By Aline Cunico
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 27 2011 (IPS)

The United Nations is partnering with private sector firms to promote universal access to energy, improved efficiency and wider deployment of renewable sources.

Sustainable Energy for All, a new initiative launched by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for businesses to support U.N. efforts to improve energy access, was the focus of the 2011 United Nations Private Sector Forum held Sep. 20 during the General Assembly.

U.N. partnerships with business and the private sector are crucial to expanding energy accessibility worldwide, Ban stressed. He noted that partnerships are not only essential for sustainable development, but could also offer solutions for many other U.N.-related issues.

More than 1.4 billion people worldwide lack access to electricity, and another 2 billion rely on traditional fuel for cooking and heating, according to the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO).

“We must connect the dots between climate change, water scarcity, energy shortages, global health, food security and women’s empowerment. Solutions to one problem must be solutions for all,” Ban said while addressing world leaders in New York.

“As I see it, we have five imperatives… The first and greatest of these is sustainable development – the imperative of the 21st century. Saving our planet, lifting people out of poverty, advancing economic growth – these are one and the same fight,” he said.

The U.N. General Assembly has named 2012 the International Year of Sustainable Energy For All.

The Framework for Business Action was also introduced during the forum, hosted by the U.N. Global Compact, the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative, in collaboration with UNIDO.

One goal of the framework is to engage governments, the private sector and civil society to ensure that those currently lacking access to modern energy services will gain that access by 2030. Another target is to increase global renewable energy by that year.

During the forum, former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said that the move towards green energy can be done at a “grassroots level” and that it is time for major changes in sustainable energy and development.

“Providing energy to every single person on Earth by 2030 is not going to be easy. By 2030, we will have at least 8 billion people. Some will tell you our goal is impossible. But I love challenges. I’m an optimist,” he said.

According to Matthias Stausberg, spokesperson for the UN Global Compact, many businesses have already initiated collective action within the industry and are actively engaged in partnerships with the U.N. and other organisations.

“Businesses can contribute in a variety of ways – by leveraging core competencies and skills, by providing funding or other forms of material support and through advocacy and public-policy engagement on behalf of the U.N.’s mission,” he told IPS.

According to specialists, sustainable development initiatives can revitalise the global economy, help combat climate change and create new opportunities particularly in the developing world.

Mikhail Evstafyev, advocacy and communications coordinator of UNIDO, commented n an interview with IPS earlier in 2011 on how the private sector could take advantage of the need for universal energy access to promote development and economic growth.

“Universal energy access is a new market opportunity, but one that needs the right support to thrive,” he said, adding that it wouldn’t be necessary to invest billions of dollars in research, as many clean technologies are already available. “It is a question of transferring the technologies and adapting them to local conditions and needs.”

The Framework for Business Action and Sustainable Energy for All initiatives are just two examples of the many steps leading up to the Rio+20 conference on sustainable development, to be held next year in Brazil.

Georg Kell, executive director of U.N. Global Compact, believed the partnership between business and the U.N. is essential to develop models and alternatives concerning environment and energy, especially as the developing world faces numerous obstacles if it is to reach the U.N.’s ambitious Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

“This new business framework offers much-needed inspirations as companies try to reconcile ever- growing energy demand with global sustainability challenges,” he said.

“As the world gears up for the next year’s Rio+20 summit, it is efforts like this that will help business bring innovation to scale and contribute to a greener and more sustainable global economy.”

Excerpt:

By Aline Cunico
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 15 2011 (IPS)

Providing electricity and modern cooking technology to billions of ‘energy poor’ people worldwide is one of the priorities of the U.N.’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – one that experts say is achievable over the next few decades.

From Jun. 21 to 23, the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) will be hosting the Vienna Energy Forum, a major initiative aimed at combating energy poverty.

Mikhail Evstafyev, advocacy and communications coordinator of UNIDO, spoke to IPS about how resource-efficient and low-carbon industries could help the 2 billion people around the globe living without electricity.

Q: How can we reach the world’s energy poor at an affordable and accessible cost? A: The financial implications of ensuring universal energy access are large, but not overwhelming when weighed against the enormous benefits.

The International Energy Agency estimates that, over the next two decades, ensuring universal access to electricity would require around 10 percent of total annual investment in the energy sector, which could be mobilised by the private sector.

Universal energy access is a new market opportunity, but one that needs the right support to thrive.

Many clean technologies are already available, so we are not talking about investing billions in research. It is a question of transferring the technologies and adapting them to local conditions and needs.

But increasing energy access is not only about supplying better, more efficient cooking stoves or light bulbs. To promote economic development and growth, energy services must also work in the interest of creating wealth and jobs by providing power for businesses and improving healthcare, education, and transportation.

