type here...
More

    Afghanistan’s Girls’ Education is a Women’s Rights Issue

    Inter Press Service
    -
    0
    Afghanistan’s Girls’ Education is a Women’s Rights Issue

    The right to education has been an oft-discussed, critical human rights issue for Afghanistan, especially when it comes to how, or even if, this right is extended to girls. The Taliban’s rise to power raised the fear that the right to education would be denied to girls indefinitely, if not permanently.

    By Naureen Hossain / Inter Press Service

    The late-night reversal of a decision by Taliban authorities in Afghanistan to allow girls from grades 7 to 12 to return to school has been met with distress from within the country and internationally – and fear that it could herald further restrictions.

    A Taliban spokesperson from the Ministry of Education on March 23 made the announcement reversing an earlier decision that all students would be expected to return to school, including girls.

    Local media in Afghanistan reported protests, including one held outside the Ministry of Education building. At least 87 percent of the population favor girls’ education across all levels, even among those who may say they would not expect the girls in their family to attend school but would not oppose government schooling otherwise.

    The abrupt decision has also taken humanitarian organizations by surprise. Sam Mort, Chief of Communications for UNICEF Afghanistan, spoke at a press briefing at the United Nations headquarters, revealing that this announcement came late.

    “Among our staff, there was collective disbelief… and anxiety,” Mort said, speaking of the reaction of field officers and national staff to the news. “We are just as confused as everyone else.”

    Code for governance

    The Taliban’s decision has been met with swift condemnation from the international community. UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell in a statement said the Taliban’s decision was “a major setback for girls and their future” and urging them to “honor their commitment to girls’ education without any further delays”.

    Yasmine Sherif, Executive Director of Education Cannot Wait, the United Nations’ global fund for children’s education, said: “With this announcement, an entire generation of Afghan children and adolescents could be left behind.”

    Sherif said that “ensuring that both girls and boys can return to school – including the resumption of adolescent girls’ access to secondary education – is key for the development of the country.”

    UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the Taliban’s decision was “a profound disappointment and deeply damaging for Afghanistan”.

    UN agencies, their partners, and other humanitarian organizations have been involved in discussions with the Taliban since their rise to power last August. Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis leaves 24.4 million people – or more than half the population – in dire need of aid and protection.

    Both sides have been expected to negotiate the involvement of humanitarian organizations and donors in their capacity to provide the necessary services and protections.

    The Taliban have expressed their readiness to comply with international organizations in their bid for formal legitimacy. But they have also asserted their code for governance, which they claim would be according to Islamic law and Afghan culture, something humanitarian organizations with education programs are working to adapt. It is this same reasoning that senior members of the Taliban have used to justify the ban on secondary education for girls. Where was this concern for a standardized curriculum aligning with Islamic law and Afghan culture when boys returned to secondary school in September?

    Unprepared to govern

    The right to education has been an oft-discussed, critical human rights issue for Afghanistan, especially when it comes to how, or even if, this right is extended to girls. This concern had already been compounded by the forced closure of schools due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which impacted all school-going children and adolescents. While alternative learning pathways, including Community-Based Education centers based in rural and remote provinces for children to attend, have been available, girls’ education in government schools remained a lingering question.

    The Taliban’s rise to power raised the fear that the right to education would be denied to girls indefinitely, if not permanently. It would only signal increasing measures to control women’s rights and mobility beyond the domestic sphere.

    The last-minute decision may likely indicate infighting between factions that are divided on the issue of girls’ education.

    As Heather Barr, Associate Director of the Women’s Rights Division in Human Rights Watch, notes, there are factions that recognize the steps the Taliban must take to receive the funding and legitimacy they want from the international community, and there are hardliner members who believe that girls beyond puberty should not be allowed out for their studies. Given their handling of the issue, it is only indicative of how unprepared the Taliban are to govern and provide the necessary services to a population where over half the population relies on international humanitarian aid.

    Misogynistic, reductive lens

    Barr also notes that their decision speaks to the ingrained beliefs that view women through a misogynistic and reductive lens. She expresses concern that the Taliban’s decision does not bode well for the state of human rights in the country and may “herald a further crackdown, of girls and women, and human rights generally”. The decision to revoke girls’ access to secondary school education is only among several examples of the recent actions taken by the Taliban to police women’s movements across the country, with stricter, more frequent enforcements occurring in provinces outside the capital.

    “We’ve been seeing more and more different restrictions put in place, including new rules on women’s freedom of movement and them being blocked from traveling without a mahram overseas, being blocked from traveling… over certain distances,” says Barr. “Taxi drivers being told that women need to wear a hijab before they are allowed to drive them.”

    When it comes to girls’ education, if the ban on girls’ secondary education continues, this could escalate to the restriction of access to tertiary education for girls and women in the country.

