Day: March 23, 2022

Manama, Attorney General, Dr. Ali bin Fadhel Al Buainin, met with Vice President of the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (EUROJUST), Bostjan Skrlec, on the sidelines of the regional conference to promote international judicial cooperation in the Middle East and North Africa, which is organised by the Public Prosecution.

They discussed ways of boosting judicial cooperation to combat crimes, including mainly money laundering and financing terrorism, given their dangerous effects on undermining countries’ stability as well as their economic capabilities and financial systems.

Source: Bahrain News Agency

UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. General Assembly began a lengthy debate Wednesday over two draft resolutions that seek to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, where millions wait for food, water and medical supplies or the chance to escape their besieged country safely.

“Thousands of Ukrainians have lost their lives over this month: young and old, women and men, civilians and military,” Ukraine’s U.N. Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya said of Russia’s war, which began in the early hours of February 24. “They died because Russia decided to attack — attack Ukraine, attack peace, attack all of us. Every day of the Russian war against Ukraine aggravates the humanitarian situation further and further.”

The numbers are staggering. In barely one month, the United Nations says, 3.5 million people have fled to neighboring countries, and 6.5 million are displaced within Ukraine. The U.N. estimates that 12 million people in the country need humanitarian assistance. The situation deteriorates daily.

U.N. member states have before them two resolutions. Both call for an immediate cease-fire and protection of civilians, critical civilian infrastructure, aid workers and medical personnel.

But there is one glaring difference: One text names Russia as the aggressor and calls on it to cease its actions against Ukraine, while the second text names no aggressor and essentially puts Ukraine — which was attacked — on the same level as its attacker.

Mexico and France, along with Ukraine, were among the 25 countries that drafted the text that names Russia, and their resolution has more than 80 co-sponsors in the General Assembly.

South Africa is the author of the second text.

“South Africa believes that the political and strategic issues pertaining to the conflict in Ukraine should be discussed but not in the context of a resolution addressing the humanitarian situation,” Ambassador Mathu Joyini told the assembly. She said her government’s draft resolution attempts to do that.

Wednesday’s debate saw more than 60 delegations take the floor. The discussion will continue Thursday morning, and a vote is expected to follow.

Any result would not have a legally binding effect on Russia, but with strong international backing, it would express the will of the world that the hostilities should stop and people should be helped.

An overwhelming number of speakers expressed support for the Western draft, underscoring Russia’s destruction of Ukraine, including its siege on the southern port city of Mariupol, and the indiscriminate shelling and bombing of civilians and critical infrastructure.

“In light of the tragedy that is unfolding, the General Assembly has to take its responsibility to address this humanitarian catastrophe and urgently call on Russia to respect the basic principles of international humanitarian law that applies to everyone,” European Union Ambassador Olof Skoog said on behalf of the 27-member bloc.

U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield pointed to the humanitarian impact of the war, which is disrupting global supplies of critical items such as wheat and fuel, which was also addressed in the resolution under consideration.

“The accelerating spike of food prices, food shortages and corresponding insecurity threatens to further destabilize fragile societies, increase hunger and drive migration,” she said. “And this comes at a time when the global humanitarian system was already stretched more than ever before — a time when the World Food Program is feeding more than 138 million people in over 80 countries.”

Only Syria took the floor to support Russia. Moscow has provided military backing to the regime of President Bashar al-Assad since 2015 in its brutal war against its population. Even Belarus, which hosts Russian troops on its territory and is believed to be considering involving its own military in Ukraine to support Russia, did not address the General Assembly.

Also absent from the debate were Eritrea and North Korea, which round out the countries that have publicly supported Moscow at the United Nations.

Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia dismissed the Western text as having “blatantly anti-Russian elements.”

“Let me be clear: This scenario will make a resolution to the situation in Ukraine more difficult,” Nebenzia said. “Because more likely, it will embolden Ukrainian negotiators and would nudge them to maintaining the current unrealistic position, which is not related to the situation on the ground nor to the need to tackle the root causes, which meant that Russia had to start, almost a month ago, its special military operation in Ukraine.”

Isolation

Nebenzia said if countries want to help the humanitarian situation in Ukraine, they should vote for Moscow’s draft resolution in the U.N. Security Council.

That draft went for a vote late Wednesday. Non-council members Belarus, Syria and North Korea were the co-sponsors.

