingya
“I also urge the international community to stand with Rohingya refugees in both word and deed”, he added.
“This must include reversing the failure to provide a humane level of support for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh who are unable to pursue livelihoods, continue to face hunger and malnutrition, and whose children have very limited educational opportunities”.
They are mandated to monitor and report on specific thematic issues or country situations. They are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work.
They urged lawmakers to adopt the draft bill, which compels private creditors to participate in international debt relief efforts on similar terms as public lenders.
Fair for all
New York State is home to New York City, the financial capital of the world.
Some 60 per cent of developing country debt is held by private creditors, and New York law governs 52 per cent of this global debt, according to the experts.
“If taxpayers contribute to public debt relief, private creditors should be obliged to participate on the same terms,” they said. “Debt relief must be effective and fair for all, and its costs must be shared by private creditors as well.”
The proposed legislation means distressed low and middle-income countries would be able to protect the economic, social and cultural rights of their citizens instead of paying “unsustainable” debt loads.
Shift budget priorities
In 2021, these nations spent an average of 27.5 per cent of their budgets on interest and debt payments, or more than the amount spent on education, health and social protection combined.
“This bill is a golden opportunity that will allow countries in debt distress to shift their budgetary priorities and, by providing for better living conditions, reduce the risks for investors in these countries and create better opportunities,” they said.
The experts stressed that the COVID-19 pandemic, the energy crisis, rising food prices and inflation, have led to an increase in unsustainable debt for many countries, with a particular impact on developing nations.
“Many poor people can barely afford food and minimum dietary needs for health. It is precisely in times of crisis that States must be able to ensure social protection and food security for all people in their country,” they added.
They underscored that “everyone has an interest in countries being able to invest in social protection, healthcare, housing, education and food security, instead of devoting more and more of their limited budgets to debt repayments.”
About UN experts
Special Rapporteurs and Independent Experts receive their mandates from the UN Human Rights Council, which is based in Geneva.
They serve in their individual capacity and are independent of any Government or organization.
They are not UN staff and do not receive payment for their work.
Abdulwasea Mohammed addressing UN Member States, UN agencies, fellow NGOs during Protection of Civilians Week last month. Credit: Oxfam
Opinion by Abdulwasea Mohammed (sana’a, yemen)
Inter Press Service
SANA’A, Yemen, Jun 06 (IPS) – During the week of May 21, the UN held its annual week dedicated to the Protection of Civilians. The themes of the week’s events, particularly the side events, I had the honor of participating in, mirrored many of the pressing issues in Yemen, as conflict continues.
While there is some hope as peace negotiations are underway, millions of Yemenis are still feeling the acute impacts of war. I had the opportunity to address some of the representatives of UN member states, UN agencies and fellow NGOs, who are taking a leading role on these issues, including Conflict and Hunger and Community-Led Approaches of Civilian Protection.
I also was able to share many of these key messages with members of US Congress and UN missions during my time in the US. As we look ahead, we need to see the conversations from the week put into action.
Conflict and hunger are deeply intertwined in Yemen, just as they are around the world – Conflict continues to be the top driver of extreme hunger. The humanitarian response including food, cash, clean water, is saving lives every day, but without clear signs for lasting peace, hunger and other potentially deadly challenges that cannot be ended in Yemen.
And in our case, the same can be said about economic factors – many continue to overlook the impact the shattered economy has had on pushing food insecurity to catastrophic levels. We need both inclusive peace and large-scale economic action to help Yemenis continue to survive and recover.
Restrictions on imports over the years, continued financial shocks and economic deterioration as well as increased prices of fuel and food commodities, and disruptions to livelihoods and services, have driven millions to hunger.
The indirect impacts are overwhelming but this is also in addition, unfortunately, to very direct impacts on food production and essential infrastructure due to fighting. At Oxfam, we have documented farms being targeted, fishing boats being fired at, and unexploded ordnance, cluster munitions and landmines—all of them putting agricultural areas out of use.
