PREAMBLE: This is our 4th annual review of topics that we covered over the year. We lead off with praise (“flowers”) and criticism (“fertilizer”) within three categories: global stewardship, international development, and human rights. Then follows a synopsis of each of the 12 blog themes throughout the year.
1. Global Stewardship
This year our pick of flowers for world leadership must go to South Africa for its enormous success in hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup of Football with evident warmth, safety and competence. This nation, much more than most, symbolizes the universal striving for world peace. So much is evident in its peaceful overthrowing of apartheid, and efforts to seek truth and reconciliation in its internal affairs. A standard is set for others to follow - we can all learn from South Africa. The blog itself celebrates the role of sport in the cause of world peace.
Our pick for the Fertilizer Prize is the recently concluded UN Climate Conference in Mexico. Its not that it was a complete failure, but that it – thanks to countries like our own (Canada) that have been foot-dragging their way forward (some would say backward) in finding ways (not) to meet this challenge – fall far short of what the world community should be doing.
We want to remain positive about the progress in Cancun, but it is very obvious that more fertilizer (this time in a positive sense) is needed. For those interested in examining an authoritative assessment of the outcome, we recommend visiting http://climateprogress.org/2010/12/02/un-climate-summit-in-cancun-mexico/
2. International Development
We make a post-humus gesture of flowers on this occasion to Frank Fenner who passed away at the ripe old age of 95. Fenner, an Australian, was a giant in the field of international and global health, most notably leading the WHO smallpox eradication certification effort, achieved in 1980.
Our choice of Fenner for flowers in this category is doubly relevant, given the poor progress achieved by the world on climate change (see: 2nd paragraph above, under Global Stewardship), as he is recently famous for the following quotation:
“Homo sapiens will become extinct, perhaps within the next 100 years” he told the Australian newspaper in June. “A lot of other animals will too. It’s an irreversible situation. I think it is too late.” Surely we must do more now than simply hope that he is wrong about this.
The Fertilizer award in this category, now in negative sense, goes collectively to the G8 group of countries, for their continuing dismal performance, especially when set against their continued failure to live up to a UN agreement in 1970 that committed rich nations to allocating 0.7% of their GNP for this purpose. Although Sweden, Norway, Luxembourg, Denmark and the Netherlands comfortably meet this target, no G8 nation gets close to it (range = UK 0.52, Italy 0.16). In fact, when compared with other nations monitored by the OECD, the G8 whose brief meetings cost billions of dollars, perform even less well than the rest.
Really now, with a G8 like this, who needs it?
3. Human Rights
We offer flowers to the International Criminal Court (ICC) the permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression (although it cannot currently exercise jurisdiction over the crime of aggression). The creation of the ICC is commonly viewed as the most significant reform of international law since 1945, giving teeth to the two bodies of international law that deal with treatment of individuals: human rights and humanitarian law. The court came into being on 1 July 2002 and can only prosecute crimes committed on or after that date. The official seat of the court is in The Hague, Netherlands, but its proceedings may take place anywhere.
We take this opportunity to draw attention to the ICC’s recently launched Outreach Report 2010 and related video, which presents the ICC Outreach Unit’s work from 1 October 2009 to 1 October 2010. The English-language version of this report, the video, and previous annual reports are available on the ICC website.
And we close our awards section this year with a very big pile of very smelly Fertilizer for French President Nicholas Sarkozy for his treatment of the Roma. We agree with the findings of EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding, who, in September, likened the recent deportation of almost 1,000 Gypsies to Romania and Bulgaria to Vichy France's treatment of Jews in the second world war. No amount of histrionic pirouetting by the perfidious Sarkozy can allow his decision to stand as other than another blow to France’s patchy record in the annals of human rights.
[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/14/roma-deportations-france-eu-disgrace].
2010 AS WE RECORDED IT...
January: FOOD 2030 - A NATIONAL REPORT WITH GLOBAL IMPLICATIONS
This issue highlighted the British Government’s new Food Strategy, released January 5th, 2010. It is a timely document, with implications for both the UK and the rest of the world. Here are some of the key findings:
Demand for food and energy will jump 50% by 2030 and for fresh water by 30%, as the world population tops 8.3 billion. Climate change will exacerbate matters unpredictably. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) predicts widespread water shortages across Africa, Europe and Asia by 2025. The amount of fresh water available per head of population will decline sharply during that time. The issue of food and energy security rose high on the political agenda last year during a spike in oil and commodity prices, but then slipped in priority with falling prices. At present, 30-40% of all crops are lost due to pest and disease before they are harvested, and future droughts and increasing salinity will affect growth and produce.
February: CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE BY PRIESTS AND COVER-UP BY CATHOLIC CHURCH
In this issue, we posted verbatim, a CNN report that outlined a decades old cover-up of child sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic priests in Ireland. The actions of Irish priests and the inaction of their church hierarchy represent the height of hypocrisy and flagrant criminal behavior, and bring into disrepute the entire edifice of organized Catholicism.
Although the action now being taken came about as a result of a commission of inquiry put into motion by the nation of Ireland, one then had to ask why this took so long and why no criminal charges have ever been laid.
The world has since learned from a leaked US diplomatic cable that the Irish government was forced to grant Vatican officials immunity from testifying.
[Reference: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/10/wikileaks-vatican-child-sex-abuse-investigation]
In our view, this clearly does not absolve the state itself from some share of the responsibility and the consequences. Clearly it does not absolve the Vatican, which now appears to have used its enormous influence to engage in obstruction of justice.
March: OVER A BILLION HUNGRY PEOPLE IN THE WORLD - IMF AND FAO REPORT
This issue gives space to the text of an International Monetary Fund report entitled “Hunger on the Rise” developed by David Dawe and Denis Drechsler, and based on The State of Food Insecurity in the World, published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in 2009 (full citations provided in the blog).
In summary, world hunger spiked sharply in 2009, significantly worsening an already disappointing trend in global food security since 1996. The combination of food and economic crises has pushed the number of hungry people worldwide to historic levels.
April: DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE FOR HEALTH – NEW IMPLICATIONS ABOUT COMPARATIVE AID EFFECTIVENESS OF GOVERNMENT VS NON-GOVERNMENTAL FUNDING
This issue extracted from a report recently distributed by the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, referring to work jointly published in the Lancet by Harvard University, and the University of Washington, revealing that investment in the non-government sector may result in more favourable health spending by government than by investing directly in the government sector itself.
Specifically, the study found that debt relief, and development assistance for health (DAH) to government had a negative and significant effect on domestic government spending on health such that for every US$1 of DAH to government, government health expenditures from domestic resources were reduced by $0•43 (p=0) to $1•14. However, debt relief, and development assistance for health DAH to the non-governmental sector had a positive and significant effect on domestic government health spending.
May: MATERNAL MORTALITY – AN INTEGRITY TEST FOR POLITICIANS
For the lead item of this month’s blog, we presented the polite but authoritative view of the Lancet on Canada’s G8 Leadership, emphasizing the inadequacy of Canada’s approach to maternal health as a global public health issue, and followed this by the first good news in many decades, that maternal mortality globally is finally being reduced.
This issue was labeled “an integrity test for politicians” because many of (what Canadian Conservative politicians like to refer to themselves as) the “political class” appear intellectually challenged by scientifically sound evidence regarding the nature of the problem, and what works or doesn’t. It is also an ethical test… whether our ruling party is in it for cheap political gains among their home base, or whether higher reasoning will prevail in the interests of the health of millions of women around the world.
Postscript: Canada’s eventual funding commitments to address maternal and child health (MCH) excluded access to safe abortion, and made only weak provisions for family planning. (This observation was further elaborated in the September blog).
June: THE GAZA FOG OF ASYMMETRICAL VIOLENCE Need for International Inquiry
This issue presented verbatim, a recent report by Amnesty International, outlining the desperate situation of the people of Gaza due to the Israeli blockade. While this seemingly archaic military tactic continues to be excused by Israel as an act of self-defence, independent analyses have revealed this to be capricious in terms of the range of prohibited items, and it is obviously counter-productive to the peace effort although apparently good politics in Israel itself. On the ground however, the situation is nothing less than a humanitarian disaster, especially as over half the Gaza population are children.
July: FOOTBALL WORLD CUP PROMOTES SPORTS AS A FORCE FOR WORLD PEACE
We took the opportunity of the World Cup as a timely moment to take note of initiatives to bond international sport to the cause of world peace. Interestingly, this particular issue turned out to be the most frequently visited issue of our blog since it commenced in 2006!
August: HISTORIC UN RESOLUTION ON WATER AND SANITATION AS HUMAN RIGHTS
On 28th July, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution calling on States and International Organizations to provide financial resources, build capacity and transfer technology, particularly to developing countries, in scaling up efforts to provide safe, clean, accessible and affordable drinking water and sanitation for all. The Assembly, in a text on the human right to water and sanitation, highlights that 884 million people lack access to safe drinking water and more than 2.6 billion are without access to basic sanitation.
Regretfully a full consensus was not achieved and the resolution was approved with 122 votes in favour, none against and 41 abstentions. We noted disappointment in our own Canadian government, which abstained from the vote, giving no adequate explanation.
September: MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS – OUR UNDERACHIEVING “LEADERSHIP”
Under United Nations auspices, from 20 to 22 September, a Summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) was held in New York. With five years left until the 2015 deadline to achieve the MDGs, Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon called on world leaders to accelerate progress towards these goals, the overall aim being to reduce World Poverty.
Despite the dire need of over a billion people living in poverty around the world, it is increasingly clear that few if any of the MDGs will be achieved by the target year of 2015. Clearly there is a crying need for a strong reaffirmation with donor policies and resources to match.
Unfortunately, recent years have witnessed a track record littered with false promises and broken commitments and in some instances shallow comprehension of what is needed to resolve on the major issues underlying world poverty. All too often, “world leaders” have pandered to their domestic political bases rather than genuinely taking on these issues.
October: CANADA LOSING ITS INFLUENCE IN THE WORLD – FOREIGN POLICY FAILURES AND "MAPLE SYRUP DIPLOMACY"
On October 12th, 2010, Canada lost in its bid for a seat on the United Nations Security Council. Despite Canada’s tradition of global leadership, and having gained this seat on every prior bid for it, impoverished Portugal (pop 11.6 million) beat Canada by a virtual landslide. It is no exaggeration to say that, approaching the vote, Canada’s Conservative government revealed a sense of entitlement to the seat, being 7th largest donor of the UN, and hosting this year’s G8 and G20 meetings. Besides Prime Minister Stephen Harper making two appearances before the General Assembly during the run-up (having otherwise mostly ignored the UN), as a bizarre gesture, Maple Syrup gifts were given to representatives of UN members before the vote.
The juxtaposition of these events suggest that a combination of clumsy leadership and diplomatic ineptitude may lie at the root of this foreign policy failure. While Canada’s stated principles do create positive images, when you look closely at how they are interpreted under the Conservative government, the reality reveals a narrow vision that is too often arrogant, ignorant and ignoble.
November: CHINA SHAMES ITSELF - IMPRISONS MAN FOR PUBLIC HEALTH ADVOCACY
In this issue we draw attention to how China is persecuting a man following his advocacy on behalf of public health, especially the health of children.
This is the first time we have given space to the issue of human rights in China. Like many other observers, we are impressed by China’s material advances and recognize its growing importance on the world stage. However, until human rights are elevated in importance, it will fall short of global expectations as a potential world leader.
December: INTERNATIONAL & GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT – YEAR IN REVIEW 2010…
This Issue!
AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!We extend to readers our best wishes for 2011, with hopes that the global challenges of recent years will be better understood and more humanely managed going forward. For this to happen we need more enlightened world leadership. PacificSci will continue to offer an independent view.
Saturday 18 December 2010
Sunday 14 November 2010
CHINA SHAMES ITSELF - IMPRISONS MAN FOR PUBLIC HEALTH ADVOCACY
PREAMBLE
According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, public health measures and access to medical care constitute a human right, as stated in Article 25 (1):
Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
Reference: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948. http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/
In this issue we draw attention to how China is persecuting a man following his advocacy on behalf of public health, especially the health of children.
THE STORY
A Chinese man who organized a support group for fellow parents of children sickened in one of the country's worst food safety scandals was found guilty of inciting social disorder and sentenced on November 10, 2010 to 2 1/2 years in prison.
According to an Associated Press report of that date, “Zhao Lianhai had pushed for greater official accountability and compensation for victims and their families after the 2008 scandal that shocked China. His sentence (is) particularly severe because the case related to a public safety incident that the embarrassed leadership had pledged to tackle in a bid to restore consumer confidence.”
In 2008, six children died and nearly 300,000 were sickened by baby formula tainted with melamine, which can cause kidney stones and kidney failure. The industrial chemical, used in the manufacture of plastics and fertilizer, was added to watered-down milk to increase profits and fool inspectors testing for protein. Several dairy industry figures were prosecuted and punished, including three people sentenced to death. The epidemic of toxic renal disease itself also spread to numerous other countries through the export of dairy products, thus defining this as a threat to the health of children around the world.
However, prosecutors subsequently leveled three charges against Zhao Lianhai: That he organized a gathering of a dozen parents of sick children at a restaurant, held a paper sign in front of a court and factory involved in the scandal as a protest, and gave media interviews in a public place. According to his lawyer, “the court wouldn't receive our evidence and testimony and even wouldn't allow our witnesses to speak”. Thereby found “guilty”, his sentence is being condemned in China by those with the courage to speak up, and around the world.
Amnesty International states: "We are appalled that the authorities have imprisoned a man the Chinese public rightly view as a protector of children, not a criminal," said Catherine Baber, Amnesty’s Asia-Pacific deputy director.
Because Zhao Lianhai was in effect upholding The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948, Article 25 (1), cited above, within which the World Health Organization (in part) operates, it is our view that the Director General of WHO, Dr Margaret Chan, should convey concern directly to the relevant Chinese government authorities regarding the persecution of this public health advocate.
China clearly has made a serious mistake in this instance, both in terms of public health and universal human rights. By so doing, it is suppressing the tradition of advocacy on which public health measures around the world owe their origin. Everyone expects better from China today: at this point in its history, when it is emerging as an economic power, not to reverse this punitive legal decision at a higher level will illustrate to the world that China is far from ready to lead in matters of public health, let alone human rights.
Reference: Associated Press November 10, 2010. Chinese father punished for food safety activism. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jaj3zrfNc_Bfr6sI5q43ycIBD1pQ?docId=62d9798ca29a4cd4b26fadfdc5206d58
THE ISSUE IN GLOBAL PUBLIC HEALTH PERSPECTIVE
For additional perspective on China’s outmoded, corrupt and vindictive approach to public health advocacy, we extract the following item from Human Rights Watch.
Chinese Corruption Is Hazardous to Your Health - Local officials often prioritize economic gain at the expense of public health. By Joe Amon, Health and Human Rights Director. Published in: Asia Wall Street Journal. May 13, 2010
"At the end of March (2010), a Chinese newspaper reported that four children died and many more fell ill in Shanxi province after receiving vaccines that were not properly stored. The heat-sensitive vaccines had been taken out of air-conditioned rooms because government labels-required to show that the vaccines had been bought from official suppliers at inflated prices-would not adhere to cold vials. The result? An untold number of children are now vulnerable to polio and other diseases.
Instead of investigating the matter, local health officials denied the story as "basically untrue," threatened outraged parents and prevented them from seeking help from higher authorities. The whistleblower, an employee of the Shanxi Center for Disease Control and Prevention, was demoted.
Covering up corruption and official mismanagement in health care is a common response among Chinese officials. That's despite government promises that lessons were learned in 2008, when producers of baby formula discovered it was cheaper to poison infants than sell authentic formula. Thousands of babies became sick from ingesting milk tainted with melamine-an industrial product more commonly used to make plastics.
Like the tainted vaccines, the melamine scandal is a story about local officials sacrificing the health of Chinese citizens to make a profit. Factories that produced the tainted milk were able to slide through the regulation pipeline by partnering with local government officials. And when children became sick, the local government's response was to threaten and arrest parents rather than offer help to the sick children.
This month the Chinese government announced a new set of health-care priorities. These goals include strengthening the rural health insurance system and raising production standards for pharmaceuticals. But the government's health-care wish list ignores the corruption, greed and mismanagement that are key barriers to providing essential medical care. These issues are clearly illustrated in what will likely be the next big scandal, brewing on an even larger scale.
Industrial pollution is causing heavy-metal poisoning in almost every corner of the country. Local government officials in the cities where the poisoning occurs deny and cover up the health consequences rather than providing help for thousands of adults and children suffering from lead poisoning. In one village, local officials prevented a bus carrying parents seeking medical help from reaching the hospital in a nearby town.
Perhaps most troubling are consistent accounts that hospitals have been paid to withhold or give false results for children who are tested for lead poisoning. Many of these children have serious neurological and developmental problems, but treatment and sustained medical care have been practically nonexistent.
