Cars clog the Eastshore Freeway near Berkeley, California. Credit: Minesweeper/GNU license

By Malgorzata Stawecka
NEW YORK, Nov 7 2012 (IPS)

The concept of degrowth is not a very comfortable one in overdeveloped countries such as the United States.

But with the planet’s resources stretched to the limit, many argue that an action plan is needed to prevent the world’s largest economy from getting any bigger, especially with the global population projected to grow by another two billion by 2050.

Burgeoning population, flourishing economies and unsustainable consumption are putting a lot of pressure on Earth, disrupting ecosystems and the livelihoods of many human beings. The Global Footprint Network, an international sustainability think tank, estimates that humanity uses the equivalent of 1.5 planets to provide the resources people consume and absorb the waste they produce.

The human footprint on Earth’s systems has more than doubled over the last decades, and experts warn that humanity needs to significantly shrink its economy, while promoting environmental protection and diminishing inequalities.

“This intentional societal shifting is essential for a world where seven billion humans are depleting Earth’s biocapacity and threatening the collapse of key ecosystem services, like climate regulation, fisheries, pollination, and water purification,” Erik Assadourian, a senior fellow at the Worldwatch Institute, told IPS.

“By not proactively pursuing a path of degrowth, then we accept that instead of degrowth we’ll have an uncontrolled global contraction that will lead to much more discomfort and human suffering than degrowth ever would,” he added.

However, the ambitious aim of convincing richer countries to undergo drastic lifestyle changes is proving more elusive than ever.

Moreover, the necessity for degrowth comes at a time when the poorest one-third of humanity is still relying on increasing consumption to cope with a growing food demand and ensure a decent quality of life.

“Sustainable degrowth, in an environmental as well as a social sense, would require some sort of eco-socialist society,” Petter Næss, professor in Urban Planning at the Danish Aalborg University and author of many books that deal with issues of economic growth and sustainability in the urban context, told IPS.

“Major hurdles to such development are the strong ideological and discursive power held by proponents of the dominant growth regime, including the influences through media, advertising and the fact that people’s social status is often judged from their consumption level and wealth, as is their possibility for political influence,” he added.

But planned economic degrowth, far from being inconvenient, may constitute a useful tool to advance sustainable development and poverty eradication, while promoting greater social equity.

“The main challenge degrowth entails is the obvious one: how do we convince those with wealth and power to be willing to redistribute this to others – both within and across societies. All would benefit if that dynamic were altered,” Assadourian told IPS.

In “State of the World 2012: Moving Toward Sustainable Prosperity“, issued by Worldwatch earlier this year, Assadourian highlights creative policies and new concepts in which economic degrowth can lead to an improvement in sustainable development, while solving a range of societal problems.

For instance, “supporting efforts to create informal economic opportunities like small-scale farming and community gardening, bartering, and repair could help in creating new means for people to sustain themselves,” Assadourian says in the report.

Partially relying on self-provisioning could lead to improving the overall well-being of people while reducing their dependence on a globalised food system at the mercy of recurrent extreme weather events, such as droughts and floods.

Moreover, reducing working hours through job sharing and providing longer parental leaves and vacation time could minimise stress and improve productivity.

“As people worked less, they’d earn less, in turn reducing their overall luxury consumption; fewer people would fly, they’d buy smaller homes, they’d choose smaller cars or car-free lifestyles, and so on,” Assadourian said.

“While this would be seen negatively by some, the newfound leisure time and less-stressful lives would offset this – especially if governments also strengthened their traditional role of providing a robust set of public goods: libraries, public transit, safe drinking water, and so on.

And these public goods could be funded by increased taxation of the wealthiest, which would also help reduce luxury consumption by the very segment of society having the largest ecological impact on the planet,” Assadourian added.

Asked whether it is possible to develop a strategy to deal with growth and degrowth simultaneously, he said that even in countries such as the U.S. where the whole economy has to degrow significantly, certain sectors, like renewable energy and sustainable agriculture, should still grow.

The concept of degrowth is gaining attention in countries such as Italy and France. For instance, there are currently 69 Italian cities and towns adhering to the network of ‘Cittaslow’ , a movement founded in 1999 that expanded broadly beyond Italy over the last decade.

“Cittaslow” aims at improving the quality of life in towns by “slowing down its overall pace”, especially in a city’s use of spaces and the flow of traffic, ensuring a healthier lifestyle, promoting cultural diversity and uniqueness of the city, while protecting the environment.

More recently, the 3rd International Conference on Degrowth, Ecological Sustainability and Social Equity, held Sep. 19-23 in Venice, has provided a unique venue for sharing and discussing issues ranging from food sovereignty, energy transition to debt crisis and participative politics, with a particular focus on the solutions and comprehensive degrowth strategies that can be applied in the global South.

“Regulations to ensure a gradually more fair and equitable distribution of wealth and income between the inhabitants locally, nationally and, through U.N.-adopted international taxes and distribution mechanisms, between nations should be implemented,” Næss told IPS.

He warned that, in the absence of such powerful redistribution mechanisms, negative impacts of a degrowth policy, such as severe hardship among the least wealthy parts of the population, increasing societal cleavages, xenophobia and racism will gain a stronger foothold.

By Malgorzata Stawecka
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 1 2012 (IPS)

Upheaval over a new system of press regulation, which envisages stronger government intervention in the media, is posing a growing threat to Britain’s age-old press freedom and to that same freedom worldwide.

Freedom of expression constitutes an inherent part of an effective and participative democracy, especially in countries governed by the rule of law, such as the United Kingdom. But in the aftermath of unethical and illegal behaviour in the British print media sector ranging from phone hacking to cronyism, this fundamental right has come under sharp scrutiny in the UK.

Kirsty Hughes, chief executive of Index on Censorship. Courtesy of Kirsty Hughes.

The Leveson Inquiry, named after its chairman, Lord Justice Leveson, is an inquiry led by a public judge and established by British Prime Minister David Cameron in July 2011 to examine the culture, practises and ethics of the press.