To address all of these threats and their devastating impacts, we need community-based and community-led action. At the UN I spoke specifically about hunger and community-led protection, but this approach can be applied across humanitarian response and steps toward early recovery.
In times of crisis, community leaders, local organizations, and neighbors are the true first responders, arriving first and staying long after larger groups may have to leave. They are more effective in some ways, and have the knowledge to support the most vulnerable members of society. These groups need more resources to do their work effectively.
This is a concrete way for the aid community to make a difference in Yemen now and going forward – to reframe and revise support to community-based protection and funding to local organizations, with a focus on building trust over long-term relationships.
Donors should provide longer timeframes for organizations to accomplish the goals in a project and provide more flexible funding and support to truly build on the success of community-level work.
Yemen, just like all humanitarian responses, is a complicated place to work, and sometimes time runs out on funding, before a project even begins after dealing with security, logistical and bureaucratic challenges.
Of course, local groups alone cannot tackle one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, and organizations like Oxfam should listen to their priorities, assess how to best support the work underway, and fill in the gaps to provide a complementary response.
Taking all of these risks and approaches into account, it is key that policies and programs addressing conflict-induced hunger address the specific needs and experiences of the most vulnerable, including women and displaced people.
All of these groups should be able to weigh in on issues impacting them as part of this an inclusive and effective humanitarian response, economic recovery, and sustainable peace.
Targeted programs to support their economic empowerment, such as providing access to finance, technical assistance, and market opportunities; and improving access to education all would make a massive difference for these groups, and for Yemen as a whole.
Above all, we have to address the root causes of the conflict and its impacts in a holistic way. For there to be progress, we must ensure that any negotiated peaceful resolution includes these same voices of women and other marginalized groups and addresses the underlying issues such as political and economic inequality that have contributed to the conflict and ensure no one is left behind.
I hope the Protection of Civilians Week was a point of reflection and a renewed call to action for those that gathered, as it was for me. Each context is unique, but there is much to learn from each other. I spoke at events alongside experts from the Lake Chad Basin, South Sudan, and more – and we all had something to learn from our successes, failures, and recommendations.
With more resources in the right hands alongside a recommitment to peace, Yemenis – along with those caught in similar spirals of hunger and insecurity – can have a hopeful way forward.
Abdulwasea Mohammed is Yemen Advocacy, Campaigns Media Manager at Oxfam.
The UN human rights office, OHCHR, and its mandate has become a powerful vehicle for change, progress, dignity, and justice, yet “this is far from enough to meet today’s challenges”, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said in his keynote address at the +30 Symposium, Vienna World Conference: 30 Years On: Our Rights – Our Future.
Common language
Convened to mark the third decade of the adoption of the landmark Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, the symposium aims at highlighting achievements and outlining challenges ahead.
“While there have been massive gains in human rights since the Vienna Declaration, today, all around the world, we are seeing dramatic rollbacks”, he said. “The common language of human rights is our compass to guide us towards progress.”
The global agreement remains a “living document that can guide us today in our ambitions”, the High Commissioner said.
Rolling back rights
From Afghanistan to Ukraine, he said, the world is witnessing pushbacks on rights, a rise in hate speech, shrinking civic space, and a changing geopolitical landscape that has revealed a disturbing trend of deepened divisions within and across countries threatening national cohesion, he warned.
The 21st century has also seen the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution alongside digital shifts, including artificial intelligence developments, that are rapidly transforming the world, “moving faster than the regulators who should be setting up careful human rights guardrails to protect us from their dangers”, he said.
Rights foundations
“Today’s emerging human rights challenges will continue to test us,” he said. “It would be naïve to say we can pass all these tests, but it would be dangerous and counter-productive to stop trying.”
Recalling his youth in post-Second World War Austria, he said the “echoes of trauma and of grave human rights violations were palpable”.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which turns 75 this year, was “a powerful unifying force for equality, social progress, justice, and respect” in an era of profound social transformations amid dynamic movements for social justice, feminism, LGBTI rights, anti-apartheid, decolonization, and environmental protection, he said.
