Tag: Opinion

A Guide on How Russian Oligarchs Dodge Sanctions — Global Issues

  • Opinion by Matti Kohonen (london)
  • Inter Press Service

LONDON, Jun 22 (IPS) – The author is Executive Director of Financial Transparency CoalitionThe sanctions against Russian oligarchs who hold billions of dollars have mostly failed to have a real impact beyond freezing a few yachts and properties. So, what went wrong? Now we know.

The “Rotenberg Files”, a mass leak of over 42,000 emails and documents, has showed how Russian oligarchs Boris and Arkady Rotenberg hid their assets and those of Vladimir Putin, using trusts and private equity investment funds, taking advantage of the lack of public beneficial ownership registries.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014 and especially since 2022, sanctions on Russian oligarchs and legal entities linked to the Russian invasion of Ukraine include 12,900 designations against Russia. Some estimates say that Russian oligarch offshore wealth is over US$1 trillion, but sanctions so far have only frozen US$58 billion, due to difficulty in establishing ownership.

Sanctions vary but have been mainly implemented by G7 countries and the European Union. Their effectiveness depends on setting up beneficial ownership registries that cover all possible legal vehicles, and the obligation to cross-check beneficial owners against sanctions regimes by a wide variety of professional enablers for due diligence purposes.

This has largely not happened. Despite progress in establishing centralised beneficial ownership registries, a commitment made by nearly 100 countries, very few of them are open to public access and are ridden with loopholes. In reality, global South countries are now leading the way in establishing effective BO registries after the European Court of Justice ended public access to EU-wide BO registries in November 2022.

This has allowed trusts to become the legal vehicle of choice by Russian oligarchs to hide their wealth. They are also very hard to detect as the presence of a trust deed can be kept at a lawyer’s office if there is no requirement to register the trust in a beneficial ownership registry. Many BO registries do require declaring trusts, but there are loopholes that allow for setting up trusts in jurisdictions that do not require registration of trusts or have loopholes regarding thresholds or exemptions. Only 65 countries require some form of registration of trusts.

Eight of the 18 BVI companies mentioned in the Rotenberg leaks were ultimately dissolved, and two relocated to Cyprus. This implies that Cyprus has become a key location to use trusts and other instruments to conceal ownership. As a European Union member, Cyprus was obliged to create a central register of beneficial ownership in line with the EU’s fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive. Trusts based in Cyprus do come under this requirement, but the Rotenbergs used a loophole in the BO laws to conceal ultimate ownership that goes around the existing EU 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive.

They effectively created a complex ownership structure around different entities in order to be below the trigger points for reporting beneficial ownership (in most cases 25 percent of control), yet still retaining control through power through potential voting coalitions in the complex structure that were concealed elsewhere. The structure used by the Rotenbergs involved a US entity that is owned by entities elsewhere, including Italy, the UK, Luxembourg, Cyprus, Bahamas (four entities), the British Virgin Islands and Cayman Islands,

Along with trusts, private equity firms have been revealed as another preferred vehicle to dodge sanctions. Investment vehicles called “closed mutual funds,” in Russian abbreviated as “ZPIFs,” held these assets. They are not considered legal entities under Russian law, and thus are not under obligations to reveal their shareholders to the authorities. The leaked files show that 13 ZPIFs were linked to the Rotenbergs.

To evade questions about the true nature of the beneficial owners, the leaked files show that “there is a practice where the General Director of the Management Company is recognized as the ultimate beneficiary”. The ZPIF’s invested in Russian companies, Monaco real estate, and other assets where beneficial ownership checks do not take place. Companies where they owned minority stakes could do business relatively normally.

Private equity and mutual funds are a global concern. According to a recent report, “Private Investments, Public Harm”, there are nearly 13,000 investment advisers in an $11 trillion industry with little or no anti-money laundering due diligence responsibilities in the USA, with the real possibility that sanctioned oligarchs use such vehicles to conceal their ownership. The US Enablers Act seeks to remove the exemption from due diligence checks from investment managers but the bill did not pass last December.

Art is another way to conceal ownership, as art dealers are not under any reporting requirements for money laundering purposes. A July 2020 report by a U.S. Senate subcommittee detailed an elaborate scheme in which the Rotenberg brothers spent more than US$18 million on art purchases in the months after they were sanctioned by the U.S. in March 2014. They acquired several artworks, including a US$7.5 million René Magritte, through a web of offshore companies based in Cyprus and the British Virgin Islands.

The tools to hide wealth used by Russian oligarchs to evade sanctions are exactly the same than the ones used by those behind natural resource crimes such as illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing, or indeed wealthy billionaires abusing laws to pay less than what they should in taxes. One cannot create a regime to just catch Russian billionaires. An overhaul of ownership transparency, from companies and trusts to art, vessels, aircraft and among other asset classes, including private equity and hedge funds, is required. Otherwise Russian oligarchs and kleptocrats around the world will continue dodging controls, keeping their shady money safely hidden.

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Addressing the Scandal of Invisibility in Asia & the Pacific — Global Issues

  • Opinion by Tanja Sejersen – Nicola Richards – Victoria Fan (bangkok, thailand)
  • Inter Press Service

BANGKOK, Thailand, Jun 20 (IPS) – Each year, the births of 64 million children under the age of five and deaths of 8.4 million people are invisible to governments in Asia and the Pacific. Most countries in the region are yet to achieve universal civil registration, leaving many people without a legal identity and, as a result, invisible to the State.

These people often face challenges in accessing basic services, such as education and healthcare, in securing employment and social benefits, and in protecting their human rights. In addition, deficient civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems lead to significant gaps and lags in up-to-date population and health data, crucial for designing and monitoring effective public policies and allocating resources.

Recognizing its importance, countries reached agreement on the Asia Pacific CRVS Decade in 2014 and set out a vision to achieve universal civil registration in the region by 2024. An applied CRVS research agenda was launched to help meet this this challenge.

Applied research on CRVS helps to generate and disseminate evidence on what strategies work, and what doesn’t, as well as how governments and partners can improve systems to better deliver on commitments to get everyone in the picture.

By documenting experiences in communities, countries and regions, the potential benefits of successful interventions and innovations can be replicated and possible shortcomings addressed.

Given the importance of applied research for improving CRVS, ESCAP organised the first ever Asia-Pacific CRVS Research Forum on 3-4 April 2023. With more than 30 speakers representing 15 countries, 24 research papers and almost 400 registered participants, the forum revealed many interesting facets of CRVS while opening eyes to the multitude of initiatives to ensure better and more inclusive systems across the region.

Many presentations emphasized how different initiatives are making real-life impacts on individuals and communities. There was a clear emphasis on community engagement, equity and ‘reaching the hardest to reach’, such as integrating gender-equity in CRVS legal reviews, addressing barriers to civil registration for hard-to-reach populations in Pakistan and gender disparities in premature mortality in the Philippines.