Despite the fact that the inquiry was almost undoubtedly the result of shocking disclosures about the now-defunct British tabloid “News of the World”, it cast a negative light on the entire press system, opening up a wider debate on whether or not to impose tougher limits and regulations on investigative journalism.

“Governments should not control the press or the press is no longer free,” Kirsty Hughes, chief executive of Index on Censorship, the London-based campaigning and publishing organisation for freedom of expression, told IPS. “Without a free press, democratic governments cannot be held accountable.”

“Press standards need to be set by a tough independent regulator, but not by government,” she added.

In an interview with IPS correspondent Malgorzata Stawecka, Hughes spoke about the future of the press in the UK as well as international implications that might arise from the outcomes of the Leveson Inquiry. Excerpts from the interview follow.

Q: What is your view on press regulation in the United Kingdom now? Does UK law protect public interest defence?

A: The current situation in the UK is that there is substantial press freedom, not least as there is a system of self-regulation. But it is far from perfect. While some laws allow a public interest defence, many others don’t, including the Official Secrets Act, the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act and the Computer Misuse Act.

The inconsistencies across different laws means that public interest defences can be a minefield for journalists and other writers to navigate, and the nature of English libel laws also undermines the ability of writers to challenge corporate as well as political power.

We hope that the Defamation Reform Bill currently before Parliament will add a strong new public interest defence, but currently the bill is not strong enough. The Leveson Inquiry is looking at regulation of the press in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal, and many are demanding stronger – even statutory – regulation.

Still, many of the complaints against media and press behaviour are against actions that are illegal and so are covered by existing law. Having said that, a tougher system of self-regulation with stronger standards and a decent system of dispute resolution, avoiding the need to go to court, is needed.

Q: What outcomes of the Leveson Inquiry do you expect in the near future? What implications could the inquiry’s findings have at the international level? 

A: Key questions when Leveson reports in late November or early December are whether or not he recommends statutory regulation of the press. If he does, that will pose a very serious threat to press freedom in the UK, but the key question then will be whether or not the government responds to his recommendations and follows them.

Cameron will not find it easy to ignore Leveson, but he also will not want to be seen as the prime minister who gave up press freedom in the UK. So there is likely to be a very sharp debate if Leveson recommends statutory regulation.

The path the UK chooses will certainly have an impact as a model, to be followed or avoided, in other countries. If the UK were to go for statutory regulation of the press, it would open the door to government control, and many other governments, especially in more authoritarian regimes or in democracies whose commitment to a free press is questionable, such as Hungary, would cite the UK example.

Q: How can press freedom, public interest and the right to privacy be coordinated? 

A: There are clear universal human rights to both freedom of expression and to privacy. These two are often complementary. If everything you do or say on the Internet, for instance, is monitored and your privacy invaded, that will chill your freedom of expression too.

An independent press regulator needs to set out clear guidelines on privacy and the right to privacy, while also being clear on where public interest can override the right to privacy or where there is at least a public interest defence.

Q: Considering constant changes in technology and new forms of communication driven by social media, is there a need to improve regulation of the press, in the UK and worldwide? 

A: The extent and speed of digital communications certainly raises the question of whether any new regulation of the UK press can withstand the test of time. Social media and web communications, blogging, and citizen journalism all mean that many constraints on print media are circumvented online.

This does not mean that print media should not respect the right to privacy or balance it where appropriate with public interest, but it does mean that any overregulation of the press is likely to fail.

Q: How self-regulation can be improved and scaled up?

A: There are various proposals under discussion in the UK as to how to create a tougher system of self-regulation, including a stronger standards arm, even contracts with the regulator, and a clear commitment to alternative dispute resolution so complainants have recourse to a relatively simple procedure – and relatively cheap – without needing to go through the courts.

Excerpt:

By Malgorzata Stawecka
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 23 2012 (IPS)

For millions of people in developing countries, having cataracts means permanently impaired vision or even blindness. While treatment can fix the problem, the cost is well beyond most sufferers’ reach.

Courtesy of Han Demin.

But thanks to a group of Chinese medics, this expensive surgery is now becoming more widely available. “Love is borderless” – this motto guides Dr. Han Demin in his humanitarian efforts to improve the lives of thousands of people around the world.

Han, the superintendent of Beijing Tongren Hospital, director of Beijing Otolaryngology and director of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Collaborating Centre for the Deaf, was honoured with a South-South Award for his outstanding commitment to humanitarian causes on Sep. 23, one day prior to the start of the 66th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

As of 2010, the WHO estimates that there are 20 million people worldwide suffering from cataracts,a clouding on the lens of the eye. Of these, five million are in China, and the number is increasing by 400,000 to 600,000 every year.

Han, along with his team of “flying doctors”, founded the Brightness Action Programme, launched in 2003 and dedicated to restoring eyesight to cataract patients across Africa and Asia. More than 50,000 people have been treated since the programme began, with some 14,000 in Africa alone.

“As a doctor with certain administrative strength, I am capable of paying in-depth attention to the society’s disadvantaged groups by organising more extensive social forces,” Han told IPS.

“I believe that greater contribution to blind and deaf patients can be made through unremitting efforts and summoning larger forces from the society by the propaganda effect of South-South Awards,” he added.

In an interview with IPS correspondent Malgorzata Stawecka, Han Demin talks about his biggest achievements in the field of humanitarian assistance as well as outstanding issues that have to be addressed in the foreseeable future.

Q: What inspired you to create the Brightness Action Programme?

A: In 1999, WHO launched ‘Vision 2020: the Right to Sight’ and stated the elimination of cataract as a priority strategy for the prevention of blindness in developing countries. In 2003, the National Blindness Prevention Steering Group of China started Brightness Action Programme, with the aim of “sending the most advanced medical technology and the best service to the most needed areas and people”.