When UN Member States adopted the Vienna Declaration in 1993, the agreement had shattered the long-held fallacy that social, economic, and cultural rights have less value than civil and political rights, he said.
The landmark agreement also confirmed the conviction that human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent, and interrelated, and boldly rejected the view that certain human rights could be considered optional while paving the path for numerous other breakthroughs, from establishing the International Criminal Court, to historical advances on the rights of women, children, and indigenous peoples.
Learning from mistakes
“Anniversaries are arbitrary unless we seize them as meaningful opportunities to reflect on our achievements, learn from our mistakes, and take fearless steps towards progress and transformation,” he said.
“The task before all of us today, this year, and in the future is to apply the Universal Declaration’s visionary words to our current global challenges,” he said, urging all participants to constructively join the symposium with pledges and positive impact stories.
“Restoring faith and certainty in human rights at a time of profound global turmoil is the focus of this symposium, and it must be the focus of our future,” he added.
It also aims at mobilizing the “full weight” of the UN to ensure that all people, everywhere, enjoy their human rights, he stressed.
“As we remember those who worked for the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, we pledge to continue the fight to put human rights at the heart of our work, and our world to guarantee freedom, justice and equality for all,” he said.
The 5.5 magnitude quake struck in the department of Grand’Anse, following torrential rains which have displaced more than 13,000 people.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of life, destruction of property and suffering of the Haitian people caused by the earthquake”, said UN Spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric. “The Secretary-General extends his condolences to the families of the victims and wishes a speedy recovery to all those injured.”
More aid en route
He said the UN stood ready to work with the Haitian authorities and other partners, to help ease the suffering of those impacted by this latest natural disaster.
On Monday, the World Food Programme (WFP) said that it was already providing immediate assistance to those affected by the massive rainfall over the weekend, providing hot meals to those displaced, and mobilizing ready-to-eat rations and dry food.
Mr. Dujarric said that Grand’ Anse was among the areas impacted by the rains, prior to the earthquake.
According to news reports, Tuesday’s quake was the second to strike the area in just two days, with a 4.4 magnitude tremor registered on Sunday morning.
In August 2021, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck the same southern peninsula region, leaving hundreds dead.
Resources for flood victims
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, is working with UN Children’s Fund UNICEF, WFP and the International Organization for Migration, IOM, to support communities around the capital Port-au-Prince that were hardest hit by the floods and landslides, he added.
WFP is ready to distribute some 350,000 hot meals and other food assistance overall, to those who need it the most, he confirmed.
“Our colleagues say that ongoing insecurity and damage to roads are obviously hampering any relief efforts.”
According to UN humanitarians, the floods and landslides affected seven of Haiti’s 10 departments, and authorities say at least 51 people have been killed, 140 others injured and 18 are still missing. In the affected areas, nearly 32,000 homes were flooded.
Organized under the theme, Realizing the dream: A UN declaration on the promotion, protection and full respect of the human rights of people of African descent, the Permanent Forum heard from experts and leaders from around the world, including Ms. Nascimento, explaining the challenges they have faced, and the dreams they have for the future.
Her dream is for Black women to “break away from the madness” and “have the power and possibility to decide”.
UN News/ Pauline Batista
Activist Valdecir Nascimento at the second session of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent.
“My whole life has been dedicated to the racial struggle. My encounter with the Black movement was a turning point for me. I was 19 or 20 years old when I found the movement.
I went looking for a barber shop to cut all my hair because my straight hair no longer fit me. I could not continue with those aesthetics after what the movement told me.
My whole life is attached to this relationship: the existence of the Black movement, as a subject.
‘Born fighting’
I was born in the stilt houses of Alagados in Bahia during the first stilt house occupation in Latin America. What brought me to the global level was essentially being born in that place, and knowing that you are born fighting.
If the real colonized Brazil was born in the northeast, we experienced processes, including the liberation and autonomy struggle, much earlier on than in the southeast.
