Sudhi Kumar (51) is a fisher from Kovalam, India, who has been harpoon-fishing for over 30 years. Credit: Bharath Thampi/IPS

By Bharath Thampi
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India, Mar 20 2026 (IPS)

Sudhi Kumar animatedly moves his hands, resembling a graceful dance performance, as he demonstrates how a fishing harpoon is used. He has been on a brief hiatus from harpooning, owing to the recent rough nature of the sea, and doesn’t have the tool with him as we speak. But more than three decades of experience using harpoons is apparent in how vividly he uses his body to mimic the process.

Sudhi, 51, is a fisher belonging to the globally sought-after tourist beach village, Kovalam, in Thiruvananthapuram – the southernmost district of Kerala, India. Sudhi has a unique distinction among the fishing communities of Thiruvananthapuram, which has a significant coastal population. He was the first one among the natives to learn and employ the method of ‘harpoon fishing’. Moreover, Sudhi belongs to a minuscule section of fishers in the whole of Kerala itself, who practise this uncommon, albeit highly sustainable and ecologically friendly, method of fishing.

“Harpooning and spear fishing may look very similar to an outsider but are vastly different,” Sudhi says. “Our ancestors have been known to have used spears built of tough wood or other materials. But a harpoon was a totally foreign object to the fishers here.”

Kovalam was a thriving beach tourism spot by the 1990s. Sudhi, barely out of his teens but an expert swimmer and diver by then, used to accompany his father for fishing, as well as act as a snorkelling guide for foreign tourists.

“One time, a Frenchman came to me with a harpoon, and he told me he needed my help in fishing with it in the sea. I was seeing the equipment for the first time in my life,” Sudhi recollects the event from nearly 35 years ago.

After the man was done fishing, Sudhi requested him to let him try the harpoon once. The foreigner was quite impressed by Sudhi’s deep-sea skills and handling of the harpoon despite being a debutant. Sudhi even caught a large Vela Paara (Silver Mooney fish) that day.

“Before he left Kovalam, he handed me the harpoon as a gift, to my pleasant surprise. I was so thrilled – I was the only one here who owned it,” says Sudhi.

Sudhi Kumar catching fish using harpooning. Credit: PC || FML/Robert Panipilla

He started harpooning quite frequently since then, an amusing sight for the other fishers in Kovalam. “I also realised that I could earn a lot more through harpooning than accompanying my father in his boat.”

But Sudhi was also aware that a harpoon was still a rare commodity to procure, not just in Kerala, but across the country, at the time. For one, it was costly, and most fishers couldn’t afford it. He held himself back from using it on significantly large fish because he was afraid of damaging or losing the harpoon.

Dr Shobha Joe Kizhakudan, head of the Finfish Fisheries Division at ICAR-CMFRI (Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute), agrees that harpooning is considered one of the most sustainable fishing methods by scientific experts as well. But there had been a bit of stigma attached to it in earlier years, she says, because of how “cruel” the method of killing could be.

“For example, harpooning was once a main technique used to catch whale sharks and other shark species, before the ban came into effect. Once harpooned, the fish would be dragged alive, fighting for its life, until the shore,” Kizhakudan says.

Sustainable Development Goal 14 (SDG 14: Life Below Water) aims to conserve oceans and sustainably use marine resources, with a core target of ending overfishing and illegal and destructive fishing practices by 2020. The way Sudhi uses it could fit with this definition.

However, Sudhi also acknowledges that he avoids shooting larger fish, which may survive a single harpoon shot, because it’s a merciless and amoral act. But he hadn’t always been so conscientious, he reminisces.

“Many years ago, as a young man, I once accompanied a tourist called Paul to the sea, who was capturing on video underwater marine habitat as well as my harpooning. Paul had been fixated on a pair of Bluefin Trevally, which clearly seemed to be doing a mating ritual. After waiting for a while, I grew impatient and killed one with a harpoon shot. Paul looked back at me with a heartbroken expression and nodded his head sadly. I felt awfully guilty. That feeling has stayed with me since.”

Harpooning is no easy feat, Sudhi points out, a key reason why there are very few practising it. For one, it’s a waiting game: you need to hold your breath and stay underwater for minutes at a time before a fish comes close enough, and you have the measure of its movements to harpoon it.

Friends of Marine Life (FML), a coastal indigenous civil society organisation based in Thiruvananthapuram, has been video-documenting the marine biodiversity of the region, especially the natural reef ecosystems, for quite some time now. Robert Panippilla, the founder of FML and a certified scuba diver, had extensively documented the harpooning method with Sudhi.

“Harpooning can only be practised in regions with rocky habitats. Hence, Kovalam is an ideal location for that,” Panippilla says. Having covered diverse fishing practices as part of his documentation, he says that harpooning is one of the most unique and toughest skills.

“Not only do they have remarkable underwater stamina and manoeuvrability, but it’s also imperative that they possess adequate geomorphological understanding of the sea and the behaviour of the fish. Just because someone comes to possess a harpoon, they may not be able to use it effectively.”

To Robert’s knowledge, barring the harpooners in Kovalam and a scattered few in Vizhinjam, there’s nowhere else in Kerala that harpooning is practised. He considers harpooning a great sustainable fishing method because it’s very selective in practice. “There’s no risk of overfishing, juvenile fish being caught alongside others, or the ecological issue of ghost nets being abandoned at the bottom of the ocean, like in net-fishing.”

Unlike the early years, when Sudhi was the only one who sported a harpoon, others have now gotten into the trade in the region. Most of them got the harpoons from abroad, particularly through those returning from the Middle East. Many of them were trained by Sudhi himself before they started doing it independently. At present, in and around Kovalam, there must be around 25 fishers engaged in harpoon fishing, he reckons. As far as Sudhi knows, harpooning is a rarity across India itself, most likely practised in islands.

The Southwest monsoon phase in Kerala, especially in the month of August, is the best time for harpoon fishing, in Sudhi’s experience. Groupers (fish) are aplenty on the Thiruvananthapuram coast, and some seasons have earned him catches worth lakhs of rupees. Rays and Barracudas are a couple of other common harpooning targets for him. Besides harpoon fishing, Sudhi frequently goes diving for mussels and cage fishing for lobsters.

This article is brought to you by IPS Noram in collaboration with INPS Japan and Soka Gakkai International in consultative status with ECOSOC.

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Participants observe a visual montage linking Abu Dhabi’s Zayed Award ceremony, the Sant’Egidio interfaith forum in Rome and the Astana Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions — symbolizing the emerging “rehearsal space” where religion, civil society and state diplomacy converge. (Credit: INPS / Illustrative image)

By Katsuhiro Asagiri
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates, Feb 24 2026 (IPS)

As wars drag on and the international order grows increasingly unstable, Abu Dhabi has been offering a different kind of narrative. It sought to recognize early efforts at reconciliation, bring religious leaders into the same space, and place former adversaries under the same spotlight. At the heart of the February 4, 2026 Zayed Award for Human Fraternity ceremony was an attempt to make visible, in a public setting, the choice of moving in the direction of easing conflict.

Pope Francis and Ahmed el-Tayeb sign the Document on Human Fraternity。Credit: Vatican News

Seven years on, the international landscape has become even more fragmented. Even so, the organizers have framed the ceremony not merely as an awards event, but as a symbolic platform intended to encourage a minimum measure of restraint when politics turns turbulent.

Shoring Up a Fragile Peace

The moment that drew the most attention this year was the recognition of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev for their peace agreement. After decades of confrontation, the award functioned as a form of international endorsement for a still-fragile peace process in the South Caucasus.

Zayed Prize 2026 to Armenia and Azerbaijan Credit: Vatican News

The award, however, extended beyond state leadership. The 2026 laureates also included Afghan girls’ education advocate Zarqa Yaftali and the Palestinian nonprofit Taawon, honoring efforts to continue humanitarian and development work under conditions of conflict and political instability. It also underscores the award’s intention to bridge “top-down politics,” such as peace agreements, with “bottom-up peacebuilding” that supports communities on the ground. The underlying message is clear: even with treaties and agreements in place, peace cannot take root if the schools, healthcare, and local support systems needed to sustain society remain fragile.

A Dialogue Circuit Linking Rome and Astana

The closing ceremony held against the backdrop of the ancient Roman ruins, the Colosseum. Credit: Community of Sant’Egidio

Further east, Kazakhstan has institutionalized interfaith engagement through the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in Astana. Both the Holy See and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar have consistently participated, helping to sustain the congress as a venue for structured interreligious dialogue.

Seen in this light, Rome, Astana, and Abu Dhabi are not merely separate events; they emerge as nodal points in a broader space of dialogue that links religion and diplomacy. Put differently, they function like a regular service designed to keep the lines of communication open—ensuring that the ability to meet and talk does not fall silent.

Religious Actors Across Borders

On Feb. 4, a Soka Gakkai delegation led by Vice President Hirotsugu Terasaki attended the 2026 Zayed Award for Human Fraternity ceremony in Abu Dhabi, UAE. At the invitation of @ZayedAward, the delegation joined global religious leaders. On Feb. 3, the delegation met with Judge Mohamed Abdelsalam, Secretary-General of the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity and they delivered a letter from Soka Gakkai President Minoru Harada to the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar His Eminence Ahmed Al-Tayeb. Credit: SGI

Ahead of the Abu Dhabi ceremony, Terasaki met with Judge Mohamed Abdelsalam, Secretary-General of the award, and delivered a letter from Minoru Harada, President of Soka Gakkai, addressed to Grand Imam Ahmed Al-Tayeb. The two exchanged views on the need to further strengthen “heart-to-heart dialogue” that transcends religious differences.

The stages created by the United Arab Emirates and Kazakhstan—both of which place emphasis on “spiritual diplomacy”—are more than mere events. What gives these settings moral authority and lends them ethical weight as arenas for peacebuilding is a sustained architecture of dialogue, underpinned by relationships that religious and civil-society leaders have cultivated over many years. Put differently, it is a system for meeting regularly and ensuring that lines of communication do not fall silent. Even when interstate relations grow tense, religious and civil-society networks can keep channels of dialogue open, serving as a buffer against rupture.

The fact that Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev engaged with this year’s award ceremony through a video address, and that Director-General Terasaki has moved across dialogue venues such as Abu Dhabi, Rome, and Astana, quietly suggests the presence of such networks where religion and diplomacy intersect. Likewise, the Holy See has also been one of the actors continuously involved in all three of these settings.

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev extended his congratulations to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on being given the Sheikh Zayed Award for Human Fraternity in a video address. Credit: Akorda

Shared Words, Different Realities

The vocabulary repeatedly invoked in these forums is strikingly consistent: fraternity, coexistence, dialogue, and human dignity. At a time when multilateralism is faltering and traditional channels of mediation are weakening, this language also serves a political purpose—allowing states to signal, at home and abroad, a preference for dialogue over force and to project the image that they are not stoking confrontation, but providing a venue in which tensions can be managed.

Yet the distance between ceremony and reality does not disappear. Celebrating a peace agreement does not necessarily guarantee its implementation. Honoring efforts in girls’ education does not automatically reopen classrooms. Proclaiming coexistence does not stop violence overnight. Awards can encourage compromise and bless dialogue, but they are not mechanisms that can compel outcomes.

Even so, governments and religious and civil-society networks continue to engage in these venues—through attendance, public statements, and sustained involvement—because they remain among the few public settings where opposing parties can appear side by side. There are not many spaces where actors in tense relationships can stand in the same room, where restraint is openly affirmed, and where interfaith ties can function as informal diplomatic channels.

A Place to “Rehearse” Peace

A woman crafts a mosaic depicting a peace dove in the Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan. Credit: UN Women/Christopher Herwig

They also point toward the emergence of a new diplomatic domain where religion, civil society and state interests converge.

In today’s international environment, it is precisely these small points of contact that can carry real significance. Before peace is institutionalized as policy, there are only limited spaces where its shape can be publicly “rehearsed.”

The Abu Dhabi ceremony is one of those rare stages. It did not resolve a conflict, nor did it erase suspicion. Even so, choosing dialogue—and continuing to make that choice visible in the open—constitutes an act in itself: a clear signal, in an age of polarization, of a commitment to restraint over enmity.

This article is brought to you by INPS Japan in collaboration with Soka Gakkai International, in consultative status with the UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

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Kumi Naidoo with Brazilian First Lady Janja Lula da Silva and Brazilian Cultural Minister Margareth Menezes and others at a panel called “Narratives and Storytelling to Face the Climate Crisis” during the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30). Credit: Aline Massuda/COP30

By Joyce Chimbi
BELÉM, Brazil, Nov 18 2025 (IPS)

Decades ago, a little girl was born in a place called Cleveland, Ohio, in the heart of the United States of America. Born to a woman from the deep South, the place of Martin Luther King, her mother left her ancestral lands for the economic opportunities in the north.

“Off she went, making it all the way to the east side of Cleveland,” says Rev. Dr. Angelique Walker-Smith. “To the place where most people who look like me lived, and still live, and are subjected to policies of injustice, race and gender.”

Here, she found a more pressing issue.

“I couldn’t breathe, my mother couldn’t breathe, and we all couldn’t breathe,” she narrates.

This urbanization, driven by fossil fuels, occurred in Cleveland, Ohio, where her mother relocated and where her relatives still live today. During the Great Migration, over six million people of African descent traveled from the South, believing that economic opportunities would be better in the North.

Rev. Dr Angelique Walker-Smith, regional president of the World Council of Churches, speaks at an event titled ‘Faith for Fossil Free Future.’ Credit: IPS

“Upon our arrival, we discovered that we just couldn’t breathe.”

As one of eight regional presidents representing the World Council of Churches, Walker-Smith says for the World Council of Churches in over 105 countries, over 350 million adherents, and over 350 national churches all over the world, supporting the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty “is all about the issue of injustice, life and life more abundantly.”

“We are saying yes to the transition from fossil fuels to renewable life-giving energy.”

Kumi Naidoo, a prominent South African human rights and environmental justice activist and the President of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, says if the goal is renewable life-giving energy, the world has been going the wrong way for the past 30 years.

“If you come home from work and see water coming from the bathroom, you pick up the mop. But then you realized you left the tap running and the sink stopper on. What will you do first? Of course! You’ll turn off the water and pull the stopper. You will not start mopping the floor first.”

“For 30 years since the time science told us we need to change our energy system and many of our other systems, what we’ve been doing is mopping up the floor. If fossil fuels—oil, coal, and gas—account for 86 percent of what drives climate change, then we must turn off the tap.”

Masahiro Yokoyama was speaking at an event titled Faith for a Fossil-Free Future co-sponsored by Soka Gakkai International. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

Naidoo was speaking at an event titled ‘Faith for Fossil Free Future’ co-sponsored by several organizations, including Soka Gakkai International (SGI), Laudato Si’ Movement, GreenFaith—a global interfaith environmental coalition and EcoJudaism, a Jewish charity leading the UK Jewish Community’s response to the climate and nature crisis.

He spoke about the contradiction of the climate talks at the doorsteps of the Amazon, while licensing for drilling is still ongoing in the Amazon even as the people in the Amazon protest, calling for a fossil-free Amazon.

Continuing with the thread of contradictions, Naidoo said, “Some of you might be shocked that even though fossil fuels are 86 percent of the cause of climate change, it took 28 years before the words ‘fossil fuels’ could even be mentioned in the COP document. It is as absurd as Alcoholics Anonymous holding 28 years of conferences before they get the backbone to mention alcohol in an outcome document. If we continue on this path, we'll warm up the planet to the point where we destroy our soil and water, and it becomes so hot we can't plant food. The end result is that we'll be gone. The planet will still be here. And the good news is, once we become extinct as a species, the forests will grow back, and the oceans will recover.

“And actually, staying with that analogy, can you imagine how absurd it is that the largest delegation to this COP this year, last year, and every year is not even the host country?

“It’s not even Brazil—for every 25 delegates that are attending the COP, one of them is from the fossil fuel industry. That’s the equivalent of Alcoholics Anonymous having the largest delegation to its conference annually from the alcohol industry.”

People, groups and movements of different faiths and consciousness are increasingly raising their voices in robust support of a rapid fossil fuel phase-out, a massive and equitable upsurge in renewable energy, and the resources to make it happen—in the form of a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Naidoo says the treaty is “a critical success ingredient for us not (only) to save the planet, but to secure our children and their children’s future, reminding ourselves that the planet does not need any saving.

“If we continue on this path, we warm up the planet to the point where we destroy our soil and water, and it becomes so hot we can’t plant food. The end result is that we’ll be gone. The planet will still be here. And the good news is, once we become extinct as a species, the forests will grow back, and the oceans will recover.”

This treaty is a proposed global agreement to halt the expansion of new fossil fuel exploration and production and to phase out existing sources like coal, oil, and gas in a just and equitable manner.

The initiative seeks to provide a legal framework to complement the Paris Agreement by directly addressing the supply side of fossil fuels.

Its ultimate goal is to support a global transition to renewable energy and is supported by a growing coalition of countries, cities, organizations, scientists, and activists. More importantly, it has multi-faith support.

Masahiro Yokoyama of the SGI, which is a diverse global community of individuals in 192 countries and territories who practice Nichiren Buddhism, spoke about the intersection between faith and energy transition and why the fossil fuel phase-out cannot wait.

“The just transition is also about how young people in faith can be the driving force to transformations.”

“So, a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty, in my view, is not only about phasing out other fossil fuels but it also represents an ethical framework.”

“It’s a way to move forward while protecting people’s livelihoods and dignity within the context of the environment and also the local business and economies. So, a just transition is not merely a technical issue but a question of ethics, inclusion and solidarity,” Masahiro Yokoyama said.

The most pressing issue at hand is how to implement the treaty in the current environmental context.

“The pathway that we are following is a pathway that has been followed before. We are not going to negotiate this treaty within the COP or within the United Nations system. We’re going to do what the Landmine Treaty did.

“The landmine treaty was negotiated by 44 countries outside of the UN system and then brought to the UN General Assembly for ratification. The second question that people ask, justifiably, is, what about the powerful exporting countries, for example?” Naidoo asked.

“They’re not going to sign it. And to that we find answers in the landmine treaty. Up to today, the United States, Russia and China have not signed the Landmine treaty. But once the treaty was signed, the social license to continue as business as usual was taken away. And you saw a drastic change.”

Note: This article is brought to you by IPS Noram in collaboration with INPS Japan and Soka Gakkai International in consultative status with ECOSOC.

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Excerpt:

The closing ceremony held against the backdrop of the ancient Roman ruins, the Colosseum Credit: Community of Sant'Egidio

By Katsuhiro Asagiri
ROME / TOKYO, Nov 4 2025 (IPS)

In the shadow of Rome’s Colosseum — once a monument to imperial violence — religious leaders from across the world gathered this week to deliver a message that felt both ancient and urgent: peace must once again become humanity’s sacred duty.

Colosseo Credit: Kevin Lin, INPS Japan

The meeting concluded Tuesday evening with Pope Leo XIV presiding over a ceremony that was equal parts prayer service and political statement.

 

“War is never holy,” the pope said. “Only peace is holy — because it is willed by God.”

 
A Call for Moral Courage

Speaking beneath the Arch of Constantine, Pope Leo urged governments and believers alike to resist what he called “the arrogance of power.”

“The world thirsts for peace,” he said. “We cannot allow people to grow accustomed to war as a normal part of human history. Enough — this is the cry of the poor and the cry of the earth.”

Hirotsugu Terasaki, vice president of Soka Gakkai with Pope Leo XIV. Credit: Vatican News

They stood together in silence as candles were lit around the ancient amphitheater — small lights flickering against the stone, symbolic of a shared prayer for reconciliation.

Faith and Accountability

The pope’s speech drew a clear line between faith and political responsibility.

“Peace must be the priority of every policy,” he said. “God will hold accountable those who failed to seek peace — for every day, month and year of war.”

Those words, delivered as fighting continues in Ukraine and Gaza, carried a deliberate edge. The Vatican under Leo XIV has increasingly positioned itself as a moral counterweight to political paralysis on global crises — speaking of peace not as abstraction but as obligation.

Pope John Paul II Credit: Gregorini Demetrio, CC BY-SA 3.0

Lessons From Assisi

This year’s meeting marked nearly four decades since John Paul II convened the first interreligious gathering for peace in Assisi in 1986. Since then, the Sant’Egidio Community has maintained that dialogue among faiths can temper political divides.

“We have dared to speak of peace in a world that speaks the language of war,” said Marco Impagliazzo, the group’s president. “To close the paths of dialogue is madness. As Pope Francis said, the world suffocates without dialogue.”

Session on the Dignity of Life

Earlier Tuesday, Soka Gakkai delegation took part in Session 22 titled “Justice Does Not Kill: Abolishing the Death Penalty,” held at the Austrian Cultural Forum.

Professor Enza Pellecchia of the University of Pisa, representing Soka Gakkai, took the stage and spoke about the movement’s efforts to abolish the death penalty, referring to the words of its founder, President Daisaku Ikeda, from his dialogue with the British historian Dr. Arnold Toynbee.

“The sanctity of life cannot be judged by guilt or merit — all lives are equal. Therefore, no one has the right to take a life, even in the name of justice. Accepting the death penalty is a form of institutionalized violence that assigns different values to human life, and President Ikeda has described it as ‘a manifestation of the prevailing tendency in modern times to devalue life”.

Professor Enza Pellecchia of the University of Pisa, representing Soka Gakkai, delivering her speech during the Forum titled “Justice Does Not Kill: Abolishing the Death Penalty,” held at the Austrian Cultural Forum. Credit: Seikyo Shimbun

Professor Pellecchia said that President Ikeda’s humanistic philosophy deeply resonates with Pope Leo XIV’s recent statement that “one cannot claim to be pro-life while accepting the death penalty or any form of violence.” Both, she noted, confront the same moral error — the belief that some lives are expendable.

When Religion Refuses Silence

For decades, the Colosseum has hosted symbolic gatherings for peace. Yet this year’s ceremony, participants said, carried a sharper urgency. The wars in Europe and the Middle East, the displacement of millions, and rising authoritarianism have all given moral language new weight.

“Peace begins with the transformation of the human heart,” said Terasaki of SGI. “Interfaith cooperation is not symbolic — it’s a method for changing history.”

A Plea That Still Echoes

As night fell, the trumpeter Paolo Fresu performed a mournful solo. Children stepped forward to deliver a Peace Appeal to diplomats and officials — a reminder that the next generation will inherit the choices made now.

The pope’s final words were brief, almost whispered:

“God wants a world without war. He will free us from this evil.”

The candles continued to burn as the crowd dispersed — a fragile constellation of light against the ruins of Roman empire, and a quiet act of defiance in a world still learning to dare peace.

This article is brought to you by INPS Japan in collaboration with Soka Gakkai International, in consultative status with the UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

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Tsholofelo Msimango pictured at her home in Brakpan, near Johannesburg. Credit: TB Alliance/Jonathan Torgovnik

By Ed Holt
BRATISLAVA, Oct 20 2025 (IPS)

When Tsholofelo Msimango joined a small trial of a new drug regimen for tuberculosis (TB) treatment a decade ago, she had no idea whether the medicines she was about to be given would help her.

But having already spent six months in hospital after developing extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB), the most lethal form of the disease, which at the time was barely curable—three-quarters of people with XDR-TB were thought to die before they even received a diagnosis and only a third of those who got treatment survived—Msimango decided she had little to lose.

“I had my doubts, of course, as to whether it would have any success,” she tells IPS.  “But to be honest, at that point all I could think about was that it might make me better, that I might be able to get out of hospital and go home. I was ready to take that chance. I’m glad I did. That trial saved my life—I am sure of it,” she says.

Msimango, who was 21 at the time, from Brakpan in South Africa, was one of 109 participants in the Nix-TB trial of a new drug regimen that ran across three sites in the country between 2015 and 2017.

Until then, typical treatment for the most severe drug-resistant forms of TB would involve patients taking daily doses of a potent cocktail of pills—dozens in some cases—as well as injections for sometimes as long as two years.

The side effects of such regimens can be horrific—deafness, kidney failure and psychosis have been reported—and there are high rates of treatment drop-out, leading not only to a worsening of the patient’s own condition but also to the further spread of the worst strains of the disease among communities.

The Nix-TB trial tested an all-oral six-month drug regimen, which was a combination of the drugs pretomanid, bedaquiline and linezolid (BPaL).

