Delegates at AFPPD’s Sub-Regional Parliamentarians’ Meeting on Women Empowerment and Investment in Young People, which focused on the ICPD Program of Action and 2030 Agenda. Credit: People’s Majlis of the Republic of Maldives

By Cecilia Russell
MALÉ & JOHANNESBURG, Jun 26 2025 (IPS)

A meeting of parliamentarians in Malé, the Maldives, pledged to provide an enabling environment for emerging women leaders by supporting them and promoting a political culture rooted in mutual respect, inclusivity, and equal opportunity.

This was one of the main features of the Malé Declaration, agreed to by more than 40 participants from parliaments, governments, international organizations, NGOs, youth organizations, and academia across 15 countries during the AFPPD’s Sub-Regional Parliamentarians’ Meeting on Women Empowerment and Investment in Young People, which focused on the ICPD Program of Action and 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, aiming to address youth and women empowerment.

The meeting was co-hosted by the People’s Majlis of the Maldives and the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD), with support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) through the Japan Trust Fund (JTF).

The lawmakers agreed to commission evidence-based research on barriers to women’s political participation. The research will “examine the social, cultural, economic, and institutional impediments to women’s pursuit of political office and leadership roles in the member states in Asia, including the Maldives,” the declaration said, with the outcomes serving as a foundation for targeted policy interventions and legislative reforms to enhance women’s political engagement.

Dr. Anara Naeem, MP, Huraa Constituency/Maldives

In an interview ahead of the meeting, Dr. Anara Naeem (MP, Huraa Constituency/Maldives) told IPS that advocating for women’s rights started when they were young and parliamentarians had an active role in ensuring that women are encouraged to become involved in the economy.

Reacting to a question on the UNFPA research, which shows that 40 percent of young women are not engaged in employment, education, or training (NEET), she noted many core challenges, including high youth unemployment despite free education up to a first university degree. The country, like others, had to deal with gender stereotypes that prioritized women’s domestic role over careers—and with social participation barriers, “stereotypes limit women’s public engagement.”

Policymakers, Naeem said, were focusing on addressing these using multiple strategies, including promoting postgraduate scholarships and vocational training (tourism, tech, and healthcare aligned with job markets), encouraging women into STEM and non-traditional fields via mentorship, and integrating leadership and career advancement programs to address the glass ceiling.

Parliamentarians were also looking at innovative ways to boost the public sector hiring of women and incentivize private sector partnerships through tax benefits, flexible work, and career progression pathways.

“We also host community dialogues (haa saaba) and engage religious leaders to shift mindsets,” Naeem said.

AFPPD’s Sub-Regional Parliamentarians’ Meeting on Women Empowerment and Investment in Young People, held in Malé, Maldives. Credit: People’s Majlis of the Republic of Maldives

Speakers at the AFPPD’s Sub-Regional Parliamentarians’ Meeting on Women Empowerment and Investment in Young People, held in Malé, Maldives. Credit: People’s Majlis of the Republic of Maldives

The Maldivian government was working to enforce gender equality laws (anti-discrimination, parental leave, and addressing the glass ceiling) and allocate a budget for childcare, job programs, and women’s grants, including the enforcement of paid maternity leave for up to six months and no-pay leave for a year in all government offices. It was also encouraging the private sector to do likewise.

However, the success of these plans requires “coordinated action across government, the private sector, NGOs, and communities to create relevant jobs, dismantle cultural barriers (including the glass ceiling), provide critical support (childcare, robust maternity leave), and enable flexible pathways for young women’s economic and social participation.”

Parliamentarians also committed to working with the relevant Maldivian authorities to undertake a thorough “review and enhancement of national school curriculum to align it with job matrix. This initiative shall integrate principles of gender equality, women’s rights, civic responsibility, leadership, and sustainable youth development, fostering transformative educational content to instill progressive values from an early age.”

Naeem said lawmakers were also playing a special role in addressing issues affecting the youth like drug use and mental health, where they were “combining legislative action, oversight, resource allocation, and public advocacy.”

This included updating drug laws to target traffickers, decriminalizing addiction, and prioritizing treatment. While parliamentarians were lobbying for increased funding for rehab centers and the training of psychologists and medication subsidies, they were using national media to create awareness and holding local dialogues.

“Our key focus in law reform includes better rehab frameworks, funding oversight, public awareness partnerships, building support systems, minimizing service delivery gaps, and reducing relapse—shifting towards prevention and recovery in the Maldivian context,” Naeem said.

Participants at the meeting recommitted themselves to working with all stakeholders to advance the ICPD PoA and achieve the 2030 Agenda and reaffirmed the 2024 Oslo Statement of Commitment.

IPS UN Bureau Report

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A Maldivian activist holds a picture of slain blogger Yameen Rasheed during a UNESCO press freedom conference held in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo on Dec. 4, 2017. Credit: Amantha Perera/IPS

By Amantha Perera
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Feb 20 2018 (IPS)

It was a shutdown that was emblematic of the instability plaguing the Maldives in recent months.

On Feb. 8, Raajje TV, an opposition aligned TV channel in the atolls, suspended broadcasting due to lack of security.

“RaajjeTV informs our viewers that we have suspended regular broadcast due to attacks on free and independent media, continued threats to RaajjeTV and its staff, following the Police’s decision to slash security to the station and the warning issued by MNDF to media sources over closure of any media stations without any warning,” the station said before it went off air.“Right now, the president has all the aces. How he got them is the problem - and how he will use them is the bigger problem."

Earlier, the Maldivian military had warned that media outlets were airing content deemed harmful to national security.

With a population below half a million, and at least over 150,000 of that jammed into Male, an island of six square kilometers, Maldives has been on a slow boil for years – since late 2012 when Mohamed Nasheed, the country’s first democratically elected leader, resigned and was replaced in 2013 by Abdulla Yameen.

After years of political wrangling in 2015, Nasheed was found guilty of anti-terror charges and sentenced to 13 years in jail. Out on bail in 2016, he fled to the UK and has been living there since. Scores of his supporters and members of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) are either in jail or in exile, many using Sri Lanka as a base.

The slow boil was suddenly put on a high burn earlier this month.

On February 1, the Supreme Court, in a somewhat surprising decision, declared that eight individuals, including Nasheed and seven other high-profile personalities, among them former vice president Ahmed Adeeb, had received unfair trails and should be released immediately.

“After considering the cases submitted to the Supreme Court about violations of the Constitution of the Republic of Maldives and human rights treaties that the Maldives is party to, to conduct politically motivated investigations followed by trials where prosecutors and judges were unduly influenced, the Supreme Court has found that these cases have to be retried according to legal standard,” the Supreme Court said, and Male’s streets were filled with hundreds celebrating the decision.

While the police force said it would respect the ruling, the men were not released and two police commissioners were sent home in two days by President Yameen, who dug in for a fight. Four days after the decision, the Supreme Court was stormed by the military and two Supreme Court judges – including the chief justice – were arrested. Soon after that the Supreme Court, under a different set of judges, annulled the order to release the prisoners. In between, the declaration of 15 days of State of Emergency appeared like a footnote.

The government has charged that former president Abdul Gayoom, who ruled for over three decades until Nasheed defeated him in 2008, had been at the helm of a bribing attempt to sway the Supreme Court and was arrested along with his son-in-law.

For those who have lived through these years of chaos and uncertainty, the future of the islands, sought after by tourists, is bleak.

“An executive with vast powers, in the absence of a functioning checks and balances system, coupled with support from the security services would mean that the executive would dominate all aspects of governance,” Mariyam Shiuna, executive director of Transparency Maldives, told IPS.

“The president controls state institutions through direct and indirect means, and promotes excessive use of force by the security services. All opposition leaders are currently either in jail or in exile. In this environment, Maldives is unlikely to achieve true stability any time soon,” she said.

That assessment seems to be universally shared.

“It is clear that the rule of law in the Maldives is now under siege. We call on the government to refrain from any threats or interference that may hamper the court’s independence as the supreme guardian of the country’s constitution and legislation,” a group of UN human rights experts said this week.