When the resources come and if resources are limited, they get taken away. Resources are not always distributed based on regional struggles. Resources also get distributed according to narratives folks want to hear. And I used to say, and I used to talk to Nilma Mendes, who is a colleague from Belém do Pará, from those days in the 1980s.
She used to ask me, ‘Val, how many enemies do you make a day?’ I said to her, with my eyes filled with tears, that where I came from, I learned that we can’t just let anyone walk all over us.
‘This is my dream’
Part of my dreams for Black women of today, still have not come true the way I would like, but they slowly are.
I want Black women of today to break away from this madness that we are all goddesses, and we need to come up with all solutions for the world.
We are not all goddesses and don’t need to come up with all solutions for the world. We can enjoy life, and life can be the simplest thing in the world, but I want us to have the power and possibility to decide.
In a statement on Friday, the experts said that emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence-based biometric surveillance systems, are increasingly being used “in sensitive contexts”, without individuals’ knowledge or consent
‘Urgent red lines’ must be drawn
“Urgent and strict regulatory red lines are needed for technologies that claim to perform emotion or gender recognition,” said the experts, who include Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism.
The Human Rights Council-appointed experts condemned the already “alarming” use and impacts of spyware and surveillance technologies on the work of human rights defenders and journalists, “often under the guise of national security and counter-terrorism measures”.
They also called for regulation to address the lightning-fast development of generative AI that’s enabling mass production of fake online content which spreads disinformation and hate speech.
Real world consequences
The experts stressed the need to ensure that these systems do not further expose people and communities to human rights violations, including through the expansion and abuse of invasive surveillance practices that infringe on the right to privacy, facilitate the commission of gross human rights violations, including enforced disappearances, and discrimination.
They also expressed concern about respect for freedoms of expression, thought, peaceful protest, and for access to essential economic, social and cultural rights, and humanitarian services.
“Specific technologies and applications should be avoided altogether where the regulation of human rights complaints is not possible,” the experts said.
The experts also expressed concern that generative AI development is driven by a small group of powerful actors, including businesses and investors, without adequate requirements for conducting human rights due diligence or consultation with affected individuals and communities.
And the crucial job of internal regulation through content moderation, is often performed by individuals in situations of labour exploitation, the independent experts noted.
More transparency
“Regulation is urgently needed to ensure transparency, alert people when they encounter synthetic media, and inform the public about the training data and models used,” the experts said.
The experts reiterated their calls for caution about digital technology use in the context of humanitarian crises, from large-scale data collection – including the collection of highly sensitive biometric data – to the use of advanced targeted surveillance technologies.
“We urge restraint in the use of such measures until the broader human rights implications are fully understood and robust data protection safeguards are in place,” they said.
Encryption, privacy paramount
They underlined the need to ensure technical solutions – including strong end-to-end encryption and unfettered access to virtual private networks – and secure and protect digital communications.
“Both industry and States must be held accountable, including for their economic, social, environmental, and human rights impacts,” they said. “The next generation of technologies must not reproduce or reinforce systems of exclusion, discrimination and patterns of oppression.”
Special Rapporteurs and other rights experts are all appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, are mandated to monitor and report on specific thematic issues or country situations, are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work.
The cuts will reduce the value of rations provided to Rohingya refugees to $8 per month, or 27 cents per day.
At the beginning of the year, refugees were receiving a ration of $12 per person per month, which was just enough to meet daily needs, but on 1 March, that was cut to $10 – due to lack of funding support.
‘Extremely concerned’
“We are extremely concerned that WFP has been forced to cut food aid for the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh”, said the UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh, Gwyn Lewis.
“The nutrition and health consequences will be devastating, particularly for women and children and the most vulnerable in the community. We urgently appeal for international support.”
The mostly-Muslim Rohingya, fled by the hundreds of thousands after a military crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine State in August 2017, that the UN human rights chief at the time described as a text book case of ethnic cleansing.
Those fleeing persecution joined around 300,000 already sheltering in Bangladesh from previous waves of displacement, and close to a million now live in what is, in effect, the largest refugee camp in the world.
