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    How to communicate with women entrepreneurs

    Policy Circle
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    How to communicate with women entrepreneurs

    A project launched to identify the right communication strategies to reach out to women entrepreneurs of rural Bihar suggests such campaigns should focus on vocational training, credit facilities, grants, financial inclusion and empowerment programmes.

    Rony Bannerjee

    The socio-economic empowerment of women is still a challenge in the hinterlands of Bihar due to a severe lack of skill development, proper education, and employment opportunities. Reaching out to the beneficiaries of projects calls for a robust communication strategy.

    I took up a pilot project during the period that followed the first wave of COVID-19 in the districts of Gaya and Nalanda in Bihar to gather specific information to figure out which communication tool works best with young women wishing to establish their own enterprises. The questions were designed around issues of gender parity, social practices, and sensitivities in the context of access to information and communication systems influencing livelihood options. The findings also revealed media habits, media consumption patterns and popular media channels. The indicators and conclusions for propounding a robust communication strategy were drawn up on the basis of the study.

    Communication strategy indicators

    The overall information, education and communication strategy indicators were identified to provide a framework for determining logical communication goals and expected deliverables.

    It was suggested that communications should be focused on a people-oriented developmental approach where the target beneficiaries would have access to information in the easiest possible manner. The study can begin with a mass awareness drive about the legal, social, educational and economic opportunities available to women.

    Such generic activities should be followed up with steps for universal inclusion which could include the creation of village-level enterprise clubs, akin to the urban business clubs, though simpler and more informal in scope. Youth facilitators at such clubs can help women entrepreneurs avail finance, mobilise resources, understand policies and government schemes, and gain awareness of their rights and protections. In the future, such clubs could merge with emerging community-level business centres.

    Messaging for women entrepreneurs

    The success of any communication strategy is dependent on the response of the audience. However, a pre-defined messaging structure is what serves as the guiding principle. The key objectives for the communication campaigns were identified and segregated under various heads such as awareness generation, universal inclusion, and knowledge management and extension of education for employability and livelihood. A set of appropriate messaging ideas were identified under an audience-specific approach matrix for enabling the required IEC strategy.

    Information about the project and all other related programs have to be disseminated to the girls and women and their parents, in-laws, spouses and siblings. The involvement of local communities, community-level influencers, village/panchayat-level functionaries, anganwadi workers, lady supervisors, self-help group members and teachers is essential. Endorsements by Child Development Project Officers, NGOs, district administration and local media are also extremely important.

    The generic messages will have to align with the new journey from the very beginning. The strategic inclusion of information on gender norms, rights, resistance to atrocities, domestic violence, mass media and its strengths, women-centric issues, and its varied challenges are important.

    Messages for universal inclusion should be indicative of the importance of coming together as a club. Influencers, mobilisers, facilitators and endorsers shall be advised to communicate around human rights, social security, gender equality and inclusion in community-level socio-political activities. Family-based livelihood initiatives and livelihood opportunities beyond household work should also be included. During such messaging activities, encouraging husbands, brothers and male family members to support girls/women in their participation in the club activities would be essential. Promoting supportive information and sharing success stories of similar initiatives would be desirable.

    Knowledge management

    The knowledge management denominator during the communication process will have to focus on the recognition of women as vital contributors in families and the immediate community. Social issues such as early marriage, unwanted pregnancy, and violent family environments should be highlighted among women and in the immediate community. Women should also be made aware and urged to break their silence on domestic violence. It should also help in accessing legal, administrative and public services and in the overall development of their aspirations.

    The impactful and conclusive messages should take the first step towards highlighting the importance of education for women, interspersed with examples of the adverse impact of lack of education.

    Women and their family members should be sensitized about the importance of women’s education, besides being made aware of the avenues for enrolment in National Institute of Open Schooling for completion of education. Information on available financing for non-formal education should also be disseminated simultaneously. Facilitators and influencers should be advised to create campaigns for enrolment in education, skill training and livelihood programs. The campaigns should essentially highlight avenues for vocational training, credit facilities, grants, soft loans, benefits of financial inclusion avenues and empowerment programmes.

     

    This piece has been sourced from Policy Circle

    The author has over two decades of experience and exposure in project management, strategic business development and operations, majorly impacting livelihoods, non-mainstream rural/ urban transformations, and development initiatives.

    The precarity of urban households: demand of livelihood safety nets

    OWSA Contributor
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    The precarity of urban households: demand of livelihood safety nets

    In comparison to rural India which consists of safety nets such as MGNREGA and larger PDS coverage, urban India lacks the crucial livelihood safety nets in the form of employment guarantees and extensive food security coverage.

    By Raj Shekhar

    The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the existing informality and crisis-like conditions of millions of households in India. The crippling impact of the pandemic, particularly on the informal sector has been pointed out in numerous studies over the past two years. As the State of Working India Report, 2021 says, an additional 23 crore households have fallen below the daily wage threshold of Rs.375 per day and there has been an increase in the informality among salaried workers. Despite the contribution of nearly 50 per cent of the country’s GDP with the presence of 86 per cent of the total workforce, the conditions of the workforce have worsened over the last two years.

    The second Hunger Watch survey conducted by the Right to Food Campaign in 14 states across the country reflects a grim reality among large sections of India’s population. The level of food insecurity and a decline in income level post-COVID-19 pandemic has increased at a much staggering rate in the present times. Two-thirds of the respondents experienced a decline in income as compared to the pre-pandemic period. Another concerning situation is food insecurity which tells us that close to 80 per cent of the household reported some form of food insecurity in the month preceding the survey and 25 per cent reported severe food insecurity. The dietary diversity in terms of the quality and quantity of food intake has also been affected badly where 41 per cent of households’ consumption deteriorated to a great extent.

    Less food

    One of the important findings from the Hunger Watch survey conducted over 6,500 people is the continued distress in the urban households and compared to rural, urban India seems to be experiencing the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately. The mass exodus of migrant workers from big cities of the country during the first national lockdown showcased the government’s failure to reduce inequality and ensure minimum wage to a large section of urban informal workers.