Of the 15 council members, only Russia and China supported the text (China was not a co-sponsor, though). In a rare occurrence, 13 council members abstained from voting. Without nine positive votes and no vetoes, the measure failed.

Several council members pointed out that the resolution did not call for an immediate and unconditional end to the hostilities or name the cause of the humanitarian crisis — Russia’s invasion.

Honoring Albright

On Wednesday, former U.S. Secretary of State and onetime U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Madeleine Albright died. Council members stood for a moment of silence in tribute to her. Thomas-Greenfield cited her ahead of the vote.

“Secretary Albright once warned, ‘Take it from someone who fled the Iron Curtain, I know what happens when you give the Russians a green light.’ And that is what we will do today if we pass this resolution.” Thomas-Greenfield warned.

Meanwhile, humanitarians continue, without strong guarantees for their safety, to try to bring livesaving aid to millions of Ukrainian civilians, many of whom are stranded in areas with active hostilities.

Source: Voice of America

The world is feeling the effects of the war in Ukraine from the gas pump all the way to the dinner table.

Food prices are climbing just about everywhere, raising the risk of civil unrest, especially in countries dependent on imported wheat from Russia and Ukraine. That includes much of the Middle East and North Africa.

Experts say the food price increases are happening at an especially bad time.

“It’s kind of a perfect storm,” said Cornell University economics professor Chris Barrett. “It’s not just a matter of, food prices are going high. It’s food prices are going high at a moment when many places are already crippled by the challenges posed by COVID, by political disruptions elsewhere, by droughts and floods and other natural disasters.”

“And there’s only so much that people can take before they grow displeased with their political leadership if it’s failing to take care of them,” he added. “So, unrest is, unfortunately, increasingly likely right now.”

Conflict worsens inflation

Russia is the world’s leading wheat exporter. Ukraine is number five. Together, they grow up to a third of the world’s wheat exports.

But when war broke out, the Black Sea became a combat zone. Some cargo ships took fire. It didn’t take sanctions to cut off exports.

“There wasn’t a ban on grain trade, but in effect the ports were closed. And so shipment has stopped,” said Texas A&M University economist Mark Welch.

“Countries that import from Ukraine and Russia have suddenly found their contracts canceled and they’re not getting food shipments they were expecting, which forces them into the market to pay a premium to replace food shipments that just aren’t going to arrive,” Barrett said. “And that bids up the price of food around the world.”

But food prices have been rising for almost two years.

Bad weather cut harvests in some of the world’s breadbaskets. Reserves are low.

That’s helped push prices to record highs even before the conflict started.

“We’ve tipped over that edge where every change, every little thing, has a very large impact,” University of Illinois economist Joe Janzen said.

More problems coming

Now, Ukraine’s next harvest is in doubt. Farmers should be getting ready for the next growing season. But that’s hard to do right now.

“Logistical lines are obviously heavily disrupted right now,” Barrett said. “Seeds aren’t arriving. Fuel isn’t arriving. Fertilizer isn’t arriving.”

Russia’s farmers are getting hit, too. They’re not under sanctions. But Russia’s banks are. That basically shuts Russian farmers out of the financial system.

“We’re not going to say, ‘You can’t ship grain,'” Welch said. “But will they ship it if they can’t get paid?”

Then there’s the sharp increase in energy prices that makes shipping everything more expensive.

Also, natural gas is a main ingredient in fertilizers commonly used to boost grain yields. So fertilizer costs more to make.

“Fertilizer prices last year were already quite high. They had come down somewhat in the last few months and now are very high again,” Janzen said, “in part because Russia and its ally Belarus are major fertilizer exporters.”

And Russia and Belarus are both under sanctions for the Ukraine invasion.

But those are problems for the next crop. People in parts of the Middle East and North Africa are feeling the effects now.

Fragile situations

“Yemen is a good case in point,” Barrett said. “There’s not a lot of wheat being grown in Yemen. They depend entirely upon wheat imports, and that requires transportation to get there.”

“The spike in global wheat prices plus the spike in global oil prices mean that prices for flour and for bread products in Yemen are already increasing significantly in a place where people really can’t afford to face an even higher cost of feeding their family basic daily rations,” he added.

