By Daniel Yang
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 19 2019 (IPS)

When the United Nations General Assembly met in 2007 to vote on North Korea’s human rights record, only 10 of the 56 African countries voted with the U.S.-led western coalition.

The overwhelming majority followed China – either by voting against or abstaining from the resolution.

This has not always been the case. Just three decades prior, the consequential General Assembly vote to replace the Republic of China (Taiwan) with the People’s Republic of China – signaling international recognition of Communist Party rule – was met with resistance from the United States. Although the resolution was passed, African countries did not abide by any side.

In the interim three decades, China rose to be one of the world’s most formidable economic and military powers, surpassed the United States as Africa’s largest trading partner and financed more than 3,000 large, critical infrastructure projects.

More than 10,000 Chinese firms operate in Africa, claiming nearly 50 percent of Africa’s internationally contracted construction market.

China transitioned from the world’s supplier of cheap labor to a leading financier of the developing world, aiming to build bridges – both figuratively and literally – through economic cooperation. Its chief foreign policy project – the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) – has connected 152 countries across continents and facilitated more than 1.3 trillion in trade.

Yet to the west, China’s ascent means an authoritarian challenge to the liberal international system.

In a foreign policy address last December, U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton warned that China has been “deliberatively and aggressively” undermining U.S. interests.

“China uses bribes, opaque agreements, and the strategic use of debt to hold states in Africa captive to Beijing’s wishes and demands,” Bolton said. “Such predatory actions are sub-components of broader Chinese strategic initiatives… with the ultimate goal of advancing Chinese global dominance.”

Although Washington is becoming increasingly alert on Africa, Beijing devised its own Africa strategy long before the twenty-first century.

Shortly after China’s founding in 1949, much of the developing world was still struggling with anti-colonialism and anti-imperialism. China’s then-premier Zhou Enlai saw this as an opportunity to position China – a country that triumphed in the same struggle – as a leader of the developing world.

“Africa’s always been important for China going back to the 1950s,” Dr. Stanley Rosen, professor of political science at the University of Southern California’s US-China Institute, told IPS.

“In the earlier period under Mao, it was because of the number of countries in Africa that had votes at the United Nations and the fact that China was promoting revolutionary movements, so it’s very political.”

“Shortly after the reforms began in China in 1979, Africa became more important economically,” Dr. Rosen added.

In the 1990s, encouraged by then-President Jiang Zemin’s “Go Out Policy” – a government-backed program to incentivize private overseas investment – Sino-African trade grew by 700 percent. With the help of the low-interest loans from the Chinese Export-Import Bank, companies like Huawei spearheaded a new generation’s quest for markets abroad.

Dr. Rosen told IPS that China now seeks to build mutually beneficial relationships with resource-rich countries regardless of their domestic political situation.

In September last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged that China will provide an additional $60 billion in financial support to Africa for at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) through foreign direct investment (FDI) and infrastructure loans.

Perhaps more telling of China’s attraction, more African countries attended FOCAC than the similarly-timed UN General Assembly meeting in 2018.

Xi calls China’s foreign policy, “major country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics” – a doctrine that prioritizes peaceful cooperation than single-power domination.

However, regardless of Xi’s intentions, China’s investment has boosted domestic economic growth and gained political sway over willing African leaders who need technical aid and infrastructure development.

More importantly, China has shown that the western-dominant model of development characterized by neoliberal economic policies and democratic political principles is not the only way. By doing so, China is shifting the eye of world affairs eastward.

In June, 43 African countries drafted a statement to oppose the U.S. veto power on judicial appointments at the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the world’s highest trade court. Again, they sided with China.

China has urged the WTO to oppose U.S. veto power since early last year. Zhang Xiangchen, China’s WTO ambassador, said the international trade system is facing “grave challenges,” referring to President Trump’s trade policy.

“The most urgent and burning question that the WTO has to answer now is how to respond to unilateralism and protectionism,” Zhang said. “What is most dangerous and devastating is that the U.S. is systematically challenging fundamental guiding principles by blocking the selection process of the Appellate Body members.”

“If left untreated, [the policy] will fatally undermine the functioning of the WTO,” Zhang added.

