Between Drought And Flood: California Faces Extreme Weather
Editor OilPrice.com
Mon, January 16, 2023
"Global warming" morphed into "climate change" which now seems inadequate to describe the weather chaos we are experiencing on planet Earth.* The recent "atmospheric rivers" which have drenched California have been a catastrophe causing an estimated $1 billion in property damage and at least 17 deaths. As of this writing, overflowing river waters could cut the Monterey Peninsula off from the rest of the mainland.
The terrible rains that have hit California since December 26 have also been a bit of a blessing to the drought-ravaged state. Just as the storms began, the U.S. Drought Monitor reported that 28 percent of the state was considered to be in "extreme drought" and 45 percent was considered to be in "severe drought." But, even after an estimated 24.5 trillion gallons of water have dropped on California since December 26, 46 percent of California remains in "severe drought" and 49 percent is considered to be in "moderate drought."
So intense has been a drought which began in 2020, that the state is still not out of danger when it comes to water supplies. While California is prone to droughts, droughts are getting more severe and developing more quickly. This might be explained by something called the Clausius-Clapeyron relationship. For every degree Celsius of warming, there is 7 percent more moisture in the air. That is driving extreme downpours around the world as average temperatures have risen 1.1 degrees Celsius since 1880. But the flip side of this relationship is that warming temperatures and the greater capacity of the atmosphere to hold water can cause drying to occur more quickly.
Related: The Truth Behind European Big Oil’s Bet On Hydrogen
California faces extreme rainfall and serious drought at the same time. That's chaos.
Part of California's problem is its water infrastructure. Most of it was built when the population was half what it is today. And, the way it was built also matters. Dams control floods which is good. But this is also not so good because floods cover the floodplains where floodwaters can seep underground and replenish aquifers that much of California depends on for its water.
Another problem is that the California rains did little to affect one of California's major sources of water, the Colorado River, which continues to dwindle due to a drought that has spanned more than 20 years. In fact, the southwestern United States has seen the driest 22-year period in 1200 years according the journal Nature.
Climate change isn't just about temperature and it isn't just about moisture. It's also about how well our current infrastructure will function as climate change turns more and more into climate chaos. The answer from California recently is not very well.
By Kurt Cobb via ResourceInsights
Tuesday, January 17, 2023
South Africa Plans New Law to Accelerate Power Capacity
Antony Sguazzin
Mon, January 16, 2023
(Bloomberg) -- South Africa’s National Energy Crisis Committee, a body run by the office of President Cyril Ramaphosa, expects record power outages to ease as measures put in place, including a new law to fast-track plant development, take effect.
The committee, of which several cabinet ministers are members, told business and labor leaders on Monday that a range of interventions have been made at a time when South Africans was enduring blackouts of as much as 12 hours a day.
“As these measures take effect, the supply of electricity will significantly improve,” the committee, known as Necom, said in a presentation sent to Bloomberg by Ramaphosa’s office.
South Africa’s government has faced sharp criticism after power cuts were imposed on 205 days last year and every in 2023. Ramaphosa canceled his trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos to hold crisis talks with power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., labor groups and business.
The measures that Necom said may ease the crisis include:
The first of more than 100 privately owned power plants being developed will connect to the grid by the end of this year. In total, the planned projects could produce 9,000 megawatts, much of it for the companies’ own use.
Emergency legislation is being developed to allow the faster approval and development of power plants.
Contracts for the construction of plants that will produce 2,800 megawatts of renewable energy for the grid have been signed and construction will soon begin.
As much as 1,000 megawatts may be imported this year from neighboring countries and Eskom, will buy 1,000 megawatts of excess energy from private producers who already have facilities.
Six of Eskom’s 14 coal-fired power plants have been “identified for particular focus” in a bid to get them to perform more reliably.
Efforts to finish incomplete plants and maintenance of other major units are being made.
The time to complete regulatory processes for new plants has been reduced.
Antony Sguazzin
Mon, January 16, 2023
(Bloomberg) -- South Africa’s National Energy Crisis Committee, a body run by the office of President Cyril Ramaphosa, expects record power outages to ease as measures put in place, including a new law to fast-track plant development, take effect.
The committee, of which several cabinet ministers are members, told business and labor leaders on Monday that a range of interventions have been made at a time when South Africans was enduring blackouts of as much as 12 hours a day.
“As these measures take effect, the supply of electricity will significantly improve,” the committee, known as Necom, said in a presentation sent to Bloomberg by Ramaphosa’s office.
South Africa’s government has faced sharp criticism after power cuts were imposed on 205 days last year and every in 2023. Ramaphosa canceled his trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos to hold crisis talks with power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., labor groups and business.
The measures that Necom said may ease the crisis include:
The first of more than 100 privately owned power plants being developed will connect to the grid by the end of this year. In total, the planned projects could produce 9,000 megawatts, much of it for the companies’ own use.
Emergency legislation is being developed to allow the faster approval and development of power plants.
Contracts for the construction of plants that will produce 2,800 megawatts of renewable energy for the grid have been signed and construction will soon begin.
As much as 1,000 megawatts may be imported this year from neighboring countries and Eskom, will buy 1,000 megawatts of excess energy from private producers who already have facilities.
Six of Eskom’s 14 coal-fired power plants have been “identified for particular focus” in a bid to get them to perform more reliably.
Efforts to finish incomplete plants and maintenance of other major units are being made.
The time to complete regulatory processes for new plants has been reduced.
New solar farm with energy storage operational in Waiawa
Andrew Gomes, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Mon, January 16, 2023
Jan. 16—Another utility-scale solar energy farm with battery storage is now operating on Oahu, putting out enough relatively low-cost electricity to power roughly 7, 600 homes annually.
Another utility-scale solar energy farm with battery storage is now operating on Oahu, putting out enough relatively low-cost electricity to power roughly 7, 600 homes annually.
The $150 million project developed by San Francisco-based Clearway Energy Group recently began commercial power production on 180 acres of land in Waiawa leased from Kamehameha Schools.
The 36-megawatt facility is producing power sold to Hawaiian Electric on Oahu at about half the cost of power from fossil fuels.
The battery system is capable of supplying the grid with 36 megawatts of power for four hours, or 144 megawatt-hours in total. Electricity from the batteries allows more consistent delivery to the electrical grid during cloudy daytime periods, and can help satisfy variable demand at other times, including between sunset and sunrise.
Gov. Josh Green in a statement called the project an important addition to Oahu's growing portfolio of lower-cost renewable energy production.
"Clean energy is better for our air, our health, and our cost of living, " he said. "We commend Clearway Energy Group and their partners for their continued contribution to providing clean energy at a price that is lower than fossil-fuel alternatives."
The project is Clearway's fifth utility-scale solar farm, and second with batteries, on Oahu. The first one with batteries, a 39-megawatt facility in Mililani, went online in July.
Clearway, which began construction on the Waiawa project in early 2021, announced the commercial operation status Thursday after a testing and commissioning period.
Solar farms with battery storage represent part of a shift to reach a state goal of having 100 % power generation from renewable sources by 2045.
"We are proud to help Hawaii reach its climate goals and invest in renewable energy in the state, " Craig Cornelius, CEO of Clearway, said in a statement. "We are immensely grateful for the collaboration with our partners Hawaiian Electric and Kamehameha Schools who help make those goals a reality."
Shelee Kimura, president and CEO of Hawaiian Electric, expects six similar projects on Oahu to come online over the next two years.
"Stabilizing energy costs for our customers is a priority, and projects like Waiawa Solar will feed electricity to the grid at about half the cost of oil, " she said in a statement.
In addition to power production, the Waiawa project will contribute $200, 000 in community benefits over multiple years, including an educational partnership with the Blue Planet Foundation and an annual mainland internship program with Kamehameha Schools students.
Andrew Gomes, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Mon, January 16, 2023
Jan. 16—Another utility-scale solar energy farm with battery storage is now operating on Oahu, putting out enough relatively low-cost electricity to power roughly 7, 600 homes annually.
Another utility-scale solar energy farm with battery storage is now operating on Oahu, putting out enough relatively low-cost electricity to power roughly 7, 600 homes annually.
The $150 million project developed by San Francisco-based Clearway Energy Group recently began commercial power production on 180 acres of land in Waiawa leased from Kamehameha Schools.
The 36-megawatt facility is producing power sold to Hawaiian Electric on Oahu at about half the cost of power from fossil fuels.
The battery system is capable of supplying the grid with 36 megawatts of power for four hours, or 144 megawatt-hours in total. Electricity from the batteries allows more consistent delivery to the electrical grid during cloudy daytime periods, and can help satisfy variable demand at other times, including between sunset and sunrise.
Gov. Josh Green in a statement called the project an important addition to Oahu's growing portfolio of lower-cost renewable energy production.
"Clean energy is better for our air, our health, and our cost of living, " he said. "We commend Clearway Energy Group and their partners for their continued contribution to providing clean energy at a price that is lower than fossil-fuel alternatives."
The project is Clearway's fifth utility-scale solar farm, and second with batteries, on Oahu. The first one with batteries, a 39-megawatt facility in Mililani, went online in July.
Clearway, which began construction on the Waiawa project in early 2021, announced the commercial operation status Thursday after a testing and commissioning period.
Solar farms with battery storage represent part of a shift to reach a state goal of having 100 % power generation from renewable sources by 2045.
"We are proud to help Hawaii reach its climate goals and invest in renewable energy in the state, " Craig Cornelius, CEO of Clearway, said in a statement. "We are immensely grateful for the collaboration with our partners Hawaiian Electric and Kamehameha Schools who help make those goals a reality."
Shelee Kimura, president and CEO of Hawaiian Electric, expects six similar projects on Oahu to come online over the next two years.
"Stabilizing energy costs for our customers is a priority, and projects like Waiawa Solar will feed electricity to the grid at about half the cost of oil, " she said in a statement.
In addition to power production, the Waiawa project will contribute $200, 000 in community benefits over multiple years, including an educational partnership with the Blue Planet Foundation and an annual mainland internship program with Kamehameha Schools students.