Medical care for victims of industrial pollution is guaranteed under the Chinese constitution, yet victims' care has apparently taken a backseat to the protection of local officials with a financial stake in the polluting factories. In Fengxiang, Shaanxi province, where thousands of children have lead poisoning, local officials demonstrated their priorities by allowing the polluting factory to re-open, with no change in its operations.
The Chinese government has laws on the books designed to tackle corruption and protect the health of the Chinese population, but these laws lack an enforcement mechanism to ensure accountability. It's no surprise then that local officials prioritize economic gain at the expense of public health. Penalizing corruption and rewarding local officials for improvements in public health should be recognized as a critical part of legal and health-care reform.
In a globalized world, the effects of cover-ups by corrupt officials are felt far from China's borders. Melamine-tainted dairy products from China were found in countries all over the world. In February, three Chinese babies headed to the U.S. for adoption were rushed to the hospital with extremely high levels of lead in their blood. From fake cough syrup killing children in Panama to toys coated in lead harming children in the U.S., the cases exposed by the free media outside China suggest that we all face hidden risks."
Source: Amon J. Human Rights Watch. Chinese Corruption Is Hazardous to Your Health - Local officials often prioritize economic gain at the expense of public health. Published in: Asia Wall Street Journal. May 13, 2010
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/05/13/chinese-corruption-hazardous-your-health
According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, public health measures and access to medical care constitute a human right, as stated in Article 25 (1):
Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
Reference: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948. http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/
In this issue we draw attention to how China is persecuting a man following his advocacy on behalf of public health, especially the health of children.
THE STORY
A Chinese man who organized a support group for fellow parents of children sickened in one of the country's worst food safety scandals was found guilty of inciting social disorder and sentenced on November 10, 2010 to 2 1/2 years in prison.
According to an Associated Press report of that date, “Zhao Lianhai had pushed for greater official accountability and compensation for victims and their families after the 2008 scandal that shocked China. His sentence (is) particularly severe because the case related to a public safety incident that the embarrassed leadership had pledged to tackle in a bid to restore consumer confidence.”
In 2008, six children died and nearly 300,000 were sickened by baby formula tainted with melamine, which can cause kidney stones and kidney failure. The industrial chemical, used in the manufacture of plastics and fertilizer, was added to watered-down milk to increase profits and fool inspectors testing for protein. Several dairy industry figures were prosecuted and punished, including three people sentenced to death. The epidemic of toxic renal disease itself also spread to numerous other countries through the export of dairy products, thus defining this as a threat to the health of children around the world.
However, prosecutors subsequently leveled three charges against Zhao Lianhai: That he organized a gathering of a dozen parents of sick children at a restaurant, held a paper sign in front of a court and factory involved in the scandal as a protest, and gave media interviews in a public place. According to his lawyer, “the court wouldn't receive our evidence and testimony and even wouldn't allow our witnesses to speak”. Thereby found “guilty”, his sentence is being condemned in China by those with the courage to speak up, and around the world.
Amnesty International states: "We are appalled that the authorities have imprisoned a man the Chinese public rightly view as a protector of children, not a criminal," said Catherine Baber, Amnesty’s Asia-Pacific deputy director.
Because Zhao Lianhai was in effect upholding The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948, Article 25 (1), cited above, within which the World Health Organization (in part) operates, it is our view that the Director General of WHO, Dr Margaret Chan, should convey concern directly to the relevant Chinese government authorities regarding the persecution of this public health advocate.
China clearly has made a serious mistake in this instance, both in terms of public health and universal human rights. By so doing, it is suppressing the tradition of advocacy on which public health measures around the world owe their origin. Everyone expects better from China today: at this point in its history, when it is emerging as an economic power, not to reverse this punitive legal decision at a higher level will illustrate to the world that China is far from ready to lead in matters of public health, let alone human rights.
Reference: Associated Press November 10, 2010. Chinese father punished for food safety activism. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jaj3zrfNc_Bfr6sI5q43ycIBD1pQ?docId=62d9798ca29a4cd4b26fadfdc5206d58
THE ISSUE IN GLOBAL PUBLIC HEALTH PERSPECTIVE
For additional perspective on China’s outmoded, corrupt and vindictive approach to public health advocacy, we extract the following item from Human Rights Watch.
Chinese Corruption Is Hazardous to Your Health - Local officials often prioritize economic gain at the expense of public health. By Joe Amon, Health and Human Rights Director. Published in: Asia Wall Street Journal. May 13, 2010
"At the end of March (2010), a Chinese newspaper reported that four children died and many more fell ill in Shanxi province after receiving vaccines that were not properly stored. The heat-sensitive vaccines had been taken out of air-conditioned rooms because government labels-required to show that the vaccines had been bought from official suppliers at inflated prices-would not adhere to cold vials. The result? An untold number of children are now vulnerable to polio and other diseases.
Instead of investigating the matter, local health officials denied the story as "basically untrue," threatened outraged parents and prevented them from seeking help from higher authorities. The whistleblower, an employee of the Shanxi Center for Disease Control and Prevention, was demoted.
Covering up corruption and official mismanagement in health care is a common response among Chinese officials. That's despite government promises that lessons were learned in 2008, when producers of baby formula discovered it was cheaper to poison infants than sell authentic formula. Thousands of babies became sick from ingesting milk tainted with melamine-an industrial product more commonly used to make plastics.
Like the tainted vaccines, the melamine scandal is a story about local officials sacrificing the health of Chinese citizens to make a profit. Factories that produced the tainted milk were able to slide through the regulation pipeline by partnering with local government officials. And when children became sick, the local government's response was to threaten and arrest parents rather than offer help to the sick children.
This month the Chinese government announced a new set of health-care priorities. These goals include strengthening the rural health insurance system and raising production standards for pharmaceuticals. But the government's health-care wish list ignores the corruption, greed and mismanagement that are key barriers to providing essential medical care. These issues are clearly illustrated in what will likely be the next big scandal, brewing on an even larger scale.
Industrial pollution is causing heavy-metal poisoning in almost every corner of the country. Local government officials in the cities where the poisoning occurs deny and cover up the health consequences rather than providing help for thousands of adults and children suffering from lead poisoning. In one village, local officials prevented a bus carrying parents seeking medical help from reaching the hospital in a nearby town.
Perhaps most troubling are consistent accounts that hospitals have been paid to withhold or give false results for children who are tested for lead poisoning. Many of these children have serious neurological and developmental problems, but treatment and sustained medical care have been practically nonexistent.
Medical care for victims of industrial pollution is guaranteed under the Chinese constitution, yet victims' care has apparently taken a backseat to the protection of local officials with a financial stake in the polluting factories. In Fengxiang, Shaanxi province, where thousands of children have lead poisoning, local officials demonstrated their priorities by allowing the polluting factory to re-open, with no change in its operations.
The Chinese government has laws on the books designed to tackle corruption and protect the health of the Chinese population, but these laws lack an enforcement mechanism to ensure accountability. It's no surprise then that local officials prioritize economic gain at the expense of public health. Penalizing corruption and rewarding local officials for improvements in public health should be recognized as a critical part of legal and health-care reform.
In a globalized world, the effects of cover-ups by corrupt officials are felt far from China's borders. Melamine-tainted dairy products from China were found in countries all over the world. In February, three Chinese babies headed to the U.S. for adoption were rushed to the hospital with extremely high levels of lead in their blood. From fake cough syrup killing children in Panama to toys coated in lead harming children in the U.S., the cases exposed by the free media outside China suggest that we all face hidden risks."
Source: Amon J. Human Rights Watch. Chinese Corruption Is Hazardous to Your Health - Local officials often prioritize economic gain at the expense of public health. Published in: Asia Wall Street Journal. May 13, 2010
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/05/13/chinese-corruption-hazardous-your-health
Thursday 14 October 2010
CANADA LOSING ITS INFLUENCE IN THE WORLD – FOREIGN POLICY FAILURES AND "MAPLE SYRUP DIPLOMACY"
PREAMBLE On October 12th, 2010, Canada lost in its bid for a seat on the United Nations Security Council. Despite Canada’s tradition of global leadership, and having gained this seat on every prior bid for it, impoverished Portugal (pop 11.6 million) beat Canada by a virtual landslide. It is no exaggeration to say that, approaching the vote, Canada’s Conservative government revealed a sense of entitlement to the seat, being 7th largest donor of the UN, and hosting this year’s G8 and G20 meetings.
Besides Prime Minister Stephen Harper making two appearances before the General Assembly during the run-up (having otherwise mostly ignored the UN), as a bizarre gesture, Maple Syrup gifts were given to representatives of UN members before the vote. The juxtaposition of these events suggest that a combination of clumsy leadership and diplomatic ineptitude (maple syrup diplomacy?) may lie at the root of this foreign policy failure.
In response to the stinging electoral defeat on October 12, 2010, the first such loss sustained by Canada since the UN’s inception in 1946, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon declared, "I do not in any way see this as a repudiation of Canada's foreign policy… The principles underlying our foreign policy, such as freedom, democracy, respect for human rights and the rule of law, were the basis of all our decisions." [CBC News October 13, 2010 8:00 PM ET.]
Our take on Cannon’s so very defensive declaration is that these stated principles do create positive images, but when you look closely at how they are interpreted under the Conservative government, the reality reveals a narrow vision that is at once arrogant, ignorant and ignoble. The focus of this issue of PacificSci Global Perspectives therefore is to examine this assertion, uttered by Cannon on behalf of a Canadian government currently led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Historical Note: Canada has been a driving force behind the formation of the Internatinal Criminal Court, the Treaty Banning Landmines, the interdiction of blood diamonds, and an array of other worthy and respected global initiative. This tradition of Canadian leadership at the global level was built on a sound foundation laid by former Prime Minister (Liberal) and 1957 Nobel Peace Laureate Lester B Pearson. As President of the UN General Assembly in 1952, Pearson led UN efforts to mediate a settlement to the Korean War. His work gave rise to Canada’s reputation for fairness and balance, and the effective use of diplomacy rather than militarism. His leadership also gave rise to the (now diminished) Canadian military tradition of peacekeeping. It is out of respect for this legacy that Global Perspectives includes a quotation from Pearson in our masthead.
FOREIGN POLICY MISSTEPS & ABERRATIONS
Our view of this situation is that Canada’s foreign policy under the current Conservative government of Stephen Harper is largely responsible for its inability to win this UN Security Council seat in a contest with Portugal. Consider the following selected actions (often inactions) of the Harper government, which we have organized according to the following headings - global, international and national with global implications:
Global
o Refusal to Sign the Treaty for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
o Refusal to Sign the Treaty recognizing Water as a Human Right.
o Undermining the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference.
o Withdrew financial support for UNRWA (UN Relief & Works Agency).
o Shifting Aid Priorities from Africa to Latin America, despite human needs.
o Promoting a maternal health initiative deficient in family planning and excluding access to safe abortion within this (a discredited Bush-era policy).
o Down-grading Canada’s contribution to UN peacekeeping — Canada (almost unbelievably) now ranks 57th, behind Yemen and Uganda.
International
o Uncritical support for Israel e.g., in 2006, the only vote at the UN supporting Israel’s policy on settlements. Note: Most nations support Israel’s right to exist but not illegal settlements.
o A clear lack of anything close to comparable compassion for displaced Palestinians (in occupied territories and refugees).
o Refusing entrance to 4 term British MP George Galloway, alleging that he supported terrorism. Note: this view was recently over-ruled by the Supreme Court of Canada, and lays the government open to criminal proceedings.
o Belated attention to Canada’s relationship with China, first opened up by former Liberal Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, and now of major economic importance.
National Policy Failures with International & Global Ramifications
o Refusal to release files that may indicate knowledge of torture in Afghanistan, and when forced to do so these were so heavily redacted as to render them virtually useless. They have thereby challenged the freedom of Canadians to know what their government is doing - the freedom of information process.
o Refusal to act even on its own Charter of Rights and Freedoms regarding certain Canadian citizens abroad e.g., Abousfian Abdelrazik stranded in Sudan for 6 years after Canada refused to issue a new passport to him because he was on the UN Security Council terrorist blacklist. Now in Canada thanks to a Supreme Court of Canada ruling in his favour, Abdelrazik accuses the government of blocking his repatriation and helping to arrange his imprisonment.
Note: There is a double standard here (perhaps even overt racism) where others, like Brenda Martin (white, Canadian born) charged with money laundering in Mexico, obtain Ministerial intercession and a prompt flight home.
o Refusal to act on international law regarding Canadian prisoner Omar Khadr (a child soldier no less) in Guantanamo, the only western government not to repatriate its nationals from US military tribunals which lack legitimacy even in the eyes of the US Supreme Court. The Harper regime has in effect redefined human rights by supporting the suspension of habeas corpus and allowing indefinite imprisonment with no charges.
o Canada grossly overspent on this years G8 and G20 meetings. At >$1 billion, 50 times more than other nations spent in previous hosting, the Conservative government placed Toronto at predictably high risk of civil disturbances so as to impress visiting dignitaries. The mass arrest of >900 people, a large majority without charge, was unprecedented in Canadian history, and lowered the esteem of Canada within and outside our borders. To have so wasted so much money at a time of severe economic hardship was a disgraceful use of public funds.
o Discontinuing funding support for Canadian NGOs such as Kairos (an ecumenical organization), the Canadian Arab Foundation (language services to new immigrants) and disrupting the governance of advocacy group Rights and Democracy, out of ideological misrepresentations of humanitarian work.
COMMENT: Any of these actions and inactions (and others like them) can be debated, but taken together they reveal an ideological mindset that represents a deviation from Canada’s more honourable past. It has been described by one of the Harper government’s own government members (on this month’s loss of its use of an airbase in the United Arab Emirates seemingly due to a Canadian failure of good faith) as “hard core, truculent, unreasonable and against Canada’s short and long term interests”. (Globe and Mail, Oct 13th, 2010) Note: Source un-named – presumably to avert political reprisals.
This selection of examples represents on the global stage a pattern that is increasingly evident within Canada itself: a government out of touch with the needs of real people.
Conclusion: For Minister Cannon therefore, and ultimately Prime Minister Harper himself, to contend that the outcome of the UN vote was “not” a repudiation of Canada's foreign policy is actually quite stupid. Obviously we lost our bid for a seat primarily due to our foreign policy. To quote from a viewer’s comment published on the CBC website (http://www.cbc.ca/politics/ October 12):
“The Harper government's inability to actually consider or accept that their foreign policies may affect other countries' opinions of Canada and the Harper government is a perfect illustration of their fundamental flaw: they're absolutely incapable of accepting opinions that are in opposition to their own, and blame everyone else for the consequences of the failures that result from that inability.”
Long before the world passed judgment on us this week, Robert Fowler, Canada’s former top diplomat, said last year: “I’m not sure that Canada deserves to win this election, for we no longer represent the qualities which we Canadians have long insisted that candidates for the council should bring to such responsibilities . . . The world does not need more of the kind of Canada they’ve been getting.”
[Reference: Haroon Siddiqui. Editorial: World passes judgment on Harper’s foreign policy. The Star. Thursday Oct 14, 2010.]
In closing , for those interested in exploring this collapse in Canada's global prestige, we wish to draw attention to the following excellent article by Robert Silver in the Globe and Mail (Its Stephen Harper’s Loss Tuesday, October 12, 2010 3:22PM EDT) which illuminates his hypocrisy on foreign policy: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/second-reading/silver-powers/its-stephen-harpers-loss/article1753829/
Besides Prime Minister Stephen Harper making two appearances before the General Assembly during the run-up (having otherwise mostly ignored the UN), as a bizarre gesture, Maple Syrup gifts were given to representatives of UN members before the vote. The juxtaposition of these events suggest that a combination of clumsy leadership and diplomatic ineptitude (maple syrup diplomacy?) may lie at the root of this foreign policy failure.
In response to the stinging electoral defeat on October 12, 2010, the first such loss sustained by Canada since the UN’s inception in 1946, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon declared, "I do not in any way see this as a repudiation of Canada's foreign policy… The principles underlying our foreign policy, such as freedom, democracy, respect for human rights and the rule of law, were the basis of all our decisions." [CBC News October 13, 2010 8:00 PM ET.]
Our take on Cannon’s so very defensive declaration is that these stated principles do create positive images, but when you look closely at how they are interpreted under the Conservative government, the reality reveals a narrow vision that is at once arrogant, ignorant and ignoble. The focus of this issue of PacificSci Global Perspectives therefore is to examine this assertion, uttered by Cannon on behalf of a Canadian government currently led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Historical Note: Canada has been a driving force behind the formation of the Internatinal Criminal Court, the Treaty Banning Landmines, the interdiction of blood diamonds, and an array of other worthy and respected global initiative. This tradition of Canadian leadership at the global level was built on a sound foundation laid by former Prime Minister (Liberal) and 1957 Nobel Peace Laureate Lester B Pearson. As President of the UN General Assembly in 1952, Pearson led UN efforts to mediate a settlement to the Korean War. His work gave rise to Canada’s reputation for fairness and balance, and the effective use of diplomacy rather than militarism. His leadership also gave rise to the (now diminished) Canadian military tradition of peacekeeping. It is out of respect for this legacy that Global Perspectives includes a quotation from Pearson in our masthead.