Its results—the regimen had a 90 percent treatment success rate —werehailed as groundbreaking by experts, and the trial proved to be a landmark moment in the fight against the world’s most deadly infectious disease.

Msimango says that until she joined the trial, she had been taking “lots of pills and having injections.” The latter, she says, had stopped working against the disease.

But not long into the trial, she noticed a change. Before the trial she had struggled to keep weight on because of her illness and treatment.

“It was when I started to gain weight that I began to think that the treatment was working. We had check-ups, including for weight, every week and when I saw myself putting on weight, I knew then that I was getting better,” she says.

By the end of the trial, she says she felt like a different person.

Tests showed she was free of TB.

“Of course I was excited about the fact that I could finally stop taking medicines, and because I was then healthy and free of TB and could live a normal life again, but I was also excited about the fact that I was going to be able to finally leave hospital after a year and go home.

“I had already been in hospital for seven months before the trial started, and then another six months for the trial, and it was hard being away from home for a year. The hospital was a long way from where I lived so it was very hard for my mother to come and visit me and bring me things,” she says.

Tsholofelo Msimango and her son at her home in Brakpan, near
Johannesburg. Credit: TB Alliance/Jonathan Torgovnik

But while now healthy and free of TB, the disease has continued to play a large role in Msimango’s life.

She decided she wanted to help others affected by TB. Today she is a TB community advocate and educator and helps to recruit people for medical studies.

“I would recommend to anyone that if they get the chance to take part in a study like the one that I got to take part in, that they should go for it,” she says.

Now a mother to a young boy, she says she speaks to him about what she went through and about TB so that he understands about the disease and the risks it poses.

“I talk to my son about what happened to me, why I was in hospital and why I now work in the TB community. I tell my son and his friends about TB and what can be done to stop its spread and how they can help, for instance, by covering their mouths when they cough,” she says.

“Actually, I tell my story a lot because I hope it might help other people,” she adds.

Another participant in the trial, Bongiswa Mdaka, says the same.

“I talk to people all the time about TB and my experience with it—I’m very open about it. If I see someone has been coughing for more than two weeks, I tell them about the disease and about getting tested and treated as early as possible,” she told IPS.

Speaking from her home in Vereeniging, Gauteng, Mdaka, who was 27 when she started the trial, said that, like Msimango, it changed her life.

“The trial was a lifesaver for me. It not only changed my life but saved it. It gave me a second chance. Ten years ago, before the trial, the situation for people with XDR-TB was not good. I was diagnosed with MDR-TB and when my condition continued to get worse, I was hospitalized. I was in the hospital for three days and they told me that no, I don’t have MDR-TB; I have XDR-TB, the worst I could have. It was like hearing a death sentence.

Tsholofelo Msimango’s late mother, Zeldah Nkosi. She says her mother was a “pillar of support” during her time when she had TB. Credit: TB Alliance

“So when the people doing the trial came to me, it seemed like a godsend. I had no major expectations—I just hoped that I would get better. Today I am healthy and free of TB. I’m strong. I have a family and a normal life. Life is good,” she said.

Speaking to experts who were involved in the trial, it becomes clear that going into it, no one knew how important it would eventually prove to be in the future of TB treatment.

Dr. Pauline Howell managed the patients during the Nix-TB trial at the Sizwe Tropical Diseases Hospital in Johannesburg, where Msimango was a patient.

“Prior to the Nix trial we knew that treatment was too long, too toxic, worked in less than half of people afflicted with TB, and in those diagnosed with XDR TB (per the pre-2021 definition), only 20 percent were still alive after 5 years. I was still junior in clinical trials in 2015, but it was clear to everyone that knew anything about XDR-TB that replacing the extended treatment, which included at least 6 months of injectables, and all the other drugs (the kitchen sink approach) with just three drugs made us more than a little anxious,” she told IPS.

But like many of the trial’s participants, she saw relatively quickly how well the treatment was working.

“When trial participants started telling newly admitted patients about this trial and brought them to the research site before we had had a chance to speak with them, that was speaking loudly. When certain patients, who had been admitted for over two years, were suddenly starting to respond to TB treatment and culture convert, it was wonderful to celebrate with them, Howell, who is now Clinical Research Site Leader at Sizwe Tropical Disease Hospital, said. “When patients were relocating from the Eastern Cape to Gauteng just to get access to the trial, we knew this was the treatment we’d also want for ourselves and our loved ones.”

“There are definitely a few [trial participants] who may not have survived without this treatment, but for the majority, they were able to get back to their lives faster, potentially cause fewer onward infections and suffer less loneliness and other repercussions of having drug-resistant TB,” she added.

However, while the trial had an immediate effect on its participants, its results, which suggested the enormous potential of the regimen, paved the way for BPaL to revolutionize TB treatment.

“I had no idea that this trial would be the first step towards changing the treatment for drug-resistant tuberculosis worldwide,” Howell said.

“It’s good to remember that although TB is deadly, it is curable, and the side effects of the BPaL/M regimen are common but predictable and manageable. A decade ago, patients put an end to rental agreements for their homes, quit their jobs, told their partners to move on and their families took out funeral policies. These days, patients sit in front of me and say, ‘I have been here for two weeks already! I need to get home and back to my life’. It makes my head spin how much has changed, partially due to the Nix trial,” she added.

In 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) endorsed BPaL with or without another drug, moxifloxacin (M), and BPaL(M) is today the preferred treatment option for drug-resistant TB.

According to data from the TB Alliance, the nonprofit group that developed pretomanid, BPaL and BPaL-based regimens, they treat about 75 percent of the overall number of drug-resistant TB cases treated annually. This number is projected to soon reach 90 percent.

Meanwhile, the group says, the regimens have already saved more than 11,000 lives and USD 100 million for health systems globally and by 2034 are expected to save an additional 192,000 lives and health systems almost USD 1.3 billion.

In some countries classed as having high-burden TB epidemics, they have already altered the TB landscape significantly.

“In South Africa, which adopted the BPaL/M guidelines in Sep 2023, we are seeing a single-digit percentage lost to follow-up for the first time in the history of our TB programme,” she says.

But the regimen’s potential may be in danger of not being fully fulfilled as richer nations cut foreign aid budgets, impacting funding that has traditionally helped support disease and other healthcare programmes in poor countries.

“The eternal challenge with TB is how closely it is tied to lack of access, poverty, substance use, being undomiciled and general lack of funding to overcome these challenges… Unfortunately, as long as there is poverty and lack of access, political will and funding, TB will continue to live side by side with us,” said Howell.

“Some people now can’t get their medications because of these cuts,” said Msimango. “They’re costing people’s lives.”

Note: This article is brought to you by IPS Noram in collaboration with INPS Japan and Soka Gakkai International in consultative status with ECOSOC.

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A throng of people at the Kariakoo business hub in Dar es Salaam, where air pollution is rampant. Credit: Kizito Makoye Shigela/IPS

By Kizito Makoye
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania , Sep 24 2025 (IPS)

On a hot afternoon in Kariakoo, Dar es Salaam’s bustling commercial hub, the air is a swirling mix of diesel exhaust, charcoal smoke and dust kicked up by the shuffle of feet. Traders tie handkerchiefs over their noses to deter haze from drifting into their throats and lungs.

“There are just too many cars—the toxic smoke makes it hard to breathe,” says Abdul Hassan, a vegetable vendor who has worked in the market for 19 years.

A new study by the Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology and the Stockholm Environment Institute, published in Clean Air Journal, has confirmed what many city dwellers already know: the air is toxic. Real-time data collected from 14 monitoring stations across Dar es Salaam between May 2021 and February 2022 showed concentrations of particulate matter—PM2.5 and PM10 — consistently exceeded World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. At their peak, daily PM2.5 levels reached 130 µg/m³, more than eight times the WHO’s recommended limit.

These findings place Dar es Salaam firmly within the global air pollution crisis, underscoring the urgent need to deliver on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 3.9.1, which calls for a substantial reduction in deaths and illnesses from hazardous air.

“Air pollution is not an invisible issue—you can smell it and feel it in your lungs,” said Neema John, a street cook who works near Kariakoo market. “My children cough all night when the smoke from burning dumps drifts into our house.”

A Silent Killer

The study shows that people living near dumpsites, busy roads, and industrial zones face the greatest risks. At the Pugu Dampo landfill, particulate concentrations reached staggering levels—up to 2,762 µg/m³ for PM10—during months of uncontrolled waste burning. In Ilala and Kinondoni, home to factories and major intersections, daily averages were consistently above safe limits.

Health experts warn that such exposure is linked to asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart failure, and premature deaths. In Tanzania, respiratory infections are a leading cause of hospital visits and child mortality.

“This is a public health emergency hiding in plain sight,” said Linus Chuwa, a Dar es Salaam–based public health specialist.

“When PM2.5 levels exceed WHO standards by such margins, they potentially inflict long-term damage to people’s health.”

Energy Poverty and Dirty Fuels

But the problem does not only stem from traffic and industry. According to the study, Dar es Salaam consumes nearly half of Tanzania’s total charcoal each year. With only 34 percent of the country’s electricity generated from clean hydropower, most households rely on charcoal and firewood.

This reliance on dirty fuels undermines SDG target 7.1.2, which aims to ensure access to clean energy for cooking and heating.

“For families, charcoal is cheaper and more accessible, but the smoke fills homes with toxic particles,” said Fatma Suleiman, who lives in the densely populated suburb of Mbagala. “We know it’s dangerous, but it is the only cheaper alternative?”

The Urban Sustainability Challenge

Dar es Salaam is one of Africa’s fastest-growing cities, its population now above six million. Its rapid sprawl, unregulated industries, and congested roads make it a typical example of the challenges captured under SDG target 11.6.2: reducing the environmental impact of cities by improving air quality.

The study found that during peak hours—6 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.—air pollution levels in traffic and industrial zones spiked sharply. Conversely, concentrations dropped during holidays, highlighting how transport and industrial activities drive emissions.

Policy efforts exist: the Bus Rapid Transit system and Standard Gauge Railway aim to reduce vehicle emissions, while Tanzania has signed onto regional and global clean air initiatives. Yet enforcement of air quality standards remains weak. The 2007 Air Quality Regulations are rarely applied, and monitoring remains limited.

A Boiling Cauldron

The warnings resonate most on Kongo Street, Kariakoo’s most notorious artery. Here, thousands push through a maze of wooden stalls while hawkers bellow prices, competing with the roar of motorbikes and rattling carts.

“You breathe smoke, dust, and even the stench from garbage that never seems to get collected,” said Mwanaidi Salum, a mother of three. “When I blow my nose, it’s black from dust and smoke.”

Although the study has identified other hotspots for  air pollution, the combination of heavy traffic, open-air cooking fires, and uncollected waste makes it a microcosm of the city’s pollution crisis.

Navigating Chaos, Swallowing Fumes

Cars and motorbikes lurch forward, horns blaring, leaving behind thick plumes of exhaust. Pedestrians leap aside, clutching bags to their chests. Wooden carts piled high with rice, bananas, and bales of used clothing block every path.

Researchers warn that children, street vendors, and the elderly are especially vulnerable to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.

Jacqueline Senyagwa, a research fellow at the Stockholm Environment Institute, said the findings from Dar es Salaam expose risks that are far from abstract.

“While our study did not collect medical data, the air quality records we obtained from 14 monitoring stations clearly showed very high concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10—several times above the World Health Organization’s safe limits,” she explained. “Globally, long-term exposure to such particles is linked to respiratory and cardiovascular conditions, particularly among children and the elderly. We are talking about asthma, lung diseases, heart failure, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.”

She noted that air pollution has become one of the biggest drivers of non-communicable diseases worldwide. “According to the WHO, it is the second-highest cause of non-communicable diseases globally. That should be a wake-up call for Tanzania.”

Yet despite these dangers, Senyagwa said Tanzania still lacks a robust national framework for air quality monitoring. “There are several reasons. First, there is limited awareness of the health impacts of air pollution among the public, policymakers, and regulators,” she said. “Solid waste is visible, and people demand action. But air pollution is invisible, and its effects take years to show, so action is often delayed.”

Technical capacity and resources are also a challenge.

“There are very few air quality experts in Tanzania, and most monitoring equipment has to be imported,” she noted. “Institutions like the Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology have only recently started fabricating local monitors. On top of that, the mandates of public agencies are fragmented. NEMC, for example, is responsible for regulating air quality, but with limited human and financial resources, enforcement has been minimal.”

According to Senyagwa, even the data itself is scarce. “The 14 stations we installed represent some of the very first ambient air monitoring efforts in the country,” she said. “Without reliable data, many decision-makers underestimate the scale of the problem.”

Her team identified clear hotspots. “At the Pugu Dampo dumpsite, the main source is open waste burning, which produces dangerously high levels of particulates,” she said. “In Vingunguti, the pollution largely comes from industries and road traffic. And in Magomeni and other crowded residential areas, vehicle emissions are the biggest culprit.”

Still, she pointed out that practical interventions do exist.

“The government’s investment in the Bus Rapid Transit system is a positive step because reducing traffic will cut emissions,” she said. “We’ve also carried out awareness campaigns with local communities—from advising waste pickers at Pugu to wear masks and stop random fires to working with schoolchildren in Vingunguti alongside partners like Save the Children Tanzania and Muhimbili College of Health Sciences.”

Dar es Salaam’s air quality crisis, she stressed, is not unique. “When we compare our results with Kampala, Nairobi, and Addis Ababa, the pattern is very similar. PM2.5 and PM10 levels across these cities also exceed WHO limits,” Senyagwa said.

Still, Tanzania can learn from regional peers. “Nairobi has gone further by passing a County Air Quality Act in 2022 and rolling out low-cost sensors across the city,” she said. “In Uganda, Kampala University has started fabricating its own sensors, while the Kampala Capital City Authority has already developed a clean air action plan. Addis Ababa is moving towards tougher vehicle emission standards.”

“These examples show that solutions are possible,” Senyagwa added. “But Tanzania must first recognize air pollution as a major public health threat—and act with the urgency it deserves.”

Plan of Action

The authors recommend a robust national monitoring framework, stronger enforcement of emission standards, and investment in waste recycling and composting to reduce open burning. Public awareness campaigns on air pollution’s health risks, they argue, are equally vital.

For the city’s dwellers, however, the need is urgent and personal. “We can’t keep raising children in an environment where every breath is dangerous,” said Hassan.

Unless Tanzania addresses dirty energy and unchecked urban pollution, its economic gains risk being overshadowed by rising health costs and declining quality of life.

Yet despite the looming health risks, life goes on at Kariakoo, even as the air grows harder to breathe.

Note: This article is brought to you by IPS Noram in collaboration with INPS Japan and Soka Gakkai International in consultative status with ECOSOC.

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Credit: Food production in Guatemala - Salmonnegro Stock/shutterstock.com

By Janani Vivekananda
Aug 15 2025 (IPS)

Peacebuilding, conflict prevention, and crime prevention are no longer niche security concerns—they are global imperatives for sustainable climate action. From the migration crisis in Venezuela to the deforestation-driven conflicts in the Amazon, to organised crime in Central America, the ripple effects of instability and environmental degradation are felt far beyond national borders. In 2025, nearly 80% of countries experiencing risks to peace remain off-track to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Addressing these challenges isn’t just about safeguarding peace, stability and development. It’s also about ensuring sustainable climate action.

The climate crisis, meanwhile, is no longer a distant threat—it has arrived, and communities facing risks to peace are bearing the brunt. From catastrophic droughts in northeastern Brazil to devastating hurricanes in the Caribbean, states grappling with weak institutions, social tensions, and organised crime are disproportionately vulnerable to climate shocks. Yet, despite their heightened exposure, these regions receive only a fraction of global climate financing.

Aligning climate action with peacebuilding and conflict prevention isn’t just a moral imperative; it’s a smarter, more strategic approach. These regions are where climate risks and human vulnerabilities collide, threatening not just local stability but regional and global security. Without targeted interventions, we risk losing the opportunity to the fight against both climate change and instability.

Climate Change and Peace: A Dangerous Feedback Loop

Climate change and peace are deeply intertwined. Climate shocks affect the roots of peace—for example, straining efforts to advance governance, social equality, and tackle crime. In Colombia, for example, shifting rainfall patterns have disrupted agriculture, fuelling tensions over land use and exacerbating long-standing conflicts. Meanwhile, in Central America’s Dry Corridor, prolonged droughts have displaced farming communities, amplifying poverty and creating fertile ground for organised crime and migration.

The OECD’s multidimensional framework on instability highlights how economic, environmental, political, security, and societal risks intersect in these contexts. Climate impacts compound these risks, creating a dangerous feedback loop. Climate shocks can weaken peace and deepen instability, leaving affected communities least equipped to adapt to or mitigate these shocks. This dynamic not only undermines local peacebuilding efforts but also fuels transnational challenges such as migration, trafficking, and cross-border violence.

A Smarter Approach to Climate Financing

Despite their vulnerability, communities facing instability remain underfunded in global climate action. In 2024, less than 10% of international climate finance reached these contexts. Instead, the majority of funding flows to middle-income countries with stronger institutions and lower risks.

This imbalance is shortsighted. Communities where climate action is most urgently needed—and where it can have the greatest impact are often those facing risks to their human security and stability. For example, investments in climate-resilient agriculture in Guatemala have reduced food insecurity and strengthened community resilience, helping to break cycles of conflict and displacement. Similarly, renewable energy projects in rural Brazil not only reduce emissions but also create jobs, foster stability, and reduce reliance on illicit economies.

Smarter climate financing doesn’t just mean more money—it means better-targeted investments. Funding must be long-term, adaptive, and aligned with local priorities. It must thus address the structural drivers of instability, from weak governance to social exclusion. For example, promoting inclusive decision-making in water management or land-use planning can reduce resource-based conflicts and strengthen trust between communities and governments.

The missing peace at COP30: Bridging Climate and Peacebuilding

As the world gears up for COP30 in Brazil this December, there is a unique opportunity to bring peacebuilding and conflict prevention to the forefront of global climate discussions. Including peacebuilding and peace in the thematic days at COP30 would be important, not only as a space to highlight the intersection of climate action, equitable development, and peace, but also to ensure that climate action does no harm to inadvertently worsen conflict dynamics in contexts affected by conflict. This focus would not only raise awareness but also drive actionable commitments to address the challenges faced by unstable regions.

By framing peace as a central theme, COP30 could catalyse international support for targeted interventions in unstable contexts, ensuring they receive the attention and resources they urgently need.

Four Principles for Climate Action in Regions Affected by Instability

1. Pivot to Prevention: Early action saves lives and money. For example, investments in flood early warning systems in Brazil have reduced the need for costly humanitarian interventions during extreme weather events.
2. Operationalise the Nexus: Climate action must cross all sectors of government, e.g. development, peacebuilding, and environmental crime prevention efforts. This calls for climate security risk analyses to become standard operating practices for all initiatives. For example, integration of climate into the role of law enforcement agencies in promoting climate resilience and responding to environmental threats.
3. Flexible, Localised, Inclusive Responses: In the Andes, for instance, partnerships with indigenous communities have strengthened the role of law enforcement agencies in the fight against environmental crime and climate-related insecurity while fostering trust and collaboration.
4. Regional Cooperation: Instability and climate risks transcend borders. Regional cooperation, innovation and capacity building in the face of climate security challenges for example through initiatives like the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization show how collective action can address shared challenges.

A Call to Action

Peacebuilding is the missing piece in global climate action. Without targeted – and conflict sensitive- interventions in unstable regions, the world risks failing its climate goals—and leaving millions behind. Yet the solutions are within reach.

The international community must act with urgency and foresight. By aligning climate financing with peacebuilding strategies, integrating foreign policy into climate action, and adopting smarter, multidimensional approaches, we can turn instability from a barrier into an opportunity for progress.

Integrating peacebuilding into climate action is not just a moral imperative but a strategic necessity. As the host of COP30, Brazil has a unique opportunity to demonstrate leadership by championing policies that link climate resilience with conflict and crime prevention and peacebuilding. This means prioritising investments in vulnerable regions, fostering regional cooperation, and ensuring that climate financing reaches those most at risk. The cost of inaction is calculable, and it is far greater than the price of bold, coordinated action today. It’s time to stop treating peace as a side issue and start addressing it as the cornerstone of smarter, more effective climate solutions. It’s time to stop fighting fires and build a sustainable climate for peace.

Related articles:

Building Resilience Through Climate Action: Gender, Peace, and Security in Sri Lanka
Left Behind: Why Afghanistan Cannot Tackle Climate Change Alone
Flooding in the Sahara, Amazon Tributaries Drying and Warming Tipping Over 1.5°C – 2024 Broke All the Wrong Records
COP29: Keeping Climate Security Human-Centric

Janani Vivekananda is the Senior Research Fellow on Climate, Peace and Security at the Toda Peace Institute. She is also the Head of Programme for Climate Diplomacy and Security at adelphi, a leading independent think tank on climate, environment, and development, and holds a senior fellowship with the UN University. With extensive experience in climate security risk assessments and gender-responsive approaches, she has worked globally to integrate peacebuilding into climate action. Janani co-led the Gender-Responsive Climate Security Assessment for Sri Lanka and is passionate about fostering inclusive and sustainable solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges.

This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished from the original with their permission.

Fiji is a Pacific Island nation renowned for its tourism industry, but it has also endured four armed coups and 38 years of political instability. Credit: Julie Lyn

By Catherine Wilson
SYDNEY, Aug 14 2025 (IPS)

Fiji, a nation located west of Tonga in the central Pacific, is renowned for its natural beauty and beach resorts. But for 38 years it has endured a political rollercoaster of instability with four armed coups that overturned democratically elected governments and eroded human rights.

Now, following a peaceful transition of power at the last 2022 election, Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka and his coalition government want to deal with the past with a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to pave the way for a more peaceful and resilient future.

The commission will “facilitate open and free engagement in truth-telling regarding the political upheavals during the coup periods and promote closure and healing for the survivors,” Rabuka, who led the first coup, told parliament before supporting legislation that was passed in December last year. Now he has pledged to oversee the country’s reconciliation and return to democratic norms.

The TRC is tasked with investigating what happened during the coups d’état of 1987, 2000 and 2006, related human rights abuses and the grievances that have driven the relentless struggle for power between Fiji’s indigenous and Indo-Fijian communities. Its focus is on truth-telling and preventing a repetition of conflict; it will not prosecute perpetrators of abuses or provide reparations to victims.

“This commission aims to serve the people of Fiji to come to terms with your own history… the purpose is not to put blame and to deepen the trauma and the difficulties, but to help the people of Fiji to move on for a better future for everyone,” Dr. Marcus Brand, the TRC chairman, who has extensive experience with transitional justice initiatives and held senior roles in the United Nations and European Union, said in January.

He is joined by four Fijian commissioners, namely former High Court Judge Sekove Naqiolevu, former TV journalist Rachna Nath, former Fiji Airways Captain Rajendra Dass, and leadership expert Ana Laqeretabua.

The Fiji Parliament, Suva, Fiji. Credit: Josuamudreilagi

Florence Swamy, Executive Director of the Pacific Centre for Peacebuilding, a non-governmental organization based in the capital, Suva, told IPS that the TRC is important to building trust in the country, where many people still experience fear and anxiety about the violence they witnessed.

“As a first step, it is creating a safe space for people to talk about what happened to them,” she emphasized.

Fiji’s political turmoil has roots in the past. British colonization in the nineteenth century was accompanied by policies that were intended to strengthen indigenous land rights and prevent dispossession, rights that were reinforced in Fiji’s first constitution at Independence in 1970.

But, at the same time, Fijian society was irrevocably changed by the organized immigration of Indians to work on sugar plantations and boost development of the colony. By the mid-twentieth century, the Indo-Fijian population was larger than the indigenous community and their demands for equal rights increased.

“Fijian Indians were brought to the country, in many cases, under the false pretense of better work and wage opportunities, to develop the economy of Fiji…while indigenous Fijians were hardly consulted about such a momentous decision,” Dr. Shailendra Singh, Head of Journalism at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji, told IPS.

Soon the country’s politics were mired in a fierce contest for power. And in 1987, Rabuka, then an officer in the Fiji military, led the overthrow of the first elected Indo-Fijian government under Prime Minister Timoci Bavadra.

