Iraq: 17,000 ancient looted artifacts returned

A stone inscription bearing part of the Epic of Gilgamesh and thousands of other priceless, ancient objects were stolen following the 2003 US invasion of Iraq.



Gilgamesh's 'dream tablet' FOUND AT THE USA HOBBY LOBBY BIBLE MUSEUM


Iraqi historian Abdullah Khorsheed Qader has been working in the field of archaeology since 2000, when he started his master's degree at the Salah-al-Din University in Erbil, northern Iraq, and where he went on to become a professor at the university's department of archaeology.

As a scholar and the director of the Iraqi Institute for the Conservation of Antiquities and Heritage, Qader is elated his country will get back its ancient treasures from the US. "Feeling great and hopeful because of the positive responses from the United States of America," he told DW in an email interview.
17,000 artifacts to be returned

On Wednesday, the US announced it was returning 17,000 archaeological artifacts to Iraq. The objects, which are around 4,000 years old and from the Sumerian period, were returned on Thursday onboard the flight of Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, who was in Washington DC for a meeting with US President Joe Biden.

Calling the restitution "unprecedented," Iraqi culture minister Hassan Nazim said it was "the largest return of antiquities to Iraq" and a "result of months of efforts by the Iraqi authorities in conjunction with their embassy in Washington," he said in a press statement. In 2018, the British government returned ancient objects that were similarly looted after the US invasion and which then appeared in England.

Watch video 42:31 Stolen - Blood antiquities

Stolen during the US invasion

"Most of these artifacts were part of the materials that were that were looted from the Iraq Museum in Baghdad during the US invasion," Elizabeth Stone, an archaeologist and professor of anthropology at the Stony Brook University in New York, told DW. Stone has been a part of various archaeological expeditions to Iraq, including a notable one in 2012, where she and her team excavated close to the site of Ur, the home of the biblical figure of Abraham.

According to Stone, these objects left Iraq through illegal trade in antiquities. "It was clear to everyone that these had been stolen from the Museum since they had catalog numbers on them and so could not have come from illegal excavations," the archaeologist added.

Some objects were confiscated by customs officials, but others were bought by Cornell University and Hobby Lobby, the arts and crafts chain, Stone said.

Hobby Lobby was in the news recently after it was revealed the business had acquired a rare tablet in cuneiform script, inscribed with a portion of the Epic of Gilgamesh. The object was bought to display at the Museum of the Bible in Washington DC — the institution is funded by the family of David Green, Hobby Lobby's founder.

On July 27, a New York court ordered the forfeiture of the object, which was reportedly purchased by an American antiquities dealer from the family of a London coin dealer, the US Department of Justice said in a statement.

"The antiquities dealer and a US cuneiform expert shipped the tablet into the United States by international post without declaring the contents as required. After the tablet was imported and cleaned, experts in cuneiform recognized it as bearing a portion of the Gilgamesh Epic. The tablet measures approximately 6 inches by 5 inches [15 x 12 centimeters] and is written in the Akkadian language," according to the press statement.
The Epic of Gilgamesh

The Sumerian poem is considered one of the oldest works of literature, and together with several thousand other objects, comprises one of the largest caches of archaeologically important artifacts that were stolen from Iraq following the 2003 US-led invasion.

Illegal excavation, theft and smuggling of historical artifacts is an ongoing problem — especially in Iraq and Syria — with black market dealers, smugglers and members of the "Islamic State" (IS) exploiting the chaotic situation in the region, where it is relatively easy to find antiquities and sell them abroad.

WHAT'S LEFT OF THE ANCIENT CITY OF PALMYRA?

IS strikes again

What is now left of the ancient ruins at Palmyra - known as the "Pearl of the Desert" - is uncertain after a new strike by IS militants on Thursday. This photo shows the face of statue at a destroyed museum in March 2016. Syrian government forces had recaptured Palmyra that month from jihadists, who view the UNESCO-listed site's ancient ruins as idolatrous. 12345

 

Iraqi officials prepare

Meanwhile, archaeologists like Qader are happy that efforts to bring back the treasures have borne fruit. "Iraqi contacts with the American side made it clear that the smuggled antiquities are in the safe hands of the American Homeland Security," Qader says. Embassy officials had been communicating for many years to recover these pieces and "this has become a reality, finally," adds Qader.

He hopes that the rest of the world, too, will step in and help recover other lost artifacts. Meanwhile, the archaeologist and his colleagues are busy laying the groundwork for re-establishing archaeological institutions that were damaged during years of war and conflict.

Together with US organizations like the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Delaware, Qader, the director of the Iraqi Institute for the Conservation of Antiquities and Heritage, is training young professionals and educating the community.

One important goal of his program is "restoring confidence and self-belief in the Iraqi Museum community and archaeological professionals by building and strengthening a national conservation program for cultural heritage."

 

Clothing rules for female athletes: 'Taking control over the outfits'

After a protest by the Norwegian women's beach handball team, women's sporting attire — and what female athletes are forced to wear in competition — has come under the spotlight.

    

A protest by Norway's beach handball team has put female sports attire center stage

The decision to take to the court in shorts instead of the required but, in their eyes, degrading bikini bottoms had been brewing for some time. The question was whether they were prepared to risk a fine or worse for breaking the rules.