FOREIGN POLICY MISSTEPS & ABERRATIONS
Our view of this situation is that Canada’s foreign policy under the current Conservative government of Stephen Harper is largely responsible for its inability to win this UN Security Council seat in a contest with Portugal. Consider the following selected actions (often inactions) of the Harper government, which we have organized according to the following headings - global, international and national with global implications:
Global
o Refusal to Sign the Treaty for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
o Refusal to Sign the Treaty recognizing Water as a Human Right.
o Undermining the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference.
o Withdrew financial support for UNRWA (UN Relief & Works Agency).
o Shifting Aid Priorities from Africa to Latin America, despite human needs.
o Promoting a maternal health initiative deficient in family planning and excluding access to safe abortion within this (a discredited Bush-era policy).
o Down-grading Canada’s contribution to UN peacekeeping — Canada (almost unbelievably) now ranks 57th, behind Yemen and Uganda.
International
o Uncritical support for Israel e.g., in 2006, the only vote at the UN supporting Israel’s policy on settlements. Note: Most nations support Israel’s right to exist but not illegal settlements.
o A clear lack of anything close to comparable compassion for displaced Palestinians (in occupied territories and refugees).
o Refusing entrance to 4 term British MP George Galloway, alleging that he supported terrorism. Note: this view was recently over-ruled by the Supreme Court of Canada, and lays the government open to criminal proceedings.
o Belated attention to Canada’s relationship with China, first opened up by former Liberal Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, and now of major economic importance.
National Policy Failures with International & Global Ramifications
o Refusal to release files that may indicate knowledge of torture in Afghanistan, and when forced to do so these were so heavily redacted as to render them virtually useless. They have thereby challenged the freedom of Canadians to know what their government is doing - the freedom of information process.
o Refusal to act even on its own Charter of Rights and Freedoms regarding certain Canadian citizens abroad e.g., Abousfian Abdelrazik stranded in Sudan for 6 years after Canada refused to issue a new passport to him because he was on the UN Security Council terrorist blacklist. Now in Canada thanks to a Supreme Court of Canada ruling in his favour, Abdelrazik accuses the government of blocking his repatriation and helping to arrange his imprisonment.
Note: There is a double standard here (perhaps even overt racism) where others, like Brenda Martin (white, Canadian born) charged with money laundering in Mexico, obtain Ministerial intercession and a prompt flight home.
o Refusal to act on international law regarding Canadian prisoner Omar Khadr (a child soldier no less) in Guantanamo, the only western government not to repatriate its nationals from US military tribunals which lack legitimacy even in the eyes of the US Supreme Court. The Harper regime has in effect redefined human rights by supporting the suspension of habeas corpus and allowing indefinite imprisonment with no charges.
o Canada grossly overspent on this years G8 and G20 meetings. At >$1 billion, 50 times more than other nations spent in previous hosting, the Conservative government placed Toronto at predictably high risk of civil disturbances so as to impress visiting dignitaries. The mass arrest of >900 people, a large majority without charge, was unprecedented in Canadian history, and lowered the esteem of Canada within and outside our borders. To have so wasted so much money at a time of severe economic hardship was a disgraceful use of public funds.
o Discontinuing funding support for Canadian NGOs such as Kairos (an ecumenical organization), the Canadian Arab Foundation (language services to new immigrants) and disrupting the governance of advocacy group Rights and Democracy, out of ideological misrepresentations of humanitarian work.
COMMENT: Any of these actions and inactions (and others like them) can be debated, but taken together they reveal an ideological mindset that represents a deviation from Canada’s more honourable past. It has been described by one of the Harper government’s own government members (on this month’s loss of its use of an airbase in the United Arab Emirates seemingly due to a Canadian failure of good faith) as “hard core, truculent, unreasonable and against Canada’s short and long term interests”. (Globe and Mail, Oct 13th, 2010) Note: Source un-named – presumably to avert political reprisals.
This selection of examples represents on the global stage a pattern that is increasingly evident within Canada itself: a government out of touch with the needs of real people.
Conclusion: For Minister Cannon therefore, and ultimately Prime Minister Harper himself, to contend that the outcome of the UN vote was “not” a repudiation of Canada's foreign policy is actually quite stupid. Obviously we lost our bid for a seat primarily due to our foreign policy. To quote from a viewer’s comment published on the CBC website (http://www.cbc.ca/politics/ October 12):
“The Harper government's inability to actually consider or accept that their foreign policies may affect other countries' opinions of Canada and the Harper government is a perfect illustration of their fundamental flaw: they're absolutely incapable of accepting opinions that are in opposition to their own, and blame everyone else for the consequences of the failures that result from that inability.”
Long before the world passed judgment on us this week, Robert Fowler, Canada’s former top diplomat, said last year: “I’m not sure that Canada deserves to win this election, for we no longer represent the qualities which we Canadians have long insisted that candidates for the council should bring to such responsibilities . . . The world does not need more of the kind of Canada they’ve been getting.”
[Reference: Haroon Siddiqui. Editorial: World passes judgment on Harper’s foreign policy. The Star. Thursday Oct 14, 2010.]
In closing , for those interested in exploring this collapse in Canada's global prestige, we wish to draw attention to the following excellent article by Robert Silver in the Globe and Mail (Its Stephen Harper’s Loss Tuesday, October 12, 2010 3:22PM EDT) which illuminates his hypocrisy on foreign policy: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/second-reading/silver-powers/its-stephen-harpers-loss/article1753829/
Tuesday 14 September 2010
MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS – OUR UNDERACHIEVING “LEADERSHIP”
PREAMBLE: Under the auspices of the United Nations, from 20 to 22 September 2010, a Summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will be held in New York. With only five years left until the 2015 deadline to achieve the MDGs, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has called on world leaders to attend the summit to accelerate progress towards these goals, the overall aim of which is to reduce World Poverty. Visit the Summit website! http://www.un.org/en/mdg/summit2010/
Despite the dire need of over a billion people living in poverty around the world, the initial intentions behind the goals and efforts to showcase what had been achieved, it is increasingly clear that few if any of the MDGs will be achieved by the target year of 2015. Clearly there is a crying need for a strong reaffirmation with donor policies and resources to match.
Unfortunately, recent years have witnessed a track record littered with false promises and broken commitments and in some instances shallow comprehension of what is needed to resolve on the major issues underlying world poverty. All too often, “world leaders” have pandered to their domestic political bases rather than genuinely taking on these issues.
A case in point is Canada’s minority Conservative government whose leader Stephen Harper and fundamentalist colleagues ensured that this country’s commitment to address maternal and child health (MCH) excluded access to safe abortion, and made only weak provisions for the inclusion of family planning within Canadian funding commitments.
In fact, it is estimated that 20 million unsafe abortions occur around the world annually and that 70,000 of these result in the woman's death. Clearly there must be more emphasis on the provision of family planning, and removal of barriers to this practice and also quite obviously access to safe abortion, as a core element of a harm reduction strategy.
Harper’s approach to maternal health is in effect a northern echo of the Bush administration’s “global gag rule” (no funding for MCH unless abortion is specifically excluded), since repudiated by the Obama administration. Ironically, women in Canada long ago won the right to chose, so it is invidious that “Harper’s Canada” discriminates against these practices abroad.
There is still hope that Canada may amend this approach reasonably soon, with the return of a more compassionate philosophy. What is needed is to change the party in power, the only currently viable alternative being the Liberal Party of Canada, with (virtually guaranteed) support from all other parties: only the Conservatives (with little more than 30% public support) are holding up the need for enlightened policy.
We therefore endorse the following statement (Globe and Mail, Feb 2, 2010) made by the leader of that party, and of the official opposition Michael Ignatieff: “We want to make sure that women have access to all the contraceptive methods available to control their fertility because we don’t want to have women dying because of botched procedures, we don’t want to have women dying in misery.” This quote regains resonance in light of the looming MDG Summit next week in New York.
This example of Maternal and Child Health (MDG 5) is but one of the MDGs falling short of sufficient progress for any of them to be achieved by 2015 without an infusion of more genuine commitment by “world leaders” such as Mr Harper.
The eight MDGs are now listed for ease of reference:
Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger
Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education
Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality
Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases.
Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability
Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership of Development.
NOTE: This internationally agreed framework of 8 goals and 18 targets is complemented by 48 technical indicators to measure progress towards the Millennium Development Goals. These indicators have since been adopted by a consensus of experts from the United Nations, IMF, OECD and the World Bank.
As our feature for this issue, we present below a September 10, 2010 IPS Inter-Press Service report by Aprille Muscara (full reference below).
GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT BLUEPRINT REVEALS URGENT UPHILL BATTLE
By Aprille Muscara
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 10, 2010 (IPS) - A document outlining the U.N.'s strategy to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 was finalised Thursday after months of heated negotiations.
The text, titled "Keeping the Promise – United to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals", will be formally signed off on by world leaders at the upcoming MDG summit, which is to be held here from Sep. 20-22.
The final 27-page version, obtained by IPS, differs considerably from the 14-page "zero draft" base text from which member states inserted, amended and removed passages.
However, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) worry that the completed text, called an outcome document, falls short of the substantial action plan it was hoped to be and is instead a rehash of already-made promises and generalised commitments.
"This document lacks the adrenaline boost to accelerate the MDGs, and with only five years left, world leaders coming together in New York must commit to concrete actions that will ensure all people are lifted from poverty in our lifetime," said Emma Seery, a spokesperson for Oxfam International.
Over the years, NGOs and aid groups have advocated for a human rights-based approach to tackling the MDGs. A review of the document at different draft stages reveals the addition of key human rights language, such as inclusion of the right to development, the right to food, the right to health and the right to education.
"We recognize that the respect, promotion and protection of human rights is an integral part of effective work towards achieving the MDGs," the final document states.
But notably absent from the list is access to clean water and sanitation, which the U.N. in a resolution declared a basic human right in late July. The resolution proved to be a divisive one, however, with 41 countries, including the United States, Britain and Canada abstaining from the vote.
Although water and sanitation is not explicitly framed as a human right in the final outcome document, they appear frequently throughout as basic needs essential to achieving the MDGs.
Absent, as well, is the assertion "that gender equality is a basic human right, a fundamental value and an issue of social justice" – a statement that was inserted during the draft process but failed to make it through to the end. The final version reads: "We acknowledge the importance of gender equality and empowerment of women to achieve the MDGs."
Indeed, the evolution of the outcome document, which at one point ballooned to 38 pages, reflects a process of political wrangling over touchy wording. With its numerous additions and amendments, the final product is at once more specific in its language yet still general in its pledges.
Language on peace and security matters appears to have been especially contentious. For instance, references to "armed violence," present in the zero draft, and "transnational crime" and "trafficking in persons," introduced in subsequent drafts, as posing threats to the attainment of the MDGs have been removed entirely in favour of the more benign "conflict."
However, one instance of both "foreign occupation" and "terrorism" – new additions – as hindering achievement of the MDGs appear in the final version, reflecting a political compromise between the Group of 77, a coalition of developing countries, and the European Union and the United States.
In the final stages of ironing out problematic language, the E.U. and U.S. and the G77 were often on opposing sides in typical developed-developing, North-South fashion.
It is common practice, a U.N official told IPS, for the relevant parties to go to extremes in their proposed amendments in anticipation of having to make concessions.
Thus, the G77's insertions that claim the current global financial structure – from trade to aid – is "non- inclusive," "ineffective" and "inadequate" for developing countries were removed in place of more watered down wording stressing the need to further reform international financial systems.
A greater focus on the particular needs of the developing world, rural populations and specific mention of regional efforts by the global South in attaining the MDGs are also additions, reflecting G77 bargaining.
Meanwhile, the importance of parliaments, national ownership in developmental efforts and mutual accountability for commitments made towards achieving the MDGs suggest concessions made to the West.
Among the other numerous differences from the zero draft is an acknowledgement of the impact of the world financial crisis, volatile food and energy prices and humanitarian emergencies in stunting developmental gains. And of the eight goals, the document characterises maternal health, MDG5, as making the slowest progress. [Emphasis Added]
Also added is a litany of references to U.N. conventions, agreements and agencies, which serves to reinforce the commitments and goals made in those forums, but also highlights the world body's role in ensuring the accountability of governments.
To this end, the final document requests a "Special Event" to take place during the 68th session of the general assembly in 2013, two years shy of the deadline, to follow up on efforts made toward achieving the MDGs.
Ultimately, despite its acknowledgement of the uneven advances made thus far, the document reflects the urgent uphill battle left on the path to 2015.
"Progress on other MDGs is fragile and must be sustained to avoid reversal," it states.
Source: Muscara A. Development Blueprint Reveals Urgent Uphill Battle. IPS Inter-Press Service. Geneva Sept 10, 2010. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52788
Despite the dire need of over a billion people living in poverty around the world, the initial intentions behind the goals and efforts to showcase what had been achieved, it is increasingly clear that few if any of the MDGs will be achieved by the target year of 2015. Clearly there is a crying need for a strong reaffirmation with donor policies and resources to match.
Unfortunately, recent years have witnessed a track record littered with false promises and broken commitments and in some instances shallow comprehension of what is needed to resolve on the major issues underlying world poverty. All too often, “world leaders” have pandered to their domestic political bases rather than genuinely taking on these issues.
A case in point is Canada’s minority Conservative government whose leader Stephen Harper and fundamentalist colleagues ensured that this country’s commitment to address maternal and child health (MCH) excluded access to safe abortion, and made only weak provisions for the inclusion of family planning within Canadian funding commitments.
In fact, it is estimated that 20 million unsafe abortions occur around the world annually and that 70,000 of these result in the woman's death. Clearly there must be more emphasis on the provision of family planning, and removal of barriers to this practice and also quite obviously access to safe abortion, as a core element of a harm reduction strategy.
Harper’s approach to maternal health is in effect a northern echo of the Bush administration’s “global gag rule” (no funding for MCH unless abortion is specifically excluded), since repudiated by the Obama administration. Ironically, women in Canada long ago won the right to chose, so it is invidious that “Harper’s Canada” discriminates against these practices abroad.
There is still hope that Canada may amend this approach reasonably soon, with the return of a more compassionate philosophy. What is needed is to change the party in power, the only currently viable alternative being the Liberal Party of Canada, with (virtually guaranteed) support from all other parties: only the Conservatives (with little more than 30% public support) are holding up the need for enlightened policy.
We therefore endorse the following statement (Globe and Mail, Feb 2, 2010) made by the leader of that party, and of the official opposition Michael Ignatieff: “We want to make sure that women have access to all the contraceptive methods available to control their fertility because we don’t want to have women dying because of botched procedures, we don’t want to have women dying in misery.” This quote regains resonance in light of the looming MDG Summit next week in New York.
This example of Maternal and Child Health (MDG 5) is but one of the MDGs falling short of sufficient progress for any of them to be achieved by 2015 without an infusion of more genuine commitment by “world leaders” such as Mr Harper.
The eight MDGs are now listed for ease of reference:
Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger
Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education
Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality
Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases.
Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability
Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership of Development.
NOTE: This internationally agreed framework of 8 goals and 18 targets is complemented by 48 technical indicators to measure progress towards the Millennium Development Goals. These indicators have since been adopted by a consensus of experts from the United Nations, IMF, OECD and the World Bank.
As our feature for this issue, we present below a September 10, 2010 IPS Inter-Press Service report by Aprille Muscara (full reference below).
GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT BLUEPRINT REVEALS URGENT UPHILL BATTLE
By Aprille Muscara
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 10, 2010 (IPS) - A document outlining the U.N.'s strategy to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 was finalised Thursday after months of heated negotiations.
The text, titled "Keeping the Promise – United to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals", will be formally signed off on by world leaders at the upcoming MDG summit, which is to be held here from Sep. 20-22.
The final 27-page version, obtained by IPS, differs considerably from the 14-page "zero draft" base text from which member states inserted, amended and removed passages.
However, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) worry that the completed text, called an outcome document, falls short of the substantial action plan it was hoped to be and is instead a rehash of already-made promises and generalised commitments.
"This document lacks the adrenaline boost to accelerate the MDGs, and with only five years left, world leaders coming together in New York must commit to concrete actions that will ensure all people are lifted from poverty in our lifetime," said Emma Seery, a spokesperson for Oxfam International.
Over the years, NGOs and aid groups have advocated for a human rights-based approach to tackling the MDGs. A review of the document at different draft stages reveals the addition of key human rights language, such as inclusion of the right to development, the right to food, the right to health and the right to education.
"We recognize that the respect, promotion and protection of human rights is an integral part of effective work towards achieving the MDGs," the final document states.
But notably absent from the list is access to clean water and sanitation, which the U.N. in a resolution declared a basic human right in late July. The resolution proved to be a divisive one, however, with 41 countries, including the United States, Britain and Canada abstaining from the vote.
Although water and sanitation is not explicitly framed as a human right in the final outcome document, they appear frequently throughout as basic needs essential to achieving the MDGs.