China’s challenge to the U.S.-dominant world order doesn’t stop with the WTO. China has set up international institutions such as the New Development Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) to further solidify its position as the developing world’s financier.

While some have argued that these institutions are potential rivals to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), some are more cautious to assume that China is attempting to change the international order because of China’s lack of clarity in its policy implementation process.

Dr. Yuen Yuen Ang, associate political science professor at the University of Michigan, told IPS that China’s intentions are “not verifiable.”

“While observers are free to speculate upon China’s intentions,” Dr. Ang said. “What we should and can know for sure is a persistent gap between policy formulation and implementation.”

Dr. Ang explained that the implementation of BRI has been “fragmented and uncoordinated,” causing confusion for international partners and participant companies and blurring Beijing’s strategic vision.

Despite its flaws, however, the BRI is showing the world the China way.

On the 95th anniversary of the Communist Party’s founding, Xi announced to a hall of thousands that the Chinese people “are fully confident in offering a China solution to humanity’s search for better social systems.”

As China continues to form alliances in Africa and around the globe, the west may soon need to acknowledge Xi’s foresight.

By Daniel Yang
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 18 2019 (IPS)

The United Nations launched its 2019 report on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), showing inadequate progress in the fourth year into the sustainable development agenda and highlighting the need for imminent global action.

Released on the first day of the SDG High-Level Political Forum (HLPF), the report evaluates progress made towards the 2030 target. Despite achievements in a number of areas, including poverty reduction and global health, the world needs “deeper, faster and more ambitious response” to meet the goal, said UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

“We are moving too slowly in our efforts to end human suffering and create opportunity for all,” Guterres said. “We must diligently ensure that policy choices leave no one behind, and that national efforts are supported by effective international cooperation.”

The report identifies climate change and inequality as two of the most urgent issues. Climate-induced disaster disproportionately affects low-income countries and worsen poverty, hunger and disease for the world’s poorest and most vulnerable.

Climate Change and the Environment

Although more financial resources have been directed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and developing risk-reduction strategies, the world is not on track to meet the target of curbing global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

Mitigating the effects of climate change still requires “unprecedented changes” in all aspects of society, according to the report.

The 1.5°C target was set to reduce the possibility of extreme weather events such as droughts, heavy precipitation and tropical cyclones that can cause human suffering, according to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Guterres called climate change an “existential threat” in a speech on climate action delivered last September.

Liu Zhenmin, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs echoed Guterres’ message by calling climate change “the main obstacle to our shared prosperity” at the press conference where he introduced the report.

“If we do not cut record-high greenhouse gas emissions now,” Liu said. “the compound effects will be catastrophic and irreversible… render[ing] many parts of the world uninhabitable, put[ting] food production at risk, leading to widespread food shortages and hunger, and potentially displac[ing] up to 140 million people by 2050.”

However, even if the terms of the Paris Agreement are implemented, global temperature is likely to rise above 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, according to Dr. Virginia Burkett, Chief Scientist for Land Resources at United States Geological Survey (USGS) and Acting Chair of US Global Change Research Program.

“With significant reductions in emissions, the increase in annual average global temperature could possibly be limited to 2°C,” Dr. Burkett told IPS. “But this would require a rapid transition towards the decarbonization of the global economy and new technologies for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.”

Although the UN’s climate research coordination effort has been effective, Dr. Burkett said lack of internationally coordinated policy solution is likely to affect the pace of progress.

Imminent policy response is also needed to preserve and improve the environment, including key resources such as water.

“Two billion people live in countries experiencing high water stress, and about 4 billion people experience severe water scarcity at least one month a year,” the report identified.

Inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene have been a “major contributors” to illness and health, causing diseases such as diarrhea. Efforts to improve life on land and below water “must accelerate” to meet the 2030 agenda, according to the report.

Wealth and Gender Inequality

The report painted a grim picture towards achieving greater wealth and gender equality.

According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), nearly half of the world’s workers – close to 1.6 billion people – make only $200 a month, and the bottom 10 percent would need to work 28 years to earn the same as the top 10 percent.

Economic disparity also affects gender equality, with men’s median hourly pay 12 percent higher than that of women.

This gap is even greater for managerial occupations due to “rigid social norms and cultural expectations about women’s role in society,” the report said.