Gov. Roy Cooper: North Carolina needs sustainable electricity we can rely on
Roy Cooper
Sun, January 15, 2023
Gov. Roy Cooper
North Carolinians deserve reliable, sustainable electricity at a reasonable cost, but because of increasingly severe weather and aging fossil fuel plants, that result could be less certain. That’s why we now have a plan to ensure more reliable and sustainable electricity by moving more quickly toward low-cost renewable energy.
We only have to look at December’s severe cold weather to see more than half a million frustrated North Carolinians without power during the Christmas holidays. According to Duke Energy, the Christmas Eve power outages resulted from equipment failures at coal and natural gas plants while renewable energy performed as expected. Families spent Christmas Eve without lights or heat because of equipment failures at five different fossil fuel plants. This is unacceptable and North Carolina is taking action to prevent future power failures.
It starts with the plan to transition from fossil fuel-generated electricity to more clean energy. In October 2021, I signed the bipartisan state law, House Bill 951, which set the first-ever carbon reduction goals for our state while working to keep costs low and reliability high. As directed by this legislation, the Utilities Commission recently released a carbon plan with a balanced approach to increase renewables and make sure there is a more reliable electric grid. Solar energy is already cheaper than coal and gas, and rapid advancements in wind energy and battery storage technology will make them an even more essential part of a reliable, lower-cost energy mix.
We also need to make sure our electric grid is prepared to handle our everyday power needs and is resilient enough to withstand future severe storms. My administration is planning investments in federal funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act signed by President Biden to help North Carolina build a more modern, resilient energy grid delivering reliable, lower cost, clean energy to our homes and businesses.
And let’s not forget the great jobs the clean energy economy is already bringing to North Carolina – not only did CNBC rank our state as the best in the country to do business, so did Business Facilities magazine which cited growth in our clean energy sector as a driving factor.
Clean, reliable and low-cost electricity is the backbone of our communities and a strong economy. The significant investments to move the electric grid to more reliable, cleaner, renewable energy will help put more money in the pockets of North Carolinians.
Finally, there is almost universal scientific agreement that climate change is causing more severe weather and putting our planet at risk. Carbon emission reductions are essential in the fight against climate change, and high-paying clean energy jobs are a positive by-product of the transition away from fossil fuels.
North Carolina has a history of forward-looking innovation that has been the foundation of our success as a state. Now we’re deploying that tradition again to tackle our 21st century energy challenges.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Gov. Roy Cooper: NC needs sustainable electricity we can rely on
Roy Cooper
Sun, January 15, 2023
Gov. Roy Cooper
North Carolinians deserve reliable, sustainable electricity at a reasonable cost, but because of increasingly severe weather and aging fossil fuel plants, that result could be less certain. That’s why we now have a plan to ensure more reliable and sustainable electricity by moving more quickly toward low-cost renewable energy.
We only have to look at December’s severe cold weather to see more than half a million frustrated North Carolinians without power during the Christmas holidays. According to Duke Energy, the Christmas Eve power outages resulted from equipment failures at coal and natural gas plants while renewable energy performed as expected. Families spent Christmas Eve without lights or heat because of equipment failures at five different fossil fuel plants. This is unacceptable and North Carolina is taking action to prevent future power failures.
It starts with the plan to transition from fossil fuel-generated electricity to more clean energy. In October 2021, I signed the bipartisan state law, House Bill 951, which set the first-ever carbon reduction goals for our state while working to keep costs low and reliability high. As directed by this legislation, the Utilities Commission recently released a carbon plan with a balanced approach to increase renewables and make sure there is a more reliable electric grid. Solar energy is already cheaper than coal and gas, and rapid advancements in wind energy and battery storage technology will make them an even more essential part of a reliable, lower-cost energy mix.
We also need to make sure our electric grid is prepared to handle our everyday power needs and is resilient enough to withstand future severe storms. My administration is planning investments in federal funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act signed by President Biden to help North Carolina build a more modern, resilient energy grid delivering reliable, lower cost, clean energy to our homes and businesses.
And let’s not forget the great jobs the clean energy economy is already bringing to North Carolina – not only did CNBC rank our state as the best in the country to do business, so did Business Facilities magazine which cited growth in our clean energy sector as a driving factor.
Clean, reliable and low-cost electricity is the backbone of our communities and a strong economy. The significant investments to move the electric grid to more reliable, cleaner, renewable energy will help put more money in the pockets of North Carolinians.
Finally, there is almost universal scientific agreement that climate change is causing more severe weather and putting our planet at risk. Carbon emission reductions are essential in the fight against climate change, and high-paying clean energy jobs are a positive by-product of the transition away from fossil fuels.
North Carolina has a history of forward-looking innovation that has been the foundation of our success as a state. Now we’re deploying that tradition again to tackle our 21st century energy challenges.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Gov. Roy Cooper: NC needs sustainable electricity we can rely on
Where Change Is Coming for LGBTQ Rights Around the World
Olivia Konotey-Ahulu
Mon, January 16, 2023 at 10:00 PM MST·12 min read
(Bloomberg) -- If progress in 2022 is anything to go by, there’s reason to be optimistic about the global direction of travel when it comes to same-sex relationships, LGBTQ campaigners say.
In the second half of the year, there was a flurry of movement to decriminalize same-sex intimacy in Singapore, St Kitts and Nevis, Barbados, and Antigua and Barbuda. These were some of the last holdouts among countries with histories of colonial-era laws prohibiting such activity. “It feels like something of a tipping point,” says Neela Ghoshal, Senior Director of Law, Policy and Research for global advocacy NGO Outright International. Such developments “allows us to really say that there is a global norm that same-sex intimacy should not be criminalized.”
Marriage equality has come a long way too, with countries from Cuba to Slovenia passing legislation last year; 33 governments have now legalized same-sex unions, triple the number compared to a decade earlier according to data from the advocacy group ILGA World.
Greece is one of a handful of countries to introduce a ban on so-called conversion therapy for minors during the year; France, Israel and New Zealand also took steps to make the practice of aiming to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity illegal in 2022. In Brazil, LGBTQ campaigners hope the re-election of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva can row back some of the damage done by his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, while the US Congress rushed to pass the Respect for Marriage Act and protect statutory recognition of interracial and same-sex marriages.
But pockets of friction are growing over specific issues: one is the rights of transgender people. As of September, US lawmakers proposed more than 300 bills classed as anti-LGBTQ by the Human Rights Campaign; more than 40% of them targeted the trans community, the advocacy group said. The UK also saw its score on the ILGA-Europe Rainbow Index plummet more than any other country this year, partly due to its decision to exclude trans people from a ban on conversion therapy.
Conservative governments, especially those in Europe, have “weaponized” trans issues in recent years too to boost their political capital, said Julia Ehrt, executive director for ILGA World.
“The atmosphere, in particular in the UK but as well in Spain, has been quite hostile towards trans people,” she said. Although Spain passed a bill toward the end of the year that makes it one of the few places in the world where anyone over the age of 16 can easily change their gender on their ID card, the debate caused tensions to flare among its left-wing government and coincided with a jump in hate crimes in the country.
Read More: Spain’s Win for Transgender Rights Almost Tore the Country Apart
Meanwhile some governments actively sought to row back LGBTQ rights, such as Indonesia’s decision to ban sex outside of marriage, effectively criminalizing it for same-sex couples, as well as pushes in Russia and Ghana to crack down on so-called LGBTQ “propaganda.”
But overall progress on LGBTQ rights is moving forward, say Ehrt and Ghoshal, who are hopeful about what the new year could bring. “Ultimately I think the pendulum is swinging in the right direction,” Ghoshal said.
Here’s a snapshot of what that momentum looks like around the world.
India
India’s top most court is all set this year to consider the question of granting legal recognition to same-sex marriages. Some couples have knocked on the Supreme Court’s door with the argument that marriage equality is the logical next step for LGBTQ rights after consensual gay sex was decriminalized in the country in 2018.
Such a move could give India’s 1.4 billion people the right to have a same-sex marriage.
“The potential impact of such a ruling will be momentous,” said Kanav Narayan Sahgal, Communications Manager at Nyaaya, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy. A law ironed out on same-sex marriage is also likely to open discussion on related aspects such as domestic violence, adoption, child-custody, and inheritance for the LGBTQ community, Sahgal said.
But the path ahead isn’t straightforward. Narendra Modi’s ruling Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) only recently opposed same-sex marriage before a state court. Speaking before Parliament in December, BJP lawmaker Sushil Modi urged the government to oppose same-sex marriage before the Supreme Court saying that it goes against the traditional ethos of the country.
“If the court does decide that such matters are best left to Parliament to decide, then I am afraid same-sex marriage will not be recognized in India as long as the BJP holds a majority,” says Sahgal who is also an LGBTQ rights activist. Eight state level polls likely to be held this year will indicate the pulse of the nation before an election for the next premier in 2024.
Meanwhile the Madras High Court in the southern state of Tamil Nadu has taken significant strides in making laws and policy inclusive for the LGBTQ community. A string of progressive decisions concerning rights of sexual minorities have been taken by the state on orders passed by the high court. These include penalizing police harassment of the community and declaring so-called conversion therapy as a professional misconduct for medical professionals. In 2023, Tamil Nadu is expected to release its draft policy for the LGBTQ community, becoming the first Indian state to do so. —Shruti Mahajan
Brazil
After four years of what they consider a complete stall in their battle for equal rights, the LGBTQ community in Brazil is now pushing for an extensive legislative agenda including same-sex marriage.
Left-wing Lula was inaugurated as president on Jan. 1 and groups have already asked him to pass more than eight related bills and several other proposals such as creating a role for the first national secretary for public policy focused on LGBTQ rights.
“We want better education, to be represented at the Executive branch, improvements in the health system, public safety, culture, all of it,” said Toni Reis, director and president of the National LGBTI+ Alliance. His is one of more than 100 associations that signed a letter addressed to Lula.
More than anything, the community is impassioned about making sure that rights safeguarded by the country’s top court are put into law. For example, Brazil's supreme court allowed same-sex marriage more than 10 years ago but this is still to be confirmed by Congress. They also hope to pass bills allowing transgender people to change their official ID to match their gender without showing proof of a change-of-sex surgery.