    Families residing in urban areas under residential, social, and occupational vulnerability are experiencing precarity under the uncertainty of job and income loss over the past two years. A greater proportion of urban households (69 per cent) reported that their total monthly income at the time of the survey had declined compared to the pre-pandemic period. In urban areas, 40 per cent of the respondents lived in rented accommodation and of those 56 per cent had unpaid rent during the survey.

    The catastrophic second wave had added to the miseries due to the rise in out-of-pocket health expenditures and overall livelihood crisis due to lockdowns. In urban areas close to 45 per cent of the households had some outstanding debt in which unpaid rent and major health expenditures were the major reasons. Compared to the pre-pandemic period, urban households have experienced a severe decline in the nutritional quality and quantity of food consumption. Consumption of milk, meat products, and fruits has declined whereas many families even reported not consuming these food items for months.

    No safety nets in urban India

    In this scenario, an increase in public spending is the immediate cure to the existing economic slowdown. The poor budgetary allocation in the social sector will prove to be disastrous. That is the situation thrown up by the union budget 2022-23. In comparison to rural India which consists of safety nets such as MGNREGA and larger PDS coverage, urban India lacks the crucial livelihood safety nets in the form of employment guarantees and extensive food security coverage.

    Millions of households in urban areas with almost no social security provisions are surviving on the verge of sustenance. The need for urban employment guarantees to counter the existing informality is felt the most at present. An MGNREGA-like programme in urban areas operating in a more decentralised form under local urban governance bodies can alleviate the barriers in this path by covering a large pool of casual informal workforce with more employment opportunities.

    Similarly, strengthening and expansion of the public distribution system coverage in urban areas is a critical requirement to deal with food insecurity. PDS entitlements with an additional five kilos of rations under PMGKAY (Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana) to the ration cardholders have been the only safety measures towards food security by the government that has performed well. Extension of PMGKAY till the time pandemic continues is necessary based on present conditions.

    Tale of deprivation

    The universalisation of the PDS would solve the problem of exclusion of vulnerable communities from the food security net. Expansion of the PDS to provide millets and other nutritious commodities such as oil and pulses while procuring these at minimum support price (MSP) is a demand being raised for the past few years. Revival of hot cooked meals under ICDS and midday meals should be done immediately to improve the nutritional status among women and children. Cash transfers with the help of available databases must be mobilized for income support to workers, indexed to the state minimum wage.

    A survey like Hunger Watch tells a tale of deprivation of the majority of households across the country in similar situations. With growing inequality and slow economic growth over the last few years, the government’s foremost responsibility should be to ensure necessities to enable people live a dignified life. Urbanisation in the present form rejects the majority of the population from the mainstream and violates the constitutional obligations under a democratic structure. Allocation to various social sector provisions and their wider coverage must be ensured for us to move towards a more equitable society.

     

    Raj Shekhar is a researcher, currently working with the secretariat of the Right to Food Campaign.

     

    Image: Hippopx, licensed to use Creative Commons Zero – CC0

    Russian military blunderings and the global democratic deficit

    Inter Press Service
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    Russian military blunderings and the global democratic deficit

    Putin is a vocal proponent of ongoing hybrid militarized ‘foreign policy’ aggressions that aim to reclaim Russia’s sphere of influence in former Soviet Republics, as well as further afield.

    By Purnaka L. de Silva

    Russian President and former intelligence officer Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin has been at the helm of power since 1999, promoting jingoistic nationalism to keep his hold on power and creating a democratic deficit on the home front.

    In a long list of extrajudicial crimes under the aegis of Putin, it is alleged that critics and potential rivals generally meet an untimely demise – ranging from helicopter crashes (e.g., LTG Alexander Lebed), murdered in elevators (e.g., in the high profile case of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya), falling out of windows (e.g., former third secretary of Russia’s delegation to the United Nations in Vienna found at the bottom of the Russian Embassy in Berlin) to Polonium poisoning (e.g., Alexander Litvinenko) or getting incarcerated on trumped up charges like Russian opposition leader Alexie Navalny.

    Throwback to totalitarian times

    Putin is a vocal proponent of ongoing hybrid militarized ‘foreign policy’ aggressions that aim to reclaim Russia’s sphere of influence in former Soviet Republics, as well as further afield, primarily in the continent of Africa.

    Kremlin-controlled Spetsnaz mercenaries from the Wagner Group, who it is alleged hold Russian diplomatic passports, conduct military spearhead operations on behalf of the Kremlin and maintain bureaus in all 55 member states of the African Union.

    The antecedents of this hybrid militarized ‘foreign policy’ stratagem follow a trajectory that begins in Chechnya with the Second Battle of Grozny from 25 December 1999 to 6 February 2000 during the premiership of Putin – where the world’s democratic powers were silent witnesses to the devastation of a city of almost 400,000, which led to a practically halving of the population through an exodus of internally displaced persons.

    In 2003, the United Nations called Grozny “the most destroyed city on earth”. It could be speculated that at the time democratic Western powers were largely silent given that the Chechens were perceived as Islamist terrorists.

    After ‘success’ in Chechnya, in November 2007 Putin next withdrew Russia’s participation in the 1990 Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty, which limited the deployment of heavy military equipment across Europe. It enabled Putin and the Kremlin to thereafter experiment with a hybrid militarized ‘foreign policy’ adventure in the 5-day, 2008 August War in Georgia.

    Russian troops invaded and established control over the occupied Tskhinvali region (now called South Ossetia) and Abkhazia constituting over 20 per cent of Georgian territory. Once again, the world’s democratic powers were little more than passive bystanders.

    Timeline of silence

    While the world’s leading democratic powers stayed silent, a timeline of notable hybrid militarized ‘foreign policy’ aggressions orchestrated by Putin and the Kremlin, demonstrating their global reach, includes:

        • Invasion and annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in southern Ukraine (February-March 2014) – successful.
        • Invasion and occupation of Donetsk and Luhansk in the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine (March-November 2014) – successful.
          (NB: Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries made their first overseas combat appearance in the Donbas region in 2014).
        • Military intervention in Syria to support President Assad and winning the civil war for the regime (in September 2015-2019) – successful.
        • Military intervention in the Libyan civil war in support of renegade eastern Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar by Kremlin-controlled Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group (April 2019-October 2020) – failure.
          (NB: followed by smaller, inconclusive Wagner Group interventions in Mozambique, Sudan, and the Central African Republic).
        • Invasion of Ukraine (February 24, 2022) – ongoing – with Putin and the Kremlin looking at long-term occupation and subjugation of the Ukrainian people in a carefully orchestrated military campaign that was planned for at least 8-10 years.
          NB: in the case of Ukraine, Putin and the Kremlin orchestrated a non-stop war of attrition in the Donbas and Crimea since February 2014, and the Wagner Group has been redeployed in Ukraine in February 2022 after withdrawing mercenaries from Africa.