The government says its hand was forced with the Supreme Court acting unconstitutionally and efforts to impeach President Yameen.

The situation is unlikely to ease any time soon as elections, including presidential polls, are slated to be held between 2018 and 2019. Activists say that along with the consolidation of power by the incumbent president, there has been a rising wave of extremism. Last year, liberal blogger Yameen Rasheed was stabbed to death just outside his apartment in Male. The investigation into the murder has been slow and unproductive.

When the current crisis erupted, Nasheed in fact requested regional power India to militarily intervene as it had done in 1988. New Delhi did not respond. However, China, which has major investment in the islands, said that it did not support any external intervention.

“Right now, the president has all the aces. How he got them is the problem – and how he will use them is the bigger problem,” said an activist who was close to the murdered blogger Yameen and asked to remain anonymous.

TI Maldives’ Shiuna fears there will be further erosion of the already feeble checks on the executive branch, especially after the Supreme Court decision which took the government by complete surprise.

“Yamin’s regime is moving towards despotism, if not already there,” she said. “All democratic institutions have been hijacked by the government and it is doubtful if an election will even take place in 2018.”

Two and a half days after it went off the air, Raajje TV came back live, but it will not be that easy to shore up the rapid degeneration of democratic rights.

An aerial view of the Village of Kolhuvaariyaafushi, Mulaaku Atoll, the Maldives, after the Indian Ocean Tsunami. Credit: UN Photo/Evan Schneider

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 26 2017 (IPS)

The Maldives, one of the world’s low-lying, small island developing states (SIDS) — threatened with extinction because of a sea-level rise– is shoring up its coastal defences in anticipation of the impending calamity.

And it is seeking international support for its very survival.—at a time when most Western nations are either cutting down on development aid or diverting funds to boost domestic security.

“The danger of sea level rise is very real and threatens not just the Maldives and other low-lying nations, but also major coastal cities like New York and Miami,” Ambassador Ahmed Sareer, the outgoing Permanent Representative of the Maldives, told IPS.

Sareer, who held the chairmanship of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) for over two years, said that even though projections vary, scientists anticipate at least three feet of sea level rise by the end of the century.

“This would be problematic for the Maldives, SIDS and many other coastal regions. We are currently building coastal defences to mitigate the danger, but need more support,” said Sareer, currently Foreign Secretary of the Maldives.

Along with Maldives, there are several low lying UN member states who are in danger of disappearing from the face of the earth, including the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Palau and Micronesia.

Asked if the United Nations and the international community were doing enough to help alleviate low-lying small island states, Sareer told IPS: “There has been a heightened focus on the risks SIDS face in recent years, not just from climate change but economic challenges as well. We are grateful for the progress, of course, but it is fair to say we still have much further to go.”

Beginning July 31, the Columbia Broadcast System (CBS), one of the major US television networks, is planning to do a series of stories on “Sinking Islands” threatened by rising sea levels triggered by climate change.

Described as “one of the world’s most geographically dispersed countries” and comprising more than a thousand coral islands scattered across the Indian Ocean, the Maldives has a population of over 390,000 people compared to India, one of its neighbours, with a hefty population of over 1.2 billion.

The island nation was devastated by the December 2004 tsunami, and according to one report, 57 islands faced serious damage to critical infrastructure, 14 had to be totally evacuated, and six islands were destroyed. A further twenty-one resort islands were forced to close because of tsunami damage estimated at over $400 million.

As part of its defences, the Maldives has been erecting a wall around the capital of Malé to thwart a rising sea and a future tsumani.

Meanwhile, in a dramatic publicity gimmick back in October 2009, former Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed held an underwater cabinet meeting, with ministers in scuba diving gear, to highlight the threat of global warming.

And earlier, at a Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) meeting in Kuala Lumpur in October 1989, then Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom told delegates that if his country is to host the annual meeting in the foreseeable future, the meeting may have to be held underwater in a gradually disappearing island nation.

The World Bank has warned that with “future sea levels projected to increase in the range of 10 to 100 centimeters by the year 2100, the entire country could be submerged”.

But still, the Maldives which graduated from the status of a least developed country (LDC) to that of a developing nation in 2011, is very much alive – and currently campaigning for a two-year non-permanent seat in the most powerful body at the United Nations: the 15-member Security Council.

This is the first time in its 51 years of UN Membership that the Maldives has presented its candidacy for a seat in the UN Security Council (UNSC).

Over the past 25 years, only six SIDS have served on the Council, out of the 125 elected members during that period. SIDS constitutes 20% of the UN Membership.

Since January 2015, the Maldives has chaired the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), a group it helped form in 1990, leading a coalition of 39 member states, of which 37 are UN Members, through landmark agreements on sustainable development, climate change, disaster risk reduction, financing for development, sustainable urbanization, and the follow-up to the SAMOA Pathway- the sustainable development programme of action for SIDS.

In a long-planned effort, the Maldives put forward its candidature on 30 January 2008: ten years before the election, which will take place next year in the 193-member UN General Assembly which will vote for new, rotating non-permanent members of the UNSC.

Sareer said the Maldives seeks to bring a fresh and unique perspective to old challenges.”

And the Maldives believes that non-traditional security threats are as important if not more, than traditional security threats, in today’s world. The Maldives also believes in multi-dimensional approaches to solving issues.

Despite its size, he said, the Maldives has always punched above its weight on the international stage. And it has been a staunch advocate for climate change, and a champion of small States.

Sri Lanka’s former Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Palitha Kohona told IPS Maldives has a commendable mission to realise – to push for action on climate change through the Security Council.

This, though a laudable aspiration, will be an uphill battle given that a powerful Permanent Member of the UNSC (the United States) is a declared opponent of the majority global view on climate change, having recently pulled out of the Paris Accord. It will also run in to opposition from the fossil fuel lobby.

However, if elected to the UNSC, Maldives is likely to enjoy the sympathy of the vast majority of the membership of the UN, including those who initiated a movement to seek an advisory opinion in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on responsibility for global warming and climate change in 2012, said Kohona, who co-chaired the UN Working Group on Biological Diversity Beyond National Jurisdiction and is a former Chief of the UN Treaty Section.

“It will need to deploy considerable resources to secure a seat and then to realise its goal
because Security Council elections, unfortunately, have become a competition among aspirants to see who can spend most on entertaining, junkets and obligatory visits to capitals. These ‘poojas’ become bigger and bigger by the year,” said Kohona.

He said Maldives will be a trend setter for small island developing states, which also must be able to play a role in the UNSC. “They have concerns of global import. It is unsatisfactory in every sense for the UNSC to increasingly become a preserve of big and the powerful.”

He also pointed out that Maldives is well placed and eminently qualified to raise awareness on climate change, global warming and sea level rise. These are threats to the very existence of humanity and could very well morph in to threats to global peace and security.

Already the flood of refugees is having a destabilizing effect on Europe. Refugee flows, which could be massive, resulting from climate change would pose a greater threat to global peace and stability requiring UNSC action. Such action could be taken preemptively rather than after the catastrophe has occurred, he noted.

“Seeing our loyal friend and neighbour seeking a non permanent Security Council seat should also encourage Sri Lanka to do the same in the not-too-distant future,” he added.

Asked whether the 2016 Paris Climate Change Agreement reflected the fears expressed by SIDS on sea level rise, Sareer said sea level rise is just one of the many impacts of climate change, which are of significance to SIDS.

“The Paris Agreement’s main objective is to enhance climate actions, and hence doesn’t directly address sea level rise. However it did include a strong temperature goal and a stand-alone article on loss and damage, which indirectly address these concerns. What is important now is for countries to make deep cuts in their emissions immediately.”

Asked whether the Maldives expects funding from the multi-billion dollar Green Climate Fund (GCF), he said: “We do. The GCF is a primary multilateral vehicle to deliver climate financing to developing countries and therefore ramping up support for the GCF will be critical for all vulnerable countries.”