    What is harrowing is that even as public pressure and condemnation come from both sides, the Taliban continues to act upon the principles which even they cannot agree on. International leaders and experts have reiterated that education for all can only guarantee that developing or impoverished countries can walk down a path of peace and prosperity. For the girls and women of Afghanistan, they may not get to walk down that path without a chaperone.

     

    This piece has been sourced from Inter Press Service

    Poor Data Hamstrings Gender Equity Reporting in India

    East Asia Forum
    -
    0
    Poor Data Hamstrings Gender Equity Reporting in India

    Achieving gender equity is a major development challenge facing countries such as India. The sex ratio — the ratio of the number of females per thousand males — is a key measure of the scale of the challenge. In the late twentieth century, there was a precipitous decline in the child sex ratio in India — from 962 in 1981 to 918 in 2011.

    By Vikas Kumar  /  Azim Premji University

    The ratio of the number of females per thousand males — is a key measure of the scale of the challenge. In the late twentieth century, there was a precipitous decline in the child sex ratio in India — from 962 in 1981 to 918 in 2011.

    During this period, the overall sex ratio fluctuated between 927 and 943. The latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS) suggests that India’s overall sex ratio increased from 991 in 2015–16 (NFHS-4) to 1020 in 2019–21 (NFHS-5). The ratio was 1000 in 2005–06 (NFHS-3).

    The change in sex ratio between 2005–2006 and 2019–2021 is not large and the NFHS has always reported a higher ratio than the Census of India. But the latest NFHS data received media attention because for the ‘first time on record’ a major survey may have suggested that there are more women than men in India.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi credited the improved sex ratio to government policies, even though the NFHS is not designed to evaluate the impact of specific policies and researchers had already questioned the quality of the data. Currently, the NFHS is possibly the only official source of information on the sex ratio, as the 2021 census has been delayed due to the pandemic. It is, therefore, important to assess the reliability of the NFHS-5 findings.

    Undercounting migrants

    An improvement in the estimated sex ratio can be attributed to better counting of women, poorer accounting of men, misclassification of sex, an improvement in sex ratio at birth and a relative improvement in female life expectancy. The reported improvement will have to be apportioned among the above categories to identify the actual increase and rule out the possibility that it is an artefact of variation in data quality.

    The NFHS is not meant to generate reliable sex ratio estimates. The NFHS failed to release conceptual metadata that would have cautioned readers against misleading comparisons with the census, which follows a different reference date and definition of population.

    The NFHS conducts field interviews in two phases for logistical reasons. The reference period for questions that are reference-period specific is different between the two phases. It is not clear how the NFHS arrives at the national-level estimates using non-synchronous state-level estimates. In 2019–2021, the two phases had different reference periods and also differed vis-à-vis seasonal effects on migration that can affect estimates of the sex ratio. This affects the comparability of the NFHS and the census, different rounds of NFHS and even the two phases of NFHS-5.

    The NFHS non-synchronously samples the de facto population — ‘all persons who stayed in the selected households the night before the interview, whether usual residents or visitors.’ The census follows an extended de facto (synchronous) method that simultaneously counts people (where they are found during enumeration) across the country over three weeks. The NFHS definition biases the sex ratio upwards by undercounting migrants, who are often male.

    Poor quality of metadata

    The NFHS reports are also deficient with respect to metadata on methodological issues and the quality of data. In 2019–2021, 22 states/union territories (UTs) accounting for half of the country’s population were covered in the first phase (2019–20) with the remaining fourteen states/UTs being covered in the second phase (2020–21). The second phase fieldwork had to be divided into two parts due to the pandemic.

    NFHS interviewer’s manuals and reports are silent on how the pandemic, which necessitated social distancing and mobility restrictions, affected field interviews. This affects the comparability of the NFHS-5 and earlier rounds.

    NFHS-5 fact sheets did not mention the extent of sample non-coverage and non-response, which obscured the systematic differences in data quality between the two phases. As per the state reports, there was a drop in response rates in the second-phase states between 2015–2016 and 2019–2021. For instance, compared to 2015–2016, the median response rate for men in 2019–2021 was more than two percentage points higher for first-phase states, but it was more than two and a half percentage points less for second-phase states.

    In short, the optimism regarding the improvement in sex ratio is marred by the poor quality of metadata. Ad hoc clarifications issued later failed to address the core issues. For instance, it was suggested that the NFHS reports a higher sex ratio because it may have undercounted male out-migrants and does not cover institutions (hostels, hotels, rescue homes and jails) that have a low sex ratio.

    Not comparable with census

    In 2011, institutional households accounted for 0.68 per cent of India’s population. So, their exclusion can only account for a small part of the higher sex ratio in 2019–2021. The sex ratio of second-phase states such as Uttar Pradesh, which in recent decades saw high out-migration, should have decreased due to the pandemic-induced reverse migration. But all but one large second-phase states reported an increase in their sex ratio since 2016. Another ad hoc explanation relates to higher mortality among men due to COVID-19. Even if we assume that men accounted for all pandemic deaths, that can at best explain a 2.5-point increase in the sex ratio reported by the NFHS.