On-the-ground innovations were on display: a first-of-its-kind CRVS survey in Nepal that worked with both service providers and communities to understand barriers and enablers to registration; evidence from Fiji on the clear effectiveness of incentives on birth registration completeness; and the development of customized mortality audit and inquest systems in Thailand and Sri Lanka to improve the quality of cause of death data.

Much more work is needed to drive CRVS systems forward in the face of increasing challenges, with research playing a key role. In particular, the forum identified a stronger focus on building inclusive and resilient CRVS systems, including in conflict and humanitarian settings where there is both an acute need for civil registration along with increased difficulties in providing services.

As countries around the world adjust to competing government priorities during times of economic and social challenges, there is a critical need to maintain momentum on strengthening CRVS systems as the basis for realising human rights and ensuring access to basic social services including health and education.

Further, CRVS systems are essential for generating timely mortality data whose importance for pandemic preparedness and response has been recently emphasized. As demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic, research is central to ensure continued innovation and improvement, and to provide opportunities to reflect and learn.

We hope in the future to develop this work further to embed and develop critical applied research capacity within countries and at the implementation level – to ensure we can really get everyone in the picture.

Tanja Sejersen is a Statistician; Nicola Richards is Consultant, ESCAP; Victoria Fan is Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development.

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Green Bills Over Blue Gold — Global Issues

Dörte Wollrad
  • Opinion by Dorte Wollrad (montevideo, uruguay)
  • Inter Press Service

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, Jun 19 (IPS) – Drinking water is running out in Uruguay — this headline got the small South American country onto international news. Prolonged drought has brought the reservoir and river that supply the capital Montevideo down to 10 per cent of their normal water level. Unless the rain comes, there is sufficient water only until mid-June, at best.

Paradoxically, Uruguay is located in a region that holds more than 30 per cent of the world’s freshwater reserves. So, there is groundwater. But the fact that drinking water is available only to those able to buy it in bottled form highlights rather different political priorities. Amidst the climate crisis, short-term economic interests have been prioritised over prevention, mitigation and adaptation.

Economic interests prevail

Water supply is not a new issue in Uruguay. As early as 2004, 65 per cent voted in favour of a referendum on a constitutional amendment to establish access to drinking water as a fundamental right. It also gave the state exclusive responsibility for water treatment and supply.

Experienced in direct democratic procedures, Uruguayans thus prevented the participation of French and Spanish companies in the public water utilities and a possible privatisation, as was the case in other countries in the region.

Dörte WollradUruguay’s economy depends on commodity exports; cellulose, beef, rice and soya, to name a few. In all these sectors, the production is highly water-intensive. The latest drought has caused enormous losses in recent months, but this is not an isolated incident. Meteorologists have been warning of a huge reduction in precipitation for more than three years now.

That is why outgoing President Tabaré Vasquez passed on construction plans for another reservoir to Luis Lacalle Pou’s newly elected government in 2020. The aim was to avoid foreseeable supply bottlenecks. But the reservoir was never built. Also, discussions on a transformation strategy for a development model that, due to climate change, has a foreseeable expiry date did not happen.

Instead, the new neoliberal government approved foreign investment projects that are extremely water-intensive and fed by groundwater wells. For example, in 2021, Google started the construction of a gigantic data centre, which requires 7 million litres of fresh water every day to cool the servers.

In 2022, an agreement was reached with a German firm on the production of green hydrogen in northern Uruguay, which requires 600,000 litres of fresh water a day. There was no parliamentary vote on either project and thus no democratic participation.

Despite the recent lack of rainfall, there has been no attempt to tap into the groundwater to obtain drinking water. Instead, since early May, estuary water from the Rio de la Plata has been mixed in with remaining reserves. As a result, drinking water now considerably exceeds the sodium and potassium levels laid down by the Health Ministry. And people only became aware of this because the water was now noticeably salty.

After contradictory messaging on whether tap water could be drunk, finally, the Ministry recommended that old people and invalids stick to bottled water. It remains to be seen how hospitals, schools and day-care facilities will obtain the drinking water they need.

When asked what the poor are supposed to do (10 per cent of the population live beneath the poverty line), the deputy chair of the state-owned water company said that people should give up Coca-Cola for water. Marie Antoinette sends her regards.

A government feeding lies

Trade and industry were the next to suffer from the problems of water quality. Can saltier water be used in certain production processes without damaging machinery? Can bakers raise bread prices to cover the cost of drinking water without suppressing demand, already hard hit by Covid-19?

As in Europe, Uruguayans are also grappling with high inflation, which reached double figures before stabilising at 9 per cent. But even this level is unlikely to be maintained. The government broke its promise to keep the price of bottled water under control.

In many places ‘Blue Gold’ is out of stock and, where it is available, priced the same as Coca-Cola. Now, there are plans afoot to import bottled water from neighbouring countries.

Despite being under increasing pressure, the government knows how to use the situation to its advantage. It feeds the neoliberal narrative that public companies are incompetent. What’s more, salty drinking water makes it easier for the government to gain acceptance of its ongoing negotiations on building a river-water desalination plant. The ‘Neptuno’ project is facing strong protests, highlighting its potential environmental damage, high costs and de facto partial privatisation of water as a resource.

But the problem is not new. Previous governments formed by the progressive coalition Frente Amplio also failed to focus consistently on transforming the development model. Although the energy matrix has been almost entirely converted to renewable energies in only a few years, soya cultivation and pasture lands, as well as eucalyptus plantations for cellulose production grew even under progressive rule.

The renovation of old pipelines was also delayed so that now 50 per cent of drinking water just seeps away. There are no incentives for more frugal private water use, either. Only now are radio commercials calling on people to refrain from washing their cars or watering their gardens have started to be broadcasted.

However, one thing was guaranteed during the 15 years of the Frente Amplio government: the state’s responsibility for water and other essential goods. Today, the citizens no longer even believe the waterworks with regard to the measured values of the tap water. The loss of trust in the state’s duty of care is enormous.

The effects of climate change on the water supply are also discernible in Europe. Just look at the crisis in Spain’s agricultural sector or the drying up of whole bodies of water from the Aral Sea to Lake Garda. Nevertheless, few people in Europe can imagine a day they might turn on the tap and no water comes out.

But the battle for the Blue Gold has long begun. Fresh water is not the gold of the future but of the present. And as with any resource allocation conflict, it needs political and legal regulation. This applies in particular to the governments and parliaments of the countries concerned. But criticising mismanagement in the Global South is pointless in isolation.