However, other funds under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are also crucial for transforming climate action in SIDS and also in developing countries.

He said changing rainfall patterns and increasing salinization caused by rising sea levels have led to challenges in securing reliable supplies of drinking water in many Small Island Developing States.

In this context, the Maldives submitted one of the first projects approved through the GCF which will see almost a third of the population of the Maldives becoming freshwater self-sufficient over the next five years.

The writer can be contacted at thalifdeen@aol.com

An aerial view of the Village of Kolhuvaariyaafushi, Mulaaku Atoll, the Maldives, after the Indian Ocean Tsunami. UN Photo/Evan Schneider

By Ahmed Sareer
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 25 2016 (IPS)

Last month, over two thousand high-level participants from across the world met in Antalya, Turkey for the Midterm Review of the Istanbul Programme of Action, an action plan used to guide sustainable economic development efforts for Least Developed Countries for the 2011 to 2020 period. The main goal was to understand the lessons learnt by the world’s Least Developed Countries (LDCs) over the past five years and apply the knowledge moving forward.

For my country, the Maldives, the past five years have been a chance to experience first-hand the realities of life after graduation from LDC status. In January 2011, the Maldives was officially removed from the list of LDCs, the culmination of decades of hard work and determined efforts of developing the country. The Fourth UN Conference on LDCs, held in May 2011, was the last for the Maldives as an LDC, but last month in Antalya, we went back because we believed it was important to share the lessons we had learnt since 2011.

While our graduation was naturally a moment of pride and cause for celebration for a country only 50 years old, it was accompanied by a sense of uncertainty about the challenges we would face following the withdrawal of the protections and special preferences afforded to LDCs.

Ultimately, we were able to forge ahead in spite of these difficulties and adapted to the new realities. We ensured that our economy, driven by a world-class tourism sector, and a robust fisheries industry, would continue to be competitive and dynamic. We focused on fostering a business-friendly climate, while making prudent investments for future growth.

However, we remain conscious of the degree to which the gains we have made are vulnerable to exogenous shocks. On 20 December 2004, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) decided to graduate the Maldives effective 1 January 2008. But just four days before the UNGA decision, a catastrophic tsunami swept across the Indian Ocean, claiming the lives of over 275,000 people in fourteen countries.

Several islands were rendered uninhabitable; nearly one in ten people were left homeless.

Farms were destroyed, the fresh water lens corrupted, with large-scale loss to infrastructure. The economic cost of the destruction was equivalent to close to 70 percent of GDP, a blow from which it took us over a decade to recover.

The Maldives is not alone in facing such vulnerabilities. For many countries, particularly Small Island Developing States (SIDS) such as our own, an end to LDC status does not necessarily herald the disappearance of structural barriers to growth—such as limited access to markets, geographical isolation, environmental pressures, or difficulty achieving economies of scale.

By 1997, the Maldives had already exceeded two of the three thresholds that determine LDC status—GNI per capita, and the Human Capital Index, measured in terms of undernourishment, child mortality rates, secondary school enrolment rates, and adult literacy.

But we did not exceed the threshold for the third criterion, the Economic Vulnerability Index (EVI), which measures the structural vulnerability of countries to exogenous economic and environmental shocks – we did not meet this threshold to date. It is not necessary to meet all three thresholds to in order to graduate—meaning we were considered ready for graduation.

As the tragedy of 2004 taught us, persistent vulnerabilities have the potential to undermine, if not reverse, gains made towards development. Despite meeting the formal requirements, we were not yet ready. The lessons of our own experiences have meant that the Maldives has been consistent in calling for a smoother and more holistic approach to the graduation process.

Firstly, the criteria for graduation must account for the structural vulnerabilities of developing countries. The fact that economic vulnerability can be disregarded in determining whether a country is ready to graduate from LDC status represents a critical oversight.

Second, the Economic Vulnerability Index itself must also be redesigned to better account for vulnerability. At present, the index fails to account for key considerations such as geographic and environmental vulnerability, import dependency, and demographic pressures.

With greater attention being paid to the effects of climate change on developing countries, most notably in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), evaluating vulnerabilities more comprehensively is a task that has acquired even greater importance.

Lastly, the extension of support and assistance to countries must be determined on the basis of their individual capabilities and challenges, rather than their mere place on a list. We would be remiss to overlook the role that development assistance, including that provided by the UN, has played in helping the Maldives progress—as it has for many others—particularly in regards to our work in disaster preparedness and climate change mitigation.

The withdrawal of such assistance—including preferential trade access and concessionary financing—following our graduation from the ranks of the LDCs has meant increased fiscal challenges. This disregards the unique challenges faced by countries like the Maldives due to their specific structural constraints—constraints ignored under the present graduation regime.

While efforts have been made to smooth the graduation process for LDCs—in 2004, and most recently in 2012—the process remains deeply flawed and in need of comprehensive reform. To this end, the Maldives has called for the World Trade Organization (WTO) to extend the application of TRIPS (trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights) for all LDCs, in addition to the exploration of a “small and vulnerable economy” category at the United Nations, which would recognize the particular needs of such countries.

Similarly, we must move towards devising measures of development that do more than just record national income, and instead provide a more meaningful assessment of national capability and capacity, for which GDP can often be a poor proxy.

No country wishes to be called “least developed”, much less remain in that classification indefinitely, but the factors driving underdevelopment must be meaningfully dealt with if we wish to attain genuinely sustainable development. It is for this reason that we believe that the desire by countries to eradicate poverty and achieve economic development must be met with commitment on part of the United Nations and other organizations to chart a realistic and holistic path towards that end.

Excerpt:

Sea level rise threatens Raolo island in the Solomon Islands. Credit: Catherine Wilson/IPS.

By Ahmed Sareer
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 21 2016 (IPS)

The Paris Climate Change Treaty represents an historic step forward in the international effort to address the crisis. The Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) played a key role in its adoption and were instrumental in winning the inclusion of the 1.5-degree temperature goal.

Many islands are already experiencing severe climate impacts such as devastating storms, flooding and droughts. The damage caused by Cyclone Winston in Fiji earlier this year is an indication of just how powerful and destructive tropical cyclones are becoming with climate change.

What’s more, we have also see the other extreme. Right now, parts of Micronesia are in the worst drought they have experienced in years. My own country, the Maldives, is also increasingly susceptible to water shortages, which costs us tens of millions of dollars to manage.

Our vulnerability to climate impacts gives islands unparalleled moral authority in the climate debate. But we also show leadership through action. The first four countries to ratify the Paris agreement—Fiji, Republic of the Marshall Islands, and Maldives—were all islands and AOSIS members.

It is critical that all countries ratify as quickly as possible so we can accelerate the move to a low-carbon global economy.

The harsh reality is, as important as the agreement and signing is, what matters most is the rapid implementation of its objectives. To avoid the worst impact of climate change, it is critical that we expedite the deployment of climate solutions in the short-term, before 2020.

Pre-2020 action has been an important issue for AOSIS going right back to the Durban mandate.  In the preamble of the Paris decision we also emphasized our concern with the significant gap between aggregate mitigation pledges to 2020 and pathways consistent with 1.5 or 2 degrees.

In the Paris Agreement we agreed to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels.

Even though the Paris Agreement comes into effect in 2020, we are all already taking actions back home, but there is a significantly need to accelerate the pace of these efforts.

We welcome all of the pledges made to the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and look forward to it playing an increasingly important role on climate finance going forward. A well-capitalized GCF is critical to removing some of the obstacles that prevent higher mitigation targets for many developing countries.

Just as important is ramping up adaptation efforts.  A Maldives project was one of first funded by the GCF to improve our water security. These kinds of projects are absolutely critical for us and many other vulnerable communities to build resiliency to climate change impacts that have become impossible to avoid.

Delivering means of implementation is an extremely important issue for small islands and all developing countries. It is difficult for small countries with limited resources capacity—financial and technological—to undertake all of the adaptation projects that we need to undertake and the mitigation initiatives that we would like to take. It is clear that multilateral support is very effective in driving climate action.