Dependent on rations lifeline
Only 24.6 per cent of the response effort for the mostly-Muslim Rohingya, is funding allocated to provide basic health services, nutrition, food, and education for refugees, who do not have any other source of support.
People living in Rohingya camps are barred from working by Bangladeshi authorities, “and they are completely dependent on international community funding,” added Mr. Lewis.
His call was echoed by three of the UN Human Rights Council-appointed independent experts who are monitoring the situation.
Tom Andrews, Michael Fakhri, and Olivier De Schutter, warned that the cuts will have devastating consequences, and urged donors to provide enough funds to restore rations in full.
“In the span of three months, Rohingya refugees have seen their food rations cut by a third, further eroding the health and security of a population already suffering from severe trauma and deprivation,” the experts said.
‘Devastatingly predictable’ consequences
“The consequences of the rations cuts will be devastatingly predictable: spiking rates of acute malnutrition, infant mortality, violence, and even death.
“It also will contribute to increased regional instability, and some Rohingya may decide that it is better to trust their lives to traffickers and smugglers and risk their lives at sea, than to face hunger and even death in the camps,” the independent UN experts warned.
Child development impaired
“The impact on the Rohingya will be severe and long-lasting, stunting the development of children and dimming the hopes of future generations. Vulnerable populations, including pregnant and breastfeeding women, adolescent girls, and children under five will bear the brunt of the cuts and be further exposed to exploitation and abuse,” they said.
Even prior to the first round of rations cuts, health indicators for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh were grim, the experts warned.
Forty-five percent of Rohingya families were not eating a sufficient diet. Forty percent of Rohingya children experienced stunted growth, and more than half suffered from anemia.
Cyclone Mocha, which made landfall in western Myanmar on 14 May, damaged or destroyed the shelters of approximately 40,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, exacerbating suffering and adding to budgetary needs.
Course reversal essential
“Member States must urgently act to close the $56 million funding shortfall for food rations that has led to these cuts”, calling on those who’ve already scaled back, to reverse course.
“Member States that have not yet provided financial support to the Rohingya should do so without delay,” the experts said.
“The failure to provide Rohingya families in Bangladesh with sustainable levels of food is a stain on the conscience of the international community. They are in Bangladesh not by choice, but because of genocidal attacks by the Myanmar military,” the experts concluded.
Pride Month provides an opportunity to celebrate the resilience, diversity, and achievements of LGBTQI individuals, UNAIDS said in a press release, while also reflecting on continuing struggle for full equality, dignity and recognition.
This momentous occasion also serves as a reminder of the important collective commitment to human rights, equality, and the urgent need to decriminalize same-sex relationships, the agency continued.
Proud to serve
Cleiton Euzebio, Senior Advisor for Communities and Key Populations, UNAIDS said, “As a gay man, and as an activist for social justice for all, I am so proud to work for the UN’s Joint Programme to end AIDS.
“The UN is standing with communities, supporting them in leading the HIV response, confronting stigma, and building societies where every person is valued. This month and every month, may everyone feel pride in who they are.”
Thanks in large part to efforts led by key populations, the world has seen substantial progress in the HIV response, said UNAIDS, creating the real possibility that AIDS can be eradicated once and for all.
But discrimination, violence, and stigma against LGBTQI people persist in many parts of the world, limiting access to essential services, including HIV prevention, treatment, care, and support.
Barrier to justice, equality, health
The agency said that criminalization of same-sex relationships remains a significant barrier to achieving social justice and equality for LGBTQI individuals, and to ensuring health for all.
Laws that criminalize consensual same-sex activity perpetuate stigma, contribute to violence and discrimination, and obstruct access to vital healthcare services, the agency reminded, calling on all governments to urgently repeal discriminatory laws and policies, and to work towards creating an enabling legal and social environment that respects and protects the rights of LGBTQI people.
Decriminalizing same-sex relationships, is a crucial step in the collective push to ends the AIDS pandemic, said UNAIDS.
Progress is real
Significant gains have been won in advancing LGBTQI rights in many parts of the world, including the decriminalization of same-sex relationships in several countries in recent months, from Angola to Singapore to Barbados.