    To conclude, NFHS is not designed to generate precise estimates of the sex ratio. Its estimates are not comparable with the census, and the poor quality of metadata impairs even comparisons between different rounds of the NFHS. The manner of release of the 2019–2021 NFHS results draws attention to the risks of publishing de-contextualised statistics and highlights how policymaking in India continues to be hamstrung by poor quality data.

     

    Vikas Kumar is Associate Professor at Azim Premji University, Bengaluru.

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

    Image: Hippopx, Licensed to use under Creative Commons Zero – CC0

    Cambodia: French Court Indicts Cambodia Prime Minister Hun Sen Cronies

    OWSA Contributor
    -
    0
    Cambodia: French Court Indicts Cambodia Prime Minister Hun Sen Cronies

    Arrest warrants have been issued for generals in the 1997 grenade attack on an opposition demonstration that killed 16, injured 150. The gathering was organised to denounce the judiciary’s lack of independence and judicial corruption.

    A French court has issued arrest warrants for two senior Cambodian generals for the grenade attack on an opposition political rally in Phnom Penh on March 30, 1997, exactly 25 years ago, Human Rights Watch said today.

    16 people were killed in the attack and more than 150 were left injured. The court order states that a summons was issued for Prime Minister Hun Sen for his role in the attack, but that the French government blocked its delivery, citing head of state immunity.

    The order, issued on December 30, 2021, by a Paris court stated that arrest warrants had been issued on March 19, 2020, against Gen. Huy Piseth, then-chief of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s bodyguard unit, and Gen. Hing Bun Heang, then-deputy-chief of the unit, for their role in planning and orchestrating the attack.

    “The Cambodian government has never taken action against those responsible for the 1997 grenade attack on the opposition leader Sam Rainsy and his supporters because there is substantial evidence that Prime Minister Hun Sen and his generals were behind this mass atrocity,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The French government should request a European Arrest Warrant and an Interpol Red Notice to take Gen. Huy Piseth and Gen. Hing Bun Heang into custody and produce them before the court for trial in Paris.”

    The attack

    The order was issued in a case filed in Paris by Sam Rainsy, the leader of the opposition and target of the attack, who was injured by a grenade fragment. His bodyguard died after taking the full force of one of the grenades as he shielded Rainsy.

    The judge’s order stated that it appeared that Sam Rainsy was the target of the grenade attack organised and carried out on 30 March 1997 by the chief and the deputy chief of the prime minister’s special bodyguards. Heavily armed men were deployed with instructions to position themselves in a line at a reasonable distance behind the demonstrators so as to facilitate the retreat of the grenade throwers to the CPP military compound and to prevent anyone from pursuing them.

    A crowd of approximately 200 supporters of the opposition Khmer Nation Party (KNP), led by Rainsy, a former finance minister, gathered in a park across from the National Assembly in Phnom Penh to denounce the judiciary’s lack of independence and judicial corruption.

    In a well-coordinated attack, unidentified assailants threw four grenades into the crowd in an attempt to kill Rainsy, killing protesters and bystanders, including children, and blowing limbs off street vendors. After the first grenade exploded, Rainsy’s bodyguard, Han Muny, threw himself on top of Rainsy. He took the full force of a subsequent grenade and died at the scene. Rainsy escaped with a minor leg injury.

    The demonstration was the first time the opposition had received official permission from both the Interior Ministry and the Phnom Penh municipality for a rally after repeated refusals. The change in the government’s position fuelled speculation that the demonstration was authorized so it could be attacked, Human Rights Watch said.

    Complicity

    The police, who had previously maintained a high-profile presence at opposition demonstrations in an effort to discourage them, had an unusually low profile that day. A large contingent was grouped around the corner, instead of inside the park itself. Other police units were at a nearby police station in full riot gear on high alert, an unusual precaution that suggested they knew that there would be violence at the demonstration. However, the army’s Brigade 70, Hun Sen’s personal bodyguard unit, was at the park in full riot gear. It was the first time it had appeared at an opposition demonstration.

    Instead of ensuring an independent and thorough investigation into the attack, Hun Sen immediately called for the arrest of Rainsy and other demonstration organizers, and prevented them from leaving the country, Human Rights Watch said. The court noted “the lack of cooperation of the Cambodian authorities throughout this judicial investigation. This is despite the fact that Cambodia has cooperated with the French justice system in a murder case involving a French family in Cambodia.”

    On February 10, 2017, the Paris court issued a summons to Hun Sen to appear in court. But on August 8, 2017, the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs informed that “Hun Sen, in his capacity as head of the government of the Kingdom of Cambodia, held absolute immunity from jurisdiction, which prevented him from being tried in France and from being subjected to any measure of constraint, such as a summons to appear for possible indictment, being taken by a French authority.”