The Paris Agreement must be ratified by at least 55 countries accounting for at least an estimated 55% of global greenhouse gas emissions, to enter into force. Once entered into force, countries that have ratified the agreement cannot withdraw for at least three years

Meeting the 55 percent emissions threshold will require a number of big emitters to overcome barriers and ratify. But this is not impossible, and could occur before the originally expected 2020 start date. Early entry into force would build political momentum and boost investor confidence.

Ambassador Ahmed Sareer is Permanent Representative of Maldives to the United Nations.

A dhoni in the Maldives. Credit: Nevit Dilmen/cc by 3.0

By Ahmed Sareer
NEW YORK, Jan 10 2015 (IPS)

Since 1971, Maldives is one of only three countries that have graduated from the ranks of the world’s “least developed countries” (LDCs) – the other two being Botswana and Cape Verde.

The Maldives graduated on Jan. 1, 2011. The review of LDCs conducted in 1997 concluded that the Maldives was ready for immediate graduation.

Ambassador Sareer. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

The Maldives government argued that the U.N. criteria for graduation should include a “smooth transition period” in order to bring into place adequate adjustments necessary for full transition into middle-income country status.

The U.N. Resolution adopted on Dec. 20, 2004 endorsed and adopted these arguments. Under that resolution, the Maldives was set to graduate from the list of LDCs on Jan. 1, 2008.

Just six days after adoption of the resolution, the Indian Ocean tsunami struck the Maldives.

The Maldives economy, which had grown at an average of eight percent per annum for two consecutive years, was devastated by the tsunami: 62 percent of the GDP was destroyed; over seven percent of the population was internally displaced; social and economic infrastructure damaged or destroyed in over one quarter of the inhabited islands; 12 inhabited islands were turned into complete rubble.

Following the disaster, and on the request of the Maldives, the General Assembly decided to defer the graduation until 2011, with a smooth transition period until 2014.Donors often assess a country’s need by its developmental status at the U.N., which traps countries such as the Maldives in a vicious cycle being now termed as the “Middle Income Paradox”.

Graduation from LDC does not help a country to overcome the development challenges it faces. Graduation does not make a country less vulnerable to the consequences of its geography.

It is no secret that small island states being assessed for graduation, do not meet the threshold for economic vulnerability.

Small island states often achieve their high development status because of high and consistent investment in human resources, and the social sector as well as government administration.

This leaves limited financial resources for the country to prepare for natural disasters or to carry out mitigation and adaptation measures.

Countries often have to rely on multilateral and bilateral donors for assistance for environmental projects: donors that often assess a country’s need by its developmental status at the U.N., which traps countries such as the Maldives in a vicious cycle being now termed as the “Middle Income Paradox”.

However, all this is conveniently ignored or overlooked.

Graduation from LDC status need not be feared, nor does it need to be an obstacle in a country’s development path. We only fear what we don’t know.

The Maldives’ experience showed that due to the infancy of the graduation programme, the relatively low number of countries that have graduated, and the lack of coordinated commitment from bilateral partners, the graduation process has been far from smooth.

The General Assembly Resolution, which the Maldives helped to coordinate, adopted in December 2012 provided a smooth transition for countries graduated from the LDC list.

The resolution has put into place greater oversight ability for the U.N. and articulated the need for a strengthened consultative mechanism for the coordination of bilateral aid.

The Maldives has tried to make the path for subsequent graduates smoother. Yet, it is a fact that the graduation process still relies on flawed criteria.

While no country wants to be termed the “Least” on any group, it cannot be denied that inherent vulnerabilities and geo-physical realities of some of the countries that often extend beyond their national jurisdiction, need help that are specific and targeted, in order to improve the resilience of those countries.

It is for that reason that the Maldives lobbied extensively with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to extend the application of TRIPS for all LDCs.

Following graduation, the Maldives also applied to join the EU’s Generalised System of Preferences but new regulations prevented Maldives from the scheme. This posed a significant loss to our fishing industry, which is the export sector in the economy.

The Maldives has been continually exploring the viability of a “small and vulnerable economy” category at the U.N., similar to that which exists in the World Trade Organisation.

Such a category will acknowledge the particular needs of countries arising from the smallness of their economies and inherent geographical realities.

Small island states have continually argued that special consideration needs to be given to SIDS that are slated for graduation. Yet, these voices of concern have fallen largely on deaf years.

But the needs of our people, the development we desire cannot wait to be recognised.

That is why the Maldives decided to take our development path into our own hands. This can be done by consistently employing good policies.

Development is the result of a combination of bold decisions and an ability to seize the opportunities. SIDS have shown to the world that we are not short of smart ideas. Rather than relying on others, we have to develop our own economies our way!

Edited by Kitty Stapp

Excerpt:

By Roberto Savio
ROME, Oct 6 2014 (IPS)

If ever there was a need to prove that we are faced with a total lack of global governance, the U.N. Climate Summit, extraordinarily called by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sep. 23, makes a very good case.

The convocation of the climate summit – albeit just for one day – appeared to indicate that it had finally dawned on political leaders that there is a problem, in fact an urgent problem, about the impact that climate change is having on our planet.

And yet, the array of leaders gathered together in New York, although full of general platitudes, gave another impressive display of failure to come up with a concrete answer. While acknowledging the problem, many leaders found a way to duck their responsibility, indicating domestic constraints.

Roberto Savio. Credit: IPS

Thus U.S. President Barack Obama made it clear that the U.S. Congress would not be ready to ratify an international climate treaty. Of course, this line of reasoning applies to the U.S. approach in general – Congress does not accept binding the United States to any international treaty because of its exceptional destiny, which cannot be brought under scrutiny or control by those who are not U.S. citizens.

Furthermore, the United States has become a dysfunctional country, where the judicial, legislative and executive powers cannot cooperate, even on crucial issues.“The array of leaders gathered together in New York [for the Sep. 23 Climate Summit], although full of general platitudes, gave another impressive display of failure to come up with a concrete answer. While acknowledging the problem, many leaders found a way to duck their responsibility”

Anant Geete, India’s new Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, stated that growth in his country has priority over anything else, and therefore India will continue on its path towards industrialisation and energy fully based on coal, while other renewable energies will be brought in progressively, even if this will eventually make India the world’s biggest polluter.

The European Union could not make any commitment, because a new Commission was due to take over the following month (i.e. October) and the person earmarked for the post of Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy was Spanish Conservative Miguel Arias Canete,  who was a major shareholder in two Spanish oil companies – Petrolifera Ducal and Petrologis Canarias – until he sold his shares to garner support for his nomination

No problem, say his critics, Canete’s wife, son and brother-in-law did not follow suit and remain shareholders or even occupy positions on the boards of the companies.

In line with this same political sensibility, the new and more conservative European Commission has brought in a well-known City lobbyist, Lord Jonathan Hill, to the portfolio of Financial Services.

Such a system of political compromises is like bringing Count Dracula in to run a blood bank – hardly a system that is likely to appeal to blood donors!

What is sad is that there was no lack of background papers for the U.N. Climate Summit.

Beside one prepared by the Intergovernmental Council on Climate Change, bringing together 3.200 scientists from all over the world, there was, for example, a report prepared by the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture (clearly not part of a leftist government), based on a detailed study of Spanish coastal areas which found that by 2050 the level of the Mediterranean Sea will increase by a minimum of 30 centimetres (if climate control measures are taken now) up to a maximum of 60 centimetres (if no action is taken).

That means that the coastline will recede by between 20 to 40 metres, with an obvious impact on tourism, ports and costal settlements. One hundred years ago, only 12 percent of the coast was used, rising to 20 percent in 1950, 35 percent in 1988 and 75 percent in 2006. In Spain, 15 million people now live in area which will be affected by the climate change.

Obviously, France, Greece , Italy, Tunisia and all other Mediterranean countries  will share that same destiny.

