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Breast Milk Banks, From Brazil to the World

September 27, 2012 by

Global Analyst Online / IPS

Fabiola Ortiz

Sep 27 (IPS) – Cíntia Rose Regis, 23, not only breastfeeds her 16-month-old daughter Zelda but has also been donating 600 ml a week of breast milk to a mothers’ milk bank in Brazil over the last year.It was her paediatrician who suggested she donate her milk. "As long as my daughter is nursing and stimulating my milk flow, I will carry on donating," she said.

"I have never personally seen the premature babies who receive my milk, but just knowing that I may have saved some of them is my reward," she told IPS. "It’s a question of awareness. If I have extra milk that I would throw away, why not donate it?"

And she added that if she has another baby, she will continue to donate part of her milk.

Any woman who produces more milk than her baby needs can donate the excess to Brazil’s national network of breast milk banks.

Brazil is becoming an international reference on the matter, and exports low cost technology to set up breast milk banks to 23 countries, as an effective tool to combat infant mortality.

There are 210 mothers’ milk banks distributed throughout Brazil, in every state. And the initiative has led to the creation of 28, in Spain, Portugal and several countries in Latin America and Africa.

So far in 2012, 97,000 litres of breast milk have been collected from 86,000 donors in Brazil and have been used to feed 108,000 babies.

Last year, 165,000 litres were donated by 166,000 mothers, helping nearly 170,000 babies.

The only requirements under Brazilian law are that donors are healthy and are not taking any medication.

The guidelines recommend that the nursing mother

The guidelines include simple recommendations for personal hygiene: clean, dry hands and forearms; a quiet, clean place away from animals; a sterilised container; and storage of the milk in a freezer.

Breast milk donated to a bank goes through a selection, classification and pasteurisation process and is then distributed as "quality certified" to babies hospitalised in neonatal units.

This country of 192 million people "has built the largest and most complex network of breast milk banks in the world," expert João Aprígio Guerra de Almeida told IPS.

"We don’t just carry out collection and distribution. We have breastfeeding support centres, quality control methods, nutritional indicators, monitoring and advisers," said Almeida, the coordinator of the Brazilian and Ibero-American Network of Human Milk Banks.

The Brazilian government has supported this effort for nearly 30 years, through research at the state Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz).

In 1985 Fiocruz established the first Latin American centre for breast milk research with the goal of understanding the biological, physical, chemical and immunological characteristics of mother’s milk.

"We saw that this work could become a major health strategy to promote conditions that would lead to the reduction of the absurdly high infant mortality rates we had in Brazil," said Almeida, a Fiocruz researcher. "The statistics were alarming, much higher than the world average."

Since the 1990s, the country has achieved a 73 percent reduction in infant mortality, and this year it met one of the Millennium Development Goals, agreed by the countries of the United Nations in 2000: a two-thirds reduction in the mortality rate of children under five, between 1990 and 2015.

"Because of our work, the World Health Organisation has recognised Brazil’s impressive gains in reducing infant mortality,” Almeida said.

Before the research effort, "we were completely dependent on the northern hemisphere. To process the milk we had to import equipment from Europe and the United States, which cost some 35,000 dollars at that time," he said.

International cooperation began in 2007, and now countries like Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Venezuela and Uruguay have the infrastructure to collect and distribute donations of breast milk.

"We support the establishment of these banks and provide advice and train professionals," said Almeida.

When the initiative was extended to the Ibero-American region, Portugal and Spain joined the network and benefited from an unusual South-North technology transfer.

The creation of milk banks "spread internationally, and in 2007 the leaders of the Ibero-American countries decided to adopt the strategy as an inter-governmental action," Almeida said.

At the summit held that year in Santiago, the Ibero-American mothers’ milk bank programme was established.

The first Spanish bank was set up in Madrid, and in Portugal the Dr. Alfredo da Costa maternity hospital in Lisbon was similarly equipped in 2008.

Cape Verde became the first African country to join the network, with a milk bank that began to operate in August last year. Fiocruz delegations visited Mozambique and Angola in 2010 and 2011, respectively, and projects are under way there.

Much depends on the willingness to donate. Brazil is promoting May 19 as World Human Milk Donation Day.

"On that day in 2005, the first agreement to create an international network of milk banks was signed by 13 countries and international organisations," said Almeida.

In Rio de Janeiro, the Fernandes Figueira National Institute for Women, Children and Adolescent Health (IFF) is the Fiocruz unit specialising in neonatal care and milk reception.

Rosane Xavier, a 35-year-old nurse who works in the IFF prenatal laboratory, encourages mothers to breastfeed and, if possible, to donate milk.

Xavier nurses her first son, aged two years and two months, and she is a donor. "When milk is plentiful, I invite mothers to donate. One must be aware of the importance of breast milk for children, and especially for premature babies," she told IPS.

She says donating breast milk, an intensely personal act, benefits both parties. The advantage to the nursing mother is the removal of excess milk, which can cause problems if it accumulates. And the baby receiving the milk is likely to have fewer illnesses and improved growth.

"A baby that is not breast fed does not develop as well as one that is," said Xavier. "Breastfeeding brings about better mental development, language development, dentition and immunity."

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2012.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Americas, Report, Society Tagged With: , , , ,

Penang’s Women Lead Local Democracy

September 27, 2012 by

Global Analyst Online / IPS

Anil Netto

PENANG, Malaysia, Sep 27 (IPS) – A unique electoral exercise in Penang state, promoting participatory and gender-responsive decision-making at the grassroots level, may serve as a cue for the revival of local elections in Malaysia. Over three consecutive days, ending Sep. 23, low-income residents of high-rise flats on River Road, Penang Island, cast ‘ballots’ to compellingly indicate to planners their priorities.

Penang state consists of two parts – Penang Island, where the seat of government is, and Seberang Perai on the Malay peninsula. With a population of 1.5 million people Penang is an economically important state with a thriving tourist industry and port.

Before the polls, organisers had carried out a detailed census of 530 homes in and found 1,667 eligible ‘voters’ (aged 10 and above) in the two participating blocks.