Q: What has UNIDO accomplished in recent years concerning poverty reduction and environmental sustainability? A: Over the past 45 years, UNIDO has been providing specialised services to promote sustainable industrial development, concerning poverty reduction and environmental sustainability. This is also reflected in our three thematic priorities – poverty reduction through productive activities; trade capacity building; and energy and environment.

Through its analytical and policy advice function, UNIDO helps developing countries transition to a low carbon economy. As a global forum, UNIDO generates and disseminates knowledge while providing a platform for dialogue and cooperation. As part of its normative functions, UNIDO supports the development of global standards, designs and implements specialised, tailor-made programmes and projects to assist citizens of developing countries and nationals of economies in transition.

Q: What are your expectations regarding the outcome of the Vienna Energy Forum (VEF)? A: The Vienna Energy Forum will bring together heads of state, policy-makers, experts, civil society and the private sector to discuss how to overcome energy poverty and how to move from declarations of intention to tangible action on the ground. Former Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger, and business magnate and philanthropist, Carlos Slim, will also speak at the event.

VEF will facilitate a dialogue on how to provide universal energy access and on the multiple co-benefits of increasing energy efficiency. VEF will look at ways to agree on a common understanding of energy access, and on a strategy to ensure universal access to modern energy services. Participants will also discuss how to increase energy efficiency… and prioritise key national and regional actions on energy access and energy efficiency.

The discussion on these topics will serve to propose an international architecture on how to ensure universal energy access. It will help map the related work of key stakeholders and define their roles and responsibilities. Based on this mapping, the development of an action-oriented roadmap will be initiated.

Our partner organisation, the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, will launch a Global Energy Assessment.

Q: What countries have achieved success promoting environmental sustainability in recent years? A: A number of countries in the developing world are showing results in environmental sustainability.

UNIDO and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) are contributing to improving resource efficiency through cleaner production centres in China, India, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Republic of Korea, among others.

Overall, there have been significant gains made by Asia in moving towards resource-efficient and low- carbon industries over the years. But more needs to be done especially since resource use in the region continues to increase in absolute terms with the region’s continuing economic growth.

China has emerged as a major producer of solar photovoltaics and wind turbines. India increased its renewable energy target to 14-gigawatt renewable capacity by 2012. It has also adopted a National Action Plan for Climate Change that aims to protect the poor and the vulnerable through an inclusive and sustainable development strategy that is sensitive to climate change. And new policies are leading to 18 billion dollars of new manufacturing investment.

Q: After the crisis in Japan, some countries aim to move away from nuclear energy. Can that be done and how? A: I am sure that in the future, when renewable energy sources become more affordable and universalised, we will see this happening. The Vienna Energy Forum 2011 will address the gamut of energy challenges including those from nuclear to renewable energy. This is why BBC will film a World Debate on energy under the theme ‘How do we power the 21st century?’ during the forum.

Q: Is it the role of developed countries to assist low-income countries in catching up to the green economy? A: Of course, developing countries need our help. And it can be delivered in different ways, including via intergovernmental agencies such as UNIDO. However, in recent years this has also been complemented by South-South cooperation as most poor countries have similar conditions and face the same sort of challenges.

Interesting enough, the world’s least developed countries, or LDCs, which have low-carbon profiles and rich natural assets, are better placed than industrialised countries to make their economies more environmentally sustainable because they are less dependent on fossil fuel-based technologies, according to a recent U.N. report.

The report, ‘Why a Green Economy Matters for the Least Developed Countries’, shows that new opportunities offered by a green economy will help LDCs meet their Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the internationally agreed poverty reduction and social development targets that have a 2015 deadline.

Structural constraints, including dependence on fragile agriculture, limited access to energy and low economic diversification – which have previously prevented LDCs from significantly reducing poverty and achieving higher rates of development – resulted from investments and policies that undervalued the importance of the economic sectors most relevant to the livelihoods of the poor.

Excerpt:

By Patricia Grogg and Aline Cunico
NEW YORK/HAVANA, May 24 2011 (IPS)

The death of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden at his hideout in Pakistan earlier this month was hailed by people across the United States and around the world as a fitting end for a self-confessed mass murderer.

Luis Posada Carriles photographed at Fort Bening, Georgia, 1962. He was convicted in absentia in Panama of various bombings and terror plots. Credit: public domain

Unlike bin Laden, who managed to elude capture for more than a decade, the mastermind of the Cubana bombing has been living openly in the United States.

Trained by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, Luis Posada Carriles admitted his involvement in terrorist activities against Cuba during an interview with the New York Times in July 1998.

Despite the evidence linking Carriles to the Cubana Airlines incident and his personal statements to the press, he was recently acquitted of perjury related to his immigration status and currently lives in Miami.