Climate change knows no borders. That’s why we need to challenge our own national and community policymakers on this issue. What signal do trade agreements send that reinforce Latin America’s role as a raw materials supplier?

How can food security be ensured while conserving water? What guidance, investments and technologies do the production countries need? And what incentives would facilitate change away from consumption and thus demand?

Global public goods such as fresh water need global protection and international regulation. Unless we think about and promote socio-ecological transformation in global terms, climate justice will remain a pipe dream and the rule of the market will dominate resource distribution. Our joy at sourcing green hydrogen from Uruguay in place of wind turbines down the road is thus likely to prove short-lived.

Dörte Wollrad heads the office of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) in Uruguay. Previously, she led the foundation’s offices in Argentina and Paraguay.

Source: International Politics and Society (IPS), published by the Global and European Policy Unit of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Hiroshimastrasse 28, D-10785 Berlin.

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Could the Cure Be Worse than the Disease? — Global Issues

  • Opinion by Ines M Pousadela (montevideo, uruguay)
  • Inter Press Service

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, Jun 16 (IPS) – If you’ve never heard of the Cybercrime Convention, you’re not alone. And if you’re wondering whether an international treaty to tackle cybercrime is a good idea, you’re in good company too.

Negotiations have been underway for more than three years: the latest negotiating session was held in April, and a multi-stakeholder consultation has just concluded. A sixth session is scheduled to take place in August, with a draft text expected to be approved by February 2024, to be put to a vote at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) later next year. But civil society sees some big pitfalls ahead.

Controversial beginnings

In December 2019, the UNGA voted to start negotiating a cybercrime treaty. The resolution was sponsored by Russia and co-sponsored by several of the world’s most repressive regimes, which already had national cybercrime laws they use to stifle legitimate dissent under the pretence of combatting a variety of vaguely defined online crimes such as insulting the authorities, spreading ‘fake news’ and extremism.

Tackling cybercrime certainly requires some kind of international cooperation. But this doesn’t necessarily need a new treaty. Experts have pointed out that the real problem may be the lack of enforcement of current international agreements, particularly the 2001 Council of Europe’s Budapest Convention.

When Russia’s resolution was put to a vote, the European Union, many states and human rights organisations urged the UNGA to reject it. But once the resolution passed, they engaged with the process, trying to prevent the worst possible outcome – a treaty lacking human rights safeguards that could be used as a repressive tool.

The December 2019 resolution set up an ad hoc committee (AHC), open to the participation of all UN member states plus observers, including civil society. At its first meeting to set procedural rules in mid-2021, Brazil’s proposal that a two-thirds majority vote be needed for decision-making – when consensus can’t be achieved – was accepted, instead of the simple majority favoured by Russia. A list of stakeholders was approved, including civil society organisations (CSOs), academic institutions and private sector representatives.

Another key procedural decision was made in February 2022: intersessional consultations were to be held between negotiating sessions to solicit input from stakeholders, including human rights CSOs. These consultations have given CSOs the chance to make presentations and participate in discussions with states.

Human rights concerns

Several CSOs are trying to use the space to influence the treaty process, including as part of broader coalitions. Given what’s at stake, in advance of the first negotiating session, around 130 CSOs and experts urged the AHC to embed human rights safeguards in the treaty.

One of the challenges it that, as early as the first negotiating session, it became apparent there wasn’t a clear definition of what constitutes a cybercrime and which cybercrimes should be regulated by the treaty. There’s still no clarity.

The UN identifies two main types of cybercrimes: cyber-dependent crimes such as network intrusion and malware distribution, which can only be committed through the use of information and communications technologies (ICTs), and cyber-enabled crimes, which can be facilitated by ICTs but can be committed without them, such as drug trafficking and the illegal distribution of counterfeit goods.

Throughout the negotiation process there’s been disagreement about whether the treaty should focus on a limited set of cyber-dependent crimes, or address a variety of cyber-enabled crimes. These, human rights groups warn, include various content-related offences that could be invoked to repress freedom of expression.

These concerns have been highlighted by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, which has emphasised that the treaty shouldn’t include offences related to the content of online expression and should clearly and explicitly reference binding international human rights agreements to ensure it’s applied in line with universal human rights principles.

A second major disagreement concerns the scope and conditions for international cooperation. If not clearly defined, cooperation arrangements could result in violations of privacy and data protection provisions. In the absence of the principle of dual criminality – where extradition can only apply to an action that constitutes a crime in both the country making an extradition request and the one receiving it – state authorities could be made to investigate activities that aren’t crimes in their own countries. They could effectively become enforcers of repression.

Civil society has pushed for recognition of a set of principles on the application of human rights to communications surveillance. According to these, dual criminality should prevail, and where laws differ, the one with the higher level of rights protections should be applied. It must be ensured that states don’t use mutual assistance agreements and foreign cooperation requests to circumvent domestic legal restrictions.

An uncertain future

Following the third multistakeholder consultation held in November 2022, the AHC released a negotiating draft. In the fourth negotiating session in January 2023, civil society’s major concerns focused on the long and growing number of criminal offences listed in the draft, many of them content-related.

It’s unclear how the AHC intends to bridge current deep divides to produce the ‘zero draft’ it’s expected to share in the next few weeks. If it complies with the deadline by leaving contentious issues undecided, the next session, scheduled for August, may bring a shift from consensus-building to voting – unless states decide to give themselves some extra time.

As of today, the process could still conclude on time, or with a limited extension, following a forced vote on a harmful treaty that lacks consensus and therefore fails to enter into effect, or does so for a limited number of states. Or it could be repeatedly postponed and fade away. Civil society engaged in the process may well think such a development wouldn’t be so bad: better no agreement than one that gives repressive states stronger tools to stifle dissent.

Inés M. Pousadela is CIVICUS Senior Research Specialist, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.


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The Regulation Tortoise and the AI Hare — Global Issues

Credit: NicoElNino / Shutterstock.com
  • Opinion by Robert Whitfield (london)
  • Inter Press Service

LONDON, Jun 16 (IPS) – Regulation of a technology typically emerges sometime after it has been used in a product or service, or, worse, the risks become apparent. This responsive approach is regrettable when real harm is already being done, as now with AI. With existential risk, the approach would risk the end of human existence.

In the past few months, generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems such as ChatGPT and GPT4 became available with no (official) regulatory control at all. This is in complete contrast to new plastic duck toys which need to meet numerous regulations and safety standards. The fact is that the AI hare has been streaking ahead whilst the regulation tortoise is moving but is way behind. This has to change – now.

What has shocked AI experts around the world has been the recent progress from GPT 3.5 to GPT 4. Within a few months, GPT’s capability progressed hugely in multiple tests, for example from performing in the American Bar exams in the 10th percentile range to reaching the 90th percentile with GPT-4.