Rabuka then became Prime Minister from 1992 to 1999 before another Indo-Fijian government, led by Mahendra Chaudhry, was voted in. This triggered a second coup instigated by nationalist George Speight in 2000 in which the government was held hostage in the nation’s parliament for weeks. Then, in 2006, Frank Bainimarama, head of the armed forces, orchestrated the third coup, which he claimed was necessary to eliminate corruption and divisive policies in the government of the day presided over by Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase. For the next eight years he oversaw an authoritarian military government until democratic elections were held again in 2014.

Fiji’s capital city Suva. Credit: Maksym Kozlenko

The coups inflicted a significant human cost. Lawlessness, inter-community violence, military and police brutality, and arrests and torture of people critical of the regime occurred increasingly after 2006.

Three years later, Amnesty International called for “an immediate halt to all human rights violations by members of the security forces and government officials, including the arbitrary arrests, intimidation and threats, and assaults and detentions of journalists, government critics and others.” It also called for the repeal of the Public Emergency Regulations imposed by the government in 2009 that led to impunity for state officials involved in abuses.

Today, the demographic balance has shifted again in the wake of an outward exodus of Indo-Fijians, who now comprise about 33 percent of Fiji’s population of about 900,000, while Melanesians constitute about 56 percent. But societal divisions remain entrenched and the past has not been forgotten.

The commission is now preparing to hold hearings over the next 18 months. And Rabuka has promised to be one of the first to testify of his involvement in the political upheavals.

I will swear to say everything, the truth… I want to continue to live with a clear conscience. I want people to know that at least they understand my reasons for doing it,” he told the media in January. But the TRC also promises to place victims and survivors at the center of its mission, claiming that “their lived experiences are vital to fostering accountability, encouraging healing and building a more united and compassionate society.”

However, there are voices of caution, too, warning of the risks of reviving memories of conflict and pain and the need to prevent this from inflaming divisions.

While experts in the country speak of the need to go beyond the TRC and tackle structural issues of inequality and disenfranchisement, which have driven community grievances, “to make everyone feel a sense of belonging and loyalty to the country of their birth,” Singh said.

In particular, “indigenous fears concerning political dominance in Fiji” and “Indo-Fijians’ feeling of being marginalized by the state and not treated as equal citizens” need to be addressed, he continued.

The Fijian armed forces, which played a decisive role in executing the coups, often justifying their actions in protecting Fiji’s internal order, are also critical to the success of the country’s return to democratic governance.

In 2023 an internal reconciliation process began, aimed at ending military intervention in the country’s politics and elections. In April, during an official meeting with the TRC, the military leadership pledged ‘to ensure that past mistakes are not repeated, and that its role as a guardian of Fiji’s constitutional order remains anchored in service to all citizens, regardless of ethnicity, background or political belief.’

After the commission has concluded its estimated two years of work, it will make recommendations in its final report for public measures and policy reforms to support the country’s social cohesion. Here Swamy emphasizes that it is crucial the recommendations do not remain on paper but are acted on.

“In terms of the recommendations, who will be responsible for them? Will they ensure that the recommendations are implemented? And what mechanisms will be put in place to make sure that institutions are held accountable?” she declared.

Looking into the future, Swamy said that she would like to see her country become one “where everyone feels safe, where there is equal opportunity… a country where everyone can realize their potential.”

Note: This article is brought to you by IPS Noram in collaboration with INPS Japan and Soka Gakkai International in consultative status with ECOSOC.

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Leaders, policymakers, and partners unite at Africa Day 2025. Credit: Shreya Komar/IPS

By Shreya Komar
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 30 2025 (IPS)

Africa is making progress on over two-thirds of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but the pace remains far too slow to meet the 2030 targets, especially in areas like decent employment, gender equality, and access to social protection.

This was the central warning of the newly released Africa Sustainable Development Report (ASDR), launched during the 2025 Africa Day session at the UN’s High-Level Political Forum.

The report, which tracks alignment between the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the UN’s 2030 Agenda, offers a sobering yet actionable picture: Africa’s development efforts are gaining traction, but deep structural barriers, ranging from inadequate financing and data gaps to high youth unemployment and gender-based exclusion, continue to stall momentum.

Despite being home to several of the world’s fastest-growing economies, the continent faces an annual sustainable development financing gap of up to USD 762 billion, according to the report. Social protection coverage remains alarmingly low, with only 19 percent of vulnerable populations benefiting from any form of safety net. Public investment in social protection across most African countries is below 3 percent of GDP, significantly under the global average.

“The current pace of progress is insufficient to achieve the SDGs by 2030,” the report warns, prompting leaders to explore actionable strategies for scaling up inclusive growth, regional integration, and institutional capacity building across the continent.

Health outcomes have improved in areas like life expectancy and disease control, but maternal mortality and unequal access to care persist. Gender equality remains constrained by legal barriers, high rates of violence, and the burden of unpaid care work.

On SDG 8, the continent struggles with low productivity, informality, and youth unemployment, emphasizing the need for inclusive job creation and economic transformation. While the continent has seen some recovery in sectors like tourism, key indicators such as GDP growth per capita (down from 2.7 percent in 2021 to 0.7 percent in 2023) and youth employment remain weak. Over 23 percent of African youth are not in education, employment, or training (NEET), with women disproportionately affected. Despite its potential, tourism contributed just 6.8 percent to GDP in 2023.

Economic shocks, climate change, and geopolitical instability continue to undermine job creation and sustainable growth. The report calls for data-driven strategies, innovative financing, and integrated policies to bridge development gaps and build resilient, equitable systems aligned with both global and continental agendas.

“It is not enough to just create jobs, but we must ensure safe working conditions,” said H.E. Amb. Selma Malika Haddadi, Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission.

UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed acknowledged the uneven starting point for African countries, stating, “too often, Africa isn’t at the table where decisions are made but is the first to feel the impact.” She added, “Our young people deserve more than we give them,” highlighting the pressing need for inclusive investment in youth education.

Central to the discussion was the need to mobilize greater technical and financial support, scale up climate financing, tackle illicit financial flows, and reduce social and economic inequalities. Participants emphasized stronger partnerships (SDG 17), inclusive social protection systems, and youth- and women-led innovation as key enablers for transformational change. The launch of the ASDR marked a major milestone, offering data-driven insights to support national strategies.

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Rallying call to end TB by 2030. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS

By Busani Bafana
BULAWAYO, Jul 15 2025 (IPS)

Every day, Yondela Kolweni has to hold down her son, who screams and fights when it is time for his daily life-saving TB tablets—a painful reminder of her battle with the world’s top infectious killer disease.

“It is a fight I win feeling awful about what I have to do,” says Kolweni (30), a Cape Town resident and a TB survivor. “The tablets are bitter, and he spits them out most of the time, and that reminds me of the time I had to take the same pills.”

Kolweni’s five-year-old son is battling Multidrug Resistant TB (MDR TB), a vicious form of TB that is rising among children globally.

The global burden of MDR-TB among children and adolescents has increased from 1990 to 2019, particularly in regions with lower social and economic development levels, according to a recent study. In addition, the top three highest incidence rates of MDR TB in 2019 were recorded in Southern sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern Europe, and South Asia, while the top three highest rates of deaths in the same period were recorded in Southern, Central, and Eastern sub-Saharan Africa.

South Africa is one of 30 countries that account for 80 percent of all TB cases in the world and has the most cases of drug-resistant TB.

A Bitter Pill to Swallow

Kolweni’s son was diagnosed with MDR-TB five years ago, having tested positive for TB which has affected his grandmother and his mother. He was immediately on treatment, a drug cocktail that included moxifloxacin—a pill not for the yellow-livered.

“There were two medications he had to take, and there was one specifically, the yellow one, that he did not like, and with the color he knew what it was,” Kolweni told IPS in an interview, explaining a daily battle to get her son to take his meds.

It was down to a fight. She crushed the tablets, mixed them with a bit of water, and fed them through a syringe.

“We would sometimes hold him or wrap a towel around him so that we could feed him the medication, but he would still spit it out, which meant he was not taking the dosage he was meant to take,” said Kolweni. “We then came up with the idea to put his tablets in his yogurt, but that technique did not work because, being a smart kid, he took the bait but would soon spit out the medication.”

Moxifloxacin, an exceptionally bitter medicine, is one of the key drugs in the new all-oral treatment for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB). The treatment is a combination of the drugs Bedaquiline, Pretomanid, Linezolid and Moxifloxacin, known as BPaLM. The BPaLM regimen is specially formulated for children but is a bitter pill to swallow.

Sweet Medicine

But there is sweet hope. A new study, by Stellenbosch University and the TB Alliance, found that sweet, bitter-masked versions of Moxifloxacin significantly improve kids’ willingness to take the drug—easing the burden on parents and boosting treatment adherence.

Two formulations of moxifloxacin have been identified by children as tasting better than new generic versions of products currently on the market.

The results from the ChilPref ML study—a Unitaid-funded effort sponsored and led by Stellenbosch University in collaboration with TB Alliance—will help improve MDR TB treatment and adherence in children.

Dr. Graeme Hoddinott, of Stellenbosch University and the principal investigator of the study, notes that children cannot be treated in a humane manner for drug-resistant TB if the medicines taste so terrible that children refuse them or must be forced to take them.

Children diagnosed with drug-sensitive TB have good outcomes even within the four months because there is usually one tablet given, and there is a child-friendly formulation that dissolves easily to be given on a spoon or in a syringe, Hoddinott said. However, for drug-resistant TB, the situation is complicated. Most drugs for MDR TB are no longer used because of their toxicity and have been replaced by new drugs.

MDR-TB drugs are not child-friendly, Hoddinott admits. The active ingredient that kills TB in Moxifloxacin makes the pills incredibly bad tasting for children who have to take the medication daily for between six and nine months in cases of MDR TB.

“These drugs are incredibly bad tasting; they are genuinely awful to a point where adults who have been on extended TB treatment have been unable to administer the same drugs to their children because the smell evokes the time when they were sick,” Hoddinott told IPS. “It is a trauma to administer such bad-tasting drugs to a child, both for the parent and the child, particularly for the young children.”

The ChilPref study recruited just under 100 healthy children, ages 5–17, from two diverse settings in South Africa. The children evaluated flavor blends using a ‘swish and spit’ taste panel—tasting the medicine, which was dissolved in water, and then spitting it out without ingesting any of it.

Each child participant ranked the flavor blends among the three from each manufacturer and also rated the taste, smell and other characteristics of each. For moxifloxacin, there was a clear, strong preference for the new flavor blends (“bitter masker” and orange for Macleods, and strawberry and raspberry and tutti frutti for Micro Labs) over the existing commercially available flavors for both manufacturers. For Linezolid, there was no preference between the flavor blends.

“Ensuring children have access to effective and palatable TB treatments is a crucial step in improving adherence and treatment outcomes,” said Koteswara Rao Inabathina, one of the study’s authors and CMC Project Manager at TB Alliance.

“Through close collaboration with manufacturers, we have addressed critical unmet needs by developing practical solutions that make available and effective drug-resistant TB treatments not only accessible but also palatable and acceptable for children.”

The results of the ChilPref study showed that children preferred two new flavor blends of moxifloxacin, produced by Macleods Pharmaceuticals, India, and Micro Labs Pharmaceuticals, India. The results were communicated to the manufacturers, who are already updating their products.

“We are not surprised that a lot of kids did not like any of the tastings because we knew that they were horrible taste-wise, but we got a very clear signal for both manufacturers that the flavor blends we recommended were more preferred,” Hoddinott said. “We changed which flavor was going to market with relatively simple research.”

Dr. Cherise Scott, Senior Technical Manager at Unitaid, said the easier it was for children to take their medicines regularly, the more likely they were to complete their treatment successfully.

“We will not allow children to be neglected in global health responses simply because their needs are more complex.”

A Promising Treatment for MDR TB

As multi-drug-resistant TB transmission increases among children and adolescents, the development of new treatments is imperative, Hoddinott explained.

Moxifloxacin may also be increasingly used in the future for the treatment of drug-susceptible TB, which affects an estimated 1.2 million children globally each year.

Drug-resistant TB, has previously been one of the most difficult diseases to manage because of limited child-friendly treatment options, but scientists have made strides in developing new treatments for children, explains Dr. Anthony Garcia-Prats, one of the study authors and an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“Now we are making sure that these medicines are appropriate for children, starting with an aspect that children and parents say is critical: taste,” Garcia-Prats said in a statement.

The new treatment is given when TB is either resistant to rifampicin, a critical first-line drug, or rifampicin and isoniazid, another first-line drug combination. These resistant strains are collectively referred to as RR/MDR-TB.

Annually there are an estimated 32,000 new cases of RR/MDR-TB among children 14 years and under—a population that is extremely sensitive to the taste of medicine, according to researchers.

This discovery could help improve adherence to TB medication and move a step closer towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3 to end TB by 2030.

“It is not a silver bullet,” Hoddinott cautions. “It does not solve everything, as people affected by TB still face many other challenges, and even the preferred flavor blends still do not taste nice. But, as part of the overall fight against TB in children, it’s an important step.”

Kolweni welcomes the development of masked TB medication.

“My experience with TB medication was not nice, and for children it is worse, and I think flavored tablets would make it easy for children to take, like  Gummies,” she said. “Every child loves flavors; even a suspension would be nice. My son would love it, and I will have no trouble getting him to take his medicine.”

Note: This article is brought to you by IPS Noram, in collaboration with INPS Japan and Soka Gakkai International, in consultative status with the UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

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A mother receives a birth certificate for her youngest child in the village of Bindia, East Cameroon. Photo credit: UNICEF/Dejongh

By Catherine Wilson
SYDNEY, Jun 17 2025 (IPS)

Registering the birth of a newborn, which is taken for granted in many countries, has profound lifelong repercussions for a child’s health, protection, and well-being. But after initially increasing this century, the global birth registration rate has declined in the past ten years, with some countries in the Pacific and Sub-Saharan Africa facing significant challenges. Embracing new registration technologies, increasing political will, and increasing parents’ understanding of its importance are paramount to reversing the trend.

Today about 75 percent of all children aged under 5 years are registered, up from 60 percent in 2000, reports the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

But Bhaskar Mishra, Child Protection Specialist at UNICEF Headquarters in New York, told IPS that a recent slowdown is due to persistent challenges.

“Rapid population growth, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, is outpacing registration systems. Weak infrastructure, limited funding, and low political prioritization have also contributed to the stagnation. Additionally, families often face barriers such as high fees, complex procedures, and limited access,” he said.

Some of these hurdles exist in East Africa, where the birth registration rate is 41 percent and the Pacific Islands where it is 26 percent. At the country level, it varies from 29 percent in Tanzania to 13 percent in Papua New Guinea and 3 percent in Somalia and Ethiopia. Of an estimated 654 million children aged under five years in the world, about 166 million are unregistered and 237 do not have a birth certificate.

In Papua New Guinea, the birth registration rate is being raised with the aid of mobile registration, an important means to reach rural and remote communities and help protect children living in vulnerable circumstances. Mangem IDP Camp, Madang Province, PNG. Credit: Catherine Wilson/IPS

“Systemic and social obstacles, exacerbated by the lingering effects of COVID-19, which reversed gains achieved in previous years, mean that progress must accelerate fivefold to meet the Sustainable Development Goal target of universal birth registration by 2030,” Mishra emphasized.

One country that is striving to meet the challenge is Papua New Guinea (PNG). The most populous Pacific Island nation of about 11 million people comprises far-flung islands and an epic mountain range on the mainland where people’s daily hardships include extreme terrain, lack of roads, and unreliable transportation.

More than 80 percent of people live in rural areas and, in Madang Province, in the northeast of the country, the Country Women’s Association has worked to increase maternal and health awareness among pregnant women.

“Some don’t have access to health facilities as they are in very remote areas and it takes hours to get to a health facility, so all births are done in the village. But health facilities in some communities are rundown, there is no maintenance on the infrastructure and no health workers on the ground, so that is the most challenging,” Tabitha Waka at the association’s Madang Branch told IPS.

For a mother, recording the birth of her baby could entail long journeys in community buses along dirt tracks and unsealed roads to the registration office, along with the cost of the fares.

“Lack of information is another challenge. These rural mothers don’t have this kind of helpful information and they don’t know the importance of birth registration. And, in some communities, due to traditions and customs, they only allow mothers to give birth in the village,” Waka continued. Just over half of all births in PNG take place in a healthcare facility, according to the government.

Births are registered and birth certificates issued to mothers at Nijereng Primary Health Centre, Adamawa State, Nigeria. Photo credit: UNICEF/Esiebo

But the country has made significant strides and, from 2023 to 2024, more than doubled the distribution of birth certificates from 26,000 to 78,000. Last July, 44 handheld mobile registration devices were supplied by UNICEF to the government and field officers have started a massive outreach mission to record births in local communities.

Then in December, the PNG Parliament passed a new bill to develop the national Civil and Identity Registry. “The Pangu-led government is a responsible government with policies based on inclusivity across the country… accurate and reliable identity information on our people is significantly vital for enabling effective service delivery and for their social well-being,” PNG’s Prime Minister, James Marape, told media in November.

There is already tangible progress, but the government’s goal to register up to half a million births every year “will require scaling up technology. The kits need to be deployed nationwide, especially in remote areas, and decentralizing certificate issuance,” Paula Vargas, UNICEF’s Chief of Child Protection in PNG told IPS. “There are bottlenecks in the process. For example, there is just one person in PNG authorized to manually sign birth certificates.”

On the other side of the world, more than half of all unregistered children live in Sub-Saharan Africa, and Ethiopia, among other countries in the region, is grappling with similar issues.

Located on the Horn of Africa, Ethiopia is more than twice the size of PNG and has a high birth rate of 32 births per 1,000 people, compared to the global average of 16. Here the majority of Ethiopia’s more than 119 million people also live in vast and remote regions.

But while birth registration is free and the government is training healthcare extension workers in the procedures, the urban-rural divide persists. The burden on rural parents of multiple visits, with long distances and costs, required to complete registration is impeding progress.  The birth registration rate in the rural Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People’s Region (SNNP) is 3 percent, which is the national average, compared to 24 percent in the capital, Addis Ababa.

Dr. Tariku Nigatu, Assistant Professor of Public Health at Ethiopia’s University of Gondar, told IPS that improvements could be driven by “integrating the registration service with the health system, [increasing] availability of resources to support interventions to boost birth registration and infrastructure for real-time or near real-time reporting of births.”

UNICEF has also assisted Ethiopia in deploying mobile registration kits to healthcare workers in remote communities, including those experiencing instability, “ensuring that children born during emergencies or while displaced are not excluded from legal identity and protection,” Mishra said. Currently a humanitarian crisis and insecurity are affecting people’s lives in the northern Tigray region following a civil war from 2020-2022.

Lack of understanding and misconceptions about birth registration also need to be addressed, Nigatu emphasized.

Birth registration is the first step to reducing the risk of children being exploited, abused, trafficked and coerced into child marriage. A young mother in Mozambique ensures her newborn is protected with a birth certificate and legal identity. Photo credit: UNICEF/Fauvrelle

“There are myths in some communities that counting the newborn as ‘a person’ at an early age could bring bad luck to the newborn. They do not consider the child worthy of counting before people know it even survives the neonatal period,” he said. This is partly due to the country’s high neonatal mortality of 30 in every 1,000 live births, with around half occurring within 24 hours after birth, he explained.

Messaging also needs to reinforce how birth registration is of lifelong importance to a child. There are high risks and human disadvantages for the uncounted millions of children without an official existence. They will have a greater fight to rise out of poverty, to resist sexual exploitation, abuse, child labor, and human trafficking, and to access legal protection, voting rights, even formal employment, and property ownership.

But birth registration is only the first step to their protection and well-being.

“It only works when backed by strong systems and services. This includes linking registration to services such as immunizations, hospital births, and school enrollment,” Mishra said.

In the wider context, having accurate birth and population data is essential for governments to plan public services and national development and equally critical to assessing progress on the Sustainable Development Goals.

Note: This article is brought to you by IPS Noram, in collaboration with INPS Japan and Soka Gakkai International, in consultative status with the UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

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High-rise buildings under construction in Lagos, Nigeria. Most accommodation is unaffordable for young Nigerians. Credit: Promise Eze/IPS

By Promise Eze
ABUJA, May 15 2025 (IPS)

After graduating in 2019, Jeremiah Achimugu left Sokoto State in northwestern Nigeria for Abuja, the nation’s capital, in search of better opportunities. But life in the city brought unexpected challenges, especially the high cost of housing.

At first, Achimugu stayed with his uncle and worked as a marketer, earning 120,000 naira (USD 73) a month. However, his salary barely covered his basic needs.

“The cost of living in Nigeria’s rapidly developing capital soon ate deep into my salary,” he said. “By the end of the month, I was always broke. Transportation, food, and other expenses were just too much.”

When he began searching for a place of his own, he was shocked by the prices. Even a small one-room apartment in a remote area costs about 500,000 naira (USD 307) a year.

“There was no way I could afford that kind of rent even though the apartment was nothing to write home about,” he said.

Few months later, Achimugu resigned from his job and returned to Sokoto. His dream of building a life in the city was cut short by the soaring cost of living.

“The cost of living and rent in Nigerian cities is too high for young people,” he said. “But these are the places where the opportunities are. Some landlords are taking advantage of young people coming into the cities by raising the rent.”

A Continental Rental Crisis

Achimugu’s experience reflects a larger problem faced by young people across Nigeria. About 63 percent of the country’s population is under the age of 24, and cities are growing rapidly. The United Nations has warned that Nigeria’s urban population is increasing almost twice as fast as the national average. However, housing hasn’t kept up with this growth. As a result, the few available homes are now overpriced. The World Bank estimates the country has a housing shortage of over 17 million homes.

In major cities like Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt, rent prices can range from around 400,000 naira (USD 246) to as much as 25 million naira (USD 16,000) per annum, depending on the location and kind of apartment.

With a monthly minimum wage of 70,000 naira (USD 43), which is often unpaid or delayed, and high unemployment, many young people cannot afford decent housing. This makes it harder for them to settle down, build strong social connections, or feel financially secure.

Nigeria is not alone. Across Africa, young people are being priced out of the rental market. Rapid urbanization, population growth, and economic hardship have made affordable housing a growing concern. In interviews with young people in Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, and Nigeria, IPS confirmed that the same challenges exist across the continent.

Formal housing remains beyond the reach of most Africans, with only the top 5 to 10 percent of the population able to afford it. The majority are left to live in informal settlements, many of which lack essential services such as clean water, electricity, and proper sanitation. Experts have warned that without increased investment in affordable housing, a growing number of young people will struggle to find a place to live.

Kwantami Kwame in Kumasi, Ghana, blames capitalism and the greed of real estate owners for the high cost of rent. He told IPS that the rush for quick profits in the cities is affecting the welfare of young people, most of whom are low-income earners.

“A few weeks ago, I was looking for a one-bedroom apartment in Accra, the capital of Ghana, and I was asked to pay an upfront two-year rent fee of 38,275 Ghanaian Cedis (USD 2,500). The apartment wasn’t even up to standard. The fee didn’t cover water, electricity, or waste bills. It’s really unfair,” said Kwame, who noted that in a country where the monthly minimum wage is just 539.19 Ghanaian cedis (USD 45), there should be provisions for young people to access affordable housing in cities where opportunities exist.

Kwame believes governments should regulate rents and check the excesses of landlords. But Olaitan Olaoye, a Lagos-based real estate expert, sees it differently. He points to limited land availability as a major factor driving up rent and argues that price controls won’t solve the problem.

“Governments in Africa shouldn’t be setting rent prices when they’re not doing enough to tackle inflation, which keeps pushing up the cost of building materials,” he said.

“For instance, in a country like Nigeria, the removal of the fuel subsidy caused prices to skyrocket. This had a ripple effect on everything else, including construction. It led to an increase in the cost of building materials. The government then has no moral right to instruct landlords to reduce their rent,” Olaoye argued.

While he does not excuse the greed of some landlords and estate developers, Olaoye worries that if young people already struggle to rent homes, the dream of owning one may become increasingly unrealistic.

“In the past, it was easier for people to build homes. Prices of building materials were affordable and life was more stable. Back then, when people finished school and got a job, they could start saving right away. They could afford to buy a car, build a house, and live comfortably. But things have changed,” he said.