Brightness Action Programme aims mainly at cataract patients from ethnic minority areas, remote and poverty areas as well as the plateau area. Since 2007, the programme went beyond China and entered North Korea, Mongolia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Pakistan and other countries, whereby in 2010 it extended to Africa, with Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Mozambique, successively.

A large number of poor cataract patients from those countries were examined and operated for free.

Q: How do you engage with sponsors from both the private and public sector?

A: So far, Brightness Action Programme has received extensive attention, vigorous support and funding from Hainan Airlines Group, Macao Mingde Foundation, Central Committee of China Association for Promoting Democracy, China Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Company, CITIC Group Corporation and other institutions and social organisations.

As a standard, comprehensive, low cost, highly efficient and sustainable development mode of blindness prevention, the programme has attracted more and more donors. The individual and group sponsors can propose funding intention through the National Blindness Prevention Steering Group. We provide sponsors with medical technology and consultation on where to go and what to do. I hope that in the near future more international forces will pay attention to Brightness Action Programme and other humanitarian assistance programmes.

Q: So far, BAP has addressed countries such as Asia and Africa. Are you going to expand the programme to other countries where the cataract rate is extremely high?

A: There is no national boundary for medical care, neither for charity. I hope all the cataract patients can get more social attention by the propaganda effect of South-South Awards and that we can help more people suffering from visual impairment and hearing handicap, including patients from Central and South America, to regain their sight and hearing.

Q: What are the main successes of the Brightness Action Programme? What challenges remain?

A: Since 2003, we have sent more than 300 experts and medical staffs from famous hospitals all over China. Our team has brought brightness back to more than 50,000 cataract patients. The oldest patient we operated was 96 years old, while the youngest only five months old. We offered free consultations for more than 10 million patients with eye diseases.

Not only free examination and treatment was offered, we have trained more than 500 local medical staffs by means of the academic communication and surgery demonstration, in order to facilitate the sustainable development of local blindness prevention and treatment. As the number of cataract patients keeps increasing in less developed countries and regions in Asia, and Africa as well, it is very important to strengthen the epidemiological investigation, to diagnose and treat the disease on time. However, we also lack grassroots medical staffs to control the disease.

Q: You’re leading also other charitable programmes, such as ‘Hearing Restoration Action’ and ‘Cochlear Implementation Charity Action’. Could you please elaborate on it further?

A: According to several statistics, there are up to 20 million people with hearing disabilities in China. In order to help these patients to return to a world of sound, especially patients from poor families, our team have joined many famous domestic and foreign enterprises and charity organisations to set up programmes that take care of hearing-impaired children. Up to now, 320 patients received free cochlear implants.

Upon our promotion, the Chinese government initiated a hearing reconstruction programme, Qi Cong Action, back in 2005 that provides annually 3,000 sets of cochlear implants to poor children with hearing disabilities for free, worth about 100 million dollars.

In 2010, the Beijing government issued a policy of providing every newborn deaf child with a free cochlear implant.

Excerpt:

People lining up for food has become a common sight in many major U.S. cities. Credit: Jeffrey Beall/cc by 2.0

By Malgorzata Stawecka
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 16 2012 (IPS)

Against the backdrop of a spreading global economic crisis, exacerbated by changing climate patterns, the global aim of guaranteeing food security for all by 2015 appears to be far from being achieved.

As delegates and activists are addressing the lingering issues of world hunger, malnutrition and poverty on the occasion of World Food Day Tuesday, homelessness and hunger are spreading fast and affecting millions of people across the globe, with far reaching implications in the United States.

In the world’s wealthiest nation, rising unemployment compounded by unprecedented high food prices are contributing to worsening living conditions. Persistent poverty and growing inequalities rather than scarcity of food is the main cause of hunger in the U.S., many analysts say.

According to the United States Census Bureau, since the global economic recession, the number of U.S. citizens who suffer from food insecurity nearly reached a staggering 50 million as of 2010, which represents the highest level ever recorded since the office began monitoring poverty rates more than 50 years ago.

In states such as Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, North Carolina, New Mexico and South Carolina, food insecurity rates are far above the national average.

Moreover, according to the latest figures, 20.5 million U.S. citizens live in extreme poverty. This means their family’s cash income is less than half of the federal poverty line, which corresponds to about 10,000 dollars a year for a family of four.

According to United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) ‘Household Food Security in the United States in 2010’ report, the prevalence of food insecurity varied considerably among households with different demographic and economic characteristics.

Rates of food insecurity are substantially higher than the national average for households with incomes near or below the federal poverty line or households with children.

“Food insecurity is more common in large cities and rural areas than in suburban areas and other outlying areas around large cities,” the report states.

An especially vulnerable group is children, with as many as 17 million children nationwide who are currently struggling with food insecurity. According to several studies, one in four children in the country lacks consistent access to nutritious food to ensure a healthy life. In 2010, the poverty rate increased for children under age 18 from 20.7 to 22 percent.

“Generally we’ve seen a lot of kids here over the last years,” the chief operating officer of the food programme at the Jan Hus Presbyterian Church in New York, Francis S. Rocco, told IPS.

“Financial crisis has a great impact and most have spent a couple of thousand dollars per month on food since the crisis began. But there is no reason that anyone can starve. This is so-called social injustice that we refuse to confront,” he added.

For over 20 years, the Presbyterian Church has provided homeless people with food, clothing and other services. People who have a home are assisted with food once a month.

The church gets 60 to 100 people seeking help on a daily basis.

Indeed, one of the most direct ways to cope with growing hunger in the U.S. is through national nutrition programmes.

More than 46 million U.S. citizens currently rely on the federally-funded food and nutrition assistance programmes to help meet their nutritional needs, with senior citizens, families with children and minority groups among others.

According to USDA statistics, a record 44 million people, or one out of seven U.S. citizens, are currently participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Enrollment rates have particularly risen during economic distress, with current high unemployment which stands at 7,8 percent, as of September 2012.

Formerly known as the Food Stamp Program and administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, SNAP is government’s largest nutritional programme and is broadly available to almost all households with low incomes, with a particular focus on families with children, elderly people and people with disabilities.

Low-income pregnant, postpartum and breastfeeding women, along with infants and children up to age five who are at nutrition risk can benefit from Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, known by its acronym WIC, which provides nutritious foods, nutrition education as well as other health and social services.

WIC participants receive checks or vouchers to purchase nutritious foods each month, ranging from infant cereal, iron-fortified adult cereal to vitamin C-rich fruit and other high-nutritional food products.

Moreover, many U.S. citizens are relying on several government-affiliated food banks and other food pantries and soup kitchens and faith-based communities spread all over the country.

“There is a limited amount of help here. There are people that sleep on the street here at night,” a Presbyterian Church social worker told IPS.

“We receive people who are not working, who are not enough educated to find a work here, we have a class of people who are drugs or alcohol addicted. There are social services in New York City as well as human resources administration, but you’re limited in what you can do until people want to claw out of this cesspool and help themselves. If you have drug or alcohol problems you can’t think straight and your existence is from one day to another,” he added.

“You know where I’m sleeping? I’m sleeping in the front of the church,” a food programme recipient at Jan Hus Presbyterian Church told IPS.

Asked if the city should do more to help its citizens, he said, “There is enough food, but they should give us more shelter, more houses, places to stay at, not in the streets of Manhattan.”

Food-stamp spending is the USDA’s biggest annual expense, which has more than doubled in the last four years, reaching 75.7 billion dollars in 2011.

Ahead of the Nov. 6 elections, Republicans have criticised the high cost of the programme, proposing a new budget plan sponsored by Representative Paul Ryan, the Republican party’s vice-presidential nominee, that intents to cut food stamp funding by 33 billion dollars over 10 years.

Campaigning in Ohio last week, Ryan reportedly stopped at an empty soup kitchen where volunteers had finished serving food and washed clean pots and pans, prompting the president of the charity to tell the Washington Post, “He did nothing. He just came in here to get his picture taken at the dining hall.”

Demolition of Shiliuzhuang village in southern Beijing, Jul. 4, 2012. Bulldozers and hired security officers descended on the village without warning at dawn, razing it within hours. Credit: Amnesty International/Boxun

By Malgorzata Stawecka
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 12 2012 (IPS)

Wang Jiazheng’s family was sleeping at home when the bulldozers, along with security officers, entered their village at dawn.

While the demolition team was approaching their house, Wang climbed onto the roof, poured gasoline on his body and set himself on fire. He died in the hospital several days later.

According to the new report “Standing Their Ground” released by Amnesty International Thursday, the forced eviction of people in both rural and urban areas has become the order of the day in China and constitutes a violation of country’s international human rights commitments on a vast scale.

As affirmed in different international human rights conventions, forced eviction is the “removal against their will of individuals, families and/or communities from the homes and/or land they occupy without the provision of, and access to, appropriate forms of legal or other protection”.

Forced evictions are officially forbidden under international human rights law and can be undertaken only as a last resort after having examined all reasonable alternatives.

“Despite international scrutiny and censure of such abuses amid preparations for the Beijing Olympics in 2008, the pace of forced evictions has only accelerated over the past three years, with millions of people across the country forced from their residences without appropriate legal protection and safeguards,” the 85-page report states.

According to Amnesty International, expropriation and home demolitions in China have risen dramatically, as local governments have been trying to cope with structural budget deficit since the reform of the tax system in the 1990s and pay off enormous debts by selling off land rights, often secretly, to real estate developers.

Moreover, China’s ruling Communist Party leaders defend those who contribute to economic growth, even at the expense of the poorest, as a necessary step of country’s modernisation process.

“The effects of eviction touch all aspects of Chinese society,” Frank Jannuzi, head of Amnesty International’s Washington office and an East Asia expert, told IPS.

“The effects of forced evictions ripple out into the citizens’ ability to start a new life after having lost their homes and possessions and poses a significant obstacle to stability in China,” he added.

Amnesty International is calling upon the Chinese authorities to put a definite end to this practice at the first opportunity and ensure “adequate safeguards are put in place in line with international law”, with proper alternative housing and possibility of seeking redress for all affected citizens.

China’s central government appears to recognise the gravity of the situation, but it does not effectively approach it.

A long-awaited Law on Property Rights, adopted in March 2007, distinguishes the state from collective and individual property rights and provides a uniform domestic legal framework for all residents. However, critics say it doesn’t adequately safeguard civil rights, since it states that forced evictions may take place ‘for the purpose of public interest’, without giving further definition of this notion.

According to the report, the “public interest” often constitutes an excuse for local officials and property developers to increase their revenue and profit. Projects aiming at China’s high-speed expansion of cities and infrastructure often lead to the eviction of hundreds of families who usually are not offered alternative accommodation or adequate compensation.

Moreover, the rights to basic services, such as water supply, electricity or road access, are often violated in total impunity, it says.

However, as of January 2011, some progress has been made with the adoption of several regulations prohibiting the use of violence in urban evictions and guaranteeing adequate compensation based on true market value and not on the agricultural value of the land. But these regulations take into account only home owners and not renters, and are not extended to rural communities, housing rights activists and lawyers warn.

Eviction therefore largely contributes to general impoverishment in the country with the violation of basic human rights, such as the right to health, education, food and water, among others, the report says.

“Chinese who are evicted often must relocate far from jobs, schools and transportation and those who receive new housing do not always receive the proper legal documents of home ownership – putting them at risk of future forced evictions and, in some cases, preventing them from being allowed to legally sell their homes,” Jannuzi told IPS.

Collective protests have emerged as the only way to oppose coerced evictions of people from their homes and turn central government’s attention to the issue. According to the report, property developers and local governments answer such resistance with reprisals that often result in people being injured, ending up in jail or in Re-education Through Labour (RTL) Centres. Beatings, intimidation and threats occur also on a daily basis, the report says.

“In some cases, victims were killed or injured during the demolition process, including one case in which a woman trying to stop a demolition crew was buried by a bulldozer,” the report states.

