Chile preparing threatened condor chicks for release into wild

Issued on: 18/01/2023 

Condor chick Mailen was born in captivity at Chile's Rehabilitation Center for Birds of Prey 


Talagante (Chile) (AFP) – Alhue and Mailen were born in captivity but conservationists hope to free the chicks soon as part of a project to boost Chile's ailing population of Andean condors.

The Andean condor, a type of vulture, is the largest flying bird in the world but its population is considered "vulnerable" by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List of Endangered Species.

There are just an estimated 6,700 Andean condors living in the wild.

At Chile's Rehabilitation Center for Birds of Prey (CRAR), conservationists are trying to boost those numbers.

"The aim is to introduce condors to nature born from condors that cannot be freed, who are here for life," said Eduardo Pavez, the CRAR founder.

The CRAR center in Talagante, 40 kilometers from Santiago, looks after birds that cannot be released into the wild, either because they cannot fly or have become too accustomed to human contact.

The parents of both Alhue, a male, and female Mailen, have lived in the center for years and cannot be released.

Venerated but threatened

The condor has long been venerated by indigenous peoples in the Americas.

The Andean condor is the largest flying bird in the world but its species is vulnerable according to the International Union for the Conserevation of Nature 

In Andean religious mythology, the condor was a symbol of power and ruled the upper world, acting as an intermediary with the world of spirits and the sun god, Inti.

It features on the coat of arms of several countries, such as Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia and Chile.

It is virtually extinct in Venezuela in the north of the continent, while the largest concentrations are found in the south of Chile and Argentina.

The greatest threat to the condor is human occupation of the Andean mountain range, and a lack of food.

CRAR, founded in 1990, takes in all sorts of birds of prey including owls and falcons that are injured, have been in an accident or were kept in captivity.

Its aim is to rehabilitate them and release them back into the wild, but in many cases that is impossible.

Alhue's mother, for example, was injured by a power line and can no longer fly.

Mailen's mother, who was brought to the center at the age of about one, has become too accustomed to humans to be able to survive in the wild.

Over the years, CRAR has already freed 13 out of 25 condor chicks born in captivity, with another four due to be soon released.

Teaching by pecks

Within the next six to nine months, once they are fully grown, Alhue and Mailen will be separated from their parents.

Workers at the Rehabilitation Center for Birds of Prey take care of condor chicks they hope to one day release into the wild 

The parents will then be able to begin reproducing again while their offspring will start socializing with and learning from other adult condors at the center.

They will be taken to a large cage where adults that cannot be released mix with juveniles preparing for the outside world.

There they can fly around and communicate with other members of their species.

"Here they establish a hierarchy where the adult males dominate. They have to learn that hierarchy, sometimes by force of pecks, so they find their place in condor society," said Pavez.

Human encroachment onto its natural habitat has provided a threat to the Andean condor's existence and affect its access to food 

That is a vital apprenticeship for Mailen and Alhue ahead of their likely release in the southern hemisphere in spring of 2024 so that they are able to build relationships with other wild condors, get to know their territory and find food.

PHOTOS  JAVIER TORRES / AFP

© 2023 AFP

Out of Nile, into tile: Young Egyptians battle plastic plague

Volunteers collect garbage from the Nile in Egypt's capital Cairo in a clean-up campaign, on March 7, 2020 - Khaled DESOUKI

by Bahira Amin
January 17, 2023 — Cairo (AFP)

Entrepreneurial young Egyptians are helping combat their country's huge plastic waste problem by recycling junk-food wrappers, water bottles and similar garbage that usually ends up in landfills or the Nile.

At a factory on the outskirts of Cairo, run by their startup TileGreen, noisy machines gobble up huge amounts of plastic scraps of all colours, shred them and turn them into a thick liquid.

The sludge -- made from all kinds of plastic, even single-use shopping bags -- is then moulded into dark, compact bricks that are used as outdoor pavers for walkways and garages.

"They're twice as strong as concrete," boasts co-founder Khaled Raafat, 24, slamming one onto the floor for emphasis.