“The Republic of Cuba and its citizens have suffered more than four decades of terrorism acts organised and funded by the United States,” Pedro Nunez Masquer, Cuba’s ambassador to the United Nations, complained in a statement addressed to the U.N. Security Council last week.

The Cuban government has documented more than 700 incidents of terrorism, resulting in the deaths of 3,500 and thousands of injured, mostly committed by anti-revolutionary groups based in the United States, according to a new book, “Voices From the Other Side”.

“It is particularly important in the era of the United States war on terror to bring a different perspective and to let the reader understand that there are two sides to terrorism,” said author Keith Bolender, a long-time reporter at the Toronto Star and lecturer at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies on U.S. foreign policy and the Cuban Revolution.

“The terrorism they do against us is well known. The terrorism we do against them is unknown, unrecognised and most often denied,” he said at a recent U.N. appearance to promote his book.

From hotel bombings, the murders of literacy teachers and biological attacks to the “Peter Pan” operation in which 14,000 Cuban children were separated from their parents and sent to the United States, “Voices from the Other Side” is based on interviews with dozens of Cubans who have suffered directly from these acts or have had friends or relatives killed.

According to Bolender, the United States launched its covert war on Cuba due to fears that other Latin American countries could become inspired by the revolution and challenge U.S. supremacy in the region.

“If Cuba succeeds, we can expect most of Latin America to fall,” stated a CIA document written during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.

Many regional specialists say that the CIA, anti-Castro Cuban exile groups and dictatorships in Latin America cooperated closely in carrying out these covert activities.

“Practically the only way for the entire truth to be known about the macabre connection between the dictatorships of Latin America, anti- Castro Cuban exile groups and the U.S. intelligence services would be the declassification – without the usual redaction – of secret files of the CIA and other U.S. intelligence bodies, which were the main architects of that connection.” Luis Suárez, a doctor in sociology and professor at the University of Havana, told IPS.

He cited Operation Condor, a coordinated U.S.-backed plan among the military governments that ruled Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay in the 1970s and 1980s, aimed at tracking down, capturing and eliminating left-wing opponents and other dissidents.

The full extent of CIA involvement in that repressive era remains unknown, Suárez pointed out.

“And when it was not those services that committed or organised the crimes, as supposedly was the case in South America’s Operation Condor after the assassination of Letelier, they were always kept informed of the plans and the criminal activities carried out by their members through their different ‘sources’, both in the terrorist groups made up of Cuban-born mercenaries and in the repressive and political- military structures of the Latin American dictatorships,” he added, referring to the 1976 car bomb assassination of Orlando Letelier, a minister in Chile’s democratic government that was overthrown in 1973 by a military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet.

Although there is evidence that such criminal activities and repressive regimes in South America have taken thousands of lives, Suárez believes it is unlikely those responsible will ever be prosecuted.

“Even when all of the information is available on these connections and the criminal actions by terrorist groups made up of Cuban mercenaries, trained and in many cases financed by the U.S. special services or by Latin American military dictatorships, the possibility of the intellectual and material authors being tried and, especially, punished will always depend on the will of the political and military representatives of the dominant classes of the countries where those responsible live or are captured,” he said.

For Alexander Nixon, the organisational development coordinator at the Center for Cuban Studies in New York, “Voices” is a unique opportunity to tell the other side of a story that has so far been dominated by the hard-right Cuban-American community in Florida.

“When Americans hear about Cuba they think Fidel Castro and communism. Keith Bolender’s book… which consists of testimonials by ordinary Cubans, gives Cuba a human face and shows the tragic impact of terrorism by fringe Miami exile groups against the Cuban people. Most Americans are unaware of these acts of terrorism and I hope that Bolender’s book changes that,” he concluded.

*Patricia Grogg reported from Cuba.

Excerpt:

By Aline Cunico
NEW YORK, May 23 2011 (IPS)

With the arrest of the once powerful head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Dominique Strauss-Kahn, following allegations that he tried to rape a maid in his 3,000-dollar- a-night penthouse suite at the Sofitel Hotel, a spotlight has been turned on the treatment of female cleaning staff, many of whom are immigrants who keep silent for fear of losing their jobs or being deported.

Interviews with hotel workers revealed numerous incidents of sexual comments, proposals and harassment, with management frequently turning a blind eye out of deference to their high-profile guests.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a former female employee at the luxury Mercer Hotel in Soho told IPS, “It happens all the time. I think this case was a bit extreme, but yes, it is not uncommon for hotel maids to be harassed or even attacked. I would always hear disrespectful comments, or be asked to join male guests in exchange for money when I worked at the hotel.”