    Since November 2007 the slippery slope towards a global democratic deficit – attempting to prove that might is right – was taking shape and gathering momentum, harbingers of the return of authoritarianism, imperialism, and possibly totalitarianism.

    A democratic deficit occurs when seemingly democratic governments fail to fulfill the principles of democratic governance for the benefit of their citizenry. When that happens in many countries worldwide it becomes a global democratic deficit with the rise to power of authoritarian and antidemocratic political leaders.

    Not exactly Sun Tzu

    This is the case of Russia, North Korea, China, Hong Kong, The Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Syria, Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan under the Taliban, and most recently in West Africa – Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea.

    All countries are susceptible, including countries like Brazil, and the United States of America, as was the case during the Trump presidency from 2016-2020.

    The biggest fear of authoritarians of Putin’s ilk is that the common people will be able to exercise their democratic rights through free and fair elections, and popular protests to repudiate the corruption and misgovernance of political leaders, as was the case in Ukraine when pro-Kremlin president Viktor Yanukovych abandoned his country and fled in 2014.

    A similar fate was reversed in Belarus with the reinstatement of Alexander Lukashenko, and its tacit occupation in plain sight by the Russian military in January-February 2022.

    To the thus-far silent democratic powers it must strongly be pointed out that parallels can be drawn to Putin’s extrajudicial hybrid military ‘foreign policy’ actions to the 1946 post-war confessional prose by the German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller, First, they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out….

    Having noted the above in all its gory detail, it must be pointed out to Putin and the Kremlin that their perceived ‘successful’ hybrid militarized ‘foreign policy’ blunderings will only further weaken Russia’s economic and political standing in the 21 century – especially once draconian long-term sanctions start to bite with alacrity, and deeply.

    It all depends on the sleeping giant of democratic world powers waking up, uniting in common purpose, and responding to an existential threat to peace, security, and democracy. Sun Tzu was right all along Putin – “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting”.

     

    This piece has been sourced from Inter Press Service

    Image: UNAMA

    IPCC adaptation report indicts global leadership

    OWSA Staff
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    IPCC adaptation report indicts global leadership

    Human-induced climate change is causing dangerous and widespread disruption in nature and affecting billions of lives all over the world, says the report of the second working group of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

    Scientists today delivered a stark warning about the impact of climate change on people and the planet, saying that ecosystem collapse, species extinction, deadly heatwaves and floods are among the “unavoidable multiple climate hazards” the world will face over the next two decades due to global warming.

    “This report is a dire warning about the consequences of inaction,” said Hoesung Lee, Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

    “It shows that climate change is a grave and mounting threat to our wellbeing and a healthy planet. Our actions today will shape how people adapt and nature responds to increasing climate risks,” he said, adding: “Half measures are no longer an option.”

    According to the report, human-induced climate change is causing dangerous and widespread disruption in nature and affecting billions of lives all over the world, despite efforts to reduce the risks, with people and ecosystems least able to cope being hardest hit.

    This is the second in a series of three reports from the UN’s top climate scientists and its launch comes just over 100 days since the UN climate action summit in Glasgow, COP26, agreed to step up action to limit global warming to 1.5°C and stave off the worst effects of climate change.

    Clobbered by climate change

    UN Secretary-General António Guterres had called the first report, issued last August, a “code red for humanity”, and said that “If we combine forces now, we can avert climate catastrophe.”

    Guterres’ take on the latest report is equally stark: he laments that the evidence detailed by IPCC is unlike anything he has ever seen, calling it an “atlas of human suffering and a damning indictment of failed climate leadership.”

    With fact upon fact, the report, focusing on impacts, adaptation and vulnerability, reveals how people, and the planet, are getting “clobbered” by climate change.

    “Nearly half of humanity is living in the danger zone – now. Many ecosystems are at the point of no return – now. Unchecked carbon pollution is forcing the world’s most vulnerable on a frog march to destruction – now,” he declared, adding that the world’s biggest polluters are guilty of arson of our only home.

    In the face of such dire evidence, it is essential to meet the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees, and the science shows that will require the world to cut emissions by 45 percent by 2030 and achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

    According to current commitments, global emissions are set to increase almost 14 per cent over the current decade.

    Urgent action to tackle increasing risks

    The IPCC says that increased heatwaves, droughts and floods are already exceeding plants’ and animals’ tolerance thresholds, driving mass mortalities in species such as trees and corals. These weather extremes are occurring simultaneously, causing cascading impacts that are increasingly difficult to manage.

    They have exposed millions of people to acute food and water insecurity, especially in Africa, Asia, Central and South America, on Small Islands and in the Arctic.

    To avoid mounting loss of life, biodiversity and infrastructure, ambitious, accelerated action is required to adapt to climate change, at the same time as making rapid, deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.

    So far, progress on adaptation is uneven and there are increasing gaps between action taken and what is needed to deal with the increasing risks, the new report finds. These gaps are largest among lower-income populations.

    “This report recognizes the interdependence of climate, biodiversity and people and integrates natural, social and economic sciences more strongly than earlier IPCC assessments,” said Hoesung Lee.

    Protecting nature is key

    There are options to adapt to a changing climate. The report provides new insights into nature’s potential not only to reduce climate risks but also to improve people’s lives.

    “Healthy ecosystems are more resilient to climate change and provide life-critical services such as food and clean water”, said IPCC Working Group II Co-Chair Hans-Otto Pörtner.

    “By restoring degraded ecosystems and effectively and equitably conserving 30 to 50 per cent of Earth’s land, freshwater and ocean habitats, society can benefit from nature’s capacity to absorb and store carbon, and we can accelerate progress towards sustainable development, but adequate finance and political support are essential.”