Another more global study conducted by Climate Central, a U.S. research group, based on more detailed sea-level data than has previously been available, reports that about 1 person in every 40 in the world lives in an area which will be susceptible to flooding in the next 100 years – about 177 million people.

Even if immediate measures were taken for climate control, 1.9 percent of the population of coastal countries would be affected. At worst, the figure would be 3.1 percent. To give a concrete example, four percent of the Chinese population, 50 million people, would be affected. Eight of the 10 large countries most at risk are in Asia.

The voice of Abdulla Yameen, President of the Maldives, who reminded leaders at the Climate Summit that small island countries – which would be the first to suffer from any rise in sea levels – have formed a federation to defend their right to exist, went largely unheeded.

An entire new generation has been born since the debate over climate change started but there are no signs that the situation is improving.

In the decade up to 2012, global emissions of CO₂ rose by an average of 2.7 percent. In 2013, emissions were the highest in the last 30 years. And yet, the energy sector is mounting a strong campaign to deny that there is any climate change.

If anything, say the deniers of climate change, what is happening is part of a normal historical cycle, not the result of human activity. All data demonstrating the contrary are being ignored, and the upshot of this campaign is that many people believe that debate on the issue is still open.

Perhaps what happened a few days ago between Google and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is symptomatic of this “normal historical cycle”?

On Sep. 22, Google chairman Eric Schmidt announced that the high-tech company was withdrawing from ALEC, saying: “Everyone understands climate change is occurring and the people who oppose it are really hurting our children and our grandchildren and making the world a much worse place. And so we should not be aligned with such people – they’re  just, they’re just literally lying.”

ALEC is a conservative organisation that has urged repeal of state renewable power standards and other pro-renewable policies. It drafts proposals for regulations that it submits to politicians, asking them to make just the effort of passing them into law.

Reacting to Google’s decision, Lisa B. Nelson, CEO of ALEC, said: “It is unfortunate to learn Google has ended its membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council as a result of public pressure from left-leaning individuals and organizations who intentionally confuse free market policy perspectives for climate change denial.”

So, if you are worried about climate change, you are left-wing and against the market!.

The fact is that executives from many large corporations are well ahead of political leaders. They can take decisions unencumbered by political constraint , and they have found out that working in the direction of climate controls makes sense not only in terms of public relations but also economically.

For example, forty major companies, including l’Oreal and Nestlè, issued a declaration on Sep. 23 pledging to help cut tropical deforestation in half by 2020, and stop it entirely by 2030. Some of these companies work with palm oil, profitable production which is at the expense of tropical forests, especially in Indonesia.

In fact, it was only corporations that made any concrete pledges at the New York Summit.

Apple CEO Timothy Cook said that his company was committing itself to focusing on the emissions of its main suppliers, which account for around 70 percent of the greenhouse gases that come from production and use of the company’s products.

Cook rejected the idea that society must choose between economic growth and environment protection, giving as an example a huge solar farm that his company built in North Carolina to help power a data centre there. ”People told us this couldn’t happen, it could not be done, but we did it. It is great for the environment, and by the way it is also good for economics.”

Not to be outdone, Cargill, the huge U.S. commodity processor, pledged to go even further with an existing no-deforestation commitment on palm oil and extend it to cover all its agricultural products. And, together with other companies processing Indonesian palm oil, Cargill called on the Indonesian government to get tougher on deforestation.

In the meantime, it is not that voices worldwide have been silent on the issue. Safeguarding the environment has long been a rallying banner for a large part of civil society worldwide, and a major cause for concern among the younger generations.

The hundreds of thousands of people who took to the streets throughout the world ahead of the New York Summit in solidarity with the need to do something about climate were no mere figment of the media’s imagination. So why were they clearly invisible to the planet’s decision-makers?

The next important date for the climate on their agenda is the U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP21) to be held in Paris in 2015. Will our political leaders again waste the chance to do something concrete – will they continue to stand by and watch as time runs out for the planet, and for humankind?

(Edited by Phil Harris)

Excerpt:

A women-led village council prepares a “social map” of the local community. Credit: Naimul Haq/IPS

By Kalinga Seneviratne
BANGKOK, Jun 26 2014 (IPS)

The Bangkok Declaration on Disaster Risk Reduction in Asia and the Pacific adopted at the close of the 6^th Asian Ministerial Conference On Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) here today emphasised community-based solutions, and reflects a growing global desire to focus more on grassroots actions in the face of catastrophic climate change.

Organised annually in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), this year’s conference – hosted by the Thai government – marks the last time stakeholders from the region will meet before a global summit in Japan next year brings governments together to draft post-2015 plans.

Margareta Wahlstrom, special representative of the U.N. secretary general for disaster risk reduction, said in her opening remarks to the conference that an inclusive and participatory model is needed, which allows grassroots communities and local government authorities to work together as central players in disaster risk reduction (DRR) efforts.

“The more growth we have, the more problems we create. As Asia grows we need policy coherence, accountability and transparency.” -- Bangladeshi Parliamentarian Saber Chowdhrey
Her words found echo with Harjeet Singh, international coordinator of ActionAid’s disaster risk reduction and climatic adaptation project.

“We should not be developing solutions in boardrooms and conferences like this,” he told IPS. “We should rather work with communities, that know much better how they are effected. Most of the time they have solutions that work best for them.”

Speaking at a media conference later, Wahlstrom pointed out that East Asia serves as a model for the rest of the world, as its DRR policies over the last 20 years have led to significant reductions in fatalities as a result of natural hazards.

She said the conference is addressing the fundamental question of how to bring grassroots communities, who are already doing the hard work of mitigation and adaptation, into conversation with national policy makers in order to influence the development agenda.

In preparation for the 3^rd U.N. World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR) in Japan in March 2015, the Bangkok Declaration calls upon governments and stakeholders to enhance resilience at local levels by institutionalising integrated community approaches into local development.

In addition, it recommended the inclusion of volunteer and community-based networks and strengthening the role of women as a force in local level resilience building.

The document also stressed the need for strong accountability measures in partnerships between the community and local governments.

Thailand also managed to incorporate King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s philosophy of Sufficiency Economics into the document, highlighting the importance of a people-centered development model that could “reduce the impact of uncertainties and increase the self-immunity of local communities.”

Sufficiency economics, based on the Buddhist principles of moderation, self-sufficiency and sustainability, promotes a grassroots-oriented economic model that rejects greed, overexploitation and waste.

In the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA2) adopted here as the blueprint for the region’s input to the Japan conference next year, building community resilience to disaster risk management was given top priority.

In the consultation process for HFA2 from March 2012 to May 2013 the emphasis has shifted from reducing vulnerabilities to building resilience. This would involve devolution of authority from a central to a local government level and the use of multi-stakeholder platforms.

This is particularly relevant in the Asia-Pacific region, where – according to a background paper produced for the Bangkok meeting by UNISDR – the number of people exposed to annual flooding has increased from 29.5 to 63.8 million in the past four years, while the number of people living in cyclone-prone areas has grown from 71.8 to 120.7 million.

Invariably, poor people and low-income communities who live in areas most vulnerable to climate change – informal housing settlements and coastal areas, for instance – have been disproportionately impacted.

“We need to be innovative and think out of the box to reform governance [at the] community level,” Bangladeshi Parliamentarian Saber Chowdhrey said at the conference.

He argued that 2015 is poised to be a watershed year with three major international conferences addressing the post-2015 development agenda.

“The more growth we have, the more problems we create,” he noted. “As Asia grows we need policy coherence, accountability and transparency.”

Stefan Kohler, with the sustainable infrastructure group of the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) told IPS a key component to the whole process is community consultation.

“They are the ones who will be involved in using the (DRR) infrastructure created for them and [we] need to understand their requirements, so that [we] can feed it to the design process.”

Nepal, for instance, has been ranked by the U.N. Development Programme as the fourth most vulnerable nation to the impacts of climatic change.

While the country has been developing national action plans on disaster management since 1996, it is only recently that the government enhanced the role of local-level participation.