“Most guys who stay at these establishments are high-class businessmen. They have the money and the power to do whatever they please and think they can get away with anything,” she said, adding that cleaning staff is reluctant to complain because they are afraid that the hotels will not back them up under the theory “the customer is always right”.

“If the employee is unsatisfied with the treatment received, they are more than welcome to find a new job,” she said about the prevailing attitude.

But for many hotel maids, finding a new job is not an option. Some are undocumented, while others are in the United States on a work visa that ties them to a specific contract. Both situations make these workers vulnerable to long hours, low wages and in some cases, physical or sexual abuse.

“The control that employers often exert over their foreign national employees and the perception of ‘ownership’ that exists in such relationships creates a sense of fear carried by foreign workers in the United States of losing their employment or being removed,” said Jeremy Richards, an attorney specialising in immigration law.

Strauss-Kahn has since resigned from the IMF to fight the charges against him stemming from the May 14 incident. The French national is under house arrest in New York on a million-dollar bail plus five- million-dollar bond ensuring his appearance in court.

Little is known about his accuser beyond media reports describing her as a 32-year-old West African immigrant and mother of a teenager, who had been working at the Sofitel for the past three years.

Since she came forward with her account, two other female employees say Strauss-Kahn made sexual advances to them during his stay.

“I believe the situation of most hotel maids is undoubtedly delicate not only because most of them are immigrants, but also because they are at the bottom of the hotel hierarchy,” Janaina Santos, a front desk receptionist at a luxury Manhattan hotel, told IPS. “Hospitality is one of the largest industries in turnover and replacing the employee is not a difficult thing.”

She said the incident could spark changes in hotel security policies, which prior to the Strauss-Kahn incident were mainly focused on the safety of guests.

“There was a concern about the employee’s behaviour with the guests, but I do not remember seeing anything, at least in my function, on how to react in the case of being abused by a guest. That is interesting, considering this is not a recent matter,” Santos said.

In a statement released on May 16, Robert Gaymer-Jones, CEO of the Sofitel, stated that the hotel management would be available to assist in the police investigation of exactly what took place at the hotel. The statement reinforced the hotel’s priority to ensure the safety of its guests and staff.

“To protect both guests and staff, Sofitel New York has implemented strict procedures and a whistle-blower hotline to allow employees to report any specific situations. These procedures have been in place for more than a year,” the statement said.

Jones also responded to accusations made by a member of the French parliament that the New York Sofitel’s management had covered up repeated acts of sexual aggression in the past.

“Management is not aware of any previous cases of attempted sexual aggression,” he stated.

Excerpt:

By Aline Cunico
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 22 2011 (IPS)

Earth Day celebrated its 41st year Friday with the slogan ‘A Billion Acts of Green’. The grassroots demonstration is said to have inspired the modern environmental movement, and continues to inform and promote green economic policies worldwide, while attracting over a half billion people every year.

This year, one of the main elements of the Earth Day campaign is the Women and the Green Economy (WAGE) campaign focusing on engaging women leaders in the advancement of a global green economy.

Originally launched in December 2010 at the 16th United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), in Cancun, Mexico, the WAGE Campaign intends to promote leadership amongst women, in order to create a sustainable green economy and alleviate climate change.

“Women are on the frontline of climate change and other environmental crises. It makes sense to see them spearheading the effort to solve our environmental problems and jumpstart the clean energy economy,” Jenny Powers, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council, told IPS.

“Earth Day events give us a chance to celebrate progress, but also to roll up our sleeves and start solving today’s problems,” Powers said. “People from all walks of life have embraced green solutions, and environmental stewardship has become more pervasive than even the Earth Day founders could have imagined,” she added.

“Being disproportionately affected by the negative consequences of climate change throughout the world, women are influential, as home makers and community organisers,” says Katherine Lucey, executive director of Solar Sister, an initiative that supports women and girls in rural Africa by providing access to dependable solar energy. “It is critical that they are full participants in the creation of a sustainable green economy.”

According to the Earth Day Network, educating women about environmental issues is essential, not only because women constitute more than half of the world’s population, but also because they are responsible for over 85 percent of all consumer choices.

“We are creating the next generation of environmental leaders,” Andrea Delgado, senior policy analyst at the National Latino Coalition on Climate Change (NLCCC), told IPS. “Women have a critical role and make most of the decisions at home. It is critical to empower them with choices that are good for the environment,” she added.

“In order to move forward and fight climate change, we need to address the vulnerabilities of women in this fight. Empowering them will play a critical role in shaping environmentally sustainable behaviours and policies within households, communities, nations and beyond,” Delgado said.

