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    Nepal: Ensuring that Local Polls are Truly Free and Fair

    OWSA Contributor
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    Nepal: Ensuring that Local Polls are Truly Free and Fair

    Ensuring the code of conduct is followed, that candidacies are inclusive, and the expense ceiling is adhered to are as important as ensuring that elections are peaceful.

    By Alok Pokharel

    On May 13, eligible Nepali citizens will vote to elect their local representatives, and later this year, also vote to elect their representatives at the provincial and federal levels. The Election Commission wanted at least 120 days to prepare for the local elections but the Sher Bahadur Deuba-led federal government announced elections for mid-May on February 7, providing only 90 days. Nevertheless, the Election Commission has been busy preparing for polls in this short span of time.

    In 2017, local elections were held in three phases. Even then, the government had provided a similar time frame. While the commission has publicly said that it can conduct elections within the given timeframe, there are concerns about its administrative and logistical preparations that could likely impact the quality of the polls.

    In Nepal, over the years, the electoral management body, election observers, the media, and political analysts have focused more on voter turnout, registered voters, and voting centers. However, the issue of invalid votes, voter education, enforcement of the code of conduct, and other governing aspects do not receive enough attention. This is where the Election Commission should focus for the upcoming local polls.

    Excessive invalid votes 

    In 2017’s local elections, many local units had a higher percentage of invalid votes than accepted by international standards. Invalid votes higher than four percent are considered abnormal, according to databases from the ACE Electoral Knowledge Network and International IDEA, requiring systemic interventions.

    High percentages of invalid votes were found both in urban and rural local units during the last local elections. For example, Tumbewa Rural Municipality in Panchthar had 13.41 percent invalid votes, Kaike Rural Municipality in Dolpa had 14 percent, Bideha Municipality in Dhanusa had 19.87 percent, and Biratnagar Metropolitan City in Morang had 24.07 percent, according to the Election Commission’s district-wise local level election report. It was also reported that Lalitpur had 17.1 percent and Kathmandu 16.2 percent of invalid votes.

    In the local election’s first-past-the-post system, a 10 percent margin can be large enough to swing the election in favor of one candidate, so we can assume that the results could have been different had there been a lower percentage of invalid votes, assuming the invalid votes were skewed against one candidate.

    Many observer groups, such as the Democracy Resource Center Nepal and the Election Observation Committee Nepal, reported that the lack of adequate voter education was a major factor behind the high number of invalid votes.

    Voter’s education is an important aspect of any election and, if conducted well, can inform how and where to register as a voter, how to vote, and the role of voters. It can also help avoid potential vote-buying, thereby increasing the quality of elections and voting.

    The Election Commission has developed programs and directives in and around voter education, but many of these are only implemented just before elections, not between elections. The Election Education and Voter Education Directives, 2022, a key instrument for voter education, was only implemented on March 29, a month and a half before the planned election. Providing voter education only after elections have been announced limits the efficacy of such education drives. Internationally, voter education is conducted throughout the year, such as in Australia and Canada, and many nations have adopted voter education into their civic education programs – an initiative that the government and the Election Commission should consider for future elections.

    Governing local polls  

    The enforcement of the election code of conduct is another important aspect integral to the quality of elections. Political parties contesting the upcoming local elections have already questioned certain provisions of the election code of conduct, with one of the major parties, the CPN-UML, even refusing to sign the commitment letter. Political parties were particularly concerned with Section 36 of the Election Code of Conduct, 2022, which requires incumbent local representatives to resign from their posts before being able to contest the upcoming polls again. This provision was even challenged at the Supreme Court through a petition, which the court dismissed. Given their reservations, the political parties are less likely to adhere to the election code of conduct.

    Furthermore, incidents that violate the election code of conduct are simply flagged by the Election Commission without any substantial penalties. There is a wide belief amongst political parties, candidates, and even election officials themselves that the code of conduct is just a moral standard and not enforceable. Such an understanding is detrimental to effectively governing elections.

    Studies by the Democracy Resource Center Nepal and the Election Observation Committee Nepal, along with media reports, show that campaign expenses during the 2017 local elections were significantly higher than the ceiling set by the Election Commission. A study conducted by the Election Observation Committee Nepal showed that an average of Rs 1.73 million was spent by mayoral candidates, against the expense limit of Rs 0.75 million (for mayoral candidates of a metropolitan city) allowed by the Directives on Local Level Election 2017.

    Access to funds

    In 2017, election campaigns were not only expensive but also largely unregulated and unpunished by the Election Commission. The commission’s ignorance or failure to take action against parties and candidates violating laws on campaign expenses meant that elections were not fair, especially for candidates who could not afford to spend large sums. Such instances are also discouraging to women and candidates from marginalized communities, who are less likely to have access to funding. In a truly free and fair election, access to funds should not deprive candidates from standing nor should it determine the outcome of an election.

    Concerns have been already made about the campaign expense ceiling. Many have held that the ceiling – for instance Rs 700,000 in case of a mayor of a metropolitan city – is not practical and will not reflect actual expenses. Ex-election commissioners and politicians have publicly stated that candidates spend millions in major metropolitan cities. Shashank Koirala, a senior politician from the Nepali Congress, recently made a public statement that he had spent Rs 60 million during the 2017 parliamentary elections. The Election Commission duly sought a clarification from him.

    In Nepal, elections are still held to be ‘free and fair’ if voting goes relatively peacefully and there is a high voter turnout. But these are minimum standards. A successful election needs to be judged from a broader set of parameters, including issues of voter education and the extent of invalid votes, enforcement of the election code of conduct, and the role of moneyed interests in politics.

    These aspects should all be considered while judging the quality of the upcoming election.

    Inclusive practices

    Additionally, there are other aspects important in governing the upcoming local polls. The Election Commission should ensure that inclusive practices are followed while appointing election officials and during candidacy and nomination processes; election officials and volunteers are adequately trained; any electoral disputes at any levels are settled promptly; election centers are easily accessible to people, especially to persons with disabilities; all political parties and candidates are treated equally throughout the electoral cycle; fairness and transparency in electoral processes; and that election results are declared soon. Many of these were lacking during the 2017 local elections.