Each of these could be difficult tasks. The majority of legislators elected last October supported Bolsonaro, known for an agenda centered on conservative family values. Still, Congress will now have six representatives of the LGBTQ community including two transgender lawmakers, a record so far in Brazil.
“Bolsonaro wasn’t able to tear everything down, he wasn’t strong enough but we also had the supreme court defending our rights,” said Reis. “Now is our time to convince liberals from the right wing, evangelicals... We’ll have to earn their votes.” —Maria Eloisa Capurro
Slovenia
When Slovenia’s Constitutional Court unexpectedly ruled in July that same-sex couples had the right to marry, Centrih Albreht and his now-husband became one of the country’s first such couples to tie the knot.
It was a victory for the 36-year-old marketing specialist, who had watched his community suffer two referendum defeats on legalizing same-sex marriage. A party planned earlier to celebrate their civil union turned into a full-blown wedding in August. “It was a very special day for us and our families,” he said.
The first eastern European country to legalize same-sex unions and allow couples to adopt children, Slovenia contrasts sharply with the more conservative countries in the region, whose politicians still embrace anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. The EU took legal action in 2021 against Hungary and Poland for violating the community’s rights.
Those attitudes have had a direct impact in Slovenia, where many gay couples — often locals with partners from Eastern Europe — choose to build a home in that country, which Centrih Albreht sees as “a beacon” for more accepting society. The trend could strengthen further in 2023.
According to Lana Gobec, the head of the LGBTQ activist organization Legebitra, same sex-marriages will increase in Slovenia in 2023 and eventually converge with the proportion of marriages in the overall population. Gobec knows of several gay couples who already applied for adoption but tempers expectations over when the first adoption by a same-sex parent might happen because of the long process.
While Centrih Albreht sees the change in Slovenia as an important step to more acceptance, he sees the need for a bigger push for transgender rights. Citing this year’s abortion ruling by the US Supreme Court, he also worries progress can be reversed.
“The fight must always continue,” he said. “Expanding human rights has never hurt anyone. If anything, all of society benefits.” —Jan Bratanic
Greece
With a general election scheduled by April at the earliest, the country’s LGBTQ community has one key priority for the next government: marriage equality.
Greece passed legislation to recognize same-sex civil partnerships in 2015 and gender identity in 2017 but same-sex marriage hasn’t seen similar progress. Any possible move to legalize marriage between two people of the same sex will require changes to family law so that the state recognizes both members of the couple as parents and guardians of children rather than just a biological parent.
The same-sex unions didn’t provide the same access to rights as equal marriage would do, said Giannis Papagiannopoulos, a rights activist and publisher of Antivirus Magazine, Greece’s only LGBT publication. Lawmakers voting for equal marriage for the LGBTQI+ communities in Greece “would be a direct recognition of our families, our basic human rights and our very existence,” he said.
Few expected such progress to come from Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the current prime minister and leader of the center-right New Democracy party. While he hasn’t officially announced plans to legalize same-sex marriage, the premier is expected to address the issue during his next term if he wins the national ballot.
If he does, it would carry on the momentum set by the Greek leader after he was first elected. In 2021, he appointed a committee to draft a national strategy for improving LGBTQ rights. That strategy, which runs through 2025, acknowledges that rights for LGBTQ people “would not be complete without addressing the issue of marriage equality which, if established, would resolve numerous other issues associated with family law in Greece.”
The main opposition Syriza party of former premier Alexis Tsipras supports same-sex marriage and submitted a proposal in July which also proposes related measures such as the legalization of assisted reproduction for all couples.
Mitsotakis has introduced a number of reforms since 2021, such as lifting a ban on homosexual men making blood donations, outlawing in 2022 so-called sex normalizing surgeries on children and in September approving the official use of pre-exposure prophylactic drugs, commonly known as PrEP, to focus on the prevention of HIV infection rather than just on the treatment of the virus.
Greece has seen one of the the biggest jumps in ILGA’s ranking of LGBTQ rights among European countries following adoption of the strategy.
The introduction of PrEP, “is a step in the right direction for reducing HIV infection in the LGBTQ community,” said Giorgos Papadopetrakis, the vice chair of Positive Voice, an association for HIV-positive people in Greece. “Now, we’re just waiting to see how the decision will be implemented — how it will pass into action,” he said. —Paul Tugwell
United States
Progress on LGBTQ rights in America were “a mixed bag” in 2022, said Ehrt, the executive director of Outright International.
On the one hand, the historic Respect for Marriage Act Congress passed in December safeguards the rights to same-sex and interracial marriage from being rolled back in the same way abortion access has this year. But one of the first openly gay Black members of Congress, Mondaire Jones, said the legislation doesn’t go far enough, and doesn’t ensure marriage equality in every state. (Jones lost his bid for reelection in November, though more LGBTQ politicians were elected to Congress this cycle than ever before.)
With hundreds of anti-LGBTQ laws introduced at state-level during 2022, campaigners are also worried about a particular focus on rolling back rights among young people and transgender people. That trend includes limiting the participation of transgender people in sports that affirm their gender identity, as well as Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law which prohibits discussion about sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade.
Pressure to ban books with LGBTQ characters and themes at schools and public libraries has also increased. In messaging rolled out ahead of the midterms, the GOP led by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy listed anti-trans sports bills and legislation on parental rights among the party’s priorities.
Legislators in at least seven states proposed anti-drag bills ahead of the 2023 legislative session. These bills are often broad in nature, and many target people defined as “male or female impersonators.” LGBTQ advocates say they’re worried such language could be used to target transgender people. Other proposed bills target gender-affirming healthcare, particularly for children. Sarah Warbelow, legal director for the Human Rights Campaign described it as a “very intentional attack on LGBTQ youth from conservative legislatures across the country.”
The latter part of 2022 saw a surge in hostility toward the community, including the mass shooting at a LGBTQ club in Colorado, where five people were killed. The suspect now faces more than 300 charges including hate crimes. Reported anti-LGBTQ incidents, such as demonstrations and violence, have risen twelve-fold to almost 200 since 2020, according to a report by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project in November. —
Kelsey Butler, Ella Ceron and Olivia Konotey-Ahulu
Olivia Konotey-Ahulu
Mon, January 16, 2023 at 10:00 PM MST·12 min read
(Bloomberg) -- If progress in 2022 is anything to go by, there’s reason to be optimistic about the global direction of travel when it comes to same-sex relationships, LGBTQ campaigners say.
In the second half of the year, there was a flurry of movement to decriminalize same-sex intimacy in Singapore, St Kitts and Nevis, Barbados, and Antigua and Barbuda. These were some of the last holdouts among countries with histories of colonial-era laws prohibiting such activity. “It feels like something of a tipping point,” says Neela Ghoshal, Senior Director of Law, Policy and Research for global advocacy NGO Outright International. Such developments “allows us to really say that there is a global norm that same-sex intimacy should not be criminalized.”
Marriage equality has come a long way too, with countries from Cuba to Slovenia passing legislation last year; 33 governments have now legalized same-sex unions, triple the number compared to a decade earlier according to data from the advocacy group ILGA World.
Greece is one of a handful of countries to introduce a ban on so-called conversion therapy for minors during the year; France, Israel and New Zealand also took steps to make the practice of aiming to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity illegal in 2022. In Brazil, LGBTQ campaigners hope the re-election of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva can row back some of the damage done by his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, while the US Congress rushed to pass the Respect for Marriage Act and protect statutory recognition of interracial and same-sex marriages.
But pockets of friction are growing over specific issues: one is the rights of transgender people. As of September, US lawmakers proposed more than 300 bills classed as anti-LGBTQ by the Human Rights Campaign; more than 40% of them targeted the trans community, the advocacy group said. The UK also saw its score on the ILGA-Europe Rainbow Index plummet more than any other country this year, partly due to its decision to exclude trans people from a ban on conversion therapy.
Conservative governments, especially those in Europe, have “weaponized” trans issues in recent years too to boost their political capital, said Julia Ehrt, executive director for ILGA World.
“The atmosphere, in particular in the UK but as well in Spain, has been quite hostile towards trans people,” she said. Although Spain passed a bill toward the end of the year that makes it one of the few places in the world where anyone over the age of 16 can easily change their gender on their ID card, the debate caused tensions to flare among its left-wing government and coincided with a jump in hate crimes in the country.
Read More: Spain’s Win for Transgender Rights Almost Tore the Country Apart
Meanwhile some governments actively sought to row back LGBTQ rights, such as Indonesia’s decision to ban sex outside of marriage, effectively criminalizing it for same-sex couples, as well as pushes in Russia and Ghana to crack down on so-called LGBTQ “propaganda.”
But overall progress on LGBTQ rights is moving forward, say Ehrt and Ghoshal, who are hopeful about what the new year could bring. “Ultimately I think the pendulum is swinging in the right direction,” Ghoshal said.
Here’s a snapshot of what that momentum looks like around the world.
India
India’s top most court is all set this year to consider the question of granting legal recognition to same-sex marriages. Some couples have knocked on the Supreme Court’s door with the argument that marriage equality is the logical next step for LGBTQ rights after consensual gay sex was decriminalized in the country in 2018.
Such a move could give India’s 1.4 billion people the right to have a same-sex marriage.
“The potential impact of such a ruling will be momentous,” said Kanav Narayan Sahgal, Communications Manager at Nyaaya, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy. A law ironed out on same-sex marriage is also likely to open discussion on related aspects such as domestic violence, adoption, child-custody, and inheritance for the LGBTQ community, Sahgal said.
But the path ahead isn’t straightforward. Narendra Modi’s ruling Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) only recently opposed same-sex marriage before a state court. Speaking before Parliament in December, BJP lawmaker Sushil Modi urged the government to oppose same-sex marriage before the Supreme Court saying that it goes against the traditional ethos of the country.
“If the court does decide that such matters are best left to Parliament to decide, then I am afraid same-sex marriage will not be recognized in India as long as the BJP holds a majority,” says Sahgal who is also an LGBTQ rights activist. Eight state level polls likely to be held this year will indicate the pulse of the nation before an election for the next premier in 2024.