However other countries are imposing harsher criminal laws on same sex relationships, including only this week, Uganda, where the so-called Anti-Homosexuality Act” came into force, with some offences incurring the death penalty, and a sentence of up to 20 years in jail, merely for promoting gay rights.
The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, added his congratulations in a festive tweet, calling on the whole international community to appreciate the richness and diversity of the LGBTIQ+ community, “and honour their immense contributions to the human rights movement.”
Her hands loaded with crates, Susan Quintanilla, a union leader of agro-export workers in the department of Ica in southwestern Peru, gets ready to collect different vegetables and fruits for foreign markets. She has witnessed many injustices, saying the companies “made you feel like they were doing you a favor by giving you work, they wanted you to keep your head down.” CREDIT: Courtesy of Susan Quintanilla
by Mariela Jara (lima)
Inter Press Service
LIMA, May 31 (IPS) – Peru’s agro-export industry is growing steadily and reached record levels in 2022. But this has not had a favorable impact on human development in this South American country, where high levels of inequality, poverty, childhood anemia and malnutrition persist, as well as complaints about the poor quality of employment in the sector.
Exports of agricultural products such as blueberries, grapes, tangerines, artichokes and asparagus generated 9.8 billion dollars in revenue in 2022 – 12 percent higher than the 2021 total, as reported in February by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism.
Agricultural exports represent four percent of GDP in this Andean nation, where mining and fishing are the main economic activities.
“The increase in revenue from agricultural exports has not brought human development: anemia and tuberculosis are at worrying levels and now dengue fever is skyrocketing,” Rosario Huallanca, a representative of the non-governmental Ica Human Rights Commission (Codeh Ica), which has worked for 41 years in that department of southwestern Peru, told IPS.
Ica and two other departments along the country’s Pacific coast, La Libertad and Piura, are leaders in the sector, accounting for nearly 50 percent of agricultural exports in this country of 33 million people, which despite this boom remains plagued by inequality, reflected by high levels of poverty and informality and precariousness in employment.
Monetary poverty affected 27.5 percent of the country’s 33 million inhabitants in 2022, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics. This is a seven percentage point increase over the pre-pandemic period. The number of poor people was estimated at 9,184,000 last year, 600,000 more than in 2021.
Ica, which has a total of 850,765 inhabitants, is one of the departments with the lowest monetary poverty rates, five percent, because it has full employment, largely due to the agro-export boom of the last two decades.
Huallanca said the number of agro-export companies is estimated at 320, with a total of 120,000 employees, who come from different parts of the country.
What stands out, she said, is that 70 percent of the total number of workers in the sector are women, who are valued for their fine motor skills in handling fruits and vegetables.
Although a portion of the workers of some companies are in the informal sector, there are no clear numbers, the expert pointed out.
But there are alarming figures available: more than six percent of children under five suffer from chronic malnutrition, and anemia affects 33 percent of children between six and 35 months of age.
“With the type of job we have, we cannot take our children to their growth checkups, we can’t miss work because they don’t pay you if you don’t show up, we cry in silence because of our anxiety,” 42-year-old Yanina Huamán, who has worked in the agro-export sector for 20 years to support her three children, told IPS.
The two oldest are in middle and higher education and her youngest is still in primary school. “I am both mother and father to my children. With my work I am giving them an education and I have manged to secure a home of my own, but it’s precarious, the bedrooms don’t have roofs yet, for example,” she said.
Huamán is secretary for women’s affairs in the union of the company where she works, a position she was appointed to in November 2022. From that post, she hopes to help bring about improvements in access to healthcare for female workers, who either postpone going to the doctor when they need to, or receive poor medical attention in the social security health system “where they only give us pills.”
Ica currently has the highest number of deaths from dengue fever, a viral disease that led the government of Dina Boluarte to declare a 90-day health emergency in 13 of the country’s 24 departments a couple of weeks ago.