Inadequate Social Housing Programs

Olaoye’s concerns are echoed by Phoebe Atieno Ochieng in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. After securing a teaching job in the capital, she left her family home in the countryside of Busia. However, with a monthly salary of only 18,000 Kenya Shillings (USD 140), renting a place in the city was out of her reach.

“I had no choice but to live in a small space provided by the school management within the school premises,” she told IPS. “The houses here are not affordable. A basic one-bedroom apartment costs 120,000 Kenyan shillings per month. I can’t balance my income because I still have to pay taxes, buy food, and take care of other daily needs. Unless I get a better-paying job, I can’t manage.”

Ochieng criticizes the Kenyan government for its failure to provide adequate social housing and ensure access to affordable mortgages.

While the Kenyan government has launched a social housing scheme like the Affordable Housing Programme to help low- and middle-income earners secure decent homes, the initiative has faced growing criticism. Many argue that the houses being built are still unaffordable, and there are widespread concerns about the potential mismanagement of the scheme. Also, the introduction of a mandatory housing tax has sparked outrage, with many questioning why they are being compelled to fund homes they may never qualify for or benefit from.

Similarly, the Nigerian government has made several attempts to address the housing crisis through various national housing programs designed to provide affordable homes in cities. However, these programs have often failed due to poor implementation, inadequate funding, and corruption. Many housing projects have been abandoned, leaving the promise of affordable housing unfulfilled for the majority of Nigerians.

South Africa’s housing crisis is worsening due to rapid urbanization, economic challenges, and the legacy of apartheid. Cities like Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban are seeing an increasing number of people move from rural areas in search of better job opportunities, putting pressure on housing infrastructure.

During apartheid, many Black South Africans were confined to overcrowded townships on the outskirts of cities, areas that still lack proper infrastructure and services. As young people flock to cities for better prospects, they face the challenge of unaffordable rent, which, according to Ntando Mji, a receptionist in Cape Town, is limiting their potential.

Although the government has attempted to provide subsidized housing for those with a limited income, the scale of the problem is overwhelming, and millions are still waiting for homes. “In Cape Town, getting a house is so difficult. The agents require a three-month rent deposit, and they scrutinize your income, but even getting approved for a space is really hard,” Mji lamented.

“Because it is mainly commercial entities that build houses, they are so expensive. This is why the South African government should intervene by providing accommodation at lower prices and engaging the private sector in building lower-cost housing in safer areas,” said Bhufura Majola, who told IPS that he waited a year before he could even get a small apartment in a student area far from where he works.

He added, “The high cost of rental prices in South Africa is a big deterrent to young professionals in particular because it takes away their choices of where to stay, especially near places where employment is guaranteed. This has forced many to abandon their dreams.”

Peace Abiola, who lives in Ibadan, Southwest Nigeria, spent all her savings—600,000 naira (USD 369)—on an apartment last year. She works as a freelance content creator for brands, earning an irregular income. Now, with her rent due, she is considering returning to her village because she can no longer afford to keep up.

“I think one solution to this problem is the proper implementation of laws to control the irregular hike in rental prices,” she said, echoing the frustration of many Nigerians who have started protesting and calling on the government to act.

The Nigerian government has repeatedly promised to enforce policies that protect tenants, but none of those pledges have materialized.

“Here, we are just focused on survival or how to pay the next rent or how to get the next meal. This is not how life should be,” Abiola said.

Note: This article is brought to you by IPS Noram in collaboration with INPS Japan and Soka Gakkai International in consultative status with ECOSOC.
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Confluence of the Indus and Zanskar Rivers Credit: martinho Smart/shutterstock.com

By Sinéad Barry and Emma Whitaker
May 12 2025 (IPS)

 
On April 23, India suspended the Indus Water Treaty (IWT), a 65-year-old agreement that had been a rare symbol of cooperation between India and Pakistan despite decades of hostility. The suspension came a day after militants attacked civilians in Jammu and Kashmir, a disputed region, killing 26 people, most of them Indian tourists. India accused Pakistan of supporting “cross-border terrorism” and responded by halting the treaty. Pakistan denied involvement in the attack and called India’s move an “act of war.”

The IWT, signed in 1960, was a landmark agreement that allowed the two countries to share the water of the Indus River system. It gave India control over the eastern tributaries (Ravi, Sutlej, and Beas), and Pakistan control over the western tributaries (Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab). Beyond water-sharing, the treaty established mechanisms for data sharing, technical cooperation and dispute resolution. For decades, the treaty was celebrated as a triumph of diplomacy and environmental cooperation. But its suspension now threatens to unravel this legacy, with devastating consequences – especially for Pakistan.

Why the IWT Matters

Pakistan’s economy depends heavily on agriculture, which employs nearly 70% of its rural workforce. The Indus River irrigates 80% of the country’s farmland, making it a lifeline for millions. If India were to divert or reduce water flows, it could cripple Pakistan’s agriculture, triggering widespread food insecurity and economic instability. The stakes are high, and the consequences of failing to manage shared water resources responsibly would ripple far beyond Pakistan’s borders.

The timing of the IWT’s suspension couldn’t be worse. Climate and environmental risks are escalating across the Asia–Pacific region, with extreme weather events becoming more frequent and severe. Between 2008-2023, floods displaced 57 million people in India alone. In Pakistan, floods have not only destroyed homes but have also degraded soil quality, leaving farmers unable to grow enough crops to survive. These pressures are driving migration to cities, where migrants face exploitative conditions and often accrue large debts.

Climate Risks and Regional Instability

The link between climate change and regional instability is becoming impossible to ignore. In Central Asia, a 2021 clash over transboundary water resources between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan left 50 dead and displaced 10,000 others. In the Pacific, rising sea levels are forcing entire communities to relocate, sparking tensions in countries like Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Meanwhile, large-scale infrastructure projects, such as hydroelectric dams in Southeast Asia, are displacing thousands and straining relations between countries like Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.

The demand for critical minerals to build renewable energy sources is adding another layer of complexity. Competition between China and the U.S over these resources is heightening global tensions. Critical mineral mining is also fuelling exploitation and violence in mining regions, like the Philippines and Indonesia. These examples highlight a troubling reality: climate and environmental risks are not just environmental issues – they are also security issues.

The Case for Regional Cooperation

Responding to these challenges requires a collective approach. Climate risks don’t respect national borders, and attempting to tackle them in isolation is a losing strategy. Cooperation offers a way to pool resources, share knowledge, and build resilience. For low-income countries in particular, regional solidarity—through climate finance, data sharing and technological transfer—could mean the difference between survival or collapse.

But cooperation isn’t just about survival; it’s also about seizing opportunities. Joint climate action can strengthen regional ties, foster peace and create shared prosperity. Cross-border collaboration on climate and environmental issues can connect institutions, research communities, and civil society, laying the groundwork to tackle future challenges. By working together, the Asia–Pacific region can turn shared challenges into shared strengths.

The suspension of the IWT is a wake-up call. At a time when cooperation is more critical than ever, we cannot afford to let geopolitical tensions derail climate action. The Asia–Pacific region faces immense challenges, but it also holds immense potential. By prioritising collaboration over confrontation, the climate crisis could provide an opportunity for peace, resilience, and shared prosperity. The path forward won’t be easy, but it’s the only path worth taking.

Related articles:
Kashmir: Escalating to War?
Kashmir: Paradise Lost
India’s Climate Calamities
Leaky Roof: Melting Himalayas in the ‘Asian Century’

Sinéad Barry is an Analyst at adelphi’s Climate Diplomacy and Security programme.
Emma Whitaker is a Senior Advisor at adelphi’s Climate Diplomacy and Security programme.

This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished from the original with their permission.

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Female miners struggle for recognition, battling land ownership restrictions, lack of financing, and discrimination in a sector where men hold the power. Credit: Kizito Makoye/IPS

By Kizito Makoye
DAR ES SALAAM, Apr 29 2025 (IPS)

Under the scorching Tanzanian sun, Neema Mushi wipes sweat from her dust-covered face and swings her pickaxe into the earth. The impact sends dust swirling into the air, coating her tattered clothes. She barely notices. For the past eight years, this has been her life—digging, sifting, sieving, and hoping to strike gold in the male-dominated pits of Geita. It is a grueling task riddled with obstacles.

“I want to own a mining pit myself,” she says. “But in this industry, women are always ignored when it comes to land ownership issues.”

Despite years of hard work, women like Mushi remain on the wobbly edge of survival.

One evening, after hours of rock crushing, she spots a tiny twinkle of gold. Before she can pocket it, a male miner comes close to  her.

“This is my spot,” he growls, snatching the gold from her hands. Mushi clenches her fists, knowing she can’t fight back—not in a system that was never built for her.

She once tried to register a mining plot in her name. At the local office, the clerk barely looked up.

“You need your husband’s permission,” he muttered, shuffling papers on his desk. Mushi hesitated—she had no husband, only three children to feed. The clerk shrugged. “Then find a male partner,” he said, waving her away.

Before joining Umoja wa Wanawake Wachimbaji, a cooperative for women miners, Mushi struggled to pay her children’s school fees. Now, she watches them walk to school in clean uniforms, their laughter filling the air. She has struck more than gold—she has found hope.

A group of women miners formed Umoja wa Wanawake Wachimbaji, pooling resources and fighting for a mining license of their own. Credit: Kizito Makoye/IPS

Crushing Male Chauvinism

Tanzania is Africa’s fourth-largest gold producer, with mining contributing nearly 10 percent of the country’s GDP. An estimated one to two million people work in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM), and nearly a third of them are women. Yet, despite their numbers, female miners struggle for recognition, battling land ownership restrictions, lack of financing, and discrimination in a sector where men hold the power.

For years, Mushi worked informally at the edges of licensed mines, sifting through gold-bearing rocks discarded by male miners. Without a mining license or land of her own, she relied on middlemen who bought her finds at exploitative prices.

“If you don’t have your own claim, you are at their mercy,” she says. “They can chase you away at any time.”

Tanzania’s mining laws technically allow women to own licenses, but in practice, few manage to acquire them. The bureaucratic process is complex, and costs are prohibitive.

“Most mining land is allocated to men or big companies,” says Alpha Ntayomba, a mining activist and Executive Director of the Population Development Initiative. “Women often end up working on borrowed land or as laborers on someone else’s claim.”

Beyond land rights, financial barriers loom large. Mining requires investment—equipment, processing facilities, and sometimes heavy machinery. But banks see women miners as too risky, denying them loans and locking them into a cycle of dangerous, low-paying work.

As a light rain drizzles, a dozen women trudge through dust-choked paths, carrying heavy sacks of ore on their heads. Many are single mothers, struggling to survive in an industry where they are often underpaid, exploited, and subjected to harassment.

“Women in artisanal mining are at the bottom of the chain,” says Ntayomba. “They do the hardest jobs—crushing rocks, washing ore in mercury-contaminated water—yet they earn the least and are most vulnerable to abuse.”

Sexual Exploitation and Harassment

For many female miners, exploitation is a daily reality. Reports of sexual harassment and coercion in exchange for job opportunities are widespread. Women working in gold-processing areas often depend on male pit owners or brokers to access ore, making them vulnerable to abuse.

“Some women are forced into exploitative relationships just to get access to the gold they help extract,” says Ntayomba. “Sexual favors become a hidden cost of doing business for many women in this sector.”

Many hesitate to report harassment for fear of retaliation or job loss. Others lack the legal knowledge or support networks needed to seek justice.

“I know women who were kicked out of their jobs after rejecting advances from male mine owners,” Ntayomba says. “The system is rigged against them, and the lack of strong legal protections worsens it.”

Health Risks and Mercury Exposure

Beyond exploitation, women in artisanal mining also face severe health risks. Many spend hours washing gold with mercury—a toxic metal that can cause neurological damage and birth defects—without any protective equipment.

“Most women don’t know how dangerous mercury is,” says Ntayomba. “They mix it with their bare hands and inhale toxic fumes, exposing themselves and their children to long-term health problems.”

Activists like Ntayomba are pushing for change through advocacy and training programs. His organization has been lobbying for stricter regulations to protect women’s rights, provide safer mining practices, and ensure equal access to economic opportunities.

“We need the government to recognize women miners as key players in the sector,” he says. “That means formalizing their work, providing safety training, and ensuring they have legal rights to mining claims.”

But progress is slow.

“Women in artisanal mining deserve dignity, fair pay, and protection from exploitation,” Ntayomba emphasizes. “The industry cannot continue to thrive on their suffering.”

Breaking Rocks, Breaking Barriers

Determined to change their fortunes, Mushi and a group of women miners formed Umoja wa Wanawake Wachimbaji, pooling resources and fighting for a mining license of their own—in line with Sustainable Development Goal 8, which focuses on “Decent Work and Economic Growth, a crucial building block for achieving gender equity and women empowerment.

With support from the Tanzania Women Miners Association (TAWOMA) and government programs for female entrepreneurs, they secured a small mining plot and invested in better equipment.

“We had to prove that we belong here,” says Anna Mbwambo, a founding member of the cooperative. “For too long, women have been treated like helpers, not miners.”

For Mushi, the cooperative has changed everything. “Before, I could barely afford school fees for my children,” she says. “Now, I can save, and I dream of expanding.”

Despite persistent challenges, change is underway. Organizations like STAMICO, Tanzania’s State Mining Corporation, are training small-scale miners in safer, more efficient techniques. The government has also established gold-buying centers to ensure fairer prices, reducing women’s dependence on exploitative middlemen.

Internationally, calls for gender inclusivity in mining are growing. The World Bank has pushed for reforms to make the industry more accessible to women, while the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) is advocating for policies that empower female miners.

TAWOMA, which has fought for women’s rights in mining since 1997, continues to push for a future where women are not just included but leading.

“We want to see women owning mines, running businesses, and making decisions,” says its chairwoman.

Carving a New Future

Standing at the edge of her mine, Mushi watches her fellow miners work the land they now own. It is a small plot, overshadowed by larger male-run operations, but to her, it represents something bigger—hope.

“I want my daughters to see that a woman can do anything,” she says. “She can work, she can own it, and she can succeed.”

She grips her pickaxe and swings again, sending another spray of dust into the air. Each strike brings her closer to a future where women miners are not just surviving but thriving.

This article is brought to you by IPS Noram, in collaboration with INPS Japan and Soka Gakkai International, in consultative status with the UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

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Prayers for peace at the Korean border.Credit: Greenburd/shutterstock.com

By Stein Tønnesson
Apr 7 2025 (IPS)

 
The armistice agreement that ended the Korean War in 1953 has been mentioned as a possible model for how to end the fighting in Ukraine. This makes sense. The Trump administration, however, seems to opt for a quick deal like the 1973 Paris agreement on Vietnam or the Minsk agreements of 2014–15, combining “ceasefires in place” with vain prospects of subsequently reaching a genuine peace agreement.

One lesson from the negotiations that led to the Korean armistice is that patient diplomacy is needed to end a stalemated war. When talks began in July 1951, the impatient Mao Zedong estimated that two weeks would be enough to conclude. The negotiations instead took two years. The result was a long text, detailing the exact border line and establish a demilitarized zone across the peninsula under UN supervision. The stated intention was to follow up with a peace agreement. This came to nothing. The conference established for the purpose in Geneva decided instead to reach an agreement on Indochina, dividing Vietnam for the next 21 years and replacing the French with American military forces.

The biggest difference between the Korea and Ukraine wars is that the Ukrainians are fighting alone, with only external military support, while the Korean War was primarily fought by American and Chinese forces on Korean soil. Back then, the armistice agreement was concluded by the commanders of the US-dominated UN forces, the Chinese “volunteers”, and the North Korean army, against the wish of Syngman Rhee’s government in Seoul. He wanted to continue the fight for national reunification. Only after being offered a defence pact with the US did he accept the negotiated outcome, yet did not sign the agreement. South Korea has never signed the armistice that has prevented new outbreaks of war.

The key similarity between the Korean and Ukrainian wars is the prominent role of the USA as a supporter of the governments in Seoul and Kyiv. In both cases a condition for ensuring that an armistice can hold is that the US take responsibility for any agreement and joins up with others in providing security guarantees. A key reason why war has not resumed in Korea for the last 72 years is the continued US presence in the south. American troops act as a “tripwire,” ensuring that any North Korean invasion would lead to a war it would surely lose. For the same reason, the US needs to have boots on the ground in Ukraine.

Another similarity is that any attempt to conclude a genuine peace agreement is futile. A genuine peace in Korea would require that North and South agree either on national reunification or on recognizing each other as independent states, just as East and West Germany did in 1973. A peace agreement was even more unthinkable for Syngman Rhee and Kim Il Sung in 1953–54 than it is for Seoul and Pyongyang today. It is just as inconceivable that President Vladimir Putin will withdraw voluntarily from Donbas and Krym as it is for President Volodymyr Zelensky to conclude a definitive peace agreement that does not recognize Ukrainian sovereignty to its entire territory. To maintain the principle of national sovereignty and territorial integrity, it is also crucial for Europe and the UN that Russia’s violation of Ukrainian sovereignty is not internationally recognized. Therefore, just as the two Koreas, Russia and Ukraine must settle for something less than a peace treaty, namely an armistice. This may end the fighting and could save hundreds of thousands of lives but will not establish peace.

An armistice is not a simple ceasefire, where military forces are supposed to remain where they happen to be situated when the agreement is made. For a Ukrainian armistice to be respected, the Russian and Ukrainian forces must withdraw to either side of a clearly delineated demilitarized zone. This is complicated by the fact that the front lines are so long. The easiest compromise would be for Ukraine to let Russia retain control over Krym, while Russia withdraws from Donbas. Third parties should put pressure on Moscow and Kyiv to accept that neat solution. To soften the pill, Ukraine could guarantee a high degree of local autonomy for Donetsk and Luhansk. International monitoring with the use of satellite surveillance along the entire border would be needed. If one or both parties were to mobilize combat forces, launch drone attacks, or place rocket launchers on alert, warning signals should be triggered and international security guarantees enforced by robust multi-national forces.

A final similarity between Korea 1953 and Ukraine 2025 armistice is that both sides must abstain from any political interference at the other side of the agreed boundary. Russia and Ukraine must remain fully sovereign and independent states. Any rapprochement between the two Korean states continues to depend on Seoul’s ability to convince Pyongyang that it does not seek regime change in the north and on the willingness of Kim Jong Un to abstain from provocative missile tests and vocal threats. Putin apparently wants an agreement to include a provision for new elections in Ukraine, so he can interfere in Ukraine’s internal affairs and remove Zelensky from power. This is a destructive demand that should be consistently rejected by any mediating or facilitating party to talks. The Ukrainians must decide for themselves when to lift their state of emergency and hold democratic elections.

President Trump has put pressure on Ukraine to agree to a ceasefire and has conceded on Ukraine’s behalf that it cannot get back all its lost territory or obtain NATO membership. He should now concentrate his efforts on convincing both sides to engage in negotiations for a strongly guaranteed and highly monitored armistice rather than a quick and fragile ceasefire or a dodgy settlement allowing one side to interfere in the other.

Related articles:

Korea Will Soon Face a Security Dilemma Like Europe’s
First Vietnam, Then Afghanistan: Is Ukraine Next?
Is the Time Ripe for an End to the Ukraine War?

Stein Tønnesson is Senior Research Fellow (Peace and Security in Northeast Asia) at the Toda Peace Institute and Research Professor Emeritus, Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO)

This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished from the original with their permission.

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US and Taliban representatives sign the agreement in Doha, Qatar on February 29, 2020. Credit: US Department of State/Wikicommons

By Bashir Mobasher
Mar 10 2025 (IPS)

 
The ongoing war in Ukraine has raised difficult questions for U.S. foreign policy. With U.S. and Russian leaders engaged in direct talks in Saudi Arabia over the future of the conflict, many are left wondering whether the Ukraine crisis could become another Afghanistan or Vietnam—two conflicts where the U.S. pursued peace talks with its adversaries while sidelining local governments, leading to catastrophic outcomes. Drawing lessons from these past negotiations and the eventual collapse of South Vietnam in 1975 and the Republic regime in Afghanistan in 2021, one cannot help but wonder whether Ukraine could face a similar fate unless the U.S. carefully navigates these talks with a more inclusive approach.

Ukraine’s situation is distinct in many ways from Afghanistan and Vietnam, including the fact that Ukraine is located in Europe, which has a vested interest in its security and sovereignty, and that Ukraine is under a direct invasion by a foreign country and so its leader has broader national support—South Vietnam and Afghan Republic were dealing with proxies. The question, however, is whether these differences set Ukraine off the course that Afghanistan and Vietnam journeyed. Bear in mind that Afghanistan’s war differed from Vietnam’s, as much as Ukraine’s case differed from both. Therefore, what makes the three cases similar is not necessarily their socio-political settings or geopolitics but how peace settlements are handled regarding these countries. Seemingly, the ongoing negotiations on Ukraine are following the same pattern as those that sealed the fate of Vietnam in 1975 and Afghanistan in 2021. These patterns include the following:

• The absence of the legitimate governments of the negotiated states from the peace talks
• The rise of a new narrative that delegitimizes local governments as weak, corrupt, and anti-peace, elevating adversaries as reliable negotiating partners.
• A pledge that the local governments will get their turn in Peace Talks down the road, a promise that did not materialize in at least the two cases of Vietnam and Afghanistan.

These deals usually involve or accompany a swap of prisoners against the wishes of the local government and the end of financial and military support to the same regime. While labeled peace deals, these accords did not prevent local governments’ collapse after the U.S. withdrawal and instead created power vacuums that the adversaries quickly exploited. Could Ukraine, with its sovereignty at stake, face a similar outcome?

Crossed-lateral peace deals: A pattern of excluding the most legitimate stakeholders of peace

These usually bilateral deals can better be termed crossed-lateral peace agreements as they are negotiated and concluded in the absence and defiance of the most legitimate stakeholder. For example, the Paris Peace Accord in 1973 was primarily between the U.S. and North Vietnam, with the South Vietnamese government largely excluded from direct talks. The Nixon administration justified this exclusion under the belief that South Vietnam was the primary obstacle to peace and that bypassing the South Vietnamese government would expedite a resolution. The administration pledged that they would ensure that an intra-Vietnam peace talk would take place. However, the exclusion of South Vietnam from the main accord ultimately contributed to the fall of Saigon in 1975, as the North Vietnamese took control after the U.S. withdrawal.

In Afghanistan, the Doha Peace Agreement in 2020 followed a similar pattern. The U.S. negotiated directly with the Taliban, sidelining the Afghan government in peace talks. The agreement promised a U.S. troop withdrawal in exchange for the Taliban’s commitment to preventing terrorism from Afghan soil. While it was framed as a path to peace, the Afghan government, led by President Ashraf Ghani, was not involved at all. The resulting agreement failed to prevent the collapse of the Afghan government, which fell to the Taliban in 2021, just months after the U.S. withdrawal.

One of the striking aspects of both the Paris Peace Accords and the Doha Peace Agreement was the protest and outright rejection of the peace deals by the local governments of South Vietnam and Afghanistan. South Vietnamese President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu rejected the Paris Peace Accords, feeling that the agreement compromised his government’s position and led to an unfavorable peace. Similarly, in Afghanistan, President Ashraf Ghani was deeply critical of the Doha Peace Agreement for excluding his government and undermining the legitimacy of the Afghan leadership. These protests highlighted how the local governments felt abandoned by the U.S. and viewed the negotiations as leading to unjust compromises that did not consider their legitimate needs. In both cases, U.S. officials accused the local governments of corruption, divisiveness, and incompetence to justify their direct negotiation with the enemy. Sounds familiar?

As the U.S. seeks to negotiate with Russia over Ukraine, it is crucial to note the dangers of accusing the Ukrainian government of incompetence or corruption and bypassing its authority. These accusations further elevate the adversaries’ assertions that the local governments lacked legitimacy from the outset. In both the Vietnam and Afghanistan cases, the local governments were left vulnerable, delegitimized, and unsupported before the onslaught of adversaries who could not care less about the peace deals. Interestingly, after the collapse of the allied power, the administrations blamed the opposition party at home and the sidelined government abroad, absolving themselves of any wrongdoing.

Is Ukraine the next episode in the same drama?

The U.S. and Russia have already begun rounds of talks, with the Ukrainian government sidelined. This dynamic bears some resemblance to the earlier peace talks with North Vietnam and the Taliban, where the U.S. preferred negotiating with adversaries in the absence of a legitimate government.