“We need to empower women, while improving the environment,” John Coonrod, executive vice president of The Hunger Project, told IPS. He said that simple initiatives could help women escape hunger and poverty in developing countries. “Small-scale farmers – most of whom are women – are perfectly positioned to apply the kind of intensive methodologies needed to achieve goals on a sustainable basis,” he added.

Excerpt:

By Aline Cunico
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 14 2011 (IPS)

According to a special series in the medical journal The Lancet presented in New York Wednesday at the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF, over 2.6 million stillbirths occur worldwide annually, affecting mostly African and Asian women who lack proper access to health care and facilities.

“We need to be more aware,” Dr. Ruth Fretts, a stillbirth expert and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, told IPS. “We need to review all stillbirths systematically so that we can develop strategies for prevention. Stillbirths are a great burden to women, and are life- changing events.”

Fretts added that lack of awareness and health access, affecting mostly pregnant women in developing countries, hamper attempts to reduce stillbirth – the death of a baby at 28 weeks’ gestation or more – and in many cases, causing maternal deaths.

“Developing countries in general have limited resources for the care of women and 27 percent of stillbirths occur in labour. Improved antenatal [care], proper access to antibiotics and timely caesarean section could make a significant reduction in stillbirths,” she said. According to the series, women from low and middle-income countries are 24 times more likely to have a stillbirth at the time of delivery than women in high-income countries. The five main causes of stillbirths are childbirth complications, maternal infections in pregnancy, maternal disorders, fetal growth restriction and congenital abnormalities – most of which could be prevented by empowering women around the world with the right interventions.

Most cases happen in rural areas, where skilled birth attendants, in particular midwives and physicians, are not always available for essential care during childbirth and for obstetric emergencies, including caesarean sections.

Over 1.8 million stillbirths occur every year in India, Pakistan, Nigeria, China, Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Afghanistan and Tanzania.

The Lancet series urged the need for greater public awareness, noting that despite the high numbers, addressing stillbirths is not included in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for maternal and child health set by the United Nations.

“Stillbirths often go unrecorded, and are not seen as a major public health problem,” said Dr. Flavia Bustreo, assistant director-general for Family and Community Health at the World Health Organization. “Yet stillbirth is a heartbreaking loss for women and families. We need to acknowledge these losses and do everything we can to prevent them.”

More aid needed

Another report by the Center for Global Development (CGD), released here Tuesday, reinforces the importance of family planning in developing countries.

An estimated 215 million women lack access to modern contraceptives, causing 75 million unplanned pregnancies every year worldwide.

The report says that maternal and child health have received increased attention in recent years, but states that sexual and reproductive health should be a main priority in developing countries, in order to achieve all the other MDGs.

“One of the biggest issues in achieving the Millennium Development Goals is the high unmet needs on family planning. There is a big demand for information and services for reproductive health, including family planning, most especially for the poorest of the poor,” Benjamin Deleon, president of the Forum for Family and Development, told IPS.

According to the report, little has been done for women in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia since the landmark International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo in 1994.

For example, there are approximately 350,000 maternal deaths each year, most of which could be prevented.

“Maternal health should be the concern of all, particularly the governments from the least developed countries and intermediate countries that are struggling to meet maternal health in the context of MDGs. The international community should provide resources for this purpose. Indeed, no woman should die giving life,” concluded Deleon.

The CGD report urged the U.N. Population Fund, which is facing flat or reduced funding, to take a clear lead on issues of population, sexuality, health, and women’s empowerment.

“UNFPA should focus on its core mission: expanding access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights for women around the world,” said a statement by Rachel Nugent, CGD deputy director of global health and co-chair of the working group that prepared the report.

“Executive Director [Babatunde] Osotimehin can lead the way in preventing thousands of maternal deaths and millions of unwanted pregnancies worldwide each year,” she added.

Excerpt:

By Aline Cunico
NEW YORK, Apr 12 2011 (IPS)

As Alabama became the latest U.S. state to approve a tough anti-immigration bill last week, concerns are growing that other states will take a similar path.

Marc Rosenblum Credit: Courtesy of Marc Rosenblum

The controversial state legislation in Alabama empowers local police to demand proof of lawful work authorisation from suspected immigrant workers and punishes businesses that employ them.

In an interview with IPS, Marc Rosenblum, a senior policy analyst at the nonpartisan, non-profit Migration Policy Institute in Washington, explained how the Alabama bill is likely to affect immigration policy in other states as well, potentially leading to a new wave of racial profiling across the nation. Excerpts from the interview follow.

Q: What will the consequences be of the recent bill passed in Alabama? A: The Alabama House of Representatives approved a bill, HB56, modelled on Arizona’s recently enacted immigration enforcement law SB1070. If approved by the Alabama Senate and signed by the governor, as expected, the Alabama law would make unlawful presence in Alabama a state crime and would require law enforcement officers in the state to investigate the immigration status of people whom they suspect of being unauthorised.