    With less than a month left until local elections, it is important that the Election Commission adopts measures to fulfil its larger responsibilities. That would not just improve the upcoming local elections, but also set up foundations for the provincial and federal elections later in the year.

     

    Alok Pokharel  is an advocate, currently teaching law and researching on constitutional and legal issues.

    This piece has been sourced from Record Nepal.

    Years of Policy Failure and COVID Throw Sri Lanka Into Deep Crisis

    East Asia Forum
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    Years of Policy Failure and COVID Throw Sri Lanka Into Deep Crisis

    Sri Lanka is collapsing and its economy is at a tipping point. The country is witnessing one of the worst economic and political crises in its history, with massive protests demanding President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s resignation. The protests were sparked by a marked decline in living standards as Sri Lankans have been battling long and frequent power cuts and a 25 per cent increase in food prices.

    By Chulanee Attanayake

    In the weeks preceding the protests, many had to queue for hours to obtain fuel and gas, which caused four elderly people to die of heat exhaustion. Frustrated and disappointed Sri Lankans, who have been experiencing this situation for too long, began protesting in March 2022.

    The situation is a culmination of multiple economic and political factors which have accumulated over time. Sri Lanka has experienced macroeconomic instability, economic stagnation and a volatile business environment for decades . It has also been suffering from a twin deficit problem — a balance of payments, foreign exchange and fiscal deficit — due to years of economic mismanagement and corruption.

    The ratio of government revenue to gross domestic product (GDP) has been unbalanced for years. Economic policy since the 1990s has seen a combination of tax exemptions and reductions for the wealthy and multinational corporations. These policy decisions have resulted in a steady decline in government revenue collection. In 2021, Sri Lanka’s tax revenue amounted to only 9.6 per cent of GDP against government expenditure at close to 20 per cent of GDP.

    Lankan Arab spring moment?

    Adding to this is the external deficit problem, created by high imports, low exports and increasing debt. The debt-to-GDP ratio, which declined in 2009, has been steadily increasing since 2014. After graduating to middle income country status in 1997, concessional loans from multilateral agencies and bilateral donors became inaccessible, and Sri Lanka turned to international capital markets for commercial borrowings. Sri Lanka’s foreign debt composition is now heavily tilted toward commercial loans, with a growing reliance on international sovereign bonds.

    Despite being one of the earliest economies in South Asia to open up, Sri Lanka still has limited sources of foreign exchange. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted two primary sources of foreign exchange earnings— remittances from unskilled migrant workers and tourism. With limited foreign exchange earnings, coupled with a high import dependency and commercial debt burden, Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange began to decline rapidly.

    Government policies have aggravated these problems. The sudden decision in April 2021 to ban chemical fertiliser imports, in an effort to limit foreign exchange outflows, led to a shortage in essential commodities and affected food security. The government also ignored repeated calls from experts to seek bailout from the International Monetary Fund.

    In late March, street protests culminated in a massive demonstration demanding President Rajapaksa’s resignation. The protests, which quickly spread across the country, are unprecedented in Sri Lanka’s history. While a number of cabinet ministers resigned in response, Rajapaksa and his brother Mahinda, the Prime Minister, continue to hold onto power.

    In what some have described as Sri Lanka’s Arab Spring, protesters have occupied Galle Face, a park in front of the Presidential Secretariat, and established a tent city named ‘Gotagogama,’ meaning ‘Gota Go Village’. The protest slogans of #GoGotaHome and #GoRajapaksasHome are calls for the government to renounce power.

    Basic rights

    Historical allegations of corruption and nepotism against the Rajapaksa family have resurfaced. With Rajapaksa showing no intention of stepping down, Sri Lanka’s political stability and national security are at risk. Rajapaksa seems determined to prove that he can turn things around.

    Even if the government is making an effort to achieve economic stability by tightening monetary policies, restructuring debt and seeking an IMF bailout, the economy needs time to recover. The country needs to regain international credibility, which can only be achieved through economic reform. Reforms should include adjusting fuel and electricity prices, tax reforms, restructuring of state-owned enterprises and privatisation of services.

    Reforms will place financial burden on Sri Lankans, and result in likely layoffs in the public sector. So even if Rajapaksa and his government manage to resolve the economic problems, this is unlikely to resolve the civil unrest.

    If Rajapaksa and his brother decide to resign, the protests will temporarily subside. But their successors will need time to restore economic order and stability. They will have to implement a painful reform and restructuring process, putting the general public through more economic hardship. Sri Lankans’ tolerance of political incompetence has run out and their thirst for basic rights now seems unquenchable.

     

    Chulanee Attanayake is a Research Fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore.

    This piece has been sourced from the East Asia Forum of the Australian National University.

    Image: Wikimedia / AntanO

    What One Radio Show And One Strong Woman Can Do

    OWSA Contributor
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    What One Radio Show And One Strong Woman Can Do

    Ramkali Mahato, a young woman leader from Nepal’s Terrai plains, uses her position of leadership to speak out against domestic violence in a community where women’s voices have traditionally been suppressed by men.

    A voice comes through the radio. It is Ramkali Mahato’s favourite show. She turns up the volume to hear local women talking with elected officials about empowerment issues and traditional social norms. Inspired by the show, Ramkali now strives to do the same in her daily life, speaking up against discrimination in her community and ensuring a better future for her own children.

    36-year-old Ramkali had only completed the seventh grade when, at 12 years old, she was married. In her area of southeastern Nepal, child marriage is still practiced despite being illegal. At just 14 years old, she gave birth to her son, swiftly followed by another son and a daughter. As part of the Madheshi community, a socially and economically marginalised community in Nepal, many women from her area face structural barriers including discriminatory policies, legislation and social norms, like child marriage, which hinder their access to education, jobs and opportunities. They carry the disproportionate share of unpaid domestic work and are often excluded from participation and leadership in public life.

    Challenging social norms

    During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ramkali began listening to “Sambal”, a radio show broadcast by the Joint Programme on Rural Women’s Economic Empowerment (JP RWEE). The programme was implemented by FAO, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, UN Women and the World Food Programme and supported by the governments of Norway and Sweden. It aims to tackle the deep-rooted causes of gender inequality and boost rural women’s economic empowerment, which includes facilitating access to opportunities, resources and services, including land, credit and technologies. JP RWEE works with national and local governments, communities and households to tackle unequal power dynamics and discriminatory social norms in order to achieve lasting change.