    Open Data Advocates Urge International Energy Agency for Free and Open Access to Data

    OWSA Contributor
    -
    0
    Open Data Advocates Urge International Energy Agency for Free and Open Access to Data

    The authors of the letter argue that open data can provide a wide range of benefits, including access to data for some of the most common questions, such as annual GHG emissions or renewables production, consumption, and waste.

    The Breakthrough Institute, joined by 63 organizations and open data advocates, sent a letter to the International Energy Agency (IEA), along with the U.S. delegate to the IEA Secretary of Energy Granholm, urging them to make their data open and freely accessible to all. The IEA is one of the world’s largest repositories of scientific, economic, and logistical data. Unlike other organizations, including the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the IEA keeps their data behind a paywall.

    Signatories include Carnegie Mellon University Graduate Student Assembly, Clean Energy Buyers Association, Catalyst Cooperative, Energy for Growth, Fastest Path to Zero, Good Energy Collective, Nuclear Energy Institute, Nuclear Innovation Alliance, R Street, and Third Way. There are many more.

    Our World In Data originally launched a campaign to unlock data in an article and letter in Nature. Members of the Open Modelling community also wrote an open letter to IEA urging them to open data access to all. The letter asked organizations, academics, modellers, and researchers that might use IEA data to provide their support in a joint open letter to the IEA and U.S. delegates.

    “Open access to high quality and comprehensive energy-related data is essential to an efficient and equitable transition to clean energy while also enabling rapid response to global crises,” said Dr. Adam Stein, Associate Director, Nuclear Innovation at the Breakthrough Institute and member of the Open Modelling community. “Anyone who currently wants access to this energy data has to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars to access one dataset. This serves as an unnecessary barrier and makes research and scientific inquiry more expensive.”

    The IEA is funded largely by OECD governments, public contributions that should earn public access to the essential data and analysis.

    Wide range of benefits

    The authors of the letter argue that open data can provide a wide range of benefits, including access to data for some of the most common questions, such as annual GHG emissions or renewables production, consumption, and waste.

    Access to data and its consequent equitable access for disadvantaged individuals unable to afford access is a must and that it will also ensure faster response to important problems by eliminating the need for grant-funded researchers to wait months for funding approval.

    The signatories feel that access will also reduce barriers for researchers to move beyond a US-only perspective that is partially driven by open access to US Energy Information Administration data. Besides, this also has the potential to reduce the overall cost to governments by reducing the need to purchase data for specific research projects. Although the National Science Foundation doesn’t break out data purchase fees, in 2019 $136M was spent just on software for research — two orders of magnitude higher than the IEA data revenue.

    “Open data reduces inequality, since researchers from well-off countries and institutions are better positioned to afford the purchase of IEA data,” says the letter. “The credibility and replicability of research are enhanced: independent researchers can verify or challenge studies based on common data.”

    The benefits of open data extend beyond climate change mitigation efforts, the letter writers argue. They cite the McKinsey Global Institute estimates that for the electricity, oil and gas, and transport sectors alone, open data could create an economic value of US$ 1.3–2.0 trillion per year.

    “Open data leads to less duplication of research efforts — with fewer resources wasted on recreating the paywalled IEA data from alternative and often inferior sources,” the letter reads.

    “Transparency is enhanced in relation to public policy development. Finally, open data improve outreach and engagement by reducing barriers for journalists and the public to access the data and understand its implications. It is therefore in everyone’s interest that the IEA data be open and freely available.”

    Afghanistan, Neighbouring Countries Foreign Ministers to meet in China end-March

    OWSA Staff
    -
    0

    The meeting will help build consensus among the neighbours on the issue of Afghanistan and discuss how to promote stability in the country and support its people.

    The third meeting of the foreign ministers of Afghanistan’s neighbouring countries will be held in Tunxi, Central China’s Anhui Province on March 30-31, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson announced on Monday.

    Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will chair the meeting with the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Iran, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan or their representatives, Wang Wenbin said during his regular briefing held here.

    Responding to a question about expectation for the third meeting under the current circumstances, he said, the meeting will help build consensus among the neighbours on the issue of Afghanistan, discuss how to promote stability in the country and support its people.

    “As the situation is in a critical transition from chaos to order, the Afghan people still face multiple challenges from within and outside and need more support. By hosting the third meeting, China looks forward to putting consensus among neighbouring countries, discussing ways to achieve stability and support the Afghan people and also share our voice with the rest of the international community,” he added.

    The spokesperson informed that on the sidelines of the meeting, the Chinese foreign minister will also host a dialogue between the foreign ministers and the acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi of the Afghan interim government, with the foreign ministers of Indonesia and Qatar invited to participate.

    Fighting terrorism

    The dialogue is expected to promote the Afghan side to build an open and inclusive political structure, pursue a moderate and stable domestic and foreign policy, and effectively fight terrorism, he added.

    “At the same time, we also expect the international community to provide greater support to Afghanistan and call on the United States to effectively assume the primary responsibility for economic reconstruction in Afghanistan,” he said.