Absent, as well, is the assertion "that gender equality is a basic human right, a fundamental value and an issue of social justice" – a statement that was inserted during the draft process but failed to make it through to the end. The final version reads: "We acknowledge the importance of gender equality and empowerment of women to achieve the MDGs."
Indeed, the evolution of the outcome document, which at one point ballooned to 38 pages, reflects a process of political wrangling over touchy wording. With its numerous additions and amendments, the final product is at once more specific in its language yet still general in its pledges.
Language on peace and security matters appears to have been especially contentious. For instance, references to "armed violence," present in the zero draft, and "transnational crime" and "trafficking in persons," introduced in subsequent drafts, as posing threats to the attainment of the MDGs have been removed entirely in favour of the more benign "conflict."
However, one instance of both "foreign occupation" and "terrorism" – new additions – as hindering achievement of the MDGs appear in the final version, reflecting a political compromise between the Group of 77, a coalition of developing countries, and the European Union and the United States.
In the final stages of ironing out problematic language, the E.U. and U.S. and the G77 were often on opposing sides in typical developed-developing, North-South fashion.
It is common practice, a U.N official told IPS, for the relevant parties to go to extremes in their proposed amendments in anticipation of having to make concessions.
Thus, the G77's insertions that claim the current global financial structure – from trade to aid – is "non- inclusive," "ineffective" and "inadequate" for developing countries were removed in place of more watered down wording stressing the need to further reform international financial systems.
A greater focus on the particular needs of the developing world, rural populations and specific mention of regional efforts by the global South in attaining the MDGs are also additions, reflecting G77 bargaining.
Meanwhile, the importance of parliaments, national ownership in developmental efforts and mutual accountability for commitments made towards achieving the MDGs suggest concessions made to the West.
Among the other numerous differences from the zero draft is an acknowledgement of the impact of the world financial crisis, volatile food and energy prices and humanitarian emergencies in stunting developmental gains. And of the eight goals, the document characterises maternal health, MDG5, as making the slowest progress. [Emphasis Added]
Also added is a litany of references to U.N. conventions, agreements and agencies, which serves to reinforce the commitments and goals made in those forums, but also highlights the world body's role in ensuring the accountability of governments.
To this end, the final document requests a "Special Event" to take place during the 68th session of the general assembly in 2013, two years shy of the deadline, to follow up on efforts made toward achieving the MDGs.
Ultimately, despite its acknowledgement of the uneven advances made thus far, the document reflects the urgent uphill battle left on the path to 2015.
"Progress on other MDGs is fragile and must be sustained to avoid reversal," it states.
Source: Muscara A. Development Blueprint Reveals Urgent Uphill Battle. IPS Inter-Press Service. Geneva Sept 10, 2010. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52788
Saturday 14 August 2010
HISTORIC UN RESOLUTION ON WATER AND SANITATION AS HUMAN RIGHTS
PREAMBLE: On Wednesday, 28th July, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution calling on States and international organizations to provide financial resources, build capacity and transfer technology, particularly to developing countries, in scaling up efforts to provide safe, clean, accessible and affordable drinking water and sanitation for all. The assembly, in a text on the human right to water and sanitation, highlights that 884 million people lacked access to safe drinking water and more than 2.6 billion were without access to basic sanitation.
Regretfully a full consensus was not achieved and the resolution was approved with 122 votes in favour, none against and 41 abstentions. We are disappointed to note that our own Canadian government, the Conservative regime of Stephen Harper, abstained from the vote, giving no adequate explanation for this.
For the substance of this months blog, we provide below (verbatim) the full text of the speech by the Permanent Representative of the State of Bolivia, delivered July 28, 2010.
UN SPEECH: “The Human Right to Water and Sanitation”
Mr. President,
Allow me to begin the presentation of this Resolution by recalling that human beings are essentially water. Around two thirds of our organism is comprised of water. Some 75% of our brain is made up of water, and water is the principal vehicle for the electrochemical transmissions of our body.
Our blood flows like a network of rivers in our body. Blood helps transport nutrients and energy to our organism. Water also carries from our cells waste products for excretion. Water helps to regulate the temperature of our body.
The loss of 20% of body water can cause death. It is possible to survive for various weeks without food, but it is not possible to survive more than a few days without water. Water is life.
That is why, today, we present this historic resolution for the consideration of the plenary of the General Assembly on behalf of the cosponsoring countries of: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Benin, The Plurinational State of Bolivia, Burundi, Central African Republic, Congo, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Eritrea, Fiji, Georgia, Guinea, Haiti, Madagascar, Maldives, Mauritius, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Paraguay, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Seychelles, The Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Tuvalu, Uruguay, Vanuatu, The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and Yemen.
The right to health was originally recognized by the World Health Organization in 1946. In 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights declared “the right to life,” “the right to education,” and “the right to work,” among others.
In 1966, these were furthered in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights with the recognition of “the right to social security,” and “the right to an adequate standard of living,” including adequate food, clothing and adequate shelter.
However, the human right to water has continued to fail be fully recognized, despite clear references in various international legal instruments, such as: the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
This is why we, the cosponsors, present this resolution in order that we now recognize the human right to water and sanitation, at a time when illness caused by lack of drinking water and sanitation causes more deaths than does war.
Every year, 3.5 million people die of waterborne illness.
Diarrhea is the second largest cause of death among children under five. Lack of access to potable water kills more children than AIDS, malaria and smallpox combined.
Worldwide, approximately 1 in 8 people lack potable water.
In just one day, more than 200 million hours of women’s time is consumed by collecting and transporting water for domestic use.
The situation of lack of sanitation is far worse, for it affects 2.6 billion people, or 40% of the global population.
According to the report on sanitation by the Independent expert,
“Sanitation, more than many other human rights issue, evokes the concept of human dignity; consider the vulnerability and shame that so many people experience every day when, again, they are forced to defecate in the open, in a bucket or a plastic bag. It is the indignity of this situation that causes the embarrassment.”
The vast majority of illnesses around the world are caused by fecal matter. It is estimated that sanitation could reduce child death due to diarrhea by more than one third.
On any given day, half of the world’s hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from illnesses associated with lack of access to safe water and lack of sanitation.
Mr. President,
Human rights were not born as fully developed concepts, but are built on reality and experience. For example, the human rights to education and work included in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights were constructed and specified over time, with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and other international legal instruments such as the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The same will occur with the human right to water and sanitation.
That is why we emphasize and encourage in the third operative paragraph of this resolution that the independent expert continue working on all aspects of her mandate, and present to the General Assembly “the principal challenges related to the realization of the human right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation and their impact on the achievement of Millennium Development Goals.”
The Summit on the Millennium Development Goals is approaching, and it is necessary to give a clear signal to the world that drinking water and sanitation are a human right, and that we will do everything possible to reach this goal, which we have only 5 more years to achieve.
That is why we are convinced of the importance of the second operative paragraph of this resolution, which “Calls upon States and international organizations to provide financial resources, capacity‐building and technology transfer, through international assistance and cooperation, in particular to developing countries, in order to scale up efforts to provide safe, clean, accessible and affordable drinking water and sanitation for all.”
All resolutions contain a passage that we can point to as the heart of the matter, and the heart of this resolution is in its first operative paragraph. Throughout many informal consultations, we have striven to accommodate the different concerns of the Member States, leaving aside issues that do not pertain to this resolution and always seeking balance, but without loosing the essence of the resolution.
The right to drinking water and sanitation is a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life.
Drinking water and sanitation are not only elements or principal components of other rights such as “the right to an adequate standard of living.” The right to drinking water and sanitation are independent rights that should be recognized as such. It is not sufficient to urge States to comply with their human rights obligations relative to access to drinking water and sanitation. Instead, it is necessary to call on states to promote and protect the human right to drinking water and sanitation.
Mr. President,
In our effort to seek transparency and understanding without losing perspective on the essence of this resolution, in the name of the cosponsors we would like to propose an oral amendment to the first operative paragraph of the resolution that would replace the word “declares” with the word “recognizes.”
Mr. President,
Before moving to the consideration of this resolution, I would like to ask all delegations to bear in mind the fact that, according to the 2009 report of the World Health Organization and UNICEF entitled “Diarrhoea: Why children are still dying and what can be done,” 24,000 children die in developing countries every day from preventable causes like diarrhea contracted from unclean water. That is one child death every 3.5 seconds.
One, two, three…
As my people say, “Now is the time.”
Thank you very much.
Source: Speech delivered by Ambassador Pablo Solón of the Plurinational State of Bolivia before the General Assembly of the United Nations on 28 July, 2010. “The Human Right to Water and Sanitation”. http://pwccc.wordpress.com/2010/07/28/speech-the-human-right-to-water-and-sanitation/
Regretfully a full consensus was not achieved and the resolution was approved with 122 votes in favour, none against and 41 abstentions. We are disappointed to note that our own Canadian government, the Conservative regime of Stephen Harper, abstained from the vote, giving no adequate explanation for this.
For the substance of this months blog, we provide below (verbatim) the full text of the speech by the Permanent Representative of the State of Bolivia, delivered July 28, 2010.
UN SPEECH: “The Human Right to Water and Sanitation”
Mr. President,
Allow me to begin the presentation of this Resolution by recalling that human beings are essentially water. Around two thirds of our organism is comprised of water. Some 75% of our brain is made up of water, and water is the principal vehicle for the electrochemical transmissions of our body.
Our blood flows like a network of rivers in our body. Blood helps transport nutrients and energy to our organism. Water also carries from our cells waste products for excretion. Water helps to regulate the temperature of our body.
The loss of 20% of body water can cause death. It is possible to survive for various weeks without food, but it is not possible to survive more than a few days without water. Water is life.
That is why, today, we present this historic resolution for the consideration of the plenary of the General Assembly on behalf of the cosponsoring countries of: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Benin, The Plurinational State of Bolivia, Burundi, Central African Republic, Congo, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Eritrea, Fiji, Georgia, Guinea, Haiti, Madagascar, Maldives, Mauritius, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Paraguay, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Seychelles, The Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Tuvalu, Uruguay, Vanuatu, The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and Yemen.
The right to health was originally recognized by the World Health Organization in 1946. In 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights declared “the right to life,” “the right to education,” and “the right to work,” among others.
In 1966, these were furthered in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights with the recognition of “the right to social security,” and “the right to an adequate standard of living,” including adequate food, clothing and adequate shelter.
However, the human right to water has continued to fail be fully recognized, despite clear references in various international legal instruments, such as: the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
This is why we, the cosponsors, present this resolution in order that we now recognize the human right to water and sanitation, at a time when illness caused by lack of drinking water and sanitation causes more deaths than does war.
Every year, 3.5 million people die of waterborne illness.
Diarrhea is the second largest cause of death among children under five. Lack of access to potable water kills more children than AIDS, malaria and smallpox combined.
Worldwide, approximately 1 in 8 people lack potable water.
In just one day, more than 200 million hours of women’s time is consumed by collecting and transporting water for domestic use.
The situation of lack of sanitation is far worse, for it affects 2.6 billion people, or 40% of the global population.
According to the report on sanitation by the Independent expert,
“Sanitation, more than many other human rights issue, evokes the concept of human dignity; consider the vulnerability and shame that so many people experience every day when, again, they are forced to defecate in the open, in a bucket or a plastic bag. It is the indignity of this situation that causes the embarrassment.”
The vast majority of illnesses around the world are caused by fecal matter. It is estimated that sanitation could reduce child death due to diarrhea by more than one third.
On any given day, half of the world’s hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from illnesses associated with lack of access to safe water and lack of sanitation.
Mr. President,
Human rights were not born as fully developed concepts, but are built on reality and experience. For example, the human rights to education and work included in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights were constructed and specified over time, with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and other international legal instruments such as the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The same will occur with the human right to water and sanitation.
That is why we emphasize and encourage in the third operative paragraph of this resolution that the independent expert continue working on all aspects of her mandate, and present to the General Assembly “the principal challenges related to the realization of the human right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation and their impact on the achievement of Millennium Development Goals.”
The Summit on the Millennium Development Goals is approaching, and it is necessary to give a clear signal to the world that drinking water and sanitation are a human right, and that we will do everything possible to reach this goal, which we have only 5 more years to achieve.
That is why we are convinced of the importance of the second operative paragraph of this resolution, which “Calls upon States and international organizations to provide financial resources, capacity‐building and technology transfer, through international assistance and cooperation, in particular to developing countries, in order to scale up efforts to provide safe, clean, accessible and affordable drinking water and sanitation for all.”
All resolutions contain a passage that we can point to as the heart of the matter, and the heart of this resolution is in its first operative paragraph. Throughout many informal consultations, we have striven to accommodate the different concerns of the Member States, leaving aside issues that do not pertain to this resolution and always seeking balance, but without loosing the essence of the resolution.
The right to drinking water and sanitation is a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life.
Drinking water and sanitation are not only elements or principal components of other rights such as “the right to an adequate standard of living.” The right to drinking water and sanitation are independent rights that should be recognized as such. It is not sufficient to urge States to comply with their human rights obligations relative to access to drinking water and sanitation. Instead, it is necessary to call on states to promote and protect the human right to drinking water and sanitation.
Mr. President,
In our effort to seek transparency and understanding without losing perspective on the essence of this resolution, in the name of the cosponsors we would like to propose an oral amendment to the first operative paragraph of the resolution that would replace the word “declares” with the word “recognizes.”
Mr. President,
Before moving to the consideration of this resolution, I would like to ask all delegations to bear in mind the fact that, according to the 2009 report of the World Health Organization and UNICEF entitled “Diarrhoea: Why children are still dying and what can be done,” 24,000 children die in developing countries every day from preventable causes like diarrhea contracted from unclean water. That is one child death every 3.5 seconds.
One, two, three…
As my people say, “Now is the time.”
Thank you very much.
Source: Speech delivered by Ambassador Pablo Solón of the Plurinational State of Bolivia before the General Assembly of the United Nations on 28 July, 2010. “The Human Right to Water and Sanitation”. http://pwccc.wordpress.com/2010/07/28/speech-the-human-right-to-water-and-sanitation/
Sunday 11 July 2010
FOOTBALL WORLD CUP PROMOTES SPORTS AS A FORCE FOR WORLD PEACE
PREAMBLE: We take the opportunity of the World Cup concluding today, to issue our blog a few days earlier than usual. This is a timely moment to take note of initiatives to bond international sport to the cause of world peace.
Congratulations are due to South Africa for its success in hosting this year’s event with evident warmth, safety and competence; this nation, more than most, symbolizes the universal striving for world peace, in its peaceful overthrowing of apartheid, and efforts to seek truth and reconciliation in its internal affairs. A standard is set for others to follow - we can all learn from South Africa.
We congratulate Spain as winners, and all other countries who competed, even those not selected to play in south Africa. We are sufficiently old-fashioned to think that participation lies at the heart of all sport; after all, without participants, there will be no ultimate "winner". With participation, at a more fundamental level, everyone is a "winner".
Our selection of this topic is not a new idea, but reflects a growing reality over many years that sports can be a force for international relations. Historically, this force has been used in various ways, from negative to positive. However, taking the high road, we note the following development in 2006:
In July 2006, the European Commission and the Fédération Internationale de Football Associations (FIFA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to promote football as a factor for development in Africa, in the Caribbean and in Pacific countries. According to the Commission, around 50 million people across Africa play football regularly and for many of these people, football is "an act of survival" and a means of rebuilding confidence and promoting tolerance and solidarity. It believes that linking football with development programmes can help make a difference to the lives of millions of people.
The Commission-FIFA MoU covers areas ranging from development cooperation and humanitarian aid to racism, post-conflict reconstruction, nation-building, health and education.
This background is extracted from the webpage cited below for the article which we showcase as this months blog topic.
SPORT FOR DEVELOPMENT PLAN ADOPTED
Ahead of the football World Cup in South Africa,... the United Nations (UN) together with the International Olympic Committee (IOC)... adopted a series of recommendations on harnessing the power of sport as a tool for development. The 19 recommendations cover humanitarian assistance, peace-building, education, gender equality, the environment and the fight against HIV/AIDS. They were adopted on 21-22 May during the first joint UN-IOC forum, entitled 'The Importance of Partnership', in Lausanne. The participants, including NGOs and academic experts, stressed the need to embed sport in national development policies to leverage its instrumental potential in the field. The forum also underlined the need to avoid creating parallel structures between the various different players and duplicating activities.
2010 FIFA World Cup
In the forum, the UN stressed that this year's football World Cup, which kicks off in South Africa on Friday (11 June), presents the country and the rest of the continent with a unique opportunity to build peace and development. "The World Cup in South Africa is a unique occasion to transform the African people's pride and enthusiasm into a positive dynamic of solidarity, tolerance and development," said Wilfried Lemke, special adviser to the UN secretary-general on sport for development and peace. A number of UN funds, programmes and specialized agencies are making use of the World Cup as a platform for outreach and collaboration to leverage the power of the event. Last October, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution urging the international community to harness the World Cup for the development of the whole African continent.