Addressing a workshop here, Gopi Khanal, Nepal’s joint-secretary of the ministry of federal affairs and local development, explained that the government has shifted responsibility for DRR management to the community level.

Through Ward Citizens Forums and 3,625 Village Development Councils operating under local government structures, the national government has created an information sharing system from national through district to village levels.

“Mainstreaming of risk management requires coordination between various levels of governance, and the sharing of financial resources,” he explained.

Becky-Jay Harrington of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), who is based in Nepal, told IPS that this pilot scheme – currently implemented in seven of the country’s 75 districts – has channeled a considerable amount of state financial resources to community-based action on disaster risk management.

The project’s total budget is 2.5 million dollars.

Another example can be seen in the Maldives, a country seriously threatened by rising sea levels as a result of global warming.

Mohamed Zuhair, the country’s national disaster management minister, told the meeting that the central government has given a lot of freedom to communities from far-flung atolls and islands to steer DRR activities, which in turn has influenced national policy.

He also believes that high-risk communities like his need to be innovative if they wish to survive.

“We have a private-public collaboration with the tourist industry to introduce green energy and collaborate in risk management,” he pointed out, adding, “While the Maldives has taken the initiative, bigger countries with more funds need to take responsibility and contribute to these initiatives.

Experts say the shift towards civil society must be encouraged and built upon, as the world prepares for a decade of disasters.

(END)

Sea level rise threatens Raolo island in the Solomon Islands. Credit: Catherine Wilson/IPS

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 11 2013 (IPS)

Threatened by rising seas, some of the world’s small island developing states (SIDS) are demanding that the U.N.’s new set of Sustainable Development Goals place a high priority on the protection of oceans and marine resources.

A growing number of SIDS, including Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Maldives, Tonga, Nauru and Kiribati, are making a strong case for a stand-alone goal for the protection of oceans in the post-2015 development agenda known as the SDGs, which is currently under discussion."There is absolutely no way that humanity can have a sustainable future without healthy oceans." -- Cyrie Sendashonga of IUCN

Hassan Hussain Shihab, first secretary of the Maldives diplomatic mission to the U.N., told IPS that oceans are a priority for the Indian Ocean island nation, whose 339,000 citizens are threatened by sea-level rise.

“The establishment of an SDG dedicated to oceans is critical to Maldives as the oceans are our source of life, livelihood and the identity of the people,” he said.

Covering more than 70 percent of our planet’s surface, he said, oceans play a key role in supporting life on earth.

“They regulate our climate, provide us with natural resources and are essential for international trade, recreation and cultural activities,” he said. “We therefore strongly call for the creation of a Sustainable Development Goal for oceans, which covers the coasts, the exclusive economic zones (EEZs) and the high seas.”

Mark Neo, deputy permanent representative of Singapore, told IPS oceans are also the economic lifeblood of his country, also one of the 52 designated SIDS.

“As an entrepot, we are highly dependent on maritime trade. And oceans are a precious resource and there are many users of the oceans,” he said.

“We believe that given the many demands on the oceans and its resources, the conservation and sustainable use of oceans and seas and of their resources for sustainable development is important,” he added.

Neo said the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea must form the legal framework of any sustainable development goal on oceans.

Addressing the General Assembly in September, King Tupou VI of Tonga told delegates, “Tonga joins SIDS in calling for the inclusion of climate change as a cross-cutting issue of SDGs.

“Oceans are a thematic priority and should also be prominently featured in the SDGs and the post-2015 agenda,” he said.

The prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Winston Baldwin Spencer, has called for greater international support for SIDS.

“It is a recognised fact, but it is worth repeating, that SIDS contribute the least to the causes of climate change, yet we suffer the most from its effects,” he told delegates during the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) sessions in September.

He said small island states have expressed “our profound disappointment at the lack of tangible action.”

The current president of 193-member UNGA, Ambassador John Ashe of Antigua and Barbuda, has expressed his strong support for sustainable development.

His spokesperson Afaf Konja told IPS the UNGA president was “very keen on the issue” and is fully aware of the importance of oceans on SDGs.

She said oceans are expected to be high on the agenda of the open working group (OWG) currently negotiating SDGs and the post-2015 economic agenda.

The OWG is expected to complete its work in mid-2014 and its final report, with a new set of SDGs, will go before a meeting of world leaders in New York in September 2015.

Cyrie Sendashonga, global policy director of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), told IPS healthy oceans are essential to sustainable development, supplying food, oxygen, carbon storage and other vital services for humanity.

Oceans are front and central in the quest for sustainable development and deserve their own Sustainable Development Goal, she added.

“There is absolutely no way that humanity can have a sustainable future without healthy oceans as they play a vital role in ensuring critical ecological and geological processes, and in sustaining livelihoods and human well-being in general,” Sendashonga said at a U.N. seminar last month.

Any discussions in the SDGs and the post-2015 development agenda processes have to take this into account, she said.

As the recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) clearly documents, 90 percent of the climate change energy, since 1971, has actually gone into the ocean in the form of ocean warming, and warming may have started as far back at the 1870s, Sendashonga pointed out.

Overfishing, pollution and increasing nutrient levels compound these effects, weakening food webs and ecosystem integrity.

“Urgent and far more ambitious actions are therefore needed to keep pace with the changes in the ocean,” she said.

A Pacific island nation with a tiny population of about 100,800, Kiribati is one of the many SIDS in danger of being wiped off the face of the earth because of rising sea levels.

“Healthy oceans are critical for delivering on the U.N.’s post-2015 development goals,” said Ambassador Makurita Baaro, permanent representative of Kiribati.

“We have to be the most studied, most researched and the most media-covered nation relating to climate change,” she told delegates last week at a meeting of the U.N.’s social and economic committee.

Sea levels are rising, coastlines are being eroded, and extreme weather events were growing more common, she said, even as the United Nations was providing large-scale humanitarian assistance to thousands of victims of a typhoon that devastated parts of Philippines over the weekend.

Children in Luanda. Angola is expected to graduate from the ranks of the LDCs by 2015. Credit: Louise Redvers/IPS

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 31 2013 (IPS)

The number of “least developed countries” (LDCs), which rose from the original 24 back in 1971 to the current 49, is beginning to shrink – haltingly.

So far, three countries – Botswana, Cape Verde and the Maldives – have “graduated” from LDCs to the status of developing countries."The key issue of a widening inequality gap and redistribution of resources remains a development challenge." -- Dr. Arjun Karki of LDC Watch

And as economies improve, at least six more countries – Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Kiribati, Angola, Samoa and Equatorial Guinea – are on the verge of leaving the ranks of LDCs by 2015.

But some of them have been reluctant to graduate – and sought postponements – since LDC status provides several benefits, including preferential tariffs on exports and increased development aid.

Still, the growing list of potential “graduates” comes in the midst of a new U.N. report that says inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) to LDCs grew by 20 percent last year, registering a record 26 billion dollars.

The strong gains were led by Cambodia, as well as five African countries: the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Liberia, Mauritania, Mozambique and Uganda, all of them LDCs.

The recently-released World Investment Report 2013, authored by the Geneva-based U.N. Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), says growth was led by strong gains in Cambodia (where inflows were up 73 percent), DRC (96 percent), Liberia (167 percent), Mauritania (105 percent), Mozambique (96 percent), and Uganda (93 percent).

Still, 20 LDCs reported declines in FDI, and the trend was particularly pronounced in Angola, Burundi, Mali and the Solomon Islands.

Described as the poorest of the world’s poor, LDCs are mostly characterised by extreme poverty and economic structural weaknesses.

According to the United Nations, these have been often compounded by geophysical handicaps, limited capacity for growth and development and vulnerability to external shocks.

The most recent addition to the list of 49 LDCs is the new nation state of South Sudan, which joined the United Nations as its 193rd member in July 2011.

Asked if the FDI increase in LDCs is the beginning of a new trend or just a flash in the pan, Dr. Arjun Karki, international coordinator for LDC Watch, a global civil society alliance solely focused on developmental issues and concerns of the LDCs, told IPS, “The scenario is not crystal clear.”