Meanwhile the Madras High Court in the southern state of Tamil Nadu has taken significant strides in making laws and policy inclusive for the LGBTQ community. A string of progressive decisions concerning rights of sexual minorities have been taken by the state on orders passed by the high court. These include penalizing police harassment of the community and declaring so-called conversion therapy as a professional misconduct for medical professionals. In 2023, Tamil Nadu is expected to release its draft policy for the LGBTQ community, becoming the first Indian state to do so. —Shruti Mahajan
Brazil
After four years of what they consider a complete stall in their battle for equal rights, the LGBTQ community in Brazil is now pushing for an extensive legislative agenda including same-sex marriage.
Left-wing Lula was inaugurated as president on Jan. 1 and groups have already asked him to pass more than eight related bills and several other proposals such as creating a role for the first national secretary for public policy focused on LGBTQ rights.
“We want better education, to be represented at the Executive branch, improvements in the health system, public safety, culture, all of it,” said Toni Reis, director and president of the National LGBTI+ Alliance. His is one of more than 100 associations that signed a letter addressed to Lula.
More than anything, the community is impassioned about making sure that rights safeguarded by the country’s top court are put into law. For example, Brazil's supreme court allowed same-sex marriage more than 10 years ago but this is still to be confirmed by Congress. They also hope to pass bills allowing transgender people to change their official ID to match their gender without showing proof of a change-of-sex surgery.
Each of these could be difficult tasks. The majority of legislators elected last October supported Bolsonaro, known for an agenda centered on conservative family values. Still, Congress will now have six representatives of the LGBTQ community including two transgender lawmakers, a record so far in Brazil.
“Bolsonaro wasn’t able to tear everything down, he wasn’t strong enough but we also had the supreme court defending our rights,” said Reis. “Now is our time to convince liberals from the right wing, evangelicals... We’ll have to earn their votes.” —Maria Eloisa Capurro
Slovenia
When Slovenia’s Constitutional Court unexpectedly ruled in July that same-sex couples had the right to marry, Centrih Albreht and his now-husband became one of the country’s first such couples to tie the knot.
It was a victory for the 36-year-old marketing specialist, who had watched his community suffer two referendum defeats on legalizing same-sex marriage. A party planned earlier to celebrate their civil union turned into a full-blown wedding in August. “It was a very special day for us and our families,” he said.
The first eastern European country to legalize same-sex unions and allow couples to adopt children, Slovenia contrasts sharply with the more conservative countries in the region, whose politicians still embrace anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. The EU took legal action in 2021 against Hungary and Poland for violating the community’s rights.
Those attitudes have had a direct impact in Slovenia, where many gay couples — often locals with partners from Eastern Europe — choose to build a home in that country, which Centrih Albreht sees as “a beacon” for more accepting society. The trend could strengthen further in 2023.
According to Lana Gobec, the head of the LGBTQ activist organization Legebitra, same sex-marriages will increase in Slovenia in 2023 and eventually converge with the proportion of marriages in the overall population. Gobec knows of several gay couples who already applied for adoption but tempers expectations over when the first adoption by a same-sex parent might happen because of the long process.
While Centrih Albreht sees the change in Slovenia as an important step to more acceptance, he sees the need for a bigger push for transgender rights. Citing this year’s abortion ruling by the US Supreme Court, he also worries progress can be reversed.
“The fight must always continue,” he said. “Expanding human rights has never hurt anyone. If anything, all of society benefits.” —Jan Bratanic
Greece
With a general election scheduled by April at the earliest, the country’s LGBTQ community has one key priority for the next government: marriage equality.
Greece passed legislation to recognize same-sex civil partnerships in 2015 and gender identity in 2017 but same-sex marriage hasn’t seen similar progress. Any possible move to legalize marriage between two people of the same sex will require changes to family law so that the state recognizes both members of the couple as parents and guardians of children rather than just a biological parent.
The same-sex unions didn’t provide the same access to rights as equal marriage would do, said Giannis Papagiannopoulos, a rights activist and publisher of Antivirus Magazine, Greece’s only LGBT publication. Lawmakers voting for equal marriage for the LGBTQI+ communities in Greece “would be a direct recognition of our families, our basic human rights and our very existence,” he said.
Few expected such progress to come from Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the current prime minister and leader of the center-right New Democracy party. While he hasn’t officially announced plans to legalize same-sex marriage, the premier is expected to address the issue during his next term if he wins the national ballot.
If he does, it would carry on the momentum set by the Greek leader after he was first elected. In 2021, he appointed a committee to draft a national strategy for improving LGBTQ rights. That strategy, which runs through 2025, acknowledges that rights for LGBTQ people “would not be complete without addressing the issue of marriage equality which, if established, would resolve numerous other issues associated with family law in Greece.”
The main opposition Syriza party of former premier Alexis Tsipras supports same-sex marriage and submitted a proposal in July which also proposes related measures such as the legalization of assisted reproduction for all couples.
Mitsotakis has introduced a number of reforms since 2021, such as lifting a ban on homosexual men making blood donations, outlawing in 2022 so-called sex normalizing surgeries on children and in September approving the official use of pre-exposure prophylactic drugs, commonly known as PrEP, to focus on the prevention of HIV infection rather than just on the treatment of the virus.
Greece has seen one of the the biggest jumps in ILGA’s ranking of LGBTQ rights among European countries following adoption of the strategy.
The introduction of PrEP, “is a step in the right direction for reducing HIV infection in the LGBTQ community,” said Giorgos Papadopetrakis, the vice chair of Positive Voice, an association for HIV-positive people in Greece. “Now, we’re just waiting to see how the decision will be implemented — how it will pass into action,” he said. —Paul Tugwell
United States
Progress on LGBTQ rights in America were “a mixed bag” in 2022, said Ehrt, the executive director of Outright International.
On the one hand, the historic Respect for Marriage Act Congress passed in December safeguards the rights to same-sex and interracial marriage from being rolled back in the same way abortion access has this year. But one of the first openly gay Black members of Congress, Mondaire Jones, said the legislation doesn’t go far enough, and doesn’t ensure marriage equality in every state. (Jones lost his bid for reelection in November, though more LGBTQ politicians were elected to Congress this cycle than ever before.)
With hundreds of anti-LGBTQ laws introduced at state-level during 2022, campaigners are also worried about a particular focus on rolling back rights among young people and transgender people. That trend includes limiting the participation of transgender people in sports that affirm their gender identity, as well as Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law which prohibits discussion about sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade.
Pressure to ban books with LGBTQ characters and themes at schools and public libraries has also increased. In messaging rolled out ahead of the midterms, the GOP led by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy listed anti-trans sports bills and legislation on parental rights among the party’s priorities.
Legislators in at least seven states proposed anti-drag bills ahead of the 2023 legislative session. These bills are often broad in nature, and many target people defined as “male or female impersonators.” LGBTQ advocates say they’re worried such language could be used to target transgender people. Other proposed bills target gender-affirming healthcare, particularly for children. Sarah Warbelow, legal director for the Human Rights Campaign described it as a “very intentional attack on LGBTQ youth from conservative legislatures across the country.”
The latter part of 2022 saw a surge in hostility toward the community, including the mass shooting at a LGBTQ club in Colorado, where five people were killed. The suspect now faces more than 300 charges including hate crimes. Reported anti-LGBTQ incidents, such as demonstrations and violence, have risen twelve-fold to almost 200 since 2020, according to a report by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project in November. —
Kelsey Butler, Ella Ceron and Olivia Konotey-Ahulu
Rishi Sunak set to ban 'abhorrent' TRANS conversion therapy
Ben Riley-Smith
Sun, January 15, 2023
protest - Hollie Adams/Getty Images
A law to ban all conversion therapy will be announced as soon as Monday, as Rishi Sunak reverses Boris Johnson’s decision to scale back the intervention.
Conversion therapy is the practice of attempting to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender. It often takes place in religious settings and has led to accusations of exploitation.
Mr Johnson vowed to ban homosexual conversion therapy when prime minister, but decided not to do the same for transgender conversion therapy.
This week, government ministers are set to make clear that they plan to implement a total ban on both forms of conversion and will make legal changes to enforce the new position.
'Abhorrent practice'
The decision is understood to have been made in principle by No 10, but hoops remain before the announcement is made, including a formal sign-off of the position.
A Government spokesman said: “The Government remains committed to banning conversion practices in this country.
“In order to ensure the ban is as effective as possible, we are currently analysing the responses to our consultation. We will set out our next steps in due course.
“To help ensure that victims of this abhorrent practice have the assistance that they need, we have already established a new victim support service.”
'No place in civilised society'
Mr Johnson had long spoken out against the practice, saying in July 2020: “On the gay conversion therapy thing, I think that's absolutely abhorrent and has no place in a civilised society, and has no place in this country.
“What we are going to do is a study right now on... where is this actually happening, how prevalent is it, and we will then bring forward plans to ban it.”
But he altered his position last spring. Leaked documents suggested the ban was being ditched, triggering a backlash.
Mr Johnson then promised to ban gay conversion therapy, but said he would not do the same for transgender conversion, arguing the latter issue was more complex.
Tory MPs on both sides of the debate pushed their case with Downing Street, with some critics of an outright ban raising concerns of unintended consequences, such as for teachers or doctors having discussions with teenagers who wish to legally change gender.
It is unclear when exactly the legal change will formally be tabled in Parliament.
Rishi Sunak facing ‘big backlash’ over trans conversion therapy ban
Daniel Martin
Mon, January 16, 2023 a
A demonstrator holds a placard during the No Ban Without Trans protest - Hollie Adams/Getty Images
Rishi Sunak faces a “big backlash” if he presses ahead with a ban on trans conversion therapy which campaigners and Tory MPs say could criminalise parents, teachers and doctors.
The Government has already committed to ban therapists from pressurising gay people to be straight – a move which is entirely uncontroversial.
But over the weekend, Whitehall sources indicated that the Prime Minister wants to extend the law in order to ban the use of conversion therapy around gender transitions – where an attempt is made to persuade children who want to change their gender that they should stay as they are.
Boris Johnson rejected extending the law to cover gender identity in this way, and – on Monday night – critics said that if Mr Sunak presses ahead, it could be used to criminalise those who question children who want to change gender.
Tim Loughton, the former children’s minister, said he was concerned doctors, teachers and parents could fall foul of any new law unless it were very carefully worded.
“It certainly needs to include some dispensation when discussing transition treatment with minors or there will be a big backlash,” he said.
Teachers and parents in the dock
Maya Forstater, the co-founder of Sex Matters, said banning conversion therapy could see teachers and parents in the dock if they question a child’s desire to change gender.
The group says it means teachers could find themselves in court if they tell children they cannot use opposite-sex toilets or prevent a boy from competing in girls’ sports.
And it says parents could fall foul of the law for refusing to use the correct pronoun or for taking children abroad to avoid people pressuring them into transitioning.
Ms Forstater said: “Proponents of the plan to outlaw conversion therapy in the UK have never been able to come up with evidence that there is a contemporary practice that can and should be banned.
“Already therapists who help people work through gender issues and not become fixed on the idea that they need to alter their body to be their true self are being accused of practising ‘conversion’.
“Any proposed legislation should be subject to pre-legislative scrutiny to make sure that it does not risk criminalising thoughtful therapists, and parents and teachers who don’t believe children can be ‘born in the wrong body’, or people practising their religion.”
Damian Green, the former deputy prime minister to Theresa May, urged Mr Sunak to be careful.
“The key is the definition of what should be outlawed,” he said. “Clearly any coercive or bullying interventions are completely unacceptable, but the definition should not be so wide that it excludes proper conversations with clinicians.
“This is an especially sensitive area when it involves children.”
In an article for The Telegraph, Kathleen Stock, a British philosopher who had to leave her university position after being targeted by trans activists, said: “Under the proposed legislation, doctors, counsellors and therapists could be forced to simply affirm any child who claimed to be trans, or face potential prosecution for attempting to change the child’s identity.”
Kathleen Stock - BPM Media
The law was originally designed to outlaw the cruel practice of attempting to “convert” gay children.
But under pressure from trans rights campaigners, it was extended to stop therapists trying to help children with gender dysphoria – a mismatch between biological sex and gender identity – to decide whether they really wish to transition.
After some 2,500 parents, teachers and therapists wrote to their MPs to protest against the changes, Mr Johnson’s government blocked the plans.
On Monday night, a spokesman for the Government’s Equality Hub said: “The Government remains committed to banning conversion practices in this country.
“In order to ensure the ban is as effective as possible, we are currently analysing the responses to our consultation. We will set out our next steps in due course.
“To help ensure that victims of this abhorrent practice have the assistance that they need, we have already established a new victim support service.
Ben Riley-Smith
Sun, January 15, 2023
protest - Hollie Adams/Getty Images
A law to ban all conversion therapy will be announced as soon as Monday, as Rishi Sunak reverses Boris Johnson’s decision to scale back the intervention.
Conversion therapy is the practice of attempting to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender. It often takes place in religious settings and has led to accusations of exploitation.
Mr Johnson vowed to ban homosexual conversion therapy when prime minister, but decided not to do the same for transgender conversion therapy.
This week, government ministers are set to make clear that they plan to implement a total ban on both forms of conversion and will make legal changes to enforce the new position.
'Abhorrent practice'
The decision is understood to have been made in principle by No 10, but hoops remain before the announcement is made, including a formal sign-off of the position.
A Government spokesman said: “The Government remains committed to banning conversion practices in this country.
“In order to ensure the ban is as effective as possible, we are currently analysing the responses to our consultation. We will set out our next steps in due course.
“To help ensure that victims of this abhorrent practice have the assistance that they need, we have already established a new victim support service.”
'No place in civilised society'
Mr Johnson had long spoken out against the practice, saying in July 2020: “On the gay conversion therapy thing, I think that's absolutely abhorrent and has no place in a civilised society, and has no place in this country.
“What we are going to do is a study right now on... where is this actually happening, how prevalent is it, and we will then bring forward plans to ban it.”
But he altered his position last spring. Leaked documents suggested the ban was being ditched, triggering a backlash.
Mr Johnson then promised to ban gay conversion therapy, but said he would not do the same for transgender conversion, arguing the latter issue was more complex.
Tory MPs on both sides of the debate pushed their case with Downing Street, with some critics of an outright ban raising concerns of unintended consequences, such as for teachers or doctors having discussions with teenagers who wish to legally change gender.
It is unclear when exactly the legal change will formally be tabled in Parliament.
Rishi Sunak facing ‘big backlash’ over trans conversion therapy ban
Daniel Martin
Mon, January 16, 2023 a
A demonstrator holds a placard during the No Ban Without Trans protest - Hollie Adams/Getty Images
Rishi Sunak faces a “big backlash” if he presses ahead with a ban on trans conversion therapy which campaigners and Tory MPs say could criminalise parents, teachers and doctors.
The Government has already committed to ban therapists from pressurising gay people to be straight – a move which is entirely uncontroversial.
But over the weekend, Whitehall sources indicated that the Prime Minister wants to extend the law in order to ban the use of conversion therapy around gender transitions – where an attempt is made to persuade children who want to change their gender that they should stay as they are.
Boris Johnson rejected extending the law to cover gender identity in this way, and – on Monday night – critics said that if Mr Sunak presses ahead, it could be used to criminalise those who question children who want to change gender.
Tim Loughton, the former children’s minister, said he was concerned doctors, teachers and parents could fall foul of any new law unless it were very carefully worded.
“It certainly needs to include some dispensation when discussing transition treatment with minors or there will be a big backlash,” he said.
Teachers and parents in the dock
Maya Forstater, the co-founder of Sex Matters, said banning conversion therapy could see teachers and parents in the dock if they question a child’s desire to change gender.
The group says it means teachers could find themselves in court if they tell children they cannot use opposite-sex toilets or prevent a boy from competing in girls’ sports.
And it says parents could fall foul of the law for refusing to use the correct pronoun or for taking children abroad to avoid people pressuring them into transitioning.
Ms Forstater said: “Proponents of the plan to outlaw conversion therapy in the UK have never been able to come up with evidence that there is a contemporary practice that can and should be banned.
“Already therapists who help people work through gender issues and not become fixed on the idea that they need to alter their body to be their true self are being accused of practising ‘conversion’.
“Any proposed legislation should be subject to pre-legislative scrutiny to make sure that it does not risk criminalising thoughtful therapists, and parents and teachers who don’t believe children can be ‘born in the wrong body’, or people practising their religion.”
Damian Green, the former deputy prime minister to Theresa May, urged Mr Sunak to be careful.
“The key is the definition of what should be outlawed,” he said. “Clearly any coercive or bullying interventions are completely unacceptable, but the definition should not be so wide that it excludes proper conversations with clinicians.
“This is an especially sensitive area when it involves children.”
In an article for The Telegraph, Kathleen Stock, a British philosopher who had to leave her university position after being targeted by trans activists, said: “Under the proposed legislation, doctors, counsellors and therapists could be forced to simply affirm any child who claimed to be trans, or face potential prosecution for attempting to change the child’s identity.”
Kathleen Stock - BPM Media
The law was originally designed to outlaw the cruel practice of attempting to “convert” gay children.
But under pressure from trans rights campaigners, it was extended to stop therapists trying to help children with gender dysphoria – a mismatch between biological sex and gender identity – to decide whether they really wish to transition.
After some 2,500 parents, teachers and therapists wrote to their MPs to protest against the changes, Mr Johnson’s government blocked the plans.
On Monday night, a spokesman for the Government’s Equality Hub said: “The Government remains committed to banning conversion practices in this country.
“In order to ensure the ban is as effective as possible, we are currently analysing the responses to our consultation. We will set out our next steps in due course.
“To help ensure that victims of this abhorrent practice have the assistance that they need, we have already established a new victim support service.
Library thrives in Pakistan's 'wild west' gun market town
Sajjad TARAKZAI
Mon, January 16, 2023
When the din of Pakistan's most notorious weapons market becomes overwhelming, arms dealer Muhammad Jahanzeb slinks away from his stall, past colleagues test-firing machine guns, to read in the hush of the local library.
"It's my hobby, my favourite hobby, so sometimes I sneak off," the 28-year-old told AFP after showing off his inventory of vintage rifles, forged assault weapons and a menacing array of burnished flick-knives.
"I've always wished that we would have a library here, and my wish has come true."
The town of Darra Adamkhel is part of the deeply conservative tribal belt where decades of militancy and drug-running in the surrounding mountains earned it a reputation as a "wild west" waypoint between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
It has long been known for its black market bazaars stocked with forged American rifles, replica revolvers and rip-off AK-47s.
But a short walk away a town library is thriving by offering titles including Virginia Woolf's classic "Mrs Dalloway", instalments in the teenage vampire romance series "Twilight", and "Life, Speeches and Letters" by Abraham Lincoln.
"Initially we were discouraged. People asked, 'What is the use of books in a place like Darra Adamkhel? Who would ever read here?'" recalled 36-year-old founder Raj Muhammad.
"We now have more than 500 members."
- Tribal transformation -
Literacy rates in the tribal areas, which were semi-autonomous until 2018 when they merged with the neighbouring province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, are among the lowest in Pakistan as a result of poverty, patriarchal values, inter-clan conflicts and a lack of schools.
But attitudes are slowing changing, believes soft-spoken 33-year-old volunteer librarian Shafiullah Afridi: "Especially among the younger generation who are now interested in education instead of weapons."
"When people see young people in their neighbourhood becoming doctors and engineers, others also start sending their children to school," saidAfridi, who has curated a ledger of 4,000 titles in three languages -- English, Urdu and Pashto.
Despite the background noise of gunsmiths testing weapons and hammering bullets into dusty patches of earth nearby, the atmosphere is genteel as readers sip endless rounds of green tea while they muse over texts.
However, Afridi struggles to strictly enforce a "no weapons allowed" policy during his shift.
One young arms dealer saunters up to the pristinely painted salmon-coloured library, leaving his AK-47 at the door but keeping his sidearm strapped on his waist, and joins a gaggle of bookworms browsing the shelves.
Alongside tattered Tom Clancy, Stephen King and Michael Crichton paperbacks, there are more weighty tomes detailing the history of Pakistan and India and guides for civil service entrance exams, as well as a wide selection of Islamic teachings.
- 'Education not arms' -
Libraries are rare in Pakistan's rural areas, and the few that exist in urban centres are often poorly stocked and infrequently used.
In Darra Adamkhel, it began as a solitary reading room in 2018 stocked with Muhammad's personal collection, above one of the hundreds of gun shops in the central bazaar.
"You could say we planted the library on a pile of weapons," said Muhammad -- a prominent local academic, poet and teacher hailing from a long line of gunsmiths.
Muhammad paid 2,500 rupees ($11) for the monthly rent, but bibliophiles struggled to concentrate amidst the whirring of lathes and hammering of metal as bootleg armourers plied their trade downstairs.
The project swiftly outgrew the confines of a single room and was shifted a year later to a purpose-built single-storey building funded by the local community on donated land.
"There was once a time when our young men adorned themselves with weapons like a kind of jewellery," said Irfanullah Khan, 65, patriarch of the family who gifted the plot.
"But men look beautiful with the jewel of knowledge, beauty lies not in arms but in education," said Khan, who also donates his time alongside his son Afridi.
For the general public a library card costs 150 rupees ($0.66) a year, while students enjoy a discount rate of 100 rupees ($0.44), and youngsters flit in and out of the library even during school breaks.
One in 10 members are female -- a figure remarkably high for the tribal areas -- though once they reach their teenage years and are sequestered in the home male family members collect books on their behalf.
Nevertheless, on their mid-morning break schoolgirls Manahil Jahangir, nine, and Hareem Saeed, five, join the men towering over them as they pore over books.
"My mother's dream is for me to become a doctor," Saeed says shyly. "If I study here I can make her dream come true."
sjd/jts/ecl/axn
Sajjad TARAKZAI
Mon, January 16, 2023
When the din of Pakistan's most notorious weapons market becomes overwhelming, arms dealer Muhammad Jahanzeb slinks away from his stall, past colleagues test-firing machine guns, to read in the hush of the local library.
"It's my hobby, my favourite hobby, so sometimes I sneak off," the 28-year-old told AFP after showing off his inventory of vintage rifles, forged assault weapons and a menacing array of burnished flick-knives.
"I've always wished that we would have a library here, and my wish has come true."
The town of Darra Adamkhel is part of the deeply conservative tribal belt where decades of militancy and drug-running in the surrounding mountains earned it a reputation as a "wild west" waypoint between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
It has long been known for its black market bazaars stocked with forged American rifles, replica revolvers and rip-off AK-47s.
But a short walk away a town library is thriving by offering titles including Virginia Woolf's classic "Mrs Dalloway", instalments in the teenage vampire romance series "Twilight", and "Life, Speeches and Letters" by Abraham Lincoln.
"Initially we were discouraged. People asked, 'What is the use of books in a place like Darra Adamkhel? Who would ever read here?'" recalled 36-year-old founder Raj Muhammad.
"We now have more than 500 members."
- Tribal transformation -
Literacy rates in the tribal areas, which were semi-autonomous until 2018 when they merged with the neighbouring province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, are among the lowest in Pakistan as a result of poverty, patriarchal values, inter-clan conflicts and a lack of schools.
But attitudes are slowing changing, believes soft-spoken 33-year-old volunteer librarian Shafiullah Afridi: "Especially among the younger generation who are now interested in education instead of weapons."
"When people see young people in their neighbourhood becoming doctors and engineers, others also start sending their children to school," saidAfridi, who has curated a ledger of 4,000 titles in three languages -- English, Urdu and Pashto.
Despite the background noise of gunsmiths testing weapons and hammering bullets into dusty patches of earth nearby, the atmosphere is genteel as readers sip endless rounds of green tea while they muse over texts.
However, Afridi struggles to strictly enforce a "no weapons allowed" policy during his shift.
One young arms dealer saunters up to the pristinely painted salmon-coloured library, leaving his AK-47 at the door but keeping his sidearm strapped on his waist, and joins a gaggle of bookworms browsing the shelves.
Alongside tattered Tom Clancy, Stephen King and Michael Crichton paperbacks, there are more weighty tomes detailing the history of Pakistan and India and guides for civil service entrance exams, as well as a wide selection of Islamic teachings.
- 'Education not arms' -
Libraries are rare in Pakistan's rural areas, and the few that exist in urban centres are often poorly stocked and infrequently used.
In Darra Adamkhel, it began as a solitary reading room in 2018 stocked with Muhammad's personal collection, above one of the hundreds of gun shops in the central bazaar.
"You could say we planted the library on a pile of weapons," said Muhammad -- a prominent local academic, poet and teacher hailing from a long line of gunsmiths.
Muhammad paid 2,500 rupees ($11) for the monthly rent, but bibliophiles struggled to concentrate amidst the whirring of lathes and hammering of metal as bootleg armourers plied their trade downstairs.
The project swiftly outgrew the confines of a single room and was shifted a year later to a purpose-built single-storey building funded by the local community on donated land.
"There was once a time when our young men adorned themselves with weapons like a kind of jewellery," said Irfanullah Khan, 65, patriarch of the family who gifted the plot.
"But men look beautiful with the jewel of knowledge, beauty lies not in arms but in education," said Khan, who also donates his time alongside his son Afridi.
For the general public a library card costs 150 rupees ($0.66) a year, while students enjoy a discount rate of 100 rupees ($0.44), and youngsters flit in and out of the library even during school breaks.
One in 10 members are female -- a figure remarkably high for the tribal areas -- though once they reach their teenage years and are sequestered in the home male family members collect books on their behalf.
Nevertheless, on their mid-morning break schoolgirls Manahil Jahangir, nine, and Hareem Saeed, five, join the men towering over them as they pore over books.
"My mother's dream is for me to become a doctor," Saeed says shyly. "If I study here I can make her dream come true."
sjd/jts/ecl/axn
Yemen rebels, Saudis in back-channel talks to maintain truce
A Yemeni fighter backed by the Saudi-led coalition fires his weapon during clashes with Houthi rebels on the Kassara frontline near Marib, Yemen, June 20, 2021. Since the longest ceasefire between Yemen's warring parties ended without renewal late last year, Saudi Arabia and the Iranian-backed Houthis have once again been engaging in back-channel talks. While the negotiations have managed to achieve an immediate aim of maintaining an unofficial sort of temporary truce, they seem unlikely to help either side find a way out of the conflict.
A Yemeni fighter backed by the Saudi-led coalition fires his weapon during clashes with Houthi rebels on the Kassara frontline near Marib, Yemen, June 20, 2021. Since the longest ceasefire between Yemen's warring parties ended without renewal late last year, Saudi Arabia and the Iranian-backed Houthis have once again been engaging in back-channel talks. While the negotiations have managed to achieve an immediate aim of maintaining an unofficial sort of temporary truce, they seem unlikely to help either side find a way out of the conflict.
(AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty, File)
SAMY MAGDY
Mon, January 16, 2023
CAIRO (AP) — Amid Yemen’s longest-ever pause in fighting — more than nine months — Saudi Arabia and its rival, the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, have revived back-channel talks, hoping to strengthen the informal cease-fire and lay out a path for a negotiated end to the long civil war, according to Yemeni, Saudi and U.N. officials.
The quiet is fragile, with no formal cease-fire in place since a U.N.-brokered truce ended in October. It has been shaken by Houthi attacks on oil facilities and fiery rhetoric from Yemen's internationally recognized government, allied with Saudi Arabia, which complains it has so far been left out of the talks. Lack of progress could lead to a breakdown and a renewal of all-out fighting.
But all sides appear to be looking for a solution after eight years of a war that has killed more than 150,000 people, fragmented Yemen and driven the Arab world’s poorest country into collapse and near starvation in one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Saudi Arabia restarted indirect exchanges with the Houthis in September, when it became clear the U.N.-brokered truce wouldn’t be renewed. Oman has been acting as intermediary.
“It’s an opportunity to end the war,” a U.N. official said, “if they negotiate in good faith and the talks include other Yemeni actors.” Like other officials, the U.N. official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the fragility of the talks.
A Saudi diplomat said his country has asked China and Russia to exert pressure on Iran and the Houthis to avoid escalations. Iran, which has been regularly briefed on the talks by the Houthis and the Omanis, has so far supported the undeclared truce, the diplomat said.
Yemen’s war began when the Houthis descended from their strongholds in northern Yemen and seized the capital of Sanaa in 2014, forcing the internationally recognized government to flee to the south then into exile in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia entered the war in 2015, heading a military collation with the United Arab Emirates and other Arab nations. The coalition, which was supported by the United States, carried out a destructive bombardment campaign and backs government forces and militias in the south. The conflict became a proxy war between regional foes Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Neither side has made territorial gains for years. The Houthis maintain their grip over the north, Sanaa, and much of the heavily populated west. The government and militias hold the south and east, including the key central areas with most of Yemen’s oil reserves.
The war has bled beyond Yemen’s borders, with the Houthis attacking Saudi Arabia and the UAE with ballistic missiles and explosive-laden drones. The rebels also attacked vessels in the Red Sea. They used weapons from the stockpiles they seized in Sanaa and weapons supplied by Iran, according to independent and U.N. experts and Western nations.
Saudi Arabia and the Houthis have held indirect negotiations in the past, mainly for prisoner swaps or sporadic cease-fires.
The most ambitious talks, in 2019, helped stop a government’s advance on the Houthi-held port of Hodeida on the Red Sea. But Saudi officials accused the rebels of using an undeclared truce to make territorial gains and advance on the prized, government-held city of Marib. A monthslong battle for Marib ensued, in which the Houthis suffered huge casualties and were eventually repelled in late 2021.
The U.N. brokered a more formal truce that began in April 2022 and was extended twice. It ran out in October. Houthi attacks on oil facilities in government-controlled areas have been the most significant disruption in recent months — but so far, the warring sides have not resumed full-fledged fighting.
“An escalation would be costly on all fronts,” a Yemeni government official said. Still, “all are building up for the next round (of war) if U.N. efforts and the Saudi-Houthi talks collapse.”
One problem is that past attempts at resolution have been hampered by the conflicting interests of the powers involved in the war — Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Iran, said Abdel-Bari Taher, a Yemeni commentator and former Journalists' Union head.
“These talks won’t lead to concrete conclusions if they don’t include all Yemeni parties in the process,” Taher said.
The Houthis’ chief negotiator, Mohammed Abdul-Salam, said visits to Sanaa by Omani officials show the Houthis’ seriousness. The most recent visit ended Sunday.
“There is give and take with other parties,” he said, in an apparent reference to Saudi Arabia.
The kingdom has developed a phased roadmap for a settlement, which has been backed by the U.S. and the United Nations, said the U.N. official. In it, the coalition makes a number of key promises, including to further reopen the airport in Sanaa and ease a blockade on Hodeida, the official said.
The Houthis demand the coalition pay salaries of all state employees — including the military — from oil and gas revenues, as well as open all airports and ports under Houthi control. A Houthi official involved in the deliberations said the Saudis had promised to pay the salaries.
The Saudi diplomat, however, said paying military salaries is conditioned on the Houthis accepting security guarantees, including a buffer zone with Houthi-held areas along the Yemeni-Saudi border. The Houthis also should lift their blockade on Taiz, Yemen's third largest city, he said.
The Saudis also want the Houthis to commit to joining official talks with other Yemeni stakeholders, the diplomat said.
The Houthi official said his side has not accepted parts of the Saudi proposal, particularly the security guarantees, and refuses the resumption of oil exports from government-held areas without paying the salaries. The Houthis proposed a distribution of oil revenues according to a pre-war budget, the official said. That means Houthi-held areas receive up to 80% of the revenues since they are the most populated, according to the official.
The Saudi diplomat said both sides were working with Omani officials to develop the proposal to be “more satisfactory for all sides,” including other Yemeni parties.
All of this has left the internationally recognized government without a voice, a Yemeni government official said. He said the government’s presidential council worries Saudi Arabia “might give unacceptable concessions” to reach a deal.
But the Yemen anti-Houthi alliance remains riven with internal divisions so there is little room to maneuver.
“We have no option but to wait and see the conclusion of these negotiations,” the official said.
SAMY MAGDY
Mon, January 16, 2023
CAIRO (AP) — Amid Yemen’s longest-ever pause in fighting — more than nine months — Saudi Arabia and its rival, the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, have revived back-channel talks, hoping to strengthen the informal cease-fire and lay out a path for a negotiated end to the long civil war, according to Yemeni, Saudi and U.N. officials.
The quiet is fragile, with no formal cease-fire in place since a U.N.-brokered truce ended in October. It has been shaken by Houthi attacks on oil facilities and fiery rhetoric from Yemen's internationally recognized government, allied with Saudi Arabia, which complains it has so far been left out of the talks. Lack of progress could lead to a breakdown and a renewal of all-out fighting.
But all sides appear to be looking for a solution after eight years of a war that has killed more than 150,000 people, fragmented Yemen and driven the Arab world’s poorest country into collapse and near starvation in one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Saudi Arabia restarted indirect exchanges with the Houthis in September, when it became clear the U.N.-brokered truce wouldn’t be renewed. Oman has been acting as intermediary.
“It’s an opportunity to end the war,” a U.N. official said, “if they negotiate in good faith and the talks include other Yemeni actors.” Like other officials, the U.N. official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the fragility of the talks.
A Saudi diplomat said his country has asked China and Russia to exert pressure on Iran and the Houthis to avoid escalations. Iran, which has been regularly briefed on the talks by the Houthis and the Omanis, has so far supported the undeclared truce, the diplomat said.
Yemen’s war began when the Houthis descended from their strongholds in northern Yemen and seized the capital of Sanaa in 2014, forcing the internationally recognized government to flee to the south then into exile in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia entered the war in 2015, heading a military collation with the United Arab Emirates and other Arab nations. The coalition, which was supported by the United States, carried out a destructive bombardment campaign and backs government forces and militias in the south. The conflict became a proxy war between regional foes Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Neither side has made territorial gains for years. The Houthis maintain their grip over the north, Sanaa, and much of the heavily populated west. The government and militias hold the south and east, including the key central areas with most of Yemen’s oil reserves.
The war has bled beyond Yemen’s borders, with the Houthis attacking Saudi Arabia and the UAE with ballistic missiles and explosive-laden drones. The rebels also attacked vessels in the Red Sea. They used weapons from the stockpiles they seized in Sanaa and weapons supplied by Iran, according to independent and U.N. experts and Western nations.
Saudi Arabia and the Houthis have held indirect negotiations in the past, mainly for prisoner swaps or sporadic cease-fires.
The most ambitious talks, in 2019, helped stop a government’s advance on the Houthi-held port of Hodeida on the Red Sea. But Saudi officials accused the rebels of using an undeclared truce to make territorial gains and advance on the prized, government-held city of Marib. A monthslong battle for Marib ensued, in which the Houthis suffered huge casualties and were eventually repelled in late 2021.
The U.N. brokered a more formal truce that began in April 2022 and was extended twice. It ran out in October. Houthi attacks on oil facilities in government-controlled areas have been the most significant disruption in recent months — but so far, the warring sides have not resumed full-fledged fighting.
“An escalation would be costly on all fronts,” a Yemeni government official said. Still, “all are building up for the next round (of war) if U.N. efforts and the Saudi-Houthi talks collapse.”
One problem is that past attempts at resolution have been hampered by the conflicting interests of the powers involved in the war — Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Iran, said Abdel-Bari Taher, a Yemeni commentator and former Journalists' Union head.
“These talks won’t lead to concrete conclusions if they don’t include all Yemeni parties in the process,” Taher said.
The Houthis’ chief negotiator, Mohammed Abdul-Salam, said visits to Sanaa by Omani officials show the Houthis’ seriousness. The most recent visit ended Sunday.
“There is give and take with other parties,” he said, in an apparent reference to Saudi Arabia.
The kingdom has developed a phased roadmap for a settlement, which has been backed by the U.S. and the United Nations, said the U.N. official. In it, the coalition makes a number of key promises, including to further reopen the airport in Sanaa and ease a blockade on Hodeida, the official said.
The Houthis demand the coalition pay salaries of all state employees — including the military — from oil and gas revenues, as well as open all airports and ports under Houthi control. A Houthi official involved in the deliberations said the Saudis had promised to pay the salaries.
The Saudi diplomat, however, said paying military salaries is conditioned on the Houthis accepting security guarantees, including a buffer zone with Houthi-held areas along the Yemeni-Saudi border. The Houthis also should lift their blockade on Taiz, Yemen's third largest city, he said.
The Saudis also want the Houthis to commit to joining official talks with other Yemeni stakeholders, the diplomat said.
The Houthi official said his side has not accepted parts of the Saudi proposal, particularly the security guarantees, and refuses the resumption of oil exports from government-held areas without paying the salaries. The Houthis proposed a distribution of oil revenues according to a pre-war budget, the official said. That means Houthi-held areas receive up to 80% of the revenues since they are the most populated, according to the official.
The Saudi diplomat said both sides were working with Omani officials to develop the proposal to be “more satisfactory for all sides,” including other Yemeni parties.
All of this has left the internationally recognized government without a voice, a Yemeni government official said. He said the government’s presidential council worries Saudi Arabia “might give unacceptable concessions” to reach a deal.
But the Yemen anti-Houthi alliance remains riven with internal divisions so there is little room to maneuver.
“We have no option but to wait and see the conclusion of these negotiations,” the official said.
Eating one wild fish same as month of drinking tainted water: study
Daniel Lawler
Mon, January 16, 2023
Eating one freshwater fish caught in a river or lake in the United States is the equivalent of drinking a month's worth of water contaminated with toxic "forever chemicals", new research said on Tuesday.
The invisible chemicals called PFAS were first developed in the 1940s to resist water and heat, and are now used in items such as non-stick pans, textiles, fire suppression foams and food packaging.
But the indestructibility of PFAS, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, means the pollutants have built up over time in the air, soil, lakes, rivers, food, drinking water and even our bodies.
There have been growing calls for stricter regulation for PFAS, which have been linked to a range of serious health issues including liver damage, high cholesterol, reduced immune responses and several kinds of cancer.
To find out PFAS contamination in locally caught fish, a team of researchers analysed more than 500 samples from rivers and lakes across the United States between 2013 and 2015.
The median level of PFAS in the fish was 9,500 nanogrammes per kilogramme, according to a new study published in the journal Environmental Research.
Nearly three quarters of the detected "forever chemicals" was PFOS, one of the most common and hazardous of the thousands of PFAS.
Eating just one freshwater fish equalled drinking water with PFOS at 48 parts per trillion for a month, the researchers calculated.
Last year the US Environmental Protection Agency lowered the level of PFOS in drinking water it considers safe to 0.02 parts per trillion.
The total PFAS level in the freshwater fish was 278 times higher than what has been found in commercially sold fish, the study said.
- 'Greatest chemical threat' -
David Andrews, a senior scientist at the non-profit Environmental Working Group which led research, told AFP he grew up catching and eating fish.
"I can no longer look at a fish without thinking about PFAS contamination," said Andrews, one of the study's authors.
The findings were "particularly concerning due to the impact on disadvantaged communities that consume fish as a source protein or for social or cultural reasons," he added.
"This research makes me incredibly angry because companies that made and used PFAS contaminated the globe and have not been held responsible."
Patrick Byrne, an environmental pollution researcher at the UK's Liverpool John Moores University not involved in the research, said PFAS are "probably the greatest chemical threat the human race is facing in the 21st century".
"This study is important because it provides the first evidence for widespread transfer of PFAS directly from fish to humans," he told AFP.
Andrews called for much more stringent regulation to bring an end to all non-essential uses of PFAS.
The study comes after Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden submitted a proposal to ban PFAS to the EU's European Chemicals Agency on Friday.
The proposal, "one of the broadest in the EU's history," comes after the five countries found that PFAS were not adequately controlled, and bloc-wide regulation was needed, the agency said in a statement.
dl/rl
Daniel Lawler
Mon, January 16, 2023
Eating one freshwater fish caught in a river or lake in the United States is the equivalent of drinking a month's worth of water contaminated with toxic "forever chemicals", new research said on Tuesday.
The invisible chemicals called PFAS were first developed in the 1940s to resist water and heat, and are now used in items such as non-stick pans, textiles, fire suppression foams and food packaging.
But the indestructibility of PFAS, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, means the pollutants have built up over time in the air, soil, lakes, rivers, food, drinking water and even our bodies.
There have been growing calls for stricter regulation for PFAS, which have been linked to a range of serious health issues including liver damage, high cholesterol, reduced immune responses and several kinds of cancer.
To find out PFAS contamination in locally caught fish, a team of researchers analysed more than 500 samples from rivers and lakes across the United States between 2013 and 2015.
The median level of PFAS in the fish was 9,500 nanogrammes per kilogramme, according to a new study published in the journal Environmental Research.
Nearly three quarters of the detected "forever chemicals" was PFOS, one of the most common and hazardous of the thousands of PFAS.
Eating just one freshwater fish equalled drinking water with PFOS at 48 parts per trillion for a month, the researchers calculated.
Last year the US Environmental Protection Agency lowered the level of PFOS in drinking water it considers safe to 0.02 parts per trillion.
The total PFAS level in the freshwater fish was 278 times higher than what has been found in commercially sold fish, the study said.
- 'Greatest chemical threat' -
David Andrews, a senior scientist at the non-profit Environmental Working Group which led research, told AFP he grew up catching and eating fish.
"I can no longer look at a fish without thinking about PFAS contamination," said Andrews, one of the study's authors.
The findings were "particularly concerning due to the impact on disadvantaged communities that consume fish as a source protein or for social or cultural reasons," he added.
"This research makes me incredibly angry because companies that made and used PFAS contaminated the globe and have not been held responsible."
Patrick Byrne, an environmental pollution researcher at the UK's Liverpool John Moores University not involved in the research, said PFAS are "probably the greatest chemical threat the human race is facing in the 21st century".
"This study is important because it provides the first evidence for widespread transfer of PFAS directly from fish to humans," he told AFP.
Andrews called for much more stringent regulation to bring an end to all non-essential uses of PFAS.
The study comes after Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden submitted a proposal to ban PFAS to the EU's European Chemicals Agency on Friday.
The proposal, "one of the broadest in the EU's history," comes after the five countries found that PFAS were not adequately controlled, and bloc-wide regulation was needed, the agency said in a statement.
dl/rl
Why Nigeria's central bank governor self-exiled abroad?
Faustine Ngila
Faustine Ngila
Quartz
Mon, January 16, 2023
Nigeria’s central bank governor Godwin Emefiele had been away from his home country for several weeks, reportedly self-exiling in an unknown country outside Africa.
Though the apex bank announced that he has resumed his duties (pdf) on Jan.16, without confirming whether he is back in the country, Emefiele has been alleged to be hiding to evade arrest by the country’s secret police over claims that he has been involved in corrupt activities and terrorism financing.
His absence raised eyebrows after he failed to turn up to explain the reason behind the redesign of Naira banknotes and cash withdrawal limits without consulting the finance ministry on Dec. 22, delegating that to deputy governor Aisha Ahmad. The redesign has been weakening the currency.
The case against Emefiele
At the time, he said he was hospitalized abroad, before it was reported that he was on the run to avoid being detained for economic crimes and threatening national security. Secret police want to hold him in a 60-day detention, which could be renewed for another 60 days pending investigations.
Emefiele went on leave before Christmas with the knowledge of President Muhammadu Buhari but on Jan. 15, said he could not come back to Nigeria because he was sick and undergoing treatment.
“First of all, he was accused of financing terrorism worth billions of dollars trough some secret accounts allegedly supervised by him” Janet Faden, an independent journalist based in Jos City, Plateau State and who runs Plateau News Online tells Quartz. She believes that his devaluation of the Naira right before the upcoming elections is not a coincidence.
In 2014, former central bank governor, Alhaji Sanusi Lamido was also accused of financing terrorism. “They made a show out of it but nothing tangible came out of the investigations. He sued them instead,” Faden says. Armed bandit attacks in Nigeria led to the loss of 2,600 lives in 2021, an increase of over 250% from 2020.
The Department of State Services (DSS) remains alert to arrest Emefiele on sight, despite a De. 29 ruling by Justice Maryam Hassan of the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja quashing the move by the DSS because it provided no concrete evidence to back up its allegations.
The court acted in response to a suit filed by a Nigerian civil society group, the Forum for Accountability and Good Leadership. Pressure has been piling from the country’s law society for the federal government to stop plans to arrest the governor.
“Has the government considered the enormous implication of the effect of a wanted governor of the central bank on the economy? I am completely flabbergasted that the president of the country has not intervened; either to call the state security to order or to call Emefiele to return to the country or be fired,” human rights lawyer Femi Falana said.
This has drawn attention from the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (Afcfta) Roundtable, with founder Warmate Jones Idikio telling Quartz that the absence of the governor of the central bank of Africa’s biggest economy “leaves room for a lot of speculation.”
Nigeria is at risk
While fiscal policy, anti-inflationary measures, the strength of the Naira, and the general economic outlook for Nigeria may not be affected by the absence of the governor according to Idikio, Nigeria risks being blacklisted by global financial bodies, according to the Center for Financial Surveillance and Illicit Transaction Tracking Group (CSITT).
“We received with disappointment the reports of discovery of a suit secretly filed by the state security service wherein it accused Godwin Emefiele of terrorism financing as well as other crimes it described as economic crimes of national security dimension,” reads a statement by CSITT.
It claims that the plan to arrest the governor is motivated by “political and pecuniary reasons” and is “against the ethics of the Egmont group” which blacklisted the country in 2017 for “lack of a legal framework and autonomy.”
Emefiele wanted to be Nigeria’s president
Last May, Emefiele was forced to drop his presidential ambitions after a high court in Abuja dismissed his request to not be prevented from contesting in the upcoming Feb. 25 elections.
He has been labeled Nigeria’s worst performing central bank governor in history for spearheading the implementation of unfavorable monetary policies that Nigerians feel have been hurting them.
In 2019, Emefiele could not explain how Nigeria’s treasury lost over $2.5 billion meant for the procurement of arms under his watch but was still reappointed as governor by president Buhari.
For now, Nigerian authorities may allow Emefiele back to the country without being arrested but he might be forced to resign from his position as allegations against him continue to tarnish the reputation of the country’s central bank.
Mon, January 16, 2023
Nigeria’s central bank governor Godwin Emefiele had been away from his home country for several weeks, reportedly self-exiling in an unknown country outside Africa.
Though the apex bank announced that he has resumed his duties (pdf) on Jan.16, without confirming whether he is back in the country, Emefiele has been alleged to be hiding to evade arrest by the country’s secret police over claims that he has been involved in corrupt activities and terrorism financing.
His absence raised eyebrows after he failed to turn up to explain the reason behind the redesign of Naira banknotes and cash withdrawal limits without consulting the finance ministry on Dec. 22, delegating that to deputy governor Aisha Ahmad. The redesign has been weakening the currency.
The case against Emefiele
At the time, he said he was hospitalized abroad, before it was reported that he was on the run to avoid being detained for economic crimes and threatening national security. Secret police want to hold him in a 60-day detention, which could be renewed for another 60 days pending investigations.
Emefiele went on leave before Christmas with the knowledge of President Muhammadu Buhari but on Jan. 15, said he could not come back to Nigeria because he was sick and undergoing treatment.
“First of all, he was accused of financing terrorism worth billions of dollars trough some secret accounts allegedly supervised by him” Janet Faden, an independent journalist based in Jos City, Plateau State and who runs Plateau News Online tells Quartz. She believes that his devaluation of the Naira right before the upcoming elections is not a coincidence.
In 2014, former central bank governor, Alhaji Sanusi Lamido was also accused of financing terrorism. “They made a show out of it but nothing tangible came out of the investigations. He sued them instead,” Faden says. Armed bandit attacks in Nigeria led to the loss of 2,600 lives in 2021, an increase of over 250% from 2020.
The Department of State Services (DSS) remains alert to arrest Emefiele on sight, despite a De. 29 ruling by Justice Maryam Hassan of the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja quashing the move by the DSS because it provided no concrete evidence to back up its allegations.
The court acted in response to a suit filed by a Nigerian civil society group, the Forum for Accountability and Good Leadership. Pressure has been piling from the country’s law society for the federal government to stop plans to arrest the governor.
“Has the government considered the enormous implication of the effect of a wanted governor of the central bank on the economy? I am completely flabbergasted that the president of the country has not intervened; either to call the state security to order or to call Emefiele to return to the country or be fired,” human rights lawyer Femi Falana said.
This has drawn attention from the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (Afcfta) Roundtable, with founder Warmate Jones Idikio telling Quartz that the absence of the governor of the central bank of Africa’s biggest economy “leaves room for a lot of speculation.”
Nigeria is at risk
While fiscal policy, anti-inflationary measures, the strength of the Naira, and the general economic outlook for Nigeria may not be affected by the absence of the governor according to Idikio, Nigeria risks being blacklisted by global financial bodies, according to the Center for Financial Surveillance and Illicit Transaction Tracking Group (CSITT).
“We received with disappointment the reports of discovery of a suit secretly filed by the state security service wherein it accused Godwin Emefiele of terrorism financing as well as other crimes it described as economic crimes of national security dimension,” reads a statement by CSITT.
It claims that the plan to arrest the governor is motivated by “political and pecuniary reasons” and is “against the ethics of the Egmont group” which blacklisted the country in 2017 for “lack of a legal framework and autonomy.”
Emefiele wanted to be Nigeria’s president
Last May, Emefiele was forced to drop his presidential ambitions after a high court in Abuja dismissed his request to not be prevented from contesting in the upcoming Feb. 25 elections.
He has been labeled Nigeria’s worst performing central bank governor in history for spearheading the implementation of unfavorable monetary policies that Nigerians feel have been hurting them.
In 2019, Emefiele could not explain how Nigeria’s treasury lost over $2.5 billion meant for the procurement of arms under his watch but was still reappointed as governor by president Buhari.
For now, Nigerian authorities may allow Emefiele back to the country without being arrested but he might be forced to resign from his position as allegations against him continue to tarnish the reputation of the country’s central bank.
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