Will Ukraine be the next episode in this tragic drama? The answer lies in two factors, perhaps. First, is Ukraine psychologically and militarily prepared to continue its struggle without the United States’ support? Second, whether Europe proactively seeks to maintain its vested interest in Ukraine, which increasingly diverges from the U.S., or follows the U.S.’s lead as they did in Vietnam and Afghanistan’s cases.

Ukraine is the doorstep between Russia and Europe, and Russia’s entry—even with a warrant from the U.S.—is an alarm bell to the rest of Europe. Europe was never concerned about the adverse consequences of negotiation deals in Vietnam and Afghanistan. However, they do not seem to have the same feelings toward U.S.-Russia negotiations on Ukraine. The stability of the region is a matter of direct concern to Europe. For Europe, ensuring Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity is not just a matter of geopolitical interest but crucial to European security. Their recent summit in Paris indicates that.

Other articles by this author:

Dr. Bashir Mobasher teaches at the American University (DC) Department of Sociology, New York University DC, and the American University of Afghanistan Departments of Political Science. Dr. Bashir is the current President of Afghanistan Law and Political Science Association (in Exile). He is an expert in comparative constitutional law, identity politics, and human rights. He has authored, reviewed, and supervised numerous research projects on constitutional law, electoral systems, and identity politics. His recent research projects are centered around decentralization, social justice, and orientalism. Bashir obtained his B.A. (2007) from the School of Law and Political Science at Kabul University and his LLM (2010) and PhD (2017) from the University of Washington School of Law.

This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished from the original with their permission.

Floods and heavy rain in Guam. Credit: - es3n@shutterstock.com

By Anselm Vogler
Feb 13 2025 (IPS)

 
The climate crisis is severely endangering human well-being. While the climate security nexus is omnipresent in national security strategies and on international institutions’ agendas, political responses remain insufficient and are often problematic. Among other issues, related policies often struggle with siloization or a focus on symptoms instead of root causes.

To address the core challenges to human security imposed by climate change, the “emergent practice of climate security” must be sensitive to two contexts. First, local political and economic contexts shape how these processes of environmental change translate into human insecurity. Second, climate change is only one of several ecological processes that endanger human security on our planet.

To substantiate this point, my recent publication documents the pathways to human insecurity in the specific political and economic contexts of Vanuatu and Guam. Both Pacific islands are exposed to climate change impacts such as sea level rise and intensifying extreme weather. However, their country-specific political and economic contexts translate this exposure into different forms of human insecurity. This means that similar climate change impacts have different implications for both islands.

For example, the economic differences mean that climate change impacts affect food security differently. In Vanuatu, most people engage in subsistence agriculture. In this economic context, sea level rise and tropical storms can disrupt food supplies directly by destroying local crops, particularly in rural areas. At the same time, local food habits on the Melanesian archipelago are currently shifting towards a growing reliance on lower-quality imported foods and these trends seem to be amplified by the side effects of disaster relief.

In contrast, the prevailing colonial integration of Guam into the United States economy has enforced diets centred around imported, processed food long ago. Food insecurity, therefore, comes about differently and rather results from a precarious form of economic integration. According to a study, every second respondent experienced not having enough money to pay for food and dietary quality was found to be insufficient. In particular, shares of fruit and vegetables intake are dramatically low and the mortality resulting from non-communicable diseases among Pacific islanders is on a worldwide high. In this context, climate change is rather an aggravating factor: while there is almost no local food production to be disrupted by extreme weathers, super typhoon Mawar endangered food security due to internal displacements and food price hikes. In addition, the islands tourism economy is endangered by these storms and by the additional risks that ocean warming creates for the island’s coral reefs. This poses a substantial risk to local’s livelihoods.

The differences in political status between Guam and Vanuatu also affect how climate change translates into human insecurity on these islands. Since it achieved independence in 1980, Vanuatu is a sovereign nation. This enables the country to make its voice on climate change heard in international fora. But it also limits the places and modes through which its citizens can leave the archipelago. Migration is a possible climate adaptation strategy but most Vanuatu citizens’ options are limited to participation in labour mobility programs where they temporarily move to Australia or New Zealand and conduct low-paid unskilled labour. Such programs can generate knowledge transfer and support climate adaptation – but they have also been criticized for causing a ‘brain drain’ on Vanuatu and to expose labour migrants to problematic working conditions in their destination countries.

In contrast, Guam is not a sovereign nation but an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States. This provides its inhabitants with a United States citizenship and according privileges of international mobility. This political status eases mobility and created large diaspora populations within the United States mainland. However, the political dependency comes at a severe cost as Guam has no institutional voice on the stage of international climate policy and remains at the “margins and periphery of climate-change planning within the United States.”

The case of Guam also demonstrates that climate change is not the only environmental danger that human security has to grapple with. Its economic and political integration enabled the arrival of invasive species. These severely affect the island’s ecosystems. For example, the brown tree snake nearly exterminated local bird life and the coconut rhinoceros beetle harms local trees. These ecological damages affect the human security dimension of “place, self and belonging” as, for example, birds play an important role in the indigenous Chamoru culture. Environmental crime is an even more proximate result of the local economy and heavy militarization. Finally, some preliminary indications suggest “past and ongoing asbestos exposure” on Guam.

The findings of my interview-based study of human insecurity on Vanuatu and Guam allow for two takeaways. First, the study demonstrates how climate change impacts virtually every aspect of human security. For example, climate change is entangled with a wide range of issues such as food security, international labour mobility, political and economic contexts. Consequently, virtually every governmental department needs to consider the interactions between climate change and human security.

But, secondly, virtually every impact of climate change on human security is shaped by context. The comparison of Vanuatu and Guam has shown the importance of local political and economic contexts. Consequently, climate change adaptation policies need to address these structural contexts to become effective. From us non-local actors, the local intricacies of climate-related human insecurity inevitably demand a desire for open-minded understanding and a respectful cooperation with local actors such as those who seek to protect Vanuatu and Guam.

Related articles:

Keeping climate security human centric
Climate change, international migration and self-determination: Lessons from Tuvalu
Climate change’s intangible loss and damage: Exploring the journeys of Pacific youth migrants

Dr. Anselm Vogler is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University and an emerging International Relations and (Critical) Security Studies scholar with a specialization in Environmental Peace and Conflict Research. Previously he obtained a PhD from Hamburg University and has worked at the University of Melbourne and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His research on human security, climate security frames in NDC and national security strategies, and the climate-defense nexus has been published in the International Studies Review, Political Geography, the Journal of Global Security Studies, and Global Environmental Change.

This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished from the original with their permission.

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Children beg for food in Gusau, the capital of Zamfara, Nigeria. Credit: Promise Eze/IPS

By Promise Eze
ABUJA, Jan 29 2025 (IPS)

In June 2024, 26-year-old Zainab Abdul noticed her two-year-old daughter growing pale, losing weight, and battling diarrhea. She wasn’t surprised. Since jihadist-linked bandits had forced them out of their village in Kadadaba, Zamfara State, in northwestern Nigeria, her family had been living in a refugee camp with limited access to food.

Abdul’s fears were confirmed at a center run by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), where she was told her baby was suffering from acute malnutrition.

“I received ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF), and it helped her a lot. She felt relief as they gave her injections, medicine and milk. As you can see, she’s now recovering gradually, unlike before,” Abdul told IPS.

While Abdul’s baby survived malnutrition, many others are not as fortunate. Nigeria is grappling with a severe malnutrition crisis, particularly in the northern region, where poverty, food insecurity, inadequate healthcare, and soaring living costs are widespread. The country has one of the world’s highest rates of stunted growth among children, with 32 percent of those under five affected.

According to UNICEF, malnutrition impacts 2 million children in Nigeria, primarily in the north, and results in the deaths of approximately 2,400 children under five every day.

Shrouded in Violence

Experts say insecurity is a major cause of malnutrition in northern Nigeria. In the northwest, armed groups drive farmers off their land, shut down markets, and extort communities. This violence has forced over 2.2 million people to flee, with many now living in overcrowded camps with few resources.

Zainab Abdul and her two-year-old daughter at a refugee camp in Zamfara, northwest Nigeria. Credit: Promise Eze/IPS

In the northeast, ongoing conflicts disrupt farming and food production. Families returning to their land are afraid to farm far from military towns, leaving them at risk of hunger.

Food shortages are so bad that some families have to eat cassava peels to survive.

“We are suffering greatly. We barely have food to eat and have been unable to farm for over four years because bandits drove us from our communities. We don’t even have proper shelter. As I speak to you now, I haven’t eaten anything. We urgently need support from the government,” said Hannatu Ismail, a resident of a refugee camp in Zamfara.

Aminu Balarabe, a middle-aged doctor at a local clinic in Gusau, the capital of Zamfara, fears that if the problem is not addressed immediately, the outcome could be disastrous. Although the government has launched several military campaigns to eradicate the bandits and encourage people to return to their farms, Balarabe believes more needs to be done.

He lamented that the ongoing insecurity has already crippled healthcare services, making it difficult to diagnose and treat malnutrition effectively in the region.

“The solution is to tackle insecurity. People on the ground are mostly unprotected and left vulnerable. They are constantly in danger. If the government steps in, provides real support, and takes strong action to bring peace to these communities, things can change for the better. To fight this insecurity, the government must act urgently and decisively. It’s heartbreaking that some people cannot live in their towns or villages because of the insecurity. They are forced to live and sleep in camps,” Balarabe said.

Humanitarian Crisis

For years, organizations like the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), UNICEF, and MSF have raised alarms about the worsening malnutrition crisis, emphasizing the urgent need for more humanitarian aid. They have repeatedly called on Nigerian authorities, organizations, and donors to take immediate action to tackle the root causes of the crisis.

In 2024, MSF provided care to more than 294,000 malnourished children in northern Nigeria. The aid organization revealed that overcrowded conditions had left them treating patients on mattresses on the floor due to a lack of space.

By mid-2024, the ICRC reported a 48 percent increase in severe malnutrition cases with complications among children under five in health facilities it supports compared to the previous year.

Reduced funding has made it more difficult for organizations to care for malnourished children. The shortage of therapeutic food has persisted and worsened. Despite the rising cases of acute malnutrition worldwide, the UN’s humanitarian response plan still does not include Nigeria’s northwest region.

Oluwagbemisola Olukogbe, a nutritionist in Lagos, Nigeria, is concerned that malnutrition can severely impact children’s growth, human development, and economic progress, creating a cycle that holds society back.

“Chronic malnutrition and stunted growth in early childhood can lead to poor brain development, learning difficulties, and behavioral issues. This affects education, lowers productivity in adulthood, and increases the risk of the problem being passed to the next generation,” she told IPS.

Failed Solutions

In 2020, the Nigerian government introduced the National Multisectoral Plan of Action for Food and Nutrition, a 2021–2025 initiative aimed at tackling food security and malnutrition, with a focus on boosting food production through agricultural investment. However, Dr. Idris Olabode Badiru, a reader at the University of Ibadan, highlights that government investment in agriculture has been insufficient.

Although agriculture accounts for 24 percent of Nigeria’s GDP and employs more than 30 percent of the entire labour force, funding remains well below the 10 percent target set by the African Union in the 2003 Maputo Declaration.

Badiru says this underinvestment hampers productivity, fails to address the growing food demands of Nigeria’s rapidly increasing population and is unable to tackle food insecurity.

“Even if farmers in crisis areas can’t work their fields, nearby regions can still contribute to food production. These farmers should be supported to increase their output through measures like training programmes delivered by effective agricultural extension services. Unfortunately, many state extension agencies are not functioning well and need improvement to better assist farmers,” Badiru noted.

He added, “It’s also important to provide farmers with the necessary tools and financial support, although previous attempts have been hindered by fraud. To address this, better systems of accountability must be established. Moreover, agriculture shouldn’t be treated in isolation, as it depends on other sectors. Restoring essential infrastructure, such as roads, bridges, storage facilities, and electricity supply, is vital to improving agricultural productivity and addressing long-term challenges.”

The government’s efforts to distribute free grains to vulnerable populations, particularly in conflict-affected and economically struggling areas, have largely fallen short. These initiatives have been undermined by widespread corruption and diversion of resources, preventing aid from reaching those who need it most.

Bleak Future?

Save the Children International has revealed that an additional one million children in Nigeria will be suffering from acute malnutrition by April 2025 if no urgent action is taken.

UNICEF has urged the government to enhance nutrition programmes and reinforce primary healthcare, highlighting that an additional 200,000 children in the northwest will need therapeutic food in 2025.

For Abdul in the refugee camp in Zamfara, government aid is non-negotiable.

“We urgently need the government’s support with food. I can’t bear to think of how much these children have suffered from hunger. Most days, they eat only once in the morning and go without food until the next day or sometimes until late at night. Our children cry from hunger until they’re too exhausted to continue, and it breaks our hearts because we have nothing to give them,” she told IPS.

NOTE: This article is brought to you by IPS Noram in collaboration with INPS Japan and Soka Gakkai International in consultative status with ECOSOC.

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Credit: Berit Kessler/shutterstock.com

By Ramesh Thakur
Jan 14 2025 (IPS)

 
A regime built on terror, ruled by fear and sustained by foreign proxy forces crumbled in less than a fortnight. In the end, the foundations of the House of Assad (1970–2024) rested on the shifting sands of time. In the good ol’ days, despots could retire with their plundered loot into comfortable lifestyles in Europe’s pleasure haunts. No longer. The reverse damascene expulsion has seen the Assads scurry to safety to Moscow.

The beginning of the end of the Assad dynasty can be traced back to Hamas’s brutal attacks of 7 October 2023. Its objectives were to kill, rape, torture kidnap and subject to public humiliation on the streets of Gaza as many Israelis as possible.

Its political calculations sought to undermine Israelis’ confidence in their government’s ability to protect them; provoke retaliatory strikes on the densely populated Gaza strip that would kill large numbers of civilians held as involuntary human shields, and inflame the Arab street, enrage Muslims around the world and flood the streets of Western cities with massive crowds shouting pro-Palestinian/Hamas slogans; disrupt the process of normalisation of relations with Arab states; dismantle the Abraham Accords; and isolate Israel internationally.

It’s fair to say that Hamas has won the propaganda war. Israel has never before come under such sustained international censure in the UN Security Council, General Assembly, Human Rights Council, World Court and International Criminal Court. It’s also been heavily criticised in many previously supportive Western capitals, streets and campuses including Australia.

There are still some 100 hostages captive in Gaza. Israeli soldiers are still being killed and wounded. Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis retain residual capacity to launch rockets and drones into Israel.

Yet, Israel has achieved impressive military successes in fighting throughout Gaza followed by Lebanon. Hamas and Hezbollah have been decimated as fighting forces, with their military commanders and leaders decapitated with targeted assassinations and improvised explosive devices placed in pagers and walkie talkies. Iran has been humiliated, lost its aura of invincibility and seen the destruction of its entire strategy of trying to bleed Israel to death through a thousand cuts inflicted by proxies.

The military outcome thus is a complete reset of the local balance of power to Israel’s advantage. The reason for this is strategic miscalculations by Hamas. It launched the attacks of 10/7 unilaterally, hoping to draw fraternal groups into the war. Only Hezbollah half did so by firing rockets but without committing ground troops.

The second strategic miscalculation by Hamas was to underestimate Israel’s will and determination. This is Israel’s longest war. Israel stayed steadfast on destroying Hamas as a capable military force and governing power in Gaza; relegated the rescue of hostages to a highly desirable but subordinate goal; destroyed Hezbollah and ejected it from southern Lebanon; and checkmated Iran as the over-the-horizon military threat to Israel via its two powerful proxies in Gaza and Lebanon.

A further consequence was to remove the props holding up the Assad regime in Damascus and leave it exposed and vulnerable to overthrow by the well-armed and strongly motivated jihadist rebels. PM Benjamin Netanyahu is right to claim that Israel’s ‘blows inflicted on Iran and Hezbollah’ helped to topple Assad.

The new strategic balance sees the Israeli centre emerging much stronger amidst the ruins of the anti-Israel axis of resistance. The underlying reason for this is precisely the scale, surprise factor and depraved brutality of October 7. This broke beyond repair the endless loop of Hamas and Israeli policies of attack, retaliate, rinse and repeat when desired. Only a new balance of power could restore deterrence-based truce resting on certain Israeli retaliation and Israeli dominance at every level of escalation.

International calls for immediate and unconditional ceasefire and urgings not to go into Rafah proved counterproductive, I believe, for two reasons. For one, given the monstrous scale of 10/7, to Israelis they separated true from fair-weather friends. For another, Western youth and countries, under the impact of changing electoral demographics with mass influxes of radicalised Middle Eastern Muslims, were deserting Israel and softening on fighting antisemitism in their own populations. This drove home the realisation that time was against Israel. Hamas and Hezbollah had to be removed as security threats now or never.

However, post-Assad Syria is highly combustible. Syria is not a nation-state but a tattered patchwork quilt of different sects with a blood-soaked history of feuding. The rebels are diverse in tribe, race and religion and backed by different foreign actors with their own agendas. The chances are that après victory will come the deluge of warring factions and Syria descends once more into killing fields.

The dominant rebel group is Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), whose roots go back to al Qaeda and the Islamic State. Its leader is Abu Mohammed al-Jolani who has had a US $10 million FBI bounty on his head since 2017 as a terrorist. The HTS’s base is the 75 percent Sunni population, with the remaining one-fourth split between Shiites, Kurds, Christians, Druze, Ismailis, Armenians and Alawites.

Israelis cannot assume that Syrians are immune to the Jew hatred that animates many Muslims in the region. Guided by its own precautionary principle, Israel has pre-emptively destroyed much of Syria’s weaponry, chemical weapons infrastructure and arms-production facilities and taken control of the demilitarised buffer zone in the Golan Heights.

The experiences of Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya after their humanitarian liberations into freedom and democracy in the 2001–11 decade should give Panglossian optimists on a ‘new Syria’ a reality check.

Ramesh Thakur, a former UN assistant secretary-general, is emeritus professor at the Australian National University and Fellow of the Australian Institute of International Affairs. He is a former Senior Research Fellow at the Toda Peace Institute and editor of The nuclear ban treaty: a transformational reframing of the global nuclear order.

This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished from the original with their permission.

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Young Jordanians undertake soft skills training organized by local youth development organization, LOYAC Jordan. Credit: LOYAC Jordan

By Catherine Wilson
SKOPJE, North Macedonia , Dec 24 2024 (IPS)

It’s a bright winter day in Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia in the southern Balkans. By lunchtime, the cafes are full. The atmosphere is busy and social, and it is not difficult to see why the city, home to one-third of the country’s population of 2 million, is the focus of hope for young jobseekers. But, for many, it is not an easy road.

“It’s very tough to get employment. Young people here are waiting up to 18 months to find their first job,” 28-year-old Aleksandra Filipova told IPS. “But I am hopeful for the future,” she added. Filipova understands the challenges her generation faces and is determined to make hope a reality through her work with the National Youth Council of Macedonia, where she is Program Manager.

Last year, the global youth unemployment rate of 13 percent marked a significant decline in 15 years, reports the International Labour Organization (ILO). But the situation varies widely across regions. Large youth populations, uneven post-COVID-19 economic recovery, the Ukraine war and energy crisis, structural labour market issues, and socio-cultural expectations have contributed to above-average unemployment rates in parts of the Balkans, Middle East, and North Africa (MENA).

Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia, is home to one quarter of the country’s population and a focus for young jobseekers. Credit: Catherine Wilson/IPS

The Republic of North Macedonia is a landlocked nation located south of Serbia and north of Greece. It gained independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991 and is planning accession to the European Union (EU). Economic growth has been slow in recent years. But a major obstacle in securing a job, even for the highly educated, is a mismatch between educational qualifications and skills required by employers. It’s a key factor in the youth unemployment rate of 28 percent, more than double the national rate of 13 percent.

“Our education system is based on theoretical knowledge and not on technical and vocational skills. Employers want to employ young people, but they need them to have other skills,” Filipova said. For the private sector, especially small and medium-sized businesses, “soft skills are missing, even just how to write an email or how to talk to people in a business environment. Entrepreneurial skills are needed. There is also a lack of people who speak foreign languages for global businesses,” she pointed out.

The National Youth Council of Macedonia has rolled out a paid internship program, in association with the government’s Youth Guarantee policy, which is generating employment success for the country’s youth. Credit: National Youth Council of Macedonia

The transition from education to work can be a disappointing experience for new jobseekers. And many, up to 45 percent of those employed, are turning to jobs unrelated to their education or informal work, such as market selling and seasonal hospitality work. Young women who face traditional social expectations are also highly represented in informal employment.

Long-term joblessness is a real risk. Last year, more than 73 percent of all unemployed people in the country had been out of work for more than a year, while one in five young people were not in employment or education, reports the ILO.

But, in 2018, the North Macedonian Government launched the Youth Guarantee policy—a pledge to respond to youth challenges. Four years later, aligned with the policy, the youth council launched a paid internship program, now hailed a major success. Today, 2,000 employers participate in offering two-month work placements.

“It works well for them [the employers] because they say that, after two months, they have long-term employees. During the internship, youths have learned the skills needed by the business,” Filipova said. “So they are investing in the long-term future of their business.” And 70 percent of young people who have taken a paid internship are now employed.

North Macedonia was the first Balkan country to implement the Youth Guarantee and demonstrate its success.

“About 60,000 young people have taken part in the Youth Guarantee program in North Macedonia so far. I’d like to point out that since 2019, statistics related to the labour market show significant and major improvement in relation to young people. The youth employment rate has increased by 3.5 percentage points compared to 2018,” North Macedonia’s Minister for Labour and Social Policy, Jagoda Shahpaska, told the media in 2021.

Youth employment is a significant focus of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals, and other internationally agreed frameworks emphasize the importance of youth development and engagement, and youth are seen as key to achieving the SDGS. 

One of the challenges youth face in the transition from education to employment is a skills mismatch with what recruiters require. Credit: LOYAC Jordan

Across the Mediterranean in the Levant region, youth face a similar plight in Jordan, where 63 percent of the population of 11 million people are aged under 30 years. The Hashemite Kingdom, which has managed economic stability while hosting more than 3 million refugees fleeing from conflicts in neighbouring Syria and the occupied Palestinian Territories, has a youth unemployment rate of 40 percent. It’s a common challenge across the MENA region, where one in three young people are unemployed and where 33 million new jobs will need to emerge by 2030 to meet the demands of working-age populations, forecasts the United Nations.

Every year, 100,000 young Jordanians, many highly educated, strive to enter the workforce. Economic growth is not generating enough jobs, and even the large public sector is unable to absorb increasing jobseekers.

“Jordan is one of the few Arab countries outside of the Gulf that has continued to provide fairly large numbers of public sector jobs to new jobseekers as part of its social pact, but this is fiscally very costly and distorts labour market incentives,” Dr. Steffen Hertog, Associate Professor in Comparative Politics at the London School of Economics and Political Science, told IPS.

Amman, Jordan’s capital, a sprawling city on the edge of the Jordan Valley, is the administrative and commercial heartbeat of the country. Here, Ali Haddad, Executive Director of the Jordan Youth Innovation Forum, a national youth development organization, told IPS that many youths have “a strong preference for public sector jobs, as they are seen as more stable,” but growing the private sector was vital.

“Expanding businesses can absorb the increasing numbers of young jobseekers; private industries encourage skills development and innovation; and a robust private sector contributes to GDP growth, benefiting the economy and opening more opportunities for youth,” he said.

However, ensuring people can access opportunities is also essential. Ahmad Asfour, General Manager of LOYAC Jordan, a local social enterprise focused on youth skills development, said there were also rural-urban disparities in the country. “Employment opportunities are concentrated in urban areas, making it difficult for rural youth to access jobs,” while “women often face extra challenges such as societal norms, lack of childcare, and unequal pay.”

The skills mismatch with labour market expectations is a major hurdle too. Youths need communication, teamwork, and problem-solving skills, and an entrepreneurial mindset with critical thinking, innovation, digital, and business skills, Asfour said. LOYAC has also found success in bridging the gap with a national internship program. “We annually train 1,200 students and match 850 with internships on a national level, providing many with the skills, confidence, and connections necessary to secure employment,” Asfour said.

Empowering the younger generation is part of the Jordan Government’s 10-year development and modernization strategy, announced in 2021. It is committed “to provide a stimulating environment that enables young people to unleash their creative energies and contribute effectively to economic and social development,” Eng. Yazan Al-Shdeifat, Jordan’s Minister for Youth, said in a statement on 24 November.