In 2011, rising bread prices were one of the factors that set off the Arab Spring protests. When people already have grievances with their government, food inflation can tip them over the edge. A lot of places fit that description, according to U.N. World Food Program Chief Economist Arif Husain.

“If you look at Yemen, if you look at Lebanon, if you look at Syria, if you look at South Sudan, if you look at Ethiopia, and I can keep going,” Husain said in an interview with The Associated Press. “These countries are already in trouble because of conflicts.”

On the plus side, spring planting hasn’t started yet in some big wheat-growing countries. Farmers will probably switch some land where they planned to grow corn or soybeans to planting wheat. That should eventually bring the price down.

“That seems to be the main way that these crises are inevitably resolved is by production somewhere else in the world responding,” Janzen said. “We are fortunate that we have a global food system. We have the ability to produce and consume commodities like wheat all around the world.”

It will be months before the markets have a sense of how big the new crop will be, however. Those will be nail-biting months of watching the weather. Experts say, be ready for a wild ride.

Source: Voice of America

NAIROBI — Aid agencies working in East Africa warn of a massive humanitarian crisis if the coming rainy season falls short of expectations. The aid groups say persistent drought has left 44 million people in urgent need of assistance across Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan.

Millions of people are on the move in East Africa as drought takes their livelihoods and most are forced to flee their homes in search of food and water.

Francesco Rigamoti is the regional humanitarian coordinator for Oxfam Horn East and Central Africa. He says if nothing is done, the situation is poised to get worse in coming weeks.

“The crisis can actually worsen until and beyond June if the March to May rains will be average or below average,” he said. “There is a concrete possibility that in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia, only between 15 and 20 million people will be in IPC 3 phase and above and unfortunately, the experts are telling us in South Sudan already between May and July 8.3 million people will be in this situation.”

The aid agencies use the IPC scale to classify households’ food insecurity. IPC phase 3 means the households have food consumption gaps that can lead to acute malnutrition.

Since January, at least 13 million people in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia have been displaced in search of water and pastures for their livestock.

In Kenya, crop production has dropped by 70%.

Oxfam International head Gabriela Bucher traveled to Somali regions to witness the drought situation and what it is doing to people. She says communities are finding it difficult to adapt to the change in weather patterns.

“For centuries pastoralists have had an extremely resilient and incredible coping mechanism in very harsh conditions but the current situation, the severity of the long drought extension and how many countries are affected is breaking those traditional mechanisms and in reality, we see that the climate crisis is present there and they are suffering the worst consequences of something that [they did] nothing to generate. So we know this is an issue of justice because it’s us, the global community that needs to be aware and respond,” she said.

The aid agencies say more than 650,000 Somalis have fled their homes due to drought, leaving almost half of the children under the age of five acutely malnourished.

Javier Rio Navarro is head of ECHO Somalia, a European Union emergency response organization. He says the country is facing famine.

“Today, we face a number of hard truths in Somalia,” he said. “The consequences of the drought are catastrophic and pose a very real threat of famine in the country. The other real truth is that the capacities of the partners are overstretched and the additional reality is that additional funding is hard to come by. Hence collectively, we need to recognize that the single common priority of humanitarians in Somalia today is to save lives.”

In 2017 humanitarian organizations averted possible famine by getting supplies to communities in hard-to-reach areas on time and using the lessons learned during the 2011 famine which killed a quarter of a million people.

Aid agencies are appealing for more funding to reach millions and save lives.

Source: Voice of America

Rome/New York – Mobile pastoralism is an important platform for livelihoods in the Sahel region, and improved governance and support can help reduce the risk of conflicts, QU Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), said today at a panel focused on fostering peace in the area.

“Increasing conflicts and insecurity in agro-pastoral areas have led to a negative view of cross-border transhumance, despite its significant economic benefits and socio-cultural and environmental importance,” Qu said. “Transhumant pastoralism is a vital strategy, employed by millions of people across the Sahel to convert scarce and variable natural resources into a sustained source of nutritious food, income and viable livelihoods.”

The Director-General spoke at a meeting of the UN Peacebuilding Commission focused on how to support the UN Integrated Strategy for the Sahel (UNISS) countries in the region and efforts by the G5 Sahel – Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger – to address climate degradation challenges from a peacebuilding perspective. Participants reviewed a flagship initiative of FAO and the International Organization of Migration (IOM) on transhumance in the region to identify opportunities and challenges its implementation has brought to light.

