Feras Fayyad and his colleagues run Sout Raya, a radio station in Turkey. Credit: Sudeshna Chowdhury/IPS

By Sudeshna Chowdhury
NEW YORK, Mar 27 2015 (IPS)

Outwardly, Feras Fayyad is stoic in face of the immense turmoil both he and his country are going through. All of 30 years old, Fayyad, who runs Sout Raya, a radio station in Turkey, exudes calm. His voice is almost soothing.

But beneath that quiet demeanor lies a relentless man who believes that the show must go on. Causalities in war-torn Syria are rising with each passing day. With hundreds of thousands of Syrians fleeing their homes for safe passage into neighbouring countries, there is a huge question mark regarding how many more refugees these countries – namely, Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon – can absorb.

The situation also is dire for Syrian journalists, who are vulnerable to arrest by the Assad regime as well as extremist organisations. According to Human Rights Watch, among those held in detention facilities in Syria”many are political detainees, targeted solely for exercising their rights to free expression and peaceful assembly, or for helping others exercise those rights.”

Fayyad was arrested twice by the Assad regime but was released on both occasions. Here is his story in his own words.

The village of Hampi located in India’s southern state of Karnataka has long been an attraction for tourists from all over the world.

Visitors at the Virupaksha Temple in Hampi. Credit: Arian Zwegers/cc by 2.0

Modern-day Hampi is now home to the ruins of what was the last capital of the Vijayanagar kingdom.

The Group of Monuments in Hampi has been declared a World Heritage site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). But a recent road-widening project carried out by the state’s Public Works Department (PWD) in Hampi has drawn flak from UNESCO, activists and experts from all over the world.

The Hampi World Heritage Area Management Authority (HWHAMA), which is in charge of protecting the site, has sought an explanation from the PWD, according to various media reports.

Built by a local king in 1860, Dadapeer Chatra, the 153-year-old structure that served as a resting place for visitors was bulldozed by the PWD to widen a road.

And, in spite of it being a World Heritage structure, UNESCO was not informed before the construction work began.

According to the operational guidelines for the implementation of the World Heritage Convention, the country has to notify UNESCO of any project that it wishes to undertake that might have an impact on the outstanding universal value of the World Heritage site concerned, Kishore Rao, director of the World Heritage Centre at UNESCO, told IPS.

And in Hampi’s case, “No permission was granted by UNESCO for this project and we have also learnt about the destruction of the building from news reports,” Rao said.

UNESCO has now taken up the matter with the Indian authorities to seek details of the incident and the action that they propose to take in this regard, Rao added. There are no penalties involved if the guidelines are violated as the World Heritage system is one of international cooperation, he told IPS.

When the threats are very serious or recommended measures are not implemented, the World Heritage Committee adds the site to the World Heritage Danger List, with a view to draw greater international attention to the threats and mobilise a greater level of support, Rao added.

But this approach is “certainly ineffective”, said John Fritz, co-director of the Vijayanagara Research Project.

“It is bureaucracy to bureaucracy,” Fritz told IPS, adding that UNESCO did not lodge any objections when heritage buildings in Hampi were tampered with earlier.

On the current construction work in the area, Fritz said there is a lack of will and effort to protect the history of the place. “They could have widened the structure and worked in a manner to avoid tearing down a heritage structure to widen a road,” he added.

Abha Narain Lamba, a conservation architect from India, believes that in an area like Hampi, “road-widening to my mind is rather unnecessary”.

Road-widening projects in historic areas of the neighbouring city of Hyderabad have already resulted in many historic facades being lost forever, she added. “ I wonder what road-widening can achieve in Hampi, given it is not a metropolitan area prone to traffic jams,” Lamba told IPS.

However, Vikas Dilawari, another conservation architect in India, believes that Hampi is just a case in point. “The concept of cultural investment is not known in our country as there are no immediate tangible benefits seen,” Dilawari said.

The problem is amplified by the lack of government support and failure on the part of the central government, the state government and the local bodies to arrive at a consensus when it comes to protecting heritage structures, he added.

Kathleen D. Morrison, director of the South Asia Language and Area Centre, University of Chicago, seconds that. There is a distressing lack of communication between departments and agencies when it comes to managing India’s cultural heritage, she said.

“This incident also points to the need for better education about and pride in India’s rich cultural heritage,” Morrison said.

In India, there are centrally protected monuments and those protected by state governments. But in case of Hampi, there are various parties involved who are responsible for taking care of the monuments.

The Archaeological Survey of India under the Ministry of Culture looks after the centrally protected monuments at Hampi, while the State Department of Archaeology takes care of its listed monuments, said Himanshu Prabha Ray, chairperson of National Monuments Authority (NMA) in India.

At Hampi, where monuments are found over a very large area and belong to several different periods of history, a local authority has also been constituted for the protection of monuments and a management plan has been worked out, Ray added.

While sustainable development and preservation of history continue to be a challenge in this day and age, the problem when it comes to protecting heritage structures is further compounded by the widespread belief among opinion leaders that money spent on protection of heritage is a drain on resources and that the same expenditure could be better utilised for development projects, experts say.

In the long run, the apathy towards Hampi might make it difficult for the 33 other properties in India that that are seeking World Heritage status from UNESCO, said Dan Thomspon, director of the Global Projects and Global Heritage Network (GHN).

And when it comes to protecting Hampi’s heritage, there are currently 44 sites all over the world that are on the List of World Heritage in danger. Hampi might soon be simply the most recent addition to it.

By Sudeshna Chowdhury
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 18 2013 (IPS)

In a recent report to the U.N. Security Council, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon acknowledged the possibility of poaching as a threat to not just wildlife or endangered species, but to the greater stability and peace in general.

Courtesy of Vanda Felbab-Brown

“Poaching and its potential linkages to other criminal, even terrorist, activities constitute a grave menace to sustainable peace and security in Central Africa,” he said in the report.

Early this month, U.S. President Barack Obama also announced new initiatives to tackle international poaching.

Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), the rebel group responsible for killing hundreds and displacing thousands in the Central African Republic (CAR) and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), is poaching elephants to buy weapons and ammunition, according to a report by the Enough Project.

From ivory in Africa to rhino horns in northeast India, the poaching nexus is extensive  and complicated.

Poaching statistics say it all.

A record 668 rhinos were reported killed in 2012, according to the “Illicit Trade Report” published by the World Customs Organization (WCO), an intergovernmental organisation.

According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), rhino poaching in South Africa increased 3000 percent between 2007 and 2011.

In an interview with IPS correspondent Sudeshna Chowdhury, Vanda Felbab-Brown, a senior fellow with the Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence in the Foreign Policy programme at the Brookings Institution, a well-known think tank in the U.S., and an expert on international and internal conflicts, said, “Wildlife trafficking’s illicit economy is one of many lucrative illicit economies terrorists and other armed actors can tap into.” Excerpts from the interview follow.

Q: What is the connection between poaching and terrorism?

A: Armed groups, including terrorist groups, tend to tax any economic activity in the area they control or where they have substantial influence. Wildlife trafficking can be extremely profitable. So, it’s a tempting target for armed groups to tax or directly participate in.

Their presence undermines park protection; and vice versa.

During an active armed conflict or insurgency, wildlife protection tends to be of least priority for security forces. Thus wildlife trafficking is both a highly lucrative illicit economy for armed groups and a relatively easy one to penetrate, particularly in remote areas.

At the same time, there is often a great deal of complicity on the part of park rangers and wildlife traffickers. Armed groups that have taxed or engaged in wildlife trafficking include the Maoists in Nepal during the civil war; the Taliban in Afghanistan; Janjaweed in Sudan; various parties to the Angola war and many more.

Q: Given that poaching and terrorism are two different issues, how do you tackle them?  

A: Restoring security is key. In the context of violent conflict, all kinds of illicit economies will thrive, including wildlife trafficking. However, focusing on the armed actors is not sufficient. Much poaching takes place in regions where there is no violent conflict. This is possible due to corruption among rangers.

Also, the local population may not be deriving sufficient economic benefits by conserving wildlife in their area.

Addressing the other aspects of wildlife trafficking is no less important than focusing on the violent armed actors. In fact, poaching is mostly being committed by actors who are not armed insurgents in regions where there are no violent conflicts.

Q: Which areas are the growing markets for wildlife products?

A: One of the most devastating and rapidly expanding markets is eastern Asia, particularly places like China, Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam. Indonesia is a major source country for wildlife products. It also has a growing internal market for various kinds of wildlife products.

But among East Asian populations in the United States and Europe there is demand for such products. Similarly, in Russia, the (ill)legal trade in exotic furs is booming. East Asia also has witnessed a long tradition of seeing wildlife and nature purely through a lens of consumption. For example, traditional Chinese medicine has been consumed for many centuries now.

In parts of Africa, such as Zambia or West Africa, there is also a long and deep history of consuming bush meat.

The slaughter of elephants, rhinos, and tigers attracts most attention because they are such iconic animals. But poachers also target a large number of sharks, snakes, turtles, pangolins, and various bird species.

Q: In this day and age, is a public-private partnership (PPP) the best way to deal with poaching?

A: Public-private partnership is just one aspect of the policy that could be fruitful. Some conservation efforts could perhaps be done even without a strong role of the state. In other domains, such as the enforcement of law, the role of the state is crucial and inescapable.

Q: What role does world bodies like the U.N. could play in combating terrorism? Could sanctions work?

A: The U.N. is a body that both promulgates international laws, norms, and regimes, and has the capacity to adopt shaming strategies and developing blacklists, as well as imposing a variety of other sanction.

But actual security operations whether against terrorist groups or wildlife poaching groups have to be undertaken by member states. They may well have a blessing of the U.N, which often attracts attention and can increase legitimacy.

Q: Is the problem of terrorism as a result of poaching proliferating?

A: No, terrorism is not proliferating because of poaching. Terrorism is driven by its own enabling factors, which are varied and complex. Poaching has nowhere is the world generated new terrorists.

However, the wildlife trafficking illicit economy is one of many lucrative illicit economies terrorists and other armed actors can tap into. But, it is equally crucial to acknowledge that much poaching – in Tanzania, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa – takes place in the absence of violent conflicts and are nor carried out by terrorists or other armed groups.

Excerpt:

A man holds his ill son in Basra, Iraq shortly after his young daughter had died of cancer. The picture was taken in February 2011. The boy died of cancer a few months later. Credit: Karlos Zurutuza/IPS

By Sudeshna Chowdhury
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 17 2013 (IPS)

A long-awaited study on congenital birth defects by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Ministry of Health (MOH) in Iraq is expected to be very extensive in nature.

According to WHO, 10,800 households were selected as a sample size for the study, which was scheduled to be released early this year but  has not yet been made public."There is reason why a group of very smart scientists are not exploring the 'why' question in their study.” -- Susanne Soederberg, Canada research chair at Queen’s University

Many scientists and experts have started questioning the time delay in publishing the study, but there is another aspect that is a cause for concern among some health experts.

The report will not examine the link between the prevalence of birth defects and use of depleted uranium (DU) munitions used during the war and occupation in Iraq, according to WHO.

A by-product of the uranium enrichment process, DU is prized by the military for its use in ammunition that can punch through walls and armoured tanks. The main problem, experts say, is that DU munitions vaporise on contact, generating dust that is easily inhaled into the lungs.

The WHO study will also not consider pollutants such as lead and mercury as factors or variables, Syed Jaffar Hussain, representative and head of mission for the WHO in Iraq, told IPS.

According to WHO, establishing a link between the prevalence of congenital birth defects and exposure to DU would require further research by competent agencies or institutions.

Discussion and preparation for the study that started in mid-2011 was conducted in the wake of reports and individual studies conducted in Iraq which found a significant increase in the prevalence of congenital birth defects, says WHO.

Previous studies also pointed at some kind of correlation between metal pollutants, possibly DU used in 2003 and 2004 during the U.S. military attacks in Fallujah, with congenital birth defects in the region.

However, the causes will not be part of the MOH and WHO study. And this is what has invited criticism from some health experts and scientists.

Mozhgan Savabieasfahani, an environmental toxicologist based in Michigan, who along with her team had published papers on congenital birth defects in Iraq, said that for the WHO to not consider uranium and metal pollutants as a causal element of birth defects is “worrying”.