    Following his visit to India, China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi paid a visit to Afghanistan on 24 March, the first visit by the Chinese foreign minister since the change of government in Afghanistan in August 2021.

    Pakistan chaired the first meeting of the foreign ministers of Afghanistan’s neighbouring countries on September 8, 2021, one day after the Afghan Taliban announced the formation of an interim government in Kabul.

    The second meeting of the foreign ministers of the countries bordering Afghanistan took place in Tehran, the capital of Iran, on 27 October 2021.

    Humanitarian, economic crises

    In a related development, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Monday said that Afghanistan must not be seen through a regional prism, but as a “shared and collective responsibility”.

    “Instability in Afghanistan will have negative consequences for the entire world,” he said.

    Referring to ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the foreign minister said the emergence of new conflicts did not mean that the world can afford to forget old ones. He opined that the wounds of 40 years of war and bloodshed in Afghanistan would take a long time to heal.

    “Failure is not an option. If the world community fails Afghanistan yet again, it will result in a fresh influx of refugees, enhanced space for terrorism, and a rise in drug trafficking,” he said.

    Foreign Minister Qureshi said that since 15 August, the interim Afghan government remained embattled with the humanitarian and economic crises, as well as a liquidity crunch, exacerbated by the lack of a functional banking system.

    He mentioned at the same time the positive aspects mainly internal stability, no civil war, the opening of girls’ schools, and the interim government’s commitment to addressing terrorism.

    He said Afghanistan currently stood at a critical crossroads as for the first time in over 40 years, there was a single unified dispensation over its entire territory.

    The foreign minister said over four decades of war and bloodshed were over and there had been a demonstrable decrease in corruption, leading to an increase in revenue.

    The Paradox of China–India Relations

    East Asia Forum
    -
    0
    The Paradox of China–India Relations

    Recent relations between China and India have been divided by both security tensions and opposite alliances. But on 25 March, the China–India relationship seems to have taken a major step forward with the unexpected visit by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to India.

    By Meghna Srivastava and Yves Tiberghien

    At the recent COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, China and India cooperated on the critical issues of coal reduction and climate justice. On the current Ukraine crisis, China and India both abstained at the UN Security Council and at the UN General Assembly due to their separate and longstanding relationships with Russia — a formal partnership in the case of China and military dependence and China-focused concern in the case of India.

    Two sets of parallel national narratives — one divergent, one convergent — explain this cognitive dissonance.

    The most salient feature of China–India relations emphasised in mainstream media is their history of post-colonial territorial conflicts, starting with their 1962 border war. True, the two countries managed to deescalate tensions between 1968 and 2017 (except for 1987), thanks to a joint border agreement. But vulnerability is always latent and can be triggered by minor road developments by either side and domestic political mobilisation episodes. The United States has also played an important but fluctuating mitigating role in the background.

    Most recently, China and India engaged in border skirmishes at the Line of Actual Control in May 2020 over minor road developments; and public opinion in India has since then been highly inflamed. The impact of the conflict has been deep. Indeed, India reacted by banning 59 Chinese mobile phone apps (bringing the number to 220 this year) and by strengthening its relationship with Quad partners.

    Booming trade

    But this is an incomplete story. At the COP26 in Glasgow in November 2021, India opposed the majority proposal on banning coal, advocating for the ‘phase down’ of coal instead of a complete ‘phase out’.

    What’s fascinating is that India’s best partner at the COP26 in support of its position was China. This alignment in Glasgow built on years of cooperation on the coal question. Interestingly, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and global tensions, trade between China and India has been booming: two-way trade increased by 43 per cent in 2021, with Chinese exports up 46 per cent and Indian exports 34 per cent.

    Instances of conflict and concordance embedded in the China–India relationship highlight the complexities and nuances of global politics. Given the extremely high to the point of irrational costs of border conflicts, material interests and institutions alone cannot explain the relationship. Instead, states appear to embed dominant national narratives that serve as focal points shaping policy preferences and choice. They act as superordinate goals, which in turn generate parallel positions on key issue areas, despite very different policy processes.

    Several dominant narratives can coexist and lead to cognitive dissonance and seemingly incoherent policy choices.

    China and India share a tension between two foundational internal narratives — post-colonial state building, and the search for economic and social justice. Both China’s and India’s domestic and foreign policies are centred on these two organising ideas. The first leads to conflict and the second to cooperation.

    Lots in common

    The current Line of Actual Control roughly follows the McMahon line drawn by the British through the old Tibetan kingdom, the closing chapter of the colonial Great Game that dominated the 19th century. This line has become a symbol of post-war national identity in India and of colonial pains during the short Yuan Shikai period in China. They have thus both focussed on state building and are fixated on establishing full legitimacy as modern nation states. The divisions are further entrenched by China’s support for Pakistan.

    The second grand national narrative at the heart of modern China and India is a focus on economic development. China and India each represented roughly a quarter of the global economy till 1800 but both became peripheral during colonial times, shrinking from a combined 50 per cent of the world economy in 1820 to around 12 per cent at the time of independence.