Women worldwide also experience persistently high level of sexual violence and often find legal frameworks failing to protect their rights.

“Women and girls around the world continue to experience violence and cruel practices that strip them of their dignity and erode their well-being,” the report noted. “Women and girls perform a disproportionate share of unpaid domestic work [and] continue to face barriers with respect to their sexual and reproductive health and rights.”

Sexual violence is especially common in Sub-Saharan Africa and Central and Southern Asia.

Poverty, Hunger and Global Health

Despite extended progress in the past decade, hunger is again on the rise largely due to adverse weather conditions and armed conflicts in Sub-Saharan Africa, reflecting a “worrisome” trend.

Malnutrition, another effect of inadequate food supply, is still a prevalent condition affecting 49 million children under 5 years of age despite notably decrease since 2000.

“Intensified efforts are needed to implement and scale up interventions to improve access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food for all,” the report said.

The UN introduced the Multidimensional Poverty Index to indicate poverty not only in income but also poor housing, health and quality of work. By this standard, a startling 1.3 billion people – nearly one fifth of the world’s population – remain multidimensionally poor.

As a result, the world is not on track to end poverty by 2030.

“One out of five children live in extreme poverty, and the negative effects of poverty and deprivation in the early years have ramifications that can last a lifetime,” the report said.

However, substantial progress has been made in improving the health of millions across the world, developing cures to fight against previously deadly and infectious diseases and combating maternal and child mortality rates.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, where malaria and tuberculosis continue to plague human health and financial hardship deny access to immunization and routine interventions, global health is still a subject of urgent concern.

“Concerted efforts are required to achieve universal health coverage and sustainable financing for health, address the growing burden of non-communicable diseases including mental health, and tackle environmental factors contributing to ill health,” the report concluded.

By Daniel Yang
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 28 2019 (IPS)

For over 10,000 migrants fleeing to Libya from war and violence, their fate often comes down to the mercy of human traffickers or the dark unknown awaiting in detention centers.

The northern shores of Libya – the largest departure point for African migrants hoping to reach Europe – is a hotbed for modern-day slavery. Captured on land, intercepted at sea, cuffed and injured by militias and human traffickers, migrants are sent to detention centers and exposed to every abuse possible.

“From the moment [migrants] step onto Libyan soil, they become vulnerable to unlawful killings, torture and other ill-treatment, arbitrary detention, unlawful deprivation of liberty and rape,” according to a report by the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL).

However, not only has Libyan authority taken no measures to systematically address the issue, it has expanded its migrant detention capability with the aid of European governments.

‘Serious Health Threat’

The detention centers, controlled by Libya’s Ministry of Interior and guarded by the militias of the Government of National Accord (GNA), often hold hundreds of migrants in overcrowded spaces without proper ventilation or drinkable water.

“In some parts of the centre, toilets are overflowing and are in urgent need of repair. As a result, solid waste and garbage has piled up inside the cell for days and presents a serious health threat,” a spokesperson for the UN’s refugee agency said in a statement.

Poor sanitation has led to deteriorating health conditions inside the detention centers, causing multiple disease outbreaks.

The medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has called the situation “a disaster,” noting that hundreds of detained migrants use “four barely functioning toilets, no shower and only sporadic access to water” in a visit to Zintan detention center.

Dr. Hussein Hassan, emergency coordinator from the World Health Organization (WHO) Libya office, told IPS: “TB with other respiratory infections, HIV and skin diseases are some of the conditions that migrants in more than 34 centers are suffering from.”

Although a TB screening campaign was done in January, those tested positive for TB were kept in the same room with the rest. According to Dr. Hassan, 16 migrants contracted with TB are in worse condition due to interruptions in medical treatment and lack of proper referral system.

An internal UN report leaked to the Irish Times said that more than 80 percent of migrants in Zintan detention center may have been infected with TB.

But TB is not the only disease present in the health crisis, according to MSF.

“Many of them suffer from malnutrition, skin infections, acute diarrhea, respiratory tract-infections and other ailments, as well as inadequate medical treatment,” MSF said in a statement. “Children are held with adults in same squalid conditions.”