Given the fall in FDI inflows to developed countries, the LDCs are now on the FDI radar, he added.

“If you observe the trend, it’s the resource-rich LDCs, such as the DRC, Liberia, Mauritania, Mozambique, and Uganda, that are receiving FDI inflows,” he pointed out.

But investments are reported to be highest in the extractive sector, he noted.

“From the development perspective, this trend is not very encouraging as this reinforces the commodity-led growth in LDCs which is not sustainable,” Dr Karki said.

The U.N. Committee for Development Policy (CDP) usually determines “eligibility” for LDC status – based on several factors, including population, national income and other economic indicators – but the ultimate decision rests with the countries themselves.
Zimbabwe, for example, has refused to join the LDC group despite being judged eligible by CDP.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says the increase in FDI comes at “an important moment” when the international community is making a final push to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the target date of 2015.

One of the primary objectives of MDGs is to reduce and eliminate extreme poverty and hunger, two of the major problems facing most LDCs.

At the same time, he said, the United Nations is working to forge a vision for the post-2015 development agenda.

Credible and objective information on FDI can contribute to success in these twin endeavours, Ban added.

Dr. Karki told IPS the new Istanbul Programme of Action for LDCs for the Decade 2011-2020 is a slight shift from the commodity-oriented growth towards building productive capacity of LDCs in order to achieve structural economic transformation of LDCs.

Therefore, FDI inflows to LDCs would be welcome if they are targeted at the manufacturing sector, infrastructure and basic services sector such as health, water and sanitation, electricity and communications.

The key problem with FDI inflows targeting the extractive sector is that the benefits fail to trickle down, with only the multinational and transnational corporations and the recipient country’s elites minting money at the expense of the poor, marginalised and vulnerable communities, he pointed out.

“The key issue of widening inequality gap and redistribution of resources remains a development challenge,” he said. “This fact was blatant during my recent visit to Liberia and Sierra Leone – two extremely resource-rich LDCs but unfortunately, with the poorest populations.

“Given such a sad irony, our civil society partners were of the opinion that all the riches should remain in the soil/ground as they fail to ensure the right to sustainable development of the peoples anyway.”

The negative growth – particularly in Angola, Burundi and Mali – could be attributed to the political instability in these LDCs, which is not a good breeding ground for FDI.

“Having said this, it is also interesting to note that FDI inflows are high in both authoritarian regimes as well as in vulnerable governments as is the case in Africa and Asia,” Dr. Karki noted.

He said the other reason for FDI decline could be the evolving role of development-oriented governments in LDCs that are attempting to safeguard national interests and rights of peoples over profit and plunder.

“If this is truly the case, then LDC governments are in the right direction towards genuinely uplifting their populations out of the structural causes of poverty, deprivation and injustices,” he said.

The issue of sovereignty is critical in terms of respecting and complying with country systems. Otherwise, it has been proven that FDI is more of a bane than a boon for sustainable development, Dr Karki concluded.

In the Maldives, a nation of small islands threatened by rising sea levels, the topic of climate change is a controversial one. Credit: Nattu/CC by 2.0

By Ferry Biedermann
VENICE, Jun 5 2013 (IPS)

On the quay leading to the Arsenale exhibition complex, a block of ice melts in a rare blast of spring warmth. Elsewhere in the city, coconuts bob on the choppy waters of the canals during the opening week of the 55th Venice Biennale.

The ice and the coconuts were both works of art belonging to the Maldives in its first-ever participation in the Biennale. One, by Stefano Cagol, referenced melting ice sheets, which contribute to rising sea levels that may threaten the existence of the fragile island nation.

The second, by the Wooloo group, echoes a disaster that has already happened – the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, after which the sea was littered with bunches of coconuts.

The Maldives’ first national pavilion at the Venice Biennale, the world famous art show that attracts the rich, the famous and other art aficionados to this Italian lagoon city every two years, is all about climate change and the threat posed by rising sea levels to this low-lying chain of islands in the Indian Ocean.

This ecological focus, however, is also part of a Maldivian political controversy.

The pavilion was once the initiative of former president Mohamed Nasheed as a way to focus attention on the issue. It was almost abandoned after he resigned under hotly contested circumstances in February 2012.

The new government, with plenty of other issues demanding its attention, lost interest and allowed a joint Arab-European collective of curators, calling themselves Chamber of Public Secrets, to take over the pavilion and mount a show under the banner Portable Nation.

“They did not care. They did not mind. They don’t believe in the power of art to affect anything anyway,” Maren Richter, an Austrian associate curator, said of the current government’s attitude.

She called the lack of interest fortunate because political attitudes in the Maldives on the issue of climate change have changed dramatically.

“The new government even denies the problem and says that Nasheed was a liar. They say, ‘He built an airport and resorts, why would he do that if sea levels are rising?'” said Richter.

That accusation is voiced in the documentary “Maldives To Be or Not”, by Lebanese curator and artist Khaled Ramadan. It explores Western preconceived notions about the Maldives and its ecology, said Ramadan, who visited the islands as a citizen of the Arab world who wanted to learn about a place with shared identities.

Minimal action on climate change

T. C. Karthikheyan, an observer of the political and the ecological situation of the Maldives and an associate fellow at India’s National Maritime Foundation in New Delhi, confirmed that the current government is spreading the idea that Nasheed has been exaggerating the threat of rising sea levels.

The former president, who earned a degree in Maritime Studies in Liverpool before becoming a political activist, won elections in 2008, ending 30 years of authoritarian rule in the Muslim country. He immediately began making climate change a focus. In 2009, he famously held a cabinet session under water.

But Nasheed stepped down after widespread protests in February 2012, claiming that he had been forced out in a coup, an accusation that a Maldives inquiry called unfounded. He is now gearing up to run for reelection in September and win back the presidency from Mohammed Waheed Hassan.

The current government’s accusations against Nasheed can be interpreted as a attempt to discredit him while simultaneously sidestepping accusations that it has done too little on the issue of climate change since coming to power.

“They are mostly involved in politics and image building,” said Karthikheyan. “They have not done anything considerable in the previous year on the issue of climate change.”

Building awareness

In any case, the environment is not expected to play a major role in upcoming elections. Voters in the Maldives have other issues to worry about, such as the economy, democracy, human rights and the rise of Islamism, said Karthikheyan.

“The climate change aspect is not very prominent in the local campaign. When it comes to international attention then it is prominent,” he said.

The pavilion in Venice has helped the Maldives garner some of the attention that Nasheed sought for the issue of climate change, with many works there directly referencing the issue.

Outside the pavilion, an installation by Swiss artist Greg Niemeyer turns the various sea levels in the Maldives, Iceland, Venice and the Antarctic into sound.

Internet users in the Maldives can click a button on a website that will release the sound of a large tidal wave from the installation in Venice, a creation that is bound to attract notice in a city that itself is at risk from rising sea levels.

The 55th Venice Biennale was launched on 29 May and will be open to visitors until 24 November.

A human rights crisis has engulfed the Indian Ocean nation of the Maldives since the ousting of the former president, Mohamed Nasheed, on Feb. 7, activists warned here Tuesday.

The tourist haven, known mostly for its beaches and resorts, has seen a significant rise in public beatings and brutality by police targeting Nasheed’s supporters, according to a new report released here Tuesday by Amnesty International, a watchdog group. The events that led to Nasheed’s resignation are characterised as unlawful by Nasheed and his supporters, who claim that he was forced out of office at gunpoint.

The report takes an in-depth look into the violence that has permeated Maldivian society following Nasheed’s resignation by combining eyewitness accounts and personal narratives.

It includes an interview with Ahmed Shah Rasheed, the deputy mayor of Male, who was beaten by police and threatened with death. Other incidents include protestors being locked up in filthy dog cages, and not being allowed out to use the bathroom.