    Scientists point out that climate change interacts with global trends such as unsustainable use of natural resources, growing urbanization, social inequalities, losses and damages from extreme events and a pandemic, jeopardizing future development.

    “Our assessment clearly shows that tackling all these different challenges involves everyone – governments, the private sector, civil society – working together to prioritize risk reduction, as well as equity and justice, in decision-making and investment,” said IPCC Working Group II Co-Chair Debra Roberts.

    Cities: Hotspots of climate risks

    The report provides a detailed assessment of climate change impacts, risks and adaptation in cities, and urban areas, where more than half the world’s population lives.

    “Together, growing urbanization and climate change create complex risks, especially for those cities that already experience poorly planned urban growth, high levels of poverty and unemployment, and a lack of basic services,” Ms. Roberts said.

    “But cities also provide opportunities for climate action – green buildings, reliable supplies of clean water and renewable energy, and sustainable transport systems that connect urban and rural areas can all lead to a more inclusive, fairer society.”

    Equity and justice

    Overall, the report, which provides extensive regional information to enable Climate Resilient Development, underlines the urgency for climate action, focusing on equity and justice.

    Adequate funding, technology transfer, political commitment and partnership lead to more effective climate change adaptation and emissions reductions.

    “The scientific evidence is unequivocal: climate change is a threat to human wellbeing and the health of the planet. Any further delay in concerted global action will miss a brief and rapidly closing window to secure a liveable future,” said Hans-Otto Pörtner.

    Six in seven people experience ‘high levels of insecurity’ – Why?

    Inter Press Service
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    Six in seven people experience ‘high levels of insecurity’ – Why?

    The latest report from the UNDP, Why we don’t feel safe, says that people all over the world — including in the wealthiest countries — were experiencing high levels of insecurity even before the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Baher Kamal / Inter Press Service

    Safety and security are at the base of the ‘hierarchy of needs’ pyramid, second in importance only to life’s absolute necessities—air, water, food and shelter, warns a new report.

    The report “Why we don’t feel safe,” elaborated by the UN Development Programme (UNDP)  says that in the years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, people were on average living healthier, more prosperous and better lives than ever.

    “Yet still a growing sense of unease has taken root and is flourishing,” it says.

    Insecurity is everywhere, among the poor and the rich

    It says that six out of seven people all over the world — including in the wealthiest countries — were experiencing high levels of insecurity even before the pandemic.

    COVID-19 may have supercharged this feeling. Unlike any other recent crisis, it has laid waste to many dimensions of our well-being and set human development back.

    “As well as the appalling health consequences, the pandemic has upended the global economy, interrupted education and life plans, disrupted livelihoods and stirred political division over masks and vaccines.”

    Even with the distribution of vaccines and the partial economic recovery that began in 2021, the crisis has been marked by a drop in life expectancy of about one and a half years, UNDP further goes on.

    Unequal level of suffering

    But this latest report from the UNDP is not alone in quantifying the insecurities people face.  Indeed, there are other recent reports from the UN stable that point to human insecurity. Just take the Sahel region as an example. Africa’s Sahel region is facing ‘horrendous food crisis,’ warned an earlier report released on 16 February by the World Food Programme (WFP).

    As the Sahel region “stares down a horrendous food crisis”, the UN emergency food relief chief warned that the number of people on the brink of starvation has “increased almost tenfold” over the past three years and “displacement by nearly 400 percent.”

    The vast Sahel, which runs nearly the breadth of the continent, south of the Sahara Desert, is experiencing some of its “driest conditions” in years.

    “In just three years, the number of people facing starvation has skyrocketed from 3.6 to 10.5 million, in the Sahelian nations of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger.”

    And insecurity, COVID-induced poverty, dramatic food cost increases and other compounding factors, have put those countries and others in the region, on a trajectory that would surpass any previous crises, according to WFP.

    “I’ve been talking with families who have been through more than you can possibly imagine”, Beasley said. “They have been chased from their homes by extremist groups, starved by drought and plunged into despair by COVID’s economic ripple effects”.

    On the brink of starvation

    The number of people on the brink of starvation across Africa’s Sahel region is ten times higher than it was in 2019, the World Food Programme warns, while the number of people who are displaced is up by 400 percent.

    The combined effects of conflict, the COVID-19 pandemic, climate, and rising costs are putting basic meals out of reach for millions.

    Afghanistan tragedy

    Let alone Afghanistan, where conflict last year (2021) had forced more than 700,000 Afghans to leave their homes and added to the 5.5 million people already displaced over past years, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on 8 February 2002 reported.

    “The ongoing crisis in Afghanistan is intensifying humanitarian needs and increasing displacement risks both inside the country, as well as across borders to countries in the region”, according to a statement issued by Ugochi Daniels, the IOM Deputy Director-General for Operations.

    Growing distrust

    Back to the UNDP special report on unsafety and insecurity, it also warned that in tandem with this comes a growing distrust in each other and in the institutions which are, in theory, designed to protect us.

    “The world has always been in flux, but the challenges we face today as technology advances, and we experience inequality and conflict, are playing out on a different stage.

    “Because we are now in the Anthropocene, the era in which humans are changing the planet in dangerous ways that our species has never seen.”

    A deadly dance

    It’s a deadly dance and no-one is immune from its consequences, UNDP warns.

    “Despite global wealth being higher than ever before, a majority of people are feeling apprehensive about the future and this feeling has likely been exacerbated by the pandemic.”

    “In our quest for unbridled economic growth, we continue to destroy our natural world while inequalities are widening both within and between countries,” said Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator.

    Climate change is likely to become a leading cause of death. With a moderate decline in carbon emissions, it could still cause 40 million deaths before the end of the century.

    “The Anthropocene era is adding fuel to conflict, as human lives become more precarious. Conflicts involving the state—raging in 37 countries—are the highest since the end of World War II.”

    Violence, normalised

    According to the UNDP report, violence is becoming normalised in many places, and the number of people forcibly displaced due to conflict or disaster has risen over the past decade, reaching more than 80 million in 2020.

    “About 1.2 billion people live in areas affected by conflict — almost half of them in countries not considered to be fragile.”