Each tile takes about "125 plastic bags out of the environment", says his business partner Amr Shalan, 26, raising his voice above the din of the machines.

Raafat said the company uses even low-grade plastics and products "made of many different layers of plastic and aluminium that are nearly impossible to separate and recycle sustainably".

Egypt, the Arab world's most populous country, is also the biggest plastic polluter in the Middle East and Africa, according to a multinational study reported by Science magazine.

The country generates more than three million tonnes of plastic waste per year, much of which piles up in streets and illegal landfills or finds its way into the Nile and the Mediterranean Sea.

Microplastics in the water concentrate in marine life, threatening the health of people who consume seafood and fish caught in Africa's mighty waterway -- mirroring what has become a worldwide environmental scourge.

- 'Their children's future' -

TileGreen, launched in 2021, aims to "recycle three billion to five billion plastic bags by 2025", said Shalan.

The start-up last year started selling its outdoor tiles, of which it has produced some 40,000 so far, and plans to expand into other products usually made from cement.

Egypt, a country of 104 million, has pledged to more than halve its annual consumption of single-use plastics by 2030 and to build multiple new waste management plants.

For now, however, more than two thirds of of Egypt's waste is "inadequately managed", according to the World Bank -- driving an ecological hazard environmental groups have been trying to tackle.

On the shores of the Nile island of Qursaya, some fishermen now collect and sort plastic trash they net from the river as part of an initiative by the group VeryNile.

As the Nile has become more polluted, the fishermen "could see their catches decreasing", said project manager Hany Fawzy, 47. "They knew this was their future and their children's future disappearing."

Over three-quarters of Cairo fish were found to contain microplastics in a 2020 study by a group of Danish and UK-based scientists published in the journal Toxics.

Off the port city of Alexandria, further north, microplastics were detected in 92 percent of fish caught, said a study last year by researchers at Egypt's National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries.

VeryNile, started five years ago with a series of volunteer clean-up events, buys "between 10 and 12 tonnes of plastic a month" from 65 fishermen, paying them 14 Egyptian pounds (about 50 US cents) per kilogram, Fawzy said.

- 'Good step forward' -


VeryNile then compresses high-value plastic like water bottles and sends it to a recycling plant to be made into pellets.

Low-quality plastics such as food wrappers are incinerated to power a cement factory which, Fawzy said, keeps "the environment clean with air filters and a sensitive monitoring system."

"We can't clean up the environment in one spot just to pollute elsewhere," he said.

The Egyptian programmes are part of a battle against a global scourge.


Less than 10 percent of the world's plastic is recycled, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The OECD said last year that annual production of fossil-fuel-based plastics is set to top 1.2 billion tonnes by 2060, with waste exceeding one billion tonnes.

In Egypt, activists have hailed what they see as a youth-led push for sustainability that has created demand for environmentally-minded solutions and products.

But while the change is welcome, they say it remains insufficient.

"What these initiatives have done is find a way to create a value chain, and there's clearly demand," said Mohamed Kamal, co-director of environmental group Greenish.

"Anything that captures value from waste in Egypt is a good step forward. But it's not solving the problem. It can only scratch the surface."

Film on Israel’s 1948 War Shows Palestinian Agony: Director

Wednesday, 18 January, 2023 - 06:00

Jordanian director Darin J. Sallam's debut feature film 'Farha' tells the story of the 1948 conflict following Israel's creation 

© Khalil MAZRAAWI / afp/AFP

Asharq Al-Awsat

Jordanian film "Farha", vehemently criticized in Israel, is based on true events and represents "only a drop in the ocean" of Palestinian suffering, director Darin J. Sallam told AFP.

Released last month on Netflix, "Farha" depicts atrocities against Palestinians during the 1948 conflict following Israel's creation, which Palestinians call the Nakba, or "catastrophe".

The Arabic-language film tells the story of a Palestinian teenager, Farha, whose village comes under attack by Israeli forces.

Her father hides her and, through a crack in a door, she witnesses the execution a family of Palestinian civilians, including two girls.