    On the live radio programme, locally elected leaders address the women’s queries and concerns on topics like gender equality, financial knowledge and harmful social norms that underpin violence against women and girls. The show also highlights individual and community actions that can be taken to combat the issue.

    “I loved the radio programme so much that I used to go around to my neighbours’ houses every week and turn on the radio myself if they had forgotten to listen to it,” Ramkali says, laughing.

    By listening to Sambal, Ramkali realized how difficult it was for women in her traditional rural community to create a life outside the home, and she set out to challenge these norms. In her area, farming groups and local councils are predominantly led by men with women given little space to participate in decision-making. But with help from the JP RWEE, Ramkali took leadership of the Laxmi Rural Women Farmers Group and encouraged other women in her area to do more outside their homes.

    “Our voices are often suppressed by the men in my village. But Sambal has given us the strength, courage and a platform to have our voices heard,” she says.

    Put to the test

    Her newfound leadership was immediately put to the test by the COVID-19 lockdown, during which, Ramkali says, there were many cases of domestic violence in her community. She used her position of leadership to speak out against these practices, something that in Nepal’s traditional society is already a big step forward.

    “Our access to local authorities was limited due to the restrictions caused by the lockdown. Taking inspiration from the radio show, I along with other women from my group raised our voices against violence. I even got a chance to speak about these issues directly with the leaders in my community and to encourage them to take serious steps to tackle the issues.”

    A leader in the community

    The JP RWEE has helped Ramkali not just to find her voice but earn an income too. Before joining the programme, Ramkali’s family practiced traditional farming and managed to grow just enough to feed themselves. However, after training and inputs from the JP RWEE, she has become skilled enough at vegetable farming to rent a larger piece of land and start commercial farming. In the five years since the programme began, her annual income has risen by over 2000 per cent.

    FAO Nepal radio programme empowers Terrai woman leader
    Ramkali with her daughter

    This allowed Ramkali the financial freedom to maintain her house and even pushed her to make sure her daughter had the same access to education as her sons during COVID-19. In the lockdown, sons were given preference to attend online classes whereas daughters were supporting their mothers in the household chores. This seemed wrong to Ramkali, and after she spoke out, girls were encouraged to attend online classes too.

    “I struggled a lot in my life as I was married when I was a child and did not have an opportunity to continue my education,” Ramkali says. “I do not want my daughter, or others in our community, to face the same challenge.”

    For Ramkali, the JP RWEE programme empowered her to make her own choices. “It changed my life by giving me an opportunity. It has changed my relationship both at home and in my community, as my voice is heard these days. I am now confident that I can live my life without being dependent on my husband or any other family members.”

    Though challenged by her community and even her husband at the beginning, gradually, they saw how hard she worked and the difference she was making. Her husband began appreciating her ability to help support their family, and her community saw how Ramkali was creating a fairer society for women and building the confidence of other women to join her. Sometimes, it takes just one strong woman to make big changes to society.

     

    This piece has been sourced from the Food and Agricultural Organisation.

     

    Image: Nishant Gurung  /  UN Women

    Chronicle of a Tragedy Unfolded

    Inter Press Service
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    Chronicle of a Tragedy Unfolded

    While officially, the burqa ban is justified on grounds of need for uniformity and wearing of hijab is not seen as necessary to religious practice, such top-down rationale needs to be understood within the context of everyday local, cultural perceptions.

    By Vani S. Kulkarni

    The Karnataka court’s verdict to uphold the hijab ban has intensified the protest in the state. The row has been typically perceived by many as manufactured by the politicians pointing to the culture of politics in the state. While the jury is still out there on this, evidence on how state’s local culture constructs and deconstructs religious identity allows drawing conclusions with some definitiveness. The culture of state’s politics is one side of the coin. Considering its flip side – politics of culture, particularly of the religious cultural identity, is just as relevant.

    Few years ago (between 2014-early 2020), as I travelled for many months across various villages and towns of Karnataka observing and interviewing rural and semi-urban community dwellers about their experiences with RSBY health insurance scheme, two stories, both related to value of health insurance, surfaced repeatedly.

    One was a story of public valuing health insurance for reasons beyond the visible economic and infrastructural ones. The other was a story of fairly uneven degree of value and use of health insurance provision among the public.

    It is the latter story that provides evidence of the politics of religious culture, and thus provides some context to better understand the Hijab row in the state. A striking pattern of the unevenness, among other forms, was the difference among households in the value and eventual use of health insurance along religious lines, especially between Hindus and Muslims. Both Hindus and Muslim households agreed that the latter, more than the former households, fervently sought the possession of and use the health insurance provision.

    Antipathy

    Such proclivity by Muslim households, however, was not perceived kindly. While the resentment often was not articulated candidly for the fear of backlash in the community, there was certainly an underlying tension. As one Hindu household indicated: “we all know that Muslim households are overusers of any government provisions, including health services, but we rather not talk about it because they are all neighbours and it will cause chaos in the neighborhood.”

    However, not everyone exercised restraint in expressing their resentment. In fact, the antipathy toward Muslims was very loud in some quarters that simultaneously expressed disapproval for the Hindus’ lukewarm interest as well as sympathy for their fellow Hindu households for not getting a fair share of the government provisions. The remark of one Hindu household summed up such a sentiment: “Hindus means hinda (Kannada word for behind). Muslims means munda (Kannada word for ahead). Muslims are always ahead in the queue to avail the free resources and Hindus have to wait their turn. We get fed-up waiting, and eventually do not use the resources.”

    Interestingly, Muslims used the same description of munda and hinda except from a different perspective: “we Muslims are munda to make use of government provided resources”, a Muslim household member remarked, “but we are forced to be ahead because Hindus have pushed us hinda (behind) in accessing the higher quality resources.”

    While such dissonance with sharing of valued-resources with a group that was religiously distinct was telling, it was around the dress code – wearing of the hijab, burqa and niqab wearing that the binary distinction – hinda and munda, sharpened.