Why does it matter, you may ask. If the rate of progress were projected forward at the same rate for the next 3, 6 or 12 months this would rapidly lead to a very powerful AI. If uncontrolled, this AI might have the power not only to do much good but also to do much harm – and with the fatal risk that it may no longer be possible to control once unleashed.

There is a wide range of aspects of AI that needs or will need regulation and control. Quite apart from the new Large Language Models (LLMs), there are many examples already today such as attention centred social media models, deep fakes, the existence of bias and the abusive use of AI controlled surveillance.

These may lead to a radical change in our relationship with work and to the obsolescence of certain jobs, including office jobs, hitherto largely immune from automation. Expert artificial influencers seeking to persuade you to buy something or think or vote in a certain way are also anticipated soon – a process that some say has already started.

Credit: NicoElNino / Shutterstock.com

Without control, the progress towards more and more intelligent AI will lead to Artificial General Intelligence (AGI – equivalent to the capability of a human in a wide range of fields) and to Superintelligence (vastly superior intelligence). The world would enter an era that would signal the decline and likely demise of humanity as we lose our position as the apex intelligence on the planet.

This very recent rate of progress has caused Yoshua Bengio and Geoffrey Hinton, so called “godfathers of AI / Deep Learning” to completely reassess their anticipated time frame for developing AGI. Recently, they have both radically brought forward their estimates and they now assess AGI being reached in 5 to 50 and 5 to 20 years respectively.

Humanity must not knowingly run the risk of extinction, meaning that humanity needs to put controls in place before Advanced AI is developed. Solutions for controlling Advanced AI have been proposed, such as Stuart Russell’s Beneficial AI, where the AI is given a goal of implementing human preferences. It would need to observe these preferences and since it would appreciate that it might not have interpreted them precisely, it would be humble and be prepared to be switched off.

The development of such a system is very challenging to realise in practice. Whether such a solution would be available in time was questionable even before the latest leap forward by the hare. Whether one will be available in time is now critical – which is why Geoffrey Hinton has recommended that 50% of all AI research spend should be on AI Safety.

Quite apart from these comprehensive but challenging solutions, there are several pragmatic ideas that have recently been proposed to reduce the risk, ranging from a limit on the access to computational power for a Large Language Model to the creation of an AI agency equivalent to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. In practice, what is needed is a combination of technical solutions such as Beneficial AI, pragmatic solutions relating to AI development and a suitable Governance Framework.

As AI systems, like many of today’s software services in computer clouds, can act across borders. Interoperability will be a key challenge and a global approach to governance is clearly needed. To have global legitimacy, such initiatives should be a part of a coordinated plan of action administered by an appropriate global body. This should be the United Nations, with the formation of a UN Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence (UNFCAI).

The binding agreements that are currently expected to emerge within the next twelve months or so are the EU AI Act from the European Union and a Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence from the Council of Europe. The Council of Europe’s work is focused on the impact of AI on human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. Whilst participation in Council of Europe Treaties is much wider than the European Union with other countries being welcomed as signatories, it is not truly global in scope.

The key advantage of the UN is that it would seek to include all countries, including Russia and China, which have different value sets from the west. China has one of the two strongest AI sectors in the world. Many consider that a UN regime will ultimately be required – but that term “ultimately” has been completely turned upside down by recent events. The possibility of AGI emerging in 5-years’ time suggests that a regime should be fully functioning by then. A more nimble institutional home could be found in the G7, but this would lack global legitimacy, inclusivity and the input of civil society.

Some people are concerned that by engaging with China, Russia and other authoritarian countries in a constructive manner, you are thereby validating their approach to human rights and democracy. It is clear that there are major differences in policy on such issues, but effective governance of something as serious as Artificial Intelligence should not be jeopardised by such concerns.

In recent years the UN has made limited progress on AI. Back in 2020, the Secretary General called for the establishment of a multistakeholder advisory body on global artificial intelligence cooperation. He is still proposing a similar advisory board three years on. This delay is highly regrettable and needs to be remedied urgently. It is particularly heartening therefore to witness the Secretary General’s robust recent proposals in the past few days regarding AI governance including an Accord on the global governance of AI.

The EU commissioner Margrethe Vestager has called for a three-step process, namely national, then like-minded states and then the UN. The question is whether there is sufficient time for all three. The recent endorsement by the UN Secretary General of the proposed UK initiative to hold a Summit on AI Safety in the UK this autumn is a positive development

The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) was established in 2005 and serves to bring people together from various stakeholder groups as equals, to discuss issues relating to the Internet. In the case of AI, policy making could benefit from such a forum, a Multistakeholder AI Governance Forum (AIGF).

This would provide an initial forum within which stakeholders from around the world could exchange views in relation to the principles to be pursued, the aspects of AI requiring urgent AI Global Governance and ways to resolve each issue. Critically, what is needed is a clear Roadmap to the Global Governance of AI with a firm timeline.

An AIGF could underpin the work of the new high-level advisory body for AI and both would be tasked with the development of the roadmap, leading to the establishment of a UN Framework Convention on AI.

In recent months the AI hare has shown its ability to go a long way in a short period of time. The regulation tortoise has left the starting line but has a lot to catch up. The length of the race has just been shortened so the recent sprint by the hare is of serious concern. In the Aesop’s Fable, the tortoise ultimately wins the race because the over-confident hare has taken a roadside siesta. Humanity should not assume that AI is going to do likewise.

A concerted effort is needed to complete the EU AI Act and the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention on AI. Meanwhile at the UN, stakeholders need to be brought together urgently to share their views and work with states to establish an effective, timely and global AI governance structure.

The UN Accord on the governance of AI needs to be articulated and the prospect of effective and timely global governance ushering in an era of AI Safety needs to be given the highest global priority. The proposed summit on AI Safety in the UK this autumn should provide the first checkpoint.

Robert Whitfield is Chair of the One World Trust and Chair of the World Federalist Movement / Institute for Government Policy’s Transnational Working Group on AI.

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A Climate Finance Goal That Works for Developing Countries — Global Issues

  • Opinion by Richard Kozul Wright (geneva)
  • Inter Press Service

GENEVA, Jun 15 (IPS) – After years of failing to meet climate finance commitments, the new climate finance goal under discussion this week in Bonn is critical, but without supporting reforms of the global financial architecture we risk repeating past mistakes.

As cities across North America are covered with clouds of smoke caused by wildfires in Canada, negotiations on the New Collective Quantified Goal for climate finance continue in Bonn.

This goal will replace the climate finance commitment set in 2009, which aimed to mobilize $100 billion per year for developing countries by 2020. The $100 billion commitment, which in any case has not been met, will expire in 2025.

$100 billion is a fraction of what is needed

It’s commonly understood that the $100 billion goal is a fraction of what is needed to support developing countries to achieve climate goals in accordance with the Paris Agreement.