Not only that, it has the history of being the department with the highest level of deaths from Covid-19: 901 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, exceeding the national average of 630 per 100,000. “The health system here does not work,” trade unionist Huamán said bluntly.
Yanina Huamán, a worker in the agro-export sector in the department of Ica in southwestern Peru, explains at a meeting in Lima the problems that affect labor rights in the sector, particularly for women who make up 70 percent of the workers. CREDIT: Mariela Jara/IPS
Working conditions more difficult for women
The lack of quality employment and the deficient recognition of labor rights, exacerbated by the pandemic, prompted a strike in November 2020 that began in Ica and spread to the northern coastal area of ??La Libertad and Piura.
Their demands included a minimum living wage of 70 soles (19 dollars) a day, social benefits such as compensation and raises for length of service, and recognition of the right to form unions.
Grouped together in the recently created Ica Workers’ Union Agro-exports Struggle Committee, which represents casual and seasonal workers, they went to Congress in Lima to demand changes in the current legislation.
Susan Quintanilla, 39, originally from the central Andean department of Ayacucho, is the general secretary of the union. She arrived in Ica in 2014 after separating from her husband. She came with her two children, a girl and a boy, for whom she hoped for a future with better opportunities.
After working as a harvester in the fields, and cleaning and packing fruit at the plant, she decided to work on a piecework basis, because that way she could earn more and save up for times when the companies needed less labor.
“It was incredibly hard,” she told IPS. “I would leave home at 10 in the morning and leave work at three or four in the wee hours of the next morning to be there to get my kids ready for school. I was 29 or 30 years old, I was young, but I saw older women with pain in their bodies, their arms and their feet due to the postures we had at work, but they continued because they had no other option.
“I saw many injustices in the agro-export companies,” she added. “They made you feel that they were doing you a favor by giving you work, they wanted you to keep your head down, they shouted at and humiliated people, they made them feel miserable. I protested, raised my voice, and they didn’t fire me because I was a high performance worker and they needed me. The situation has changed a little because of our struggles, but it hasn’t come for free.”
The late 2020 protests led to the approval on Dec. 31 of that year of Law No. 31110 on agricultural labor and incentives for the agricultural and irrigation sector, aimed at guaranteeing the rights of workers in the agro-export and agroindustrial sectors.
But in Quintanilla’s view, the law discriminates against non-permanent workers who make up the largest part of the workforce in the sector, since the preferential right to hiring established in the fourth article of the law is not respected.
“Nor have they recognized the differentiated payment of our social benefits and they include them in the daily wage that is calculated at 54 soles (a little more than 14 dollars): it’s not fair,” she complained.
At the same time, she stressed that the agro-export work is harder on women because they are the ones responsible for raising their children. “We live in a sexist society that burdens us with all of the care work,” Quintanilla said.
She also explained that because several of the companies are so far away, it takes workers longer to get to work, which means they are away from home for up to twelve hours a day. “We go to work with the anxiety that we are leaving our children at risk of the dangers of life, we cannot be with them as we would like, which damages us emotionally.”
Added to this, she said, are the terrible working conditions, such as the fact that the toilets are far from the areas where they work, as much as three blocks away, or in unsanitary conditions, which leads women to avoid using them, to the detriment of their health.
Workers sort avocados for export in Peru. Agro-exports account for four percent of the country’s GDP, but the prosperity of the sector has not translated into better human development for its workers, and diseases such as anemia and tuberculosis are alarmingly prevalent in agroindustrial areas. CREDIT: Comexperu
Agro-export companies and human rights
Huallanca said that Codeh Ica was promoting the creation of a space of diverse stakeholders so that the National Business and Human Rights Plan, a public policy aimed at ensuring that economic activities improve people’s quality of life, is fulfilled in the department. Five unions from Ica and the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Tourism participate in this initiative.
“We have made an enormous effort and we hope that on Jun. 16 it will be formally created by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, the governing body for this policy,” she said.
In the meantime, she added, “we have helped bring together women involved in the agro-export sector, who have developed a rights agenda that has been given shape in this multi-stakeholder space and we hope it will be taken into account.”
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