    Top-down rationale

    The remark of a Hindu woman summed up such an ethos: “how can we access health insurance when large number of Muslim women in their long hijabs and long burqas are always in the queue ahead of us? The burqas certainly help them to hide their faces but the dress also makes them hypervisible to the hospital staff and that is how they end up being ahead of us using up all the time and space at the hospital. The burqas may hide their faces but they also make us invisible to the doctors and nurses because we get hidden behind their large burqas, and thus get left behind.”

    Burqa ban isn’t unique to Karnataka. Many countries in the west have banned these articles of clothing and the justification for the ban globally ranges from concern about national security, integration into the mainstream society and feminist arguments such as, promoting women’s liberation.

    However, the cultural contexts in which bans operate are certainly unique and need to be explored. In Karnataka, the ban has surfaced in the colleges and in the education sphere at large but, as the evidence on reaction to the availing of health services indicates, the dissonance is much more deep-seated and widespread.

    While officially the ban is justified on grounds of need for uniformity and wearing of hijab is not seen as necessary to religious practice, such top-down rationale needs to be understood within the context of everyday local, cultural perception that Muslims are a threat to fair share of valued resources, including education and health of the country. Burqa and hijab are identity markers serving as reminders of presence of minorities, and even as the presence of the “other” who are being out of their place if they are spotted accessing valued resources.

    Deepening the schism

    There exists a cognitive dissonance with the idea, practice and sight of burqa population in spaces where valued resources are available. It is politics of cultural identity of Muslims – the scepticism and sometimes intolerance for them as beneficiaries.

    The need for uniformity, social integration and women’s liberation as the top-down narrative (culture of politics) while serving as some explanation for the hijab ban, is at best a partial one. It is an intricate interaction on the ground between development and cultural perception of inclusion (or exclusion) of certain populations in the development process (politics of culture) that provides important clues to Karnataka’s hijab row. The latter narrative is made significant by its absence. I fear an unintended consequence of the hijab ban maybe deepening the schism between Hindus and Muslims.

     

    Vani S. Kulkarni is attached to the Department of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA

    This piece has been sourced from Inter Press Service.

    A Move to Undermine the Anachronistic Veto Powers in the Security Council Gains Traction

    Inter Press Service
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    A Move to Undermine the Anachronistic Veto Powers in the Security Council Gains Traction

    A proposal to reform the UN Security Council has dragged on for more than two decades, with four strong contenders for permanent seats, namely Germany, India, Japan and Brazil. But if they do eventually succeed in their attempts, they have to put up with what is best described as “second-class citizenship”, because the P5 have given no indications that any new comers to their ranks will be offered veto powers.

    By Thalif Deen

    The five permanent members (P5) of the UN Security Council (UNSC) – UK, US, France, China and Russia – have exercised their veto powers primarily to protect their own national interests or the interests of their close political and military allies.

    But a proposed new resolution before the General Assembly (GA)– entitled “Standing mandate for a General Assembly debate when a veto is cast in the Security Council”—is an attempt to undermine the veto in a move likely to be supported by a majority of the 193 member states.

    As of last week, the resolution had 57 co-sponsors—and counting.

    US view on veto

    US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters the United States was one of the co-sponsors of the resolution, spearheaded by a core group of Member States led by Liechtenstein.

    “This innovative measure would automatically convene a meeting of the General Assembly after a veto has been cast in the Security Council,” she said.

    As negotiated in 1945, she pointed out, the UN Charter entrusts in the five Permanent Members of the Security Council the ability to prevent the adoption of a resolution through a veto – a mechanism long the subject of institutional debate.

    “The United States takes seriously its privilege of veto power; it is a sober and solemn responsibility that must be respected by those Permanent Members to whom it has been entrusted,” she declared.

    When a Permanent Member casts a veto, that member should be prepared to explain why the resolution at issue would not have furthered the maintenance of international peace and security, said Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield.

    US Russia P5 Veto calls UN Reforms
    US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield

    “Unfortunately, not all members of the Security Council share this sentiment. We are particularly concerned by Russia’s shameful pattern of abusing its veto privilege over the past two decades, including its vetoes to kill a UN observer mission in Georgia, block accountability measures and chemical weapons investigations in Syria, prevent the establishment of a criminal tribunal on the downing of flight MH-17 over Ukraine, and protect President Putin from condemnation over his unprovoked and unjust war of choice against Ukraine.”

    The General Assembly resolution on the veto, she declared, will be a significant step toward the accountability, transparency, and responsibility of all of the Permanent Members of the Security Council members who wield its power.

    Ironical

    Stephen Zunes, Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of San Francisco, who has written extensively on the politics of the Security Council, told IPS the General Assembly Resolution 377, adopted back in 1950, gives the GA the authority to make recommendations for collective action in the event that the Security Council fails to act as required to maintain international security and peace.

    He pointed out that the General Assembly has invoked this resolution on four occasions when a widely supported resolution was blocked by a veto: in 1950, in regard to the Korean War; in 1981, regarding Namibia; and in 1980 and 1997, involving resolutions concerning Palestine.

    “There is some irony in the United States pushing for a more active role for the General Assembly, given that three of those four cases were in response to a U.S. veto. Indeed, over the past fifty years, Washington has been responsible for far more vetoes than any other Security Council member”.

    Of the 72 U.S. vetoes of Security Council resolutions, the United States was the sole negative vote in 63 of them, he said.

    Preserving peace

    Asked about a proposal from an Asian country, back in the late 1970s, calling for a double-veto as more effective, instead of a single veto, Zunes said it “certainly has merit”. “But since it would require amending the UN Charter, it is not only likely that Russia would block it, but probably the United States as well”.

    The proposed resolution “decides,” among other things, “that the President of the General Assembly shall convene a formal meeting of the Assembly within ten working days of the casting of a veto by one or more permanent members of the Security Council, to hold a debate on the situation as to which the veto was cast, provided that the General Assembly does not meet in an Emergency Special Session on the same situation.”

    James Paul, who authored “Of Foxes and Chickens: Oligarchy and Global Power in the UN Security Council,” told IPS that ever since the founding of the UN in 1945, the great majority of UN member states have insisted that vetoes in the Security Council hobble action to preserve the peace.