The law also would impose new state penalties against people who hire or transport unauthorised immigrants. If enacted, the Alabama law likely would be subject to a federal court challenge, the outcome of which likely would be linked to the ongoing court case concerning Arizona’s SB1070.

Q: Do you believe this bill could lead to racial profiling? A: The Alabama law would require law enforcement officers to determine the immigration status of any person they stop, or detain “where reasonable suspicion exists that [the] person is an unauthorized alien,” along with anyone who is arrested in the state.

Although the law establishes conditions under which a person is presumed not to be an unauthorised alien, it does not describe the grounds for reasonable suspicion that a person is unauthorised. The law would prohibit law enforcement officials from engaging in racial profiling, but its broad enforcement mandate would make it likely that some law enforcement officers would rely, at least in part, on individuals’ race and ethnicity when deciding whether or not to investigate their immigration status.

Q: Could big migration centres like New York expect similar laws? A: About a dozen states are currently considering enforcement measures modelled on Arizona’s SB1070, with the most active legislative efforts concentrated in the southeast, including Alabama, which has experienced a surge in new immigration during the last two decades.

Although immigration enforcement bills have been drafted in more established immigration destinations like California, Texas, and Florida, immigrant community and business opposition to Arizona-style enforcement measures likely will prevent their passage in these states. The New York legislature is not actively considering an Arizona-style immigration enforcement measure.

Q: What are the biggest issues concerning immigration in the United States? A: The U.S. immigration debate has focused on three key questions for most of the last decade: What to do about the roughly 11 million unauthorised immigrants now living in the United States? How to prevent new illegal immigration? And how to ensure that the immigration system creates adequate opportunities for U.S. employers to hire needed workers and for U.S. citizens and legal residents to petition the admission of their family members living abroad.

While all of the political and legislative activity currently is happening in state capitols, these important immigration issues will not be resolved until policymakers in Washington resolve some profound philosophical differences.

Q: Some argue that anti-immigrant laws are bad economic policy. Would you agree with that? A: The United States benefits economically from immigration. While high-skilled immigrants arguably make the most important economic contributions, including through their innovation and entrepreneurship, even low-skilled immigrants make important contributions by stimulating consumption and investment and providing needed labour market flexibility.

But immigration also has distributive effects, and too much immigration would strain U.S. public services and place downward pressure on wages. The challenge for policymakers therefore is to design policies that admit and even encourage needed immigrants but prevent unwanted immigration.

Q: Congress will be reluctant to address any controversial issues in 2012 due to the elections. Could we expect a meaningful immigration reform nationwide this year? Would this reform possibly benefit illegal aliens? A: Members of Congress and President [Barack] Obama confront conflicting pressures on immigration policy. On one hand, there is widespread public support for fair and practical immigration reform that includes legalisation for some unauthorised immigrants; and many Hispanic voters in particular see “comprehensive immigration reform”, including legalisation provisions, as a priority going into the 2012 elections.

On the other hand, a vocal minority of voters strongly opposes any form of legalisation and favours tougher immigration enforcement measures, including an expanded role for state and local law enforcement officials – as in the recently passed Alabama bill.

Support for immigration enforcement is especially widespread among conservative voters, and most congressional Republicans likely will oppose almost any legalisation bill, making meaningful reform doubtful this year.

Excerpt:

By Kanya D'Almeida and Aline Cunico
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 18 2011 (IPS)

At the 331st meeting of the Committee on the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People held at United Nations headquarters Thursday, delegates made speeches most likely doomed to be lost in the abyss of countless Security Council resolutions, numerous rulings by the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the basic provisions of the Geneva Conventions.

Just a few days earlier, a well-known filmmaker had premiered his latest movie ‘Miral’ at the U.N. General Assembly Hall, hoping perhaps that art rather than dry politics could spark a new discourse of justice in the Middle East.

Adapted from award-winning journalist Rula Jebreal’s autobiographical novel of the same name, Julian Schnabel’s ‘Miral’ chronicles four decades of historical upheaval in the Middle East, beginning with the birth of the Israeli state in 1948 and ending with the signing of the Oslo Peace Accords – a set of promises that Israel is yet to honour – at the tail end of the 1990s.

One day prior to the event, the Israeli Mission made public a letter of complaint addressed to Joseph Deiss, the president of the U.N. General Assembly, protesting the use of the GA hall for such a “highly politicised event”.

“We are not aware of any other films with such contentious political content that have received this kind of endorsement from the President of the GA,” wrote Ambassador Haim Waxman, deputy permanent representative of Israel.

The statement went on to claim “the use of GA Hall for [this] premiere is inappropriate and undermines the credibility of the U.N.”