And there have been entrepreneurial successes, Haddad emphasised, such as Arab Therapy, an online service that offers expert mental health support by Arab-speaking professionals to people worldwide. And Mawdoo3, founded by young Jordanian entrepreneurs, Mohammad Jaber and Rami Al Qawasmi, is now the world’s largest Arabic content platform and, in 2021, was listed by Forbes as one of the most visited websites in the Middle East.

Beyond the unemployment statistics, there are increasing numbers of youth finding employment success through dedicated initiatives in both regions. There is still a long way to go. But growing the successes is crucial for the generation that will determine future sustainable economic and national development in their countries and beyond.

Note: This article is brought to you by IPS Noram in collaboration with INPS Japan and Soka Gakkai International in consultative status with ECOSOC.

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Credit: Masson/shutterstock.com

By Herbert Wulf
DUISBURG, Germany, Dec 19 2024 (IPS)

Donald Trump, president-elect of the USA, wants to end the Ukraine war within a day, as he has emphasized several times, but without saying how. Despite the brutal clashes on the ground in Ukraine, do negotiations now have a chance? Are we near to a “ripe moment” for negotiations?

The war continues unabated. There is no end in sight. Can we hope that Donald Trump will find a personal connection to Vladimir Putin to end this war? The phone call on 15 November between German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Putin – the first telephone contact in two years – was sobering because Putin only reaffirmed his already known positions: He is ready for negotiations, but only on his terms. In other words, recognition of the “new territorial realities” and “consideration of Russian security interests”. In concrete terms, this would mean the handover of the four regions in eastern Ukraine, parts of which are occupied by Russia, and Crimea. Scholz called for negotiations with the aim of a “just and lasting peace”, which is primarily aimed at the withdrawal of Russian troops.

The Russian attack and Ukrainian defence have turned into a war of exhaustion, with current military advantages for Russia. The Russian strategy can be described as an escalation with the hope of a military victory. So far, Ukraine and its supporters have reacted with intense resistance. Western support has escalated with the delivery of more effective weapons and belief that victory is still possible. But increasingly a certain fatigue can be felt among them and Trump has made it clear that the massive support will no longer come from the USA.

What is the consequence for the Ukraine war, and what is the alternative to this battle with more and more deaths? Negotiations now? Is there a chance for peace without military victory? But neither side is ready yet for serious negotiations. Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky was not happy about Scholz’s initiative and spoke of a policy of appeasement, also because the call counteracts Putin’s international isolation.

The American political scientist William Zartman speaks of the necessary “ripeness” of a conflict as a prerequisite for the success of negotiations. The concept of “ripe moments” centres, according to Zartman, on the adversaries’ perceptions of “hurting stalemates”. The willingness to negotiate increases when both sides realize that a military victory is not possible and that the military potential, i.e. soldiers and weapons, is no longer sufficient. The depressing conclusion is that today, even after almost 1,000 days of war, this situation does not exist in Russia or Ukraine. But the increasing logistical bottlenecks on both sides, the irreplaceable, irrecoverable and permanent losses are perhaps an indication that the conflict is in a process of maturing for negotiations. Even Russia, with its present territorial advances, seems not able to replace its casualties. The arrival of about 10,000 North Korean troops in Russia raises the question of whether the Kremlin can make up for its enormous losses.

Different scenarios

Four scenarios are conceivable, all of which are far from an ideal solution.

First, it is not inconceivable that the war, which has now lasted almost three years, with all its destruction and loss of life, will continue for another few years without an end in sight.

Second, Donald Trump could actually strike a deal with Vladimir Putin, presumably at the expense of Ukraine. Trump believes in deals. Russia would receive the parts of Ukraine it occupies, a demilitarized zone would be established along this border within Ukraine, Ukraine would receive security guarantees (from NATO, the United Nations, or a grouping of neutral states), and a peace treaty would be postponed until later. And “later” could mean decades without a peace treaty.

Third, one side could win militarily. Unlikely, but not completely out of the question. The Kremlin firmly believes in this possibility and is assured by its territorial gains in recent weeks. At the same time, the Russian leadership underestimated Ukraine’s will to resist at the beginning of the full invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and then had to significantly limit its war goals, the overthrow of the government in Kyiv and the integration of Ukraine into the Russian Federation.

The fourth scenario, a ceasefire and a frozen conflict. There are a number of conflicts that are in this state of having no real solution. In recent years, the situation in Korea has been referred to several times in order to consider a similar solution to the Ukraine war. This scenario is perhaps the most likely.

Ceasefire and a frozen conflict: The Korean solution

Of course, every conflict is different, and the respective conditions also differ. Nevertheless, there might be both conflict patterns and patterns of conflict resolution that could provide clues to Ukraine’s future. Sergey Radchenko, a historian at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in the US, pointed out parallels to the Korean War in an op-ed in the New York Times after a year of the Ukraine war. More than 70 years ago, in July 1953, an armistice agreement and the establishment of a demilitarized zone led to the freezing of this war and the division of Korea into two separate states.

Recently, Joseph S. Nye, one of the most influential political scientists in the USA, pointed to a “Korean solution” in an article entitled “What Would Victory in Ukraine Look Like?”. He writes: “If Ukraine defines victory as the return of all land that Russia has occupied since 2014, victory is not in sight. But if it aims to maintain its independence as a prosperous democracy linked to Europe, while reserving its right to the ultimate return of its territory, victory remains possible.” The Korean War also swayed back and forth from 1950 to 1953. Like what is happening now in Ukraine, neither the north nor the south, nor their respective supporters, were prepared to end the war quickly because of hopes of a military victory. The Korean armistice agreement of July 1953 stipulated the status quo ante with the division of the country at the 38th parallel. Korea is still a divided country, and the conflict is a frozen one. A peace treaty was never concluded and the so-called demilitarized zone along the border between the two states is one of the most militarized borders in the world. A permanent ceasefire was reached without a peace agreement.

Proponents of a “Korean solution” point out that the destruction and loss of life has ended, and that South Korea has now become a resilient democracy and emerging economic power. Democratic development and integration in Western Europe could then follow in the same way in Ukraine.

Critics of such a solution describe the Korean ceasefire as a “non-solution”. The Swiss historian Roland Popp, who researches at the Military Academy of the University ETH Zurich, writes that this Korean solution “also covers four decades of one of the most brutal dictatorships in the world, massacres of tens of thousands of civilians … or the assassination of the president by the director of the South Korean CIA in 1979.” And he points to the immense costs and uncertainties for Western Europe.

In 1953, a Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission was set up in Korea. In the more than seven decades of the existence of the armistice agreement there have been numerous military skirmishes on the border. North Korea’s nuclear weapons program is a threat, just as the North calls the South Korean military with its ally the United States a threat. Precisely for this reason, is it remarkable that this agreement has prevented a new war with heavy losses for more than seven decades. The consequences of a Korean solution for the situation in Europe would probably also mean, as in the case of the Korean peninsula, arms races as during the early days of the Cold War

Neutral states could also play an important role in ending the Ukraine war: for example, India, South Africa, Brazil or Switzerland. If neither side makes significant gains in Ukraine, a ceasefire would not be impossible. Presumably, the Ukrainians would not regain all the territories occupied by Russia. Russia could interpret the abandonment of its actual goal as a partial victory in order to save face. The conflict would be frozen. Not a nice result, but still the end of the war. A frozen conflict is better than a hot war. But the history of frozen wars shows that they can turn into hot wars again at any time. In the case of Ukraine, the imposition of an unfair solution could possibly result in Ukrainian partisan resistance.

A possible fifth scenario, a peace agreement that is binding under international law, with an agreement between Russia and Ukraine, currently seems to be completely out of the question.

Related articles by this author:
– Agonizing over Europe’s Defence: Some Narratives are Getting Ahead of the Facts
– Boots on the ground
– Ten Take-Aways on Russia’s War and Five Ideas for the Future of Ukraine and Beyond

Herbert Wulf is a Professor of International Relations and former Director of the Bonn International Center for Conflict Studies (BICC). He is presently a Senior Fellow at BICC, an Adjunct Senior Researcher at the Institute for Development and Peace, University of Duisburg/Essen, Germany, and a Research Affiliate at the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Otago, New Zealand. He serves on the Scientific Council of SIPRI.

This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished from the original with their permission.

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Experts from diverse fields seek answers to the question of what really makes people safe at an event organized by Soka Gakkai International and partners. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

By Joyce Chimbi
BAKU, Nov 18 2024 (IPS)

At a time when the COP29 summit is primarily focused on climate finance as a tool to cool catastrophically high global temperatures and reverse consequences for all life on earth, delegates—alarmed and concerned by the state of world peace and stability—are seeking ways to enhance safety.Delegates at a side event organized by Soka Gakkai International (SGI) and SGI-UK, British Quakers, Quaker Earthcare Witness, and Friends World Committee for Consultation (Quakers), Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), explored key questions on what climate action approaches contribute to a safer world for people and planet or risk a more unsafe world.

“We are negotiating in this COP for increased finance, yet everyone in this room who is a major fossil fuel extraction country, except Colombia, is increasing their oil and gas extraction. And outside, war is spreading, and finance for the military is at levels higher than at any time since the Cold War. We bring experts from various walks of life into discussions on what really makes us safe,” said event moderator Lindsey Fielder Cook from the Quaker United Nations Office. 

There were experts on techno-fixed reliance and risks to techno-fixed reliance, military spending, peace activists, climate finance in fragile states, and also others who spoke about their lives, faith, and working with youth. They talked about peace, climate finance, and climate action in an existential time and how human activities are also driving existential rates of species extinction and chemical pollution as we know.

Andrew Okem from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and an expert in science adaptation, vulnerability, and impacts observed, “Science has given us a range of actions that we as a society can implement and can contribute towards making our society better and safer for all of us, such as building climate-resilient agri-food systems. This includes diversifying climate-smart coping and climate-smart practices. Rapid decarbonization is critical, hence the need to phase out fossil fuels and a shift to renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, and hydropower.”

Tackling issues of peace and climate finance amid climate and conflict-driven existential threats. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

Okem spoke about the need for nature-based solutions, integrated water management, sustainable cities, and inclusive governance and decision-making. Emphasizing that any further delay “in concerted, anticipated global action on adaptation and mitigation will miss this great and rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a developed and sustainable future for all.”

Lucy Plummer, member of the international grassroots lay Buddhist organization Soka Gakkai International, which actively engages in society in the areas of peace, culture, and education, said she wanted to “amplify the COP16 message. We need to make peace with nature. I have closely followed discussions, including the round table on the global framework on children, youth, peace, and climate security.”

Saying that it was encouraging that the interconnection of climate and peace is being recognized and that there was great support for this initiative from states and other key stakeholders. But Plummer also felt that the most key issue was not mentioned at all—”our ongoing war with nature. It is a war because there is so much violence in the way that we relate to nature. We urgently need to disarm our ways of thinking about nature.”

“In yesterday’s peace talks and in all of the talks happening all around the COP29, this vital piece of the puzzle is missing. Humans’ separation from nature is the root of the climate crisis, and unless we rectify this and make peace with nature, we simply will not have the wisdom needed to resolve this crisis and prevent so much suffering. The Indigenous peoples know it and have been coming to these COPs every year trying to get us to understand this. Their messages have not changed. They get it, but for some reason we are not ready to hear it or we do not want to hear it.”

Dr. Duncan McLaren, a research fellow from the UCLA School of Law and an expert in technofixes and ethical mitigation options, spoke about his research that explores the justice and political implications of global technologies, including carbon removal. His recent work explores the geopolitics of geoengineering and the governance of carbon removal techniques in the context of net zero policy goals.

“Climate insecurity is all around us. We’ve seen floods, wildfires, droughts, and storms. Clearly, emissions cuts alone can no longer avert dangerous climate change. It is wishful thinking that we can avoid reaching 1.5 degrees Celsius with just more emissions at 8,000. So that is why I have been looking at other technologies and how they might work. Carbon removal can contribute to climate repair, the repair of humanity’s relationship with the earth,” McLaren emphasized.

“Carbon removal techniques can help us counterbalance recalcitrant emissions to achieve net zero. And more importantly, deal with the unfairly generated legacy of excess emissions. But as Professor Corrie and I show in our briefing paper for the Quaker UN Office, they will only make us safer if we keep the tasks they ask us to do small. Emissions need to be cut by 95 percent.”

Harriet Mackaill-Hill from International Alert spoke about climate, conflict, and finance and the need to define the COP29 New Collective Quantified Goal through these lenses.  She said the linkages between “climate and conflict are well established. While climate is never the sole cause of conflict, it is very much a stressor. Climate will exacerbate various stressors for conflict. These can be human security, food security, or competition over natural resources, which will in turn very much create and worsen conflict. How can people adapt to the impacts of climate change when in extreme vulnerability, sometimes conflict, when livelihoods or lives are at stake?”

Deborah Burton, co-founder of Tipping Point North South, spoke about the intersection between military spending and climate finance. Giving a perspective on what makes people unsafe in terms of military spending and military missions, she said there is a need to understand “the scale of global military missions in peacetime and war and the associated scale of military spending that enables those missions.”

“They combine to achieve one thing and one thing only: the undermining of human safety in this climate emergency. So, the estimated global military carbon footprint, and it is an estimate because it’s not fully reported by any stretch of the imagination, is estimated to be at 5.5 percent of total global emissions. This is more than the combined annual emissions of the 54 nations of the African continent. It is twice as much as emissions of civilian aviation, and that estimate does not include conflict-related emissions.”

Shirine Jurdi spoke of her lived experience from Lebanon linking to climate finance. She said, “There is no climate justice during war, and there is no ecological justice during war. With every bomb that drops, the land, the sea, and the people suffer irreparable harm.”

Stressing that “safety is not only about survival and its destruction. It is about thriving in peace under skies that are blue, not filled with smoke or phosphorus bombs. To create a safer world, let’s stop colonization and redirect resources from destruction to building sustainable, productive communities. Let us invest in ecological peacebuilding and restore the lands and the ecosystems damaged by conflict.”

Note: This article is brought to you by IPS Noram in collaboration with INPS Japan and Soka Gakkai International in consultative status with ECOSOC.

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Turkana women recover with white bandages over their eyes after undergoing surgery to treat trachoma, the world's leading cause of blindness. Efforts like these are crucial in preventing the spread of this debilitating disease in vulnerable communities. Credit: Robert Kibet/IPS

By Robert Kibet
ELANKATA ENTERIT, Kenya, Nov 13 2024 (IPS)

Draped in the vibrant red of his Maasai shuka, 52-year-old Rumosiroi Ole Mpoke sits cross-legged on a worn cowhide mat outside his hut, his face etched with a sorrow deeper than the lines of age. His once-sharp eyes, now clouded by trachoma, can barely make out the shadows of the cattle he once tended with pride.

“I should have done something when I still could see,” he says quietly, his voice thick with regret. “Now, I am useless with my livestock, and my children must guide me around our land. I can no longer provide for them as a father should.”

In Elankata Enterit, Narok County, a remote village tucked 93 miles northwest of Nairobi, Rumosiroi has been stripped not only of his sight but of his role as a provider, now trapped in a cycle of poverty and dependence that gnaws at his spirit.

The Maasai, known for their resilience and deep bond with the land, are among Kenya’s pastoralist communities, particularly vulnerable to trachoma. The dusty, arid environment they inhabit fosters this infectious disease, which tightens its grip on communities already cut off from adequate healthcare services. The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Sightsavers, and Kenya’s Ministry of Health are working to tackle the disease, but for communities like Rumosiroi’s, the struggle is unrelenting.

Pascal, a Community Drug Distributor (CDD), hands azithromycin tablets to a woman identified as Abedi during a Mass Drug Administration (MDA) in Kajaido, near the Kenyan-Tanzania border. Credit: Sightsavers/Samuel Otieno

In Kenya’s harsh, sun-baked lands of Kenya’s Rift Valley and the north, where water sources are scarce and sanitation is poor, trachoma—a neglected tropical disease caused by Chlamydia trachomatis—leads to chronic suffering and blindness, affecting pastoralist communities who rely on livestock for survival. Addressing trachoma is essential to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, specifically SDG 3, which aims to provide universal health coverage, including access to quality healthcare and affordable medicines.

Elsewhere, at Chemolingot Hospital in East Pokot, Baringo County, a group of elderly women sits in the courtyard, not for medical care but to collect relief food distributed by the county government. Six frail figures lean heavily on walking sticks, guided by young boys to the right spot. Each woman is blind, their sight stolen by trachoma. With red, swollen eyes, they rub incessantly, trying to ease the relentless pain that marks their faces with lines of resignation and fatigue.

“They’ve given me so much eye ointment,” mutters Kakaria Malimtich, her voice tired and defeated. “I don’t even care about treatment anymore—now, it’s just about getting food.”

Malimtich, like many here, has lost her battle with trachoma, which afflicts 1.9 million people globally, primarily in poor regions. In the arid lands of Baringo, people battle blindness along with hunger, poverty, and a lack of basic resources.

Julius, a Community Drug Distributor (CDD), educates two women about trachoma and encourages them to take the treatment during a Mass Drug Administration (MDA) in Kajaido, near the Kenyan-Tanzania border. Credit:Sightsavers/Samuel Otieno

Cheposukut Lokdap, a 68-year-old resident of Chemolingot, sits nearby, rubbing her eyes to relieve the sharp stinging pain. “It feels like something is cutting into me,” she whispers, half to herself, half to anyone who’ll listen. Two years ago, her remaining vision faded, plunging her into “the dark world.” She remembers that day vividly—the eye she’d relied on to see the sun and shadows finally failed.

Trachoma is prevalent across Kenya, particularly in pastoralist regions like Turkana, Marsabit, Narok, and Wajir. According to WHO, it’s the leading infectious cause of blindness worldwide, yet it remains underfunded and largely overlooked. The disease thrives in communities with limited access to clean water and healthcare—conditions common among pastoralists.

According to April 2024 data from the World Health Organization, approximately 103 million people live in areas endemic to trachoma and are at risk of blindness from the disease.

“Here in Marsabit, clean water is a luxury, not a right,” says 40-year-old Naitore Lekan, whose husband is a cattle herder. “Our children suffer from eye infections all the time, and there’s no proper clinic to take them to. Sometimes we use herbs or hope it heals on its own, but it often doesn’t.” Naitore’s experience highlights broader issues in pastoralist communities, where traditional beliefs and lack of awareness hinder effective treatment and prevention.

She recounts her family’s struggle with trachoma. “My daughter, Aisha, started losing her sight last year. We thought it was just a simple eye infection, but at the clinic, they told us it was trachoma. They gave her antibiotics, but we couldn’t return for follow-up because the clinic is too far and we can’t afford transport.” For families like Naitore’s, the distance to healthcare centers and financial constraints make trachoma treatment challenging.

In Marsabit, community health worker Hassan Diba is determined to fight trachoma. “Awareness is key,” he says. “I travel to different homesteads, teaching families about trachoma, its causes, and prevention. But I can only reach so many people. We need more resources and support to tackle this issue on a larger scale.”

Trachoma’s impact goes beyond health; it disrupts pastoralist families’ economic stability. “When someone in the family is sick, everything stops,” says Rumosiroi. “I can’t go to graze the animals, and if our livestock aren’t healthy, we can’t sell them. Then we can’t buy food or pay school fees.” According to WHO, the economic burden of trachoma deepens poverty, as families divert resources to medical expenses.

Kenya’s health system faces major challenges, particularly in remote pastoralist areas. The government’s commitment to universal health coverage is commendable, yet implementation lags in regions where access to health services is hindered by geography and infrastructure.

Pascal, a Community Drug Distributor (CDD), measures 3-year-old Praygod’s height to determine the correct dose of azithromycin syrup during a Mass Drug Administration (MDA) in Kajaido, near the Kenyan-Tanzania border. Credit: Sightsavers/Samuel Otieno

“Most health facilities here are understaffed and under-resourced,” says Dr. Wanjiru Kuria, a public health official in Marsabit. “We need to prioritize funding for preventive measures like clean water and sanitation and train health workers to manage trachoma cases. Without these basics, the fight against trachoma won’t succeed.”

Moses Chege, Director of Sightsavers Kenya, explains that “trachoma disproportionately affects the poorest communities, and eliminating it has profound benefits for individuals and their broader communities.” He adds, “Kenya has made significant strides in the fight against trachoma, which is transforming lives—allowing more children to attend school and more adults to work and support their families.”

“The challenge to eliminate trachoma in Kenya is immense—over 1.1 million people remain at risk,” he told IPS. “Keeping hands and faces clean is essential to prevent the spread, but it’s difficult to maintain good hygiene when communities lack access to clean water. For nomadic groups like the Maasai, reaching them with consistent health services is challenging. There’s also a cultural aspect—some Maasai see the presence of houseflies as a sign of wealth and prosperous livestock. However, these flies carry the bacteria that cause trachoma.”

According to Moses Chege, Kenya has the potential to eliminate trachoma through strategic, evidence-based investments and urgent action, joining the ranks of 21 other countries that have already eradicated the disease. Since 2010, Sightsavers Kenya has been a strong partner to the Ministry of Health, distributing over 13 million trachoma treatments, including 1.6 million treatments in 2022 alone to protect Kenyans from the disease.

The recent launch of Kenya’s Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) master plan by the Ministry of Health is also expected to accelerate efforts in preventing, eradicating, eliminating, and controlling trachoma and other NTDs across the country.

Organizations like Sightsavers and the Ministry of Health have implemented programs to combat trachoma through mass drug administration and education campaigns. These efforts aim not only to treat the infected but also to promote hygiene practices to prevent the disease’s spread. “We’re seeing positive changes,” says Wanjiru. “When communities understand hygiene’s importance and have treatment access, they can break the cycle of trachoma. But it requires commitment from everyone.”

In 2022, Malawi became the first country in Southern Africa to eliminate trachoma, while Vanuatu achieved this milestone as the first Pacific Island nation.

As the world moves closer to the 2030 SDG deadline, addressing trachoma in pastoralist communities is essential for fulfilling the promise of health for all. It demands a multi-faceted approach combining community education, infrastructure development, and equitable healthcare access. For pastoralists like Naitore, Rumosiroi, and Malimtich, these interventions are not just a promise of restored health but a lifeline to a better future.

Note: This article is brought to you by IPS Noram in collaboration with INPS Japan and Soka Gakkai International in consultative status with ECOSOC.

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The panel for the session on “Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Imagining a World without Nuclear Weapons.” Credit: AD McKenzie/IPS

By AD McKenzie
PARIS, Sep 27 2024 (IPS)

In any discussion of world peace and the future of humanity, the issue of nuclear arms must be addressed, and now.

That was the message from a range of delegates at the “Imaginer la Paix / Imagine Peace” conference, held in Paris September 22 to 24, and organized by the Sant’Egidio Community, a Christian organization founded in Rome in 1968 and now based in 70 countries.

Describing its tenets as “Prayer, service to the Poor and work for Peace,” the community has hosted 38 international, multi-faith peace meetings, bringing together activists from around the world. This is the first time the conference has been held in Paris, with hundreds traveling to France, itself a nuclear-weapon state.

Occurring against the backdrop of brutal, on-going conflicts in different regions and a new race by some countries to “upgrade” their arsenal, the gathering had a sense of urgency, with growing fears that nuclear weapons might be used by warlords. Participants highlighted current and past atrocities and called upon world leaders to learn from the past.

“After Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we have been blessed with many who have said ‘no’—’no’ a million times, creating movements and treaties, (and) awareness… that the only reasonable insight to learn from the conception and use of nuclear weapons is to say ‘no’,” said Andrea Bartoli, president of the Sant’Egidio Foundation for Peace and Dialogue, based in New York.

Participating in a conference forum Monday titled “Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Imagining a World Without Nuclear Weapons,”  Bartoli and other speakers drew stark pictures of what living in a world with nuclear weapons entails, and they highlighted developments since World War II.

“After the two bombs were used against Hiroshima and Nagasaki, humans built more than 70,000 nuclear weapons and performed more than 2,000 tests. Still today we have more than 12,500, each of them with power greatly superior to the two used in August 1945,” Bartoli said.

Despite awareness of the catastrophic potential of these weapons and despite a UN treaty prohibiting their use, some governments argue that possessing nuclear arms is a deterrent—an argument that is deceptive, according to the forum speakers.