In the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s (UNFCCC) recent analysis of financing needs, developing countries require at least $6 trillion by 2030 to meet less than half of their existing Nationally Determined Contributions.

By comparison, official data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) assessed total climate finance flows from developed to developing countries at $83.3 billion in 2020, and Oxfam estimates that the real value is about one third of that, around $21 billion to $24.5 billion.

Furthermore, climate finance continues to be predominantly delivered as loans, including a large share of non-concessional financing, exacerbating sovereign debt issues that have been growing across regions and income groups.

New goal must respond to demonstrated needs

Instead of being based on arbitrary targets, the new goal must rigorously quantify and respond to countries’ demonstrated needs and be tracked based on an agreed methodology that can prevent the double-counting and significant overestimations of the past.

Developing countries face the double challenge of simultaneously investing in development and in climate mitigation and adaptation, while addressing the costs of loss and damage.

The scale of this challenge is staggering when close to 900 million people in the world don’t have access to electricity, and more than 4 billion people don’t have a social safety net they can rely on.

But advancing green industrialization and diversification, raising public investment and social protection, and preparing and responding to multiplying climate disasters all depend on increasing access to finance.

UNCTAD’s estimate in 2019 was that delivering both climate and development goals demanded $2.5 trillion of annual financing for developing countries, a number that will have risen since then due to the pandemic and ongoing economic and financial shocks.

Financing options that are fair, sufficient and politically feasible are achievable and UNCTAD has recommended reforms to the global financial architecture that would help deliver climate and development finance at the appropriate scale.

Four priorities for climate finance

UNCTAD outlined four priorities at an event entitled “Options for Scaling Climate Finance” co-hosted with the German development agency GIZ and The Energy and Resources Institute at the Bonn Conference on 6 June.

The first and most urgent priority is debt distress: 60% of low-income countries are in, or on the edge of, debt distress and are spending an estimated five times more on debt servicing than on climate adaptation every year, undermining future resilience and growth prospects.

Debt-creating instruments are not a sustainable climate finance option in the current context. Instead, these countries need urgent debt relief. A longer-term goal should be to establish a multilateral debt workout process that can help countries break the vicious debt and climate cycle.

This also implies increasing grant-based sources of financing, however both Official Development Assistance and climate finance flows have been decreasing in real terms. As well as reversing these trends, multilateral sources of financing must be scaled up.

A second priority should be to consider innovative ways to deploy the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) to maximize their climate and development impact while retaining their benefits as a conditionality-free, debt-free source of liquidity.

This could include rechanneling SDRs to multilateral development banks (MDBs), addressing allocation issues to ensure SDRs go to where they are needed most, or considering more ambitious approaches such as new SDR asset classes with specific purposes such as climate resilience.

Another source of additional financing is the global network of hundreds of government-backed development banks at all levels – multilateral, regional and national – as the most direct way to increase the availability of development finance.

These banks have a long-term horizon and counter the pro-cyclical tendencies of private finance, as well as local knowledge and expertise to forge solutions across countries and regions. Climate finance from MDBs cannot only target the technical part of transitions, but also support communities with managing the social and economic costs of a green transition.

Developed countries can use their shareholder power to increase the capitalization of their MDBs, while MDBs and regional development banks could seek new members to get additional capital, following the example of the New Development Bank (NDB), to support more green investments.

The fourth consideration is how to mobilize private finance towards climate goals. As well as using incentives, there needs to be discipline in the form of regulatory measures to drive productive investment and alignment of private finance flows with the Paris Agreement.

While new climate-related instruments such as environmental, social and governance financing, green bonds and climate-debt-swaps may signal recognition of climate change, they continue to be far smaller in scale than required.

Also, there is a clear and evidenced risk of greenwashing that necessitates increased regulatory oversight, otherwise these tools will become distractions that exacerbate financing challenges.

As UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in response to the North American wildfires, “we’re running out of time to make peace with nature, but we cannot give up.”

The financing options outlined here offer a starting point to ensure that a new goal for climate finance can meet the challenge of the moment, supporting all developing countries to achieve their climate goals.

Richard Kozul-Wright is Director of the Globalization and Development Strategies Division, UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Geneva.

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The Fight for Equity in Education Continues in Africa — Global Issues

  • Opinion by M Scott Frank (denver, colorado, usa)
  • Inter Press Service

DENVER, Colorado, USA, Jun 14 (IPS) – June 16 marks the International Day of the African Child, a day commemorating student uprisings in Soweto Township, South Africa, in 1976. The day is meant to honor the brave students who stood against a system of violence and oppression, raising their voices for equality as human beings and for the right to learn in their native languages at school.

They were met with brutality – at least 176 students lost their lives and many thousands more were injured. The fight for equity in education on the African continent continues. Systems created by colonial powers persist, and students continue to struggle to gain access to education opportunities that meet their needs and reflect their identities.

According to UNICEF, Africa’s population of children under 18 is currently at an estimated 600 million and projected to expand by 40% by the year 2050. The need for new educational opportunities that honor the diverse needs of communities across the continent is critical.

In Uganda, a community is creating a model for African students to reach their full potential. The Tat Sat Community Academy in rural Kasasa, Uganda, opened in February 2023. The school and the institutions that support it were conceived, built, and are managed by the community itself.

In the case of The Tat Sat Community Academy, several unique characteristics set the school and project apart from others. To help pay the necessary school fees, families can process and sell their maize at the project’s local, community-owned, maize mill.

In its first harvest season, the maize mill processed 14,000 Kgs of grain from Kasasa and nearby communities, and invested in a 10-acre maize growing project within Kasasa for the next harvest season in July 2023.

Program leaders expect to process no less than 50,000 Kgs of grain within the next season. The maize mill will have purchased its own truck by the end of the year to collect maize grain from community growers, as well as deliver maize flour for sale at market in the region as well as in the capital where prices are more advantageous, providing access to better returns for farmers and their families.

Besides the school, the project has two other pillars to it: The Institute of Indigenous Cultures and Performing Arts, or ICPA, and a Savings and Credit Cooperative Organization, or SACCO.

The ICPA will allow students and community members to keep traditional knowledge alive through music, dance and other forms of knowledge to be shared by community elders and integrated into the standard school curriculum.

At the ICPA, community members, students, and community artists will also be able to exchange knowledge and share cultural experiences with visitors from across the region and world.

Program leaders also foresee the establishment of a guest house that will allow for immersive, long-term exchanges with students within and beyond Kyotera and Uganda, as well as artists from across the world who want to engage through experiences of dance, music and other art forms and community cultures. The center will also provide income for the school and wider project through rentals, performance, and programming.