However, help is not on the way. Libyan law forbids non-citizens access to public health services, effectively denying migrants proper medical care. Humanitarian organizations are often restricted entry into the centers, causing delays in treatment.

“We have been abandoned here, I cannot go back and no one wants us anywhere,” an Eritrean refugee told MSF. “I don’t know where my place on earth is.”

‘We’re dying’

Exploited by human traffickers and traded as commodities, migrants fear for their daily survival.

“Migrants held in the centers are systematically subjected to starvation and severe beatings, burned with hot metal objects, electrocuted and subjected to other forms of ill-treatment with the aim of extorting money from their families through a complex system of money transfers,” the UNSMIL report said.

Following the bloody civil war in 2011 that brought down military dictator Muammar Gaddafi, Libya fell in the hands of rival factions and Islamist groups. Two forces in the west and north fought to control the country’s oil fields. The period of lawlessness gave rise to smuggling and trafficking along Libya’s borders and coastlines.

Most migrants enter through the country’s southern border. But the warfare between the Libyan National Army and the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) has left southern Libya lawless and unpatrolled.

Human traffickers and well-armed militias intercept migrants enroute to Tripoli, buying off government officials to sell migrant labor at prices as cheap as a few hundred dollars.

Traffickers have created an online market for illegal weapons despite the arms embargo posed by the UN Security Council, adding further uncertainty to the political situation.

“Seemingly unlimited arms supply fuels the erroneous belief in a military solution to the conflict and contributes to the unwillingness of actors on the ground to agree to a ceasefire,” said Jürgen Schulz, Deputy Permanent Representative of Germany to the UN.

Amid the chaos, migrants are left helpless.

“Countless migrants and refugees lost their lives during captivity by smugglers, after being shot, tortured to death, or simply left to die from starvation or medical neglect,” the UNSMIL report added. “Across Libya, unidentified bodies of migrants and refugees bearing gunshot wounds, torture marks and burns are frequently uncovered in rubbish bins, dry river beds, farms and the desert.”

“We are dying,” detainees told the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). “We live like animals; they beat us everyday.”

‘Complicit in Tragedy’

Libyan law groups migrants, political refugees and asylum seekers in the same category under the supervision of the Interior Ministry of Department of Combating Illegal Migration (DCIM).

Even if migrants manage to escape from human traffickers and the DCIM’s search and capture along the northern coastline, European patrol ships in the Mediterranean Sea intercept and return migrant boats to Libya.

The European Union (EU) has invested millions of euros in the Libyan Coast Guard in the name of “efficient border management,” fully aware that those returned can only expect indefinite servitude and abuse.

Oxfam, Human Rights Watch (HRW) and dozens other international organizations condemned the EU’s move, calling the policy “complicit,” in an open letter in January.

“The actions of European governments have made it extremely difficult for search and rescue organizations to continue their life-saving work,” the letter said, calling an end to returning migrants to Libya.

Italy – where most migrants land after a journey across the Mediterranean – has been intercepting migrant boats and assisting to transfer migrants back to Libya since 2009. Although deemed a violation by the European Court of Human Rights’ in 2012, Italy’s effort to guard off African migrants has only intensified since then.

In 2017, the Italian parliament signed a legislation that deploys Italy’s Navy to Libyan waters, aiming to assist the Libyan Coast Guard to “fight against illegal immigration and human trafficking.”

More than 10,000 have died crossing the Mediterranean since 2014, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Yet for migrants fleeing from the insufferable, that stretch of water still represents hope.

The African Union - United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur, Sudan, referred to by its acronym UNAMID, was established on 31 July 2007 with the adoption of Security Council resolution 1769. UNAMID has the protection of civilians as its core mandate, but is also tasked with contributing to security for humanitarian assistance, monitoring and verifying implementation of agreements, assisting an inclusive political process, contributing to the promotion of human rights and the rule of law, and monitoring and reporting on the situation along the borders with Chad and the Central African Republic (CAR).

By Daniel Yang
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 21 2019 (IPS)

Sudanese civilians risk their lives everyday protesting and campaigning for democracy but they face several obstacles, including street closures and no Internet access.

However, the prospect for democracy remains uncertain with regional autocracies aiding the military government, ceaseless violent clashes and the UN on retreat.