    When this narrative dominates, it generates convergence of views and from time to time concordance or even cooperation. Both India and China advocate for the reform of global economic institutions. They are partners in the New Development Bank and share a common vision for a multipolar global order. BRICS ministers and working groups are still actively meeting in 2022 after the Ukraine invasion, including China and India.

    On global climate governance, both strongly support the principles of climate justice and common but differentiated responsibilities, and put great emphasis on the responsibility of developed countries to deliver on their promised Green Fund contribution. This was evident at COP26.

    This raises questions — will occasionally cooperative relations between China and India be sufficient to edge out the stalemate at the border?

    Or will the global international relations community need to accept that the India-China relations will remain an intricate balance between conflict and cooperation?

     

    The authors are attached to the University of British of Columbia.

     

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

    UN Security Council Expresses ‘Deep Concern’ Over Restrictions in Afghanistan

    OWSA Staff
    -
    0
    UN Security Council Expresses ‘Deep Concern’ Over Restrictions in Afghanistan

    The members of the Security Council stressed the importance of efforts by the international community to support Afghanistan, including on education.

    In a statement released to the press, the United Nations Security Council said it is deeply concerned over the decision by Afghanistan’s Taliban-led government to deny girls above the sixth grade access to education in Afghanistan.

    The Security Council members reaffirmed the right to education for all Afghans, including girls, and called on the Taliban to respect the right to education and adhere to their commitments to reopen schools for all female students without further delay.

    Earlier, Taliban officials had indefinitely extended the school off days for girls studying beyond the sixth grade. The schools were closed since the Taliban had taken control over the country on 15 August last year.

    Subsequently, the US called off its meetings with the Taliban in Doha on March 25. That meeting was called to address key economic issues.

    The Security Council members requested the Special Representative of the Secretary-General to continue to engage with all relevant Afghan political actors and stakeholders, including relevant authorities, on this issue, according to the mandate of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), and keep the Security Council informed on progress.

    The members of the Security Council stressed the importance of efforts by the international community to support Afghanistan, including on education, and highlighted the coordinating role of UNAMA in this regard.

    Undeterred

    The members of the Security Council reaffirmed their support for the people of Afghanistan, as well as their strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and national unity of Afghanistan.

    But the Taliban have gone ahead with imposing their gender segregating rules. On Sunday, they announced a fresh set of restrictions on the use of public parks by women in the company of men. Visiting days for women keen to go to parks have been announced, restricting men’s access to the parks on the days meant for women.

    According to an order of the Taliban’s Ministry For the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, all public spaces in the nation’s capital city, Kabul, would be opened to women and girls from Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays. Men and boys could access the places Wednesdays through Saturdays.

    Earlier, the Taliban had mandated that women could only travel in women-designated transport vehicles. This inconvenienced many working women and it has been feared that it will impose economic hardships since the women find their movements curtailed. This is particularly worrisome for women headed households.

    Simultaneously, reports trickling out of Kabul have hinted that officials at the city’s airport have been told not to allow women and girls to fly unless they are accompanied by a man – and, for the purpose, the authorities must be sure that the man is a relative.

    India’s Farmers’ Movement Discussed as Pakistan Invites Chinese Agri Business Giant to do Business

    OWSA Contributor
    -
    0
    India’s Farmers’ Movement Discussed as Pakistan Invites Chinese Agri Business Giant to do Business

    There was reference to the farmers’ movement in Indian and of the unrest among fishermen in Balochistan at the meeting between Pakistan’s ambassador to China and President of the Chinese agribusiness giant, COFCO.

    Pakistan ambassador to China, Moin ul Haque on Sunday met with Richeng Luan, President of China Oil and Foodstuffs Corporation (COFCO) to firm up plans for the Chinese agricultural commodities business house to set foot in Pakistan.

    The Pakistan foreign ministry said on Sunday that the two sides also exchanged views on possible collaboration between COFCO and Pakistan during the meeting. The foreign ministry added that this would benefit both the countries.

    Founded in 1949, COFCO is China’s leading agriculture, food and commodity enterprise. The company has been on the Fortune list of the world’s top 500 businesses for 27 years and is China’s principal importer of grain and other agricultural and dairy products.

    Ambassador Haque briefed the COFCO team of the second phase of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between China and Pakistan, giving duty free access to large number of Chinese agro products.

    Pakistan is a big producer of rice, wheat, sugarcane, cotton and potatoes, with huge surpluses, the ambassador said, adding that the country wants to export these to China. Besides, Pakistan is also looking at COFCO’s experience to market its premium basmati rice.

    COFCO is already in the process of investing in agri-product processing. It has a contract with Pakistan’s Matco Foods to produce and procure corn from a wet milling production facility in Pakistan. Matco is in a position to process and provide up to 200 metric tonne of milled corn to COFCO daily.