“I think this is going to be one of the big weaknesses of the report given that previous studies have shown links between pollutants and birth defects,” she said. “It would have been very logical for them to have carried out the analysis by collecting human samples and environmental samples and analysing if they have metals or pollutants.”

Previous studies

Large quantities of DU weaponry were used in Iraq during the war by the US and UK armed forces, according to a report released earlier this year by a Dutch NGO.

Another report titled “Metal Contamination and the Epidemic of Congenital Birth Defects in Iraqi Cities” suggests that the bombardment of Al Basrah and Fallujah may have “exacerbated public exposure to metals, possibly culminating in the current epidemic of birth defects”.

The genetic damage and cancer rates in Fallujah is worse than that seen among survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, according to another report published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

In one study, uranium and other contaminants were found in hair from the parents of children with congenital anomalies in Fallujah.

To not look into uranium “is an important omission”, said Keith Baverstock, a former health and radiation adviser to the WHO.

There is absolutely no doubt that DU is toxic if it becomes systemic and gets into the bloodstream, Baverstock told IPS. The question with respect to its military use is “under what circumstances can it become systemic?” he said.

As far as risk posed by DU in general is concerned, Baverstock believes that WHO has miserably failed to assess risks posed by DU. “There is no doubt in my mind that the upper management of WHO failed to fulfill their obligations to examine the public health implications of DU,” he said.

In another study, Human Rights Now (HRN), a Tokyo-based international human rights organisation, conducted a fact-finding mission in Fallujah earlier this year. The mission recorded birth defect incidences first-hand over a one-month period in February 2013, and conducted interviews with doctors and parents of children born with birth defects in Fallujah.

“[The] epidemic of congenital birth defects in Iraq needs immediate international attention,” Kazuko Ito, secretary general of HRN, told IPS.

“DU is one of the possible causes, even if it has not yet been proved as the very cause of problem,” Ito said. “WHO does not provide a reasonable explanation why it is fair to opt out of this issue.”

HRN sent its report to both the U.S. and UK governments. The British Ministry of Defence, in its reply, said that there is no reliable scientific evidence to suggest that DU is responsible for post-conflict incidences of ill health among civilian populations and that DU can be used in weapons, according to UK policy.

Remediation measures

Immediate intervention in the affected areas is paramount at this point, said Saeed Dastgiri, Department of Community and Family Medicine School of Medicine, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences in Iran.

Neural tube defects in Fallujah and Al-Ramadi are about 2.6, 3.4, 3.8, 4.7 and 6.7 times higher than that reported from Cuba, Norway, China, Iran and Hungary, respectively, Dastgiri told IPS. They are also 3.2 times higher than that estimated for the global population, he added.

However, John Pierce Wise Sr, director of the Maine Center for Toxicology and Environmental Health at University of Southern Maine, is of the opinion that WHO’s decision to first determine the prevalence before delving into the cause is not illogical.

“Such a design would be slow as it would take a while before one got to the root cause, but it is not illogical as logic does say one has to identify that there is a problem before one seeks to identify what the cause of the problem is,” he said.

While DU’s impact in causing birth defects is still not clear within the scientific community, Wise said that if there is data that point towards elements that are causing the birth defects, it seems more humane to design the study to tackle both issues together.

If the problem is identified then those children who are conceived can be protected by avoiding the problem, Wise added.

But Susanne Soederberg, a professor and Canada research chair at Queen’s University who is also waiting for the study to be published, did not mince words.

“I strongly believe that the WHO, like most international organisations, is not a neutral body, but is influenced by the geopolitical powers of its members,” she told IPS. “So, yes, there is reason why a group of very smart scientists are not exploring the ‘why’ question in their study.”

Malala Yousafzai (right), the young education rights campaigner from Pakistan, speaks at the “Malala Day” UN Youth Assembly. Credit: UN Photo/Rick Bajornas

By Sudeshna Chowdhury
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 13 2013 (IPS)

Malala Yousafzai and Muhammad Qasim have a lot in common.

Both of them hail from the remotest areas of Pakistan, which have been battling extremism and terrorism for many years now."It was only later that I realised that the Taliban were not pro-humanity and pro-Pakistan. They were killing innocent women and children." -- Muhammad Qasim

Yousafzai is from Pakistan’s northwestern Swat valley, and Qasim comes from the Chakwal region of Punjab.

Yousafzai stood against the Taliban in her pursuit for education. Like Yousafzai, Qasim was determined to educate himself as well as his sisters. He and his friends constructed a secondary school for girls in his village by collecting funds through charity and donations.

In her speech at the United Nations Friday, Yousafzai said, “The extremists were and are afraid of books and pens.

“The power of education frightens them,” she added.

Qasim seconds that. “Those living in cities cannot be targeted by the Taliban because they are educated, unlike in rural areas where there is illiteracy,” he told IPS.

The main commonality between 16-year-old Yousafzai and 23-year-old Qasim is that both of them are children of conflict and education is their passion.

The attack on Yousafzai, who was shot in the head by the Taliban but heroically recovered from her injuries, made headlines all over the world.

Qasim was informed of the attack after receiving a text message from a friend, he said. Since then he and his friends have organised protests, and used social media to raise awareness about girls’ education in Pakistan.

Qasim and Yousafzai came face to face a few days ago in New York. Qasim’s excitement knew no bounds when he spotted her at the airport.

“I inquired after her health,” Qasim said. “She said she was doing fine and that she is planning to select geography and history as her main subjects.”

Dressed in a yellow T-shirt and a pair of jeans, Qasim exudes an air of confidence.

Growing up in a remote area of Pakistan, Qasim had just one dream. “I wanted to become an engineer,” he said.

Qasim is one of the 1,000 youth leaders who arrived at the U.N. in New York City to mark “Malala Day”.

To honour Yousafzai’s courage for standing up against the Taliban and insisting that girls have a right to go to school, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has designated Jul. 12 as “Malala Day.”

And on this occasion, Qasim is here to lend his support towards education for girls.

According to a report titled “The State of Pakistan’s Children 2012,” launched by the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC), a well-known child rights organisation in Pakistan, almost 25 million children and adolescents are out of school in the country.

For Qasim, too, the education he wanted did not come to him easily. After studying for five years in a primary school, Qasim’s father enrolled him into a madrassa (an Islamic religious school).

“Those at the madrassas would tell us not to go to government schools to pursue a normal education,” Qasim told IPS. “There was pressure on my father from the madrassa. And my father also insisted that I give up my normal education and pursue religious education at the madrassa.”

Qasim was not ready to compromise, he said. Initially, he would juggle his religious and academic education.

“Friday, being the Muslim religious holiday, I would go to school and catch up with the assignments, and the rest of the six days I would be studying in the madrassa,” he said.

Life in the madrassa was tough, recollects Qasim. It was a few months before 9/11 when he enrolled into a religious school in his village.

“I was 11 or 12 years old then,” he said. “At that time the Taliban were our heroes and we would honour them.

“It was only later that I realised that the Taliban were not pro-humanity and pro-Pakistan.
They were killing innocent women and children and this is when people realised that the Taliban were not the right people to support,” Qasim said. “They are not even Muslims,” he added.

However, life in a madrassa did not appeal to him.

“The perception outside is that students are tortured and they go crazy in madrassas,” he said. “I must say that the situation is exactly not the same as being portrayed. But these things do exist where children are beaten and brainwashed. But I was clear from the very beginning that this is not what I wanted for myself.”

Qasim fought with his parents and finally convinced his father to allow him to pursue his studies in a government school.

“This is the only way I could become an engineer,” Qasim said.

Until tenth grade he studied in a village school and then he shifted to a nearby city. He won a merit-based scholarship and is currently studying at an engineering college in the capital, Islamabad. Qasim now works part time for a company. He has extensively worked in flood-hit areas in the country. But he strives to achieve something bigger in his life.

“I want to build a good college in my area and then convert it into a university after a few years so the children from my village can study.”

Not only has he managed to educate himself, Qasim is determined to educate all his sisters, too.

His trip is an inspiration for the members of his community, but coming to the U.N. might pose a huge risk, he admitted.

“I am concerned when I return home to Pakistan,” he said. “But this is a lifetime opportunity and I wanted to express myself before the world.”

As far as the role of Pakistani government is concerned, Qasim said that the government is trying but corruption has been a major deterrent when it comes to education. Also, changes needs to be implemented at a policy level, along with funding, which continues to be a huge challenge, Qasim said.

According to a new policy paper by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO) Education for All Global Monitoring Report, 28.5 million children, who constitute half of the world’s out-of-school children, live in conflict-affected countries. The paper further claims that humanitarian aid for education has declined to 1.4 percent, down from 2.2 percent in 2009.

Only seven candidates running for  membership in the Geneva-based U.N.  Human Rights Council (UNHRC) this year showed up during an event Tuesday, which provided a platform for candidates to outline their plans and commitments towards protection of human rights as well as their vision for membership.

According to Amnesty International (AI), which along with International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) co-organised the event, invitations were sent to all 17 countries that had declared their candidacies.

These countries included Algeria, Morocco, Namibia, South Africa, South Sudan, China, Jordan, Maldives, Saudi Arabia, Viet Nam, Russian Federation, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Cuba, Mexico, Uruguay, France and the U.K.

“We wish that more countries would take part,” Jose Luis Diaz, AI’s representative to the United Nations told IPS. “Even though, we did not have all of the candidates this year, we have representatives from all the regional groups.”

Representatives from France, Maldives, Mexico, FYROM, Uruguay, the U.K. and South Sudan participated in the event.

All the candidates were first asked to respond to a general question on how they would strengthen the Council and thereby improve the promotion and protection of human rights worldwide– if they were elected as members. Candidates were also asked specific questions about human rights challenges in their own countries.

Human Rights Ambassador of France, François Zimeray defended the “universality of human rights” and insisted that members must be asked to give their own accounts of human rights situation in their countries.

Asked about forced evictions against Roma communities in France, Zimeray said that each case of expulsion is judged on its own merits. “No expulsion can be decided in France without the order of a judge and it should never be a collective decision, but only an individual decision, “ he said.

AI in a recent article published April 2013 stated, “Evicting hundreds of people without offering any adequate alternative housing or support is a shameful and callous action that totally ignores France’s international human rights obligations.”

While Ambassador Ahmed Sareer, Permanent Representative of the Maldives to the U.N. outlined the achievements of his country in the human rights sphere. Asked about the recent attacks on journalists and activists in his country, Sareer said the broader issue should be considered here. This was the time when Maldives was under heightened political turmoil and crime rates were increasing, he said.

But many organisations such as Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) have condemned attacks on journalists in the country calling such reports as “disturbing signs that the Maldives is backsliding on press freedom.”

The discussion also touched on issues raning from enforced disappearances in civil society to combating torture. As members of civil society, the challenge is to ensure greater level of transparency and accountability, as well as constrain politicisation when it comes to human rights issues, Diaz told IPS.

The terms of 14 members of the council end  Dec.31, 2013. Elections to the council will be held in a few months. Latest media reports also suggested that Iran and Syria would contest the UNHRC elections this year. But Alireza Miryousefi, counselor, Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran, told IPS, “Iran withdrew its candidacy in February 2013.”

A poster against Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. Photo courtesy of Shadi Latta.

By Sudeshna Chowdhury
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 4 2013 (IPS)

For the small town of Kafranbel in Syria, the old saying “a pen is mightier than a sword” still rings true. Every week in Kafranbel, protesters draw posters, write banners and demonstrate against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

In a twist, however, hundreds of such posters and banners are finding their way to the United States through activists’ efforts to ensure that this evidence is preserved for future generations.

Shadi Latta, a doctor based in Illinois, received the first 100 posters in February. The next set had about 20 posters, and he expects about 100 more soon, according to Latta, who was born and raised in Kafranbel.

The posters are smuggled out of Syria and stockpiled in Turkey before being shipped to the United States, Latta said, adding that taking them out of the country was probably the only way to preserve them.

With the raiding of major cities and demolition of historical sites, experts say that Syria’s cultural heritage is under threat as war rages between the rebels and Assad’s forces.

The World Heritage Committee has added six World Heritage sites in Syria to its “List of World Heritage in Danger”, and Irina Bokova, director-general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, condemned the continuing destruction of the ancient city of Aleppo, a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1986.