The SACCO, meanwhile, provides economic education for students and their families and allows families to use business practices to enhance their earnings and help pay the necessary school fees, which were set by the community so that everyone may attend the school who wants to.

The community partnered with The InteRoots Initiative to develop the project. InteRoots is a Denver, Colorado-based nonprofit working both domestically and internationally on projects that are sustainable to local communities.

InteRoots employs a “roots-up” model that puts project goals, methodologies, management, and assessment exclusively in the hands of community members.

As one of the co-founders of The InteRoots Initiative, I am proud to see the work and capabilities being achieved in Kasasa.

The community is coming together to educate children, and has created a model of community engagement and support which will allow for self-sustainability once initial start-up costs are met.

The ICPA, meanwhile, will allow the children to honor and learn from the languages, art and culture core to their identities. The ICPA will be a place for elders and youth to come together and exchange knowledge among themselves and others to honor the rich culture that has passed down through generations, and in appropriate circumstances, share this with others wanting to gain a better understanding of the cultural context of East Africa.

We must continue to nurture the extraordinary talent, ingenuity and excitement that is felt in communities like Kasasa. Though the school opened only a few months ago, students, families and community members are excited about the prospects of the project, and the investments they can make in their community. It brings me great joy to see the excitement building around Kasasa’s “communitarian” model.

As International Day of the African Child nears, we want to remind people around the world that change is happening, through community-driven approaches like what is taking place in Kasasa. Bringing community-minded interactions and ideas to the forefront improves the likelihood of success, leaving a lasting impact for communities that are making sustainable, life-changing investments in their livelihoods.

Children are at the heart of this movement, because they are the next generation who will set the stage for so many issue-driven approaches to come: from climate change solutions to financing to sustainable farming practices, the children in communities like Kasasa will be at the forefront of those adaptations.

It is our job, as partners and world citizens, to prepare them for what lies ahead and equip them with the tools and skills that will lead them into the future. Communities know best what they need to make lasting change, we just need to come to their table.

We ask that you come along and join us as we work toward this mission.

M. Scott Frank is the co-founder and executive director of The InteRoots Initiative, a Colorado, U.S.-based nonprofit working with communities on sustainable projects created by local communities. To learn more, visit interoots.org.

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No Peace Until Peace For All — Global Issues

  • Opinion by Yasmine Sherif (new york)
  • Inter Press Service

NEW YORK, Jun 14 (IPS) – As we head into June, we will commemorate a number of important international days that call for much-needed support to protect refugees, end child labour, stop sexual violence in conflict and ensure human rights for the innocent children victims of aggression.

Together, this work will propel our efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. To deliver on these commitments, we urgently appeal for substantial, sustained increases in public and private sector funding support for quality education – especially for the more than 222 million crisis-impacted girls and boys who desperately need it.

These include refugee girls and boys fleeing conflict in Sudan. In May, ECW made important new commitments to keep Sudan’s children, wherever they are, in school – as outlined in the joint Op-Ed by The Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown and I in The Times.

During my mission with UNHCR and UNICEF to the border region of Chad with Sudan just two weeks ago, we announced a fast-acting emergency response to UNHCR and civil society with total funding in Chad now topping US$41 million. Here, I would like to appeal for additional funding to UNICEF who stands ready to deliver urgently needed education to host-communities already living in abject poverty along the borders in Chad.

Together with governments, donors and civil society partners, we are working to expand our support in response to the refugee arrivals in other neighbouring countries as we unite in our efforts to respond to the enormous, urgent needs accounted for in the Regional Refugee Response Plan.

At the May 2023 G7 Summit in Hiroshima, under the leadership of the Government of Japan, global leaders committed to “ensuring continued support to the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), Education Cannot Wait (ECW) and UN agencies, including UNESCO and UNICEF, as key partners in helping countries to build stronger education systems for the most marginalized children.” As outlined in the G7 Hiroshima Leaders’ Communique, this is an investment in “resilient, just and prospering societies.”

We must now turn these commitments into actions. This means every nation in the G7 must step up their support. As we lead into ECW’s four-year 2023-2026 Strategic Plan, we will welcome much needed substantial and new commitments from G7 leaders for the ECW strategic period.

The private sector will also play a key role in our resource mobilization plans. Our teams are working across the globe to develop new and innovative public-private partnerships, such as our recently announced agreement with the Zurich Cantonal Bank and the Government of Switzerland. Without the private sector and entrepreneurial spirit, we cannot meet the rapidly growing needs. In other words, abnormal problems require extraordinary solutions.

We will also work with Arab States, Nordic States and G20 nations to create new models for funding that crowd-in resources and know-how to deliver the depth, speed and agility needed to ensure quality education and holistic supports in places like Sudan, Ukraine and beyond.

Colombia has emerged as a model of this cross-sectorial approach. In this month’s high-level interview, we speak with Mireia Villar Forner, the United Nations Colombia Resident Coordinator/Humanitarian, who highlights the power of education in building sustainable development pathways. This is done through coordinated joint programmes through the United Nations coordination mechanisms. This is indeed one of the chief reasons that have allowed ECW to deliver with development depth and humanitarian speed.

Through ECW’s Multi-Year Resilience Programmes, we are providing transformative education investments in the humanitarian-development-peace nexus. This is good for business, good for government and good for the world. It also provides an optimized investment opportunity for Overseas Development Assistance, corporate social responsibility and philanthropic giving. By investing in education, we are investing in all of the SDGs. Without education, how can any of them be achieved?

The month of May was also Mental Health Awareness Month, and we announced an ambitious new target to have at least 10% of resources go to mental health and psychosocial services. We do so because we firmly believe that mental health is essential, if not also existential, to children and adolescents who having survived the most painful forms of violence and disasters.

I have no doubt that 2023 will go down as a landmark year in global funding support for education. ECW and our strategic partners will not stop until our work is done. There can be no peace, until there is peace for all, to cite Dag Hammarskjold. Indeed, there can be no peace without education. We will leave no child behind.

Yasmine Sherif is Director of Education Cannot Wait.

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Need for Proactive, Inclusive & Collective Leadership — Global Issues

  • Opinion by Shihana Mohamed (united nations)
  • Inter Press Service

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 13 (IPS) – The United Nations system has an agreed leadership framework that is inclusive and respectful of all personnel and stakeholders, embracing diversity and rejecting discrimination in all its forms.

It is collaborative, reflecting the interdependent imperatives of the UN Charter and seeking collective “as one” thinking. It is self-applied, so that UN principles and norms are embedded in all areas of work of the UN system by staff at all levels and in all functions and locations to foster broader cultural change within UN system organizations.

The parameters of this inclusive leadership have already been clearly prescribed by the UN Charter.

Article 1 (3) of the UN Charter asserts that one of the purposes of the UN is to promote and encourage respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.