A string of self-immolation acts in protest against Chinese rule has spread throughout the region. “There have been at least 41 cases of self-immolation in protests since 2009,” Jannuzi told IPS.

Residents who try to seek redress have little hope of gaining justice. “Efforts to appeal, whether through the courts or government agencies, are routinely blocked and sometimes result in imprisonment,” he said, adding that there are several cases of those who do speak out being persecuted and harassed, including the lawyers who defend housing rights activists.

“Being in isolation to me felt like I was on an island all alone, dying a slow death from the inside out,” said “Kyle B.” from California, who was placed in solitary confinement before he turned 18.

Lois DeMott visits her son Kevin, age 20, at the Woodland Correctional Facility two weeks after his release from a prolonged stay in solitary confinement in 2012. Credit: Human Rights Watch

Thousands of young detainees are being held in solitary confinement in jails and prisons across the United States, for weeks, months or even years with virtually no human contact or meaningful motivation, according to a joint report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) released Wednesday.

The report, entitled “Growing Up Locked Down”, investigates jails and prisons in states such as Colorado, Florida, Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania, among others, and is based on interviews and correspondence with more than 127 young people subjected to solitary confinement, as well as prison officials.

“Locking kids in solitary confinement with little or no contact with other people is cruel, harmful and unnecessary,” said Ian Kysel, Aryeh Neier Fellow with HRW and the ACLU and author of the report.

“Normal human interaction is essential to the healthy development and rehabilitation of young people,” he added.

The HRW and the ACLU estimate that, as of 2011, roughly 95,000 adolescents were kept in prisons and jails, comprising a large number of young inmates nationwide who find themselves in conditions of solitary confinement on a daily basis.

Out of 127 investigated young detainees, 49 have reported spending between one and six months in isolation while under age 18, while 29 said that they spent longer than six months in solitary confinement.

“Procedures and conditions for holding young people in solitary confinement vary from facility to facility and state to state,” Kysel told IPS, adding that the problem of solitary confinement affects both young men and women.

“Many facilities use it to protect young people from adults. Because there are fewer girls than boys in the adult criminal justice system, officials may be more likely to have only one girl in their jail, for example, and hold them in solitary because they feel they have no other option. But there is never a justification for holding a young person in their cell for 22 or 24 hours at a time,” Kysel added.

Numerous psychiatric studies show that long-term solitary confinement causes serious and devastating consequences, which range from mental diseases to physical health problems, undermining the process of rehabilitation for adolescents and even increasing the risk of suicide, the report warns.

Several imprisoned adolescents interviewed for the report said they had considered suicide while in solitary confinement.

They also repeatedly reported how isolation compounds the harm of being in jail or prison per se, describing cutting themselves with staples or razors, having hallucinations, and losing control or losing touch with reality while held in solitary confinement.

Moreover, young people are consistently denied visits by their parents as well as access to treatment, basic services and educational programming to cope with their psychological, medical and social needs. As people under age 18 are still developing, traumatic experiences such as solitary confinement may harm their development and rehabilitative potential.

A video produced by Human Rights Watch contains first-hand testimonies from young detainees as well as their families.

Prison isolation reflects the definition of torture as articulated in different international human rights conventions, such as the United Nations Convention Against Torture that defines it as any act “by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person” to obtain information, punish for an act, intimidate or coerce, or for any reason based on discrimination.

The 141-page report offers many alternatives and recommendations to address the issue, ranging from disciplinary to administrative, protective or medical ways of treatment, while taking into consideration the rights and special needs of adolescents.

According to the report authors, young people can be better managed in “specialised facilities, designed to house them, staffed with specially trained personnel and organised to encourage positive behaviors”.

Using any short-term isolation should be a rare exception. Moreover, placing young people in correctional facilities designed to house adults should be strictly prohibited.

“In the past decade, the United States Supreme Court has repeatedly acknowledged that in the criminal justice context, youth are entitled to greater constitutional protections than adults,” the report states.

But “there is not currently a case pending before the Supreme Court on solitary confinement of juveniles,” Kysel told IPS, adding that, however, in a string of cases in recent years the court has said that for the purposes of crime and punishment, children are different and their youth must be taken into account.

“In July, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee held the first-ever hearing on solitary confinement. This is a national problem and could effectively be addressed by a federal ban,” he said.

By Malgorzata Stawecka
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 6 2012 (IPS)

The burgeoning youth population in Pakistan plays a vital role in addressing the country’s major challenges and in shaping its future, both for young people today and for generations to come.

“Meaningful youth participation means their participation in each and every stage, right from planning to execution and monitoring,” Muhammad Shahzad, executive director of the Chanan Development Association, told IPS.

Muhammad Shahzad, executive director of the Chanan Development Association in Pakistan. Credit: Malgorzata Stawecka/IPS

“But we can’t make things happen alone. We have to collaborate with adults, in the communities, in the government sector, civil society and also with the United Nations and other international performers,” he added.

At the age of 12, Muhammad Shahzad began a hunger strike to protest the forced marriage of his 15-year-old sister to an older landlord. The marriage was ultimately called off, but Shahzad and his family were forced to leave their village.

Shahzad eventually ended up with the foundation of Chanan Development Association (CDA), a non-profit organisation aimed at empowering young people in Pakistan.

The Friends of UNFPA, an organisation that mobilises funds and action for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), recognised Shahzad’s important contributions in promoting women’s and youth rights by honouring him with the 2012 Award for the Health and Dignity of Women and Girls in a ceremony in New York on Thursday.

“This award is the recognition not only for us as association but it’s also evidence that young people are considered as equal partners in development. It gives us encouragement and motivation that we’re not alone,” Shahzad told IPS.

IPS correspondent Malgorzata Stawecka spoke with Shahzad about the role that CDA plays in integrating Pakistani youth into the country’s policy-making processes and in effecting social change throughout the country.

Excerpts from the interview follow.

Q: What inspired you to create the Chanan Development Association? What is its main goal?