For those in Kafranbel, the posters and banners are becoming an integral part of Syria’s history and as such must be preserved for future generations, said 41-year-old Raed Fares, who was behind the idea."This was a way for us to reach out to the international community and get our message out there."
-- Raed Fares

“Under constant shelling and bombing, you never know when you could lose all of these,” said Fares, who is based in Kafranbel. “We thought that it is better to ship them to the U.S. so that they are safe. Also, this was a way for us to reach out to the international community and get our message out there.”

Exhibitions

Latta has been helping Fares in this endeavour by displaying the posters in the United States, with exhibitions held in Indianapolis, Chicago and Atlanta, as well as in other areas.

Reactions have been emotional, but sometimes people are simply surprised, said Latta. Written in both Arabic and English, the posters are witty and unapologetic. “That is what people like about them,” he said.

The posters also reflect U.S. pop culture, often using Hollywood movies and cartoon characters as underlying themes to communicate with a global audience.

Latta’s personal favourite is a picture of Assad in a famous pose from the movie “Titanic”.

Though the original posters are not for sale, duplicates are made for people who want to buy them, said Latta.

The plan is to organise an exhibition in New York by the end of July. So far the exhibitions have managed to raise 650,000 dollars, which is going towards humanitarian aid in Syria, he added.

A long road

Creating these posters and getting them to the United States is no easy task, however.

It all started when Fares, who was studying medicine at Aleppo University, teamed up with Ahmad Jalal, an artist who agreed to create posters back in 2011.

When Fares and Jalal initially began their work, Kafranbel was still a battlefront, Fares recollected.

The duo would draw the posters in a makeshift tent a few miles away from Kafranbel. “Assad’s men knew we were doing it,” said Fares, who eventually dropped out of college. “They burned down our houses and destroyed all the buildings in the area. But since we were hiding they couldn’t arrest us. That is why we are still alive.”

With the Assad regime closely monitoring every anti-Assad chant or protest, demonstrators would immediately burn the posters after the protests, recalled Fares.

“But we realised that this was part of our history, and we should preserve them instead of destroying them,” Fares said. They soon began burying posters after every demonstration, until Fares realised that nearby Turkey would be the safest place to store them.

Posters were being smuggled out of Kafranbel, across  Syria’s border and into Turkey, and they are now being shipped to Latta’s home in the U.S. state of Illinois.

“When I would get the posters here, there would be particles of soil stuck on them,” Latta said. “Some of them would be moist, simply because they were buried for such a long time.”

Later, when Kafranbel, which has a population of just under 20,000, fell into the hands of the rebels, Fares and Jalal set up their own office in the town.

The “media centre” is now their official space where they carry out their work. Equipped with generators and laptops, the centre is also home to foreign journalists who arrive at Kafranbel. As an activist, Fares now films demonstrations and tries to spread awareness about the real situation in Syria.

“We are just peaceful protestors who are fighting against oppression,” Fares said. He doesn’t identify himself as a rebel or a fighter but emphasises that the people of Kafranbel are on the rebels’ side.

For those like Latta who are part of the Syrian diaspora, everyday reports of violence are unnerving. Latta’s in-laws are still in Syria, while some of his family members have left the country.

The United Nations estimates that the death toll in Syria since March 2011 has reached nearly 93,000. Still, Latta and Fares are hopeful, believing that victory will be theirs and Assad’s end is near.

By Sudeshna Chowdhury
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 1 2013 (IPS)

Untold thousands dead and thousands more stranded or missing – these are the latest figures from various reports on the devastation caused by flash floods in the Indian state of Uttarakhand.

Susan Martin. Credit: ISIM

According to the United Nations, the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami displaced 2.2 million people in 12 countries. In Bangladesh, 4.4 million people were displaced by Cyclone Sidr and floods in 2007, estimates the world body.

And an estimated additional 200 million people will be displaced due to climate change and natural disaster by 2050, according to Refugees International.

Experts say that the assessment of damage in natural disasters becomes all the more difficult simply because of the underlying uncertainty that accompanies such calamities.

The international community has long been mulling over the impact of climate change on migration.  It is high time that climate refugees or environmental migrants get some serious attention, said Susan F. Martin, director of the Institute for the Study of International Migration (ISIM) in Washington, tells IPS correspondent Sudeshna Chowdhury.

Excerpts from the interview follow.

Q: How can climate change affect migration? Is it mostly internal displacement or is it large-scale country-to-country displacement?

A: The first point is that environmental factors are seldom the principal reason that people move. People generally migrate when environmental problems intersect with other factors, such as economic (loss of livelihoods), political (lack of governmental safety nets), and social (networks of people who have already migrated) ones.

There are four pathways through which climate change is likely to increase the propensity of human mobility in the context of these other factors:

Changes in weather patterns that contribute to longer-term drying trends that affect access to essential resources such as water and negatively impact the sustainability of a variety of environment-related livelihoods including agriculture, forestry, fishing, etc.

Rising sea levels and glacier melt that cause massive and repeated flooding that render coastal and low-lying areas uninhabitable in the longer-term.

Increased frequency and magnitude of weather-related acute natural hazards.

Competition over natural resources that may exacerbate pressures, which contribute to conflict, which in turn precipitates movements of people.

The first two are slow-onset processes that are likely to lead to gradual increases in migration.

The latter two involve acute events and are likely to lead to more immediate, large-scale displacement.

We expect most of these movements to be within the borders of countries but in some cases, the migration and displacement is likely to be across international borders.

Much of the international migration is likely to be into neighbouring countries – for example, Bangladesh to India. A minority of the movements will likely be to more distant countries. There are cases, however, in which whole communities and even countries may need to be relocated, particularly in the small island states facing significant levels of rising sea levels and no interior to which people can move.

Q: Are the displaced mostly farmers and workforce from the rural sector whenever we talk about migration due to climate change?

A: It depends on the specific ways in which the impacts of climate change manifest themselves. In situations of prolonged drought, for example, the displaced are likely to be farmers and others dependent on rain-fed agriculture.

On the other hand, intense and frequent cyclones and hurricanes may displace thousands of people from urban areas along the coast. Generally, though, the extent of displacement in both rural and urban areas is tied to the way in which governments and communities prepare for and respond to these events.

With advanced planning, communities can increase their resilience to adapt to the effects of climate change in situ.

Q: Critics often argue that it is too soon to take climate change seriously. What will you tell them?

A: Ignoring the migration implications of climate change has considerable risks. If we wait too long, more people will move in emergency circumstances with little choice of destination and few opportunities to protect themselves from harm.

Policies should avoid situations where affected populations are forced to move (distress migration) or move in emergency situations. Special attention should be paid to providing alternatives to irregular migration through targeted temporary and circular work programmes. In cases, however, where the impacts of climate change preclude return to home countries, the focus should be on permanent admissions.

Q: Has there been enough documentation that can establish the link between climate change and migration?

A: There are still many gaps in our understanding of the interconnections between climate change and migration. Perhaps the most important involves numbers. As of today, there are no credible projections of the number or characteristics of persons who are likely to migrate principally as a result of environmental change.

Many of the estimates that have been published conflate different forms of movement: short-distance movements, longer-distance internal movements, cross-border movements into neighbouring countries, and longer distance international movements.

The estimates do not distinguish between temporary displacement and permanent relocation within each of these forms of migration. Nor do they provide information about the gender, sex, age, or socio-economic characteristics of those who are likely to migrate in each of these categories. And, there is little information about the likely migration corridors – that is, projecting from where and to where people will migrate.

We need considerably more empirical research on communities already experiencing significant environmental impacts to help develop the evidence base needed to make more accurate projections, not only of overall levels of migration but, more importantly, of how migration is likely to manifest itself.

Q: Which are the regions to be worst affected by climate change?

A: Climate change will have impacts on both developing and developed countries. The difference is that developed countries generally have the financial resources to be able to prepare, respond and recover from the effects of climate change.

The impacts will be felt more acutely in poor countries and, especially, in those weak governance or experiencing conflict and political instability.

If the experience with the 2010 earthquakes in Haiti and Chile is a harbinger of what is likely to happen, particularly in acute events, it is worth noting that a much stronger earthquake in Chile led to little loss of life, largely because of building codes and other preparatory actions, whereas a weaker earthquake in Haiti led to devastating loss of life and displaced millions.

The natural hazard (the earthquake) was not the principal culprit; poor governance and poverty made people in Haiti much more vulnerable.

Excerpt:

Jotham Musinguzi, a doctor from Uganda and the International Islamic Centre for Population Studies and Research (IICPSR), a research centre based in Egypt, were the recipients of the 2013 United Nations Population Award.

The awards presented Friday by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) consist of a gold medal, a diploma and a monetary prize. During the award ceremony Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, “Population dynamics are central to sustainable development.”

With the 2015 deadline for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) approaching fast, Ban said that it is a “critical moment” as efforts are underway to shape a vision for the post-2015 development agenda.

Musinguzi won the award in the individual category for advancing better reproductive and maternal health in Africa.

Musinguzi played an important role in preparing the Maputo Plan of Action to address sexual and reproductive health and rights. The Maputo Plan of Action was later adopted by the African Union in 2006.

Asked about the major challenges Africa faces on maternal healthcare, Musinguzi told IPS, “Poverty is a big issue and needs to be tackled and sorted out.”  But on a broader scale, it is a combination of factors, such as, illiteracy, lack of doctors as well as lack of health services that further add to the problem of maternal healthcare in Africa, Musinguzi told IPS.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), about 800 women die from pregnancy or childbirth-related complications around the world every day.

IICPSR associated with the Al-Azhar University in Egypt emerged as the winner in the institutional category.  The research center has an integrated approach to population related issues and works towards educating people about Islam as well as dispelling myths about Islam.

But the bigger challenge is to make the people, who now run the government, understand about the health problems that already exist, said Gamal Serour, who accepted the award on behalf of IICPSR.

“Those who were in opposition came to office and they were not aware of maternal mortality; they were not aware of the importance of contraception,” Serour told IPS.

In the Middle East, where liberals and Islamists often disagree on several issues, it is important to reach out to all the factions and not only those who are in power, Serour said.

IICPSR is also raising awareness about female genital mutilation (FGM). About 140 million girls and women all over the world are currently living with the consequences of FGM, according to WHO.

An image from the documentary film "My Afghanistan", directed by Nagieb Khaja. Credit: Henrik Bohn Ipsen

By Sudeshna Chowdhury
NEW YORK, Jun 26 2013 (IPS)

A bomb blast on a road. A suicide attack near a grocery store. Such is the uncertainty for ordinary men and women in Afghanistan, where daily life is still marred by violence.

The documentary film “My Afghanistan: Life in the Forbidden Zone“, directed by Nagieb Khaja and screened recently at the 2013 Human Rights Watch film festival in New York City, depicts this uncertainty, bringing viewers to Afghanistan’s war-torn Helmand province, where the film’s subjects, with the help of mobile phones, tell their own stories.

There is Hakl Sahab, who drives a dilapidated jeep without brakes, and Abdul Mohammed, who loves his farm and his wife. The film also shows the struggle and determination of a woman who wants to become a journalist.

IPS correspondent Sudeshna Chowdhury spoke with filmmaker Nagieb Khaja about how these subjects portray a different side of Afghanistan from what media usually showcase and how Khaja tells the story of civilians caught in the crossfire.

Excerpts from the interview follow.

Q: So many movies have been made on Afghanistan. What did you want to communicate with your film?

A: The mainstream media does not show the full story of Afghanistan. Moreover, I do not think there have been a lot of documentary films in the past that show a civilian perspective of Afghanistan, especially in rural areas."The mainstream media does not show the full story of Afghanistan."
-- Nagieb Khaja

We have had documentaries from Kabul, and we have had documentaries on Afghanistan’s pop culture. We have had a lot of small sunshine stories told through movies. But the rural population in Afghanistan has been left out.

Q: Why have mainstream media and journalists not focused enough on rural Afghanistan?

A: The obvious reasons are security and the risk of getting kidnapped. Most of Helmand in Afghanistan is rural. If I wanted to make a film where the audience could actually follow my subjects and see what kind of life they lead, my cameraman and I would have to live with the subjects and accompany them everywhere. All my subjects, as well as my cameraman and I, would draw a lot of attention and risk many lives.