Racism and racial discrimination are against the principles expressed in the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and many international instruments. However, the issue of racism in the UN system is deep-rooted with many forms and dimensions.

The report of the Secretary-General’s Task Force on Addressing Racism agrees that UN staff perceive national or ethnic origin as the primary grounds for racism and racial discrimination. Staff are reluctant to report or act against racial discrimination when they witness it because they believe nothing will happen, lack trust, or fear retaliation, suggesting a low level of solidarity with those who experience racial discrimination and a lack of faith in the mechanisms established to address this issue.

Surveys reveal that UN personnel of Asian descent face specific forms of bias and discrimination.

The recent review of racism and racial discrimination in the UN by the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) – the UN’s external oversight body – finds that while there has been progress in certain parts of the UN system, racism and racial discrimination are major and under-recognized problems that require urgent system-wide responses.

Racism and racial discrimination are widespread throughout the system and the magnitude is high, based on evidence of the prevalence, form, and effects of racism and racial discrimination.

Article 101 (3) of the UN Charter affirms that due regard shall be paid to the importance of recruiting the staff on as wide a geographical basis as possible.

The Asia-Pacific region is home to around 4.3 billion people, which is equivalent to 54 percent of the total world population. In the UN organizations, however, staff from Asia and the Pacific constitute only about 19 percent of staff in the Professional and higher categories.

There is a significant lack of diversity in senior managerial positions (P-5, D-1, and D-2 levels) at the UN. The majority of senior and decision-making posts are held by staff from the global North.

Among staff in senior positions, only 16 percent were from Asia-Pacific States as of 31 December 2020. Among promotions to senior positions, only 14.5 percent were from Asia-Pacific States during the period 2018–2020.

The JIU review on racism found that UN staff from countries of the global South, where the population is predominantly of color, tend to be in lower, less well-paid grades and, therefore, hold less authority in decision-making than those from countries where the population is predominantly white and from the group of Western European and other States.

This finding was corroborated by the JIU’s system-wide survey, and this issue of discrimination in seniority and authority for decision-making in the UN system emerged as a major macrostructural issue to be addressed.

Article 8 of the UN Charter stipulates that the UN shall place no restrictions on the eligibility of men and women to participate in any capacity and under conditions of equality in its principal and subsidiary organs.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights also states that there can be no distinction or discrimination on the basis of gender (articles 2, 7 and 23). The Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995 in Beijing adopted a Platform for Action, including the goal of achieving overall gender equality in the staff of the UN system by 2000.

The gender goals that were set by the Beijing Declaration 28 years ago are not being realized.

With regard to regional representation of women in the UN system, women from Western European and other States constitute a little more than half of the population of women in the Professional category (51 percent), while women from Africa, Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe, and Latin America and the Caribbean combined represent only 49 percent.

Among them, 18 percent are from the Asia-Pacific region. This disparity demonstrates the inconsistencies in the balance of objectives regarding meeting gender targets and geographical representation and emphasizes that there should be a correlation between these two goals.

Taking part in collective leadership: Role of staff interest groups

The role of staff resource groups is most helpful in the journey towards creating a more diverse and inclusive work environment at the UN. All staff resource groups in the UN organizations are voluntary and mostly organized around the mission, purpose, mandates and objectives of the UN.

There are many staff interest groups focusing on anti-racism, gender equality, diversity and inclusion. Such groups build bridges between staff and management as well as make connections between inequities and policies, and they play a significant role in bringing about effective change in the organizational culture.

Towards addressing racism in the UN, the tone set by the Secretary-General António Guterres and the space presented to the UN staff interest groups to work towards driving organizational culture change are commendable.

This approach is especially important in developing “inclusive” or “collective” leadership as established in the UN leadership model, which demands that all stakeholders play interdependent roles to achieve a collective impact system-wide.

The JIU review on racism also promotes the importance of “collective” leadership that provides a high level of support for personnel resources and special interest groups and whereby such groups are able to leverage support for actions to address racism and racial discrimination.

It further notes that the UN is in the initial stages and has a long way to go to develop the kind of effective leadership coalition that is critical to driving reforms to address racism and racial discrimination.

Taking part in collective leadership: Advice to my younger self

The UN Charter, the founding document of the UN, is an inspiring document that was signed 77 years ago. It made promises to respect each and every one of us, to reaffirm our fundamental rights and to value men and women equally. While we have achieved some progress in many areas, we still have a long way to go towards realizing the ideals enshrined in the UN Charter. Hence, I would tell my younger self that:

    • I should not be surprised when I am not treated equally by the UN and the world.
    • I should learn as early as possible to speak up if I am not treated fairly, if I am disrespected, or if my rights are violated.
    • I should talk to colleagues to share my experiences and identify any patterns of unfair treatment in the workplace.
    • I should understand that merit, along with hard work, commitment and credentials, is not enough to get into senior positions in the UN.
    • I should be taking initiative as an individual to address any discriminatory actions.
    • I should focus on more concrete and specific initiatives that would bring change in the UN.

The sum of my experiences in the UN, together with learning that many colleagues in the UN system were also having similar experiences, led me to realize the importance of a staff interest group for personnel from Asia and the Pacific, even though this took years to come into being.

Taking part in collective leadership: Solutions to overcome barriers to Asian talent

It is important to take part in the collective leadership approach in order to explore solutions to support overcoming barriers to Asian talent in the workplace, within and outside the UN system.

    (1) If there is no staff resource group representing the Asian community in the Organization, we should create one immediately.

UN-ANDI, established in 2021, is the first ever effort to bring together a diverse group of personnel from Asia and the Pacific (nationality/origin/descent) in the UN system.

    (2) We must speak up loudly and proudly as Asians, as members of an interest/resource group or network. It should be done in a focused way, with facts, trends, and patterns to bring global, regional, national, and local attention to our issues and concerns. This was emphasized by Ambassador Anwarul Chowdhury, former Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the UN and former UN Under-Secretary-General, at UN-ANDI’s first public event on 2021 UN Day.

UN-ANDI is currently finalizing its report on racism and racial discrimination in the UN system faced by personnel of Asian descent or origin based on its survey conducted in summer 2022.

    (3) Once we have a staff interest/resource group, it is important to explore and/or create opportunities to collaborate and complement our mutual goals towards creating a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive organizational culture.

UN-ANDI works closely with the UN Staff Union in its efforts towards combating racism. It also promotes a collaborative spirit with other networks and institutions with similar objectives, within and outside the UN. Since its inception, UN-ANDI has been collaborating with Asia Society to promote mutual understanding and stronger partnerships among peoples and cultures within and outside Asia.

Shihana Mohamed, a founding member, one of the Coordinators of UN-ANDI and a Sri Lankan national, is a Human Resources Policies Officer at the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC).