Anna Ikeda, program coordinator for disarmament at the UN Office of Soka Gakkai International. Credit: AD McKenzie/IPS

Jean-Marie Collin, director of ICAN (the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, a movement launched in the early 2000s in Australia and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017), said that leaders who cite deterrence “accept the possibility of violating” international human rights.

“Nuclear weapons are designed to destroy cities and kill and maim entire populations, which means that all presidents and heads of government who implement a defense policy based on nuclear deterrence and who are therefore responsible for giving this order, are aware of this,” Collin told the forum.

ICAN campaigned for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons that was adopted at the United Nations in 2017, entering into force in 2021. The adoption came nearly five decades after the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), which entered into force in 1970.

The terms of the NPT consider five countries to be nuclear weapons states: the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, and China. Four other countries also possess nuclear weapons: India, Pakistan, North Korea, and Israel.

According to a 2024 ICAN report, these nine states jointly spent €85 billion (USD 94,6 billion) on their atomic weapon arsenals last year, an expenditure ICAN has called “obscene” and “unacceptable.” France, whose president Emmanuel Macron spoke about peace in broad, general terms at the opening of the conference, spent around €5,3 billion (about USD 5,9 billion) in 2023 on its nuclear weapons, said the report.

The policy of “deterrence” and “reciprocity,”  which essentially means “we’ll get rid of our weapons if you get rid of yours,”  has been slammed by ICAN and fellow disarmament activists.

“With the constant flow of information, we often tend to lose sight of the reality of figures,” Collin said at the peace conference. “I hope this one will hold your attention: it is estimated that more than 38,000 children were killed in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Children!”

All those killed—an estimated 210,000 people by the end of 1945—died in horrific ways, as survivors and others have testified. Delegates said that this knowledge should be the real “deterrent.”

At the forum, Anna Ikeda, program coordinator for disarmament at the UN Office of Soka Gakkai International, a global Buddhist movement, described testimony from a Hiroshima a-bomb survivor, Reiko Yamada, as one she would never forget.

“She (Yamada) stated, ‘A good friend of mine in the neighbourhood was waiting for her mother to return home with her four brothers and sisters. Later, she told me that on the second day after the bombing, a moving black lump crawled into the house. They first thought it was a black dog, but they soon realized it was their mother; she collapsed and died when she finally got to her children. They cremated her body in the yard,” Ikeda told the audience with emotion.

“Who deserves to die such a death? Nobody!” she continued. “Yet our world continues to spend billions of dollars to upkeep our nuclear arsenals, and our leaders at times imply readiness to use them. It is utterly unacceptable.”

Ikeda said that survivors, known as the “hibakusha” in Japan, have a fundamental answer to why nuclear weapons must be abolished—it is that “no one else should ever suffer what we did.”

Note: This article is brought to you by IPS Noram in collaboration with INPS Japan and Soka Gakkai International in consultative status with ECOSOC.

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Dr. Tshilidzi Marwala, USG and Rector of the United Nations University, and Ms. Kaoru Nemeto, Director of the United Nations Information Centre during a discussion ‘Building the Future: Synergetic Collaboration on Nuclear and Climate Crises.’ Credit: Naureen Hossain/IPS

By Naureen Hossain
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 23 2024 (IPS)

Driving the Summit of the Future’s core messages of international solidarity and decisive action are young people who are determined to address the intersecting issues that the world contends with today.

During the Summit’s Action Days (20-21 September), it was young people who led the conversations of increasing and defining meaningful engagement, both on- and off-site from the United Nations Headquarters.

Not only are they driving the conversation, but in the Pact for the Future adopted by world leaders at the United Nations on Sunday (September 22), youth and future generations are at the forefront of global leaders’ concerns, and their role was clearly defined with the first ever Declaration on Future Generations, with concrete steps to take account of future generations in our decision-making, including a possible envoy for future generations.

This includes a commitment to more “meaningful opportunities for young people to participate in the decisions that shape their lives, especially at the global level.”

Building the Future: Synergetic Collaboration on Nuclear and Climate Crises, a side event whose co-organizers included Soka Gakkai International (SGI) and the Future Action Festival Organizing Committee, with the support of the United Nations University (UNU) and the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC), brought together young activists to discuss the intersection between two different crises and what will define meaningful youth engagement.

Kaoru Nemoto, the Director General of UNIC in Tokyo, observed that it was “ground-breaking” to see the agenda of the Summit’s Action Days largely led and organized by youth participants, as signified by the majority of seats in the General Assembly Hall being filled by young activists.

“There is an undercurrent, a common message, that the youth can make this world a better place to live,” said Nemoto. “No matter what agenda you are working on, be it climate change, nuclear disarmament, fighting inequality… youth issues are cross-cutting, very strong cross-cutting issues across the board.”

Nemoto further added that the United Nations needs to do much more to engage youth for meaningful participation. This would mean allowing youth to consult in decision-making and to be in positions of leadership. Youth presence cannot be reduced to tokenism.

The climate and nuclear crises are existential threats that are deeply connected, said Dr. Tshilidzi Marwala, the rector of the United Nations University. Climate instability fuels the factors that lead to conflict and displacement. Conflict, such as what is happening in Sudan, Israel, Palestine, and Ukraine, increases the risk of nuclear escalation. As leaders in the present day tackle the issues, Marwala called on the youth to continue raising their voices and to hold those powers accountable.

Marwala noted that the United Nations University would be committed to “realizing meaningful participation” in all parties. For young people, while they are motivated and demonstrate a care for deeper social issues, they face challenges in having their voices heard or in feeling galvanized to take action. Marwala noted that it was important to reach out to those young people who are either not involved or feel discouraged from getting involved in political work and activism.

Chief among the Summit of the Future’s agenda is increasing youth participation in decision-making processes. It has long been acknowledged that young activists and civil society actors drive greater societal change and are motivated to act towards complex issues. Yet they frequently face challenges in participating in policymaking that would shape their countries’ positions.

Among these challenges are representation in political spaces. Within the context of Japan, young people are underrepresented in local and national politics. As Luna Serigano, an advocate from the Japan Youth Council, shared during the event, there is a wider belief among young voters in Japan that their voices will go unheard by authorities.

This is indicated in voter turnout, which shows that only 37 percent of voters are in their 20s, and only 54 percent of voters believe that their votes matter. By contrast, 71 percent of people in their 70s voted in elections. People in their 30s or younger account for just 1 percent of professionals serving in government councils and forums. The Japan Youth Council is currently advocating for active youth participation in the country’s climate change policy by calling for young people to be directly involved as committee members to work on a new energy plan for the coming year.

Yuuki Tokuda, a co-founder of GeNuine, a Japan-based NGO that explores nuclear issues through a gender perspective, shared that young people are out of decision-making spaces. Although their voices may be heard, it is not enough. As she told IPS, the climate and nuclear crises are on the minds of young people in Japan. And while they have ideas on what could be done, they are not informed on how to act.

There is some hope for increasing participation. Tokuda shared within policymakers on nuclear issues, of which 30 percent include women, have begun to engage with young people in these discussions.

“It is time to reconstruct systems so that youth can meaningfully participate in these processes,” said Tokuda. “We need more intergenerational participation in order to work towards the ban of nuclear weapons and the climate crisis.”

During the event, what meaningful youth engagement should look like was discussed. It was acknowledged that efforts have gone towards giving a space to the perspectives of young people. Including young people in the discussions is a critical step. It was suggested that direction should shift towards ensuring that young people have the authority to take the action needed to resolve intersecting, complex issues. Otherwise, the inclusion is meaningless.

“The future-oriented youth is more needed than ever to tackle the challenges in building and maintaining peace,” said Mitsuo Nishikata of SGI.

“As a youth-driven initiative such as what the Future Action Festival demonstrates, youth solidarity can stand as a starting point for resolving and passing issues.”

Next year (2025) will mark 80 years since the end of World War II and the Hiroshima-Nagasaki atomic bombings. Nishikata pointed out that this will be a time for crucial opportunities to advance the discussions on nuclear disarmament and climate action, ahead of the Third Meeting of State Parties on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and the 30^th UN Climate Conference (COP30).

“We will continue to unite in our desire for peace, sharing the responsibility for future generations and expanding grassroots actions in Japan and globally.

Other commitments for the Pact for the Future included the first multilateral recommitment to nuclear disarmament in more than a decade, with a clear commitment to the goal of totally eliminating nuclear weapons.

It also pledged reform of the United Nations Security Council since the 1960s, with plans to improve the effectiveness and representativeness of the Council, including by redressing the historical underrepresentation of Africa as a priority.

The pact has at its core a commitment to “turbo-charge” implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including the reform of the international financial architecture so that it better represents and serves developing countries.

“We cannot build a future that is suitable for our grandchildren with a system that our grandparents created,” as the Secretary-General António Guterres stated.

This article is brought to you by IPS Noram in collaboration with INPS Japan and Soka Gakkai International in consultative status with ECOSOC.

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Water partner Aparna Khuntia tests on-premises drinking quality water from a tap for a slum household in Bhubaneswar. Credit: Manipadma Jena/IPS

By Manipadma Jena
BHUBANESWAR, India, Aug 2 2024 (IPS)

“Daily squabbles at the lone water point in Bhubaneswar’s slums, where hundreds of households depended on this single non-potable water source, have now receded into the past,” says Aparna Khuntia, a member of a large cohort of water volunteers who have played an important enabling role in ensuring households in the eastern India city now have their own on-premises potable running tap water available all 24 hours.

No mean feat this, considering that the capital city of India’s eastern state, Odisha, is flooding with much of the outbound rural to urban migrants. Of Odisha’s 8.86 million rural households, one in three has an out-migrant according to government data. Of this, 70% move within the State, a majority landing up in Odisha’s fast developing capital city.

For new migrants into a city, they may set up a shelter using discarded flex advertisement banners with a few bamboo poles but access to water, let alone potable water, remains a huge challenge.

“Even government-recognized slums like our colony in 2019 got just two hours of water supply in a day. Large families who could not store enough faced untold difficulties. Many had to pay for a water tanker every other day. Illegal water connections were rampant, resulting in huge revenue losses for the government,” 36-year-old Khuntia told IPS.

By 2030, 2 billion people will still live without safe drinking water

“The midpoint of our journey to 2030 has passed. The world is on track to achieve only 17 per cent of the targets under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG),” reveals the recent 2024 United Nations SDG report card.

Goal 6 focusing on ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all, found between 2015 and 2022, the proportion of the global population using safely managed drinking water increased from 69 to 73 per cent according to report. Although more people now access safe drinking water, in 2022, 2.2 billion still went without this basic human right. Achieving universal coverage by 2030 will require a sixfold increase in current rates of progress for safely managed drinking water, it warns.

In 2022, the UN said, roughly half the world’s population experienced severe water scarcity for at least part of the year. One quarter faced “extremely high” levels of water stress.

Such situations were experienced this extreme summer 2024 in India’s largest economic hubs Bangaluru and Delhi.

Climate change worsens these issues. Rating agency Moody’s in June warned water shortage may hit India’s future economic growth.

Even so, according to the report 93.3% of India’s population are now using at least basic drinking water services which UN rates as “moderately improving.”

Women Benefit the Most From Women Water Managers

To further progress on SDG-6, in 2020 when Odisha launched the ‘Drink from Tap Mission’ to dispense certified quality drinking water 24X7 from piped supply installed at each urban household, it created a pool of the women water volunteers. Designated Jal Sathi or water partner, they were stringently selected from among local Self-Help Groups (SHGs), trained and raring to make a difference.

And a difference they did bring about. The government’s implementing Housing and Urban Development department “increased their water tariff collection by around 90 percent,” said Khuntia. Representing community partnership in urban water management, they are key stake-holders in a novel initiative.

A key government official G Mathi Vathanan, who once headed the State-owned non-profit company Water Corporation of Odisha (WATCO) that rolls out the water mission for the State government, even went on to write a book on the women volunteers giving them much of the credit for the initiative’s success.

“The women from SHGs are the ones who helped make reality the goal of bringing water to the doorstep of each household. The mission’s success was due to (their ability to) building people’s trust in the government,” he said.

The service these women volunteers provided to households turned the tide against diarrhea, jaundice, and poor gut health that plagued the poor, especially children.

The UN’s Sustainable Development Report 2024 ranks India on SDG progress at 109 out of 166 indicating a “score moderately improving” but “insufficient to attain goal.”

India’s federal government is mulling replicating Odisha’s Pure Water Scheme’s success in other States.

These women managers helped other householder women by bringing drinking and cooking water to their doorstep, eliminating the disproportionate burden of water on women in India.

Change-Makers’ Contribution: A Working Day in a Water Partner’s Life

Each woman volunteer works with 1,200 designated households, both in her own tenements and higher-end households. This familiarity with her gives her an edge with her clients—of trust, of openness in interactions helping her to achieve what government staff are unable to.

Every month she visits her households, reads the installed water meter, generates the bill and often gets paid too. But for those who are unable to pay, the water-partner will visit again and again urging, cajoling payments.

“We urge them not to waste such a precious commodity like water, and for those who lagged in taking new connection we convinced them to do so,” said Khuntia. With water meters installed and payments mandatory, households tend not to waste water. In slums, bills often were no more than 50 to 65 rupees (less than one dollar), affordable even for the poorest.

“So, this tap drinking water mission was a win-win for both government and consumers,” Khuntia, a mother of two told IPS. It also ensures Sustainable Cities and Communities under SDG-11. Revenue accruing to the government ensures water infrastructure maintenance.

On water-users’ request, Khuntia said they tested the tap water with kits they carried. They also reported water-related issues and information of pipe leaks that compromised water purity, to the government’s maintenance staff who attended immediately.
“Earlier, people would rarely call the staff if they noticed water pipe damages; sometimes it was deliberate, for water theft. But because we visit families often and they are comfortable with us, we get this information very quickly,” she added.

The SDG targets 6–1 of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals call for universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all. The drink from tap mission is a move to achieve this.

According to WATCO, by March 2023, 4.5 million urban residents in 29 Urban Local Bodies out of 115 ULBs in Odisha State have access to or be in line to drink from tap utilities.

Under the scheme, not only water equity is ensured, but sustainability is also ensured by fixing water meters for every household water pipeline. Since households pay for their water, they tend not to waste it.

However, after four years of service, these women volunteers have been demanding better pecuniary recognition for their services. What they get now is 5% of their total bill collection as an incentive, 100 rupees if she enrolls a new customer for a water connection, and a bicycle. Aparna Khuntia told IPS she gives 4 hours a day to this work while her monthly income approximates 5000–7000 rupees (60–84 USD). Much of it is spent supplementing her husband’s 15000 rupees (180 USD) income from plying a three-wheeler auto rickshaw for household expenses, including their one-room rent. What is left over is spent during festivals or when we visit relatives in the village.

“With a government change in the June election this year, Odisha’s new government is reorganizing the entire women’s self-help group set-up. The Jaal Sathis will possibly get a new designation but the programme which has been highly successful, will continue,” WATCO’s chief operating officer, Sarat Chandra Mishra, told IPS.

Note: This article is brought to you by IPS Noram in collaboration with INPS Japan and Soka Gakkai International in consultative status with ECOSOC.

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The newly-signed Sierre Leone law outlawing child marriage also says that those who entered into marriage as children before the new legislation came into effect can petition for annulment. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

By Joyce Chimbi
FREETOWN & NAIROBI, Jul 11 2024 (IPS)

“A person shall not contract marriage with a child,” Sierra Leone’s landmark Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2024 says, outlawing, in no uncertain terms, child marriage, giving consent to and attempted child marriage, officiating, attending and promoting child marriage, and use of force or ill-treatment of a child.

The legislation was signed by Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio earlier in July in a ceremony organized by First Lady Fatima Bio, whose “Hands Off Our Girls” campaign played a crucial role in this achievement.

Men who marry girls under 18 face 15 years in prison, a fine of around USD 4,000, or both.

Fatou Gueye Ndir, Senior Regional Engagement and Advocacy Officer for Girls Not Brides, told IPS that the power of the new legislation towards ending harmful practices cannot be overemphasized, as “it also includes provisions for enforcing penalties on offenders, protecting victims’ wives, and ensuring access to education and support services for young girls affected.” 

Girls Not Brides is a global partnership of over 1,400 civil society organizations committed to ending child marriage and enabling girls to fulfill their potential. Fatou says the new law has injected new life into the fight against child marriage and early and forced marriages in Sierra Leone.

“This is a turning point. We call upon the government to continue to provide support services for affected girls and access to education, which are essential so that girls are protected and are not negatively impacted by criminalization of child marriage.”

The law also prohibits conspiracy to cause child marriage and aiding and abetting child marriage. So comprehensive is the new law that it also prohibits cohabitation with a child, any attempt to do so, conspiracy to cause cohabitation with a child and, aiding and abetting cohabitation with a child.

Fatima Maada Bio, the First Lady of Sierra Leone, championed the legislation with her Hands Off Our Girls campaign. Credit: UN

UNICEF says in 2020 alone, nearly 800,000 girls under the age of 18 were married, accounting for a third of the girls in Sierra Leone. Half of them married before they turned 15. So prevalent is the child marriage scourge that approximately nine percent of all children will have gotten married by age 15, and 30 percent by age 18.

Hannah Yambasu, director for Women Against Violence and Exploitation in Society Sierra Leone (WAVES-SL), which is a national NGO, told IPS that in the absence of a law prohibiting child marriages, “the compulsory education policy, where all children must go to school, has not been enough to keep girls within the education system. There are ethnic groups and communities that believe girls, in and out of school, should not turn 18 years old before getting married.”

She says girls entered risky territory at the age of 12 and that many were subsequently forced into child marriages and their lifelong consequences.

Yambasu agrees, saying that the law in and of itself is not enough and concerted efforts must be made to sensitize the community on all sections of the law, especially as the Customary Marriage and Divorce Act 2009 allowed for child marriages with the consent of a parent or guardian and did not stipulate a minimum age of marriage. Stressing that massive, grassroots civic education is urgently needed.

Fatou said effective implementation of the law will lead to substantial gains and positive outcomes in education, health and the economic advancement of women. Emphasizing that child marriage and education are strongly interlinked, as girls who stay longer in school are protected from child marriages. Furthermore, girls will have fewer disruption caused by early marriage or early pregnancy and, are more likely to perform better.

“Child marriage is linked to girls’ pregnancy, so the law will progressively help reduce maternal and infant mortality. Delaying marriage and pregnancy will significantly lower the risk associated with early childbirth, including all the complications that often lead to higher rates of maternal and infant mortality,” Fatou says.

Further indicating that girls who avoid early child marriage are less likely to experience the psychological trauma or stress associated with child marriage, leading to improved mental health outcomes.

“When more girls complete their education, there will be a larger pool of educated women entering the workforce, contributing to economic growth and development. Educated women are more likely to secure better-paying jobs, which can elevate the economic status of their families, reducing poverty levels,” she says.

The rapid rise in the child population in Africa necessitates radical steps towards ending all harmful practices, including child marriage, as they derail progress towards universal access to education. Child marriage is particularly a major obstacle to sustainable development. Six of the world’s 10 countries with the highest rates of child marriage are in West and Central Africa, where the average prevalence across the region remains high—nearly 41 per cent of girls marry before reaching the age of 18.

The new Sierra Leone law is timely, especially in light of the Sustainable Development Goals Report 2024, which details the significant challenges the world is facing in making substantial strides towards achieving the SDGs. It features areas with setbacks while also showcasing where tangible progress has been made, for instance, the world continues to lag in its pursuit of gender equality by 2030.

While harmful practices are decreasing, the report finds it are not keeping up with population growth. One in five girls still marries before age 18, compared to one in four 25 years ago—68 million child marriages were averted in this period.

The report raises concerns that far too many women still cannot realize the right to decide on their sexual and reproductive health. Violence against women persists, disproportionately affecting those with disabilities. With just six years remaining, current progress falls far short of what is required to meet the SDGs. Without massive investment and scaled-up action, the report calls into question the achievement of the SDGs.

The UN’s Summit of the Future will be held in September 2024. A once-in-a-generation opportunity to enhance cooperation on critical challenges and reaffirm existing commitments, including to the Sustainable Development Goals.

Yambasu understands these challenges all too well, as she works closely with adolescent girls, women and vulnerable persons, including those with disabilities and implores all governments, stakeholders and the older generation to give girls a chance to live their life as they choose

“A chance to go to school and to later on choose the husband of their choice. They go into forced marriages with their hearts bleeding and the trajectory of their lives changing for the worst. All children deserve protection and happiness, and we now have a legal blueprint to safeguard their dreams,” she says.

Stressing that girls deserve “access to all the tools necessary to fully participate in developing our nations in Africa. We need to rise up against all harmful practices. The traditions are there, yes, and we want to preserve them. But let us keep only those that develop and advance our communities.”

Note: This article is brought to you by IPS Noram in collaboration with INPS Japan and Soka Gakkai International in consultative status with ECOSOC.

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A sewer worker who is popularly known as Mithoo emerges from the sewer. Credit: Zofeen T. Ebrahim/IPS

By Zofeen Ebrahim
KARACHI, Jun 12 2024 (IPS)

A dark head emerges, followed by the torso. The balding man heaves himself up, hands on the sides of the manhole, as he is helped by two men. Gasping for breath, the man, who seems to be in his late 40s, sits on the edge, wearing just a pair of dark pants, the same color as the putrid swirling water he comes out from.

This is an all-too-familiar sight in Karachi, with its over 20 million residents producing 475 million gallons per day (MGD) of wastewater going into decades-old crumbling sewerage-systems. 

After over a hundred dives into the sewers in the last two years, Adil Masih, 22, says, “I have proved to my seniors, I can do the job well.” He hopes to be upgraded from a kachha (not formally employed) to a pucca (permanent) employee at Karachi’s government-owned Karachi Water and Sewerage Company (KWSC), formerly known as the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board and is commonly referred to as the water board, in the next six months.

Earning Rs 25,000 (USD 90) a month, which Adil gets as a lump sum of Rs75,000 (USD 269) every three months, the pay will rise to Rs 32,000 (USD 115), which is the minimum wages in Sindh province set by the government once he becomes pucca.

Sewer work is dirty but essential work in a busy city like Karachi. A worker popularly known as Mithoo rests after unblocking sewage. Credit: Zofeen T. Ebrahim/IPS

“The first time is always the most terrifying experience,” recalls Amjad Masih, 48, sporting a metallic earring in his left lobe. Among the 2,300 sewer cleaners under the employment of the KWSC, to do manual scavenging to unclog the drains, he claims to have taught Adil the dos and donts of diving into the slush. “You have to be smart to outdo death, which is our companion as we go down,” he says.

It is not the army of cockroaches and the stink that greets you when you open the manhole lid to get in, or the rats swimming in filthy water, but the blades and used syringes floating that are a cause for concern for many as they go down to bring up the rocks and the buckets of filthy silt.

But getting into the sewers is a last resort. “We first try to unclog the line using a long bamboo shaft to prod and loosen the waste, when that fails, we climb down into the gutters and clean them with our hands,” explains Amjad, employed with the water and sanitation company since 2014, and becoming permanent in 2017.

Toxic cauldron

Although the civic agency claims the workers are provided personal protective equipment to shield them from chemical, physical and microbial hazards, many, like Amjad, refuse to wear it.

“I need to feel the rocks and stones with my feet to be able to bring them up,” he says. “Nothing happens,” adds Adil. “We go to the doctor for treatment and are back at work.”

A former KWSC official, speaking to IPS on condition of anonymity, said there have been several deaths and injuries. “It is up to the supervisors to ensure they only send men down the manhole who comply with safety regulations.” He said the protective gear must include gas masks, ladders, and gloves as the “bare minimum,” as there are definite health risks as well as the risk of losing your life.

More than the physical hazards, it is the invisible danger stalking these men, in the form of gases like methane, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrous oxide—produced when wastewater contains chlorine bleaches, industrial solvents and gasoline—when mixed with concrete in drainpipes—that have taken the lives of these cleaners.

Earlier in March, two young sanitation workers, Arif Moon Masih, 25, and Shan Masih, 23, died after inhaling toxic fumes in Faisalabad, in the Punjab province. In January, two workers in Karachi met with a similar fate while cleaning sewerage lines.