Briefings were presented by FAO’s Director-General, IOM Director-General António Vitorino, UN Special Coordinator for Development in the Sahel Abdoulaye Mar Dieye, Eric Tiare, Executive Secretary of the G5 Sahel Secretariat, and representatives of the African Union, the European Union, the World Bank, the African Development Bank and local non-governmental organizations as well as other UN officers.

The G5 Sahel countries have experienced mounting security threats and recurrent food crises in recent years, driving massive humanitarian needs. That has been a primary driver of the nearly tripling of the number of people in a situation of food security crisis or worse in West Africa and the Sahel since 2016, to around 35 million people in 2022, according to the Cadre Harmonisé. After irregular rains in 2021, a very severe lean season for pastoralists is expected this year, with Niger’s cereal production on course to be 38 percent below its five-year average representing a particular cause of concern. Available pasture covers just one to three months of needs, triggering early movements of herds and raising the risk that conflicts with farmers become exacerbated.

Conflict and the climate crisis are adversely affecting mobility, the FAO Director-General said, noting that mobility allows livestock owners to take advantage of the variety of local ecosystems, adapt to environmental changes and access a wider range of markets. Increased resilience is critical, and that will require improved public policies to address the multi-dimensional and cross-border challenges in the region.

The number of violent attacks in Central Sahel increased eightfold from 2015 to 2020, triggering a twenty-fold increase in internally displaced people in the G5 Sahel countries and nearly a million refugees fleeing their countries.

More has to be done and more impact achieved, the Qu said. FAO’s initiatives in the region are focused on revitalizing local mechanisms for preventing and managing conflicts related to access to and use of natural resources, with the goal of reaping local peace dividends.

FAO uses conflict analysis to take stock of conflicts over natural resources and other conflicts in rural areas, identify initiatives for conflict prevention and management, and formulate proposals to improve the effectiveness of conflict prevention and management mechanisms. The conflict analysis is one of the main activities implemented in projects such as “Strengthening the resilience of cross-border pastoral and agropastoral populations in priority areas in the Sahel” funded by the Global Network Against Food Crises and the EU.

FAO collaborates with many UN agencies using the Peace Building Fund, to support the Sahelian people and institutions That has involved establishing networks of Dimitra community listeners’ clubs capable of functioning as instruments for promoting inclusive citizen participation, establishing agropastoral field schools as a training place on new technologies but also for dialogue with youth and women who are essential in the peace process as well as other initiatives – including data-driven early warning systems, anticipatory actions for drought risks, the use of feed balance sheets to identify supply and demand matches, vaccination of small ruminants and the construction of pastoral boreholes for watering – to restore a climate of trust between local authorities and grassroots community members.

Liptako-Gourma

With funding from the Peacebuilding Fund, FAO and the IOM have partnered on a project in the Liptako-Gourma area, which borders Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger and is under particular strain from a complex set of factors including dwindling resources, climate variability, demographic pressure, high levels of poverty, disaffection, communal tension and the absence of state institutions and basic services, all exacerbated by violence related to organized crime and Non-State Armed Groups.

In the Sahel, around 50 million people or 72 percent of the population depend on rearing livestock for their survival and the livestock sector contributes around a quarter of the total gross domestic product of the three countries.

Using the Transhumance Tracking Tool developed by IOM and FAO to provide an early response mechanism for local stakeholders to alleviate potential conflicts, the project enables identification of the scale of emerging problems, notably the number of pastoralists who are “stranded”, mostly due to security reasons, COVID-19 restrictions, government rules or the relative presence or absence of viable grazing lands. Stranded herders face particular challenges in gaining access to livestock markets to sell their cattle.

That tool and other informant networks indicate that transhumance – especially early or large-scale movements of animals – is related to the majority of potential conflict scenarios and that only a minority of cases are effectively resolved by local leaders. This highlights the need for more effective national political responses including assuring access to basic services such as health, education, technical extension services and financing.

The joint project has showcased opportunities to collaborate and support transhumant pastoralists, Director-General Qu said.

He highlighted the need to work closely with local, national and regional authorities to enhance the effectiveness of regulations and policies for transhumance, facilitate greater investment in pastoral infrastructure, and promote more inclusive land management institutions.

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations