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Protests a Basic Human Right, UN Experts Tell Sri Lanka

OWSA Staff

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9 April 2022

Protests a Basic Human Right, UN Experts Tell Sri Lanka

The experts called on the authorities to engage in constructive and open dialogue with the Sri Lankan people, saying that “peaceful protests and voices of legitimate dissent should not be met with unnecessary and excessive use of force by authorities.”

A group of five UN human rights special rapporteurs and independent experts today urged the Sri Lankan Government to guarantee the fundamental rights of peaceful assembly and of expression during peaceful protests, amid the country’s severe economic crisis.

“We are gravely concerned by the recent proclamation of a state of emergency as well as the order that blocked access to social media platforms,” they said.

“These measures seem aimed at discouraging or preventing peaceful protests in the wake of the worsening economic crisis and the lack of access to fuel, electricity, medicines and essential food items.

A foreign exchange scarcity has stoked an economic crisis, coupled with rising inflation, shortages of fuel and essential goods, and prolonged power cuts.

It has aggravated an already dire situation over access to food and health causing difficulties for millions of persons living in poverty and for persons with serious medical conditions to access medicines or hospitals.

Security forces fired teargas and water cannon to disperse thousands of Sri Lankans who took to the streets in protest, demanding the president’s resignation over his handling of the crisis.

Nearly 50 people were injured, including several journalists, and there were more than 50 arrests.

“We condemn the excessive use of teargas and water cannon to disperse protesters, as well as the recent block of social media platforms,” the experts said, urging the Sri Lankan Government to allow students, human rights defenders and others to protest and to freely share their political views and express their discontent, both online and offline.

Need open dialogue

The compounded impact of foreign debt, corruption and the COVID-19 crisis, has affected the country’s economy. Experts called on the government to ensure that all human rights be respected and protected.

Thousands of people have since joined the daily protests, calling for political and economic reforms. The government imposed nationwide curfews from 2 to 4 April, arresting over 600 people found in violation of the curfew. On 2 April, the president declared a nationwide public state of emergency, that has since been revoked, empowering him to override most laws with the exception of the constitution, while the government blocked access to several social media platforms. Access to these platforms was later restored.

The experts called on the authorities to engage in constructive and open dialogue with the Sri Lankan people, saying that “peaceful protests and voices of legitimate dissent should not be met with unnecessary and excessive use of force by authorities.”

Image: UNSPLASH / Alex Azabache; Streets of Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Pandemic “Far From Over”, says UN Chief Guterres

OWSA Staff

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9 April 2022

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Pandemic “Far From Over”, says UN Chief Guterres

The window is closing fast. All countries need help to prepare for future pandemics by multiplying the number of countries able to locally produce tests, vaccines and treatments, the UN Secretary General said.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said Friday that the spread of Omicron – now surging in the form of the BA2 variant in many parts of the world – was “a startling reminder of how quickly COVID-19 can mutate and spread — especially in the absence of high vaccination coverage.”

He was addressing the GAVI COVAX international vaccine equity initiative’s Advance Market Commitment Summit 2022, which saw world leaders commit $4.8 billion to help lower-income nations boost vaccination rates, and secure better access for new vaccine procurements.

The GAVI Vaccine Alliance hosted the summit alongside G7 president, Germany, Ghana, Indonesia (which holds the presidency of the G20 industrialized nations forum), and African Union chair, Senegal.

Raise the game

Guterres said in order to reach the billions who have so far not received vaccine shots, countries needed to fulfil and accelerate dose-sharing and donation commitments to COVAX, with better quality of supply.

“And it means having strong national vaccine-delivery systems at the ready – including efforts to counter disinformation and get vaccines into arms,” he said.

He said the summit was “a critical reminder that the COVID-19 pandemic is far from over. We’re seeing 1.5 million new cases each day. Large outbreaks are spreading in Asia”, he continued together with “a new wave sweeping across Europe.”

And some countries are reporting their highest death rates since the start of the pandemic.

UN Secretary General said the spread of Omicron – now surging in the form of the BA2 variant in many parts of the world – was “a startling reminder of how quickly COVID-19 can mutate and spread — especially in the absence of high vaccination coverage.”

A third of the planet is still lacking even one dose, and yet, some high-income countries are preparing for their second booster doses, the UN chief said, adding that governments and pharmaceutical companies need to work together in a better way, to deliver vaccines “to every person, everywhere” – not simply in the wealthiest nations.

Brutal indictment

“This is a brutal indictment of our deeply unequal world. It’s also a prime breeding ground for new variants, more deaths, and increased human and economic misery.

“The next variant is not a question of ‘if’. It’s a question of “when’”, he said.

We are far from our target of every country reaching 70 per cent vaccination coverage by the middle of this year, he stressed, and with new variants emerging roughly every four months, “time is of the essence.”

He said there was plenty of global supply of vaccines, with 1.5 billion doses per month being manufactured, and the “remarkable” procurement, shipment and delivery system, of the COVAX Facility and its Advance Market Commitment mechanism, had managed to deliver 1.2 billion doses so far to countries in need.

“This proves that progress is possible. But the window is closing fast. And we need to help all countries prepare for future pandemics by multiplying the number of countries able to locally produce tests, vaccines and treatments.”

Although the pandemic is not over, “it can be” he said. “Let’s end it together.”

Image: Wikimedia

Afghan Refugees Stigmatized, Harassed in the Aftermath of Koocha Risaldar Attack

OWSA Contributor

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9 April 2022

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Afghan Refugees Stigmatized, Harassed in the Aftermath of Koocha Risaldar Attack

While 1.4 million Afghan refugees arrived with proper documentation following the fall of Kabul, there are many more who just managed to escape their country without any documents and their presence is not legal.

Afghan refugees in Pakistan’s north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province are stigmatised in the aftermath of a suicide attack targeted at a Shia mosque in Koocha Risaldar, in the old quarters of Peshawar.

For a start, strict security measures have been put in place, causing inconveniences and difficulties for unregistered Afghan refugees in the city.

Pakistan has about 1.4 million Afghan refugees according to the United Nation’s refugee organisation, the UNHCR. Government and aid agencies estimate that there is a larger number of unregistered Afghan migrants who arrived without the required documents. The Afghan arrived in droves following the fall of Kabul on 15 August last year.

Behashta Ayubi is one such refugee. She and her family arrived in the country on official visas. Life as a refugee is tough, she says, as she speaks of discrimination.

“It is very difficult for Afghan refugees to rent houses,” according to Behashta Ayubi. She says that the suicide bomber in Peshawar has made life difficult for Afghans to rent a house.

Behashta was a journalist in Afghanistan. Her father was a government employee. She says that her family was an influential one, yet, they had to wait for a visa for three months and bribes had to be paid. Yet, in Pakistan, they have had to beg people to be able to rent an accommodation.

Behashta’s family is a registered refugee. Her stay in the country is legal.

Illegal presence

But simultaneously, there is a large number of Afghans who do not have the paperwork because they could not afford to wait in Afghanistan much longer. Nor could they afford to pay bribes.

Haseebullah, an Afghan who works in a brick kiln in Peshawar says he had no documents to be registered. In plain words, his presence in the country is illegal.

Under the circumstance, it is difficult for him to even step out of his workplace because he does not have a proof of registration card, or POR card. Police harassment is rampant.

“I cannot move around or go to other province and buy a phone SIM card in the absence of a POR card,” he says.

He said that he came to Pakistan without legal documents. However, wanted to stay here legally, which was not possible because UNHCR is not issuing cards to newly arrived Afghans.

“I travelled from Nangarhar to Spin Boldak to entre Pakistan through Chaman crossing,” he said. He spoke of the arduous travel along dirt track to enter Pakistan, paying Rs 20,000 to human smugglers.

Police action

Atiq Shah, the superintendent of police of Peshawar City says that the police would act against illegal Afghan refugees. So far, he says the police has rounded up over 850 illegal Afghan migrants in 2022 itself under the Foreigners Act. Any Afghan arriving in Pakistan without a valid visa is an illegal resident.

Yet, whenever there is any violent incident, the needle of suspicion turns towards the Afghans, who are Sunnis. They say that harassment at the hands of law enforcement agencies has become routine.

Most of Kocha Risaldar’s residents are Shias. The increasing violence and terrorism since the arrival of Afghans has meant that they face police action.

The Afghanistan-based Khorasan chapter (IS-K) of the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the Kocha Risaldar suicide bombing. IS-K’s targets have been the city’s Shia population. The 5 March attack on a Friday prayer congregation is said to be the biggest and most deadly such attack since 2020. That year, eight students were killed and over a hundred were injured in a mosque classroom bombing in Peshawar.

Could 2022 Be The Endgame For Polio?

SciDevNet

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9 April 2022

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Polio close to eradication but vaccination must continue. COVID-19 restrictions brought down polio cases but disrupted routine immunisation systems, especially in Afghanistan and Pakistan, limiting fresh reports of polio cases from these two polio-endemic countries.

By Nirmal Kumar Ganguly and Simba Makoni

Polio eradication has advanced remarkably, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. The limitations on travel and movement during the pandemic contained the spread of poliovirus in endemic countries — Afghanistan and Pakistan. Even circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV) cases that accounted for most polio-related paralysis in recent years, have dropped.

But the impact of the pandemic on health and routine immunisation systems might make it more difficult to keep the world polio-free, even after the last case. To avoid recurrence, polio vaccines will have to be administered long after polio is eradicated.

The disruption of routine immunisation systems due to COVID-19 saw a global drop of about seven per cent for two sets of childhood vaccines’ estimated coverage in 2020, with eight million more children missing vaccine doses as a result. Ninety per cent of 105 countries reported disruptions to immunisation services, according to a The Lancet paper.

That said, the crippling, paediatric disease polio, first recorded in an Egyptian painting 3,500 years ago, is definitely on its way out. There were no symptomatic cases of wild polio between the end of January and mid-November 2021—the longest period in modern history, without any new polio paralysis cases. At the end of 2021, there were five cases of wild poliovirus (compared to 140 cases in 2020) and 643 cases of cVDPV (compared to 1,113 cases in 2020).

Systems under stress

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative’s plan to be officially rid of wild polio and of cVDPV by 2026 seems on course, although a recent report of a wild poliovirus case in a three-year-old girl in Malawi has raised serious concerns. The first case of wild poliovirus in Africa in more than five years, it underlines the risk of infections in the future.

Thousands of biological samples around the world may still contain live polioviruses. Some immunocompromised children were given oral polio vaccines, which have a weakened live poliovirus, and they might keep shedding the virus for the rest of their lives.

We must now think about stopping polio recurrence, by integrating polio prevention into immunisation systems. The WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunisation (SAGE) meeting in October 2021, acknowledged that “countries have different epidemiological risks and supported the use of injectable polio vaccine (IPV)-only schedules in countries in polio-free regions with high routine immunisation coverage…that decide to withdraw bivalent oral polio vaccine (OPV) before certification of eradication”.

As routine immunisation systems are under stress, the SAGE said that, once adequate supplies are available, countries could consider adopting hexavalent (six-in-one) vaccines, as soon as they decide to modernise their Expanded Programme on Immunisation, by increasing the IPV regimen from two to three or more doses. Hexavalent vaccines can reduce the number of injections, making vaccination more acceptable to parents.

In South Africa, where hexavalent vaccines are used, 86 per cent of caregivers felt that three or more injections in a single visit were excessive for their children. Recently a South African expert told us that improvements in uptake translate into increased vaccine coverage [1]. GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, has a planning process through 2022 and 2023, on how to incorporate hexavalent vaccines into its programmes.

Plan better

Countries in Europe and North America have all been using combination vaccines for several years. But most countries currently using oral polio vaccines rely on a different type of combination vaccine — a whole-cell vaccine, to prevent pertussis, or whooping cough. These combination vaccines have complex manufacturing processes and are challenging to formulate.

Future shortages of combination vaccines, and probably of the IPV containing combination vaccine, seem highly likely, as confirmed through an independent modelling exercise. It takes five years or more, from planning to the first vials of a vaccine being shipped; and much longer for producers to recoup the large investments required. Yet, most vaccine purchases are made on shorter tenders, with uncertainty about demand.

Without some guarantee of future demand for combination vaccines in the post-polio era, vaccine producers are unlikely to invest now. That is true even of the biggest vaccine developers, and more so for emerging producers in Africa and Asia. Policymakers see these as crucial to future health security in geographies that may not have access to vaccines produced out of traditional hubs.

We are both part of a group called RISE – Routine Immunisation to Secure Eradication – that brings together experts in infectious diseases, supply chain management, financing and policymaking. At a recent meeting, we agreed to work with the polio community to develop an ‘advance guarantee mechanism’, to give producers the assurances they need to invest now. Over the next few months, we will be consulting and working to propose a mechanism that finance institutions, donors and implementing countries can adopt.

Among the lessons from COVID-19 is that the world has to plan better to deal with infectious diseases. Polio is one of humanity’s oldest foes. Extraordinarily brave immunisation workers have almost wiped it out. We must plan now to make sure that it can never come back.

Nirmal Kumar Ganguly is a former director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research.

Simba Makoni has held the positions of deputy minister of agriculture, minister of industry and energy development, minister of youth, sport and culture, and minister of finance and economic development, in Zimbabwe.

This piece has been sourced from SciDev.Net

Banner image: UNICEF

Sri Lanka Needs a Finance Minister and IMF Assistance to Avoid Economy Fall Off Precipice: Chambers

OWSA Contributor

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8 April 2022

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Sri Lanka Needs a Finance Minister and IMF Assistance to Avoid Economy Fall Off Precipice: Chambers

A joint letter from 23 Sri Lankan business chambers has warned of economic collapse, further jobs losses, social unrest a worsening hunger situation if steps are not taken urgently.

In a letter written to Sri Lankan parliamentarians and the country’s President, 23 business chambers have urged for immediate action to obtain help from the International Monetary Fund and undertake debt restructuring.

The chambers have said that political stability is necessary for this as is the urgent appointment of a full-time finance minister. In the same breath, they have welcomed the move to appoint a central bank Governor and a Treasury Secretary.

The signatories to the letter apprehend that an economic collapse, further jobs losses and hunger further aggravating prevailing social unrest if steps are not taken urgently to get IMF assistance.

“We have to act before the economy falls off a complete precipice,” Rohan Masakorale, from the island’s rubber exporters said.

Yohan Lawrence from the Joint Apparel Association Forum asked for financial advisors to be appointed fast for debt restructuring and talks with the IMF.

“We need to stop the payment of debt, it has to be done in an orderly manner,” Lawrence said.

“We accept that there will be a period of difficulty. It will get worse before it gets better. We face a total economic collapse if something is not done.”

Sandra de Soyza from the Sri Lanka Association of Software Exporters said there was business but power and connectivity problems are building up.

“Our customers globally have many concerns,” she said. “Now we are meeting delivery deadlines with utmost difficulty but we cannot sustain.”

Sabry speaks

The European Union too has urged for an initiating in-depth discussions with the IMF on the reform preconditions put forth by the lending institution.

Analysts in Colombo say that Sri Lanka is now suffering most of the post-default trade fallouts, even ahead of an actual default.

The Sri Lanka Exporters Association fears a 20 to 30 per cent export drop in exports during this month and this can must be arrested without further delay.

“Exporters are willing to export. Service sector is willing. The IMF program should have been done yesterday,” Masakorale said. “We have to move forward. We are calling for a stable political system for the world to have confidence.”

In the meanwhile, Ali Sabry, who resigned from the post of the country’s finance minister barely 24 hours after accepting the position expressed his optimism that Sri Lanka could get US$ 3 billion from the IMF over three years, besides bilateral financial support.

“I think we can get US$ 3 from IMF, over three years,” he said, adding, “From the World Bank we can get. From Japan we can get. From China. India has helped us greatly already.”

Sabry continues to officiate as finance minister since nobody has come forward to take the job.

The political instability and a dearth of leaders to steer the country’s economy is having far-reaching consequences.

The once most-developed country in all of SouthAsia is presently in the grips of an unprecedented food and fuel shortages along with record inflation and crippling power cuts.

For days on end, trading at the country’s stock exchange is getting halted for a drop in share prices beyond the five per cent threshold.

Pakistan Supreme Court Rules National Assembly dissolution “unconstitutional”, Restores Cabinet

OWSA Contributor

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8 April 2022

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Pakistan Supreme Court Rules National Assembly dissolution “unconstitutional”, Restores Cabinet

Overturning the Deputy Speaker’s order dissolving Pakistan’s top legislative body, the country’s Supreme Court ruled that the National Assembly remained in existence.

Through a short order signed late night, the Pakistan Supreme Court Thursday declared the ruling by the country’s National Assembly deputy speaker to dissolve the National Assembly as “unconstitutional”.

The court ordered the restoration of the National Assembly and the cabinet, besides asking the House to proceed with the vote of no-confidence against the prime minister by Saturday.

It comes as a jolt to Prime Minister Imran Khan who has said that he will play till the very last ball of the last over of the match.

The announcement setting aside the Deputy Speakers 3 April ruling in the face of a no-confidence motion against the government comes from the court’s five-member bench headed by Pakistan’s chief justice.

The Supreme Court ruled that the National Assembly was in existence at all times, and continued to remain and be so.

“The prime minister and federal ministers, ministers of state, advisers, etc stand restored to their respective offices as on 3 April,” the order says.

“Any prorogation of the assembly by the speaker prior to its dissolution in terms as stated above is declared to be of no legal effect and is set aside.

“The speaker is under a duty to summon and hold a sitting of the assembly in the present session, and shall do so immediately and in any case not later than 10:30 a.m. on Saturday April 9, to conduct the business of the House as per the Orders of the Day that had been issued for 3 April,” the court’s order reads.

Image: Wikimedia

Russia Suspended from Human Rights Council

OWSA Contributor

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8 April 2022

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Russia Suspended from Human Rights Council

The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on Thursday with two-thirds of member countries calling for Russia to be suspended from the Human Rights Council. Significantly, the vote took place on the anniversary of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide.

The UN General Assembly on Thursday adopted a resolution to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council, citing reports of violations committed by Russian troops in Ukraine.

The resolution received a two-thirds majority of those voting, minus abstentions, in the 193-member Assembly, with 93 nations voting in favour and 24 against. 58 abstained from the process.

While Russia, China, Cuba, North Korea, Iran, Syria, Vietnam voted against the resolution, the abstainers included other members of the BRICS economic partnership – India, Brazil and South Africa – besides 55 others.

The meeting marked the resumption of a special emergency session on the war in Ukraine and followed reports of violations committed by Russian forces.

Rawanda to Bucha

This past weekend, disturbing photos emerged from the city of Bucha, a suburb of the capital, Kyiv, where hundreds of civilian bodies were found in the streets and in mass graves following Russia’s withdrawal from the area.

Prior to the vote, Ukrainian Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya urged countries to support the resolution.

“Bucha and dozens of other Ukrainian cities and villages, where thousands of peaceful residents have been killed, tortured, raped, abducted and robbed by the Russian Army, serve as an example of how dramatically far the Russian Federation has gone from its initial declarations in the human rights domain. That is why this case is unique and today’s response is obvious and self-explanatory,” he said.

This is not the first time that a Member State has had its membership of the Human Rights Council suspended. Libya lost its seat in 2011, following repression of protests by ruler Muammar Gaddafi, who was later overthrown.

The vote took place on the anniversary of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, and the Ukrainian ambassador drew parallels with this dark page in recent history.

Kyslytsya drew parallels with Rawanda. “The genocide in Rwanda was largely due to the indifference of the world’s community, when the UN did not respond to warnings in the UN Security Council and in the General Assembly, a year before the tragedy that we commemorate exactly on this day,” he said.

Russia quits Council

Speaking after the adoption of the resolution, Deputy Permanent Representative Gennady Kuzmin, suddenly stated that Russia had already decided that day, to leave the Council before the end of its term.

He claimed the Council was monopolized by a group of States who use it for their short-term aims.

Kuzmin, had earlier called for countries to “vote against the attempt by Western countries and their allies to destroy the existing human rights architecture.”

“These States for many years have directly been involved in blatant and massive violations of human rights, or abetted those violations,” he said, speaking through an interpreter.

“In spite of their membership as members of the Council, they are not ready to sacrifice their short-term political and economic interests in favour of true cooperation and stabilizing the human rights situation in certain countries,” he said.

China called the move a ‘dangerous precedent’. Ambassador ZHANG Jun feared any hasty move in the General Assembly would be like “adding fuel to the fire”, as it would aggravate divisions, intensify the conflict, and jeopardize peace efforts.

“Dealing with the membership of the Human Rights Council in such a way will set new dangerous precedent, further intensify confrontation in the field of human rights, bringing a greater impact on the UN governance system, and produce serious consequences,” he said.

But the European Union commended the decision as a ‘rare’ one and the US described it as a step in the right direction.

“The rare decision this Assembly has taken today sends a strong signal of accountability and hopefully will help preventing and discouraging more violations of human rights,” said Ambassador Olaf Skoog, head of the EU delegation.

Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield described the adoption of the resolution as “an important and historic moment”.

Air Pollution Dims India’s Solar Energy Potential

SciDevNet

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8 April 2022

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Air Pollution Dims India’s Solar Energy Potential

India plans to produce 100 gigawatts of solar power in 2022, but the country suffers from high levels of atmospheric pollution. Now, a study by a team at IIT Delhi says that atmospheric pollutants block out sun’s rays and soil solar panels.

By Ranjit Devraj

Prospects for India achieving the target of generating 100 gigawatts of solar power in 2022 have waned because of high levels of atmospheric pollution.

Atmospheric pollution reduces solar power generation in two main ways: by absorbing and scattering the sun’s rays and by soiling solar panels, says Sagnik Dey, chair professor at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi.

A study carried out by IIT Delhi and published March in Environmental Research Letters, calculates that between 2001 and 2018 India lost 29 per cent of its solar energy potential as a result of atmospheric pollution — equivalent to an annual loss of US$835 million. As of March this year, India had only reached the halfway mark of 50 gigawatts of installed solar capacity, according to the research group, Mercom India.

“Put simply, aerosols, which include fine particulate matter, dust, mist and fumes suspended in the air, significantly reduce incoming solar radiation in what we call the ‘atmospheric attenuation effect’,” Dey, an author of the study, tells SciDev.Net. “This needs to be factored in when undertaking large solar energy projects.”

Such projects, says Dey, are also failing to account for the “soiling effect” of aerosols depositing on solar panels, blocking solar radiation from reaching the photovoltaic cells. “Since air pollution over South Asia has been on the rise, both effects need to be addressed and mitigation steps taken to maximise benefits from solar power installations,” he adds.

Similar studies

In heavily polluted regions particulate matter can cause a drop in photovoltaic solar power generation by more than 50 per cent, most of it caused the soiling of panels, according to a previous study. Aerosols in the atmosphere also work against solar power generation by increasing cloudiness and interfering with rainfall which could wash out particles.

Bhupendra Das, environmental researcher at Nepal’s Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, and chair of Nepal Energy and Environmental Development Services, says that acid rain can also corrode solar power equipment and support structures, adding to maintenance costs.

Acid rain is caused by pollutants like sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, released mainly through industrial and vehicular emissions, rising high into the atmosphere and mixing with water, oxygen and other chemicals to form corrosive acid droplets before falling back as rain.

“Mitigating air pollution would certainly reduce smogginess which can in turn improve solar power generation, and modelling studies do suggest that polluted clouds have a longer life and that aerosols inhibit precipitation,” Das tells SciDev.Net. “However, it is well to remember that there are several other factors to cloudiness than air pollution.”

The IIT Delhi study offers a set of measures that if implemented could help the Indian government achieve its solar energy production targets. One of these is fixed panels optimally tilted to take maximum advantage of solar radiation. Tilted panels do not accumulate aerosol deposits as easily as on panels set horizontally.

Articulated panels fitted with tracking mechanisms to constantly follow the sun are more expensive than fixed panels but have greater resistance to the accumulation of aerosol deposits. All configurations are, however, affected by atmospheric attenuation, the study says.

Clean air

According to the study, the best way to enhance solar energy production is to rigorously implement government initiatives such as the National Clean Air Programme launched in 2019 with the aim of reducing fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentration by 20 to 30 per cent by 2024 relative to 2017 levels.

Mitigating air pollution would “accelerate India’s progress to achieve its solar energy target at a lesser installation capacity, avoiding additional expenditure for the expansion of solar energy infrastructure”, the study says.

The Swiss IQAir world air quality report for 2021 shows the whole of northern India falling in a zone which exceeds the WHO standard of 10 microgrammes per cubic metre for particulate matter by seven to 10 times.

The IQAir report placed New Delhi as the world’s most polluted capital city for the fourth year running and listed 34 other Indian cities among the world’s most polluted urban centres.

IIT Delhi says the study is the first to quantify the impact of pollution on solar power generation in India, with earlier studies having focused on the harmful effects of poor air quality on public health and agricultural production.

This piece has been sourced from SciDev.Net

Image: Solar power plant Maharashtra / Thomas Lloyd Group CC BY-SA 4.0

‘Decisive Steps’ Needed to Keep Boys in School, says UNESCO report

OWSA Staff

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8 April 2022

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‘Decisive Steps’ Needed to Keep Boys in School, says UNESCO report

The need to bring girls to school is as important as retaining boys in school. A UNESCO report attempts to answer why boys are falling behind in school and it divulges that poverty, child labour, gender norms and bullying are among the factors that put boys’ education at risk.

Data from a UNESCO report reveals that for every 100 women globally, only 88 men are enrolled in tertiary education. Further, the reports says, fewer boys than girls are registered in upper-secondary schools in 73 countries. The opposite is the case in a further 48 countries.

Moreover, in all regions except sub-Saharan Africa, teenagers are underrepresented in higher education – particularly in North America, Western Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, where 81 young men for every 100 young women are in fulltime learning.

In East Asia and the Pacific, the figure is 87, while in the Arab States and Central and Eastern Europe region, it is 91 per 100.

UNESCO’s report, Leave no child behind: Global report on boys’ disengagement from education, sheds light on the factors driving boys’ disengagement from the classroom. The report was published on Wednesday

The report highlights a global phenomenon: Harsh discipline, corporal punishment, and other forms of violence at school; gendered norms and expectations; and other factors, are preventing boys from achieving academically, while increasing absenteeism and dropouts.

“To make education a universal right, we need to ensure that all youth have the educational opportunities to successfully shape their lives and futures,” UNESCO chief Audrey Azoulay said in the foreword.

“As this report underlines, we need to take decisive steps to keep boys in school and support them throughout their education”.

Global picture

Although girls have more difficulty accessing education and make up most out-of-school children at the primary level, challenges facing boys are increasing at later stages, according to UNESCO.

UNESCO data reveals that for every 100 women globally, only 88 men are enrolled in tertiary education; and in 73 countries, fewer boys than girls are registered in upper-secondary schools, while the opposite is the case in a further 48 countries.

Moreover, in all regions except sub-Saharan Africa, teenagers are underrepresented in higher education – particularly in North America, Western Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, where 81 young men for every 100 young women are in fulltime learning.

In East Asia and the Pacific, the figure is 87, while in the Arab States and Central and Eastern Europe region, it is 91 per 100.

Of the 160 million children engaged in labour activity in 2020, the report reveals that 97 million were boys and cites a lack of a “protective legal framework” as one of the main reasons for their exclusion.

Of 146 countries with data, only 55 have a minimum age of employment aligned with the end of the countries’ stipulated years of compulsory education and above the age of 15, while 31 per cent have a minimum age for employment below the age of 15 or do not clearly define a minimum age.

“Poverty and child labour can lead boys to drop out,” said Ms. Azoulay, adding that to prevent this, States must urgently “align the minimum age of employment with the end of the compulsory education.

Warning signs

In some countries, signs of boys already falling behind educationally appear at the end of the first level, according to Leave no child behind.

In 57 countries which have produced data, 10-year-old boys performed worse than girls in reading – a trend that continued at the secondary level.

This is seen across East Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Arab States, which show some of the highest risk of boys dropping out of school.

“Fulfilling this promise of equality not only benefits boys and men; it is a step forward for all humankind,” said Ms. Azoulay adding that “inclusive and equitable education is everyone’s business”.

The UNESCO report also reveals that only a few programmes and initiatives address the phenomenon of boys’ disengagement from education.

To prevent them from dropping out and reverse the downward spiral, it provides a set of concrete recommendations that encompass making learning safe and inclusive; investing in better data and evidence; building and financing equitable education systems; and promoting integrated and coordinated approaches to improve education for all learners.

“When everyone has equal rights and opportunities, we all stand to gain,” the UNESCO chief said.

Work From Home To Work From Anywhere: How COVID-19 Revolutionised Workplace

Policy Circle

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7 April 2022

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Work From Home To Work From Anywhere: How COVID-19 Revolutionised Workplace

Most organisations will continue to offer work from home facility as they realise it also impacts productivity. In a hybrid model, work from anywhere would be a regular feature.

Kingshuk Sarkar

Since the Covid-19 pandemic broke out two years back, the world of work underwent significant changes. There were work stoppages, particularly in the manufacturing sector. The primary sector was the least affected. Service sector activities mostly shifted to work from home (WFH) mode, particularly activities that use information technology. As Covid-19 restrictions are eased, the physical workspace is still not fully utilised as a significant segment of the workforce are availing WFH. There are certain benefits of WFH that establishments are not ready to give up completely. It seems that hybrid work mode, a combination of physical and online, is here to stay.

This leads to an important question. Do companies really need the entire workforce to be in offices to get work done? Can the workplace be anywhere? If this question was asked in pre-pandemic times, it would have seemed irrelevant. But this question is relevant in the present context. Working from home and remote work have become popular in the post-COVID-19 period. They offer significant cost savings as well as enormous flexibility. The concept of remote work is expanding its scope to include work from anywhere operations.

The concept of anywhere operations encapsulates several tools and technologies together such as remote access, visual collaboration, organisation management, data sharing and virtual meeting. Some organisations took anywhere operations to the next level by integrating virtual reality and augmented reality into their remote workflow, enabling them to manage businesses even more efficiently. The scale of the anywhere operations model depends on several factors including the nature and size of the establishments and the intensity of information technology use.

History of remote work

The phenomenon of remote work existed even before the Covid-19 pandemic. During the oil shock in the 1970s, several companies adopted remote work. But large-scale implementation happened in 2012 when the US federal government across departments — including agriculture, NASA and the US Patent Office — allowed remote work for employees.

Some organisations had already adopted this system when the pandemic struck. These included the US Patent and Trademark Office and some cutting-edge remote start-ups. All the pandemic did is hasten this phenomenon by about 10 years. The acceptance of remote work by several companies globally is one of the few good things in an otherwise hard time. Work from anywhere now applies across industries, from technology to banking, finance, and even industrial companies handling manufacturing and supply chains.

Work from home increases productivity

Remote work statistics in 2021 show that a large number of organisations are showing an inclination toward hiring employees remotely. Employees are also benefitting in the process as it broadens livelihood opportunities and provides flexibility. The work from anywhere trend is reshaping the way organisations think and make important decisions, and it allows for a major paradigm shift from offices spanning multiple floors to a single-story office with a handful of essential employees. There is now data proving that productivity increases with the increase in the volume of remote work.

Benefits for employees, companies

The greatest benefit for the employee is that it provides more freedom or temporal flexibility. Employees need not commute to offices, they can work at any time at their convenience. It provides spatial flexibility in the sense that it gives choice in relocating the place of residence. Many employees may not want to live in a big city. They might opt to live in small towns, and closer to their parents. People can save more if they move to a smaller town or they can choose to move to a better climate or a culturally preferred location.

A company with remote work can hire talent globally. Recruitment options increase manifold. The work from anywhere arrangement allows organisations to hire remote employees. Since organisations are not limited by geographical or demographic barriers, they can hire employees from any part of the world. It also allows organisations to scout for talent in the entire global labour market space. Remote employees used to be hired on a contractual or part-time basis, but now they are hired full-time.

Challenges to work from anywhere

Although it looks like a win-win situation, there are still challenges in shifting the company’s operations from an office-based environment to a work from anywhere model.

One possibility that remains distinct is that employees may end up working much longer than the standard working hours. Another challenge faced by both companies and employees is managing work across multiple time zones. This can make things difficult, especially if the time zones are scattered.

There are cyber security issues too. Many employees who are working remotely for the first time do not know the same best practices experienced remote workers know well, such as using a VPN on public networks, or not saving confidential information on their personal devices. Negligent workers are the most common cause for cyber security breaches and the risk increases exponentially in work from anywhere mode.

There are also questions about whether remote work leads to a blurring of work and leisure times. In other words, work-life imbalances may creep in as remote work has the potential of spilling over into personal space. Also, there are discussions about employees missing the socialisation opportunities physical work provides.

Challenges to remote work

There are many ways you can resolve the challenges arising from the work from anywhere model. The best way to manage organisational communication effectively is to integrate an efficient communication platform. It will help manage correspondence with employees as well as customers. Another easy-to-implement practice is to employ a data-sharing service allowing you to upload and access files in real-time and track changes as they are made.

Choosing an all-in-one application that allows organisations to hold team meetings, manage projects, schedule and assign tasks, and share documents remotely is the best way to stay productive. Such applications are referred to as access control as a service (ACaaS). Organisations need a full-fledged user-friendly access control solution like the Freedom Cloud by Identiv. This cloud-based access control system provides complete control over the office’s operations, and also ensures that the system is fully updated and maintained.

There are ways of managing the work-life balance issue. One is to reduce on-camera video calls. Zoom fatigue is real. It is possible to move a large part of communication to asynchronous modes like a team portal, shared documents, etc. Also, it is possible to constitute a dedicated team that will look after employee wellness. The team will keep a tab on the time an employee spends on camera and alert the employee as well as the organisation if it crosses a certain threshold.

With regards to the office socialisation opportunities, it can be argued that remote work has the potential of facilitating broader socialisation by expanding interactions with a larger set of people. There could be planned sessions with people randomly invited. You can create vibrant, mixed groups. People can begin new friendships, which they would not have been able to make in the physical office. This is known as ‘virtual watercooler’.

What started with work from home (WFH) has broadened into work from anywhere (WFA). WFH has its disadvantages and consequences. However, the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. Even as Covid-19 restrictions are being withdrawn, it is unlikely that organisations will get back to full physical mode. They are more likely to continue with the hybrid model and within that ecosystem, work from anywhere would be a regular prominent feature.

Dr Kingshuk Sarkar is an associate professor at the Goa Institute of Management. He has worked as a labour administrator with the government of West Bengal. He earlier served as a faculty member at VV Giri National Labour Institute, Noida and NIRD, Hyderabad.

This piece has been sourced from Policy Circle — policycircle.org

Image: Obtained via Flickr.com and produced by Microbizmag.co.uk and made available under Creative Commons.

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