A: The idea of creating the CDA emerged when I went to school. My classmates and I founded a theater group with the name ‘Chanan’, which means ‘light’ in Punjabi, with the idea that we were going to lighten people’s lives, particularly those of young people and young girls.

We collaborated with various organisations in Pakistan to put on different performances throughout the country. After the performances, we would interact with the local youth, and we realised that a lot of them want to bring about change and to be heard, particularly when it comes to decisions about their own lives. But they lacked a platform, and they lacked guidance.

We decided that we should create an organisation and provide these young people with a platform where we could enhance their skills and where they could get together and ensure that their voices were heard in the decision making process. That’s how we started the CDA in 2006.

Q: What have you achieved so far? What are the main successes of the CDA’s work?

A: Our major successes have been in the last five years. In 2009 we collaborated with UNFPA to launch a programme called Youth Peer Education Network (Y-PEER) in Pakistan. With the help of UNFPA, we have been able to reach out to young people in 65 districts of Pakistan.

We organised campaigns about the sexual and reproductive rights of young people, child marriage, and gender equality and equity. Young people were leading these campaigns and they’ve been heard, not only in the development sector, but also in their own families and communities and at the government level.

We were also part of the national task force that helped the government to formulate provincial youth policy, a process that UNFPA led. The provincial youth policy recently launched in the province of Punjab has a full chapter that talks about population, the health issues of young people and child marriage.

Another success is that through grassroots initiatives and using a peer-to-peer approach, we have engaged about 20,000 young people, particularly those who were out of school, those who belonged to the transgender community, drug users, people with disabilities and young people leaving with HIV.

We also encourage and are very proud of promoting young women’s leadership within the organisation and within communities.

Q: How does CDA engage in policy advocacy at the national level?

A: We work on policy advocacy at different levels.

When we organise any event or workshop, we invite parliamentarians and senators, because we believe that if they are not part of the event, the policies are not going to be youth-friendly. We also approach their offices. For example, we use Valentine Day as one of the events when we send flowers to parliamentarians and advocate for the right to choose a life partner.

There are also different task forces and forums to which the government often invites us. Beside that, we also organise different interactive dialogues between parliamentarians and people.

We’re very fortunate because we’ve been have good credibility with the media. We invite members of the media to our events, not just to cover them but also to only interact with the young people and highlight important issues.

Q: Is there a role for youth in a country’s population planning?

A: I believe that the youth in our country are not meaningfully engaged when it comes to developing population policy. If young people are not engaged, particularly in population issues, or if they are neglected, then the population is going to be double or triple in the coming years. But we have limited resources to provide them with education, health facilities and employment.

UNFPA is taking the lead among the other U.N. agencies to provide opportunities to young people and youth health organisations to partner with them. But I still believe that population departments should engage young people more meaningfully so they can have positive impact on the future.

Excerpt:

Human rights groups reacted with condemnation following a ruling by Bahrain’s highest court Monday rejecting the last appeals and upholding the convictions of nine medics for their role in the 2011 uprising in the capital  Manama.

“Large numbers of Bahrainis have aired their criticisms of the government through peaceful protests. While some protesters have used violence, the overarching climate has been one of nonviolent criticism of the government of Bahrain,” Sanjeev Bery, Amnesty International USA advocacy director for Middle East/North Africa affairs, told IPS.

“Unfortunately, the government of Bahrain has responded with torture, violence, and arrests. It is time for Bahraini government officials to stop attempting to silence political speech through the repression of the state,” he said. The medics were arrested after tending to wounded pro-democracy protesters.

The upheld sentences, announced in mid-June of this year, range from one month to five years in prison. The verdict includes plotting to overthrow the monarchy and gathering illegally, charges that have been strongly denounced by many human rights groups, which said the rulings “violate basic rights such as free assembly” and dismissed them as politically aimed.

“It’s a black day for Bahrain when it imprisons physicians and other medical professionals whose only ‘crime’ was to carry out their ethical duty to care for sick and wounded people,” Richard Sollom, Physicians for Human Rights’ deputy director, said in a statement Tuesday.

“Sadly, these medics have now joined the ranks of other prisoners of conscience unjustly locked up in Bahrain and elsewhere around the world.”

Many human rights organisations view the verdict as a signal to the populace that dissent will not be tolerated. Two of the convicted are missing and believed to be in hiding.

The June verdict is actually a reduction in severity of the sentences originally imposed by a military court in September 2011, in which 20 doctors and nurses were arrested, imprisoned and sentenced to five to 15 years. The arrests followed a government siege of the Salmaniya Medical Complex in Manama, a hospital that was considered an opposition site in the uprising. The medics were among thousands of arrested protesters and are believed to have been targeted solely for their role as medical professionals.

“The organisation believes the real reason why the medics were arrested and tried is because they publicly denounced the excessive force used against protesters during pro-reform demonstrations last year in interviews with international media,” Amnesty International said.

Many of the medics gave reports of abuse, torture, and forced false confession during their imprisonment. The trial of two Bahraini police officers accused of torturing the medics was postponed Monday, as they both failed to appear in court. The next hearing is set for Oct. 18.

“It is important to keep in mind that so far, the government of Bahrain is not known to have investigated any senior government officials for the potential ordering of the many acts of repression that have occurred in Bahrain,” Bery told IPS.

“While lower level police officers should be investigated in cases of torture or other violence, it is not enough to stop there. Full accountability requires that senior government officials also be investigated on the question of whether or not they ordered political repression against critics,” he added.

The retrial and subsequent dropped charges for nine of the 20 medics was a result of the public uproar generated around the world for what was widely viewed as an unfair and politically motivated trial. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also publically criticised the ruling.

The United States’ ties to the Bahraini government have also been under the spotlight. Although Washington postponed he sale of 53 million dollars worth of weaponry to Bahrain upon news of September’s military court hearing, the same deal has been back under review for some months despite appeals from groups like Physicians for Human Rights and Human Rights Watch to hold off.