According to Sweepers Are Superheroes, an advocacy campaign group, around 84 sewage workers have died in 19 districts of Pakistan over the past five years. In neighboring India, one sewer worker dies every five days, according to a 2018 report by the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis.

“I had almost died once,” recalls Amjad, of how he got “gassed” and passed out. “Luckily for me, I did the job and came up and then collapsed.”

But there have been quite a few of his colleagues, he says, who have died due to inhalation while still inside.

Adil said he has inhaled gases quite a few times too. “My eyes burn, and when I come out, I vomit and drink a bottle of cold fizzy drink and am set again,” he said. But the last time it happened, he had to be hospitalized as he had passed out.

With time, says Amjad, they have learned to take precautions.

“We open the manhole lid to let the gases escape before going in,” he says. A dead rat floating on the surface is a giveaway that there are gases, he adds.

The KWSC cleaners work as a team of four. One is sent down wearing a harness tied to a rope. If something is not right or he’s done the job, he tugs at the rope, and the three men waiting outside immediately pull him out. But the man is pulled out after three to four minutes have elapsed without waiting for the tug “in case he has become unconscious,” explains Amjad. He claims to be able to hold his breath for as long as five minutes because “I have to sometimes go as deep as 30 feet.” Adil is only able to do a maximum of seven feet and hold his breath for no more than two minutes, but the gases are found in shallower drains. Along with buckets of silt, the drains are often clogged with stones and boulders that need to be brought up, to allow the water to flow freely.

Amjad and Adil also take on private work, like the rest of the KWSC sanitation workers. The agency knows but looks the other way. “If they can get earn a little extra, it is ok,” says the officer.

“We are called to open up blocked drains by residents and restaurant management and for a couple hours of work, we are able to earn well,” says Adil.

Adil Masih and Amjad Masih work in the sewers of Karachi, a dangerous and low-paying occupation. Credit: Zofeen T. Ebrahim/IPS

Janitorial work reserved for Christians

Adil and Amjad are unrelated but carry the same surname—Masih—which points to their religion—both are Christians. According to WaterAid Pakistan, 80 percent of sanitation workers in Pakistan are Christians, despite them making up just 2 percent of the general population according to the 2023 census. The report Shame and Stigma in Sanitation, published by the Center for Law & Justice (CLJ) in 2021, connects sanitation work to the age-old caste system prevalent in the Indian sub-continent that attached birth to occupations.

“This ruthless practice has died down to a large extent in Pakistan, but sanitation is probably the only occupation where this traditional caste structure continues,” it points out.

The CLJ’s report carries a survey of the employees of the Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA), which provides drinking water and ensures the smooth working of the sewerage systems, and the Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC), which is tasked with collecting and disposing of solid waste from households, industries and hospitals in Lahore city, in the Punjab province. WASA has 2,240 sanitation workers, out of which 1,609 are Christians. The LWMC has 9,000 workers and all of them are Christians. 87 percent of the employees in both organizations believed “janitorial work is only for Christians,” while 72 percent of Christian workers said their Muslim coworkers “believe that this work is not for them.”

The same is true for Karachi as well. Till about five years ago, the KWSC would advertise for the job of sewer cleaners, specifically asking for non-Muslims but stopped after receiving criticism from rights groups.

“We removed this condition and started hiring Muslims for the cleaning of sewers, but they refuse to go down the sewers,” said the KWSC official. In Punjab province, the discriminatory policy of employing only non-Muslims belonging to minorities for janitorial work was struck down in 2016.

With half of Karachi being dug and new drainage lines being laid, much of the work is being carried out by Pathans (Muslims belonging to an ethnic group) and, until last year, by Afghans too. “They are wading in the same filthy water,” says Amjad.

He got a much more lucrative job—working as a sweeper in an apartment building and earning more.

“Being a permanent employee with a government department means lifelong security; the job is for keeps,” he explains. “And on a day-to-day basis too, life is slightly easier. You are not harassed by the police, get sick leave and free healthcare, and there are retirement benefits too, and you cannot be kicked out on any one person’s whim.”

Way Forward

But Amjad and Adil’s work and how they are treated by their employers are in complete contrast to what the Pakistani government has signed under the Sustainable Development Goals, especially Goal 8—of improving the working conditions of sanitation workers. It also seems unlikely that targets 8.5 “full employment and decent work with equal pay” and 8.8 “protect labour rights and promote safe working environments” will be met by 2030.

Farah Zia, the director of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, talking to IPS, pointed out that Pakistan had made little progress in meeting the criteria for decent work for sanitation workers, considered amongst the most “marginalized labour groups in Pakistan’s workforce.”

Not being “paid a living wage or to live in an environment free of social stigma,” Zia said they were not even provided ample safety equipment and training to protect themselves from occupational hazards. In addition, she pointed out that the 2006 National Sanitation Policy was outdated and fell “short of addressing these concerns.”

The same was observed in Sindh province, where Amjad and Adil live. “Although the Sindh government had adopted a provincial sanitation policy in 2017, it did not address the concerns related to the working and living conditions of these workers in the province,” Zia pointed out

In 2021, in line with SDG 8, WaterAid Pakistan (WAP) worked with the local government in the Punjab province’s Muzaffargarh district to ensure the safety of sanitation workers. Apart from provision of safety equipment and access to clean drinking water, the organization advocated that these “essential workers receive the respect and dignity they deserve,” said Muhammad Fazal, heading the Strategy and Policy Programme of the WAP.

Naeem Sadiq, a Karachi-based industrial engineer and a social activist who has long been fighting for the rights of these men has calculated the highest and lowest salaries in the public sector.

“The ratio of the salary of a janitor to the senior most bureaucrat in the UK is 1:8, while in Pakistan it is 1:80. The ratio of the salary of a janitor to the senior-most judge in the UK is 1:11, while in Pakistan it is 1:115. The ratio between the salary of a janitor and the heads of the highest-paid public sector organizations in the UK is 1:20, while in Pakistan it is 1:250,” he told IPS.

Sadiq wants a complete ban on manual scavenging. “I don’t know how we let our fellow men enter a sewer bubbling with human waste and poisonous gases,” he tells IPS, adding, “We need machines to do this dirty, dangerous work.”

The KWSC has 128 mobile tanker-like contraptions equipped with suctional jetting machines that remove the water from the sewers so that cleaners can go down a 30-foot manhole without having to dive into it to remove silt, timber and stones that cannot be sucked out and have to be brought up manually,’’ said the KWSC official.

That is not good enough for Sadiq. A year ago, he and a group of philanthropists came up with a prototype of a simple gutter-cleaning machine (using the motorbike’s skeleton), which he claims is the cheapest one in the world, costing Rs 1.5 million (USD 5,382).

“It can be sent deep into the sewer to bring up stones, rocks, sludge and silt, and a high-pressure jetting contraption to unclog the lines.”

It is now up to the government to use the design and start manufacturing the contraption called Bhalai (kindness, benefit). “We are absolutely willing to share the design,” said Sadiq.

Note: This article is brought to you by IPS Noram in collaboration with INPS Japan and Soka Gakkai International in consultative status with ECOSOC.

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Soka Gakkai International representative and member of the organizing committee for the Future Action Festival, Tadashi Nagai, stressed the importance of coalition and movement building and youth engagement to escalate progress towards attainment of the SDGs. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

By Joyce Chimbi
NAIROBI, May 23 2024 (IPS)

The world has crossed the halfway point to the end of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) era amid multiple, unprecedented, and significantly destructive global shocks. Two of the most pressing global challenges are the climate crisis and the threat of nuclear armament. Of serious concern is a severe lack of youth engagement on issues of critical global importance.

Speaking to IPS during the 2024 UN Civil Society Conference, the outcome of which will inform high-level discussions when the UN hosts hundreds of world leaders, policymakers, experts, and advocates in September at the Summit of the Future in New York, Tadashi Nagai stressed the importance of coalition and movement building and youth engagement to escalate progress towards attainment of the SDGs.

“In March 2024, the Future Action Festival took place in Tokyo, attended by approximately 66,000 people and over half a million viewers via live streaming. The event was a collaborative effort by youth and citizen groups to foster a deeper understanding and proactive stance among young people on nuclear disarmament and climate change solutions as two issues of global concern,” said Nagai, a representative of the Soka Gakkai International organization and the organizing committee of the Future Action Festival at the Nairobi conference. 

The organizing committee comprised representatives from six organizations, including GeNuine, Greenpeace Japan, Japan Youth Council, Kakuwaka Hiroshima, Youth for TPNW, and Soka Gakkai International (SGI) Youth. Nagai said the high impact committee is reflective of a tangible, impactful coalition and movement building towards resolving issues of global, national, and local concern in the two major existential threats today—nuclear weapons and the climate crisis.

Nagai spoke of the inalienable link between youth engagement and the delivery of the promise of a peaceful world—a requisite for the attainment of the SDGs and other related global and national commitments. In the lead-up to the Future Action Festival, a youth awareness survey was conducted across Japan from November 2023 to February 2024, targeting individuals ranging from their 10s to their 40s. The survey focused on thematic areas such as society, climate change, nuclear weapons, youth and social systems, and the United Nations.

The survey results were illuminating, providing insights into how the youth perceive these issues and their possible role in resolving them. On the realization of a world free from nuclear weapons for instance, survey results showed that 82 percent of the respondents said nuclear weapons are not needed. Based on a sample size of 119,925 respondents, nuclear abolition is a widely shared vision among young people in Japan.

“We come with lessons from Japan on how civil society organizations represented at the Nairobi conference can build impactful, informative, and life-transforming coalitions and movements to address the most existential threats facing humanity today. This particular conference is unique, historic, and highly critical as it comes ahead of the UN Summit of the Future. The Future Action Festival was an opportunity to collect the voices of young people on issues of critical importance to the global community, in the same way that the outcome of the Nairobi conference will inform the UN Summit later on in September,” Nagai said.

Through the festival, the committee was determined to contribute to UN initiatives and endorse the newly-established UN Youth Office. Additionally, it aims to create momentum to strengthen international cooperation and solidarity toward a peaceful and sustainable future.

With this in mind, a joint declaration from the Future Action Festival was submitted to the UN to inform, influence, and shape high-level discussions at the Summit towards the production of three international frameworks: the Pact for the Future (available as a zero draft), the Global Digital Compact, and the Declaration on Future Generations. Nagai said that the Pact for the Future must be ambitious, inclusive, and innovative.

Under the theme, Summit of the Future: Multilateral Solutions for a Better Tomorrow, the summit aims to forge a new global consensus on what a collective future should look like and what can be done today to secure it. Enhancing cooperation on critical challenges and addressing gaps in global governance, reaffirming existing commitments, including to the SDGs, towards a reinvigorated multilateral system better placed to positively impact lives. The Summit of the Future will create conditions to help fast-track implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development be more readily attained.

Affirming the critical role of young people in sustainable development, the position of world leaders in the 2030 Agenda is that SDGs would only be attained if they were of the people, by the people, and for the people. The 2030 Agenda invites citizen engagement, especially from young people, to “channel their infinite capacities for activism into the creation of a better world,” Nagai said.

Hence the link between the civil society conference, the summit, and other events such as the Future Action Festival—all geared towards effectively addressing issues of global concern such as climate change, war, and worsening inequalities. Every proposal offered by the UN Secretary-General for consideration at the UN Summit of the Future will have demonstrable impacts on the achievement of the SDGs.

Ultimately, the Nairobi conference was a process of renewal of trust and solidarity at all levels—between peoples, countries, and generations. Making a case for a fundamental rethink of political, economic, and social systems so that they deliver more fairly and effectively for everyone.

At the closing of the conference, Mithika Mwenda, of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance, emphasized the need for “boldness and honest conversations” to achieve the radical transformations needed to ensure sustainable development for all, poverty alleviation, and ultimately, an action-oriented Pact for the Future (one of the expected outcomes of the Summit).

Civil society groups and organizations also recommended a corresponding renewal of the multilateral system, with the Summit of the Future as a defining moment to agree on the most critical improvements necessary to deliver a future defined by equality, fairness, and shared prosperity.

Secretary-General António Guterres and Kenyan President William Ruto praised the efforts of civil society and underscored their “indispensable contributions.”

In his address, Guterres said time and again that he had witnessed the enormous impact of civil society in every corner of the world; easing suffering, pushing for peace and justice, standing for truth, and advancing gender equality and sustainable development, with many working at great personal risk.

Regarding current conflicts, including Gaza, Sudan, and ongoing crises in the Sahel, Great Lakes, and Horn of Africa regions, he said that the UN would not give up on the “push for peace, justice, and human rights.”

He recognized that civil society was crucial to addressing many issues in the world, including closing digital divides and revitalizing the collective approach to peace and security.

“We need to be informed by your frontline know-how. We need your can-do attitude to overcome obstacles and find innovative solutions,” said Guterres. “We need you to use your networks, knowledge, and contacts to implement solutions and to persuade governments to act.”

Note: This article is brought to you by IPS Noram in collaboration with INPS Japan and Soka Gakkai International in consultative status with ECOSOC.

Future Action Festival Organizing Committee

By Hiroko Ogushi
TOKYO, Japan, May 8 2024 (IPS)

We are at the tipping point in human history, facing major existential crises. The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has heightened the risk of a nuclear weapon being used since the Cold War. Furthermore, the climate crisis is accelerating. In these crises, the most affected are those in vulnerable situations.

Future Action Festival Poster. Credit: Yukie Asagiri, INPS Japan

Toward the Summit, together with some youth-led civil society organizations in Japan, we decided to organize the “Future Action Festival” to create momentum to strengthen solidarity toward a peaceful and sustainable future.

The Future Action Festival Organizing Committee comprising of representatives from six organizations, including GeNuine, Greenpeace Japan, Japan Youth Council, Kakuwaka Hiroshima, Youth for TPNW, and Soka Gakkai International (SGI) youth, was established in the summer of 2023.Among all the global challenges, we decided to focus on addressing two major existential threats today – nuclear weapons and the climate crisis.

While youth engagement in these issues is more crucial than ever, there is also a need to cultivate awareness among youth in being agents of change. The event is not a summit, but a “festival” that is led by, with and for the youth and highlights the aspect of joyfulness in youth coming together for a better future.

To achieve a unique event, the committee engaged with as many actors as possible towards the festival. Throughout the process, the festival was joined by multiple stakeholders, including NGOs, private sectors, artists, and UN representatives, in many ways.

Engagement with corporations played a significant role in making the festival possible and raising awareness in the private sector. For example, Japan Climate Leaders Partnership (JCLP), which comprises of more than 240 corporations targeting zero-emission, agreed with the purpose of our event and supported us since the establishment of the organizing committee. In the end, the sponsorship and participation by more than 160 corporations not only supported the event financially but opened new possibilities in the sense of corporations’ involvement in abolishing nuclear weapons.

Future Action Festival convened at Tokyo’s National Stadium on March 24, drawing approximately 66,000 attedees. Credit: Yukie Asagiri, INPS Japan

The festival included entertainment elements performed by professional singers, comedians, YouTubers, and marching bands. The participation and active promotion of the event by those in the entertainment sector mobilized many people, including those who were not very much interested in the thematic issues, making the event uniquely engaging.

Finally, the engagement with the UN expanded the reach and possibilities of the festival. For example, one of the major advocates and partners of the event was the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) in Tokyo. Since the beginning of its preparation, UNIC supported us in gaining credibility with diverse stakeholders, especially corporations and artists. In addition, the first Assistant Secretary-General for Youth Affairs Felipe Paullier sent us a video message which called upon youth participants to work together for a world without nuclear weapons and a world that is sustainable for all. At the end of the event, the Rector of the United Nations University Professor Tshilidzi Marwala gave his remarks, emphasizing the significance of the role played by youth in tackling these global issues. The partnership with the UN became the core driving force for the event’s success.

The strong partnerships and youth engagement resulted in the success of the festival held at the Japan National Stadium in Tokyo on March 24th. It gathered more than 60,000 participants at the venue and was viewed by over 500,000 people online through livestream.

Tshilisi Marwala, President of the UN University and UN Under-Secretary-General (Center) who endorsed the joint statement from the organizing committee, acknowledged the critical importance of young voices in shaping the Summit’s agenda and urged them to “be a beacon of hope and a driving force for change. Credit: Yukie Asagiri, INPS Japan

One of the key purposes of the event was to deliver youth voices to the UN. Toward the festival, the organizing committee conducted a youth awareness survey on nuclear weapons, the climate crisis, and the UN. About 120,000 responses from individuals ranging between their 10s to 40s were collected from November 2023 to February 2024. The results showed that young people have a high level of awareness on climate issues and that they think that nuclear weapons are not necessary. The youth want to contribute to addressing these issues. At the same time, more than half of the respondents find it difficult to have hope for the future. About eighty percent of all the respondents felt that youth voices are not reflected enough in national and government policies. Young people are dissatisfied with the status quo and seek a systemic change.

Based on the outcome, the organizing committee created a joint statement intended for the UN Summit of the Future to ensure youth voices are heard and reflected in the discussion process. The statement was handed over to Prof. Marwala at the event.

This is only the beginning of our journey to create a great momentum of youth standing up for a better future. As a next step to amplify youth voices, we plan to communicate with MOFA, a focal point of the Summit of the Future. We, the organizing committee, will also participate in the UN Civil Society Conference that will take place in Nairobi, Kenya in May, which is a key milestone for civil society to give their input to the Member States. We hope to convey the survey results to the co-chairs and UN high-level officials during the conference. In addition, at a national level, we will engage with the government, the UN, and like-minded organizations to contribute to the Pact for the Future in a meaningful way.

In addressing daunting global issues, we may feel a sense of hopelessness sometimes. However, through this festival, we learned that when diverse stakeholders of different background unite to create change, their solidarity serves as a beacon of hope for the youth. It is our responsibility to create a world where young people feel hopeful. Starting from youth in Japan, we will move forward, taking concrete steps to extend our local and global solidarity together with the UN and multiple stakeholders.

Future Action Festival Filmed and edited by Katsuhiro Asagiri, Yukie Asagiri and Kevin Lin of INPS Japan Media.

Hiroko Ogushi is a Committee Member, Future Action Festival Organizing Committee Co-representative, Soka Gakkai International (SGI) youth

This article is brought to you by IPS Noram, in collaboration with INPS Japan and Soka Gakkai International, in consultative status with UN ECOSOC.

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The WHO’s Africa office has published research in 25 peer-reviewed journals in attempt to address the imbalance of research as part of the 2030 SDG agenda, which is to ‘leave no-one behind,’ and a move toward universal health coverage. Credit: WHO

By Maina Waruru
NAIROBI, Apr 29 2024 (IPS)

The World Health Organization’s African regional office and partners published over 25 peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals in 2023 as part of efforts to address the imbalance in global research and ensure that Africa was better represented in the production of health research academic literature, a new report shows.

The office, through its Universal Health Coverage, Communicable and Non-Communicable Diseases (UCN) Cluster, published on a range of health challenges and diseases, including the risk of zoonotic disease in countries ranging from Uganda, Malawi, Tanzania, Ghana, and Nigeria, investigating infectious and non-infectious diseases, and public health approaches to ease Africa’s disease burden.

This research is critical to the continent, says Africa’s Regional Director, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti.

“The WHO African Region arguably bears one of the greatest burdens of disease globally. This has always been exacerbated by poverty, which, in the decade prior to COVID-19, was on the decline. Now, however, these gains have been reversed, not only by COVID-19 but by a series of severe shocks during the 2020–2022 period,” said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the Regional Director for Africa,” she told IPS.

“Major threats include climate change, global instability, slowing economic growth, and conflict. This makes it ever more important that we at the WHO Regional Office for Africa focus on the central promise of the 2030 SDG agenda, which is to ‘leave no one behind’, using a health systems strengthening approach to move towards universal health coverage.”

According to the Ending Disease in Africa: Responding to Communicable and Noncommunicable Diseases 2023 report released in April, WHO scientists were able to publish their work in reputable journals, including the Social Sciences and Humanities Open, supporting Africa’s efforts to raise her scientific research production, estimated at only 2 percent of the world’s total.

The works also found homes in open access journals, including America’s Public Library of Science (PLOS), where they are accessible for free by the scientific community and the general public.

Besides Africa-based scientific publications such as the Nigerian Journal of Parasitology, highlighting the need to support the role local publications can play in elevating African science and, by extension, helping address imbalances in global research.

“A country’s ability to create, acquire, translate, and apply scientific and technological advancements is a major determinant of its socioeconomic and industrial development. Many of Africa’s current and future health challenges can only be addressed by conducting research on population-based approaches towards effective disease prevention and control, which are then translated into policy and practice,” the report noted in introducing the work.

“Despite Africa’s disproportionate burden of disease, the region produced 0.7 percent of global research in 2000, 1.3 percent in 2014 and an estimated 2 percent more recently. In response, the UCN Cluster and partners published over 25 peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals in 2023 as part of efforts to address the imbalance in global research, and ensure regional representation in academic literature.”

According to the Ending Disease in Africa: Responding to Communicable and Noncommunicable Diseases, WHO scientists were able to publish their work in reputable journals, supporting Africa’s efforts to raise her scientific research production, which is estimated at only 2 percent of the world’s total. Credit: WHO

In Ghana, the WHO team conducted a “community-based cross-sectional study” to investigate occurrences of skin ulcers, whose findings showed the importance of integrating multiple skin diseases on a common research platform in findings published by PLOS One, while in Tanzania, a “spatio-temporal modelling” of routine health facility data to better guide community-based malaria interventions on the mainland was done.

Some of the papers the WHO-Africa says were examples of “operational and implementation research,” conducted to identify and ensure the successful adoption and adaptation of evidence-based interventions in both clinical and public health on the continent.

They include findings from an impact assessment of a school-based preventive chemotherapy programme for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), schistosomiasis, and soil-transmitted helminth control in Angola, where used drugs were found to have little impact in controlling the diseases. These findings were published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

“This highlighted the need for a comprehensive understanding of individual, community, and environmental factors associated with transmission and consideration for a community-wide control programme,” it concluded.

The Springer Nature’s Malaria Journal published the team’s research on treatment-seeking behavior among parents of children with malaria-related fever in Malawi. It captured  the need for targeted health interventions among communities in low socioeconomic settings and those living far from health facilities.

In Nigeria, an article based on experiences in Nigeria using a novel schistosomiasis community data analysis tool, developed by the UCN Cluster, emphasized the usefulness of the tool for strategic planning purposes, allowing the tool to be deployed around Africa for the management of the disease. Blood flukes (trematode worms) from the genus Schistosoma are the primary cause of the acute and chronic parasitic disease schistosomiasis.

Research on health policy and systems, the aim being to better understand how “collective health goals” are reached. This was done through a range of disciplines, including economics, sociology, anthropology, political science, and public health.

One such journal article was published by  Elsevier’s Social Sciences and Humanities Open, looking at five decades of infectious disease outbreaks on the continent and recommending  that concerted public health action may help reduce outbreaks, as well as drawing important conclusions for disease preparedness and prevention activities.

Quite critically, the experts undertook “knowledge translation” work, the application of knowledge by various actors to deliver the benefits of global and local innovations in strengthening health systems and improving health.

“In the African context, knowledge translation generally includes an aspect of localization, considering local perspectives and approaches and the effects of the social, cultural, political, environmental, and health system context on an intervention’s impact,” the experts explain.

In 2023, the UCN Cluster translated and localized several global knowledge products for use in Africa, including one on oral diseases, a malady suffered by about 44 percent of the population in the region.

Africa, the document observes, has experienced the “steepest rise globally in oral diseases over the last three decades,”  even as spending on treatment costs remains “extremely low,” thus the need to share the newest information on their management.

Away from scientific research, the report reveals that Mauritius became the first country in Africa to fully implement WHO’s package of tobacco control measures, while at the same time WHO-Africa launched an initiative to support better access to breast and cervical cancer detection, treatment, and care services in Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, and Zimbabwe.

Equally important, WHO Africa, in collaboration with Nigerian authorities, introduced the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine into routine immunization schedules, targeting more than 7 million girls, the largest number in a single round of HPV vaccination in Africa.

Success stories emerged in Algeria, which successfully ‘interrupted’ the transmission of schistosomiasis after reporting zero indigenous cases for the past three years, in January 2024, and in Cape Verde, which became the third country to be certified as malaria-free.

This article is brought to you by IPS Noram, in collaboration with INPS Japan and Soka Gakkai International, in consultative status with UN ECOSOC.

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