Please email [email protected] to connect and/or collaborate with UN-ANDI.

This article is based on the presentation made by the author, in her personal capacity, as a panelist in the discussion on “State of the AAPI Community in the U.S. and the Need and Impact of Proactive, Inclusive Leadership” at Asia Society’s 2023 Global Talent, Diversity and Inclusion Symposium on 17 May 2023.

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Cyclone Freddy has put Women & Girls in Malawi at Greater Risk of Sexual Abuse & Exploitation — Global Issues

  • Opinion by Tara Carey (blantyre, malawi)
  • Inter Press Service

BLANTYRE, Malawi, Jun 12 (IPS) – “Cyclone Freddy was a terrible experience, and now many women who lost their homes and their livelihoods are at increased risk of sexual exploitation and abuse,” warns Caleb Ng’ombo, Director of People Serving Girls at Risk (PSGR), a frontline NGO in Malawi that supports vulnerable women whose lives have been devastated by the record-breaking tropical storm.

“The rains were heavy and continuous for three to four days,” recounts Caleb. “There was water everywhere, strong winds, mudslides, and trees falling onto houses, paths, and roads. Water was flooding into my house, and everything I owned was floating.

“There was nowhere to go because everyone was experiencing the same thing, and there was nothing you could do apart from wait for the water to recede.”

When Cyclone Freddy hit Malawi in March 2023, six months of rain fell in just six days, flooding over 170 square miles (430 km2). Over 1400 people died in the country, and UNICEF estimates that 3.8 million are facing acute food insecurity.

Around 659,000 people have been displaced, with women in poverty disproportionately affected. Caleb explains, “Many women who’ve been badly impacted were already vulnerable. They were living in makeshift buildings in locations such as river banks and hillsides because they could not afford better housing. The extreme weather dislodged big rocks that rolled down the slopes, killing people and destroying houses. It was very traumatizing.”

Sexual harassment, exploitation, and domestic abuse

Camps have been set up for those who have lost their homes, and PSGR is creating safe spaces for women to discuss challenges and find solutions. Of particular concern are the multiple reports of sexual exploitation and gender-based violence.

Women are complaining that they are being sexually harassed in the camps, and including being asked to perform sexual acts in exchange for aid. Most women are reticent about reporting incidents to the police because they know it takes a lot of time for cases to be prosecuted, and victims frequently face skepticism and stigmatization. Some married women also fear their husbands will blame them, which could trigger domestic violence.

Such fears are well founded. A comprehensive global review has found extensive data revealing that during or after extreme weather events, there is a rise in gender-based violence, including domestic and intimate partner violence.

“With justice so hard to access, women think, why bother reporting?” Caleb relays. “Judges and magistrates are mainly men, and they don’t give priority to the needs of women, so such cases are never prioritized. This is especially when the perpetrator is in a position of power, has access to money and an image to protect, and is up against a vulnerable woman.”

Another apprehension is that with so many women and girls being pushed further into poverty, there will be a rise in commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking. Malawi is already a trafficking source, transit, and destination country, and the socio-economic repercussions of the climate crisis, coupled with discriminatory gender roles and social norms, create a fertile ground for the abuse of vulnerable women and girls.

Compounding problems is the lack of access to justice for victims. Few trafficking cases make it to court and those that do face multiple delays, with wrongdoers rarely punished.

To address this, PSGR and international women’s rights organization Equality Now have submitted a joint complaint to the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC), highlighting how girls, who are especially vulnerable to trafficking for sexual exploitation, are being left unprotected by the Malawian government’s failure to implement existing anti-trafficking legislation effectively.

Women are holding the sharpest end of the knife

Cyclones are typical in Southern Africa between November and April, but climate change is making them more frequent and intense. With Freddy, the ferocity and longevity were unprecedented – hitting land multiple times over five weeks. Scientists have declared it the longest-lasting tropical cyclone ever recorded anywhere.

Over the past decade, Malawi has experienced multiple extreme weather events, including droughts, floods, rising temperatures, and unpredictable rainfall patterns, leaving people dependent on agriculture and pastoralism struggling to adapt.

At this time of year, farmers should be harvesting their crops to sell and store, but Cyclone Freddy has washed away farmland and livestock, and ruined crops and buildings, with 547 schools damaged or destroyed.

Women make up 65% of smallholder farmers in Malawi, and traditional gender roles allocate women the responsibility for household food production and farming, while men often control access to land, credit, and agricultural inputs.

Malawi’s Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Act grants some protection ‘against emotional or physical violence or abuse within marriage, sexual relations, and the family. The law also recognizes women’s non-monetary contribution regarding marital property rights. However, inequalities within the family continue to limit women’s decision-making power, control over resources, and access to credit, all of which hampers their ability to adapt to climate change.

Women are also more likely to shoulder the burden of unpaid care work and household responsibilities, which intensify during climate-related emergencies.

“Women play a central role in managing the aftermath of climate emergencies,” Caleb explains, “They are the caregivers and the providers of food, and while the impacts of extreme weather are felt by everyone in the community, it is women and girls who are holding the sharpest end of the knife. For example, you can see with floods that it is mostly women who die because they cannot swim, whereas men have had time to learn.”

Women’s interests and input must be central to climate responses

Extreme weather is being fuelled by rising global temperatures resulting from burning fossil fuels and the emission of greenhouse gases, primarily by wealthy industrialized nations. Meanwhile, women in Global South countries like Malawi – which has one of the lowest incomes in the world – are suffering disproportionately from the climate crisis while being least able to adapt.

“The climate crisis is getting worse, and the international community must not neglect the specific vulnerabilities and needs of women and girls,” Caleb says. “Most of the strategies are dominated by men. Women are voicing their issues, but their voices are not being heard, and the result is the problems we are seeing today.”

“This emergency is manmade, and there isn’t an overnight solution. But if the world shuts its eyes and does nothing, we will fail to deliver on our commitments to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.”

The World Bank warns that without climate financing to assist Malawi in building a climate-resilient economy, climate change could push an additional two million people into poverty during the coming decade and reduce the country’s GDP 6% to 20% by 2040. The repercussions for women and girls would be catastrophic.

“People here understand that the extreme weather we are suffering is the result of climate change. It is countries like ours that are having to pay the price for big economies that are polluting the environment,” laments Caleb.

“Women and girls must be at the discussion table when strategies are being developed to mitigate against disasters so that when emergencies happen, we understand how they can be supported. Women should have the opportunity to present their side of the story, bring solutions, and be incorporated into responses. This has to be central to climate change policy at all levels.”

Tara Carey is the Global Head of Media at Equality Now, an international human rights organisation that focuses on using the law to protect and promote the rights of women and girls around the world.

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