Bahrain is a small island between Iran and Saudi Arabia and hosts a United States naval base for the Fifth Fleet. It is considered a critical strategic ally by the Barack Obama administration, particularly for its simultaneous geographical proximity to one of Washington’s greatest enemies and one of its greatest political allies.

The 2011 Bahraini uprising was quashed with help from Saudi Arabia, a Sunni majority kingdom that is sympathetic to the ruling Sunni minority of Bahrain.

Seventy percent of the Kingdom of Bahrain consists of Shi’ite Muslims, who have been marginalised by the minority Sunni regime. The uprising was inspired by Egyptian and Tunisian rebel victories, yet it was the only Arab uprising that was successfully quashed through governmental tactical force.

The degree of that force is considered excessive by many human rights organisations and by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon himself.

An investigation by Physicians for Human Rights describes Bahrain’s extreme and unprecedented approach to the use of tear gas as a means of crowd control, which it said caused an increase in miscarriages, respiratory complications, and other illnesses among the Shi’ite population. Thousands have been wounded during the uprising, though the exact number is impossible to determine, as citizens fear to take refuge in hospitals after the raids and arrests of doctors and protesters.

The report by Physicians for Human Rights documented several accounts of injured protesters, including that of an asthmatic man named Mohammed.

“Muhammad’s family reported that he was routinely exposed to tear gas and sought medical care in private hospitals, but never told doctors about his severe adverse reactions to the gas for fear of being reported to authorities and sent to prison,” it said.
Investigations by Amnesty International found no use of violence on the part of the nine convicted medics, all of whom were Shi’ites.

“The fact that all these convictions have been upheld while prisoners of conscience remain behind bars highlights the lack of real commitment from the Bahraini government to fully meet the promises made less than two weeks ago before the Human Rights Council in Geneva,” Ann Harrison, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa deputy programme director, said in a statement Monday.

Babatunde Osotimehin, executive director of the United Nations Population Fund. Credit: Malgorzata Stawecka/IPS

By Malgorzata Stawecka
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 28 2012 (IPS)

With the global population on track to reach a staggering nine billion people by 2050, according to U.N. figures, a stronger action plan is needed to address the challenges of ending poverty, ensuring a well-functioning health system and access to education, as well as guaranteeing social inclusion for all.

“The demographics of the world is a tapestry, it is not just about growth, but there are other issues that we need to address,” said Babatunde Osotimehin, executive director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), a U.N. flagship agency involved in advocating for human rights and gender equity, with a particular focus on youth and women.

“And I would capture it by looking at what I call the continuum of life,” he added in an interview with IPS.

Osotimehin pointed out that, against the backdrop of the current global economic and environmental crisis, more emphasis must be placed on issues such as ageing, access to reproductive rights and education as well as empowerment of women and youth.

Speaking with IPS correspondent Malgorzata Stawecka on the launch of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s global initiative ‘Education First‘ Wednesday, Osotimehin explained how United Nations member states along with UNFPA are preparing to meet the challenges of a world of nine billion.

Excerpts from the interview follow.

Q: What would be the major focus of UNFPA next year? Ageing? Family planning? Rising population in the developing world?

A: There are two extremes which we address. First of all the young people who are at reproductive age or going to become active in their reproductive life. Given the fact that most of these young people live in the developing world, where population growth is still rapid, we as the Population Fund are working with governments to address the issues of comprehensive sexuality education, generally for girls, to make sure that we give them the enablement to attain their full potential, because we know that when girls are educated they make different choices in their lives.

Reproductive health services are included in the plan and we’re working with governments to put in place policies that ensure the rights of people to make those choices without coercion. If you achieve that spectrum, you’ll actually slow population growth. And we’ll continue to do that. We’ve done that in many countries and it’s been successful.

Going forward with a rights-based approach, providing education services, will be the right thing to do. Now that’s one bit of it.

There’s the other bit of it where you look at it and see that the population is ageing and that countries actually are shrinking in terms of their population.

Productivity might be affected because we’ll have fewer younger people than older people. Today one in nine in the world is aged above 60. But by 2050, one in five will be above 60. So, we are seeing the progression towards ageing. We must be aware of it.

In trying to put in place systems and social policies we’re considering what does (ageing) mean for production, running services, employment, social policies, social services, health, housing and education. These are things that we’re involved in and these are the ways we’re engaged with the government.

Q: Do you think the current global economic crisis, especially in Europe, would have a negative impact on funding population programmes worldwide?

A: The current global economic crisis may affect funding for population programmes because we don’t know how long this will go forward. Some of the donors are affected at this point, but hopefully solutions will be found to the eurozone crisis and we begin to see the difference in terms of overseas development assistance.

But maybe it is also the time to begin to look at development systems in a totally different lens. For example, what we’re doing with the ‘Busan agreement’ that actually involves South-South cooperation, cooperation rather than assistance in that sense, technical assistance, modalities of affecting the development process, which might not be entirely dependent on money.

Finally, to also challenge new and emerging economies to begin to participate in the development agenda through south to south and just making sure that this share of experiences are across the regions and across the world. That’s probably what is going to happen.

Q: The programme of action adopted at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo will commemorate its 20th anniversary in 2014. Do you expect a follow-up international conference?

A: There is not going to be an international conference, but a high-level meeting at the United Nations. I think at that point we’re currently engaging, reviewing how far we’ve come in the Cairo process and by 2014 we’ll have the secretary’s general report on what we’ve already accomplished with the rights-based approach to reproductive health, but basically also to identify gaps, what are the things we need to take forward, programming wise.

We’ll be able to use that to inform our agenda, but more importantly also inform the development agenda of 2015 because reproductive health and the rights of women and girls has to be front and centre for us to actually make progress.

Q: What in fact are the successes and failures of ICPD? Have the funding targets for ICPD been achieved? if not, how big is the shortfall?

A: Funding targets have not been achieved so far. I couldn’t tell you exactly how much it is, but we’ve made progress. As you can see, there is a great increase in female education around the world. We’ve also been able to provide comprehensive sexuality education in many countries and to improve environmental policies about reproductive health.