Sallam, 35, said the plot for her first full-length feature was inspired by a story told to her by her mother, about a Palestinian woman named Radiyeh.

The film recounts "the story of a girl who had been forced to abandon her dreams because of events she had no control over", Sallam said.

"Farha" featured in the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival and has won a dozen awards in other festivals.

In Israel, where discussion of alleged atrocities during the 1948 war remains largely taboo, officials condemned Netflix over the decision to stream the film.

"I wanted to open the world's eyes to this pivotal moment in the history... and to show that this land was not without people," Sallam said, of what is now Israel and the Palestinian territories.

"Rather, it was a land with people who had lives, dreams, hopes and history."

The film was shot in the northern Jordan towns of Ajlun and Al-Fuhais, which resemble the Palestinian village where Farha's story begins.

The teenage girl tries to persuade her father to let her complete her studies in the city, prepares for a friend's wedding, and picks figs before her village is attacked.

Sallam said she avoided showing violence, with the exception of the unarmed family's killing.

"This scene, which shook the Israeli government, is only a drop in the ocean of the suffering of millions of Palestinians during the Nakba," she said.

Sallam called for more filmmakers to explore this painful chapter in Palestinian history, which "almost never appears in cinema".

Her mother, of Syrian origin, had heard Radiyeh's story at a refugee camp in that country and passed it on to her, "and I decided to make a film and share it".

"Radiyeh had been locked up by her father who feared for her, and when she was finally able to come out of hiding she went to Syria," Sallam said. "That's where she told the story to my mother."

The filmmaker said she had "lost all contact with this woman", a resident of the war-ravaged Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk, north of Damascus, since fighting in Syria began in 2011.

After one screening of the film in the United States, an audience member spoke to Sallam.

"A woman aged in her eighties who had survived the Nakba told me: 'I am Farha'", she said.

Former Israeli minister Avigdor Lieberman, who had served in government until Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power last month, said in November the film's "whole purpose is to create a false pretence and incite against Israeli soldiers".

Chili Tropper, Israel's former culture minister, said "Farha" shows "lies and libels".

For Sallam, whose father is Palestinian, "denying the Nakba is denying my existence, denying the tragedy of millions of people."

"My own father survived the Nakba. He... fled to Jordan with his parents."

Sallam's father was born in Ramle, in what is now central Israel.

Most of its Arab residents fled or were forced from their homes during the 1948 conflict, as were more than 760,000 Palestinians across the country.

Many of their descendants live to this day in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

More than half of Jordan's population of about 10 million people are of Palestinian origin, the result of mass displacement in 1948 and during the 1967 Six-Day War, when Israel occupied the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

Last year, Israeli director Alon Schwarz faced backlash over his documentary on an alleged 1948 massacre of Palestinians in Tantura, a Mediterranean village in the northwest of what is now Israel.

Calls have mounted in recent years, including among Israeli activists, for greater transparency about the conduct of nascent Israeli forces during the 1948 conflict.

Peru's Boluarte appeals for calm as Lima braces for more unrest

Issued on: 18/01/2023

01:47   A demonstrator takes a selfie in front of a line of police in riot gear in Lima, Peru, on January 17, 2023AP  Text by: NEWS WIRES

With Peru's capital bracing for two days of anti-government protests starting Wednesday, President Dina Boluarte called on the demonstrators flooding into Lima to gather "peacefully and calmly" – even as they demand her resignation.

The South American country has been rocked by over five weeks of deadly protests since the ouster and arrest of her predecessor Pedro Castillo in early December.

Thousands of protesters from rural areas are descending on Lima this week to keep up pressure against the government, often defying a state of emergency declared to try to maintain order.

With tensions mounting, many poor and Indigenous demonstrators were already making their presence felt Tuesday in the capital, where police used smoke canisters against marchers who gathered ahead of the larger mobilizations.

"We know they want to take Lima, given everything that is coming out on social media, on the 18th and 19th (Wednesday and Thursday)," Boluarte said in a speech at Peru's Constitutional Court.