The residents, divided into five focus groups, discussed six key priorities for final polling: building maintenance (lifts, water pipes, roof leakages), cleanliness of common areas, recreational amenities, parking areas, better security and awareness raising programmes.

On the polling days, volunteers handed out booklets containing five coupons of token money – each coupon representing ‘100 ringgit?. The residents then cast these five coupons in one or more of six boxes laid out in a row – each box representing one of the six pre-identified priorities.

At least half the members of the focus groups were women. Volunteers, many of them women, helped distribute the coupons and oversaw the polling and the counting of votes.

Women made up about half the number of voters who participated and played a key role in persuading residents to come out to vote. In the end, almost 70 percent of the residents turned up to cast their votes.

Norjan Ibrahim, secretary of the residents association, was upbeat. "The residents feel this (polling process) is a good programme, which they welcome," she told IPS.

She felt confident that the Penang Island Municipal Council (MPPP) would take action "because we have put in a lot of effort in soliciting public feedback. And I trust the women’s group carrying out this programme."

Ibrahim was referring to the Penang Women’s Development Corporation (PWDC), set up to promote greater gender awareness, equality and justice and to empower women in all sectors.

The PWDC is a beneficiary of grants from the Penang state government, ruled since 2008 by a coalition of political parties that are in the opposition ranks at the federal level.

The federal government had suspended local council elections in 1960 (councillors are now mainly political appointees) making citizen involvement in the decision-making process difficult.

Penang, ruled as it is by (national) opposition parties, is lobbying hard for the reinstatement of local elections to promote the vibrant local democracy that the state was once known for.

The polling process carried out at the flats is also part of a gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) project initiated by the PWDC in collaboration with the two local councils, the MPPP, and its counterpart on mainland Penang, the MPSP.

Under a three-year pilot project, the local councils are adopting GRB to take into account the needs of all the people, including women, children and people with disabilities when formulating budget priorities.

”The process has surpassed our expectations,” says Aloyah Bakar of the PWDC, pointing to the impressive voter turnout.

Children and teens participated strongly. "I voted for building maintenance. The lighting needs to be repaired as the place is dimly lit. Fire extinguishers are missing. I want the place to be clean and bright," said Fareezuan Yusof, 15, told IPS.

Arash Fauwaz Asri, 16, said he voted for better parking facilities as cars and motorcycles are now haphazardly crammed into a small parking area next to the flats. "I feel this is a good way of getting views and it also strengthens neighbourhood ties."

”The people here badly want change in this area as the local council has given insufficient attention to these flats," said Hussain Hashim, the deputy chair of the flat residents’ association, acting as one of the ‘election observers’.

Walking around the blocks, Hussain, a driver for a catering business, pointed to low corridor railings in the high-rise blocks, which he said posed a potential danger to flat dwellers. Abandoned or broken down motorcycles are stacked in one corner at the rear of the premises.

Norjan nodded in agreement. "There are many problems here," said the supervisor in a local hospital, rattling off poor rubbish disposal and collection, unsatisfactory lift maintenance and haphazard parking as key issues.

The results of the polling did not come as a surprise. Building maintenance polled the most votes, followed by security and cleanliness.

”Now the residents have the big task of putting together working papers which will be a tedious process that will require some ‘hand holding’," says Aloyah.

The organisers will meet with the flat dwellers to come up a working paper on the three ‘winning’ needs and the paper will then be presented to the MPPP for incorporation in the local council’s 2014 budgeting process.

Observers say the process is commendable as it combines bottom-up participatory decision making with local democracy among women and men, young and old, in influencing how limited funds are to be allocated based on the people’s needs at the grassroots.

In Ampang Jajar on mainland Penang, a similar exercise was carried out at the Ampangan flats a couple of weeks ago, drawing 65-70 percent of the eligible voters.

The result in Aampang Jajar was slightly different as children came out in large numbers to vote: the ballot boxes that received the most votes was on for a recreational park. That was followed closely by improved building maintenance and traffic lights.

The unique electoral process is the brainchild of contemporary artist Wong Hoy Cheong, who monitored the polling: ”For me the most satisfying thing has been watching the residents, including the women, take control of their own needs,” he told IPS.

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2012.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Asia, Politics, Report, Society Tagged With: , , ,

Arab Spring Teaches Food Security

September 27, 2012 by

Global Analyst Online / IPS

Isaiah Esipisu, Terna Gyuse

ARUSHA, Tanzania, Sep 27 (IPS) – African leaders should take note of the lessons learned from the Arab Spring and realise that ensuring good governance and food security will avoid crises on the continent, says Kofi Annan, chairman of the Africa Green Revolution Alliance.The former United Nations Secretary General said that food shortage was one of the triggers of the protests in North African and Middle-Eastern countries that lead to the ousting of Tanzania President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011 and Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak in February that same year.

Annan was speaking at the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) being held in Arusha, Tanzania from Sep. 26 to 28. One of the forum outcomes is to develop concrete action plans for growing Africa’s agricultural sector and to promote food security on the continent.

“These are people who wanted to have a real say, on how they are governed, and by whom. They also wanted to play a role in their own political system,

“I think that if African leaders were to pay attention and understand that democratic systems have to work in Africa, we have to accept democratic rotation periodically and listen to the people and the civil society. With this we may avoid crises that we have witnessed in Africa. Remember, it is not just food, it is about food and political systems,” said Annan.

Several hundred delegates – representing African governments, U.N. and donor agencies, and transnational agribusiness companies like Yara and Cargill – have gathered in Arusha, Tanzania, to discuss the transformation of Africa’s agriculture. Even some of Africa’s farmers are present.

Agricultural and economic analysts at the forum told IPS that food security in Africa can be assured only if countries work and trade together without restrictions.

“The East African region has a huge potential for agricultural development. The only enabling environment to ensure that there is food security, is to harmonise policy issues in order to avoid bans on exportation of agricultural goods, and to avoid imposition of unaffordable levies,” Anne Mbaabu, the director for the Market Access Programme at AGRA, told IPS.