For journalists, it is not impossible for anyone to go out in these areas and interview people. What matters is the method you use to meet the demands of your project or the story you are working on.

If I, as a journalist, lived in a village with a family for a week, people in the area would immediately learn that some stranger is living with the family. Then this family or person could be accused of assisting foreign forces, and they would get into trouble.

All these factors are huge impediments when it comes to making documentaries in rural areas from a civilian perspective in such a way that you can really get to know them.

Q: Why did you use mobile phones for the movie?

A: To have somebody walking around with a video camera is not normal in rural Afghanistan. With mobile phones, it was easier because a lot of people already have mobile phones. So it wasn’t something unusual, although the phones I gave them had touchscreens and were much more expensive than what they were using.

Q: What concerns did you have when you were working on the movie?

A: I was really concerned about one of the women who was a subject in the movie. I was concerned not only about her immediate security but the effect her participation in this project could have on her socially – she might be ostracised if people found out that she was filming for this movie.

The second thing was security issues for some of the contributors living in war zones.

Q: Why did you call the movie “My Afghanistan?”

A: My parents are from Afghanistan – my father left Afghanistan for Pakistan before moving to Germany and then Denmark. I had also visited Afghanistan earlier and was kidnapped by the Taliban.

So 20 percent of the movie constitutes my take on Afghanistan, which I experienced in a way that is not perceived by Western media. But most importantly, 80 percent of the movie features the way my subjects perceive Afghanistan currently.

Q: How different was Afghanistan under the Soviets?

A: The Soviets were brutal when it came to punishing civilians, but infrastructure and education were much more developed during the Soviet era than what we see now. You would see women wearing skirts, and they had a lot of freedom. There was less corruption, too. Right now Afghanistan has a much more conservative society.

But the motives behind the Soviets coming to Afghanistan and the Western forces coming to Afghanistan were different. The Western forces came to Afghanistan for Al-Qaeda. Afterwards, they kept fighting the Taliban. The Soviet Union managed to gain much more than the Western forces.

What I am saying is that the risk of Afghanistan becoming a much more regressive society is huge. And the world bodies are not doing enough because the United States is the one leading the negotiations. We need a mediator.

Q: Do people in Afghanistan want foreign forces to withdraw as soon as possible?

A: The majority of people in Afghanistan want foreign forces to leave not because they support the Taliban, but because the majority of Afghans do not support anyone, including the government.

People there do not see any benefit from a foreign presence. They have this mentality that they want to sort out their problems themselves.

Excerpt:

Ilegal drugs threaten stability and security of nations worldwide, said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during a panel discussion  Wednesday to commemorate the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

According to the 2013 World Drug Report released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Vienna on June 26,  some of the most violent areas relating to drug trafficking lie along the Honduran coast.

An earlier report on Global Study on Homicide by UNODC in 2011 stated that Honduras had the world’s highest murder rate: 82.1 homicides per 100,000 people. But delegates representing Central American countries of Honduras and Costa Rica expressed their disappointment over the latest report.

Following the panel discussion,  Ambassador Marco A Suazo, deputy permanent representative of Honduras to the United Nations, said the report hasn’t been fair to “transit countries” such as, Honduras where drugs are stockpiled to be trafficked to countries such as the United States.

The report doesn’t take into account the larger social and economic factors in these countries and their representation is not fair, Suazo said. “It is very generic,” he added.

Significant increases in seizures of cocaine have been noted in Asia, Oceania and Central and South America, and the Caribbean in 2011.

Simone Monasebian, director of UNODC in New York clarified that earlier reports by UNODC had looked into problems faced by transit countries.

The Central American countries are caught between Colombia and the United States, Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue, told IPS.

And the world’s largest cocaine seizures – unadjusted for purity – continue to be reported from Colombia (200 tons) and the U.S. (94 tons), states the report.

While it is widely known it is through the Central American region that cocaine from Colombia reaches U.S. markets,  there are many reasons as to why drug trafficking is such a huge problem in Central American countries, such as Honduras, say experts. “Weak political institutions being one of them,” Shifter added.

Looking at the issue broadly, there is a need to develop a nuanced understanding of the drug problem, he said. It is not just a law enforcement issue but a health issue as well, he added.

Other findings of the report show that cannabis is still the most widely used illicit substance. Currently the highest prevalence of cannabis use among 15-64 years old is in Italy, followed by Nigeria and the U.S., UNODC told IPSl.

Afghanistan continues to produce 75 percent of opium globally, states the report. In fact, Africa has now become a vulnerable transit continent for both cocaine and heroin, according to the report. The abuse of prescription drugs and new psychoactive substances (NPS) is on the rise, according to the report.

A Syrian pastry chef in Little Syria. Photo courtesy of Save Washington Street.

By Sudeshna Chowdhury
NEW YORK, Jun 20 2013 (IPS)

A brick red, six-story tenement house, St. George Melkite Church and a community house in desperate need of repair are nearly all that remain of a once thriving Arab-American community in downtown New York City.

High-rise buildings now populate the area of Lower Manhattan formerly called Little Syria that has been a gradual casualty of industrialisation and urbanisation and which Arab-American youth are fighting to keep alive.

With the church declared an official landmark in 2009, one organisation, Save Washington Street, hopes to preserve other remnants of this neighbourhood. Its primary goal is to achieve landmark designation for the community centre, which used to provide immigrants with resources ranging from jobs to glass bottles of milk, said Carl Antoun Houck, director of Save Washington Street."The Syrian refugees and their history are...not so new to this country."
-- Carl Antoun Houck

Norah Arafeh, an undergraduate student at University of California Berkeley, serves as the outreach director of Save Washington Street and was drawn to the cause by her Syrian roots.

Arafeh’s father was raised in a neighbourhood of Damascus, Syria and came to the United States when he was 17, said Arafeh, who joined the Little Syria campaign almost two years ago and now reaches out to various groups to solicit support for the neighbourhood.

“The importance of preserving history – both in the U.S. and in Syria, in this case – cannot be understated,” Arafeh said.

For many Arab Americans today, Little Syria was where ancestors arrived in pursuit of the American dream. Among them were Houck’s mother’s family, who emigrated from Lebanon.

Preserving the past is a huge part of every Arab American, Houck said, raising his voice amid the din of construction work in the area.

With the Obama administration considering resettling of hundreds of Syrian refugees in the United States, Houck pointed out, “The Syrian refugees and their history are, after all, not so new to this country.”

A lost melting pot

Little Syria once extended from what was the World Trade Centre down to Battery Park and to the west of Broadway behind Trinity Church to West Street, according to Joe Svehlak, an urban historian and preservationist.

“It was a melting pot with 27 different nationalities living together in harmony and peace. They were Syrians, Lebanese, Slovaks, Germans, Irish,” he said.

In Little Syria’s heyday, from the late 1800s to the mid 1900s, it wasn’t surprising to find a German living next to a Lebanese, who would be living adjacent to a Syrian, with all of them trusting one another, Svehlak added.

Peddling was the main occupation of the immigrants living in the area, which was comprised of merchant houses, restaurants, cafes and factories making the linens from which immigrants earned livelihoods, said Todd Fine, a historical and strategic adviser for Save Washington Street.

While economic factors were the main impetus for emigration from Greater Syria, many others also left to escape persecution and conscription in the Ottoman army, according to historians.

Those who lived in the area, Svehlak said, actually referred to it as the “Mother Colony”, while outsiders from other parts of the city called it Little Syria, dubbing it thus because the majority of residents were Arab Christians from Lebanon, Syria, Palestine and Jordan, as well as parts of Iraq, which was once part of Greater Syria, said Fine.

The decline begins

In the early 1900s, some immigrants in Little Syria moved to other parts of the city, primarily Brooklyn, where the burgeoning population could have more space, and real estate prices were reasonable.

Still, it remained a robust community until the 1940s, according to Svehlak.

It was when families were told to move their homes to accommodate the entrance to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, built in 1948, that dealt a huge blow to Little Syria, and a majority of the neighbourhood was destroyed, according to Fine.

Many families temporarily vacated the area after the attacks of Sep. 11, 2001, and some of those who remained were asked to leave during the subsequent reconstruction of the World Trade Centre.

At that point Edward Metropolis, 52, had to leave his studio apartment, where he had lived his entire life and which is part of the last standing tenement in the area.

“I came back after four months, and some of the people who left never came back,” he said.

Fine said that in a way, the years after 9/11 encouraged construction and thus contributed to the destruction of the history of the area, said Fine.

“Rampant development did the rest,” Svehlak concluded.

An ignored past

With Jun. 20 observed as World Refugee Day, the history of a community who immigrated here more than a century ago is largely forgotten by New Yorkers, according to experts.

“It’s a tragedy,” lamented Fine. “While everybody knows about Chinatown and Little Italy, everybody seems to have forgotten about Little Syria.”

For Sarab Al-Jijakli, a Syrian-American who has been involved in raising awareness and humanitarian aid since the beginning of the Syrian revolution in March 2011, the neighbourhood is more than just a piece of history.

“It helps to build confidence regarding our role and presence in the American narrative – our history in this country, which did not begin on 9/11,” he said. “Little Syria helps reclaim this narrative from Islamophobes and bigots who wish to bury it.”

History links generations of immigrants and teaches people about Arabs’ contributions in building America, Al-Jijakli added, even as the existence of Arab history in the city has been overshadowed by the current unrest in the Middle East, especially in Syria.

According to the United Nations, close to 93,000 people were killed in fighting between the government and rebel forces in Syria between March 2011 and April 2013.

Arafeh believed that in the United States, the importance of preserving Arab American history has been trivialised.

“The demolition and raiding of major cities of history denies future generations of the privilege and historical heritage that is their patrimony,” she concluded.

Addressing the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Global Education First Initiative (GEFI), a programme aimed at improving the quality of education worldwide, a group of panelists at the United Nations Tuesday highlighted the urgent need to tackle what they called the global learning crisis by improving the quality of learning in schools as well as ensuring children all over the world have access to quality education.

According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)’s 2012 Global Monitoring Report, 250 million children of primary school age cannot read or write, even though some of them are enrolled in schools.

Ban’s message, which was read out by U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson, emphasised that there could be no development without education, and that governments should strive to improve the quality of learning.

Education also holds the key to sustainable development, UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova told IPS.

For example, data suggest that children born to mothers with primary school education have a greater chance of survival beyond the age of five than those born to mothers who are uneducated, Bokova added.

But there is also a need to sharpen indicators to measure how much children are learning in schools.

Assessing education in the poorest countries, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has relied heavily on proxy indicators, such as pupil-teacher ratios and textbook availability, said Jo Bourne, associate director of education at UNICEF.

“These things do matter for learning but the relationship between these inputs and the learning outcomes is not actually guaranteed,” she added.

Challenges arise when attempting to assess learning through a fixed set of indicators, experts say.

There is a need for flexibility when it comes to assessing what constitutes learning among people who belong to different age groups and come from all walks of life.

“Something as basic as learning to read, preferably in your mother tongue, is your life saving vaccine. Learning to read is a very basic and important indicator but that is not where (our assessment) should stop,” Bourne said.

In fact, critical thinking and skills-based learning that could contribute towards youth employment are also important, suggested the experts.

A report released Thursday by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) predicts that the current world population will increase from 7.2 billion to 8.1 billion in 2025—an increase of almost one billion in 12 years.

A little over two billion people will be added by 2050, pushing the population to 9.6 billion.

The report, entitled ‘World Population Prospects’, stated that Africa particularly is expected to witness a significant increase in population, contributing to more than 50 percent of the global population by 2050.

In a statement released Thursday, Wu Hongbo, the U.N. under-secretary-general for UN DESA, said, “Although population growth has slowed for the world as a whole, this report reminds us that some developing countries, especially in Africa, are still growing rapidly.”

Significant growth in population will also be seen in other countries where the fertility rate is very high, such as India, Indonesia and Pakistan.

Higher life expectancy rates, reductions in child mortality and migration no doubt play important roles in shaping population growth rates, but John Wilmoth, director of the population division at UN DESA, told IPS that in countries where growth is very rapid, “fertility is the real driver.”

While many countries in sub-Saharan Africa have high birth rates, the situation outside of that region is quite the reverse, Carl Haub, senior demographer with the Population Reference Bureau, pointed out.