    Old inequalities, new realities

    “Old inequalities are still with us despite advances in wealth and living standards. And a new generation of inequalities is opening up. These include the ability to flourish in a modern economy, and access to now-necessary technology such as broadband internet.”

    Technology is a two-edged sword—bringing vast opportunities and potentially catastrophic risks, says the UNDP report.

    “At the same time as digitalization can connect communities, encourage new skills and education, and promote human security, social media is spreading misinformation and fueling polarisation.”

    Cybersecurity in Africa, below “poverty line”

    In 2017, an estimated 95 percent of companies in Africa were rated on or below the cybersecurity ‘poverty line’, unable to protect themselves from malicious attacks, the report adds.

    “The damage of cybercrime was estimated to cost about US$6 trillion in 2021, a 600 percent increase since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020.”

     

    This piece has been sourced from the Inter Press Service.

    Image: UNICEF / Parvez Ahmad

    People’s tribunal castigates Delhi Police for riots

    OWSA Staff
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    People’s tribunal castigates Delhi Police for riots

    “Once the violence broke out, the Delhi Police along with acts of omission and commission, allowed the riots to continue for a longer period,” a people’s tribunal convened on the second year since riots happened in North East Delhi has concluded.

    A people’s tribunal hearing survivor families and individuals from Northeast Delhi together with field experts and lawyers two years after the riots in North East Delhi has concluded that the Delhi Police failed to take adequate measures to prevent the spreading of the riots in spite of adequate intelligence and warning indicators of heightened tensions and threats.

    “Once the violence broke out, the Delhi Police along with acts of omission and commission, allowed the riots to continue for a longer period,” the tribunal said in its report released to the media today.

    The 2020 Delhi riots, or North East Delhi riots saw multiple waves of bloodshed, destruction of property and rioting. The riots began on 23 February 2020 and left 53 people killed.

    Further elaborating on the role of the Delhi Police, the tribunal said in its findings that the police took no action against the mobs perpetrating the violence and let the victims fend for themselves. “More often than not, this only resulted in larger casualties, more suffering and harassment and greater property damages.”

    Adverse judicial comments

    The people’s tribunal was organised to mark the completion of two years since the carnage, and take forward the much-needed discourse on the lives of the victims. It comprised of the National Federation of Indian Women, All India Democratic Women’s Association, the Constitutional Conduct Group, People’s Union of Civil Liberties, United Against Hate, and Karwan -e –Mohabbat.

    The day-long, closed-door event saw a series of discussions on key themes, including the impact of State apathy in North East Delhi, gathering the testimonies of affected families, an examination of medical cases and State response, the investigation of the Delhi Police into the Riots and the issue of access to compensation.  The jury comprised former Indian ambassador Deb Mukharji, former union home secretary Gopal Pillai, historian Mridula Mukharji, senior journalist and researcher Pamela Philipose and former member of Planning Commission of India and writer Syeda Hameed.

    The riots were followed by apprehensions about the role of the police and media reports cited instances of police inaction. “There has been a lack of proper and transparent investigation, and a biased approach leading to lack of credibility in the overall investigative process,” the people’s tribunal has said. “These were also brought out by innumerable adverse comments of the Courts during this period.” Hundreds of innocent people, including victims, have been in jail on what seem to be completely trumped-up charges, the Tribunal says in its report.

    Need for judicial commission

    The people’s tribunal noted widespread instances of police misconduct – from harassing victims and innocent citizens by various means, including large-scale arrests, refusing to arrest and take action against ‘powerful’ people implicated in inciting violence, corruption and attempts at extortion; misusing of technology to frame people, to biased and unjust chargesheets.

    “The police have been even more complicit in the violence. And this has not been highlighted by the media – especially those mainstream – over the past two years,” its statement reads.

    It has recommended the setting up of a judicial commission of enquiry headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court. It has argued that the impunity enjoyed by the state and non-state actors can only be challenged through setting up of such a commission of enquiry with members who have stature and credibility among the affected communities.

    It has said that the Delhi government must set up an empowered group to look into all cases of inadequate and delayed compensation.

    It has suggested bringing predictive policing under a regulatory framework. “A sharp rise in the use of predictive policing including facial recognition technology which was used by the Delhi Police to round up those they framed as instigators of violence is based on a fallacious assumption that the algorithms ensured bias-free investigations,” the tribunal said in its statement released to the press.

     

    Image: Wikimedia

    UN General Assembly session today on Russia’s ‘war of choice’ on Ukraine.

    OWSA Staff
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    UN General Assembly session today on Russia’s ‘war of choice’ on Ukraine.

    The UN Security Council has called for a rare emergency special session of the UN General Assembly on Russia’s military operation in Ukraine to will be held on Monday. There are calls for accountability and Russia has said that there is an information war happening out there while Ukraine has made reference to the convention on the prevention of genocide.

    India, China and United Aram Emirates abstained from the vote while Russia voted against the vote to convene the UN General Assembly session. 11 countries have voted in favour of convening the General Assembly session.

    The request for the Assembly to urgently convene a meeting comes after Russia vetoed on Friday a US-led draft Security Council resolution that would have ‘deplored in the strongest terms the Russian Federation’s aggression against Ukraine’.

    Since the text acted on today was procedural, none of the five permanent Council members – China France, Russia, United Kingdom and the United States – could use their vetoes. The measure needed just nine votes in favour to pass.

    This is seen as a rare move for peace. Only 10 such emergency special sessions of the General Assembly have been convened since 1950, following the adoption of resolution 377A(V), widely known as ‘uniting for peace.’

    That text gives the Assembly the power to take up matters of international peace and security when the Security Council is unable to act because of the lack of unanimity among its five veto-wielding permanent members.

    Next steps

    Following statements by countries in the emergency special session, the General Assembly is expected to vote on a resolution similar to the one taken up Friday by the Security Council. While Assembly resolutions are non-binding, they are considered to carry political weight as they express the will of the wider UN membership.

    The Security Council’s latest steps to end the Ukraine crisis cap a week of activity at the United Nations seeking a diplomatic off-ramp to Russian military action in the country, including near daily press stakeouts by the Secretary-General, four emergency Council sessions, and one meeting of General Assembly, which saw speaker after speaker call for de-escalation.

    On Saturday, amid reports of casualties and people fleeing their homes to seek safety as Russian military operations in the country intensified, the Secretary-General announced that the UN will launch an appeal to fund its humanitarian operations in Ukraine.

    A readout issued by a UN spokesperson said that UN chief António Guterres had spoken on the phone with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and conveyed “the… determination of the United Nations to enhance humanitarian assistance to the people of Ukraine.”

    The Secretary-General’s phone call and the announcement of a humanitarian appeal followed his decision this past Thursday to release $20 million from the UN emergency relief fund, known as CERF, to meet urgent needs in Ukraine.

    In addition, the Secretary-General has announced the appointment of Amin Awad as UN Crisis Coordinator for Ukraine to lead the coordination of all UN efforts, including its humanitarian response, on both sides of the contact line.

    Accountability for a ‘war of choice’

    Speaking after the vote, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, of the United States, one of the countries that had requested the meeting, said the Security Council had today taken an important step towards holding Russia accountable for its aggression against Ukraine.

    “By calling for an emergency special session of the General Assembly… [we] have recognized that this is no ordinary moment and that we need to take extraordinary steps to confront this threat to our international system,” she said, stressing that such a meeting of the wider UN membership was important to make their voices heard on “Russia’s war of choice.”

    While noting that all UN Member States would have the ability to participate in the special emergency session, Ms. Thomas-Greenfield said that she understood that this would take courage for some.

    But for inspiration and strength, she called on the wider UN membership to look no further than the Ukrainian people, “who are standing bravely…to defend democracy, while continuing to express willingness to participate in negotiations. So let us do everything we can to help the people of Ukraine as they stand up for themselves, their sovereign country and their children.”

    UN Charter: small nation’s best friend

    Ambassador Ferit Hoxha of Albania, which had also called for today’s meeting, said that while the vote had been purely procedural, the text itself was one of “historical proportions. One which would open the big doors of the General Assembly, the place where all the world meets” and could speak out against an unprovoked war and in favour of the UN Charter, “including Russian citizens who need to listen to the world and hear what it is saying.”

    “All Member States, including small ones like mine, must remember that the UN Charter is our best friend, our best army and best defence,” he said. Russia could at any moment come back to its senses and stop the war and pull back its troops and “go back to talks – real talks for peace, not for surrender and capitulation. But this needs lucidity, courage and wisdom, not threats for apocalypse.”

    “As we said last Friday, this is not a time to stay idle or look away. It is time to stand up. Ukraine and Ukrainians are resisting,” he concluded.

    Primacy of international law

    French Ambassador Nicolas de Rivière, said that Russia had stood alone Friday in blocking a resolution that would have called for an end to its aggression against Ukraine. “This special session is a necessary new step intended to defend the UN Charter and international law and put an end to the aggression against Ukraine,” he said.

    He noted that President Macron had called for another meeting the Security Council on Monday at which France along with Mexico would submit a resolution to demand the end of hostilities, protection of civilians, a safe and unhindered humanitarian access to meet the urgent needs of the population. The international community had a duty to stand up for unity and the primacy of international law, he said.

    Council’s failure to face the truth

    Vadim Nebenzya, Ambassador of the Russian Federation, said that he had voted against the submitted draft because its authors would note that the Security Council had been unable to carry out its primary duty to maintain international peace and security.

    “Yet, at the same time, we did not see even a hint of an attempt to find a constructive solution in the Council. After all, two days ago we blocked one text for the very reason that it was one-sided and unbalanced. We have not seen any new initiatives,” he stressed.

    He also denounced attempts by the draft’s sponsors to use their position on the Security Council to push through decisions against other members. “That is why the Council provides for the right to block decisions for permanent members. This is not a privilege, but a tool to ensure the balance of interests so necessary for the whole world, and through it, global stability.”

    “Now there is a need to focus on resolving the roots of the crisis with which we are grappling,” he continued, stressing that it was not the launch of the ‘special military operation’, but the fact that the Council had for eight years turned a blind eye to the actions of Ukrainian nationalists in the Donbas.

    He said that an “information war” was now being unleased against Russia and that social networks were rife with lies about what was happening in Ukraine. “I urge our colleagues not to contribute to the spread of such misinformation, although I am afraid these calls will not be heard again.”

    Air raids, aggression and ‘absurd claims’

    Ukraine’s Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya said that the most frequently heard warning in Ukraine today was ‘Attention. Air raids. Please proceed to shelters.’

    He also asked those that had not supported the text to please look at videos and pictures of the damage circulating in the media. The truth of what was happening on the ground due to Russia’s aggression could be found there.

    He went on to say that Ukraine had issued an order to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to undertake provisional measures against Russia and was seeking an emergency hearing. The Court had jurisdiction to hear the case, owing to international obligations under the Convention on the Prevention of Genocide.

    “The Genocide Convention is one of the most important international treaties, drafted in response to the horrors of World War II and the Holocaust. Russia, however, has twisted the concept of genocide, and perverted the solemn treaty obligation to prevent and punish genocide,” the Ambassador explained.

    He went on to note that Russia had made an “absurd and unfounded claim” of alleged genocide as a justification and pretext for its own aggression against Ukraine and violation of the sovereignty and human rights of the Ukrainian People.  “Ukraine’s case before the ICJ will establish that Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is based on a lie and a gross violation of international law and must be stopped.,” he declared.

    Can men contribute to women’s empowerment?

    OWSA Contributor
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    Can men contribute to women’s empowerment?

    Women are expected to manage the home, while men are expected to be providers and usually have more roles outside the home. These roles are however changing. Women are now increasingly joining the workforce, are seen in public spaces.

    By Abhijit Das

    Women’s development and gender equality have been important elements of the global development agenda since the international women’s year in 1975. Over the years many laws and policies have been introduced in India and there have been significant improvements the status of women and girls. However, gender-based discrimination is still widespread. According to the gender inequality index, India was ranked 127 out of 160 countries of the world in 2018. Women’s empowerment is at the centre of achieving gender equality. But what is the role of men? This issue remains unaddressed.