However, addressing his 1,000-strong audience before the screening, Schanbel stressed that his film was intended to present an alternative narrative about the Israeli- Palestinian conflict, a subject that has become so incendiary in the United States that open dialogue between the two sides has become all but impossible.

Though it has drawn the ire of both Israelis and Palestinians – from the latter for its ‘softness’ and the former for its ‘biased, one-sided’ depiction of the first Intifada – ‘Miral’ is a superbly crafted work that attempts to capture the rich, colourful, anguished, fragmented lives of women “whose destinies are forged by the seismic shifts that occur when Palestine is subsumed by this new Israeli nation”.

Jebreal’s searing journalist’s eye and Schnabel’s insinuating and insisting style combine to create a work that shatters preconceived notions of politics, stereotypes and allegiances in the region – according to the film’s description, it is not “merely about change; it aspires to achieve it.”

Addressing an intimate gathering of film critics at their joint residence in Lower West Manhattan, Jebreal discussed the importance of using art to break taboos. “After so many years of war, I have no faith in politicians…If we don’t do something about this, the only people left will be fanatics and extremists,” she said.

“Creating stereotypes is part of creating an enemy,” she said. “They cease to be humans and become merely symbols. One of the reasons I am happy that this movie was made is that it allows us to rethink the ‘Other’.”

Asked about the controversy surrounding the film, which will be released in the United States on Mar. 25, Jebreal said, “My goal as a journalist was to be objective. This story is what I saw through my window.” Jebreal added that she personally invited members of the Jewish community to the screening, but none responded.

Jebreal insisted on the vitality of education, a theme that occupied the core of the film’s matrix. “Ignorance can be easily manipulated,” she stressed. “An uneducated woman in Palestine has limited options… she either becomes a prostitute, or even worse, a suicide bomber…Education contains the seeds of rebellion.”

Schnabel reminded his critics that “art transcends nationality”.

“This is not a militant film,” he said. “It doesn’t promulgate any cause or promote any ideology. On the contrary it is a humanist film that captures my respect for human beings…[T]here’s no such thing as a good or bad victim.”

“Unfortunately, what my film shows happens every day in other parts of the world. Miral could be a Tibetan, a Chechen, a Kurd, a Tutsi or a Hutu,” he said.

The controversy over the screening of ‘Miral’ mirrors the limitations of the United Nations – and the clout of the United States’ veto power – in securing a just solution for the Palestinian people.

“It should be clear to all of us by now that the U.N. is not capable of upholding Palestinian rights or protecting the Palestinian people,” Richard Falk, the former Special Rapportuer on the situation of Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, told IPS.

“So long as Israel has the unconditional support of the United States, and enjoys the benefits of the passivity toward the struggle by neighbouring Arab governments, the U.N. cannot do more than make gestures of opposition to Israeli flagrant violations of international law as in relation to the establishment and expansion of the settlements,” he said.

“[However], the U.N. remains for the Palestinian people a crucial symbolic site of struggle in the ongoing legitimacy war, which is being won on the global battlefield of public opinion and civil society activism,” Falk added. “The side that gains the high moral and legal ground eventually prevails in conflicts since 1945 despite being inferior in the hard power calculus of military capabilities.”

“The U.N. is an important player in this legitimacy war…it is important to recall the importance of this legitimising function performed by the U.N. in relation to the anti- colonial wars and the struggle against the South African apartheid regime,” he concluded.

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By Aline Cunico
NEW YORK, Mar 10 2011 (IPS)

After trying unsuccessfully for years to design a flawless death penalty system, Democratic Governor Pat Quinn signed a bill Wednesday abolishing capital punishment in the state of Illinois.

Richard Dieter Credit: Courtesy of Richard Dieter

In an interview with IPS, Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, explains what this new victory represents to the abolition movement in the United States, and why the death penalty should be abandoned in all the other states.

Q: What will this represent to the abolition movement in the U.S.? A: It will be a major milestone in a long trend away from the death penalty in the U.S. No state has studied the death penalty and its problems more carefully than Illinois. For the people and their representatives to come to the conclusion that the death penalty simply cannot be fixed and should be ended would be a strong statement for the rest of the country that the death penalty may be in its final phase.

In other states, executions and death sentences are on the decline. Yet enormous amounts of money continue to be spent on a programme that returns nothing to society.

Q: Why do some states still have the death penalty and is the system effective? A: The death penalty in the U.S. has a long history, going back 400 years. It is difficult to uproot such a tradition all at once. But many states are considering legislation to abolish the death penalty and it’s clear that other states will follow Illinois in abolishing it. States that have a lot of executions may be defensive about that process and reluctant to say that those lives should not have been taken.