For instance, birth rates are relatively low in Europe, as well as in countries like Japan, South Korea and China, Haub told IPS. This, coupled with a rising life expectancy rate, points to what experts call “a worrying trend”.

The problem is particularly stark in China, where the 1979 one-child policy could soon result in an “aging China”.

The report, which uses national census data and the results of national surveys to arrive at its conclusions, further states that India is expected to become the world’s largest country, surpassing China in terms of population by 2018.

Nigeria is expected to surpass the United States by 2050.

According to the report, 48 percent of the world’s population lives in “low‑fertility” countries, where women have fewer than 2.1 children on average over their lifetimes.

With rapidly shifting demographics and a continuous flow of migration, experts say that census figures in countries like India and China are inaccurate, with many migrants escaping the census radar.

Because censuses tend to “undercount rather than overcount”, according to Haub, the actual number of people in the world is most likely higher than national data suggest.

By Sudeshna Chowdhury
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 10 2013 (IPS)

As the situation in Myanmar deteriorates, thousands of Rohingyas have fled the country in search of a safe haven.

Courtesy of Wakar Uddin

Reports continue to emerge depicting inhuman and squalid conditions in the temporary camps where these displaced people live.

Local officials in the Rakhine state of Myanmar recently called for the strict implementation of a “two-child policy” on Rohingya Muslims. Even though this announcement has been condemned by human rights groups around the world, the crackdown on Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar is far from over.

In an interview with IPS correspondent Sudeshna Chowdhury, Dr. Wakar Uddin, director general of of the Arakan Rohingya Union, a non-governmental organisation incorporated in the United States, urged the international community to stand up for the Rohingyas of Myanmar, also known as Burma.

While the international community has taken note of the sectarian violence against the community, “it is not enough,” Uddin said.

Critics of the United Nations often cite examples from history when the world body failed to prevent such tragedies, such as the Rwanda genocide and more recently, the death of civilians in Sri Lanka.

“How many Rohingyas have to die for the international community to respond to the ongoing crisis?” asks Uddin.

Excerpts from the interview follow:

Q: What are the larger implications of a two-child policy on the Rohingya Muslim population?

A: This two-child policy is a tool employed to reduce as well as control the population of Rohingya Muslims. It is an ethnic cleansing policy filled with hate. The policy is specifically for Rohingya Muslims who are unwanted and hated by the government as well as some extremist Buddhist elements. Some experts would say that it is also a genocide policy.

The population of Rohingyas in Myanmar has grown like the population of any other ethnic group in any part of the world. It is about three million now globally, including those in Myanmar.

In fact, this two-child policy was there in Myanmar since 1994. However, it lacked serious enforcement. But surgical and forced operations were prevalent in remote pockets of the country. This is why it wasn’t reported widely. But now local authorities are actually stepping up the implementation of the directive.

The authorities are trying to eliminate the population by driving them out of the country as well as putting a cap on the birth of Rohingyas. So they are controlling the population growth in both ways. Eventually, there will be no Rohingyas left in the region and then one can easily grab all their land.

Q: So, this is not just about sectarian violence?

A: A significant amount of land in the Rakhine state, also known as Arakan state of Myanmar, is owned by Rohingyas. Areas within this region are rich in hydrocarbons, natural gas and other resources. So, the goal is to grab these lands that belong to the Rohingyas.

The extremist elements are trying to drive Rohingya people out of the country by making false claims. They are saying that the Rohingyas had illegally infiltrated the Arakan State of Myanmar, and that they actually belong to Bangladesh and to the state of West Bengal in India.

But what is important to understand is the fact that the Rohingya history in the country of Myanmar dates back many centuries.

Q: Is the violence spreading to other parts of the country as well?

A: The Burmans are the majority ethnic group in Burma. Therefore, what we are seeing is the “Burmanisation” of the country.

The aim is to eliminate other minority groups in Myanmar. In places like the Kachin state, people are now asking for autonomy. To begin with, violence was mainly directed against the Rohingya Muslims. But now you see Muslims, who are not even Rohingyas, being targeted by the ruling class. Slowly Hindus and Christians, too, won’t be spared as the violence escalates in the rest of the country.

Q: What is the current situation of those who are displaced?

A: The most vulnerable are the women and children. From lack of medicines to malnutrition to squalid conditions – you name it. Monsoons are coming so the situation is going to deteriorate further. The internally displaced persons (IDPs) are therefore at a huge risk.

What is most disturbing is the emergence of sex slave camps where Rohingya women are raped and used as “sex slaves” by Burmese forces. These women have nowhere to go. The authorities provide them with food and shelter. In return they exploit them.

While incidences of rape do get reported in the media once in a while, there is no systematic data collection or records that can give us an estimate of how many women have been raped.

Q: How are the neighbouring countries and the international community dealing with this situation?

A: Some of these Rohingya Muslims took shelter in neighbouring countries, such as India, Thailand and Bangladesh. But we are talking about 1.5 million people here. Absorbing them will not solve the Rohingya issue. The root cause of the problem needs to be addressed here. One has to give them their rights. Proper education and jobs will help solve this crisis.

As far as the role of international community is concerned, it is only now that people outside Burma are paying some attention to the plight of the Rohingyas.

As members of the Rohingya diaspora, we have to continuously work towards keeping the discussion alive, and keep reminding people that the Rohingyas are suffering and a permanent solution is important to solve the crisis.

But the international community, like the United Nations, is very slow in responding to such emergencies. Moreover, it is too bureaucratic in nature. Historically, the international community has been very slow in its response when it comes to intervention during such situations.

So, those capable of intervening wait until a certain number of people die. Before that they do not take action.

Also one must understand that until very recently Burma was a closed country. International media did not have much access to the region. It was only after the mass killings last year that the international community, including the media, took notice of the Rohingya crisis.

Excerpt:

The word Hiroshima instantly conjures up images of nuclear mushroom clouds, toxic fumes, wreckages of buildings, charred bodies, death, devastation and destruction.

On August 6, 1945, 8:15 a.m. Hiroshima’s fate was pretty much sealed. The atom bomb called “Little Boy” dropped by the United States left 80,000 people dead. Reports claim that radiation exposure later killed close to 90,000 people.

Hiroshima has left an indelible mark on the world that emerged post World War II.  The end of the war also marked the beginning of the nuclear arms race. In spite of powerful lobbying and campaigning by members of civil society towards nuclear disarmament, critics have often said that the dream of a nuke free world is highly unrealistic.

To discuss nuclear proliferation issues and other modern day security concerns, experts gathered together at a daylong event at the Japan Society Monday. Discussions touched upon the effectiveness of the landmark Arms Trade Treaty to the threat posed by nuclear weapons in today’s world.

When it comes to implementation, “you have to have the political will to do so,” said Douglas Frantz, who along with Catherine Collins wrote “Fallout: The True Story of the CIA’s Secret War on Nuclear Trafficking.”

But the debate on nuclear energy has extended to nuclear power plants as well. In fact, the Fukushima disaster in Japan sparked off debates all over the world on safety issues associated with nuclear power plants. Experts have often pointed out on what they say is a greater issue of “uranium enrichment program” that needs to be monitored.

“There needs to be a world bank that contains enriched uranium at levels that can be used in civilian reactors,” Frantz told IPS. “Every country that has the license for nuclear reactors and every country that has signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and is abiding by it should have an unrestricted right to go there and obtain as much enriched uranium as it needs in order to run its civilian nuclear reactors.”

Asked about the United States’ stand on Iran’s nuclear programme, Frantz said that sanctions might not deter Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.  The growing nexus where various parties are involved in destabilizing the world through nuclear trafficking needs to taken seriously, he said.

Frantz emphasised that the United States should ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), and only then can it ask others to do the same. In fact, when it comes to the ATT, the U.S. continues to be the most watched country. The biggest question is the enforcement of the ATT, suggested the panelists.

“While some of the biggest powers are the most hesitant to sign on to treaties, I don’t think that should leave us without hope because, some of these countries like the United States has fairly well developed internal procedures for controlling arms transfer,” said David Bosco, assistant professor of international politics at American University.

Even if countries do not formally join the treaty, the very existence of the ATT should influence their behavior when it comes to arms trade, he said. But, one of the biggest gaps of the ATT lies in the fact that it is open to interpretation by respective countries depending on the situation and the circumstances, Bosco said.

Also, arm dealers are not just nation states, but a very significant percentage of weapons involved in conflicts come from individuals, and the ATT doesn’t address this issue, he added. But, it is at least a step in the right direction.

In terms of gang wars, it is “better to solve that problem within the framework of either the ATT or other agreements that are out there,” said Allison Pytlak, campaign manager for Control Arms.

Overall, at a national level there are going to be challenges when it comes to implementation and nation states are aware of this, said Pytlak.

A mother holds on to a blood-soaked pair of jeans her son was wearing when he was gunned down during a battle.

Another mother is helplessly screaming after her toddler son dies at a hospital due to paucity of medicines.

From skulls of genocide victims in Rwanda to charred remains of bodies in Hiroshima —a film constituting graphic images of violence depicting the horrific nature of wars set the tone for a panel discussion on the “Scourge of War” and modern day challenges associated with wars. The discussion took place at the United Nations Thursday.

War is not just about sectarian violence or ethnic clashes, it “is about greed and power –either to get more power or to control resources or cling to power if you are losing it,” Jody Williams, the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate who also chairs the Nobel Women’s Initiative, told IPS.

Williams who was the founding coordinator of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) called for greater implementation of plans adopted by various world bodies and international organizations.  It’s easy to hide behind words but words written on a sheet of paper are useless unless the words are put into action, she said.

In fact, more than anything else, one must realise that “there is nothing heroic about war,” she said. “It is about conceiving murder in the name if war.”

For countries still reeling under the scourge of war, and where landscapes are still littered with landmines, Williams called for vigorous mine clearance operations.

“Countries should develop national plans to prioritise the places that have the most impact on people and demine them first and move to the entire country until it is done,” she told IPS.

While nuclear disarmament and drone attacks are important issues, the greatest threat in the future is from “killer robots,” she said.

The robots are the new weapons being developed in secrecy by the powerful countries and it will give birth to a new arms race, said Williams, who is part of the “Stop the Killer Robot” campaign launched this year.

But, it’s a stronger concept of statehood that can actually prevent wars, said Ambassador Paul Seger of Switzerland.

In 1928, the Kellogg–Briand Pact legally banned war as a means of national policy. “Did it end wars? No, but it laid a foundation for making aggression a crime,” he said.

While every step is a step forward in order to ensure peace around the world, “a lack of political will among member states continues to persist,” said Nounou Booto Meeti, programme manager, Centre for Peace, Security and Armed Violence Prevention.

Asked if she thinks that the U.N. as an organization gets entangled into too much bureaucracy, Meeti said, “We had more than 60 Security Council resolutions on the Congo situation. One must realise that if a situation is urgent, it is urgent …how and why do we need to wait for bureaucracy?”

In fact, the Arms Trade Treaty which underwent negotiations for almost seven years, is being hailed as a landmark agreement that can regulate arms flow around the world rocked the Congress and generated a heated debate within the United States’ political circles.  Some countries abstained from signing the treaty while some refused to sign the treaty.

But the dialogue has to continue, said experts. Ending war is not an overnight process and there is no magic solution, said Ralph Zacklin, former U.N. Assistant-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs.

In the coming days various countries will further analyse the pros and cons associated of the treaty, but at a much broader scale what is required is a leadership that is dialectic and greater commitment from member states, suggested the panelists.

Children in drought-struck Camotán, in Chiquimula province, Guatemala. Credit: Danilo Valladares/IPS

By Sudeshna Chowdhury
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 6 2013 (IPS)

Kevin’s Carter’s disturbing picture of the 1993 famine in Sudan won him a Pulitzer Prize.

The image of an emaciated child being watched by a vulture was etched into the world’s memory forever, drawing attention to conditions where survival becomes the only priority.

Reducing the child mortality rate and improving maternal health prominently figure in the list of the U.N.’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that were adopted by the international community in 2000 in New York with a 2015 deadline.

As the world body draws up a list of new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the medical journal The Lancet published a series of reports Wednesday finding that,among other things, malnutrition is responsible for nearly half (45 percent) of all deaths in children under five.

Around three million deaths of children under five occur from malnutrition, which encompasses undernutrition and overweight, both global problems.