    Experts have often pointed out that the veto keeps many important matters outside of Council action entirely.

    “Though the five veto-wielding Permanent Members have never agreed to an alteration of their veto powers, smaller countries in the UN General Assembly have sought to weaken the veto, through procedures and actions that delegitimize veto-use and protest against veto-protected aggression and other breaches of the peace by the most powerful governments,” he argued.

    Review UN set-up

    A group of like-minded countries, keen on strengthening international peace and legality (and protecting themselves from larger aggressors), has launched the current initiative, building on opposition to the Russian veto of a Council resolution condemning its invasion of Ukraine.

    This initiative, Paul said, would automatically trigger a General Assembly debate anytime the veto is used in the Security Council. In theory, an Assembly debate (even though non-binding) might be a disincentive to veto-use by a Permanent Member. Even if the embarrassment of a debate would not always act as a brake on the arrogance of powerful states, it would be worth implementing

    Andreas Bummel, executive director of the Berlin-based Democracy Without Borders, told IPS: “We strongly support Liechtenstein’s initiative that the General Assembly is to meet automatically each time a veto is cast in the Security Council.

    This, he said, will force the permanent members of the council to justify their vote to the world community. The political cost of misusing the veto will be raised.

    Further the General Assembly routinely will be able to consider its own measures. It’s an important step in the right direction, said Bummel.

    “It is highly welcome and noteworthy that the United States is one of the co-sponsors of the proposed resolution. Obviously, they are prepared to explain any future use of the veto in front of the General Assembly and accept its subsidiary responsibility”.

    In a next step, he argued, there should be an understanding that permanent members can cast no votes that are not treated as vetoes against resolutions that otherwise have a majority to pass.

    “The UN’s whole setup needs to be reviewed though. Everybody knows that it’s anachronistic. Eventually, the permanent members need to be prepared to let go of their veto privilege altogether”.

    US influence

    In an interview with IPS, Paul warned: “We have to remember that Permanent Members have many cards to play. The United States, by far the most powerful actor on the world stage, has tremendous influence over a majority of Council members. It often can block or greatly alter Council action without having to cast a veto”.

    That is why its invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003, though initially rejected by the Council, was eventually tolerated by the same Council for many years. In the case of repeated US vetoes of Council resolutions on Israel, the US has never paid a heavy political price.

    He said many observers point out that great powers like Russia and the United States constantly act in contempt of multilateralism and with scant regard for the UN and international law.

    “So. we can well ask how the United Nations can succeed in a world exposed to such cynical use of violence and raw national aggrandizement. There is certainly no easy answer, but it is clear that those who seek to undermine the veto and expand the potential of international law are on the right course”.

    “One day, we can hope, we will prevail,” he said..

    Meanwhile, a proposal to reform the Security Council has dragged on for more than two decades, with four strong contenders for permanent seats, namely Germany, India, Japan and Brazil.

    But if they do eventually succeed in their attempts, they have to put up with what is best described as “second-class citizenship”, because the P5 have given no indications that any new comers to their ranks will be offered veto powers.

    Still, African leaders have long insisted they will not accept any permanent memberships in the UNSC, without veto powers.

     

    The story has been sourced from Inter Press Service.

    Stonewalling Occupational Health Concerns of Agate Stone Workers

    OWSA Contributor
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    Stonewalling Occupational Health Concerns of Agate Stone Workers

    Workers of Gujarat’s agate industry continue to inhale silica dust – and dying painful deaths. But there has been little action from the government to assess their health or working environments.

    Crafted agate stonework is often Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first choice for gifts to visiting dignitaries. The craft has received geographical indication tag. But there is little attention to the workers who make these. More precisely, their working conditions and occupational health risks.

    Workers say that chipping, grinding and polishing agate and other stones to carve out ornaments and craft-work leaves their bodies scathed. There are several studies referring to deaths due to Silicosis, SilicoTB and tuberculosis among people engaged in the craft.

    For instance, a study by the Lucknow-based Industrial Toxicology Research Centre in the eighties points to the high prevalence of chronic lung diseases among agate workers. The study pointed out that health problems start with the workers are still young. But nothing was done. The study even documented that young people and children working near the agate units were suffering from silicosis and Silico-TB.

    A series of epidemiological and environmental studies done by the National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH) in the following years too pointed to the high prevalence of lung diseases.

    Stonehearted

    But there is little action on the ground and the bureaucratic ways of the government only consider agate good to gift – never looking at the lives of the people behind an artwork.

    A 2007 analysis by the Peoples Training and Research Centre (PRTC), a Gujarat-based NGO working among workers in the agate industry showed that every extra year of exposure the odds of getting silicosis increased by about 12 per cent.

    The government’s own studies over a decade ago, nor the studies on-ground organisations like PRTC have moved planners to act. Business and industry claim that the lung diseases are a thing of the past because, they say, the process of wet grinding introduced a decade ago has ensured that silica is not available to inhale.

    This argument proffered by business has found buyers among those framing policies – not bothering to enquire why silicosis, tuberculosis and silico-tuberculosis remain rampant, with even young children who have interacted with the environment in recent years.

    Officials in Gujarat have sided with business, insisting that the problem has been resolved, without even studying to document the status of the problem after the introduction of the wet grinding process.

    “Little is done to study and address the high prevalence of tuberculosis and silicosis among agate polishers in Khambhat, Gujarat. Silicosis, particularly, is a matter of concern say experts, because the particles of silica dust that causes it, slowly and painfully suffocates its host to death,” says Jagdish Patel, who founded of PRTC to work among silicosis-afflicted craftspersons in the agate industry, pointing to the stonehearted apathy in corridors of power.

    “It is double-whammy when silicosis combines with tuberculosis, because the individual’s health is too weak to resist an infection,” Patel says on the apathy towards the health needs of the workers.

    Agate workers occupational health hazards Silocosis Tuberculosis Death

    Unanswered letters

    Efforts by NIOH and NGOs to reduce silica levels at work in last decade has reached the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) that even published recommendations on preventive, remedial, rehabilitative and compensation aspect of Silicosis over a decade ago. In 2017, the NHRC had recommended the government of Gujarat to frame a policy for rehabilitation of silicosis patients. It is five years now, but no action has yet to be taken.