Few believe that the death penalty is effective. The main argument for keeping it is the belief that certain crimes can only be punished by the death penalty. But as more states prove that even when punishing for horrendous crimes, they are better off without the death penalty, the strength of that argument fades.

Q: Is it more expensive for the state to keep inmates in prison for life, or to apply capital punishment? A: The death penalty system is far more expensive than a system that punishes the worst offenders with life in prison. The legal costs of preparing for a death penalty trial, the trial itself, the appeals, and the higher expense of death row overwhelm the costs of even 40 years in prison.

A death sentence, counting all the related expenses, costs the taxpayer about three million dollars, whereas a life sentence costs about one million dollars.

Q: There could still be executions in Illinois, since the law won’t be applied retroactively. What do you think should happen to the prisoners who have been waiting on death row for so many years? A: The law in Illinois will not be retroactive and current death row inmates may still face execution. The governor could commute their death sentences to life or courts could find their death sentences to be disproportionate, given the state’s vote to abolish the death penalty. In any case, they would likely remain in prison for the rest of their lives.

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By Aline Cunico
Rabat, Mar 7 2011 (IPS)

As hundreds and thousands of refugees and migrant workers continue to be caught up in the political turmoil in North Africa, the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is playing a lead role in reaching out to the displaced providing them mostly with food, shelter and medicines.

Located at the northwest corner of the African continent, Morocco has become a strategic transit point for displaced people , including those seeking refuge in Europe. Morocco is also a destination country when refugees are unable to reach their final goal.

Working with the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and local institutions, the UNHCR also remains the main UN body providing protection for asylum seekers and refugees around the world.

In an interview with the IPS correspondent Aline Cunico, Marc Fawe, the external relations officer for the UNHCR based in the Moroccan capital of Rabat, explains the importance of the organization in Africa , the improvements over the years, and the need for a legal framework for refugees.

Q: Who are are the refugees in North Africa and how does UNHCR differentiate economic migrants and refugees?

A: The refugees in Morocco come mainly from the Sub-Saharan region, with a smaller group coming form the Palestine and Iraq. We currently have 600 sub-saharans, 170 Iraqis and 30 Palestinians . Within the Sub-Saharan communities we have 2 main groups, one from Ivory Coast and one from Congo. They represent 30 % and 27 % of the population. The community in Morocco represents a small group when compared to Egypt, where there are over 30,000 refugees . They are usually on their way to Europe, but end up being stopped here in Morocco. Since the country signed and ratified the convention of 1951, our role is to support the government in getting an institution and legal framework for asylum, while assisting the refugees, in the mean time.

We register them as asylum seekers. We schedule an interview with the protection unit and then, through a long interview, determine their status as recognized refugees or not.

Q: Morocco has serious problems concerning human trafficking. How does UNHCR address this issue and are trafficking victims eligible for refugee status?

A: In some cases, we can recognize and give the protection of the refugee system to a trafficked person, especially if they left their country for fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion– the reasons listed on the Convention of Refugee Status.

The main problem is for women and children who are victims of trafficking in their country of origin, because before considering them for refugee status, we have to consider the guidelines of the convention.

In the past 3 years, the United Nations and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has launched a study on trafficking and smuggling, which is a very sensitive issue. We are working very cautiously on this study, as we were recommended by Ministry of Justice to keep a low profile . It tackles the issue on a global level, by analyzing the trafficking of people from a country to Morocco, or Moroccan women and children trafficked to another country. There is a recommendation to protect the victims, to prevent the phenomenon and to punish the traffickers.

In Morocco, we have plenty of people from Nigeria applying for asylum. We know that some are involved in trafficking and involved in prostitution networks , and sometimes we are not able to give them refugee status, which is a pity, because we are aware of their vulnerability and need of protection.

Q: What are the options for settlement?

A: it is a matter of eligibility. We have a small operation of 20-40 persons a year. We reserve the right for resettlement to the most vulnerable persons– someone who is at risk here in Morocco. In September, we had information that a Tunisian involved in political activities was under threat and there was pressure from Tunisian authorities, so we had to resettled him. We also resettled a teenage girl that had been involved in human trafficking , and had criminals threatening her here in Morocco. The major constraint is usually the condition of eligibility from resettlement countries such as the United States or France.

Q: There is currently a concern for a wave of migration, due to the recent events in Libya, Tunisia and Egypt. Are you expecting any consequences for Morocco?

A: I am not aware of anything right now. It might happen. We also have some recent conflicts in the Sub-Saharan zone, like in Ivory Coast, but we haven’t seen consequences of these particular conflicts yet.

Because of recent mass deportations of illegal migrants, there was an increase in asylum demands, but it is mostly related to local conditions.

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