The focus of agricultural programmes should shift towards enhanced nutrition rather than just increasing crop yields, Professor Robert Black of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health told IPS.

“These programmes have not been set up in an ideal way,” he said.

Calling for the idea of “nutritional sensitive agriculture”, Black also emphasised the importance of actions at the community level to address issues on malnutrition.

Collaboration among civil society, humanitarian agencies and the commercial sector would make a difference at the local level, Black told IPS. “More engagement of organisations such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is important,” he said.

Martin Bloem, senior nutritional advisor with the World Food Program (WFP), echoed a similar sentiment. He emphasised the role of Anganwadis, government sponsored child-care centres in India, in countries like India.

Reports suggest that lack of resources as well as unhygienic conditions in these centres have raised new challenges when it comes to addressing issues of malnutrition in a country like India.

But inspection and strict monitoring is paramount when local communities are involved, Bloem said.

The findings in The Lancet come ahead of the Group of Eight (G8) summit, which will be preceded by the UK and Brazilian governments co-hosting a high-level event on Nutrition for Growth.

The findings suggest that addressing the problem means addressing the underlying causes of malnutrition, such as, “poverty, food insecurity, poor education, and gender inequity”.

The study also stated that close to 15 percent of all deaths in children under the age of five could be prevented by providing vitamin A and zinc supplements to children up to the age of five, as well as taking care of dietary needs of pregnant women, among many other measures.

But, it is the time of pregnancy and the first 1,000 days that are most crucial for a child’s growth, Bloem told IPS. The health of the mother is equally important, he said.

“Also people do not realise the relation between stunted growth and obesity which can increase the chances of cardiovascular diseases. Also, there is an urgent need to link the health and the food system all around the world,” he said.

Public-private partnerships can help create products which are nutritional, affordable and accessible to vulnerable populations all over the world, Ellen Piwoz, senior programme officer for family health and nutrition at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, told IPS.

But what is stalling the fight against malnutrition is “the lack of a real commitment and drive among international governments,” said Werner Schultink, UNICEF’s head of nutrition.

While reducing hunger and poverty have been leading priorities for the U.N., “if you look at the indicators, such as underweight, the progress is insufficient.”

According to the study, emerging problems of obesity and overweight are “resulting in a ‘double burden’ of maternal and child disease and illness,” in countries where undernutrition is already a huge problem.

A right balance of adequate nutritional diet and an affordable food industry spearheaded by public and private sectors as well as community-level initiatives could provide solutions to tackle this “killer”, said experts.

It’s a picture of an old lady who is looking right at you. You stare at her and she stares back.

The photograph of 93-year-old Viviette Applewhite from Philadelphia is inspiring as well as intense.

The photograph of Applewhite features in a book called “America Speaks: The first amendment in action” by photojournalist Tish Lampert.

The image is also one of her favorites, Lampert said.

At a photo exhibition Monday, Lampert’s photographic series featuring a range of pictures from the streets of the United States to the remotest corners of Africa, formed the foundation of a bigger discussion focusing on conflict resolution and advancing the culture of peace.

Calling for the inclusion of “sustainable peace” as one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Ambassador Anwarul Karim Chowdhury said, “peace and development go hand in hand.”

“For Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), we say that there is a missing MDG. The missing MDG is sustainable peace. In the context of sustainable peace, one has to understand that sustainable development is not possible without sustainable peace,” Chowdhury told IPS.

Chowdhury played a critical role during the adoption of the U.N. Declaration and the Programme of Action (PoA) on the Culture of Peace.

The United Nations had a greater responsibility towards ensuring that peace is long-term and sustainable, said Chowdhury. “What we now have is a fire brigade approach. But we need to ensure that fire doesn’t occur again.”

While funding can be a challenge for any project, Chowdhury suggested that out of billions of dollars allocated for peacekeeping budget, “the U.N. could allot seven to 10 percent of that budget for building institutional and community mechanisms to prevent conflicts.”

Educating women and the youth coupled with community leadership and community activism in order to avoid conflicts, especially in the developing world is the need of the hour, he said.

Peace is not just about stopping a war or signing a treaty, “it is also about fighting injustice oppression and injustice,” he said.

Lampert, too, seconds that.  She recalled a statement made by Applewhite, who challenged the voter ID law in Pennsylvania—“These politicians better pay attention because we have the power to take their jobs.” “It’s about never giving up,” Lampert told IPS.

On the larger context of the much talked about SDGs, Blair Evans, director of Detroit based organisation Incite Focus, which works on sustainable forms of development said that in this day and age there is a greater need to become less dependent on larger systems that are dysfunctional, fragile or vulnerable.

While experts have called for greater changes in public policy in order to drive those changes, Chowdhury emphasized that promoting culture of peace, which in turn will spur development, is in fact a long-term process.

“The elevator for sustainable peace is out of order. You have to take the steps one at a time,” he said.

Rabbi Ellen Lippmann serves as an inspiration for other Jewish women who want to serve as rabbis. Credit: Sudeshna Chowdhury/IPS

By Sudeshna Chowdhury
NEW YORK, Jun 2 2013 (IPS)

Growing up as a child, Trisha Arlin had never seen a woman rabbi. Back then, women were not allowed to read the Torah, nor were they allowed to serve in synagogues.

Arlin felt that Judaism had no place for women like her who wanted to engage in spiritual discussions about the Torah and faith in general. So very early on, she alienated herself from Judaism.

“I was rejected, so I rejected it for many years,” the 59-year-old Arlin told IPS.

It took years of soul-searching and Jewish study before Arlin found her way back to Judaism. She is now pursuing her studies at a rabbinical school in New York City.

“Nowadays, young girls see a women rabbi and they take it for granted,” Arlin said. “I don’t take it for granted because when I was a child I didn’t see any women rabbis.”

It was only in the 1970s and 1980s that women in Reconstructionist, Reform and Conservative branches of Judaism started getting ordained as rabbis. But now the situation is different.

The number of women rabbis in the United States has been increasing significantly every year. This has introduced various reforms in Judaism and opened up new opportunities for female rabbis.

In 2002, more than half of the rabbis ordained from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) were women. The same trend continued in 2012. Last year, more than 50 percent of rabbinical graduates at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College were also women.

The ordination of female rabbis in Judaism changed the rabbinate, said Pamela S. Nadell, chair of the department of history and director of the Jewish studies programme at American University.

“It allowed for the bringing of women’s different voices, visions, and perceptions to Judaism,” Nadell told IPS.

For instance, rituals and prayers to deal with the pain of infertility or to celebrate the birth of a child were introduced by women rabbis, Nadell said. Even the language used to invoke the almighty underwent change and was made gender neutral.

“Otherwise, earlier god was a he,” said Ronda Spinak, artistic director of the Jewish Women Theatre (JWT) in Los Angeles. “Now you have prayers to invoke memories of patriarch as well as matriarch.”

According to HUC-JIR, until 2012, a total of 631 women had been ordained as rabbis for the Reform movement of Judaism.

In the liberal Reform movement, approximately 10-20 women are added as rabbis every year, said Rabbi Jacqueline Koch Ellenson, director of the Women’s Rabbinic Network (WRN).

While the number of female rabbis has increased over the last few years, the aggregate number of male rabbis in the United States is far higher than the total number of women rabbis.

According to the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), one of the oldest and largest rabbinic organisations in North America, in the Reform movement alone there are 1,445 male rabbis and 630 female rabbis associated with the organisation. So just about 30 percent of rabbis associated with CCAR are women.

Looking at the current trend, women rabbis might be able to bridge the number gap soon, but other issues such as income disparity between male and female rabbis need to be addressed, too, said Spinak.

Spinak wrote a play called “Stories from the fringe: Women Rabbis Revealed” in 2010. As part of her research, she and her team extensively interviewed 18 women rabbis from Los Angeles. She is now working on a documentary that focuses on female rabbis in the United States.

Apart from women rabbis getting paid less on average, Spinak said the “stained glass ceiling” is sometime difficult to break when it comes to jobs and having women rabbis in senior positions. Finding a balance between work and family life remains a challenge.

In spite of women rabbis gaining wider acceptance in Judaism, there are some who are not happy to have women serve as rabbis. For instance, orthodoxy has for long resisted ordination of women as rabbis.

However, Yeshivat Maharat, an institution in New York, is training orthodox women as spiritual leaders. While many might argue that it is a step short of a full-fledged rabbi, it does allow orthodox women to assume more of a leadership role within the rabbinate.

The first batch of students from Yeshivat Maharat will graduate in June this year. Rori Picker Neiss is one of the graduating students.

Growing up in an orthodox community, Neiss said she never wanted to be a rabbi as the role of rabbi was always exclusively held by men. However, she wanted to offer education, spiritual guidance and inspiration for her community.

Her expertise in Judaism might be on par with her male counterparts, but the fact remains that she would not be allowed to add the title of a rabbi before her name.

Neiss sees herself as a “Jewish resource to people”. “I do not care what that is called,” she said.

However, certain titles, such as the word “Rabba” bestowed on orthodox women, connotes the distinction of a rabbi, said Rabbi Jeffrey S. Fox of Yeshivat Maharat.

As a strict orthodox Jew who prays in Orthodox synagogues only, Fox said he believed that “some functions that rabbis do that I think that women may not do – particularly as it relates to prayer leadership.” This might include leading services.

Rabbi Ellen Lippmann disagrees as she herself leads services at synagogues. Among those who come to attend her services are men, women and children.

“My journey as a woman rabbi wasn’t that difficult, but as a gay woman rabbi I had to go through a lot,” Lippmann said.

But Lippmann is not somebody who is deterred easily. She remains a strong voice demanding equality between men and women regardless of their sexual orientation.

Other than orthodoxy, experts say that liberal movements are by and large egalitarian in nature when it comes to having female rabbis. Above all, women rabbis serve as inspiration to other women who want to join the rabbinate.

For example, Lippmann drew inspiration from Sally Jane Priesand who was the first female ordained rabbi in the United States in 1972.

“That was it for me,” Lippmann said. In 1972, she had decided to become a rabbi.

Lippmann, who was inspired by Priesand, now motivates students who want to serve as rabbis.

For Arlin, who is training to be a rabbi, Lippmann and other women rabbis are an inspiration.

“I have finally got my Torah back,” Arlin said.

Native American youth working for change. Top, from left to right: Joaquin Gallegos, Vance Home Gun and Dahkota Brown. Bottom, left to right: Sarah Schilling and Cierra Fields. Credit: Center for Native American Youth and Vincent Schilling

By Sudeshna Chowdhury
UNITED NATIONS, May 31 2013 (IPS)

It’s Sarah Schilling’s usual manner of greeting when she meets other members of her tribe: “Aanii Sarah Schilling n’diznakaas, which translates to ‘Hello, Sarah is my name’ in English,” she said.

“The language is called Anishnaabemowin, the Odawa native language,” Schilling explained.

She belongs to Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, a Native American tribe. It was in 2009 that she and her peers decided to come up with the tribe’s first youth council.

And it’s no child’s play. Schilling and other members of the council created their own constitution, bylaws and code of conduct. Schilling organises conferences and retreats to address issues that teenagers like her are grappling with, such as drinking and suicide prevention.

“I guess young people from the tribe are confused as to what their role is as Native Americans,” Schilling told IPS.

While she acknowledges that straddling two worlds can be a challenge, she also thinks that the U.S. educational system often depicts Native Americans as “aggressive and bad guys”.

There’s more to Native Americans than beads and feathers, but in an urban setting Native teens have a hard time fitting in, said Schilling, who chose home schooling over public school after sixth grade.

She is one of the “2013 class of Champions for Change”, a new programme run by the Center for Native American Youth, a non-profit organisation in Washington.

Native Americans make up about one and a half percent of the total U.S. population, but 12 percent of the homeless population, said Erin Bailey, the centre’s director.

“Through this programme we wanted to create a narrative about what was really working within the community, and share inspirational stories that are impacting people’s lives,” Bailey said.

The programme honoured five young Native Americans for their services to the community. From healthcare to education, these “champions” range from 14 to 22 years old.

Like Schilling, Cierra Fields is a “champion”. A brave heart, who conquered cancer when she was barely five years old, Fields says she “was actually born with melanoma”.

Fields, who is 14, belongs to the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. Through her personal story, she encourages people to talk about cancer. She also shares tips on preventing cancer.