    But little has come to fruition – except for the revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP) recognising silicosis as risk factor for TB and the health and labour ministries developing a framework to address TB and related co-morbidities in the world of work in India in April 2019.

    These too has not been followed up.

    Patel’s own letters on the matter, written to authorities in the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) remain unanswered. “There is clear link between TB and silica exposure. Universal screening for TB in this community on a regular basis has not been done by anyone,” Patel wrote in his letter in February 2021, impressing on the need for systematic surveillance study.

    “it will be prudent to take up a silicosis and TB prevalence study in Khambhat through NIOH in collaboration with the RNTCP to assess the current situation and help plan for further improvement,” he wrote.

    Eighteen years since the last NIOH study, the organisation has not followed up on the situation of occupational health in the agate industry. Experts and activists say a study will help make an informed decision and guide strategies not only to end TB but also to achieve UN SDG 8.8.

    US–China Rivalry Complicates Development Aid in Nepal

    East Asia Forum
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    US–China Rivalry Complicates Development Aid in Nepal

    On 1 March 2022, Nepal’s coalition government, led by the Nepali Congress party, finally ratified the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC)’s Nepal compact, a US$500 million infrastructure and economic development grant from the US government. This marks the end of a chaotic five-year-long saga over the compact’s parliamentary ratification, which saw leaders turn the agreement into a political football.

    By Anil Sigdel and Mani Dahal

    Anti-US forces — including communists, royalists and pro-Chinese commentators — have united to wage a rhetorical war against the MCC grant. Their deliberate social media disinformation campaigns are disrupting the developmental function of the state and eroding Nepal’s democracy.

    For years, Nepal has relied on US developmental aid — for instance, US assistance was critical to rebuilding Nepal after the devastating 2015 earthquake. The Nepal–US bilateral relationship played a role in Nepal’s decision to guide the MCC grant to a definitive conclusion. But with countless visits by US officials since 2012 failing to strike any breakthrough, the ‘take it or break it’ deadline set by the United States for 28 February ultimately made the difference.

    Why did it take this long to mobilise parliamentary action in Nepal?

    Geopolitically, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leaders have exhibited ‘deep interests’ in the MCC grant. US diplomat Donald Lu warned that Nepal’s failure to ratify the grant would be seen as ‘Chinese interference’, stating that the United States would ‘review’ Nepal–US ties.

    Prachanda’s doublespeak

    China has engaged in a war of words with the United States, accusing the United States of pursuing ‘coercive diplomacy’ in Nepal and asserting that the MCC has become a ‘Pandora’s box’, not a ‘gift’. China made significant efforts to convince leaders not to accept the grant. In the hours leading up to parliamentary ratification, CCP Foreign Department figures were busy holding virtual meetings with senior Nepal Communist Party leaders, expressing their ‘security concerns’.

    Chinese interests and pressure from different interests groups aside, the MCC grant was also victim to inter-party and intra-party feuds. Until the final moment, Nepal’s political parties were fractured in their stance, juggling their options with the upcoming elections in mind. While Nepali Congress leader and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba was determined to ratify the grant, his coalition partners were still opposed.

    Nepal’s communist parties feared that siding with Deuba would compromise their chances in the elections. While leaders hoped that the MCC grant would fail, they weighed up the consequences — if ratified before the coming election, the grant’s legacy and blame would be shared. Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) spokesperson Pushpa Kamal Dahal has relied on doublespeak to balance the opposing pressures from his party cadres to reject the grant and the external constraints to accept it.

    Prime Minister Deuba feared that any break-up of the coalition would hamper his party in the elections. But with help from former prime minister and opposition party leader KP Sharma Oli — who registered the MCC bill in parliament during his term — Deuba’s fears were alleviated and Oli’s Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) did not block the grant’s ratification.

    India’s silence

    The MCC grant was ratified along with an interpretative declaration outlining the government’s understanding of its obligations under the MCC to allay fears and suspicions. The United States has indicated that Nepal’s interpretative declaration is not a problem and agreed to move the implementation process forward. Given the sheer amount of misinformation on social media, these provisions eased domestic fears, while saving face for the political parties and increasing their political gains.

    During a visit to Kathmandu on 25–27 March, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi proposed greater cooperation through on projects related to China’s Belt and Road Initiative while avoiding mention of the MCC. Nepal also engages in projects funded by the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and China’s International Development Cooperation Agency. India has chosen to remain silent — as an important US partner and a hostile neighbour of China, it is unable to express any of its reservations publicly.

    The MCC grant now amounts to US$630 million as the Nepali government has agreed to invest US$130 million on top of the US grant of US$500 million. The development plans are in line with Nepal’s policy of modernising electricity and transport infrastructure in the mountainous nation. But it remains to be seen if the project will move forward as expected and yield anticipated results.

     

    Anil Sigdel is the founding director of Nepal Matters for America in Washington DC and an Associate Professor of International Relations at the National University of Political Studies and Public Administration in Bucharest, Romania.

    Mani Dahal is a journalist based in Nepal.

    This piece has been sourced from the East Asia Forum of the Australian National University.

    Polio Reappears In Pakistan After 15 Month Gap

    OWSA Contributor
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    Polio Reappears In Pakistan After 15 Month Gap

    The type 1 wild polio virus (WPVI) was confirmed in a toddler from the North Waziristan district of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The same strain of the virus was also detected in Malawi, over two years after the entire African continent was declared polio free.

    By Ghulam Akbar Marwat

    Pakistan reported its first polio case after a gap of 15 months on Friday. The reappearance of the virus has dashed the country’s hopes of eradicating the crippling virus.

    The positive test was confirmed by the Islamabad based National Institute of Health. The type 1 wild virus (WPVI) had infected one-year-old child from the North Waziristan district of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

    There were 22 polio cases reported from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2020; however, there was no case in 2021.

    Earlier in April, Pakistan Polio Laboratory (PPL) had also confirmed the polio virus presence in the environmental samples collected from the Bannu district. PPL, charged with collecting environmental samples from different areas of the country said that the viruses found in Bannu samples as well as North Waziristan’s toddler were largely identical.