"I call on them to take Lima, yes, but peacefully and calmly. I am waiting for them in the seat of government to discuss their social agendas."

Convoys of demonstrators were still on their way.

Hundreds of members of the Indigenous Aymara community boarded buses Tuesday from Ilave city in the Puno region, on the border with Bolivia.

"I am excited to travel to Lima because the fight continues, all the Aymara blood brothers are traveling to the fight," Julio Cesar Ramos told AFP before boarding one of the buses.

"It hurts me to see my country like this, that is why Aymara and Quechua brothers, we are united as one," said Roger Mamani, 28.

At least 42 people have died in clashes between protesters and security forces, largely in the country's south and east, according to Peru's human rights ombudsman.

Various groups are demanding Boluarte's resignation, the dissolution of parliament and immediate elections.

But the president warned that "the rule of law cannot be hostage to the whims" of a single group of people.

Rival marches

Demonstrators from all over Peru have arranged to meet in the capital to protest together, but despite various announcements, it is still difficult to determine how many people will arrive in Lima.

By Tuesday afternoon, dozens of people were already marching through Lima's streets to Plaza San Martin, the historic epicenter of demonstrations.

"All of us who have come from the city of Cusco are joining the national strike. Dina Boluarte should leave because she does not represent the coast, the mountains, or the jungle," said teacher Edith Calixto, 45 from the Andes.

Residents of the northern city of Cajamarca carried signs that read "National Insurgency." Some held "rondero" whips of the type used by local patrols in rural areas.

"Dina, please, resign so that this town calms down because the town is not going to give up," Antonia Riveros, a 55-year-old native of Huancavelica, said.

Meanwhile a "march for peace" was also underway in Lima, with dozens of members from community groups and political parties wearing white T-shirts in rejection of the protests against Boluarte.

"We do not want violence in our country. I know that now there is a group that disagrees with the current government, but nevertheless it is not the way to carry out protest," 56-year-old merchant Cesar Noa told AFP.

Roadblocks

Protesters have maintained almost 100 road blocks in several parts of Peru.

Security forces cleared one road block on the Panamericana Norte highway early Tuesday morning. Boluarte said others would be dismantled soon.

President Castillo was removed from office and arrested on December 7, after attempting to dissolve the country's legislature and rule by decree, amid multiple corruption investigations.

Boluarte, who was Castillo's vice president, succeeded him. But despite Boluarte belonging to the same left-wing party, Castillo supporters have rejected her, even accusing her of being a "traitor."

(AFP)

Vietnam's President Phuc reportedly ousted by party rivals

David Hutt
JAN. 17,2023

Pro-Western President Nguyen Xuan Phuc has purportedly been forced out of office in a reshuffle that is set to empower Vietnam's oppressive security services.

Vietnam's President Nguyen Xuan Phuc announced his "resignation" to the party's elite decision-making Politburo last week, Vietnamese sources told DW.

The Western-orientated leader took up the largely ceremonial presidency in 2021, after five years as prime minister. He is seen as one of the main technocrats within the ruling Communist party, and he had developed close connections with Western capitals during his time in office.

His likely dismissal comes just weeks after several other experienced foreign policy hands were booted out of the ruling Vietnamese Communist Party for alleged corruption. The reshuffle is expected to cement the power of the country's security elite.

A diplomatic source told DW that the party's Central Committee will meet on Tuesday for a special session to discuss Phuc's successor, as he is set to formally announce his resignation to the National Assembly, the country's legislature, Wednesday.

What do we know about Phuc's ouster?

Le Hong Hiep of the ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute research center in Singapore speculated that corruption might be the reason Phuc was pushed out, according to an article published in the analysis outlet Fulcrum.

There have long been rumors that the president's wife was involved in the so-called Viet A corruption scandal that last month resulted in Nguyen Thanh Long, the former Minister of Health; and Chu Ngoc Anh, the former Minister of Science and Technology, being expelled from the Communist Party.

If the reports are true, Phuc would be the highest-ranking official yet to be caught up in the widespread anti-graft campaign launched by Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in 2016. Hundreds of senior officials and businesspeople have already been dismissed or jailed because of the campaign.