    Farmers’ movement

    But COFCO also has concerns of the Pakistan government having to buckle under pressure from farmers’ organisations. The meeting discussed the farmers’ movement in Pakistan throughout that began in 2021. Generally, the corporate house is conscious that there is a growing sentiment against the entry of big agro business in SouthAsia.

    Organised under the umbrella of Pakistan Kisan Ittehad, farmers have also been demanding an MSP for other farm produce, especially paddy, corn and cotton. The slogan for the farmers’ agitation early 2022 was “Bezuban Janwar aur Bebas Kisan March” (march for mute animals and helpless farmers).

    A well-placed source mentioned that there was reference to the farmers’ movement in India and of the unrest among farmers and fishermen in Pakistan.

    Farmers across Pakistan too are restive. In the past year, the country witnessed how sporadic protests for fertilisers got organised by the day, helping farmers find a voice. The farmers were protesting for affordable fertiliser and electricity.

    The Chinese are also aware of the demand by Pakistan’s farmers for a minimum support price (MSP) for their produce. Pakistan has a system of MSP for wheat alone, but that too is only on paper since the government has not procured wheat from farmers for over a decade.

    The MSP for wheat was initially agreed to assuage influential farmers from the Punjab province. But, rather than procure wheat from the farmers, the government has been spending huge amounts of money to import the commodity.

    Fishermen too

    Similarly, a movement in Pakistan’s western province of Balochistan has impacted Chinese fishing trawlers in the Arabian Sea. All information from the movement indicated that the movement in Pakistan was inspired by the farmers’ movement in India against the farm laws.

    Towards the end of 2021, a top Chinese diplomat had, in an interview with a Pakistani media, said that China had elaborate and long-term plans to enter the Pakistani fishing industry.

    The diplomat, Consul General Li Bijian had said that “Chinese investors are very much interested in investing in the fishing sector in Pakistan,” which has rich fishery resources.

    That statement stirred huge sentiments in Balochistan and also in the neighbouring province of Sindh. Fisher organisations say that over 700,000 fishing families are struggling to survive in the face of fast-depleting fish stocks.

    Time Running Out to Address Afghanistan’s Hunger Crisis; Without a Functioning Central Bank, Aid Not Enough

    OWSA Contributor
    -
    0
    Time Running Out to Address Afghanistan’s Hunger Crisis; Without a Functioning Central Bank, Aid Not Enough

    The drought and a shortage of funds has fuelled an economic crisis – more than 70 percent of Afghanistan’s population live in rural areas and around 80 percent of livelihoods depend on agriculture which is the mainstay of the country’s economy.

    By Fereshta Abbasi

    “Children in the provinces – they are only skin on bones now – and I’m afraid this is only going to get worse,” the director of an international humanitarian organization in Afghanistan told me.

    According to a health ministry official, approximately one in 10 new-born Afghan babies born since January 2022 have died – over 13,000 total – an increase believed to be exacerbated by worsening malnutrition, hunger-related diseases, and the collapse of the country’s healthcare sector. 95 per cent of the population does not have enough to eat and 3.5 million children need nutritional support.

    “Half of those we admit for critical care are also malnourished,” a doctor with Médecins Sans Frontières reported. Almost 800 children in one hospital in Helmand province are there because of acute malnutrition.

    Difficult to access funds

    While many countries have pledged humanitarian aid, Afghanistan also urgently needs a functioning banking system to address the crisis. Most Afghan banks are barely operating now. In recent weeks, the United States and World Bank have unlocked billions of dollars in assistance, but restrictions on Afghanistan’s Central Bank are still making large transactions or withdrawals impossible.

    Aid groups delivering humanitarian assistance say they are unable to move funds into Afghanistan because international banks remain wary of pre-existing sanctions on the Taliban, and Afghan banks limit cash withdrawals due to currency shortages. Aid groups say that payments to Afghanistan are routinely blocked by banks wary of running afoul of sanctions.

    Instead, most groups use the informal hawala system to transfer funds, even though the service charges can range from 4 to 8 percent in cities or as much as 13 percent in remote areas. Before the Taliban takeover in August 2021, rates were at about two per cent.

    Donors have been understandably worried that efforts to restore Afghanistan’s Central Bank would bolster the Taliban’s rule. Since taking power, Taliban authorities have arbitrarily arrested activists and journalists, executed former government officials, and engaged in widespread violations of women’s and girls’ rights.

    But Afghans need all their rights protected, including the right to food. While humanitarian assistance programs can help mitigate the economic crisis, they are far from sufficient. The Taliban also need to address the crisis, including by letting women work, and donors should monitor bank transactions to ensure funds are being used for legitimate humanitarian and commercial purposes.

    Without that, it will be impossible to ease the crisis and help Afghanistan’s most vulnerable children.

    Hunger staring in the face

    In the meanwhile, the International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC) has voived fears for millions of Afghans and farming communities as fields remain bare of the annual spring crops.