The Maldives, one of the most prosperous countries in South Asia, saw 30 years of autocratic rule under Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. In 2008, however, the strongman was beaten in national polls by Nasheed, a former Amnesty International “prisoner of conscience”, and his vice-president, Mohammed Waheed.

Dissatisfaction with the way the economy was being run and pressure from the opposition led to the February ousting of Nasheed. The new government, led by Mohammed Waheed, has a cabinet full of Gayoom supporters, including a few of his family members.

Gayoom may not be in power, Amnesty’s analysts suggest, but his political clout is not to be underestimated.

On Aug. 30, the U.S. State Department released a press statement that was surprising and shocking to many human rights groups.

“The United States welcomes the release of the report of the independent Commission of National Inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the February 7 transfer of power in Maldives,” it said. “The United States commends the Commission co-chairs for their leadership and commitment to a thorough and inclusive investigation and review process.

“The United States has consistently called for all Maldivians to respect the findings of the Commission of National Inquiry. Now that the Commission has released its report we urge all parties to respect those findings, to exercise restraint, obey the rule of law, and continue to express themselves in a peaceful and nonviolent manner.”

Human rights groups have been quick to question the U.S. State Department’s position on the issue. Nasheed’s tenure as president was the first time the country had a democratically elected leader in over 30 years, and for many the statement invalidates much of the Maldivian democracy struggle.

T. Kumar, director of International advocacy for Amnesty International USA, told IPS that the State Department should have at least mentioned the human rights violations that are spreading across the country.

He cited numerous accounts of brutality and police beatings that shed a harsh light on the current government’s inability to curb assaults by the police and put perpetrators behind bars. Kumar says that police regularly spray pepper spray directly into protestors’ eyes, beating them on the head with batons, and even following tortured protestors to hospitals to beat them again.

“When the United States doesn’t mention any human rights violations in Maldives, and only talks about the political coup d’état, it sends out a negative message to the Maldivian people. It means that the government can do as it wishes, without regard to human rights,” Kumar told IPS.

Mariya Ahmed Didi, a member of Parliament and a supporter of Nasheed, told Amnesty that she was brutally beaten by batons, and pepper-sprayed by members of the police who forced her to keep her eyes open.

“As we were in the hospital, I heard and saw uniformed policemen charging in,” she told Amnesty’s researchers. “They were hitting people who had been injured, hitting them especially on their head. We left the hospital quietly, but I saw two police officers marching into the emergency room.”

There are several such accounts in the new report, and Kumar believes that a strong word from the U.S would go a long way in curbing such violence.

“As of now, it seems as if the actions of the Maldivian police and government are acceptable. A strong word from the United States could rectify that. When the United States talks, countries are at least forced to take notice,” says Kumar.

Former Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed expressed concerns Monday about the state of democracy in his home country, noting the dividing effect of a rising tide of Islamist extremism.

In the midst of a tour of the United States – which includes an award from the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict – Nasheed, speaking at the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP), said, “People don’t want radical Islam to take over.”

Indeed, Sharia law, a source of dispute between Islamic fundamentalists and modernists over its modern-day implementation in the Maldives, serves as a supplement to Maldivian jurisprudence.

According to the country’s constitution, citizens are not allowed to engage in actions at odds with Sharia law, and judges must be “educated in Islamic sharia or law”.

According to the Pew Research Center, there were 309,000 Muslims in Maldives in 2010, a number that it projected to grow to 396,000 by 2030. According to the 2008 Maldivian constitution – the 13th in the country’s history – a non-Muslim is not allowed to become a Maldivian citizen, unless already a citizen.

At a press conference in New Delhi in April, Nasheed was even more forthcoming about what he perceives as a threat. “There are radical elements within the military and within the cabinet,” he said.

“These Islamist groups want to have a better hold on society, because they have found an inroad into power through the current government.”

In February, Nasheed was ousted from power in a coup d’état, replaced by his Vice President Mohammed Waheed Hassan. Conflicting reports have said that Nasheed stepped down peacefully or was forced out at gunpoint, by forces loyal to Former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom or Hassan.

Nasheed had been president for four years, having taken over for the third president, Gayoom, following years of civil unrest. Gayoom was voted out of office in 2008, following 30 years as an autocratic ruler of Maldives.

One of his biggest critics was Nasheed, a journalist by trade, who, in a 1990 article in the political magazine Sangu, alleged that the previous year’s elections had been rigged.

Following the publication of the article, Nasheed was allegedly tortured twice, placed in solitary confinement for 18 months and has been detained more than a dozen times between 1989 and 2005. In the process, he has earned himself the moniker of the “Mandela of the Maldives”.

At the heart of the struggle between the two major political parties, the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), Nasheed’s party, and the Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM), Gayoom’s party, is a tussle over the role of Islam in newly minted democratic state. Religious tensions have often been at the root of politics in the Maldives, which has seen significant push and pull between secularism and fundamentalism.

In the aftermath, some officials and Nasheed himself pointed out that his more secularist views, including an attempt to have a school curriculum and law system based not solely on Sharia, might have led to small but powerful factions calling for his political demise.

The founder of the MDP, Mohamed Latheef, pinned a rise in extremism on Gayoom, saying that he had perpetrated the upsurge. “He is the person who brought Islamic fundamentalism into the country. Before he came into power, there weren’t all these madrassas exposing extremist forms of Islam at all,” he says.

“Now he has been using Islam as a tool of governance.”

Meanwhile, Gayoom and his supporters accused the Nasheed government throughout his presidency of being guilty of cooperating with Christian missionaries and Jewish parties, in an effort to “wipe out Islam” from the Maldives, according to the Minivan News.

One of the first signs of the growth of Islamic fanaticism in Maldives was when a Maldivian man named Ibrahim Fauzee was arrested in Karachi, Pakistan, in 2002. He was arrested for alleged links to Al-Qaeda and was taken to Guantanamo Bay, though he was released several years later.

Since then, Maldivian society at large has reportedly become increasingly restrictive.

In 2006, when the U.N. special rapporteur on freedom of religion and belief, Asma Jahangir, visiting a Maldives still under the rule of Gayoom, she stated that religious freedom was being “vigorously denied, and the few that dare to raise their voices are denounced and threatened”.

In December 2011, Ismail Rasheed, a Maldivian journalist, organised and took part in a demonstration in the Maldivian capital of Malé, calling for religious tolerance. He was subsequently arrested for his “involvement in an unlawful assembly”, according to the Maldivian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Watchdog groups around the world responded loudly to Rasheed’s detention. Amnesty International named the journalist a prisoner of conscience. Reporters Without Borders noted, “Religion is becoming a taboo subject in the Maldives and media workers are under threat of imprisonment every time it is debated.”

Earlier this month, Rasheed was nearly killed after he was throat was slit, barely missing a major artery. Reporters Without Borders, stating that Rasheed has made many enemies with his confrontational blogging, claimed that that it “has all the hallmarks of a targeted murder attempt”.

Nasheed’s ascension to power, a peaceful precursor to the Arab Spring, was viewed as a major step towards freedom of speech and religion, given his background as a journalist. However, it has taken a hit in recent months.

As political turmoil ensued in February following the ousting of Nasheed, a half-dozen men entered the Maldives National Museum and destroyed Buddhist artifacts, including a large depiction of the Buddha’s head, one of the few remnants of what once was a predominant Buddhist culture on the island centuries ago.

Ali Waheed, the director of the National Museum, however, bemoaned the demolition of the culturally and historically significant artifacts. “The collection was totally, totally smashed,” Waheed said. “The whole pre-Islamic history is gone.”

Officials claimed that the men attacked the figures because they viewed the sculptures as idols, thus illegal under sharia and national law.

While the situation in the Maldives mirrors the situation in Arab Spring, with the overthrow of a dictator, the vandalism of major museums and the attacks on journalists, Nasheed sees it as an opportunity.

“I feel that what has happened in the Maldives,” Nasheed said at the USIP, “would help us in trying to understand what might happen in Tunisia, in Egypt, in Libya, in Syria and so on.”