Action plan on development through football
Earlier this spring, representatives of 63 development NGOs, football clubs, players' unions, sport organisations, academic institutions and governmental bodies gathered at an international conference on “Development through Football” in Vienna to adopt an action plan on football for development. The action plan calls for football governing bodies to support initiatives in the area of development through sport, especially at grass-roots level, and assign at least 0.7% of total revenue to social responsibility initiatives, for example. It further suggests the establishment of a strategy to raise media awareness of development through sport and using football as a tool for preventing violence, gender inequality, ethnic tensions and war.
Source: United Nations Office on Sport for Development and Peace (UNOSDP) http://www.euractiv.com/en/sports/sport-development-plan-adopted-ahead-world-cup-news-494939 07 June 2010
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. To recognise the honour accorded to the IOC through the
granting of UN Permanent Observer Status and the historic
milestone which this represents in giving an authoritative voice
to the sporting movement within the international community,
with the power to act as an advocate for the role of sport in the
service of peace and development.
2. To resolve to maximise the opportunity afforded by the granting of Observer Status to build on the IOC’s relationship with the UN and to sustain and complement the UN’s efforts to shape a peaceful future. Furthermore, mindful of the need for close cooperation with government authorities, to leverage this unique and seminal opportunity to interface with and influence national governments in the formulation of their development policies and to entrench sport within those policies by emphasizing its enormous power as an indispensable tool for peace and development.
3. To emphasise that it is incumbent on the Olympic Movement to
fulfil its collective responsibility and moral duty, in accordance
with the principles and values of Olympism, by identifying and
implementing best practice in the use of sport to promote
economic and social development; and further, to recognise the
need to think beyond the competitive character of sport to
maximise its contribution to development.
4. Mindful of the fact that the IOC will need to be proactive in its
relationship with the UN, to prioritise a dialogue with the UN on
the mainstreaming and embedding of sport within UN
programmes for humanitarian development and to seek the
UN’s active support and specific proposals with regard to this
undertaking.
5. To acknowledge and harness the power of partnership in sport
at all levels, from local, regional, international and sectoral, in
order to translate the vision of a peaceful, healthy society into
reality; and to recognise the need for a collaborative, sharing,
networking and learning approach which engages all key
stakeholders including the private sector, civil society and the
military. Furthermore, to facilitate all such partnerships by
building new alliances, defining new areas of co-operation,
creating fresh synergies and identifying the organisations and
institutions with whom the Olympic Movement can most
effectively collaborate to further our common goals, while at the
same time mindful of the need for a co-ordinated approach,
which complements ongoing initiatives and avoids the creation
of parallel structures and the unnecessary duplication and
overlap of activities.
6. To develop the IOC’s working relationships with the Other
Entities who have Permanent Observer Status at the UN in
order to realise our common goals, in particular the Red Cross
Movement, given their similar structures and shared objectives;
and to encourage the national affiliates of the International
Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and
the NOCs to work together, particularly in areas where they
have joint programming activities, such as in the field of
HIV/AIDs, disaster prevention and disaster response.
7. To underline the commitment of the Olympic Movement to
continue its efforts to combat HIV/AIDs, including the
dissemination of the ‘Tool Kit for the Sports Community:
Together for HIV and AIDS Prevention’, as widely as possible.
8. To recognise the contribution that the IOC has made in support
of the UN Millennium Development Goals to date and to stress,
on the occasion of this UN-IOC Forum, the Olympic Family’s
continuing commitment to engage with all of the MDGs and to
accelerate efforts to facilitate their delivery specifically through
the medium of sport and education by the 2015 target date,
including appropriate IOC participation in the UN Summit on
MDGs in September 2010.
9. To recognise the responsibility of the sporting movement to
strive for environmental protection and sustainability at all times:
and to commit the Olympic Family to the promotion of
environmental sustainability in all aspects of its work.
10. To acknowledge the unique contribution of the forthcoming
Youth Olympic Games in the promotion of Olympic values to
young people, including peace and development, and to
recognise the importance of outreach to young people in
tackling social challenges, by taking steps to connect with them
effectively, making full use of digital communications, the
internet and social media. Furthermore, in recognition of the
fact that the education system is the most comprehensive way
of reaching young people, to work with all relevant partners and
stakeholders, in particular national and local government
authorities, to ensure that the promotion of participation in sport
and physical activities is included in school curricula worldwide
in view of the contribution of sport to health, wellbeing and
education.
11. To commend the achievements of the International Olympic
Truce Foundation in its endeavour to encourage the study of
world peace and the creation of progress in its pursuits; and in
addition, the achievements of the World Taekwondo Federation
Sport Peace Corps in its successful outreach to young people
and its aims of building a better and more peaceful world; and
to advocate the consideration of its global expansion, in close
cooperation with key stakeholders, including the IOC, the UN,
national and international sports federations and NOCs, firmly
believing that together, we have the ability to promote global
peace and harmony through sport.
12. Mindful of the priority given to gender equity and the
empowerment of women in the UN Millennium Development
Goals, to affirm the importance of sport as a vehicle for the
achievement of gender equality and to continue to strive for
equal opportunities for women in and through sport, both at
grass roots levels and in leadership positions, while avoiding
generalised, one-size-fits-all approaches. Furthermore, to give
full recognition to the high-quality female role models in sport
and to increase the target number of women in leadership
positions and decision-making structures within the Olympic
Family and in the wider sporting world.
13. To ensure a fully inclusive approach, additionally by making
it a priority to include girls and women with disabilities in sport
for development and peace initiatives.
14. To resolve to promote more health-enhancing initiatives, in
particular to tailor and develop activities designed to reach
inactive groups and to forge new alliances with all stakeholders,
including public health authorities and the WHO for the purpose
of promoting healthy lifestyles and addressing the challenges of
obesity, poor nutrition and ill health.
15. To recognise that while sport alone cannot prevent the evils
of society and solve the world’s political socio-economic
problems, it can contribute to a climate of peace and to the
making of improved life for its citizens. That being the case, to
reflect on how to implement the UN Secretary-General’s
request for the IOC to consider organising more activities on the
ground in conflict or post-conflict situations and to identify
appropriate partners in this endeavour, both with UN agencies
and elsewhere, while remaining humble and realistic about the
contribution that the IOC and sport can make to peace-making,
peace-building and peace consolidation efforts.
16. To consider the creation of a web-based informationsharing
network for sport in peace and development, through
which information, expertise and know-how on local, national
and regional initiatives, case studies, research, best practice
and impact measurement and evaluation of projects can be
shared by all members of the Olympic Family.
17. To explore further the vast potential of ‘healing through
sport’, both in post-conflict situations and in equipping
communities to cope with the profound trauma caused by
natural disasters, recognising the need to customize sports
interventions according to the situation on the ground and the
need for collaborative efforts with established local community
development networks including coaches and volunteers, as
well as with UN agencies and NGOs, to build resilience and
create durable, sustainable change within devastated
communities.
18. To recognise the enormous contribution of volunteers to
efforts to advance peace and development through sport and to
encourage the IOC and the Olympic Family to participate in the
celebrations during 2011 to mark the 10th anniversary of the
International Year of Volunteers.
19. To recommend the holding of further UN-IOC Forums and
the continuation of the Working Party of the International Forum
on Sport for Peace and Development established by the
President of the IOC, whose remit would include the provision
of full assistance with all aspects of the preparation of the
second International Forum on Sport for Peace and
Development as well as a comprehensive review of the
outcome of the 2010 UN-IOC Forum.
Source: United Nations Office on Sport for Development and Peace (UNOSDP). UN-IOC FORUM: THE IMPORTANCE OF PARTNERSHIP Lausanne 21st-22nd May 2010. http://www.olympic.org/Documents/Development_through_Sport/Recommendations_UN-IOC%20Forum.pdf
Congratulations are due to South Africa for its success in hosting this year’s event with evident warmth, safety and competence; this nation, more than most, symbolizes the universal striving for world peace, in its peaceful overthrowing of apartheid, and efforts to seek truth and reconciliation in its internal affairs. A standard is set for others to follow - we can all learn from South Africa.
We congratulate Spain as winners, and all other countries who competed, even those not selected to play in south Africa. We are sufficiently old-fashioned to think that participation lies at the heart of all sport; after all, without participants, there will be no ultimate "winner". With participation, at a more fundamental level, everyone is a "winner".
Our selection of this topic is not a new idea, but reflects a growing reality over many years that sports can be a force for international relations. Historically, this force has been used in various ways, from negative to positive. However, taking the high road, we note the following development in 2006:
In July 2006, the European Commission and the Fédération Internationale de Football Associations (FIFA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to promote football as a factor for development in Africa, in the Caribbean and in Pacific countries. According to the Commission, around 50 million people across Africa play football regularly and for many of these people, football is "an act of survival" and a means of rebuilding confidence and promoting tolerance and solidarity. It believes that linking football with development programmes can help make a difference to the lives of millions of people.
The Commission-FIFA MoU covers areas ranging from development cooperation and humanitarian aid to racism, post-conflict reconstruction, nation-building, health and education.
This background is extracted from the webpage cited below for the article which we showcase as this months blog topic.
SPORT FOR DEVELOPMENT PLAN ADOPTED
Ahead of the football World Cup in South Africa,... the United Nations (UN) together with the International Olympic Committee (IOC)... adopted a series of recommendations on harnessing the power of sport as a tool for development. The 19 recommendations cover humanitarian assistance, peace-building, education, gender equality, the environment and the fight against HIV/AIDS. They were adopted on 21-22 May during the first joint UN-IOC forum, entitled 'The Importance of Partnership', in Lausanne. The participants, including NGOs and academic experts, stressed the need to embed sport in national development policies to leverage its instrumental potential in the field. The forum also underlined the need to avoid creating parallel structures between the various different players and duplicating activities.
2010 FIFA World Cup
In the forum, the UN stressed that this year's football World Cup, which kicks off in South Africa on Friday (11 June), presents the country and the rest of the continent with a unique opportunity to build peace and development. "The World Cup in South Africa is a unique occasion to transform the African people's pride and enthusiasm into a positive dynamic of solidarity, tolerance and development," said Wilfried Lemke, special adviser to the UN secretary-general on sport for development and peace. A number of UN funds, programmes and specialized agencies are making use of the World Cup as a platform for outreach and collaboration to leverage the power of the event. Last October, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution urging the international community to harness the World Cup for the development of the whole African continent.
Action plan on development through football
Earlier this spring, representatives of 63 development NGOs, football clubs, players' unions, sport organisations, academic institutions and governmental bodies gathered at an international conference on “Development through Football” in Vienna to adopt an action plan on football for development. The action plan calls for football governing bodies to support initiatives in the area of development through sport, especially at grass-roots level, and assign at least 0.7% of total revenue to social responsibility initiatives, for example. It further suggests the establishment of a strategy to raise media awareness of development through sport and using football as a tool for preventing violence, gender inequality, ethnic tensions and war.
Source: United Nations Office on Sport for Development and Peace (UNOSDP) http://www.euractiv.com/en/sports/sport-development-plan-adopted-ahead-world-cup-news-494939 07 June 2010
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. To recognise the honour accorded to the IOC through the
granting of UN Permanent Observer Status and the historic
milestone which this represents in giving an authoritative voice
to the sporting movement within the international community,
with the power to act as an advocate for the role of sport in the
service of peace and development.
2. To resolve to maximise the opportunity afforded by the granting of Observer Status to build on the IOC’s relationship with the UN and to sustain and complement the UN’s efforts to shape a peaceful future. Furthermore, mindful of the need for close cooperation with government authorities, to leverage this unique and seminal opportunity to interface with and influence national governments in the formulation of their development policies and to entrench sport within those policies by emphasizing its enormous power as an indispensable tool for peace and development.
3. To emphasise that it is incumbent on the Olympic Movement to
fulfil its collective responsibility and moral duty, in accordance
with the principles and values of Olympism, by identifying and
implementing best practice in the use of sport to promote
economic and social development; and further, to recognise the
need to think beyond the competitive character of sport to
maximise its contribution to development.
4. Mindful of the fact that the IOC will need to be proactive in its
relationship with the UN, to prioritise a dialogue with the UN on
the mainstreaming and embedding of sport within UN
programmes for humanitarian development and to seek the
UN’s active support and specific proposals with regard to this
undertaking.
5. To acknowledge and harness the power of partnership in sport
at all levels, from local, regional, international and sectoral, in
order to translate the vision of a peaceful, healthy society into
reality; and to recognise the need for a collaborative, sharing,
networking and learning approach which engages all key
stakeholders including the private sector, civil society and the
military. Furthermore, to facilitate all such partnerships by
building new alliances, defining new areas of co-operation,
creating fresh synergies and identifying the organisations and
institutions with whom the Olympic Movement can most
effectively collaborate to further our common goals, while at the
same time mindful of the need for a co-ordinated approach,
which complements ongoing initiatives and avoids the creation
of parallel structures and the unnecessary duplication and
overlap of activities.
6. To develop the IOC’s working relationships with the Other
Entities who have Permanent Observer Status at the UN in
order to realise our common goals, in particular the Red Cross
Movement, given their similar structures and shared objectives;
and to encourage the national affiliates of the International
Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and
the NOCs to work together, particularly in areas where they
have joint programming activities, such as in the field of
HIV/AIDs, disaster prevention and disaster response.
7. To underline the commitment of the Olympic Movement to
continue its efforts to combat HIV/AIDs, including the
dissemination of the ‘Tool Kit for the Sports Community:
Together for HIV and AIDS Prevention’, as widely as possible.
8. To recognise the contribution that the IOC has made in support
of the UN Millennium Development Goals to date and to stress,
on the occasion of this UN-IOC Forum, the Olympic Family’s
continuing commitment to engage with all of the MDGs and to
accelerate efforts to facilitate their delivery specifically through
the medium of sport and education by the 2015 target date,
including appropriate IOC participation in the UN Summit on
MDGs in September 2010.
9. To recognise the responsibility of the sporting movement to
strive for environmental protection and sustainability at all times:
and to commit the Olympic Family to the promotion of
environmental sustainability in all aspects of its work.
10. To acknowledge the unique contribution of the forthcoming
Youth Olympic Games in the promotion of Olympic values to
young people, including peace and development, and to
recognise the importance of outreach to young people in
tackling social challenges, by taking steps to connect with them
effectively, making full use of digital communications, the
internet and social media. Furthermore, in recognition of the
fact that the education system is the most comprehensive way
of reaching young people, to work with all relevant partners and
stakeholders, in particular national and local government
authorities, to ensure that the promotion of participation in sport
and physical activities is included in school curricula worldwide
in view of the contribution of sport to health, wellbeing and
education.
11. To commend the achievements of the International Olympic
Truce Foundation in its endeavour to encourage the study of
world peace and the creation of progress in its pursuits; and in
addition, the achievements of the World Taekwondo Federation
Sport Peace Corps in its successful outreach to young people
and its aims of building a better and more peaceful world; and
to advocate the consideration of its global expansion, in close
cooperation with key stakeholders, including the IOC, the UN,
national and international sports federations and NOCs, firmly
believing that together, we have the ability to promote global
peace and harmony through sport.
12. Mindful of the priority given to gender equity and the
empowerment of women in the UN Millennium Development
Goals, to affirm the importance of sport as a vehicle for the
achievement of gender equality and to continue to strive for
equal opportunities for women in and through sport, both at
grass roots levels and in leadership positions, while avoiding
generalised, one-size-fits-all approaches. Furthermore, to give
full recognition to the high-quality female role models in sport
and to increase the target number of women in leadership
positions and decision-making structures within the Olympic
Family and in the wider sporting world.
13. To ensure a fully inclusive approach, additionally by making
it a priority to include girls and women with disabilities in sport
for development and peace initiatives.
14. To resolve to promote more health-enhancing initiatives, in
particular to tailor and develop activities designed to reach
inactive groups and to forge new alliances with all stakeholders,
including public health authorities and the WHO for the purpose
of promoting healthy lifestyles and addressing the challenges of
obesity, poor nutrition and ill health.
15. To recognise that while sport alone cannot prevent the evils
of society and solve the world’s political socio-economic
problems, it can contribute to a climate of peace and to the
making of improved life for its citizens. That being the case, to
reflect on how to implement the UN Secretary-General’s
request for the IOC to consider organising more activities on the
ground in conflict or post-conflict situations and to identify
appropriate partners in this endeavour, both with UN agencies
and elsewhere, while remaining humble and realistic about the
contribution that the IOC and sport can make to peace-making,
peace-building and peace consolidation efforts.
16. To consider the creation of a web-based informationsharing
network for sport in peace and development, through
which information, expertise and know-how on local, national
and regional initiatives, case studies, research, best practice
and impact measurement and evaluation of projects can be
shared by all members of the Olympic Family.
17. To explore further the vast potential of ‘healing through
sport’, both in post-conflict situations and in equipping
communities to cope with the profound trauma caused by
natural disasters, recognising the need to customize sports
interventions according to the situation on the ground and the
need for collaborative efforts with established local community
development networks including coaches and volunteers, as
well as with UN agencies and NGOs, to build resilience and
create durable, sustainable change within devastated
communities.