We’ve also seen greater spending domestically by governments themselves in this area. Of course there are many challenges, like resistance to women’s issues to ensure reproductive health and rights, but I think, all in all, we’ve made great progress.

Q: With the launch of ‘Education First’, Secretary-General’s Ban Ki-moon’s global Initiative on education, what role will UNFPA play?

A: The role of UNFPA in this initiative is to highlight the unique perspective we’ll bring to education. A) On the current issue of girls’ education which is crucial for national development; B) to insist that education is comprehensive and to include comprehensive sexuality education; C) to also go forth to talk about empowerment of young people and provide them with the skill set to be able to participate effectively in national development. That’s what we bring.

Three days ago, I said the young people are the future and I was told by young people, “No, we’re here. We’re not the future, we’re today.” And it’s true. Because the changes that happened in North Africa were by young people and that’s what happens all over the world.

There are challenges for all of us, but it’s important to see how can we make sure that young people are part of the conversation and that they see themselves as a part of solution and not the problem.

Excerpt:

In 1996, Maria Mamerita Mestanza Chavez, a 33-year-old Peruvian mother of seven, was threatened with imprisonment if she did not comply with the government policy of undergoing sterilisation. After suffering post-operative complications for which she was refused treatment, Chavez died nine days later.

After years of legal proceedings in the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), in 2003 the Peruvian government finally acknowledged international legal responsibility for its actions.

Chavez’s story is not the only case in which national law has forced women to undergo involuntary sterilisation. Although many women’s and disability rights organisations and other human rights bodies have condemned coercive sterilisation, thousands of women and girls worldwide are still denied the right to make decisions about their own reproduction.

Participants on the first day of the Fifth Session on the Conference of States Parties to the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, hosted by the U.N. Sep. 12-14, 2012. Credit: UN Photo/Rick Bajornas

Involuntary sterilisation, an operation which, without an individual’s consent, permanently ends his or her ability to reproduce, has occurred in regions with many different cultural backgrounds, ranging from the United States and Switzerland to Japan, China, Puerto Rico, Brazil and others.

The operation “has historically targeted…marginalised groups of women such as women with disabilities, women from ethnic minorities, indigenous women, low-income women and women living with HIV”, said Luisa Cabal, vice president of the New York-based Centre for Reproductive Rights, at a side event organised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) at the U.N. headquarters Sep. 13.

WHO estimates that over a billion people in the world, or approximately 15 percent of the global population, have disabilities.  According to a WHO report, disabled women are particularly vulnerable to involuntary sterilisation.

Forced sterilisations on disabled women are often performed under the auspices of medical legal services or with the consent of court-appointed guardians, who have the authority to decide on behalf of the patient. Various justifications are offered for the procedure, including disabled women’s inability to parent, protection from sexual exploitation and abuse, population control, or so-called menstrual management.

An international approach

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD), adopted in 2006 and ratified so far by 119 countries, recognises that disabled individuals have the right to make decisions freely and responsibly regarding their reproductive lives.

These rights and others were discussed at the Fifth Session of the Conference of States Parties to the CRPD, which concluded at U.N. headquarters Sep. 14. This year’s conference focused on women and children.

Strongly advocating the rights of women with disabilities at the conference was Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein, Jordan’s ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations.

In his remarks at the opening session, Hussein outlined the role Jordan’s Higher Council for Affairs of Persons with Disabilities (HCD) has played in raising awareness of and advocating for the rights of Jordanian women with disabilities who are subject to sterilisation, which he called a “misconceived and shameful practise”.

“The committee targeted parents, doctors and gynecologists, legal experts and judges as well as religious leaders to address this issue,” Hussein explained.

Despite the existence of the CRPD, disability is not even explicitly mentioned in the U.N.’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), pointed out Ahmed Abul Kheir, Egypt’s ambassador and advisor to the Minister of Social Affairs. He urged the U.N. to tackle the issue at a high-level meeting of the General Assembly on disability and development in September 2013.

Government accountability

In 2011 five women with mental disabilities brought their case before the European Court of Human Rights. Each had involuntary undergone the process of tubal ligation without their informed consent. This case, Gauer and Others vs. France, remains open but is considered best example of how involuntary sterilisation can be effectively tackled by international institutions.

“A positive decision from the court in this important case would have a tremendous impact on reinforcing the autonomy of women with disabilities with respect to their reproductive health,” said Yannis Vardakastanis, president of the Brussels-based European Disability Forum, in a press release.

“States are under an obligation to take measures to prevent such violations and to investigate and prosecute them to the fullest extent when they do occur,” he added.

Nevertheless, preventive measures and support services are often limited and insufficient, according to Cabal, the Centre for Reproductive Rights vice president.

“Governments and health institutions have weak or inadequately implemented informed consent policies, guidelines, procedures to protect patient rights,” she said. “There is very little accountability for the ethical and human rights violations.”

“The human rights obligations of each state requires the adoption of all necessary measures – legislative, budgetary, judicial and administrative – to ensure women with disabilities access to reproductive health services,” Cabal told IPS. States must also establish accountability mechanisms to ensure laws and policies are fully implemented.

Moreover, victims of forced sterilisation must have access to the court system to vindicate their rights, Cabal said.

According to Erszébet Földesi, the vice president of the European Disability Forum, one of the main challenges preventing forced sterilisations is providing women with disabilities with appropriate information about their sexual and reproductive health care options. Another challenge is obtaining their free, full and informed consent to such procedures.

Health professionals ought to be “trained to deal with and assist women with disabilities in the area of sexuality and reproductive health and motherhood”, she added.

Asked what support must be delivered to the victims of forced sterilisation, Földesi told IPS that victims must have access to “recovery, rehabilitation and social integration”.

Highlighting the issue through social media networks or elsewhere online could help raise the awareness of the general public and policymakers about forced sterilisations, Földesi added.