    Gender equality is about relationships within society. Patriarchy is a commonly used term to indicate the existing situation where women and men have specific roles and responsibilities in society. Women are expected to manage the home, while men are expected to be providers and usually have more roles outside the home. These roles are however changing. Women are now increasingly joining the workforce, are seen in public spaces and men are also challenging themselves with domestic tasks like cooking. But somehow most domestic chores remain the responsibility of women with men playing a secondary role at best. Similarly, it is often seen that among working couples’, women leave their careers to raise the children while men continue their professional journey. Despite many improvements, women’s literacy still lags that of men, the sex ratio indicates that less girls are born or survive and violence against women in different forms continues to be common and are often reported in the press.

    Confronting societal compulsions

    Several efforts are ongoing in India to explore how men and boys can become partners within the larger frame of gender equality in society. In one instance, men’s groups formed in rural areas in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and West Bengal. In some places boys’ groups were also formed. The men in these groups were trained to recognize the differences in the circumstances around the lives of women and men and girls and boys. They understood how existing social norms created compulsions or provided opportunities in our lives. The men realized how they themselves became agents of these conditions which created more barriers for women and girls they loved and cherished like their wives, daughters, mothers, and sisters. They also understood how these societal compulsions created pressures for men and boys to behave in certain ways. They could express anger and violence, but the same rules limited their expressions of care, concern, or love. They understood the value of a family and a society where all could aspire and get opportunities as well as support to achieve their best.

    New roles

    Several interesting changes have been noted among the men in these communities. It has been observed from programmes implemented in several states of India over two decades now, that community level interventions provide very important insights about the process of change towards gender equality. In all places men had started performing many domestic chores like cooking, cleaning, bringing water, firewood, washing clothes and utensils, and so on. Fathers had become very engaged and active in the care of their infants and young children. In several places men started taking on more contraceptive responsibility, usually seen as a women’s burden, by using condoms regularly and an increase in the overall usage of contraceptives was observed.

    Gender women empowerment domestic work

    In Maharashtra, it was noted that many families went in for joint registration of their residence. Women in Madhya Pradesh said that their husbands were now providing much more care during their pregnancy and after delivery than they had done in earlier pregnancies. In West Bengal women who earlier found it difficult managing domestic chores and small income generation work reported that they were now earning much more as a family as the men not only took care of some of the domestic work, but also contributed to the home-based income generation work. Youth in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh got together to ensure that the education of young girls could continue and campaigned successfully against early marriage. In Maharashtra, men’s groups supported women panchayat leaders to effectively play their leadership roles. In Uttar Pradesh men supported women to join employment programmes like the MNREGA. In all these places women said that they now felt more respected, included in family decision making processes and reported that their relationship with their spouse had improved. They also reported that their mobility had increased – they could go out to earn and they also decided how they would spend their money. Some women also indicated better trust, communication, and affection between spouses.

    Strains following the pandemic

    The pandemic has forced many changes in the lives of people through several rounds of lockdown and other restrictions. It is understood that as pressures and constraints increased within a family in lockdown, women have been facing many additional challenges. There have been many reports of increasing violence against women and forced and early marriage from many places.

    Early in the lockdown, social media groups were developed and connected with members of the men’s groups around the country to build their confidence on how best to approach this crisis. They were encouraged to the reach of social media to build local support networks, identify families in need of any help and link them to public services. The men’s groups were also asked to monitor cases of violence against women and other forms of gender discrimination in their communities. Around 7,000 such members of men’s groups in over 500 villages in these states were connected in this process.

    Actions of about 2,000 among them from over 133 villages in 27 districts in the three states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh were tracked. Findings from the information compiled showed that these men were individually and collectively taking many steps to deal with the different problems that were emerging every day in their communities. They met ASHA and Anganwadi workers to enquire whether they needed any support and when necessary, joined in the COVID-19 prevention campaigns. They connected with the panchayat leaders and ration shop owners to facilitate delivery of rations. They helped women to get MNREGA job cards, assisted pregnant women to get necessary health care services, supported women to file complaints on cases of violence faced by them and several other cases. In a short period of three months in 2020, these men had helped over 400 women in different ways in these villages. Many cases were also referred to the district and state authorities for further actions.

    Shifting gender relations

    A nation-wide study was conducted in 2020-2021 to understand how other organisations who were involving men and boys in their work around gender equality perceived the effectiveness of this approach. Over 65 organisations in 15 states were included in the study and an overwhelming majority found that involving men and boys improved the effectiveness of their interventions. The results they had achieved were very similar to the results that CHSJ had seen in its own work. The study also provided some additional insights. Work with men and boys is most effective after work on women’s empowerment had already been started in the area earlier. This created a fertile ground for change because women welcomed the change. Younger men were more ready to accept change. However, this study also noted that organisations found it more difficult to approach and work with men compared to women. Men were hesitant to meet in public, they also needed more encouragement appreciation to continue.

    A consensus is emerging that work with men and boys is extremely important to strengthen work on women’s empowerment. This approach provides clear examples how gender relations can shift in the family and community levels as well as in public institutions within a framework of collaboration. It also provides men an opportunity to understand how social norms get shaped and how they are themselves affected by these gendered social norms. As we move towards the Sustainable Development Goals this approach can be integrated into work on women’s empowerment, violence prevention, empowerment of adolescent girls as well as child rights protection. Hopefully by providing men and boys a very positive role in achieving the larger social goals, we can achieve more lasting results.

     

    Abhijit Das is Managing Trustee, Centre for Health and Social Justice, New Delhi and Clinical Associate Professor, University of Washington, Seattle, USA.

    Sri Lanka: UN rights chief welcomes reform but concerns remain

    OWSA Contributor
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    Sri Lanka: UN rights chief welcomes reform but concerns remain

    Sri Lanka has taken steps towards legal, institutional and security sector reforms, but more action is still needed, according to a report issued on Friday by the UN human rights office which examines developments over the past year. 

    In a new report on Sri Lanka released on Friday, UN Human Rights High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet recognised recent steps to initiate reforms.  But she has also expressed concern over a number of human rights trends in the country.

    “While we recognize the renewed willingness of the Government of Sri Lanka to engage constructively with our Office, including in the preparation of the report, we urge the Government to go much further with the legal, institutional and security sector reforms necessary to comply with Sri Lanka’s international human rights obligations,” the human rights body said in a press statement.