18. To recognise the enormous contribution of volunteers to
efforts to advance peace and development through sport and to
encourage the IOC and the Olympic Family to participate in the
celebrations during 2011 to mark the 10th anniversary of the
International Year of Volunteers.
19. To recommend the holding of further UN-IOC Forums and
the continuation of the Working Party of the International Forum
on Sport for Peace and Development established by the
President of the IOC, whose remit would include the provision
of full assistance with all aspects of the preparation of the
second International Forum on Sport for Peace and
Development as well as a comprehensive review of the
outcome of the 2010 UN-IOC Forum.
Source: United Nations Office on Sport for Development and Peace (UNOSDP). UN-IOC FORUM: THE IMPORTANCE OF PARTNERSHIP Lausanne 21st-22nd May 2010. http://www.olympic.org/Documents/Development_through_Sport/Recommendations_UN-IOC%20Forum.pdf
Tuesday 15 June 2010
THE GAZA FOG OF ASYMMETRICAL VIOLENCE Need for International Inquiry
PREAMBLE: For this issue we present verbatim, a recent report by Amnesty International which outlines the desperate situation of the people of Gaza due to the Israeli blockade. While this seemingly archaic military tactic continues to be excused by Israel as an act of self-defence, independent analyses have revealed this to be capricious in terms of the range of prohibited items, and it is obviously counter-productive to the peace effort although apparently good politics in Israel itself. On the ground however, the situation is nothing less than a humanitarian disaster, especially as over half the Gaza population are children.
Regarding the boarding of a relief ship on which 9 relief workers were killed by Israeli military, while it is obvious that this must be subjected to an internal inquiry, it is doubtful that this will prove satisfactory in the eyes of world opinion. An international inquiry appears to be in order, as proposed by the United Nations and many countries which have voiced criticisms of Israel's blockade.
We also note that the Harper government of Canada has aligned itself so completely with the Israeli position that it appears to have lost the capacity for impartial analysis. The presence on the Israeli tribunal of a former Canadian military judge advocate (one of only two international observors) will surely be tainted by this, at least as a matter of perception. For a June 14 BBC article on the tribunal membership, see: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/middle_east/10309872.stm
In the present politically disingenuous fog of asymmetrical violence, organizations such as Amnesty Internatinal play an indispensable role in bringing an independent view to bear on this example of massive unresolved human rights abuse.
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT:
Suffocating Gaza - the Israeli blockade's effects on Palestinians
Israel's military blockade of Gaza has left more than 1.4 million Palestinian men, women and children trapped in the Gaza Strip, an area of land just 40 kilometres long and 9.5 kilometres wide.
Mass unemployment, extreme poverty and food price rises caused by shortages have left four in five Gazans dependent on humanitarian aid. As a form of collective punishment, Israel’s continuing blockade of Gaza is a flagrant violation of international law.
The situation in Gaza has been made worse by the Egyptian government’s general closure of the Rafah crossing, although this was opened following the deaths of activists on the Gaza flotilla.
However, it is Israel, as the occupying power, that bears the foremost responsibility for ensuring the welfare of the inhabitants of Gaza.
Closed crossings
Since the blockade of Gaza was imposed in June 2007, none of the Israeli-controlled crossings between Gaza and Israel has been open in a regular or consistent way, and relatively little aid is getting through.
The one other land crossing at Rafah, on the border between Gaza and Egypt, is kept shut most of the time. The closures prevent the movement of Palestinians into and out of Gaza in all but a handful of cases, generally in exceptional humanitarian cases.
Basic goods
The blockade prohibits most exports and restricts the entry of basic goods, including food and fuel. Much of the available food is provided by the UN and other aid agencies, or smuggled in through tunnels running under the Egypt-Gaza border and then sold on at exorbitantly high prices to Gaza’s beleaguered residents.
The situation has been made worse by the Egyptian government’s construction of a steel wall along the border at Rafah to disrupt the cross-border smuggling that has become Gaza’s lifeline, as well as the bombing of tunnels by the Israeli airforce.
Economic collapse
Rather than targeting armed groups, the blockade mainly hits the most vulnerable, such as children (who make up more than half of the population in Gaza), the elderly, the sick and the Gaza Strip's large refugee population.
According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the number of refugees living in abject poverty in the Gaza Strip has tripled since the blockade began. These families lack the means to purchase even the most basic items, including soap, school materials and clean drinking water. According to the UN, more than 60 per cent of households are currently "food insecure".
Lack of facilities
There are worsening problems with the supply of electricity in the Gaza Strip, with many residents enduring 8-12 hours of power cuts each day. There are also recurrent shortages of cooking gas, requiring the implementation of a rationing scheme in which hospitals and bakeries are prioritized.
Aid blocked
While Israel allows some humanitarian supplies from international aid agencies into Gaza, these are strictly limited and frequently delayed. UN agencies have said that additional storage and transportation costs incurred from delays due to the blockade totalled around $5 million in 2009.
Health
Gaza's health sector has been plagued by shortages in equipment and medical supplies during the blockade.
Following the Israeli closure of crossings, people with medical conditions that cannot be treated in Gaza have been required to apply for permits to leave the territory to receive treatment in either foreign hospitals or Palestinian hospitals in the West Bank.
The Israeli authorities frequently delay or refuse these permits; some Gazans have died while waiting to obtain permits to leave the territory for medical treatment elsewhere.
World Health Organization (WHO) trucks of medical equipment bound for Gazan hospitals have repeatedly been turned away, without explanation, by Israeli border officials.
The Gaza conflict
From 27 December 2008 to 18 January 2009, Gaza was subjected to a devastating Israeli military offensive – Operation “Cast Lead” – which Israel said it carried out to stop Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups firing indiscriminate rockets into Israel.
More then 1,380 Palestinians were killed, including more than 300 children and other civilians, and thousands were injured. Many thousands of homes were destroyed or severely damaged, as were the electricity and water systems. Civilian buildings, including hospitals and schools, were also damaged or destroyed by Israeli attacks.
Operation “Cast Lead” pushed the humanitarian crisis in Gaza to catastrophic levels. Since it concluded, the blockade has severely hampered or prevented reconstruction efforts. With many construction materials barred or limited by Israel, Gaza’s inhabitants are unable to rebuild their shattered lives.
Continued violence
In November 2009, Hamas declared a unilateral cessation of rocket fire, although this has since been breached on several occasions by members of Palestinian armed groups.
Since the ceasefire following Operation “Cast Lead” in January 2009, one person in southern Israel has been killed by mortars and rockets fired by Palestinian armed groups.
Israeli military forces, meanwhile, have conducted regular raids into Gaza and have continued to bomb the tunnels under the border at Rafah used for smuggling between Gaza and Egypt. In the year following Operation “Cast Lead”, 71 Palestinians were killed and 130 injured in the Gaza tunnels from tunnel collapse, accidents or airstrikes.
Israeli soldiers also continue to shoot at Palestinian farmers, fishermen and other civilians when they venture near Gaza’s perimeter or approach the three nautical mile limit that Israel imposes on Gaza’s coastline causing deaths and injuries.
Collective punishment
The Israeli authorities have put forward a range of justifications for the blockade - saying variously that it is a response to attacks from Palestinian armed groups, a reaction to the continued holding of the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, and a means to pressure the Hamas de facto administration.
But whatever its stated justification, the blockade is collectively punishing the entire population of Gaza, the majority of whom are children, rather than targeting the Hamas administration or armed groups.
SOURCE: Amnesty International June 1, 2010. http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/suffocating-gaza-israeli-blockades-effects-palestinians-2010-06-01
Regarding the boarding of a relief ship on which 9 relief workers were killed by Israeli military, while it is obvious that this must be subjected to an internal inquiry, it is doubtful that this will prove satisfactory in the eyes of world opinion. An international inquiry appears to be in order, as proposed by the United Nations and many countries which have voiced criticisms of Israel's blockade.
We also note that the Harper government of Canada has aligned itself so completely with the Israeli position that it appears to have lost the capacity for impartial analysis. The presence on the Israeli tribunal of a former Canadian military judge advocate (one of only two international observors) will surely be tainted by this, at least as a matter of perception. For a June 14 BBC article on the tribunal membership, see: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/middle_east/10309872.stm
In the present politically disingenuous fog of asymmetrical violence, organizations such as Amnesty Internatinal play an indispensable role in bringing an independent view to bear on this example of massive unresolved human rights abuse.
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT:
Suffocating Gaza - the Israeli blockade's effects on Palestinians
Israel's military blockade of Gaza has left more than 1.4 million Palestinian men, women and children trapped in the Gaza Strip, an area of land just 40 kilometres long and 9.5 kilometres wide.
Mass unemployment, extreme poverty and food price rises caused by shortages have left four in five Gazans dependent on humanitarian aid. As a form of collective punishment, Israel’s continuing blockade of Gaza is a flagrant violation of international law.
The situation in Gaza has been made worse by the Egyptian government’s general closure of the Rafah crossing, although this was opened following the deaths of activists on the Gaza flotilla.
However, it is Israel, as the occupying power, that bears the foremost responsibility for ensuring the welfare of the inhabitants of Gaza.
Closed crossings
Since the blockade of Gaza was imposed in June 2007, none of the Israeli-controlled crossings between Gaza and Israel has been open in a regular or consistent way, and relatively little aid is getting through.
The one other land crossing at Rafah, on the border between Gaza and Egypt, is kept shut most of the time. The closures prevent the movement of Palestinians into and out of Gaza in all but a handful of cases, generally in exceptional humanitarian cases.
Basic goods
The blockade prohibits most exports and restricts the entry of basic goods, including food and fuel. Much of the available food is provided by the UN and other aid agencies, or smuggled in through tunnels running under the Egypt-Gaza border and then sold on at exorbitantly high prices to Gaza’s beleaguered residents.
The situation has been made worse by the Egyptian government’s construction of a steel wall along the border at Rafah to disrupt the cross-border smuggling that has become Gaza’s lifeline, as well as the bombing of tunnels by the Israeli airforce.
Economic collapse
Rather than targeting armed groups, the blockade mainly hits the most vulnerable, such as children (who make up more than half of the population in Gaza), the elderly, the sick and the Gaza Strip's large refugee population.
According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the number of refugees living in abject poverty in the Gaza Strip has tripled since the blockade began. These families lack the means to purchase even the most basic items, including soap, school materials and clean drinking water. According to the UN, more than 60 per cent of households are currently "food insecure".
Lack of facilities
There are worsening problems with the supply of electricity in the Gaza Strip, with many residents enduring 8-12 hours of power cuts each day. There are also recurrent shortages of cooking gas, requiring the implementation of a rationing scheme in which hospitals and bakeries are prioritized.
Aid blocked
While Israel allows some humanitarian supplies from international aid agencies into Gaza, these are strictly limited and frequently delayed. UN agencies have said that additional storage and transportation costs incurred from delays due to the blockade totalled around $5 million in 2009.
Health
Gaza's health sector has been plagued by shortages in equipment and medical supplies during the blockade.
Following the Israeli closure of crossings, people with medical conditions that cannot be treated in Gaza have been required to apply for permits to leave the territory to receive treatment in either foreign hospitals or Palestinian hospitals in the West Bank.
The Israeli authorities frequently delay or refuse these permits; some Gazans have died while waiting to obtain permits to leave the territory for medical treatment elsewhere.
World Health Organization (WHO) trucks of medical equipment bound for Gazan hospitals have repeatedly been turned away, without explanation, by Israeli border officials.
The Gaza conflict
From 27 December 2008 to 18 January 2009, Gaza was subjected to a devastating Israeli military offensive – Operation “Cast Lead” – which Israel said it carried out to stop Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups firing indiscriminate rockets into Israel.
More then 1,380 Palestinians were killed, including more than 300 children and other civilians, and thousands were injured. Many thousands of homes were destroyed or severely damaged, as were the electricity and water systems. Civilian buildings, including hospitals and schools, were also damaged or destroyed by Israeli attacks.
Operation “Cast Lead” pushed the humanitarian crisis in Gaza to catastrophic levels. Since it concluded, the blockade has severely hampered or prevented reconstruction efforts. With many construction materials barred or limited by Israel, Gaza’s inhabitants are unable to rebuild their shattered lives.
Continued violence
In November 2009, Hamas declared a unilateral cessation of rocket fire, although this has since been breached on several occasions by members of Palestinian armed groups.
Since the ceasefire following Operation “Cast Lead” in January 2009, one person in southern Israel has been killed by mortars and rockets fired by Palestinian armed groups.
Israeli military forces, meanwhile, have conducted regular raids into Gaza and have continued to bomb the tunnels under the border at Rafah used for smuggling between Gaza and Egypt. In the year following Operation “Cast Lead”, 71 Palestinians were killed and 130 injured in the Gaza tunnels from tunnel collapse, accidents or airstrikes.
Israeli soldiers also continue to shoot at Palestinian farmers, fishermen and other civilians when they venture near Gaza’s perimeter or approach the three nautical mile limit that Israel imposes on Gaza’s coastline causing deaths and injuries.
Collective punishment
The Israeli authorities have put forward a range of justifications for the blockade - saying variously that it is a response to attacks from Palestinian armed groups, a reaction to the continued holding of the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, and a means to pressure the Hamas de facto administration.
But whatever its stated justification, the blockade is collectively punishing the entire population of Gaza, the majority of whom are children, rather than targeting the Hamas administration or armed groups.
SOURCE: Amnesty International June 1, 2010. http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/suffocating-gaza-israeli-blockades-effects-palestinians-2010-06-01
Friday 14 May 2010
MATERNAL MORTALITY – AN INTEGRITY TEST FOR POLITICIANS
PREAMBLE: One of the world’s most intractable public health problems is the high mortality of women due to pregnancy related causes. Over several decades (until recently), maternal mortality in developing countries appears to have been non-responsive to a range of interventions, perhaps because of inadequate intervention design or the inability to scale these to a level that can have impact on population health. In many countries, social and health policies that could facilitate the status of women, particularly in their right to make independent decisions with regard to their own health, have remained underdeveloped; it is of low priority in the world’s male-dominated political systems. Health services also have been inadequate to help lower maternal mortality: insufficient attention to prevention and inadequate access to treatment services of quality when critically needed.
Most donor countries recognize maternal health as a global public health priority. However, in Canada (under the regime of Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper), this global imperative is being sacrificed to partisan politics of the most ill-informed kind: it risks becoming a platform for the “religious right” to rail against the use of donor funds for abortion rather than to address in a holistic manner the most important needs of women that can assure improvement in their health.
Only last year, the administration of US President Barack Obama rescinded the global “gag order” of the preceding Bush regime, that required recipients of US aid – even in the realm of reproductive health – to deny access to safe abortion services if accepting US funds. This enlightened policy shift brings the US international development policy in line with that of the global community generally. It is ironic therefore that Canada – once a leader in this respect – appears to be taking a giant step backwards. Given the removal of access to safe abortions from the frame of reference, it is extremely doubtful that a recent Request for Proposals to guide the policy of the Canadian government in this regard, could attract anyone with a rigorous track record in this area of international health development.
Taking Africa as an example, as the recent "African Century" series of articles in the Globe and Mail (ref: May 11, 2010 issue) makes clear, more than 90% of Africans live in countries where abortion is restricted. It is legally prohibited in 14, while in others it is only permitted only to preserve the life or physical health of the woman. As a result, virtually all of the estimated 5.6 million abortions performed annually in Africa are unsafe, carrying with an unconscionable risk of complications and death.
Simply put, along with access to contraception, antenatal care, safe deliveries, reliable transportation to advanced care when this is urgently required (otherwise known as emergency obstetric care, which includes surgical intervention if needed as well as prompt treatment of post-partum infection and hemorrhage), access to safe abortion is part of any coherent plan to improve reproductive health and reduce maternal mortality. Knowing all this, and both the health and international development arms of the Canadian government surely should know this, to specifically and deliberately exclude funding of safe abortions in an aid package aimed at reducing maternal mortality would render the donor complicit in those deaths.
We labeled this issue “Maternal Mortality – an Integrity Test for Politicians” after realizing that many politicians are intellectually challenged by the technical nature of what is scientifically sound evidence regarding the nature of the problem at hand, and what works or doesn’t in addressing it. It is also an ethical test… in essence whether they (the ruling political party) are in it for cheap political gains among their home base, or whether higher reasoning will prevail in the interests of the health of millions of women around the world. Just how the G8 countries deal with this in their upcoming meetings will be a direct reflection of their collective political integrity. Based on public utterances to date, it seems like all the G8 countries except Canada may pass this test.
For the lead item of this month’s blog, we therefore attach below the polite but authoritative view of the Lancet on Canada’s G8 Leadership. This we follow by the first good news in many decades, that maternal mortality globally is finally being reduced.
CANADA'S G8 HEALTH LEADERSHIP
The Lancet May 8th, 2010
As a World Report in The Lancet today shows, Canada's pledge, as host of this year's G8 Summit, to make maternal and child health one of its key issues is moving forward. At a meeting in Halifax, Nova Scotia (April 27—28), the G8 development ministers agreed to back Canada's provisional set of principles to improve the health of women and children in developing nations.
Canada should be praised for making maternal and child health a priority issue for the G8. As an Article by Margaret Hogan and colleagues in today's issue shows, around 350 000 women die during childbirth every year. 9 million children younger than 5 years also die every year. Most of these deaths are preventable. Canada's health plan to address this situation is still thin on details but it promises to include training and support for frontline health workers; better nutrition and provision of micronutrients; treatment and prevention of diseases such as pneumonia, diarrhoea, malaria, and sepsis; screening and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS; family planning; immunisation; and clean water and sanitation.
However, a few key elements are missing from the framework. For example, there is no talk of emergency obstetric care. This omission is likely to be an oversight and should be rectified. Improving access to safe abortion services is also absent from the plan. Sadly, this omission is no accident, but a conscious decision by Canada's Conservative Government not to support groups that undertake abortions in developing countries.
This stance must change. 70 000 women die from unsafe abortions worldwide every year. The Canadian Government does not deprive women living in Canada from access to safe abortions; it is therefore hypocritical and unjust that it tries to do so abroad. Although the country's decision only affects a small number of developing countries where abortion is legal, bans on the procedure, which are detrimental to public health, should be challenged by the G8, not tacitly supported. Canada and the other G8 nations could show real leadership with a final maternal health plan that is based on sound scientific evidence and not prejudice.
Source: The Lancet, Volume 375, Issue 9726, Page 1580, 8 May 2010
SUMMARY: Maternal mortality for 181 countries, 1980—2008: a systematic analysis of progress towards Millennium Development Goal 5
(Note: Details of source and authorship given below)
Background: Maternal mortality remains a major challenge to health systems worldwide. Reliable information about the rates and trends in maternal mortality is essential for resource mobilisation, and for planning and assessment of progress towards Millennium Development Goal 5 (MDG 5), the target for which is a 75% reduction in the maternal mortality ratio (MMR) from 1990 to 2015. We assessed levels and trends in maternal mortality for 181 countries.
Methods: We constructed a database of 2651 observations of maternal mortality for 181 countries for 1980—2008, from vital registration data, censuses, surveys, and verbal autopsy studies. We used robust analytical methods to generate estimates of maternal deaths and the MMR for each year between 1980 and 2008. We explored the sensitivity of our data to model specification and show the out-of-sample predictive validity of our methods.
Findings: We estimated that there were 342 900 (uncertainty interval 302 100—394 300) maternal deaths worldwide in 2008, down from 526 300 (446 400—629 600) in 1980. The global MMR decreased from 422 (358—505) in 1980 to 320 (272—388) in 1990, and was 251 (221—289) per 100 000 livebirths in 2008. The yearly rate of decline of the global MMR since 1990 was 1•3% (1•0—1•5). During 1990—2008, rates of yearly decline in the MMR varied between countries, from 8•8% (8•7—14•1) in the Maldives to an increase of 5•5% (5•2—5•6) in Zimbabwe. More than 50% of all maternal deaths were in only six countries in 2008 (India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo). In the absence of HIV, there would have been 281 500 (243 900—327 900) maternal deaths worldwide in 2008.
Interpretation: Substantial, albeit varied, progress has been made towards MDG 5. Although only 23 countries are on track to achieve a 75% decrease in MMR by 2015, countries such as Egypt, China, Ecuador, and Bolivia have been achieving accelerated progress.
Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Source: Hogan MC, Foreman KJ, Naghavi M, Ahn SY, Wang M, Makela SM, Lopez AD, Lozano R, Murray CJL. Maternal mortality for 181 countries, 1980—2008: a systematic analysis of progress towards Millennium Development Goal 5. The Lancet, 375, 9726, 1609 - 1623, 8 May 2010.
Most donor countries recognize maternal health as a global public health priority. However, in Canada (under the regime of Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper), this global imperative is being sacrificed to partisan politics of the most ill-informed kind: it risks becoming a platform for the “religious right” to rail against the use of donor funds for abortion rather than to address in a holistic manner the most important needs of women that can assure improvement in their health.
Only last year, the administration of US President Barack Obama rescinded the global “gag order” of the preceding Bush regime, that required recipients of US aid – even in the realm of reproductive health – to deny access to safe abortion services if accepting US funds. This enlightened policy shift brings the US international development policy in line with that of the global community generally. It is ironic therefore that Canada – once a leader in this respect – appears to be taking a giant step backwards. Given the removal of access to safe abortions from the frame of reference, it is extremely doubtful that a recent Request for Proposals to guide the policy of the Canadian government in this regard, could attract anyone with a rigorous track record in this area of international health development.
Taking Africa as an example, as the recent "African Century" series of articles in the Globe and Mail (ref: May 11, 2010 issue) makes clear, more than 90% of Africans live in countries where abortion is restricted. It is legally prohibited in 14, while in others it is only permitted only to preserve the life or physical health of the woman. As a result, virtually all of the estimated 5.6 million abortions performed annually in Africa are unsafe, carrying with an unconscionable risk of complications and death.
Simply put, along with access to contraception, antenatal care, safe deliveries, reliable transportation to advanced care when this is urgently required (otherwise known as emergency obstetric care, which includes surgical intervention if needed as well as prompt treatment of post-partum infection and hemorrhage), access to safe abortion is part of any coherent plan to improve reproductive health and reduce maternal mortality. Knowing all this, and both the health and international development arms of the Canadian government surely should know this, to specifically and deliberately exclude funding of safe abortions in an aid package aimed at reducing maternal mortality would render the donor complicit in those deaths.
We labeled this issue “Maternal Mortality – an Integrity Test for Politicians” after realizing that many politicians are intellectually challenged by the technical nature of what is scientifically sound evidence regarding the nature of the problem at hand, and what works or doesn’t in addressing it. It is also an ethical test… in essence whether they (the ruling political party) are in it for cheap political gains among their home base, or whether higher reasoning will prevail in the interests of the health of millions of women around the world. Just how the G8 countries deal with this in their upcoming meetings will be a direct reflection of their collective political integrity. Based on public utterances to date, it seems like all the G8 countries except Canada may pass this test.
For the lead item of this month’s blog, we therefore attach below the polite but authoritative view of the Lancet on Canada’s G8 Leadership. This we follow by the first good news in many decades, that maternal mortality globally is finally being reduced.
CANADA'S G8 HEALTH LEADERSHIP
The Lancet May 8th, 2010
As a World Report in The Lancet today shows, Canada's pledge, as host of this year's G8 Summit, to make maternal and child health one of its key issues is moving forward. At a meeting in Halifax, Nova Scotia (April 27—28), the G8 development ministers agreed to back Canada's provisional set of principles to improve the health of women and children in developing nations.
Canada should be praised for making maternal and child health a priority issue for the G8. As an Article by Margaret Hogan and colleagues in today's issue shows, around 350 000 women die during childbirth every year. 9 million children younger than 5 years also die every year. Most of these deaths are preventable. Canada's health plan to address this situation is still thin on details but it promises to include training and support for frontline health workers; better nutrition and provision of micronutrients; treatment and prevention of diseases such as pneumonia, diarrhoea, malaria, and sepsis; screening and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS; family planning; immunisation; and clean water and sanitation.
However, a few key elements are missing from the framework. For example, there is no talk of emergency obstetric care. This omission is likely to be an oversight and should be rectified. Improving access to safe abortion services is also absent from the plan. Sadly, this omission is no accident, but a conscious decision by Canada's Conservative Government not to support groups that undertake abortions in developing countries.
This stance must change. 70 000 women die from unsafe abortions worldwide every year. The Canadian Government does not deprive women living in Canada from access to safe abortions; it is therefore hypocritical and unjust that it tries to do so abroad. Although the country's decision only affects a small number of developing countries where abortion is legal, bans on the procedure, which are detrimental to public health, should be challenged by the G8, not tacitly supported. Canada and the other G8 nations could show real leadership with a final maternal health plan that is based on sound scientific evidence and not prejudice.
Source: The Lancet, Volume 375, Issue 9726, Page 1580, 8 May 2010
SUMMARY: Maternal mortality for 181 countries, 1980—2008: a systematic analysis of progress towards Millennium Development Goal 5
(Note: Details of source and authorship given below)
Background: Maternal mortality remains a major challenge to health systems worldwide. Reliable information about the rates and trends in maternal mortality is essential for resource mobilisation, and for planning and assessment of progress towards Millennium Development Goal 5 (MDG 5), the target for which is a 75% reduction in the maternal mortality ratio (MMR) from 1990 to 2015. We assessed levels and trends in maternal mortality for 181 countries.
Methods: We constructed a database of 2651 observations of maternal mortality for 181 countries for 1980—2008, from vital registration data, censuses, surveys, and verbal autopsy studies. We used robust analytical methods to generate estimates of maternal deaths and the MMR for each year between 1980 and 2008. We explored the sensitivity of our data to model specification and show the out-of-sample predictive validity of our methods.
Findings: We estimated that there were 342 900 (uncertainty interval 302 100—394 300) maternal deaths worldwide in 2008, down from 526 300 (446 400—629 600) in 1980. The global MMR decreased from 422 (358—505) in 1980 to 320 (272—388) in 1990, and was 251 (221—289) per 100 000 livebirths in 2008. The yearly rate of decline of the global MMR since 1990 was 1•3% (1•0—1•5). During 1990—2008, rates of yearly decline in the MMR varied between countries, from 8•8% (8•7—14•1) in the Maldives to an increase of 5•5% (5•2—5•6) in Zimbabwe. More than 50% of all maternal deaths were in only six countries in 2008 (India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo). In the absence of HIV, there would have been 281 500 (243 900—327 900) maternal deaths worldwide in 2008.
Interpretation: Substantial, albeit varied, progress has been made towards MDG 5. Although only 23 countries are on track to achieve a 75% decrease in MMR by 2015, countries such as Egypt, China, Ecuador, and Bolivia have been achieving accelerated progress.
Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Source: Hogan MC, Foreman KJ, Naghavi M, Ahn SY, Wang M, Makela SM, Lopez AD, Lozano R, Murray CJL. Maternal mortality for 181 countries, 1980—2008: a systematic analysis of progress towards Millennium Development Goal 5. The Lancet, 375, 9726, 1609 - 1623, 8 May 2010.
Thursday 15 April 2010
DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE FOR HEALTH – NEW IMPLICATIONS ABOUT COMPARATIVE AID EFFECTIVENESS OF GOVERNMENT VS NON-GOVERNMENTAL FUNDING
PREAMBLE: In this issue we extract a report recently distributed by the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, as part of their effort to disseminate information on contemporary public health issues. This refers to work jointly published in the Lancet by Harvard University, Boston and the University of Washington, Seattle, which reveals that investment in the non-government sector may result in more favourable health spending by government than by investing directly in the government sector itself.
Specifically, the study reported below found that debt relief, and development assistance for health (DAH) to government had a negative and significant effect on domestic government spending on health such that for every US$1 of DAH to government, government health expenditures from domestic resources were reduced by $0•43 (p=0) to $1•14.
However, debt relief, and development assistance for health DAH to the non-governmental sector had a positive and significant effect on domestic government health spending.
A counterpoint, implying that full understanding requires further examination, as explanations may vary widely depending on the situation of individual countries, is offered by another set of authors, whose comments are also extracted below.
Our topic choice for this issue is based on recognition that the findings of this Gates Foundation supported study have potentially major implications for donor funding. While there is a need to examine the findings further, especially in light of individual country situations, major questions about aid effectiveness emerge.
REPORT ON PUBLISHED ARTICLE - Public financing of health in developing countries: a cross-national systematic analysis
“…….Government spending on health from domestic sources is an important indicator of a government's commitment to the health of its people, and is essential for the sustainability of health programmes. We aimed to systematically analyse all data sources available for government spending on health in developing countries; describe trends in public financing of health; and test the extent to which they were related to changes in gross domestic product (GDP), government size, HIV prevalence, debt relief, and development assistance for health (DAH) to governmental and non-governmental sectors.
Methods
… a systematic analysis of all data sources available for government expenditures on health as agent (GHE-A) in developing countries, including government reports and databases from WHO and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). GHE-A consists of domestically and externally financed public health expenditures. We assessed the quality of these sources and used multiple imputation to generate a complete sequence of GHE-A. With these data and those for debt relief, and development assistance for health DAH to governments, we estimated government spending on health from domestic sources. We used panel-regression methods to estimate the association between government domestic spending on health and GDP, government size, HIV prevalence, debt relief, and DAH disbursed to governmental and non-governmental sectors. We tested the robustness of our conclusions using various models and subsets of countries.
Findings
In all developing countries, public financing of health in constant US$ from domestic sources increased by nearly 100% (IMF 120%; WHO 88%) from 1995 to 2006. Overall, this increase was the product of rising GDP, slight decreases in the share of GDP spent by government, and increases in the share of government spending on health. At the country level, while shares of government expenditures to health increased in many regions, they decreased in many sub-Saharan African countries. The statistical analysis showed that debt relief, and development assistance for health DAH to government had a negative and significant effect on domestic government spending on health such that for every US$1 of DAH to government, government health expenditures from domestic resources were reduced by $0•43 (p=0) to $1•14 (p=0).
However, debt relief, and development assistance for health DAH to the non-governmental sector had a positive and significant effect on domestic government health spending. Both results were robust to multiple specifications and subset analyses. Other factors, such as debt relief, had no detectable effect on domestic government health spending.
Interpretation
To address the negative effect of debt relief, and development assistance for health DAH on domestic government health spending, we recommend strong standardised monitoring of government health expenditures and government spending in other health-related sectors; establishment of collaborative targets to maintain or increase the share of government expenditures going to health; investment in the capacity of developing countries to effectively receive and use DAH; careful assessment of the risks and benefits of expanded DAH to non-governmental sectors; and investigation of the use of global price subsidies or product transfers as mechanisms for debt relief, and development assistance for health DAH.
Funding
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation…..”
Source and Reference: Lu C, Schneider MT, Gubbins P, Leach-Kemon K, Jamison D, Murray CJL. Lancet 2010; published online April 8. 2010 - DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(10)60233-4 Website: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2810%2960233-4/fulltext#
THE FOLLOWING COUNTERPOINT WAS ALSO PUBLISHED BY ANOTHER GROUP, IN COMMENTING ON THE ABOVE REPORT
VIEWPOINT: Crowding out: are relations between international health aid and government health funding too complex to be captured in averages only?
“…..In today’s Lancet, Lu and colleagues show that for every dollar of international health aid provided to governments, government health funding falls by US$0•43–1•14. Irrespective of whether this outcome is named fungibility or crowding out, mean estimates from many countries suggest a pattern. Without questioning the mean findings of today’s study, we argue that explicit policy choices are behind crowding-out effects, unfolding very differently dependent on the individual countries’ situations. To try to understand why some countries make these choices that result in crowding-out effects, and not only whether they do, is of importance…..”
Source and Reference: Ooms G, Decoster K, Miti K, Rens S, Van Leemput L, Vermeiren P, Van Damme W. www.thelancet.com Published online April 9, 2010 DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(10)60207-3
URL: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(10)60207-3/fulltext
Specifically, the study reported below found that debt relief, and development assistance for health (DAH) to government had a negative and significant effect on domestic government spending on health such that for every US$1 of DAH to government, government health expenditures from domestic resources were reduced by $0•43 (p=0) to $1•14.
However, debt relief, and development assistance for health DAH to the non-governmental sector had a positive and significant effect on domestic government health spending.
A counterpoint, implying that full understanding requires further examination, as explanations may vary widely depending on the situation of individual countries, is offered by another set of authors, whose comments are also extracted below.
Our topic choice for this issue is based on recognition that the findings of this Gates Foundation supported study have potentially major implications for donor funding. While there is a need to examine the findings further, especially in light of individual country situations, major questions about aid effectiveness emerge.
REPORT ON PUBLISHED ARTICLE - Public financing of health in developing countries: a cross-national systematic analysis
“…….Government spending on health from domestic sources is an important indicator of a government's commitment to the health of its people, and is essential for the sustainability of health programmes. We aimed to systematically analyse all data sources available for government spending on health in developing countries; describe trends in public financing of health; and test the extent to which they were related to changes in gross domestic product (GDP), government size, HIV prevalence, debt relief, and development assistance for health (DAH) to governmental and non-governmental sectors.
Methods
… a systematic analysis of all data sources available for government expenditures on health as agent (GHE-A) in developing countries, including government reports and databases from WHO and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). GHE-A consists of domestically and externally financed public health expenditures. We assessed the quality of these sources and used multiple imputation to generate a complete sequence of GHE-A. With these data and those for debt relief, and development assistance for health DAH to governments, we estimated government spending on health from domestic sources. We used panel-regression methods to estimate the association between government domestic spending on health and GDP, government size, HIV prevalence, debt relief, and DAH disbursed to governmental and non-governmental sectors. We tested the robustness of our conclusions using various models and subsets of countries.
Findings
In all developing countries, public financing of health in constant US$ from domestic sources increased by nearly 100% (IMF 120%; WHO 88%) from 1995 to 2006. Overall, this increase was the product of rising GDP, slight decreases in the share of GDP spent by government, and increases in the share of government spending on health. At the country level, while shares of government expenditures to health increased in many regions, they decreased in many sub-Saharan African countries. The statistical analysis showed that debt relief, and development assistance for health DAH to government had a negative and significant effect on domestic government spending on health such that for every US$1 of DAH to government, government health expenditures from domestic resources were reduced by $0•43 (p=0) to $1•14 (p=0).
However, debt relief, and development assistance for health DAH to the non-governmental sector had a positive and significant effect on domestic government health spending. Both results were robust to multiple specifications and subset analyses. Other factors, such as debt relief, had no detectable effect on domestic government health spending.
Interpretation
To address the negative effect of debt relief, and development assistance for health DAH on domestic government health spending, we recommend strong standardised monitoring of government health expenditures and government spending in other health-related sectors; establishment of collaborative targets to maintain or increase the share of government expenditures going to health; investment in the capacity of developing countries to effectively receive and use DAH; careful assessment of the risks and benefits of expanded DAH to non-governmental sectors; and investigation of the use of global price subsidies or product transfers as mechanisms for debt relief, and development assistance for health DAH.
Funding
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation…..”
Source and Reference: Lu C, Schneider MT, Gubbins P, Leach-Kemon K, Jamison D, Murray CJL. Lancet 2010; published online April 8. 2010 - DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(10)60233-4 Website: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2810%2960233-4/fulltext#
THE FOLLOWING COUNTERPOINT WAS ALSO PUBLISHED BY ANOTHER GROUP, IN COMMENTING ON THE ABOVE REPORT
VIEWPOINT: Crowding out: are relations between international health aid and government health funding too complex to be captured in averages only?
“…..In today’s Lancet, Lu and colleagues show that for every dollar of international health aid provided to governments, government health funding falls by US$0•43–1•14. Irrespective of whether this outcome is named fungibility or crowding out, mean estimates from many countries suggest a pattern. Without questioning the mean findings of today’s study, we argue that explicit policy choices are behind crowding-out effects, unfolding very differently dependent on the individual countries’ situations. To try to understand why some countries make these choices that result in crowding-out effects, and not only whether they do, is of importance…..”
Source and Reference: Ooms G, Decoster K, Miti K, Rens S, Van Leemput L, Vermeiren P, Van Damme W. www.thelancet.com Published online April 9, 2010 DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(10)60207-3
URL: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(10)60207-3/fulltext
Sunday 14 March 2010
OVER A BILLION HUNGRY PEOPLE IN THE WORLD - IMF AND FAO REPORT
PREAMBLE: World hunger spiked sharply in 2009, significantly worsening an already disappointing trend in global food security since 1996. The combination of food and economic crises has pushed the number of hungry people worldwide to historic levels.
This issue gives space to the text of a report published in the International Monetary Fund on-line bulletin: Finance & Development, March 2010, Vol 47, No 1.. The report, entitled “Hunger on the Rise” was developed by David Dawe and Denis Drechsler, based on The State of Food Insecurity in the World, published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in 2009 (see below for full citations).
OVER A BILLION HUNGRY PEOPLE
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that 1.02 billion people were undernourished in 2009—about 100 million more than in 2008. As a result, reaching the World Food Summit target and the Millennium Development Goal for hunger reduction looks increasingly out of reach.
Poor harvests are not to blame. The FAO estimates that total cereal production in 2009 was only slightly below the record high set in 2008. Instead, the increase in hunger is mainly a result of poor people’s inability to afford the food that is produced. Many drew down savings during the food price crisis and have now lost jobs as a result of the global economic crisis.
Food prices increased considerably in developing countries during the 2006–08 world food crisis and were still high when the economic crisis started. Domestic prices of staple foods were typically 17% higher at the end of 2008 than two years earlier, after adjusting for inflation. This seriously hurt the purchasing power of poor consumers, who often spend 40% of their income on staple foods.
Thus, the global economic crisis hit developing countries at a very bad time. It further reduced access to food by lowering employment opportunities, remittances from abroad, development aid, foreign direct investment, and export opportunities.
How can hunger be eliminated? Improving world food security calls for both measures for immediate relief and more fundamental structural changes. In the short term, safety nets and social protection programs must be improved to reach those most in need.
In the medium and long term, the structural solution to hunger lies in increasing agricultural productivity to increase incomes and produce food at lower cost, especially in poor countries. The importance of longer-term measures is evidenced by the unacceptably high number of people who did not get enough to eat before the crises and are likely to remain hungry even after the food and economic crises have passed. In addition, these measures must be coupled with better governance and institutions at all levels.
Source: Dawe D, Drechsler D. Hunger on the Rise, available online at: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2010/03/picture.htm
Text material attributed to the following source: The State of Food Insecurity in the World Economic crises – impacts and lessons learned, FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, 2009 is available from PDF [61p.] at: ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/012/i0876e/i0876e.pdf
This issue gives space to the text of a report published in the International Monetary Fund on-line bulletin: Finance & Development, March 2010, Vol 47, No 1.. The report, entitled “Hunger on the Rise” was developed by David Dawe and Denis Drechsler, based on The State of Food Insecurity in the World, published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in 2009 (see below for full citations).
OVER A BILLION HUNGRY PEOPLE
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that 1.02 billion people were undernourished in 2009—about 100 million more than in 2008. As a result, reaching the World Food Summit target and the Millennium Development Goal for hunger reduction looks increasingly out of reach.
Poor harvests are not to blame. The FAO estimates that total cereal production in 2009 was only slightly below the record high set in 2008. Instead, the increase in hunger is mainly a result of poor people’s inability to afford the food that is produced. Many drew down savings during the food price crisis and have now lost jobs as a result of the global economic crisis.
Food prices increased considerably in developing countries during the 2006–08 world food crisis and were still high when the economic crisis started. Domestic prices of staple foods were typically 17% higher at the end of 2008 than two years earlier, after adjusting for inflation. This seriously hurt the purchasing power of poor consumers, who often spend 40% of their income on staple foods.
Thus, the global economic crisis hit developing countries at a very bad time. It further reduced access to food by lowering employment opportunities, remittances from abroad, development aid, foreign direct investment, and export opportunities.
How can hunger be eliminated? Improving world food security calls for both measures for immediate relief and more fundamental structural changes. In the short term, safety nets and social protection programs must be improved to reach those most in need.
In the medium and long term, the structural solution to hunger lies in increasing agricultural productivity to increase incomes and produce food at lower cost, especially in poor countries. The importance of longer-term measures is evidenced by the unacceptably high number of people who did not get enough to eat before the crises and are likely to remain hungry even after the food and economic crises have passed. In addition, these measures must be coupled with better governance and institutions at all levels.
Source: Dawe D, Drechsler D. Hunger on the Rise, available online at: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2010/03/picture.htm
Text material attributed to the following source: The State of Food Insecurity in the World Economic crises – impacts and lessons learned, FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, 2009 is available from PDF [61p.] at: ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/012/i0876e/i0876e.pdf
Monday 15 February 2010
CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE BY PRIESTS AND COVER-UP BY CATHOLIC CHURCH
PREAMBLE: On December 14, 2009, PacificSci Global Perspectives issued its 2009 summary of International and Global Development – Year in Review. In this, under the heading of Human Rights, we stated: “An ample truckload of “fertilizer” is required for the Catholic Church as a perpetrator of child sexual abuse by its own clergy, which it has too often sought to cover up in many countries. While not alone among organized religion in this pattern of abuse, any claim for leadership among the world Christian community is jeopardized by this hypocrisy.”
In this month’s issue, we post verbatim, a CNN press report that outlines a decades old cover-up of child sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic priests in Ireland. The actions of Irish priests and the inaction of their church hierarchy represent simultaneously the height of hypocrisy and flagrant criminal behavior, and bring into disrepute the entire edifice of organized Catholicism.
Although the action now being taken came about as a result of a commission of inquiry put into motion by the nation of Ireland, one has to ask why this took so long and why no criminal charges have ever been laid. This clearly does not absolve the state itself from some share of the responsibility and the consequences.
POPE MEETS IRISH BISHOPS OVER ABUSE REPORT
By Richard Allen Greene, CNN
February 15, 2010 -- Updated 2102 GMT (0502 HKT)
Rome, Italy (CNN) -- Alleged victims of child abuse by Catholic priests in Ireland called on the Vatican Monday to hold its own investigation into the scandal and punish those responsible.
"We ask that you take action now according to the laws and traditions of our Holy Church and discover how and why the teachings of Jesus Christ were so flagrantly abrogated over many decades," John Kelly said in a letter to Pope Benedict XVI.
"We ask that you convene a special commission ... to examine all aspects of the historical misconduct of Catholic religious orders in Ireland as well as those priests who betrayed their most sacred vows," he said.
Kelly, the founder of Survivors of Child Abuse, or SOCA, released the letter as Irish Catholic bishops met the pope in Rome after a damning report on the abuse of children by Catholic clergy.
The report, which came out in November, found that the Catholic Church in Ireland covered up widespread child abuse from 1975 to 2004.
The pope already has met with senior Irish bishops about the report, produced by the Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation. The Irish government created the commission in 2006 to examine abuse allegations.
The Vatican now needs to order a major housecleaning, Kelly told CNN.
"They need to clean the stables up. They need to inquire into all the bishops, and if that means the majority of them would have to resign, then so be it," Kelly said.
"The bishops themselves are the problem. Somebody has dishonored this nation," said Kelly, who says he was himself abused in a Catholic institution in Dublin, Ireland, as a child.
"Nobody has been locked up or prosecuted for these crimes in Ireland," he said, saying it is now the Vatican's responsibility to punish the guilty. "The pope could do an awful lot if he is sincere.
"We are entitled to have great expectations," he told CNN by phone from Ireland. "I want strong leadership from the pope."
"We are asking the curia to examine the facts before them," said Patrick Walsh of SOCA, using a term for the leadership of the Catholic church.
"This is not a time for high Mass. That time is finished," he said. "It is time to pass judgment under Roman law."
The Irish Catholic bishops attended Mass in Rome on Monday morning before meeting with the pope. Benedict did not attend the Mass, his spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, told CNN.
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state, presided, and addressed the scandal directly in his homily, calling the alleged abuse "abominable acts."
"Trials can come from either outside or inside the church. Both are painful, but those that come from within are naturally harder and more humiliating," he said, according to Lombardi.
"Such is the grave trial that at this moment your communities are going through, which see some men of the church involved in such particularly abominable acts," he said.
The Irish bishops prayed for the victims, said their spokesman, Martin Long.
"Prayers were offered to the survivors of abuse, the people, priests, and religious of Ireland. Prayers were also offered for the success of the meeting," he said.
One of the bishops meeting the pope said Sunday that the church in Ireland had been badly damaged by the revelations of abuse and cover-up.
"I would admit quite frankly what everybody else knows, shouted from housetops, that the church has been seriously wounded," Bishop Joseph Duffy said in Rome.
"This has done an immense damage to the authority of the church as the mouthpiece of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Of that there is no doubt," he said.
Each of the bishops will have seven minutes to speak at the meeting with the pontiff, Duffy said. The meeting was to go on all day Monday and resume Tuesday morning.
The bishops are staying at the Vatican, in the same hotel the cardinals of the church used when they last chose a new pope.
Benedict last week reiterated the Vatican's condemnation of child abuse.
"Unfortunately, in various instances, some [church] members, acting in contradiction with these commitments, have violated [children's] rights: a behavior that the church has not ceased to -- and will never cease to -- deplore and condemn," he said February 8.
The pope said after that meeting that he was "deeply disturbed and distressed" by the report's findings. He promised that the Catholic Church would try to develop strategies to make sure abuses don't happen again.
"He wishes once more to express his profound regret at the actions of some members of the clergy who have betrayed their solemn promises to God, as well as the trust placed in them by the victims and their families, and by society at large," the Vatican said in a statement then.
Four Irish bishops resigned in December after the report.
Source: Richard Allen Greene, Rome, Italy CNN
February 15, 2010 -- Updated 2102 GMT (0502 HKT)
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/02/15/ireland.pope.abuse/
Envoi: We will continue to monitor this apalling situation. Clearly the expressions of remorse by the Catholic church are nowhere near enough. Justice must be done, and must be seen, and believed, to be done.
In this month’s issue, we post verbatim, a CNN press report that outlines a decades old cover-up of child sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic priests in Ireland. The actions of Irish priests and the inaction of their church hierarchy represent simultaneously the height of hypocrisy and flagrant criminal behavior, and bring into disrepute the entire edifice of organized Catholicism.
Although the action now being taken came about as a result of a commission of inquiry put into motion by the nation of Ireland, one has to ask why this took so long and why no criminal charges have ever been laid. This clearly does not absolve the state itself from some share of the responsibility and the consequences.
POPE MEETS IRISH BISHOPS OVER ABUSE REPORT
By Richard Allen Greene, CNN
February 15, 2010 -- Updated 2102 GMT (0502 HKT)
Rome, Italy (CNN) -- Alleged victims of child abuse by Catholic priests in Ireland called on the Vatican Monday to hold its own investigation into the scandal and punish those responsible.
"We ask that you take action now according to the laws and traditions of our Holy Church and discover how and why the teachings of Jesus Christ were so flagrantly abrogated over many decades," John Kelly said in a letter to Pope Benedict XVI.
"We ask that you convene a special commission ... to examine all aspects of the historical misconduct of Catholic religious orders in Ireland as well as those priests who betrayed their most sacred vows," he said.
Kelly, the founder of Survivors of Child Abuse, or SOCA, released the letter as Irish Catholic bishops met the pope in Rome after a damning report on the abuse of children by Catholic clergy.
The report, which came out in November, found that the Catholic Church in Ireland covered up widespread child abuse from 1975 to 2004.
The pope already has met with senior Irish bishops about the report, produced by the Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation. The Irish government created the commission in 2006 to examine abuse allegations.
The Vatican now needs to order a major housecleaning, Kelly told CNN.
"They need to clean the stables up. They need to inquire into all the bishops, and if that means the majority of them would have to resign, then so be it," Kelly said.
"The bishops themselves are the problem. Somebody has dishonored this nation," said Kelly, who says he was himself abused in a Catholic institution in Dublin, Ireland, as a child.
"Nobody has been locked up or prosecuted for these crimes in Ireland," he said, saying it is now the Vatican's responsibility to punish the guilty. "The pope could do an awful lot if he is sincere.
"We are entitled to have great expectations," he told CNN by phone from Ireland. "I want strong leadership from the pope."
"We are asking the curia to examine the facts before them," said Patrick Walsh of SOCA, using a term for the leadership of the Catholic church.
"This is not a time for high Mass. That time is finished," he said. "It is time to pass judgment under Roman law."
The Irish Catholic bishops attended Mass in Rome on Monday morning before meeting with the pope. Benedict did not attend the Mass, his spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, told CNN.
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state, presided, and addressed the scandal directly in his homily, calling the alleged abuse "abominable acts."
"Trials can come from either outside or inside the church. Both are painful, but those that come from within are naturally harder and more humiliating," he said, according to Lombardi.
"Such is the grave trial that at this moment your communities are going through, which see some men of the church involved in such particularly abominable acts," he said.
The Irish bishops prayed for the victims, said their spokesman, Martin Long.
"Prayers were offered to the survivors of abuse, the people, priests, and religious of Ireland. Prayers were also offered for the success of the meeting," he said.
One of the bishops meeting the pope said Sunday that the church in Ireland had been badly damaged by the revelations of abuse and cover-up.
"I would admit quite frankly what everybody else knows, shouted from housetops, that the church has been seriously wounded," Bishop Joseph Duffy said in Rome.
"This has done an immense damage to the authority of the church as the mouthpiece of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Of that there is no doubt," he said.
Each of the bishops will have seven minutes to speak at the meeting with the pontiff, Duffy said. The meeting was to go on all day Monday and resume Tuesday morning.
The bishops are staying at the Vatican, in the same hotel the cardinals of the church used when they last chose a new pope.
Benedict last week reiterated the Vatican's condemnation of child abuse.
"Unfortunately, in various instances, some [church] members, acting in contradiction with these commitments, have violated [children's] rights: a behavior that the church has not ceased to -- and will never cease to -- deplore and condemn," he said February 8.
The pope said after that meeting that he was "deeply disturbed and distressed" by the report's findings. He promised that the Catholic Church would try to develop strategies to make sure abuses don't happen again.
"He wishes once more to express his profound regret at the actions of some members of the clergy who have betrayed their solemn promises to God, as well as the trust placed in them by the victims and their families, and by society at large," the Vatican said in a statement then.
Four Irish bishops resigned in December after the report.
Source: Richard Allen Greene, Rome, Italy CNN
February 15, 2010 -- Updated 2102 GMT (0502 HKT)
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/02/15/ireland.pope.abuse/
Envoi: We will continue to monitor this apalling situation. Clearly the expressions of remorse by the Catholic church are nowhere near enough. Justice must be done, and must be seen, and believed, to be done.
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