“We also need to harmonise grades and standards so that they are the same in all the five countries that form the East African Community (EAC). Yet, this will only succeed after putting in place proper infrastructure in terms of ports, roads and railway lines,” she said.

Tanzanian Minister for Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives Christopher Chiza, echoed her sentiments.

“It is important to note that with security concerns, it is not easy for neighbouring countries to trade easily even if your neighbour is in a deep food crisis,” he said referring to the situation in Somalia, which made it difficult for humanitarian organisations to deliver food aid during the recent famine that hit the Horn of Africa region.

However, Chiza noted that there are still bottlenecks that the EAC must deal with before opening borders for uncontrolled import and export markets in the region.

“Political environments in our countries are an existing trade barrier. We need a fair amount of trust. One of the things many people are talking of is nationalisation of land and other agricultural resources in Tanzania. We should make it easy for people to invest in our countries without problems. There is also need for a common currency within the region, and many other complicated issues that must be sorted out within member countries before we finally unite,” he said.

The focus of the forum, said Annan, is to push on past a tipping point in scaling up the transformation of African agriculture.

"In the past, African governments did not focus on agriculture, but today it presents an opportunity to feed, employ and create global food security," he said, adding that the goal is to support African smallholders’ transition from subsistence farming to running their farms as businesses, producing a surplus for sale.

Africa has the majority of the world’s viable but uncultivated land. And the land that is being farmed is under-utilised. The key to securing the rural livelihoods, strengthening food security, and Africa taking up its proper place in the global food system includes investments in rural infrastructure, expanding the adoption of better seed, fertiliser and techniques by Africa’s farmers, large and small.

"This is what we need," Annan said. "To make sure farmers are well-organised and given the knowledge and support to play their full part in transformation."

Annan addressed journalists alongside Melinda Gates, whose Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is one of AGRA’s major supporters.

Gates said her foundation’s agriculture strategy always starts with thinking of farmers’ goals, and how to make investments to support these.

"Smallholder farmers are incredible engineers," said Gates. "They have the difficult task of running smallholder farms."

She spoke about the way in which farmers she has met across Africa prioritise things like education and nutrition for their children, carefully assessing their options to try to create a surplus despite the challenges.

“Farmers need to be connected to larger market and not put their produce on market when price is low so that they can earn better incomes,” she said.

In order to ensure farmers are able to take advantage of changes in the countryside, AGRA and others are encouraging small-scale farmers to form collectives and associations to amplify their voices and efforts.

"Agriculture offers us the real opportunity not only to feed ourselves, but also to create employment opportunities for young people and make living in rural areas comfortable," said Annan.

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2012.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Africa, Economy, Environment, Report Tagged With: , , ,

Serbians Unite Against Nickel Extraction

September 27, 2012 by

Global Analyst Online / IPS

Vesna Peric Zimonjic

BELGRADE, Sep 27 (IPS) – A popular Serbian proverb quips that when it comes to politics there are as many opinions as there are people in this central European country of seven million.But the adage was turned on its head last week when the masses sent a strong collective message to the government: no nickel exploitation in the country.

The controversy began when mining minister Milan Bacevic announced earlier this month that Mokra Gora – a 10,813-square-kilometre state-protected national park – and other areas in central Serbia contain more than four million tonnes of nickel deposits.

Bacevic went on to inform the public that several international companies were interested in exploiting the metal, bringing into the country investments totalling 144 billion dollars.

Like many nations in the region, Serbia is close to bankruptcy as a result of the global economic crisis. A new national government, elected to power in July, made a slew of promises to boost living standards and curb unemployment, which is currently at 25.5 percent, with 13.2 percent of the population living below the poverty line, according to the government’s Poverty Reduction Strategy for 2011.

Efforts to pull the country back from the brink of depression include plans to attract a diverse range of foreign investments, namely for nickel extraction projects.

The metal is used in thousands of everyday products by hundreds of millions of people. It is found in a range of commodities from batteries to computer hard disks. Stainless steel, which is used in cookware, cutlery, kitchen appliances, hardware, surgical instruments, storage tanks, firearms, car headlights, jewellery and watches, is a nickel-iron metal alloy.

As a result, nickel sells for 25,000 dollars per tonne.

But even a population struggling to make ends meet is not ready to accept the harsh environmental and social costs of the project.

"Nickel (extraction) technology is among the dirtiest in the world," Vidojko Jovic, a professor at Belgrade University’s Mining and Geology Faculty, told IPS.

“It involves extraction (from the) ore, purification with sulphuric acid at adequate facilities, followed by the emission of gasses and water discharge that intoxicates nearby vegetation, as well as ground, underground and surface waters,” he added.

"There is no clean method for this. Pollution (from the extraction sites) spreads from 50 to 100 kilometres.”

The health hazards of nickel exploitation and production, which mostly affect local populations, include problems with the lungs and stomach, nausea and diarrhoea, among others.

A mass movement?

The issue gained wide public attention last week when the popular and internationally-renowned film director, Emir Kusturica, created the ‘Group for Protection of Serbia’ to raise awareness and garner public opposition to nickel extraction.

Kusturica, who is also director of the Mokra Gora national park, quickly elicited the support of mayors from the central Serbian towns of Topola, Arandjelovac and Vrnjacka Banja, the most popular tourist destinations and wine-growing locations in the country.

Kusturica believes that extracting nickel for export will have major health impacts on surrounding populations, without any of the revenue being reinvested in local communities.

Speaking to journalists in Mokra Gora last week, Kusturica lambasted a process that could lead to a “million deaths, just so that a billion dollars can be earned.”

Several top wine producers from the soon to be affected areas have also joined a growing movement to halt nickel mining.

“I won’t allow any digging or research around my vineyards,” Boza Aleksandrovic, owner of one of the biggest wineries in Serbia, told IPS.

“Serbia is exporting agricultural produce worth much more than the investment Bacevic promised; agriculture is our major export tool," he stressed.

According to Jovic, major nickel producers like Canada have introduced sophisticated methods for nickel extraction, but such facilities “are not (possible) in densely populated areas like the ones in Serbia, which are surrounded by highly developed agricultural lands.”