For the audience, Fields’ story is a huge wake-up call.

“Some of the young people are shocked when I tell them that I had melanoma,” Fields said. “When I share my story they realise that one could get melanoma even when they are really young.”

Fields is also part of the Cherokee Nation Youth Choir and can speak conversational Cherokee.

While Fields tries to spread awareness about cancer, 19-year-old Vance Home Gun from Arlee, Montana tries to spread awareness about the Salish language, which he says is dying.

Gun belongs to the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes. Every Sunday for four hours, Gun teaches the Salish language to a motley group of students interested in learning it.

Gun also helps make Salish language curriculum available in public schools.

He believes that language is more than a mere medium of communication but an integral part of culture.

“Salish is spoken by 40 to 50 people. Therefore, it is very important to keep our culture alive through our language,” said Gun, who intends to major in linguistics and anthropology in college.

Some of these “champions” have already charted out their career path in their heads.

For 14-year-old Dahkota Brown from Jackson, California, aspirations extend beyond going to a law school. “I want to be a tribal judge, possibly the first United States Supreme Court judge who is a Native American,” said Brown, who belongs to the Wilton Miwok tribe.

Brown started a study group called Native Education Raising Dedicated Students (NERDS). NERD helps Native American students with their grades in schools. Browns’ aim is to “instill confidence” among students who approach the group for help.

A magazine article on high suicide and dropout rates among Native American youth triggered the idea to come up with a project to help such students, Brown said. “Also, I noticed that Native American students around me weren’t doing well in school,” Brown said.

The reasons could be many, but “Bullying and criticism could kill their self-confidence,” he said.

Brown himself has been a victim of bullying. He was teased as “a girl” for his long hair.

“There is a custom in my family according to which I cannot cut my hair until someone in my family dies. Other students did not understand this when I tried to explain,” he said.

His peers also did not approve of his dress. “I love wearing feathers on my hat and Native American shirts. Therefore I stood out because of my traditional regalia and people would make fun of me,” Brown said.

But that did not stop him from identifying himself as a Native American or emerging as one of the winners in the “champions for change” programme, thus adding another feather in his cap.

But some are quick to point out the United States’ government’s failure to address Indigenous issues.

Joaquin Gallegos from Denver, Colorado doesn’t mince words. The United States has not done justice to internationally recognised treaties it has made with these Indigenous sovereign Nations, he said.

“Since the U.S. has not fulfilled these obligations, negative outcomes are seen in virtually all sectors of these populations including education, economic conditions, and health status,” said Gallegos, who belongs to the Jicarilla Apache Nation and Pueblo of Santa Ana. “This is the legal and political reasoning behind the conditions present in the U.S. indigenous population.”

One of the “champions” awarded for his work, Gallegos is part of a project that aims at improving the oral health status of Indian Tribes in the Southwest United States.

This 22-year-old also wants to work toward providing Native Americans with improved healthcare facilities.

Youth in Rwanda fill out the MY World survey. Credit: Mark Darrough/Girl Hub Rwanda

By Sudeshna Chowdhury
UNITED NATIONS, May 28 2013 (IPS)

Kanny Daylop, a legal practitioner and consultant from Nigeria, recalls her encounter with a woman named Joy.

“She was young, probably a teenager,” Daylop said."It is a useful guide for us but the conversation has to be far more holistic and far more real." -- NFI's Amitabh Behar

Contrary to her name, Joy’s life was filled with hardship. She became pregnant and dropped out of school. Her parents threw her out of their house. Since then, she has been working as a seamstress to earn money to take care of herself and her unborn child.

Joy wants a better life for herself.

“Education and then healthcare are her topmost priorities,” Daylop said.

As a youth advocate for the United Nations Millennium Campaign (UNMC), Daylop interacted with many women like Joy as well as hundreds of Nigerians who participated in “MY World”, a United Nations global survey where citizens from all over the world are voting on issues they think are important in their lives.

The survey results will be used for the future development agenda of the U.N. after the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) end in 2015.

The “MY World” survey offers individuals a list of 16 issues to choose from. The voters are then required to prioritise six of those issues they consider most important to their lives.

The anonymous survey, which began early this year, requires participants to list their gender, age and country for the purpose of analysis. People vote online, through mobile phones or offline, using pen and paper.

Corinne Woods, global director of UNMC, said the ongoing survey is a “true partnership” involving non-governmental organisations, grassroots groups, private sector bodies, youth groups and different players across many disciplines to reach out to people living in the remotest areas around the world.

More than 590,000 people from194 countries have participated in the survey so far. Close to 60 percent of those countries have very low Human Development Index (HDI) rankings. In terms of demographics, it is “overwhelmingly the youth” who have participated in the survey, Woods said. “Almost three-quarters of the vote are up to the age of 30.”

The survey will continue until 2015.

“Right now there is a global moment in time where the world is going to decide what are going to be the new sets of sustainable development goals,” Woods said. “So this is a particular moment in time where as a citizen I can say to my government ‘I think you should sign up to X, Y and Z’.”

While thousands of voters continue to participate in the survey, the U.N. initiative has generated scepticism among some voters and members of civil society.

Amitabh Behar, executive director of the National Foundation for India (NFI), said that his experience with “MY WORLD” has been “both interesting and frustrating”.

In a developing country like India, Behar said, “When you actually talk to people, they don’t see their life in a structured fashion.

“People will not want to make those choices and we also think that these are not fair choices to be asked,” Behar said. “I think it is the responsibility of the state, either national or globally, to ensure safe drinking water as well as good education as well as good health as well as no discrimination and so on. But this is like putting a gun to somebody’s head and saying ‘pick one of those’.”

In regions within the least developed and developing countries, resources are limited and challenges are too many. Add to that corruption, which is more a way of life than just an evil.

In such countries, choices cannot be exclusive of each other, Behar said.

Moreover, most of the voters are clueless about the MDGs and post-MDG process, say members who carried out the survey on behalf of the U.N.

There is also a growing trust deficit when it comes to what the global body promises to do and what it actually does.

“This also stems from the fact that it’s not the first time that they are being asked about such things, but they have never seen follow-up action to change their reality,” Behar said.

In Mexico, where a little less than 7,000 people have voted so far, voters weren’t sure if the U.N. as a world body was really effective in alleviating problems, said Juan Varela, international advisor to Axios Misión Mujer, A.C., an organisation which works with adolescents in Mexico.

Varela said that people believed that this was just another survey and that the national government wasn’t actually going to do something with the results. “So some of the people actually didn’t want to vote,” Varela added.

Like Mexico, people’s approach to the survey in Nigeria, too, was cynical. Some had lost hope and some had lost confidence in the government. With the Nigerian militant group Boko Haram wreaking havoc across the country, Nigerians want to see quick results from such initiatives.

“People understood that research was going on in various areas, but they haven’t seen any impact,” Daylop said.

The crux of the matter, as Behar points out, is the “very idea of looking at an aggregate picture.”

With different regions having different sets of problems, the survey may not reflect the actual situation on the ground. “The second thing is the interconnectedness of all these – only when you have safe drinking water will you have good health and so on.”

But critics like Behar also acknowledge the fact that the very nature of a global survey requires uniformity.

“Therefore, we have to take it with a pinch of salt or a bagful of salt to understand that it is a useful guide for us but the conversation has to be far more holistic and far more real,” he added.

Woods acknowledges the fact that while different countries have different issues, there is certain amount of continuity, too.

The collated data all over the world indicated greater need for education and heath care as well as “an honest and responsive government”. There were some problems that most countries had in common, Woods said.

Some of the largest number of voters came from Nigeria (157,843 votes as of now) and India (79,450 votes). But participation levels varied widely, with countries like Turkmenistan contributing only 45 votes towards the survey. Close to 400 people voted from Iran and there were nine votes from Guinea-Bissau.

More than half of the votes have been collected offline.

The survey as of now heavily weighs towards Africa, but “the aim is to reach as many countries as possible,” Woods said.

With local organisations are playing an important role to reach out to people in different countries, careful observations are made on voting patterns so that regional groups do not end up pushing their agendas via this survey, she added.

By Sudeshna Chowdhury
NEW YORK, May 24 2013 (IPS)

Say “Africa” and myriad images flood our minds. Like its landscape and peoples, the continent’s history is rich and diverse. While numerous books have been written and films made on the African slave trade in the West, a lesser-known aspect of the continent’s history lies in India.

Courtesy of Sylviane Diouf.

On the occasion of Africa Day and the Asian-Pacific American heritage month of May, IPS correspondent Sudeshna Chowdhury interviewed Sylviane A. Diouf, a renowned historian who studies the African diaspora, about the presence of Africans in India and the rest of Asia.

Diouf is also one of the curators of an exhibition called “Africans In India: From Slaves to Generals and Rulers” which is on display at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City.

Excerpts from the interview follow.

Q: How different is the story of Asian Africans from the African diaspora in the rest of the world, such as in America or Europe?

A: Not all Africans arrived in Asia as slaves. Some were traders, artisans, and religious leaders. India had an abundance of local slaves to perform hard labour, so the Africans and foreign slaves were mostly employed in specialised jobs as domestics in wealthy households, in the royal courts, and in the armed forces.

Africans were regarded as exceptional warriors and they fought in armies all over India, alongside Arabs, Turks, Indians and Afghans. They could rise through the ranks and become “elite slaves”, amassing wealth and power and even becoming rulers in their own right.

Elite slavery was often a frontier phenomenon, often found in areas that underwent instability due to struggles between factions and where hereditary authority was weak. Rulers considered Africans reliable because they were outsiders with no family, clan or caste connections to the indigenous populations, so they promoted them as court officials, administrators, and army commanders."Elite slaves were frequently at the centre of court disputes and sometimes seized power for themselves." -- Sylviane A. Diouf

These elite slaves were frequently at the centre of court disputes and sometimes seized power for themselves. Slave soldiers, guards, and bodyguards were routinely freed after a few years of service, often married local women, and were integrated into the larger society.

Q: Why do you think Africans were able to distinguish themselves so easily in countries like India, unlike say in Western countries? Is there a greater story of assimilation here that made it possible for Africans to rise from slaves to generals and then rulers?

A: Due to Islamic laws, enslaved Africans tended to have much greater social mobility than West Africans did in the Americas. One distinctive trait of slavery in the Islamic world was that, contrary to what happened in the West, bondage and “race” were not linked. Instead, factors such as religion, ethnicity, and caste were often more influential than colour.

The Africans’ success in India was theirs but it is also a strong testimony to the open-mindedness of a society in which they were a small religious and ethnic minority, originally of low status. As foreigners and Muslims, Africans ruled over indigenous Hindu, Muslim and Jewish populations. It would have been unthinkable in the West.

Today, in a country of 1.2 billion people, there are about 50,000 to 70,000 African descendants. It is thus not surprising that most Indians have never heard of them. Many people know of the famous 16th century Malik Ambar, a former Ethiopian slave who became a prime minister and regent and was a bitter foe of the Moghuls, but some are not aware he was African.

Our exhibition will travel to India and this will help put the Africans’ place in India history in more people’s consciousness.

Q: What is the current state of these Africans in India? In most cases, why do you think they continue to live in poverty?

A: A majority of Sidis (Africans in India are called Sidis) live in poverty or are part of the working class: drivers, domestics, security guards, etc. Others are farmers and some belong to the middle class. According to their own organisations, the lack of education and of strong leadership is an impediment.

Some Sidis are recognised as “scheduled tribes” and benefit from affirmative action programmes, but others are denied the status or are not given the opportunity to make use of it.

Q: Any interesting observations during your visit to India? Was the African community in India aware of their roots and identity? Did they care?

A: It’s a diverse community. Some people are aware and do care, others are not and perhaps would not care. The people I met were very conscious of their identity as descendants of Africans and as Muslims. They were also very conscious of being Indians.

For the past several years, Western and Indian scholars have been doing research on the communities for books, photographs, articles, exhibitions, and documentaries and that has led some Sidis to learn about and value their own past and history.

Q: Do you see the image of Africa changing in today’s world? Has it managed to move beyond its stereotypical image of poverty, hunger and deprivation?

A: I think the image has already changed positively in some circles: the arts world, among younger generations, for instance, thanks to the extraordinary crop of writers, painters, musicians, designers, architects, and other artists who are producing wonderful work.