And then finally, before their bronze medal match against Spain at the European championships earlier this month, the Norwegian women's beach handball team just went for it.

"We were afraid that we were going to be kicked out of the tournament," the team's goalkeeper, Tonje Lerstad, told DW. "But in the last match, we were already willing to pay a fine if we got one. So we were like: 'Screw it, we can't be kicked out now. What's the worst that can happen?'"

What did actually end up happening was, in Lerstad's own words, "crazy." The team's plight gained worldwide attention — the US singer Pink offered to pay the resulting fine — and has put a renewed focus on clothing rules for female athletes.

"I hope that it's a trend we started," Lerstad said. "Before women just thought: 'It is how it is.' But now we are taking control over the outfits. It's great."

Female athletes in many sports have long complained about what they see as the sexist nature of the rules and double standards compared to their male counterparts. Now, magnified by the Olympic Games in Tokyo, the issue is bubbling to the surface.

Mary Harvey, CEO of the Centre for Sport and Human Rights, says women often have to balance building their brands and how they look with feeling comfortable. And that can affect their performance.

"First and foremost, if you're an athlete at that level, you want it to be about performance," Harvey said. "One thing is the function of what you're wearing and how that helps you physiologically. The other one is mental. If you feel good, you're going to do well."

Different rules for different sports

The beach handball case is not the only one in recent months to shine a light on what women are expected to wear when they compete. In Tokyo, Germany's gymnasts have been taking a stand against the sexualization of their sport by performing in so-called unitards, a full-body outfit that they first wore in competition in April.

Back then, one of the gymnasts, Elisabeth Seitz, told DW that she wanted every female athlete to "have the opportunity to decide by herself what she wants to wear."

The barriers to achieving that, though, vary from sport to sport. Gymnastics does allow full-body outfits; it is just that most have preferred, mainly out of habit, to stick with traditional leotards. For beach handball, however, things are more restrictive as the rules state that female players must wear bikini bottoms "with a close fit and cut on an upward angle toward the top of the leg."

Germany's gymnasts wore full-body outfits at the Tokyo Olympics

In the wake of the Norwegian team's protest, the International Handball Federation, which sets the sport's rules, is now likely to have to change its dress code. "I can't think of any other outcome," Lerstad said.

Tellingly, nobody, including the federation itself, seems entirely sure why such clothing rules still exist. In some cases, says sports historian Johanna Mellis, the rules are needed to ensure that sports are fair and safe. But in others, she says, it is about controlling how women look and how they are perceived.

"Historians of uniform have shown that, when it came to female athletes, [the rulemakers] were so afraid that female athletes were going to look masculine that they wanted to ensure uniforms made women look feminine, appealing and attractive to men," Mellis told DW.

After all, who can forget how Sepp Blatter, the former president of world football's governing body, FIFA, once suggested that female players should wear "tighter shorts" to boost the popularity of the women's game? The idea didn't go anywhere, but the implication was clear.

'Rooted in white Western male culture'

Sexualization, though, is not the entire story. Mellis said that there are issues of race or religion to consider, as well. She calls the beach handball case a "positive result" but doesn't necessarily view it as a turning point because sexualization, for her, is one part of a broader issue.

"The thing is, these organizations are loath to make any changes that may seem as if they're having to give up any power," Mellis said. "Men largely run these organizations. These are all rooted in white Western male culture."

The example Mellis pointed to was the fact that Tokyo competitor Alice Dearing, the first Black female swimmer to represent Great Britain at an Olympic Games, was forbidden from wearing a cap modified to protect her natural Black hair.

FINA, the sport's governing body, argued that the cap didn't fit "the natural form of the head" and claimed that international swimmers had never previously required "caps of such size and configuration."

"This harks back to a racist phrenology," said Mellis, who also co-hosts "The End of Sport Podcast," which analyzes how sport can be harmful to people. "Swimming is a real public health concern. If people don't know how to swim due to systemic racism or other forms of discrimination, that can result in horrific drowning rates — and, in fact, it has done."

Despite the lifting of the restrictions in some sports like boxing, in others, Muslim women can still be fined or even banned for wearing the hijab.

"In some cultures, culture dictates what you can and can't wear," Harvey said. "For example, the issue with the hijab. If you ban the hijab in international competition, it means a lot of women aren't going to be able to participate. Clothing is also about access in some cultures."

Diversity in decision-making

To address the problem, both Mellis and Harvey agree that sports bodies need more women and more diversity in their decision-making processes.

"Fundamental to all of these things is the athlete voice," Harvey said. "It has to be well-rounded, you can't talk to one athlete. You have to talk to athletes, particularly with women, all around the globe. There are considerations for more conservative societies that should be taken into account. Because you could unknowingly exclude people.

"Women may inform decisions but they don't take decisions. The more diversity you bring into decision-making, the better your decisions are. If you have 10 Swiss guys making decisions about what women can and can't wear, that's not the process we want."

As far as Norwegian beach handball player Lerstad is concerned, there is no better time for a rethink.

"We have shown that when we did what we did, we got a lot of support," she said. "Any other team or athlete will get the same support. Now we have gotten this topic out in the air, there's a lot of focus on it. This really is the time to make a change."

THIS IS A GLOBAL ISSUE REVEALED BY THE PANDEMIC

How Germany fails to manage care for the elderly 

Between 300,000 and 600,000 caregivers from Eastern and Central Europe provide assistance to elderly Germans in their homes. 

How long can that system last if they have to be paid more? 


Many elderly people in Germany wish to stay in their homes even if they require full-time assistance

Peter Müller* has been confined to a wheelchair for the past three years. He sits at home next to his wife, who has Parkinson's disease, and says life would be impossible without their Polish caregiver.

Germany's population is aging. Everyone in this country could face the reality of needing care sooner or later.

But what if you are old and need help, but do not want to move into a nursing home and have no children for support?

Watch video 02:45 Germany faces a care crisis

Peter and his wife are faced with that very dilemma. He is bound to a wheelchair. She has Parkinson's. But they wanted to stay in the house they moved into half a century ago, right after their wedding.

For three years now, the Müllers have been sharing their home with a Polish caregiver.

"We wouldn't be able to manage anything without her," Peter Müller says.

Watching the three of them sitting together over coffee, one gets the feeling they have known one another for decades. The woman from Poland who cares for them is practically family. In her previous job, she managed to get a bedridden woman back on her feet within only a few weeks, now she runs the entire Müller household. She is a "24-hour caregiver." At 8 a.m., she wakes Mrs. Müller and gives her a shower. At 8:45 a.m., she brings Mr. Müller coffee to his bedside, then she does the washing, cooking, and cleaning.

Besides a talent for organization, what else does a perfect caregiver need to have? "You have to put your heart into it, and speak the language," she replies.

The Müllers had their basement cleared out so that their caregiver could move in there. Her husband also works as a full-time caregiver, for another family in the neighborhood. Their children are all adults. Every few months, the Polish couple return to their small farmhouse in Poland.

A market worth billions, rife with abuse

For decades, the informal deal has been this: Germans needing care pay foreign workers on average about €1,600 ($1,900) a month net — a salary that is low by German standards, given the number of hours and amount of work involved. Payment is often in cash, without a bill or receipt, and therefore untaxed — an attractive prospect for many in Poland, Romania, or Bulgaria.

Today, caregiving for the old and disabled in Germany is a sector worth billions of euros, and one rife with reports of abuse: middlemen lining their pockets; families exploiting their caregivers or treating them like modern slaves; careworkers who steal or just vanish overnight.

It has happened to the Müllers, too. Peter Müller recounts how his wife once called out all night for her caregiver, who was simply no longer there.

"Germany better be careful that untrained people do not keep coming, who have no idea of caregiving," he says.

Watch video02:46 Migrant carer sues German employer for back pay

A far-reaching court ruling

In Germany, the issue of caregiving is like those of infrastructure, digitization, and education: The country just muddles through. Policymakers kick the can down the road, shrinking away from the long-overdue reform that would hold for the coming decades.

Everyone knows that it cannot go on like this much longer. Germany already has more than 4 million people in need of care, and that number keeps rising. According to estimates, by 2035, the country will need half a million caregivers — 120,000 more than today, as the baby boomer generation will be needing help.

This year in June, a ruling by Germany's Federal Labor Court sent shockwaves through the sector. It found that caregivers from abroad were entitled to Germany's minimum hourly wage of €9.35 — even for the hours when they are on standby.

That means, the Müllers would also have to pay their caregiver for her nights. "We cannot finance that. We would have to sell our house to be able to afford that," Peter Müller says.

Watch video12:36Reporter - A Nurse Moves to Germany

  

Live-in caregivers work around the clock

The Müllers found their caregiver through Angela Meyer.

She is a trained pediatric nurse and has been finding caregivers from Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, and Ukraine for people needing help all over Germany for eight years now. She came to her new occupation through a domestic emergency of her own, when suddenly her mother needed care.

Angela Meyer knows about cases of exploitation and of workers who end up being overwhelmed by their tasks. "Fifteen percent are unsuited to this profession," she estimates. She says she's become good at detecting unsuitable applicants. "When the first question in the interview is 'how much can I earn?' I say goodbye immediately."

What matters for Meyer is professional experience and knowledge of the German language. Also, with a background as a healthcare worker herself, she knows how important health insurance is. So she brokers caregivers only if they have health insurance, which she also helps them to organize if necessary.

She finds the federal court's ruling on 24-hour care unrealistic. "Hardly anyone actually works around the clock. For those who need that level of help we'd have to impose a three-shift system," Meyer says. "A model like that is unaffordable and will never work. And besides, not enough Germans would be willing to do this kind of job."

Meyer says the caregivers she has spoken with are outraged at the ruling because they now fear they will soon lose their jobs. "They need the work, it feeds their families back home, but when the price gets jacked up so steeply, the patients will no longer be able to pay it," Meyer says. "And the caregivers will have to stop coming. No one should be exploited, but this ruling helps no one."

Watch video12:02 Open Borders and Elderly Care

'Care is society's pivotal issue'

Claus Fussek is an author and has been writing about the issue of care for the elderly for 30 years now. "I speak the uncomfortable truths that, actually, everyone already knows about. Doing so is not especially courageous, everything is just so obvious," he says.

Fussek's mother died in February. For 10 years, women from Romania helped him care for her. He says Germany cannot manage to care for the elderly without help from these migrant workers.

"These people, who work here for one, two, three months in a row, we have to help them and treat them well. Some have huge problems and no one they can talk to. We must support them and make sure they are not left alone," Fussek says.

And the Federal Labor Court's ruling? It's essentially the right one, Fussek says. But he fears, however, that this ruling will simply drive up the number of caregivers who work illegally with no kind of social insurance at all, as their employers cannot afford to pay for around the clock assistance.

Care for the elderly is an issue Germany urgently needs to deal with. Once the baby boomers — individuals born between 1955 and 1969 — are in need of care, the system will collapse, says Fussek. "We have to finance care through a combination of taxes and social security contributions for it to remain affordable. We have to change the whole concept," said Claus Fussek. 

And if too little is done in the next few years and politicians continue to avoid this uncomfortable topic in an election year, what then? Fussek has a drastic answer: "Eldery care is a question about the fate of society. If we don't manage to get this sorted, we may have to seriously consider active forms of euthanasia because there will be no one left to provide care." 

*This is a pseudonym. Our protagonist did not wish to be named in this article.

This article was translated from German.

Opinion: Germany's floods highlight need for urgent climate action

As scientists warn that increased flooding marks the end of a stable climate, we must step up our efforts to minimize the damage caused by extreme weather events, write Ban Ki-moon and Patrick Verkooijen.



Scientists are warning that we need to adapt fast in order to mitigate the extent of climate catastrophes

The recent catastrophic flooding across the Rhine basin and into Belgium and the Netherlands must be taken as a warning by countries across Europe and elsewhere of the increasingly urgent need to do more to adapt to and prepare for climate change.

The full cost of the damage is not yet known, but repairs are likely to run into billions and take many months.

While it is too early to know precisely the extent of climate change, scientists fear that damage caused by emissions is producing even worse extreme weather events than predicted. Brutal heatwaves seen recently along the western seaboard of the United States and Canada, as well as in Siberia and other parts of the world, are further evidence of an increasingly hostile climate — and the need to adapt to it, fast.
A global problem

The pictures from Germany underscore the dangers that climate change poses even to the world's most advanced economies. While Europe has done more than most to attempt to mitigate the risks — the European Commission recently proposed the most ambitious package of climate measures yet by a major economy — these will not reverse changes that have already happened. Carbon dioxide lingers in the atmosphere for about 100 years.

A certain amount of warming — and the extreme weather events associated with it — is already baked into our future making adaptation a necessity even if the Paris Agreement targets are met. Scientists warn that the recent floods and heatwaves are not the new normal, rather they herald the end of a stable climate. And without action, according to the World Bank, up to 132 million people could be pushed into extreme poverty by climate change by 2030.

Patrick Verkooijen (left) and Ban Ki-moon

These warnings must urge us into faster action, with more funding, to adapt and find ways to work with the natural world rather than against it.

By accelerating investment today, we can prevent billions — even trillions —worth of economic damage and save many thousands of lives. A Global Commission on Adaptation report found that investing $1.8 trillion (€1.5 trillion) globally by 2030 in just five key areas, including climate-resilient infrastructure, such as stronger dams and drainage systems, and early warning systems could generate $7.1 trillion in total net benefits.

Some excellent climate-resilience projects already exist. In Germany, the new district of HafenCity within Hamburg is being built on raised plinths, lifting the whole area at least eight meters above sea level. In the Netherlands, engineers have been working on "Room for the River," a program to widen and deepen the rivers Rhine, Meuse, Waal and IJssel to protect nearby cities and towns. Besides creating additional water channels, flood-prone buildings have been removed and additional storage basins created with farmers co-operating to allow agricultural areas to be flooded as required.

In China, where floods have caused on average ¥251 billion ($38 billion, €33 billion) of damage annually in the decade to 2016, so-called sponge cities such as Xiangyang Han River Eco City now feature more water-absorbent areas including green roofs, fewer hard surfaces, and more efficient water channels and storage.


IN PICTURES: DEADLY EXTREME WEATHER SHOCKS THE WORLD
Fierce flash floods in Europe
Unprecedented flooding — caused by two months' worth of rainfall in two days — has resulted in devastating damage in western Europe, leaving at least 209 people dead in Germany and Belgium. Narrow valley streams swelled into raging floods in the space of hours, wiping out centuries-old communities. Rebuilding the ruined homes, businesses and infrastructure is expected to cost billions of euros.
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On their own, however, these projects are not enough. One of the greatest challenges of climate adaptation is that responsibility spans many diverse authorities, at the local, regional and national level.

Extreme heat, floods and storms also require precautionary planning and upfront investment in adaptation measures.

This makes it imperative that we share successful strategies and transfer knowledge and solutions wherever appropriate. To understand the scale of action needed, as well as measure success, governments and the private sector must carry out climate vulnerability assessments and stress tests to evaluate the risk of damage from flooding and heat stress. They must incorporate the resulting data into planning and investments, and closely monitor progress toward greater resilience.

We need to act fast. Gathering detailed knowledge will also allow us to better protect vulnerable groups, which usually suffer disproportionately more.

These recent extreme weather events have shown that the climate emergency is an all-of-society and all-of-world problem. It is encouraging to read that the US and the EU are planning to increase their contributions to help developing countries fight climate change, but all developed countries must now deliver on their promise to jointly mobilize $100 billion a year in finance for both mitigation and adaptation in developing countries.

As the floods in Europe and China have shown, we need to accelerate adaptation efforts worldwide to ensure we are as well placed as possible to deal with whatever our newly unstable climate unleashes next. And we need to do it now.

Ban Ki-moon is 8th Secretary-General of the United Nations. Patrick Verkooijen is CEO of the Global Center on Adaptation in Rotterdam.

Watch video 01:55 Extreme weather prompts climate change warnings

    

 

More violence, less income: Arab women bear the brunt of COVID-19, study finds

A new survey by Arab Barometer adds numbers to the narrative that COVID has led to a harsher reality for women in the Middle East and North Africa.

The pandemic saw many working mothers in the Middle East return to being stay-at-home mums

The COVID-19 pandemic has turned Heba Mordaa's life upside down. "Ever since the lockdowns started in March 2020, my work has been deteriorating," the 29-year-old manicurist and mother of three in Beirut says. "At first, the shop owner deducted our salaries because we had no customers coming in. Then, in July 2020, the owner decided that we will start offering home service, which my husband completely refused. I had to leave my job in August 2020 and stay at home. Since I am a mother of three kids, I remained without a job for the whole school year 2020-2021." 

Mordaa's professional set back and her involuntary return to life as housewife and stay-at-home mum is a common COVID-related turn of events for many Arab women. "Women are bearing the brunt at home and at work," concludes the latest Arab Barometer's survey on the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on women in the Middle East.

Working women had not much ground to lose

Even before the pandemic, the Middle East has had the lowest female labor participation of the world, with an average of 27%, according to data from the World Bank. And this situation has been exacerbated by the pandemic, as a recent paper by the International Labor Organization (ILO), a specialized agency of the UN, pointed out.

After the Americas, the Arab States have experienced the second highest drop in the number of employed women: by 4.1% — in comparison to 1.8% of men between 2019 and 2020. "The disproportionate job and income losses suffered by women during the pandemic will persist in the near future," the ILO report concluded. 

Furthermore, the ILO projects for this year that the employment-to-population ratio for women will stand at only 14.3% compared to 70.8% for men.

This teenage-bride was disfigured in an acid attack by her husband

Uptick in domestic violence in Jordan and Lebanon

Another pressing concern in the Middle East is the uptick in domestic violence during the pandemic.

At least a quarter of women in the surveyed Arab countries reported an increase in gender-based violence (GBV) in the first round of the Arab Barometer survey, conducted between July and October 2020. In Morocco and Algeria, 47% of women reported an increase, in Tunisia even 69%.

But in the latest round of the survey, conducted between March and April 2021, the numbers dropped to 25% in Morocco, to 24% in Algeria and to 62% in Tunisia. In Libya it increased slightly from 26% to 29% while it skyrocketed in Jordan from 29% to 55% and in Lebanon from 23% to 43%.

"Jordan and Lebanon in particular had massive spikes in daily case rate just before our latest survey was conducted. We don't have a causal link between domestic violence and COVID-19 case rates, but the correlation suggests it is worth further research," MaryClare Roche, author of the Arab Barometer study, told DW.

The Arab Barometer's latest survey shows an uptick in domestic violence in Jordan and Lebanon

Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, emphasized that "new restrictions of movement mean it's even harder for women to reach places of safety when threatened," she told DW.

The Dublin-based Women Human Rights Defender highlighted that "it is important that networks between Women Human Rights Defenders are fostered. There is strength in numbers, so when, even virtually, they are better equipped to address the common challenges they face, and support one other when they're at risk."

Structural obstacles bar women from the workforce

Opening up possibilities and reducing societal barriers for women in the Middle East and North Africa are considered the most sustainable ways to support women who suffer from domestic violence. "Increasing female labor force participation can help protect women two-fold: First, by decreasing the amount of time a woman spends with her abuser, and second, by providing some degree of economic independence from her abuser," Roche told DW.

Providing an adequate framework, however, mainly lies in the hands of governments. "When we surveyed citizens in MENA about perceived barriers to women joining the workforce, structural barriers, i.e. barriers the government can affect, were the most popular. These barriers were lack of childcare options, lack of transportation, and low wages," Roche added.

Her conclusion is that if governments create policies that increase public transportation, after school and early childcare programs, and there are increases in standard wages, there will be more financially independent women in the Middle East.

For Beirut's Heba Mordaa, at least the financial insecurity had an end in June this year. "I started another job and hope that no more lockdowns will be imposed as my income is necessary for the family in these difficult financial circumstances," she told DW. 

South Africa: Rhino killings on the rise after lockdown curbs ease

The Kruger National Park in South Africa is where most of the country's rhino are being slaughtered. Authorities are battling to protect the species from poaching gangs.



Criminal syndicates are targeting South Africa's rhino population for their horns which are then trafficked to Asia

As South Africa marked World Ranger Day on Saturday, the country's environmental authorities announced a setback in efforts to conserve the country's rhinos.

"From January to the end of June 2021, 249 rhino have been poached for their horn in South Africa," said Barbara Creecy, the minister of environment, forestry and fisheries in a statement.

This figure is higher than the amount poached during the same period in 2020.

The country had been under a hard lockdown because of COVID-19 during much of that period. As lockdown restrictions have eased, authorities have seen an uptick in poaching activity.

South Africa's poaching problem

South Africa is battling to counter poaching syndicates who operate in the country's vast national parks. A large proportion of the slaughter took place in the Kruger National Park, where 132 rhinos were killed.

Watch video12:36 South Africa: "Black Mambas" protect rhinos

The objectives of the Black Mambas is not only the protection of rhinos through boots on the ground and a presence on the frontline, but also through being a role model in their communities. They want their communities to understand that there are far greater benefits to them through rhino conservation rather than poaching.

Black Mambas Anti Poaching Unit - Helping Rhinos

www.helpingrhinos.org/black-mambas/

 

South African National Parks (SANParks) rangers are fighting what is often described as a low-level war against armed gangs of poachers operating in vast areas.
Some successes reported

According to the South Africa's environmental ministry, there have been some successes in the fight against poaching involving police, army and other specialized units.

Forty alleged poachers were arrested so far this year in the Kruger National Park alone.

Along with a total of 125 arrests, officials also reported that there have been numerous confiscations of rhino horn.

There has also been growing partnership with Southeast Asian countries, where much of the rhino horn is trafficked by criminal syndicates. It ends up being used in traditional medicines among other things.

Watch video04:41Rhino 911: South Africa takes poaching by the horn

The battle to save the northern white rhino

As South Africa continues to try and save its threatened southern white rhinos and its critically endangered black rhino, scientists are desperately trying to save the northern white rhino from complete extinction.

A team of international scientists say they have managed to successfully create three additional embryos from the species.

The BioRescue Consortium, which is being led by Thomas Hildebrandt from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Germany, said they now have 12 viable embryos.

Watch video 02:38 Saving Kenya's white rhinos with embryos

The eggs were harvested from one of the remaining two northern white rhinos in Kenya.

While the species is considered functionally extinct, the plan is to harvest embryos every three to four months.

Those embryos will have southern white rhino surrogates who will produce northern white rhino offspring.

kb/rs (AFP, dpa)

South African rhino poaching increased 50% this year, still lower than before pandemic


A 3-week-old female white rhino stands with her mother, Tanda, at the Ramat Gan Safari, near Tel Aviv, Israel, on September 4, 2014. In their natural habitat in South Africa, white rhino poaching increased 50% in the first six months of 2021 compared to the same period in 2020. File Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI | License Photo

July 31 (UPI) -- The was a 50% increase in the number of rhinoceroses killed in the first six months of 2021 in South Africa compared to the same period last year, but the figure is still lower than pre-pandemic years, the country's government announced Saturday.

Barbara Creecy, the minister of environment, forestry and fisheries, said 249 rhinos have been poached for their horns from Jan. 1 through the end of June. That's up from the 166 poached in the same time period in 2020, but still a marked decline from 2019, which saw 318 rhino poaching.

The ministry blamed the 2021 increase over 2020 on the lifting of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.

"While the national lockdowns that curbed the movement of people to halt the spread of the virus in 2020 contributed to a decrease in rhino poaching, the lifting of the stringent lockdown regulations appears to have seen an increase in rhino poaching in the first six months of 2021," a ministry statement said.

During the first half of 2021, there were 715 poaching incidents -- including 132 rhino deaths and one elephant death -- in Kruger National Park, a 3.77% increase over 2021.

The ministry said authorities arrested 40 alleged poachers in the park during the first half of the year, and 125 throughout the country. Authorities finalized 14 cases of poaching with a 93% conviction rate, with an overall slowdown of court cases due to pandemic restrictions.

"It is clear that the multi-disciplinary, integrated approach to investigating illegal wildlife trade is bearing fruit and that effective collaboration with critical role players remains key to our success," Creecy said. "I congratulate the teams on a job well done."

White rhinoceroses are classified as near threatened and primarily call South Africa their home, though populations can also be found in Namibia, Zimbabwe and Kenya, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

Malaysian protesters demand PM Muhyiddin's resignation

Hundreds of youths have demonstrated in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, over Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin's handling of the pandemic. Critics also say he is using emergency laws to cling to power.


Hundreds of youths sit on a street in Kuala Lumpur to demand PM Muhyiddin Yassin's resignation


Hundreds of Malaysians staged anti-government protests on Saturday in defiance of a ban on public gatherings under coronavirus curbs.

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin obtained royal consent to implement a six-month state of emergency, allowing him to suspend parliament and rule by decree earlier this year.

Saturday's demonstration in Kuala Lumpur was the first sizable sign of revolt against thelockdown rules.

Wearing face masks while holding black flags and placards, the protesters chanted ``Fight! Fight!'' and ``Muhyiddin resign''

Organizers said 1,000 people took part; police put the number at 400.

The mostly young protesters, wearing masks and socially distanced, were largely dressed in black and brandished anti-government banners.
What did protesters say?

"We fight because while the people are suffering, this government is busy playing politics," Karmun Loh told AFP.

"This government is crippling the economy and also destroying our country's democracy."

The police were on standby but the demonstration passed without any major incidents.

Fellow protester Shaq Koyok said Muhyiddin "is a terrible prime minister" and that he "needs to stop down.

There was a heavy police presence at the scene, but the demonstration passed off peacefully.
What is the political situation in Malaysia?

Muhyiddin took power in March 2020 by forming a coalition with the opposition after the previous government collapsed.

But now the 74-year-old's administration is teetering on the brink after his allies withdrew their support.

Watch video01:35 Malaysia suspends parliament in state of emergency

Earlier this month, his rivals shouted "treason" in parliament and called on him to resign.

Critics argue Muhyiddin is using the emergency laws, which are set to expire on Sunday, as a way of clinging to power.

Despite the state of emergency, daily infections hit 10,000 for the first time earlier this month and have not dipped below that level ever since.

Total deaths have risen to nearly 9,000, while just 20% of the population has been fully vaccinated.

The nationwide lockdown will remain in place once the state of emergency expires.

jf/mm (AP, AFP)

Shell's Niger Delta cleanup: Ogoniland's uncertain future

A Dutch court ruled in January that Shell had polluted the Niger Delta and ordered the energy giant to pay compensation. But many are now questioning whether it's enough to put right the misery suffered by people there.



The UN has estimated it could take as long as 30 years to clean up the pollution caused by oil spills

This year's court ruling by an appeals court in the Netherlands — in favor of Milieudefensie/Friends of the Earth Netherlands and four Nigerian farmers — was heralded by some as justice.

The court delivered its judgment at the end of a long-running civil case. The farmers were seeking financial compensation and a cleanup by Shell for pollution caused by pipelines leaking oil into the Niger Delta.

'Finally justice'

"Shell Nigeria is sentenced to compensate farmers for damages," the court said. The bench added that parent company Royal Dutch Shell was also liable to install detection equipment that could prevent future damage on the Oruma pipeline, the site of a significant number of the spills.

"After years of litigation there is finally justice for many of my clients," said Channa Samkalden, the lawyer for Milieudefensie and the Nigerian farmers.

This is a sentiment also shared by Eric Dooh, one of the farmers.

Watch video 02:23 Shell ordered to pay for Niger Delta oil spills

"Finally, there is some justice for the Nigerian people suffering the consequences of Shell's oil," Dooh told DW.

For Donald Pols, Milieudefensie director, it was "fantastic news for the affected farmers. It is enormous that Shell has to compensate for the damage."

It may well be that justice has indeed been served, based on the argument by Pols, who said it was "also a warning for all Dutch transnational corporations involved in injustice worldwide. Victims of environmental pollution, land grabbing or exploitation now have a better chance to win a legal battle against the companies involved."

The question that remains unanswered, however, is whether implementation of the court's ruling will be enough for the afflicted population.

Ogoniland residents believe cleaning up the area will not be enough

Discontent over implementation

Since a United Nations recommendation in 2011 that operations be put in place to clean up the oil spills, the feeling among the Ogoni Indigenous people is that little has been done.

A popular sentiment remains that the Dutch court ruling would not translate into concrete action.

"The Ogonis are not satisfied with the level of environmental remediation so far," said environmentalist Fyneface Dumnamene.

While the Nigerian government has acknowledged that the cleanup exercise was not going according to plan, due to the COVID pandemic, it insisted that the process was going on smoothly. This position has been vehemently challenged by some of the Ogoni residents.

"I am not satisfied with the cleanup exercise," said Bemene Tanem, an Ogoniland resident who insisted that reports of a smooth cleanup were "fake news."

"President Muhammadu Buhari actually meant well for the Ogoni people, but for those that are executing the project, they are not doing what they ought to do."

This refers to an ongoing plan to clean up the heart of the country's oil industry, which came after Buhari asked the UN Environment Program to assess the level of oil contamination in 2016.

But some five years later, the UN reported shocking pollution levels.

Watch video01:33 Shell blames organized crime for oil losses

Delay tactics?

Environmentalists and activists have been questioning whether Shell's actions are simply a stalling technique, while they continue to exploit the resources of the region to the detriment of the people and the surrounding environment.

These allegations are founded on the basis of an 2009 decision by Shell Corporation to settle out of court with a group of Ogoni people.

The 2009 settlement of $15.5 million (€13 million) — which some people described as insufficient to redress the devastating pollution, human rights abuses and misery suffered by millions of Ogoni people over several generations — may have stalled the agitation for a while but did not successfully stop it.

For some people, such as Bemene Tanem, even this year's court ruling ordering Shell to clean up the damage fell short of the demands of the Ogoni people.

"What the Ogoni people are demanding for basically is political emancipation, we have been deprived of our economic rights, despite the huge economic and natural resources God had endowed in our land, we have not benefited from it economically," said Tanem.

The importance of the people benefiting economically from any projects being carried out is further articulated by Legborsi Yaamabana, a journalist and Ogoni resident.

"What we just want to see in Ogoni is an improvement in the socioeconomic and environmental life of the Ogoni people ... that even the present attempt to clean the area have to march with a socioeconomic recovery," he told DW.

The Dutch court ordered Shell to install detection equipment that could prevent future damage

These sentiments are not shared by Sunny Zorva, former spokesman for the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), who sees the current steps being taken as huge milestones in the right direction.

"Individuals will benefit, the community will benefit, the government will benefit, and, in fact, the companies that will later come to do some work in the area will also benefit … after the cleanup, the water will be restored, the aquatic life will be restored, farmland will be restored for farmers to continue their fishing and farming," said Zorva.
Allegations of corruption

The optimism shared by some of the people is dampened by growing allegations that, while Shell claims to have done significant work in cleaning up the Ogoni environment, the governing council and board of trustees — known as HYPREP — set up by the Nigerian government to oversee the cleanup process has been mired in allegations of corruption.

"The project started without the implementation of the emergency measures recommended by the UN Environment Program. These measures include the provision of potable drinking water for the people and of course the provision of issues around livelihood, including the building of a contaminated soil management center," said environmentalist Fyneface Dumnamene.

Some feel that such allegations will not go down well with the people. For those who have been involved in the ongoing campaign for better living conditions, any actions by HYPREP that do not conform with people's expectations will be opposed.

"Any report of corruption in HYPREP will be seriously resisted," said Zorva. "The people are not happy about it, because it's about their life, it's about their environment."

Illegal refineries have also contributed to the problem

Hope on the horizon

There is, however, a high degree of optimism among different experts and Ogoni residents.

After Buhari's administration apologized for the delay in the cleanup, the work resumed in earnest and 17 sites were certified as having being cleaned.

There was a sense that keeping their promise would also work to the government's advantage, as it would also benefit from a clean Ogoniland environment.

"They said Ogoni people are volatile or violent — it's because they do not have jobs, they do not have enough to eat," said Zorva. "But when these things are back, there will be security in the place, even the government will benefit."

The UN has estimated that the entire effort to reverse the shocking levels of pollution caused by oil spills could take as long as 30 years.

Such a long time frame is to be expected, given the extent of damage wrought by decades of Shell's destruction of the environment.

Shell has faced other legal action linked to its operations in Nigeria in Dutch court. The widows of four Nigerian activists executed by the military regime of General Sani Abacha in the 1990s have accused Shell of complicity in their deaths. Those men were ultimately hanged by Nigeria's former military regime in 1995, along with activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, for fighting for the rights of the Ogoni.

Muhammed Bello contributed to this article

Myanmar junta chief says new elections in two years

The country has been in turmoil since the army ousted Aung San Suu Kyi in February, launching a bloody crackdown on dissent STR AFP/File


Issued on: 01/08/2021 - 
Yangon (AFP)

Myanmar's junta chief said Sunday that elections would be held and a state of emergency lifted by August 2023, extending the military's initial timeline given when it deposed Aung San Suu Kyi six months ago.

The country has been in turmoil since the army ousted the civilian leader in February, launching a crackdown on dissent that has killed more than 900 people according to a local monitoring group.

A resurgent coronavirus wave has also amplified havoc, with many hospitals empty of pro-democracy medical staff, and the World Bank has forecast the economy will contract by up to 18 percent.

In a televised address junta leader Min Aung Hlaing said the military would "accomplish the provisions of the state of emergency by August 2023".

"I pledge to hold multi-party elections," he added.

The general's announcement would place Myanmar in the military's grip for nearly two and a half years -- instead of the initial one-year timeline the army announced days after the coup.

The State Administration Council -- as the junta calls itself -- announced in a separate statement that Min Aung Hlaing had been appointed prime minister of the "caretaker government".

The army has justified its power grab by alleging massive fraud during 2020 elections won by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) in a landslide.

Last week it cancelled the results of the polls, announcing it had uncovered more than 11 million instances of voter fraud.

Detained since February 1, Suu Kyi faces charges including flouting coronavirus restrictions and illegally importing walkie talkies -- which could see her jailed for more than a decade.

International pressure, including sanctions targeting the military and army-linked businesses, has done little to knock the junta off course.

The 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has tried to negotiate with the regime -- though critics say the bloc lacks diplomatic clout and unity.

ASEAN leaders in April called for an "immediate cessation of violence" and a visit to Myanmar by a regional special envoy, an agreement that Min Aung Hlaing later walked back.

On Sunday, the general announced the selection of an ASEAN envoy -- Thailand's former deputy foreign minister Virasakdi Futrakul -- and declared the junta "ready to work on ASEAN cooperation".

Myanmar's military has long had a close relationship with its Thai counterpart -- which has a track record of being putsch-happy, staging more than a dozen coups in Thailand since 1932.

- 'Remarkable courage' -

Across Myanmar Sunday small groups of demonstrators marched -- from the southern coastal city of Dawei to jade-producing town Hpakant -- to demand a return to democracy.

Protesters in the northern town of Kale held banners reading "strength for the revolution" while demonstrators set off flares at a march in the commercial capital Yangon.

But, six months since the generals ended a decade-long experiment with democracy, large-scale protests are no longer the norm due to violent crackdowns and mass arrests.

A deadly Covid-19 surge, which has left staff and volunteers working in crematoriums and cemeteries overwhelmed with bodies, is also limiting turnouts.

Pro-democracy medical workers -- among the first to kick off a nationwide civil disobedience campaign joined by tens of thousands of government workers -- now work underground to provide telemedicine consultations to the ill.

But the need is still great, with pleas for help resounding across social media, and residents waiting in long lines for oxygen tanks and medicine for virus-afflicted relatives.

"In the six months since the coup, the people of Myanmar have demonstrated remarkable courage and conviction in the face of widespread violence... and now a devastating public health crisis," said the US embassy in Myanmar on its official Facebook page Sunday.

"The United States remains firmly committed to supporting the people of Myanmar in their aspirations for a democratic, inclusive future of their own choosing."

© 2021 AFP