Projects for nickel exploitation in Serbia were shelved twice in the past, in 1996 and 2006, due to environmental and possible health issues, despite offers by several multinational corporations.

But past expressions of public opposition never came close to harnessing the kind of mass support that Kusturica’s group has generated, with almost all media staunchly behind the movement in a rare instance of unity.

Photos of the Russian town of Norilsk, where almost a century of nickel exploitation has created a wasteland, flooded Serbian papers and news sites this month.

Almost all major media outlets also carried statistics from all over the world on health issues associated with nickel extraction.

Government deaf to opposition

Bacevic decided to counterattack the public on Friday, at a press conference supposedly aimed at “calming the nation”.

In his words, the technology to be used in Serbia would be "of highest sophistication" and completely different from that employed in Norilsk. He accused the media of using a “notorious scam” to “scare the public”.

"Media efforts, as well as attacks by individuals and lobbies amount to an attack on the government of Serbia,” according to the minister, adding that reporters have “deeply disturbed the public.”

As proof of the benefits of nickel production, the minister presented a black-and-white photograph of a nickel production factory in Kavadarci in neighbouring Republic of Macedonia, which allegedly turned the town of 29,000 into a prosperous one by producing 12,000 tonnes of nickel annually.

“It’s a pity there was no colour photo of Feni (the nickel plant in Kavadarci) and its surroundings,” Roberto Parizov, head of the Kavadarci-based environmental organisation ‘Eko Zivot’ (Eco Life) told IPS over the phone. "People here have been poisoned for decades.”

On Sunday the Macedonian paper ‘Utrinski Vesnik’ carried the statement of local engineer Blazo Boev, who said, "Kavadarci and its surroundings have been turned into a wasteland and dumpsite.”

"We wish that it (Feni) was never opened at all, but it is too late now," Parizov said, in a sombre warning to Serbia.

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2012.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Economy, Europe, Geopolitics, Politics, Report Tagged With: , , ,

Starving for an Equitable Food System

September 27, 2012 by

Global Analyst Online / IPS

Lindsey Walker

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 27 (IPS) – The root cause of hunger and malnutrition for millions of people worldwide lies in the severely skewed and unfairly structured hierarchy of policymakers, not in natural disasters or food shortages, according to the Right to Food and Nutrition Watch 2012 (RTFN Watch) released Tuesday.

The report entitled “Who Decides About Global Food and Nutrition: Strategies to Regain Control” describes marginalised people, such as peasants and the indigenous, who continue to suffer hunger despite their efforts to farm and cultivate their own food, as “victims of selfish interests".

The report outlines how ineffective policies surrounding food security and agricultural development breed hunger and malnutrition globally.

Martin Wolpold-Bosien, a founder of the Watch, told IPS, “Food and power are related,” he said. “This is very clear. As long as we do not empower the people, more are affected by hunger and nutrition.”

Wolpold-Bosien is a the coordinator of the Right to Food Accountability at Food First Information and Action Network (FIAN), which annually publishes the globally respected publication, RTFN Watch.

According to the Watch, there is a direct correlation between power and food, in that those with power never hunger, and those without any voice in decision-making have lost individual sovereignty over their own nutrition.

The report defines food sovereignty as “the right of Peoples to define their own policies and strategies for the sustainable production, distribution, and consumption of food, with respect for their own cultures and their own systems of managing natural resources and rural areas, and is considered to be a precondition for Food Security.”

There is an emphasis on the idea that chronic hunger, food riots, and other complications following natural disasters and emergency situations are not direct results of the situations themselves, but rather of the serious gap which exists between decision makers and the effect of those decisions on the livelihoods and daily needs of civilians.

The main reason for this growing gap is that governments and multilateral organisations are relying ever more heavily on public-private partnerships as stakeholders in the path to end hunger, including the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) and the Scaling Up Nutrition Initiative (SUN).

According to the Watch, public-private partnerships seek a solution through short-term intervention strategies, as opposed to the holistic approach designed to cut the cause of hunger at its roots.

Wolpold-Bosien expressed to IPS his concern in the role of Public-Private Partnerships in the Private Sector. “You cannot expect the private sector to be the best actor for public interest,” he said. “The private sector by definition is constituted to serve the private interest and their business.”

The RTFN Watch argues that, although Public-Private Partnerships are often considered a necessity in the funding of development work, deeper analysis of these partnerships unveils the contradictory agendas involved. The underlying causes of nutritional deficiencies are rarely addressed while very selective programmes are targeted, thereby overlooking locally derived causes and needs.

The RTFMN Watch outlined seven case studies of individual countries, one from each continent, in which the right to food and nutrition are violated due to ineffective legal structures. It also made the direct connection between these violations and the states’ unethical seizures of natural resources and land grabbing, as seen in the case studies of Mexico and the Arab Spring.

“It is impossible to combat the causes of hunger while keeping existing power relations untouched,” stated civil society representatives in an official statement.

The solution to hunger, they argue, is in citizen action, social movement, and the redirection of control from the companies and severely compromised, and often corrupt, chain of power back to the civilians themselves.

The proposed plan of action is to occupy political space, or “Occupy the Food System,” a social movement to include the voice of all people, rich or poor, in the decisions regarding their own food and nutrition.

“Human rights are perhaps the most efficient weapon for the combat against hunger,” Wolpold-Bosien told IPS. If we do not open political space and occupy political space for them and their voices, it’s very difficult to do something against the structural courses of hunger.”

An important step was made toward achieving the goal with the reform of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) in 2009. According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the CFS aims to be “the most inclusive international and intergovernmental platform for all relevant stakeholders to work together to ensure food security and nutrition for all.”

“So this is the point—we have to use those instruments that help people affected by hunger and malnutrition to raise their voices and to be more powerful.” Wolpold-Bosien told IPs. “And human rights is absolutely a strong tool because it is an obligation of states.”

The report is the fifth annual RTFN Watch. It was published by 15 civil society organisations and their partners with the intention of creating a platform for activists, media, and scholars to promote, advocate, and lobby for the right to food and nutrition.

It is also a tool to pressure national and international policymakers into prioritising the human rights of the civilian, especially because the RTFN Watch is the first and only of its kind.

“This report is human rights based and helps people to visualise their struggle at a global level,” said Wolpold-Bosien.

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2012.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Economy, Environment, Report Tagged With: , , , ,

New Roadmap for NGOs in Haiti Aims to “Weed Out Bad Apples”

September 27, 2012 by

Global Analyst Online / IPS

Becky Bergdahl

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 26 (IPS) – Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe and representatives from more than 50 non-governmental organisations, including actor-activist Sean Penn, met in New York on Monday to present a new roadmap for humanitarian aid in the country.“It is gonna help the NGOs, the serious NGOs, and it is gonna weed out the bad apples," Lamothe told IPS after the meeting.

“We have a new coordination unit for NGOs that will have guidelines and standards to abide by. So there is a continous effort and push to monitor what the NGOs are doing,” he said.

The event, organised by the U.N. Development Programme, took place during the 67th session of the U.N. General Assembly. The roadmap presented at the meeting is intended to help the Haitian government to supervise the 560 NGOs registered as working in the Caribbean state.

In brief, the roadmap outlines the government’s next steps in coordinating humanitarian, development and charity-based organisations in the country. Two important steps will be the establishment of a national NGO Forum, and the establishment of a consultation process on a new NGO legislation.

The roadmap points out that the responsibility of all prioritisation of efforts shall rest in the hands of national authorities, in order to avoid fragmentation of efforts.

Poverty-stricken Haiti already received international humanitarian aid before the 7.0-magnitude earthquake that hit the country on Jan. 12, 2010. But after the disaster, which left approximately 300,000 dead and 1.5 million people homeless, Haiti has received so much funding aid through foreign NGOs that the country has been nicknamed “a republic of NGOs”.

The aid has not always been helpful. John Chaloner, representing CCO Haiti, a consortium of international NGOs operating in the country, lamented that cooperation problems between NGOs were “common and all too frequent” after the earthquake.

About two-thirds of Haiti’s budget currently comes from foreign assistance.

Rebecca Grynspan, U.N. under-secretary general and associate administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, said that the international community has to focus more on “backing national institutions” in Haiti. Grynspan called for a “transitioning from humanitarian aid”.

But Grynspan also stressed that NGOs have offered, and are still offering, vital help to Haitians, including health services, shelter, education and food aid.

These groups will continue to play a crucial role as more than two-thirds of the population lives on less than two dollars a day, and the state offers little social security.

Prime Minister Lamothe agreed with her, emphasising that according to the new roadmap, the government will have greater authority to oversee aid projects in Haiti. “It is all a question of organisation,” Lamothe said. “There was a lack of leadership before.”

Lamothe acknowledged that this will not be an easy task for the government, in office since last year. The unemployment rate in Haiti is currently over 70 percent, and over 80 percent of the economy remains informal. “We are not getting enough tax revenue,” Lamothe said, lamenting how the financial difficulties limit the government’s ambitions.

In the long run, Haiti needs to boost its own agricultural production and industry, according to Lamothe. “We do not want to continue to be known as an NGO nation,” he said. “Haiti needs to start producing and stop importing.”

Film star Sean Penn, founder of J/P HRO, an NGO operating in Haiti, said that “NGOs’ primary job is to put themselves out of business.” This is yet not possible in Haiti, he conceded, adding that, “Instead, we must create sustainability."

Out of the 1.5 million Haitians left homeless by the earthquake, 1.1 million have been relocated. But the remaining 400,000 are still living in tents. Penn expressed special concerns about security in the camps, after numerous incidents of assault and rape.

Penn also said that “serious security issues” throughout the country are discouraging international companies from investing there and slowing down economic progress.

Still, Penn believes the outlook is positive. “Haiti is on the verge of letting us all see the fruit of our work there,” he concluded.

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2012.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Americas, Economy, Politics, Report, Society Tagged With: , , , ,

Stevia, a Flourishing Business in Spain

September 27, 2012 by

Global Analyst Online / IPS

Inés Benítez

MÁLAGA, Spain, Sep 26 (IPS) – On a parcel of land a few kilometres outside the southern Spanish city of Málaga, unemployed activists are growing 2,000 seedlings of stevia, a plant used by the Guaraní indigenous people for centuries as a natural sweetener that is awakening ever greater interest in Spain.Stevia rebaudiana bertoni, called ka’a he’e or “sweet herb” by the Guaraní, originates from the Amambay mountain range between Paraguay and Brazil.

The glycosides extracted from the plant – stevioside and rebaudioside A – are 300 times sweeter than cane sugar, have no calories, and are suitable for consumption by diabetics, according to numerous studies.

“This parcel of land is a pilot test so that we can see how it evolves, gather our own data and gain experience,” said Diego López of the Unemployed Workers Movement of Málaga, which is promoting the project among people who are currently out of work.

China is the world’s largest producer and consumer of this natural alternative to artificial sweeteners. It is also the source of most of the stevia plant extracts exported to other countries, according to the European Stevia Association (EUSTAS).

Stevia is also extensively grown in Paraguay, Colombia and Chile. And plantations are beginning to be established in Spain as well.

While watering the 300-square-metre plot of land at sundown, López, who holds a degree in marine sciences, comments that “stevia has more potential than it seems.” This project, he believes, could encourage farmers in the province to embrace this new crop.

A few years back, the use of stevia was limited to a few specific sectors of the Spanish population, such as diabetics. Its use became more widespread in 2011, when it was authorised for use as an additive in different foods, EUSTAS member José Cruz Cavero told Tierramérica*.

On Dec. 2 last year, the European Commission authorised the use of steviol glycosides extracted from the plant’s leaves as a food additive.

EUSTAS, a non-profit association that brings together members of the academic community, manufacturers and importers, was the first organisation to request the authorisation of stevia as a food additive, on Sep. 26, 2007, in an application to the European Food Safety Authority.

Once stevia was approved, U.S. corporations Coca Cola and Cargill registered some 20 patents for the use of stevia extracts in their products.

Azucarera Española, owned by Cargill, launched a sweetener under the brand name Truvía on the Spanish market this year. The product contains a mere one percent stevia extract; its main ingredient is erythritol, a sugar alcohol.

The extraction of glycosides from the stevia plant must result in a product with a minimum stevioside content of 95 percent, in accordance with the standards approved by the European Union, explained Andrés García-Granados, a chemist at the company SteviGran and a professor at the University of Granada.

SteviGran, founded in 2010, operates stevia plantations in central Paraguay and in Granada, in southeast Spain. It has developed a “biofactory” for the mass production of seedlings, and markets around 20 products derived from stevia, García-Granados told Tierramérica.

“The demand for stevia is exploding,” declared Miguel Arrillaga, owner of the Málaga-based company De Pr1mera, which has some two million stevia plants growing in various parts of southern Spain and takes in over 26,000 dollars monthly through the sale of the dried leaves of the plant, stevia extract in liquid and powder form, capsules and jams.

De Pr1mera has been in business for 11 months and has 15 hectares of land planted with stevia, but it imports stevia extract in powder form from China and Paraguay. “The next step is to install a stevioside extraction plant in southern Spain, using ecological processes,” said Arrillaga, a telecommunications engineer.

In a coffee shop, Arrillaga holds up a few packets of sugar and predicts that they will soon be replaced by stevia, “because we have natural alternatives to the products imposed by the food multinationals,” and consumption trends are changing.

The sale of dried stevia leaves as a “novel” food product – in bags for the preparation of infusions, for example – is still not authorised in Europe.

A request for this authorisation submitted in July 2007 to the European Commission Scientific Committee on Food “is at a standstill,” said Mónica Lorenzo of the company Anagalide, a member of EUSTAS.

But it is possible to find bags of dried leaves at herbalist shops and on internet shopping sites. Numerous studies confirm the health benefits of stevia for diabetes and high blood pressure, as well as its antioxidant and bactericidal properties.

Arrillaga thinks it is “ridiculous” that the sale of the plant’s leaves as a food product has yet to be permitted, while stevia extracts are authorised for use as a food additive – which benefits big companies.

“It’s the herb for diabetics,” commented the manager of a plant shop in downtown Málaga, pointing to a number of pots with stevia growing in them in the doorway of her store.

The director of the Spanish Federation of Diabetics, Mercedes Maderuelo, said that stevia has become popular as an alternative to artificial sweeteners among the group’s 5.3 million members, since it has no calories and no saturated fats.

Lorenzo stressed that “the green extract is more effective in helping to regulate blood insulin levels.”

The experts consulted concur that the crystallised stevia imported from China is not reliably safe. “I have even found metals like lead or pesticides in it,” said chemist García-Granados.

“There is a lot of stevia on the market, but it is often of poor quality. This is the main problem,” said Lorenzo. EUSTAS hopes to create an international gene bank that could be used by people who want to grow the sweet herb.

* This story was originally published by Latin American newspapers that are part of the Tierramérica network. Tierramérica is a specialised news service produced by IPS with the backing of the United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Environment Programme and the World Bank.

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2012.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Economy, Environment, Europe, Report, Society Tagged With: , , , ,

U.N. Women Demands End to Impunity for Wartime Rape and Violence

September 26, 2012 by

Global Analyst Online / IPS

Becky Bergdahl

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 26 (IPS) – At a high-level event at the United Nations in New York on Tuesday, U.N. Women, the United Nations body for female empowerment and gender equality, called for stronger action from world leaders to prevent and punish sexual violence in conflict."The fact remains that women’s bodies remain a battleground, and impunity remains the norm rather than the exception," said Michelle Bachelet, a former president of Chile and the current executive director of U.N. Women. "The experience of women during and after conflict continues to be one of violence and insecurity."

According to Bachelet, an individual’s access to justice after a conflict is highly dependent upon that person’s gender. Compared to male victims, female victims of war crimes are less likely to see their cases taken to court and are less likely to receive reparations.

Bachelet suggested three strategies that could help begin to tackle the problem.

The first, expanding women’s participation in post-conflict recovery, "provides an opportunity for women to ensure that peace agreements, new laws and new constitutions do not reinforce the pre-existing status quo and that they advance equality and justice", Bachelet said.

Underscoring her point is the fact that according to U.N. Women, in recent peace negotiations, women have represented less than eight percent of participants. Less than three percent of signatories to peace agreements have been women, and no woman has ever been appointed chief or lead mediator in U.N.-sponsored peace talks.

Bachelet also said that women’s organisations must be supported by the world’s governments in order to take on and address gender inequalities that "make women more vulnerable to sexual and gender-based crimes during and after conflicts".

Finally, Bachelet said, the international community, national governments, civil society and individual actors must cooperate to secure accountability for conflict-related, gender-based crimes.

As part of an effort to tackle the issue of and reduce gender-based crimes in times of conflict, U.N. Women and the U.N. Department of Peacekeeping Operations together have initiated "the first ever scenario-based training for military peacekeepers" to prevent sexual violence, Bachelet announced at the meeting.

"We are currently testing this training in major troop contributing countries," Bachelet said. "Earlier this month, a first training took place in The Hague on investigating cases of sexual and gender-based violence as international crimes."

Zainab Bangura, recently appointed Special Representative of the Secretary-General on sexual violence in conflict, added at the meeting that "for too long, conflict-related sexual violence has been largely cost-free for those who rape women, children and men, whereas the costs have been borne by the victims".

"Even as we ensure that survivors receive the care and services they require, we must insist that sexual violence in conflict is not inevitable, but that the consequences for the perpetrators are," Bangura stated.

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague elaborated on what victims endure in bearing the costs of the crime, emphasising that the silence surrounding sexual assault often is even harder to break when it comes to crimes committed against men and children.

"We must break the silence if we are to achieve sustainable peace and prosperity," Hague said. "The UK stands ready to put its full weight this agenda, as a catalyst for others to take action."

Renowned American peace activist and feminist Jody Williams, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for her work on banning antipersonnel landmines, agreed with Hague.

"Survivors of sexual violence are brutalised twice – first by the perpetrators of the crimes against them, and the second time by governments that fail to apply the rule of law and ensure justice for survivors," Williams concluded.

The side event to the 67th U.N. General Assembly was arranged by U.N. Women in cooperation with the UK Foreign Secretary, the Office of the Special-Representative of the Secretary-General on sexual violence in conflict, and the International Campaign to Stop Rape and Gender Violence in Conflict.

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2012.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Report, Rights, Security, Society Tagged With: , , ,

Qatar: Rich and Dangerous

September 25, 2012 by

Global Analyst Online | Oilprice.com

By Felix Imonti for Oilprice.com

The first concern of the Emir of Qatar is the prosperity and security of the tiny kingdom. To achieve that, he knows no limits.

Stuck between Iran and Saudi Arabia is Qatar with the third largest natural gas deposit in the world. The gas gives the nearly quarter of a million Qatari citizens the highest per capita income on the planet and provides 70 percent of government revenue.

How does an extremely wealthy midget with two potentially dangerous neighbors keep them from making an unwelcomed visit? Naturally, you have someone bigger and tougher to protect you.

Of course, nothing is free. The price has been to allow the United States to have two military bases in a strategic location. According to Wikileak diplomatic cables, the Qataris are even paying sixty percent of the costs.

Having tanks and bunker busting bombs nearby will discourage military aggression, but it does nothing to curb the social tumult that has been bubbling for decades in the Middle Eastern societies. Eighty-four years ago, the Moslem Brotherhood arose in Egypt because of the presence of foreign domination by Great Britain and the discontent of millions of the teaming masses yearning to be free. Eighty-four years later, the teaming masses are still yearning.

Sixty-five percent of the people in the Middle East are under twenty-nine years of age. It is this desperate angry group that presents a danger that armies cannot stop. The cry for their dignity, "I am a man," is the sound that sends terror through governments. It is this overwhelming force that the Emir of Qatar has been able to deflect.

A year after he deposed his father in 1995, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani established the Al-Jazeera television satellite news network. He invited some of the radical Salafi preachers that had been given sanctuary in Qatar to address the one and a half billion Moslems around the world. They had their electronic soapbox and the card to an ATM, but there was a price.

The price was silence. They could speak to the world and arouse the fury in Egypt or Libya, but they would have to leave their revolution outside of Qatar or the microphone would be switched off and the ATM would stop dispensing the good life.

The Moslem Brotherhood, that is a major force across the region, dissolved itself in Qatar in 1999. Jasim Sultan, a member of the former organization, explained that the kingdom was in compliance with Islamic law. He heads the state funded Awaken Project that publishes moderate political and philosophical literature.

How Qatar has benefited from networking with the Salafis is illustrated by the connections with Tunisia where Qatar is making a large investment in telecommunications. Tunisian Foreign Minister Rafiq Abdulsalaam was head of the Research and Studies Division in the Al Jazeera Centre in Doha. His father-in-law Al Ghanouchi is the head of the Tunisian Muslim Brotherhood party.

Over much of the time since he seized power, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani has followed the policy of personal networking, being proactive in business and neutral on the international stage. The Emir is generous with the grateful, the Qatar Sovereign Wealth Fund bargains hard in the board room and the kingdom makes available Qatar’s Good Offices to resolve disputes.

Qatar’s foreign policy made an abrupt shift when the kingdom entered the war against Qaddafi. The kingdom sent aircraft to join NATO forces. On the ground, Qatari special forces armed, trained, and led Libyans against Qaddafi’s troops.

The head of the National Transition Council Mustafa Abdul Jalil attributed much of the success of the revolution to the efforts of Qatar that he said had spent two billion dollars. He commented, "Nobody traveled to Qatar without being given a sum of money by the government."

Qatar had ten billion dollars in investments in Libya to protect. The Barwa Real Estate Company alone had two billion committed to the construction of a beach resort near Tripoli.

While the bullets were still flying, Qatar signed eight billion dollars in agreements with the NTC. Just in case things with the NTC didn’t work out, they financed rivals Abdel Hakim Belhaj, leader of the February 17 Martyr’s Brigade, and Sheik Ali Salabi, a radical cleric who had been exiled in Doha.

If Qatar’s investments of ten billion dollars seem substantial, the future has far more to offer. Reconstruction costs are estimated at seven hundred billion dollars. The Chinese and Russians had left behind between them thirty billion in incomplete contracts and investments and all of it is there for the taking for those who aided the revolution.

No sooner had Qaddafi been caught and shot, Qatar approached Bashar Al-Assad to establish a transitional government with the Moslem Brotherhood. As you would expect, relinquishing power to the Brotherhood was an offer that he could refuse. It didn’t take long before he heard his sentence pronounced in January 2012 on the CBS television program, 60 Minutes by Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani.

The Emir declared that foreign troops should be sent into Syria. At the Friends of Syria conference in February, Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani said, "We should do whatever necessary to help [the Syrian opposition], including giving them weapons to defend themselves."

Why would Qatar want to become involved in Syria where they have little invested? A map reveals that the kingdom is a geographic prisoner in a small enclave on the Persian Gulf coast.

It relies upon the export of LNG, because it is restricted by Saudi Arabia from building pipelines to distant markets. In 2009, the proposal of a pipeline to Europe through Saudi Arabia and Turkey to the Nabucco pipeline was considered, but Saudi Arabia that is angered by its smaller and much louder brother has blocked any overland expansion.

Already the largest LNG producer, Qatar will not increase the production of LNG. The market is becoming glutted with eight new facilities in Australia coming online between 2014 and 2020.

A saturated North American gas market and a far more competitive Asian market leaves only Europe. The discovery in 2009 of a new gas field near Israel, Lebanon, Cyprus, and Syria opened new possibilities to bypass the Saudi Barrier and to secure a new source of income. Pipelines are in place already in Turkey to receive the gas. Only Al-Assad is in the way.

Qatar along with the Turks would like to remove Al-Assad and install the Syrian chapter of the Moslem Brotherhood. It is the best organized political movement in the chaotic society and can block Saudi Arabia’s efforts to install a more fanatical Wahhabi based regime. Once the Brotherhood is in power, the Emir’s broad connections with Brotherhood groups throughout the region should make it easy for him to find a friendly ear and an open hand in Damascus.

A control centre has been established in the Turkish city of Adana near the Syrian border to direct the rebels against Al-Assad. Saudi Deputy Foreign Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Abdullah al-Saud asked to have the Turks establish a joint Turkish, Saudi, Qatari operations center. "The Turks liked the idea of having the base in Adana so that they could supervise its operations" a source in the Gulf told Reuters.

The fighting is likely to continue for many more months, but Qatar is in for the long term. At the end, there will be contracts for the massive reconstruction and there will be the development of the gas fields. In any case, Al-Assad must go. There is nothing personal; it is strictly business to preserve the future tranquility and well-being of Qatar.

Source: http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Qatar-Rich-and-Dangerous.html

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Filed Under: Geopolitics, Mideast, Report, Security Tagged With:

Strained East-West Relations Dominate General Assembly Opening

September 25, 2012 by

Global Analyst Online / IPS

Lawrence Del Gigante

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 25 (IPS) – Addressing the 67th General Assembly at the United Nations in New York Tuesday, U.S. President Barack Obama accused the Iranian government of propping up the dictatorship in Syria and supporting terrorist groups abroad.He charged that Tehran has failed to demonstrate the peaceful intentions of its nuclear programme to the United Nations, and warned that time for a diplomatic solution was “not unlimited".

“Make no mistake: a nuclear-armed Iran is not a challenge that can be contained,” Obama said. “The United States will do what we must to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.”

Obama also said that the violent reactions to an anti-Islam video produced in the U.S. are a sign that the international community must “address honestly the tensions between the West and the Arab World.”

He described the video as “crude and disgusting” but defended the right to free speech. He also said that the video, no matter how offensive, does not justify acts of violence.

“There are no words that excuse the killing of innocents. There is no video that justifies an attack on an embassy,” he said.

Obama promised a firm response to the killings and to be “relentless in tracking down the killers and bringing them to justice".

He also acknowledged Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen for helping to secure U.S. facilities following the attacks.

In the context of the attacks, Obama called for all leaders in all countries to speak out against violence and extremism.

“It is time to marginalise those who… use hatred of America, or the West, or Israel as a central principle of politics,” he asserted.

While noting the adverse effects of extremism on human rights and education, he also said that “Muslims have suffered the most at the hands of extremism.”

Still speaking on relations in the region, Obama called for a secure, Jewish state of Israel and an independent Palestine, as well as an end to the Assad regime.

“As we meet here, we again declare that the regime of Bashar al-Assad must come to an end so that the suffering of the Syrian people can stop, and a new dawn can begin,” he said.

Throughout his address he encouraged unity, tolerance and understanding between Western and Eastern countries and cultures.

“We have taken these positions because we believe that freedom and self-determination are not unique to one culture. These are not simply American values or Western values – they are universal values,” Obama said.

Secretary-general warns of "regional calamity"

Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon told the assembly that the Syrian crisis is no longer confined to the country itself but has become “a regional calamity with global ramifications", and called for Security Council action.

He placed responsibility on the international community to find a Syrian-led resolution to the situation as well as to support humanitarian aid efforts in the country.

Ban also called for a peaceful solution between Palestine and Israel, saying that a two-state solution was the only sustainable option, but warned that “the door may be closing for good".

He expressed his concern over the continued growth of Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory in that it was seriously undermining peace efforts.

He strongly rejected potential military action by one state against another.

Ban also spoke about the need for nuclear weapons to be controlled, and said that “Iran must prove the solely peaceful intent of its (nuclear) programme.” He also encouraged the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to move towards the de-nuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

Sustainable development formed a crucial part of Ban’s address, a path that is “the key to our hopes for the future” and “my top priority as secretary-general".

He called on states to honour their promises to reach a legally binding agreement on climate change by 2015.

“Sustainability and the green economy offer compelling opportunities to promote jobs, growth, innovation and long-term stability,” he said.

He also called for greater attention and support for the humanitarian crisis in Africa’s Sahel region, where some 18 million people face food insecurityand one million children under five are at risk of starvation.

“The international community needs a major concerted effort to address this alarming situation,” Ban said.

The secretary-general also voiced concern over volatile food markets, saying that “governments must not impose trade restrictions on grains or other agricultural products” in order to maximise food supplies.

He spoke in the context of the looming 2015 deadline for the Millennium Development Goals, saying “even if we achieve the MDGs, there is still a long way to go.”

Growing volatility

During his opening address of the General Debate, the new president of the General Assembly, Vuk Jeremi?, spoke of the need to attend to the increasing volatility and unpredictability of the global environment.

“We are beset by a series of ruptures that seem to be building in intensity. Their effects can barely be kept in check,” he said.

Jeremi? highlighted three variables in the global environment that must be attended to.

He spoke first of states aspiring to take on more significant roles and exercise a greater level of influence in their region.

“Virtually no one’s position is the same today as it was just a generation ago, making it more difficult for a meaningful and enduring consensus to be reached on significant items on our shared agenda,” he noted.

The second issue he noted as the increasing access of “capabilities” to non-state actors, such as the ability to inflict harm on a massive scale, and the concerns this raises for member states.

The third issue he posited was the quest for empowerment, whereby populations around the world seek greater influence in shaping their own destiny, noting that although “the Arab Spring advanced democratic aspirations in a number of countries, the fate of some others still hangs in the balance.”

The theme for this year’s debate, as chosen by the Assembly’s president, is "adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations by peaceful means".

“Rarely has it been more necessary for the world to draw closer together. It is to this endeavour that I believe we should devote the full scope of our resources,” Jeremi? said.

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2012.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Geopolitics, Report Tagged With: ,
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