    Pakistan had reported its last polio case from Qilla Abdullah area of Balochistan in January 2021.

    The country’s health secretary, Aamir Ashraf said that the positive case discovered Friday had dented Pakistan’s polio eradication efforts and elsewhere across the globe. However, he said that health authorities have taken emergency steps in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa following the detection of the positive environmental samples. He referred to the health authorities deploying teams at federal and provincial levels for the probing of this case.

    Polio in Pakistan World immunization week

    In addition to this, emergency polio campaigns were also being launched to contain the spread of the virus.

    Confirming the presence of the polio virus in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Dr Shahzad Baig, the coordinator of the National Emergency Operations Center (set up specifically for polio in the country), said that the finding has pointed to the necessity of vaccinating every child.

    WHO has called for observing the world immunisation week starting 24 April.

    Spreading to Africa

    Besides, Pakistan and Afghanistan, Malawi is the third country in the world where polio virus exists.

    On 17 February 2022, a WHO update announced the detection of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) in Malawi. Sequencing and an analysis of the virus from an infected child was conducted by the National Institute of Communicable Disease (NICD) in South Africa, and later by the US CDC confirmed that the current isolate in Malawi was genetically linked to a Pakistan sequence detected in the Sindh province.

    This was a huge setback for the African nation, over two years after the continent was declared free of indigenous wild polio in August 2020. Africa had not reported a single instance of the virus for five years, leading to the continent being declared free of polio. Indeed, the last clinically confirmed WPV case in Malawi was reported in 1992.

    The Malawi government has announced a polio epidemic in the country following the detection of the virus on February 17.

     

    Ghulam Akbar Marwat works for the Tribal News Network in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

    Yesterday’s Cronies Turn Against Rajpaksas – Top Sri Lankan Businesses Stand By Protestors, Call for Solutions, Stability

    OWSA Contributor
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    Yesterday’s Cronies Turn Against Rajpaksas – Top Sri Lankan Businesses Stand By Protestors, Call for Solutions, Stability

    How times change! Sri Lanka’s big business houses, that hitherto took a moral high apolitical ground, are now speaking for change. Even those alleged to be cronies of the current regime are now joining the Go-Home-Gota chorus along with ordinary citizens protesting against the government on the streets.

    Having read the writing on the wall, Sri Lankan corporate and business houses are now issuing statements expressing concern over the ongoing economic crisis. Some are even airing a point-of-view on the state of the country’s economy while few others have even expressed solidarity with mass protests across the island nation.

    A few have ventured as far as calling for social, political, economic stability as a financial meltdown precipitates a political crisis and social unrest.

    John Keells Holdings (JKH), one of the largest and most visible conglomerates with a finger in almost every businesses pie – from hospitality to logistics to real estate to foods was the first to come out with a statement of concern, calling for immediate measures to be arrest the downslide.

    JKH’s statement alluded to good governance and change to avoid unrest, advising all parties to come together.

    “We urge all key parties to reach consensus, within the construct of the constitution of the country and due process being followed, in respecting the will of the people,” a statement from JKH read.

    Over the past two decades, the company has acquired interests across the country – even in the southernmost port city of Hambantota, the Rajapaksa’s backyard.

    Corruption

    Corruption figured in the statement of another big business entity, the Hemas Holdings. In a statement shared over social media, Kasturi Chellaraja Wilson, the group’s CEO, said her company supported staff to non-violently express themselves and even called on the government to set the country on a “path free of corruption and ethnic divisions.”

    “Hemas continues to support the public in its demand for systemic change. We call upon our nation’s leaders to hear the cry of our people and come together to immediately undertake the necessary political and economic reforms and set our country on the right path, based on the principles of good governance, free of corruption and ethnic divisions,” Sri Lanka’s top woman business executive said in a statement appearing on her Twitter handle.

    The statement ended by saying, “We will play our part in advocating for this change while supporting the rights of our staff to freely express themselves in a nonviolent manner.”

    Hemas does business in surgical equipment, health care, personal care, transports and also strategic investments.

    Playing safe

    Some, like Softlogic Holdings, have decided to play it safe. The company, dealing in financial services, information technology, healthcare and commodities, is going soft on the Rajapaksas, saying that the crisis is a result of policy irregularities spanning over 70 years.

    “The problem in the country today is the product of successive policy irregularities spanning a period of 70 years. In an ideal society, all sections of society should benefit from a benign policy regime which are essentially long term and hard to find. But we are optimistic that the right people have been put in the right positions to discuss these processing matters with the international funding agencies and bi-lateral partners, which is the need of the hour,” the conglomerate said in a statement on Friday.

    Finding solutions to the crisis is going to be hard no matter what government is in charge, the statement said.

    “It is the need of the hour, to put the country first rather than to find political self-interest interfering with the emergence of a tractable solution,”

    Transparency

    Not to be left behind, hospitality giant Jetwing too released a statement on the effect the crisis has had on the economy.

    “We stand with everyone who wishes to engage in peaceful protest and support the right to freedom of expression,” the company said.

    Telecom biggie Dialog Axiata too supported calls for change and for good governance and transparency.

    “We believe that with bold and responsible action today, our resilient nation will emerge stronger than ever before.

    “We call on those who have the power and opportunity to solve the prevailing crisis, to act selflessly towards the achievement of this greater good – a progressive and stable future for Sri Lanka and its people,” it said.

     

    Image: Wikimedia commons, AntanO

    Pakistan’s Historic Court Ruling: ‘Rome Has Spoken, the Case Is Finished!’

    Inter Press Service
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    Pakistan’s Historic Court Ruling: ‘Rome Has Spoken, the Case Is Finished!’

    After three days of mulling over the issues involved, the five-member bench gave its “short order” ruling, upholding the supremacy of the Constitution at all costs. It also underscored the paramount role of the judiciary in protecting the nation’s basic law.