Excerpt:

Call it the height of barbarism or a heinous war crime or a serious case of human rights violation—the video of a Syrian rebel biting into a dead soldier’s body part, was revolting in every sense of the word.

Among other concerns, human rights abuses continue to be a burning issue all over the world–from states in perpetual conflicts to countries undergoing transition.

At a panel discussion Tuesday, human rights experts suggested that the post-2015 development agenda of the United Nations should focus on human rights issues, something that the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) had failed to do.

In order to ensure human rights protection all over the world, the panelists insisted that the post-2015 development agenda should focus on “eliminating inequalities” and promoting accountability.

Calling for an integrated approach, Craig Mokhiber, from the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, who moderated the panel, told IPS, “You have got this international framework where one talks about right to education, right to health, right to food, the right to adequate standard of living.”

“But there are a few things left out of the previous development framework such as equality as a goal,” he added.  Looking at issues through the prism of human rights, there is need to pay attention to other fundamental rights of people all across the world.

The right to development is one such issue, said Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, a professor at The New School for Public Engagement in New York. “The right to development is heavily politicised and hasn’t really gone anywhere,” Parr said.

It is important to consider right to development as a fundamental right, Fukuda-Parr told IPS. “There is right to health, right to bodily integrity and so on. In fact, right to development should be given priority and should also be recognized as part of international agreement,” Fukuda-Parr added.

In fact, human rights based approach to development is the need of the hour, emphasized Mohamed Khaled Khiari, the Permanent Representative of Tunisia to the United Nations.

Drawing from the revolution in Tunisia as well as problems of unemployment and rampant corruption within the country, Khiari said, “Development and human rights are rather mutually reinforcing and complementary. We have to admit that human rights are critical for achieving sustainable development.”

But, sustainable development calls for representation of people from all walks of life as well as people from all strata of society, including those with disabilities.

“People with disability should be included in national consultations,” said Vladimir Cuk who is the head of New York Secretariat of International Disability Alliance.

However, to address all these issues, it is important that a greater level of accountability be enforced within global organizations. “We are seeing a crisis of global governance,” Ignacio Saiz, Executive Director of Center For Economic and Social Rights told IPS.

There is need for more effective mechanisms of accountability at the international level,  “which should look at the actions and inactions of global actors by which I mean international institutions, international financial institutions, donor government or second governments which in some ways are infringing or constraining the actions of governments in the developing world,” Saiz said.

By Sudeshna Chowdhury
UNITED NATIONS, May 15 2013 (IPS)

Eighteen days ago, Diane Wilson, a 65-year-old fisherwoman from Texas, decided to go on a hunger strike.

Diane Wilson protesting outside the White House. Credit: Ted Majdosz

Dressed in an orange jumpsuit, Wilson has been protesting outside the White House gates for over two weeks now. Her demand: Shut down Guantanamo Bay prison.

U.S. President Barack Obama has come under heavy criticism for his failure to close down the facility at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Obama has blamed the Congress for not supporting the closure. But experts and activists suggest that Obama can at least start the process by transferring detainees who have been cleared of all charges.

The detention facility at the Guantanamo Bay opened in 2002. According to reports, 100 out of 166 prisoners are on hunger strike. Some of the prisoners are being force-fed. Human rights groups have strongly condemned this technique of force-feeding prisoners, labeling it a form of torture.

This is not the first time Guantanamo Bay prison has witnessed hunger strikes. The first one dates back to 2005 where close to 200 detainees were on hunger strike.

Excerpts from the interview follow.

Q: What do you want to achieve through this hunger strike? As you know, many prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay prison have been cleared of all charges, but some are still awaiting trial.

A: The facility should be closed down – this is what I want. I am fasting in solidarity with those prisoners at Guantanamo, simply because they want justice. It is pretty much well known that President Obama can shut down Guantanamo right now. He can do it. He should have done it yesterday.

Q: What would you do if your body just gives up, given that you are a 65-year-old woman surviving on water, a pinch of salt and a potassium tablet for 17 days now?

A: Whenever such thoughts cross my mind, I think about those men in Guantanamo."I am a constant reminder of the conditions under which the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay live." -- Diane Wilson

I get to lay down on a soft bed at night. I get to talk with people and I don’t have to sit in a cold, freezing room. I am not humiliated and tortured and I think if they can do it, I can do it.

Moreover, this is not my first time fasting for many days at a stretch. I had fasted for 30 days. The longest I had fasted was for 45 days when I was protesting to stop Valero from processing tar sands in Houston, Texas. I was little bit younger then, but age definitely takes its toll. This is early in the game though.

Basically, I am an optimistic person and I really believe that people can make a difference. In a way I have surrendered to the fast. I will take it as far as I can. I don’t mind collapsing. All I got to do is think of those men in Guantanamo. I know we can shut down the facility, and if required I am ready to go that far.

Q: Why did you choose the White House as the venue for your protest?

A: I am protesting directly in front of the White House. It is a strategic zone. A few days ago I locked myself to the White House gates. I wear an orange jumpsuit and makeshift chains round my legs and neck. I also wear a black hood over my face. This is my way of representing those men in Guantanamo in front of the Obama administration.

I am a constant reminder of the conditions under which the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay live. To propel any change, you have to be in their faces, and I am in their face.

Q: How do people react when they see you protesting outside the White House?

A: Sometimes people know that you are going to be there protesting. Sometimes people out of the blue come up and stand there. Sometimes people are just passing by and they agree with us. I would say almost 90 percent of the people that we speak to are in total agreement with our cause.

There are a lot of children who are brought to see the White House and they are always very curious. We got a huge poster of Obama with a statement that says Guantanamo is inefficient, expensive and in no way keeps America safe. In fact it is a recruiting tool because of the way the prisoners are being treated.

There are a lot of international guests and they are always curious and many people come and speak to us. We have had senators coming up and telling us that we were doing a good job. Actually some came up to us and shook our hands. They said that we should keep it up. In fact, it is a matter of keeping up. That is what it is.

Q: Who is your inspiration?

A: I take a lot of my inspiration from Gandhi. He is my man.

Q: What do you see yourself as – a political activist or an environmental activist or a fisherwoman?

A: When people ask me, I say I am a fisherwoman. I am a fourth generation shrimper. I did not do anything until I reached 40 and I am a really late bloomer.

I think there are a lot of problems with the recent movements – you got the environmental, you got the indigenous, you got the human rights and they tend to remain in separate camps. But there is a connection between all of them.

I guess because I am a fisherwoman and I lived my life on the bay and there is no sense of boundaries so my activism has flowed.

Q: What has been the reaction from your family?

A: I generally don’t tell them what I am doing and I let them find out. My family members are by and large Republicans and they love George Bush. They don’t like this kind of out there and in your face like action from me. So it is not fun.

Q: Diane, you are the author of book called “An Unreasonable Woman”. Do you think you are being unreasonable in your demands?

A: No, I am not unreasonable. I am asking for these men’s lives.

Excerpt:

In countries paralysed by ethnic clashes and plagued by illiteracy, the U.N. Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) intends to play a greater role in conflict prevention and reconciliation.

“Our world grows more interdependent by the hour,” said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. “Economic integration, migration flows and environmental concerns illustrate this basic truth.”

Therefore, the UNAOC, “as a multicultural global platform”, should ensure that young people have a strong voice in political processes, especially in places which are in transition, added Ban.

At a meeting Monday, the global body discussed the outcome of the fifth global UNAOC forum hosted in the Austrian capital of Vienna from Feb. 27 to Feb. 28.

The new High Representative of UNAOC Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser of Qatar, a former president of the United Nations General Assembly and chairman of the Board of Directors of Inter Press Service (IPS) news agency identified a new vision for UNAOC. “The vision needs an action oriented strategy,” he said.

While media, migration, youth and education remain the priority areas, an integrated approach is in place, where “in many cases we are combining those areas with programs in media and migration,” he said.

“We are continuing our efforts to mobilize and strengthen youth-led efforts to build more peaceful communities at a local, national, and regional level.”

UNAOC Director Matthew Hodes highlighted a few projects that the organization is currently involved in. “We have continued to create opportunities for media professionals, especially in the middle-eastern Africa to enhance their skills by exposing them to current best practices in journalism,” Hodes said.

For example, the UNAOC has teamed up with Google and the Jordan Media Institute to give a platform to young journalists in the Middle East to share their experiences and insights. A fellowship program involves fellows from Europe and North America (EUNA) travelling to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and vice versa.

As part of its strategic plan for the coming years, “One of the things to watch is how we use the existing structure of working with the youth, the media on the issue of migration, with a more directed focus on how it impacts preventing tensions or outbreaks of violence or reconcile society that have those problems,” Hodes told IPS.

With youth-led initiatives figuring high on its agenda, various member states urged the UNAOC to consider other issues as well.

It was “food supply” for Ambassador Fernando Arias, Permanent Representative of Spain. “Without achieving the Zero-Hunger Challenge, launched by the Secretary General, it is very difficult to build that peace and understanding among communities that have different cultures and religions,” Arias said.

Ambassador Hussein Haniff, Permanent Representative of Malaysia insisted on the creation of a “Global Movement of Moderates” to counter extremism, along with “socio-economic development programs that target the disenfranchised and under-franchised areas.”

With an array of activities on the Alliance’s to do list, funding remains a critical challenge for the organization, Hodes told IPS. “The predictable flow of money into the trust fund has been traditionally an issue.”

The sixth global forum of UNAOC will be held in Indonesia next year. The previous forums were held in Madrid, Spain (2008), Istanbul, Turkey (2009), Rio De Janeiro, Brazil (2010), Doha, Qatar (2011) and Vienna, Austria (2013).

The United Nations might soon find itself entangled in a legal battle for its failure to effectively deal with the cholera epidemic in Haiti, which has left more than 8,000 people dead since 2010.

At a press conference Wednesday, attorneys representing 5,000 cholera victims in Haiti announced they would drag the U.N. to court if it refuses to budge from its earlier stand of denying compensation to the victims.

An official notice in the form of a letter addressed to the  Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs Patricia O’Brien seeks an “appropriate response” from the U.N. within 60 days, failing which the lawyers will “file a suit in a national court on behalf of Petitioners and other victims of cholera in Haiti.”

After various reports suggested that poor waste disposal management by the Nepali contingent of U.N. peacekeepers was the cause of the epidemic, organisations, such as the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH), have been vociferously demanding compensation from the U.N. for the cholera victims in Haiti.

Activists and organisations representing the victims have also been clamouring for an apology from the U.N. along with adequate funding to prevent further spread of cholera.

Their demands have fallen on deaf ears and their letters have failed to elicit any concrete response from the U.N. so far, said Ira J. Kurzban, an attorney at Kurzban Kurzban Weinger Tetzeil and Pratt, P.A. in Florida, who is involved in this case.

“There is always a room for compromise, but first the U.N. has to respond,” Kurzban told IPS. “The first response was no response, and the second response was a ridiculous response of two lines saying that we are not accepting your claims because this is a public matter.”

Taking on a world body could be a challenge for any organization, but Kruzban said that a win is inevitable in such a scenario. “It’s a clear case of liability,” he told IPS.  “The U.N. has some immunity, but it doesn’t have impunity.”

Brian Concannon Jr., director at the IJDH said that the failure on the part of the U.N. to take responsibility for its actions shows that there is a large gap between the principles and practices of the U.N.

The attorneys said that this is the last chance for the U.N. to respond before they take any legal action against the world body. As of now “a just response” is what the lawyers seek from the U.N.

While efforts are underway to break the logjam over this issue, the Haitian diaspora in the U.S. has been helping people back in Haiti in several ways.

“We sometimes send bleach via boats or through various NGOs to Haiti so that the water could be cleaned,” Jean Ford Figaro, a Haitian advocate for a stronger U.N. public health response told IPS. But large-scale efforts are needed to control the disease, he added.

Asked what Haitians living in Haiti feel about the U.N., Figaro said that when it comes to the U.N. there is a growing trust deficit among the Haitians after the cholera epidemic.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “cholera is an extremely virulent disease. It affects both children and adults and can kill within hours.”  The epidemic has infected more than 654,000 Haitians since October 2010.

With the onset of the rainy season, proper precautionary measures should be in place to prevent further deaths due to cholera, suggest experts.