    Setbacks to accountability 

    OHCHR noted setbacks to accountability for past human rights violations and the recognition of victims’ rights, Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told journalists in Geneva.

    “The High Commissioner highlights particularly the continuing precarious situation of the families of the disappeared – the majority of whom are represented by women,” she said.

    “We urge the Government to acknowledge their sufferings, urgently determine the fate or whereabouts of victims, provide reparations, and bring perpetrators to justice.”

    Surveillance and harassment

    The report, which was prepared for the UN Human Rights Council, also makes note of continuing trends toward militarization and ethno-religious nationalism that “undermine democratic institutions, increase the anxiety of minorities, and impede reconciliation.”

    Additionally, the pattern of surveillance and harassment by security forces of civil society organizations, human rights defenders, journalists and victims, highlighted in previous reports, has also continued, particularly in the north and east.

    Ms. Shamdasani said the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) Amendment Bill, presented to Parliament earlier this month, is an important initial step.

    “The High Commissioner welcomes the proposed increase of magistrates’ powers to visit places of detention, the speeding up of trials and the repeal of section 14, which imposes serious limitations on publications,” she added.

    Towards peace and reconciliation

    However, Ms. Shamdasani said that other proposed amendments do not comply fully with Sri Lanka’s international human rights obligations, leaving some of the most “problematic” provisions of the PTA intact.

    This has led to alleged human rights violations, including arbitrary detention and torture.

    Since June, more than 80 suspects detained under the PTA have been released.  OHCHR has welcomed this development, while urging the authorities to impose a moratorium on continued use of the law.

    “Sri Lanka will only achieve sustainable development and peace and lasting reconciliation if it ensures civic space, independent and inclusive institutions, and puts an end to systemic impunity,” said Ms. Shamdasani.

    A fresh start?

    Friday’s report is a huge development from a previous assessment on March 2019. Then, the Human Rights High Commissioner had publicly confronted the Sri Lankan government for putting out a misleading version of her assessment.

    “I am deeply disappointed by the spin that has been put on my discussion with the Sri Lankan Government delegation,” Bachelet had said, adding, “Either the newspaper misunderstood the Governor, or the Governor misunderstood – or misquoted – me.”

    Then, Sri Lanka’s Northern Province Governor, Dr. Suren Raghaven had conveyed an impression to the media that there was disagreement within the OHCHR of its assessment of the rights situation in the island nation.

    According to the governor, the High Commissioner had “admitted that certain facts incorporated in the UNHRC (UN Human Rights Council) report against Sri Lanka could not be condoned whatsoever.”

    It was an ugly spat. The UNFRC put out an official statement saying that the Sri Lankan official had misrepresented the discussion on UN human rights report to the media.

    A tweet was also put out quoting Bachelet as saying, “I am deeply disappointed by the spin that has been put on my discussion with the Sri Lankan government delegation.”

    She also highlighted concerns about the appointment of military officers who were implicated in alleged serious rights violations and the “lack of progress” in setting up a special tribunal to deal with the worst crimes after a brutal civil war that ended in 2009.

     

    Image: Hippopx. Licensed to use Creative Commons Zero – CC0 

    IPCC working group II to release its report on Monday

    OWSA Staff
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    IPCC working group II to release its report on Monday

    The IPCC report put together by scientists and government representatives is expected to add pressure to address issues like finance, adaptation and loss and damage, underpinning equity and climate justice.

    The Inter-governmental Panel Climate Change will, on Monday, release the next part of its 6th assessment report.

    The Working Group II report on impacts, adaptation and vulnerability is scheduled to be made public on 28 February after a virtual approval session. It will summarise the latest scientific understanding on impacts, adaptation and vulnerability, outlining how climatic hazards and risks will increase with warming, with considerations of sustainable development, aspects of justice and equity, and the action needed to take to build resilience.

    This will be the second of three major reports from IPCC and is expected to provide an assessment of how life on earth is affected by rising temperatures.

    Since their previous assessment in 2014, the situation has, in many ways, become worse. Earlier this month, NOAA warned the years 2013-2021 all rank among the ten-warmest years on record.

    “The reality of the climate crisis has become more personal and political than ever, while the reality of inequities has become more blatant too,” said Greenpeace Climate Expert, Kaisa Kosonen.

    “We expect the report to show the extent to which warming has increased climatic hazards, and how limits to adaptation are already being reached, which disproportionately impacts communities in already vulnerable situations who are also the least responsible for the crisis,” Kosonen added.

    For activists like Kosonen, the report will make the lack of action and commitment from high-emitters more evident. Greenpeace, among other global environment groups, has often referred to the need for urgent emission cuts and climate justice, together with investments in adaptation, building equity, compensating for and insuring against losses and damages and fostering resilient development pathways where everyone can participate.

    Social justice, equity

    The IPCC report put together by scientists and government representatives is expected to add pressure to address issues like finance, adaptation and loss and damage, underpinning equity and climate justice.

    It will add to the discourse following the 1.5°C warming limit from the Paris Agreement and can frame the narrative towards COP 27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt later in 2022.

    The report is expected to address, among other things:

        • How warming is already impacting us and the world we live in, including ecosystems and their services, with current and committed levels of warming and sea-level rise.
        • How climate impacts and risks will increase with further warming, and how different development pathways exacerbate or mitigate those risks.
        • How and to what extent impacts and risks can be managed and reduced, acknowledging limits to adaptation, and the loss and damage that occurs beyond those limits.
        • Who are particularly vulnerable to climate impacts and risks and why, and how those vulnerabilities can be reduced and resilience built.
        • Solution frameworks with a specific focus on climate resilient development pathways.
        • The role of social justice, equity and different forms of expertise in climate-resilient development, with broadened attention given to aspects of climate justice.
        • The particular situation of coastal communities; cities and settlements by the sea.

    Working Group II report will be followed by another IPCC report in April, Working Group III contribution to the 6th Assessment Report, that will assess ways to mitigate climate change.

    A synthesis report (SYR) of the work done by Working Groups I, II and III and the previous special reports will be published in October. It will provide an overview of the state of knowledge on the science of climate change.

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