    By Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury

    Pakistan’s impossibly debonair and incredibly urbane cricketing star turned politician, Imran Khan, is a man of a myriad parts. Where English is spoken and cricket is played, he remains a hero. Time was when leading his team in many a Test match he caused blood to rapidly pulsate through Pakistani veins. In a nation buffeted by the vicissitudes of misfortune and thirsting for pride, he had fulfilled his people’s dream by winning them the ultimate prize in cricket, the World Cup. But then he switched games and went into politics. The fates, with him for a while, eventually withdrew their favour. He gambled with a tactic that was no more than a political stunt. Alas it failed, and the Courts in his country refused him relief. But this essay is not so much about him. It about the Courts that finally caused his fall. It is also about the role the judicial organ of the State has played along the inscrutable path of Pakistan’s constitutional and political destiny.

    Since Pakistan’s inception, the higher courts, manned by senior Civil Servants and lawyers schooled in the best of the English legal tradition, have often been politically interventionist, with both liberal and illiberal consequences. An example of the first kind was a judgment (later overturned) of the Sindh High Court in 1954 that at the first instance initially favoured Speaker Tamizuddin Ahmed when he challenged the annulment of the legislature by the Governor General Ghulam Mohammed; of the latter was the rulings of Chief Justice Munir Ahmed, the main propounder of the “doctrine of necessity” a principle that ruled the roost in Pakistan’s constitutional annals for a long time to come.

    The doctrine draws upon the writings of a maxim attributed to the medieval jurist Henry de Bracton. It is that, “that which is otherwise not lawful is made lawful by necessity”, rooted in the Latin legal dictum Salus Populi Suprema Lex, meaning “the wellbeing of the people is the supreme law”. This is also embodied in the ‘Second Treatise of Government’ of the philosopher John Locke, often viewed as a great champion of democratic pluralism. Incidentally the doctrine has been cited thereafter in several Courts in the British Commonwealth.

    Death blow

    Using this liberal interpretation as a justification, Pakistani military rulers starting from Field Marshal Ayub Khan in 1958, continued to use the concept as a most useful legal tool (Justice Munir strengthened it to justify Ayub’s martial law in his judgment in the case of Dosso versus State where he ruled that a military take-over assumed sanction if there was public, even tacit). To the Supreme Court’s credit, it has attempted to live it down, initially modifying it circumspectly and thereafter boldly striking it down. In a major challenge to it though belatedly, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, on General Ziaul Huq’s take-over in the 1970s, ruled that no judge can offer any support to the acquisition of power by any unconstitutional functionary through modes other than envisaged in the Constitution. That was a great moral blow to any future unconstitutional change.

    The death blow came recently. It happened last week when the Court headed by the newly appointed Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial took suo moto cognizance of a controversial dismissal of a “no trust” motion by Deputy speaker Qasim Suri in the Pakistan National Assembly. It had been moved by the combined opposition against Imran Khan and required 272 in an Assembly of 372 members to pass. Because the ruling Coalition had broken down, the opposition had the numbers, but just about. But Suri, then acting for the Speaker, who belonged to Imran’s Tehreek-e-Insaaf party disallowed the motion just prior to voting on 3 April, on alleged grounds that some dissenting parliamentarians had been illegally influenced by a “foreign power”, that is, the United States. Thereafter President Arif Alvie dissolved the Assembly upon the Prime Minister’s advice and called for elections within 90 days. In public, Imran continued to insist on the allegations on US interference and trenchantly criticized what he termed as “treasonable actions” on part of his opponents, even though it placed him at odds with the seemingly all-powerful military and the Army Chief, General Qamar Bajwa.

    Voice of the people

    After three days of mulling over the issues involved, the five-member bench headed by Bandial gave its “short order” ruling, upholding the supremacy of the Constitution at all costs. It also underscored the paramount role of the judiciary in protecting the nation’s basic law. The judges declared the Deputy Speakers dismissal of the motion as “unconstitutional”, as also the consequent dissolution of the Assembly by the President on the Prime Minister’s advice. It reinstated the assembly to status quo ante as on 3 April and ordered that nothing – no action of the President, the Prime Minister or the Speaker- could impede the process of voting and the election of the next Prime Minister which would have to happen by 9 April. When the Speaker, apparently influenced by Imran, appeared to demur, Bandial physically went to the Court at dead of night presumably to prepare for an eventuality in which he might have had to take anti “contempt of court measures” against government supporters! Consequently, the voting was held as per court order, Imran and the Speaker resigned, and despite the turmoil Pakistan went through a democratic political change, albeit after some hiccups.

    The “short order” of the judges drove what was possibly the last nail in the coffin of the doctrine of necessity in Pakistan. It was based on the theoretical perception that nothing should necessitate any action contrary to the tenets of the Constitution, in which the “well- being” of the people resided, and which reflected the people’s choice and will. The Court was reaching out to the highest source of law enshrined in the Latin adage Vox Populi Vox Dei, meaning “the voice of the people is the voice of God”. It was supposedly enunciated as an effective political maxim in English common law as early as in1327 AD by Walter Reynolds, Archbishop of Canterbury, who used it in a sermon bringing charges against King Edward 11.

    Sigh of relief

    While the judges ruling will help correct a practice that had strayed from the original principles of liberal constitutional law, it will not end the woes of Pakistan. Those had resulted from concatenation of circumstances, political, economic, strategic, and historical. Pakistan has a new Prime Minister in Shahbaz Sharif, an experienced hand in governance. As a mark of protest, Imran took his party out of the Assembly and boycotted the election of his successor. The new government in place will face daunting challenges with the elections due in around a year’s time, a broken economy to fix, and a stubborn opponent to resist in the streets. Imran had lingered on the wicket, a tad too long after he was obviously out, which was not quite cricket. But he has the tenacity of a Robert Bruce and could well return to play another innings. But for now, the people of this nuclear weapon state and their neighbours, are heaving a sigh of relief as the immediate political imbroglio somewhat eases. Also, because from the chaos has emerged a strong institution, a guardian of democracy in a turbulent polity, the judiciary, which has established its authority sufficiently to be able to demonstrate Roma locuta, Causa finita, Rome has spoken, the case is finished!

     

    Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury is the Honorary Fellow at the Institute of South Asia Studies, NUS. He is a former Foreign Advisor (Foreign Minister) of Bangladesh and President

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