A Sudanese protester, Abdelfatah Arman, told IPS that the situation on the ground is characterized by continued violence.

“We started to see military personnel in uniforms, along with the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS),” Arman said, recalling a protest he participated in Al Souq Al Arabi, the largest open market in the capital Khartoum.

“They were heavily armed and blocked, with their open back pick-up trucks, all the roads leading to the Souq or the Presidential Palace. They used batons, teargas, and had snipers in some buildings,” he said, in an interview with IPS.

“We started to run in every direction to get out of there,” said Arman, who is currently a doctoral student at Penn State University’s education school.

He is also a journalist and a member of the Forces of Freedom and Change (FCC), a protest organization group.

Since December 2018, protesters led by the FFC and the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) have taken to the streets in half a dozen cities, demanding the resignation of Sudan’s ruler of thirty years, Omar al-Bashir.

Although al-Bashir was ousted in April, a military government headed by the Transitional Military Council (TMC) has since taken over, rejected the civilian demand for democratic elections and killed more than 100 peaceful sit-in protesters in a brutal crackdown on June 3 that drew international outrage.

Nearly 40 bodies were later reported to be thrown into the Nile River, among them men, women and children. Medical staff were wounded, along with doctors and volunteers at clinics.

Al-Bashir was indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2009 on charges of war crimes in the western region of Darfur. The charges are pending and he never appeared before the ICC in the Hague.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch has condemned the June massacre, calling for a UN inquiry into the TMC’s violence.

“The decision to unleash violence against peaceful protesters is absolutely unjustified and unlawful, and a slap in the face for those who have been pursuing dialogue to achieve a handover to civilian government,” the organization said.

The crackdown continued with a government Internet shutdown aimed to discourage protests, which rely on platforms like Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp, to communicate.

The Internet shutdown has worsened civilian safety, said journalist Zeinab Mohammed Salih, in a letter to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

“Those forced to walk have been seen carrying knives and sticks, especially in Khartoum’s twin city of Omdurman, to protect themselves,” Salih said.

The UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, Gwi-Yeop Son, has noted the “deteriorating” humanitarian situation in Sudan, voicing deep concern that half a million people are at risk of disease infection without access to proper medical supplies.

Despite mounting obstacles, the SPA has reasserted its conviction for a civilian government, called for an international panel to investigate the “barbaric” June 3 massacre in Khartoum and continued to call for civil disobedience.

However, regional autocracies like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are working towards a different end.

In April, the two Gulf countries reportedly sent Sudan’s military leaders three billion dollars in aid to strengthen the TMC’s counter-revolution efforts.

UAE’s Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed promised to “preserve Sudan’s security and stability” in fear that Sudan’s democratic energy could jeopardize his own tightly-controlled nation.

Security intelligence thinktank The Soufan Group warns that the on-going confrontation could risk spiraling into a full-scale civil war.

“There are clear parallels to some of the Arab Spring protests that eventually progressed to full-blown insurgencies, including Syria, where indiscriminate shelling of civilians by the military initially galvanized protest movements that helped launch a broader uprising,” the organization said.

However, a potential civil war could end up in another military government, repeating Egypt’s path following the Arab Spring.

The United Nations has urged for both sides to resume peaceful negotiations and search for a political solution to the conflict.

At the Security Council meeting on June 14, member states stressed that the worsening humanitarian situation demands continued UN support, but Sudan should take control of its own political future.

“A peaceful and orderly transition aiming to achieve the transfer of political power to a civilian, democratic and representative government is the only lasting way to resolve the current crisis,” said Belgium’s representative Marc Pecsteen de Buytswerve.

The UN withdrew its civilian staff in Khartoum after the June 3 massacre but resumed the rest of its operations.

Arman said that the FFC would not hold negotiations with the military government until the sit-in massacre is investigated. However, despite the present tension with the TMC, Arman remains optimistic for a democratic transition.

“We’re hopeful that if we were able to topple dictator Bashir and his successor Gen. Ahmed Award Ibn Auf, we would be able to topple Gen. Al-Burhan and the military junta.”

“We’ll continue our protest and civil disobedience until they’re out,” said Arman. “We will not accept anything less than a civilian-led government.”