    The ongoing drought means that the area planted with winter wheat is well below average. Field reports indicate that half the ground normally sown with wheat was fallow at the end of the planting window in December.

    The United Nations too says that hunger is worsening in Afghanistan, with 95 per cent of the population going without enough food to eat every day.

    The few crops which were planted are likely to face harsh conditions, with La Nina expected to bring drier than normal conditions in the coming months, extending the severe drought into a second year.

    Mawlawi Mutiul Haq Khales, who heads of the Afghan Red Crescent Society Acting President, feels helpless. He says, “Millions of families rely on farming, but they already lost last year’s crops to the severe drought, leaving them without grain to get through the harsh winter or seeds to sow in the fields.”

    “Without seeds in the ground, there will be no harvest in spring and summer, creating a real risk of famine across Afghanistan, where nearly 23 million people are already unable to feed themselves every day,” Mawlawi adds.

    The drought crisis has fuelled an economic crisis in a country where agriculture is critical for people’s livelihoods and the mainstay of the economy. More than 70 percent of Afghanistan’s population live in rural areas and around 80 percent of livelihoods depend on agriculture, according to the latest IPC Afghanistan food security data.

     

    Fereshta Abbasi is a researcher with Human Rights Watch. The additional reporting has been sourced from IFRC

    Image: IFRC

    Dangers Pakistani Pregnant Women Face in Extreme Summer Heat

    OWSA Contributor
    -
    0
    Dangers Pakistani Pregnant Women Face in Extreme Summer Heat

    Rising summer temperatures are exacerbating existing inequities in maternal and newborn health in Pakistan. Sexual and reproductive health and rights are central to climate action.

    Erika Nguyen

    A new video shows how rising temperatures are increasing health pressures on pregnant women, new mothers, and their families in Sindh and Punjab provinces in Pakistan. Rising heat is also exacerbating existing inequities in maternal and newborn health.

    Based on accounts from pregnant women and new mothers, the video, by the Research and Development Forum for Safe Motherhood Pakistan and the White Ribbon Alliance, provides a critical glimpse into one piece of the climate crisis’s impact on sexual and reproductive health and rights. Studies, including those cited in the most recent United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, show that pregnant people are at high risk of heat-related illness. Exposure to high temperatures is linked to stillbirth, premature birth, and low birth rates, all of which are associated with infant mortality.

    The IPCC report also noted other, often compounding, climate impacts that negatively affect pregnancy and newborn health, including loss of food and water sources, poor water quality, increased exposure to vector-borne diseases, and loss of access to prenatal and other care following extreme weather events.

    Summer of poverty

    Extreme heat is experienced unevenly. Women in the video note how they have limited access to electricity due to outages and high electricity bills, compounding the challenges of coping with extreme heat. One says: “Rich people can afford solar panels but what can poor people like us do?”

    These women regularly experience extreme heat. Jacobobad, in Sindh province, is among the hottest cities in the world, regularly surpassing 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) in the summer.

    Extreme heat is set to increase due to human-caused climate change, and the impacts will be felt most acutely by certain populations. Alongside pregnant people, these include older people, people with disabilities, babies and children, outdoor workers, and people living in social isolation or poverty.

    The United Nations’ annual “Commission on the Status of Women” meeting wraps up this week. The theme this year is “Achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in the context of climate change, environmental and disaster risk reduction policies and programmes.” Governments should commit to recognizing that protecting sexual and reproductive health and rights, especially in the face of extreme heat and other climate impacts, is central to protecting human health and women’s rights.

     

     

    Erika Nguyen is Senior Coordinator, Women’s Rights Division of Human Rights Watch.

     

    Image: Screengrab from video produced by the White Ribbon Alliance

    1...167168169...205Page 168 of 205
    Bangladesh

    Yunus Warns of ‘War-Like Situation’ Amid Political Crisis and Rising Tensions

    The high-stakes meeting brought together 20 leaders from various political parties and organisations in two separate sessions, as Yunus sought to shore up support amid reports of internal tensions within his interim government and growing external pressure.
    Climate change

    New Projections Show Extreme Glacier Loss Already at 2°C

    Staying close to 1.5°C on the other hand preserves at least some glacier ice in all regions, even Scandinavia, with 20-30 per cent remaining in the four most sensitive regions; and 40-45 per cent in the Himalayas and Caucuses; stressing the growing urgency of the 1.5°C temperature goal and rapid decarbonization to achieve it.
    Agri-business

    Sri Lanka and New Zealand Eye Stronger Economic and Educational Ties

    Beyond trade, both nations expressed keen interest in enhancing vocational training collaboration, with a specific focus on developing industry-aligned skills for Sri Lankan youth.

    Editor Picks

    Climate Change

    Hot Topics

    About OWSA

    OWSA aims to be the place global citizens turn to for news and views concerning human development from across SouthAsia – the kind of news untouched by the mainstream media. We do not sell fear.

    Follow Us

    © 2021 All Rights Reserved. www.owsa.in