It is unclear what reason Phuc will give for his resignation tomorrow, but Zachary Abuza, a professor at the National War College in Washington, sees it as a "total power play" by his enemies in the party.

Who stands to benefit from Phuc's departure?

Phuc's likely successor will be To Lam, the Minister of Public Security, who has gained Trong's trust in directing anti-corruption probes. Lam was originally expected to leave his office by April due to informal term limits on ministers.

A swift promotion to the presidency would allow Lam to remain in a powerful position while also trying to maintain control over the security ministry from the largely ceremonial presidential office, Abuza said.

Other senior Communist Party members would also benefit from Phuc's departure. Though the next National Congress won't be held until 2026, jostling for the top jobs starts early.

The Communist Party has faced problems with electing its leaders in the past. At the last National Congress in 2021, party chief Trong remained in office for a near-unprecedented third term because the party couldn't agree on a successor.

Hiep of the ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute noted that National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue also stands to win big if Phuc departs, as he would emerge as the "only viable candidate to replace General Secretary Trong" in the 2026 reshuffle.

Abuza reckons that apart from Hue, Phuc was the only other Politburo member who had the acumen to become party boss next year. Phuc's departure opens a straight path for Hue, who happens to be Trong's protege.

Le Hong Hiep adds that Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, who is unlikely to get a promotion next time around, may also be at risk.

According to Hiep, he could face trouble because of his alleged relationship with Nguyen Thi Thanh Nhan, the chairwoman of Advance International Corporation, a firm at the center of another major corruption scandal. Nhan, who is on the run, was last month sentenced in absentia to 30 years in prison.

How will the reshuffle effect Vietnam's foreign policy?

Phuc considerably improved Vietnam's ties with the US and the EU as prime minister between 2016 and 2021. The much-touted EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement was signed and ratified under his watch, and the 68-year-old politician is believed to be among Vietnam's most trusted leaders for foreign diplomats and investors.

His departure comes on the heels of dismissals of numerous technocratic and Western-leaning officials.

Pham Binh Minh, the former foreign minister and a deputy prime minister, was last month "allowed" to resign from his current posts. Another Western-educated deputy prime minister, Vu Duc Dam, was also dismissed.

Hunter Marston, a researcher on Southeast Asia at the Australian National University, said it seems that "Trong and his Ministry of Public Security are pushing out the more progressive or internationally-minded senior officials who had advanced the US-Vietnam relationship."

The reshuffling of officials is unlikely to radically change Vietnam's foreign policy, although it is "good for China and Russia," said Abuza from the National War College in Washington.

Le Hong Hiep from Singapore doesn't see drastic changes on the horizon either.

"All these personnel changes are more about Vietnam's domestic political dynamics," Hiep told DW. "I don't think they have anything to do with Vietnam's foreign policy."
What is Vietnam's stance on China and the West?

China remains Vietnam's largest trading partner, but historical and geopolitical tensions, especially over disputed territory in the South China Sea, means Hanoi will continue to see Beijing as a threat.

Also, Vietnam's business and political relations with Western states have massively improved in recent years. In November, Olaf Scholz became the first German chancellor to visit Vietnam for 11 years.

But Vietnamese Communist apparatchiks remain skeptical of Western intentions. Many of them fear that Western democracies are aiming for regime change in the one-party state and they rankle at foreign organizations lecturing the government over human rights.

Those dynamics are not likely to change but analysts say foreign governments and investors should expect a more inward-looking and potentially less stable political situation in Vietnam.

The ascendant public security apparatus is arguably most wary of interactions with Western democracies. At the same time, foreign diplomats are quickly losing their most trusted conduits within the party, the sort of officials who informally provide information and support.

And although Vietnam's economy grew at 8% last year, according to the government, purges of senior, competent officials may weaken the country's political stability. Trong's anti-corruption crusade shows no signs of slowing down, with Phuc its biggest scalp to date.

Edited by: Darko Janjevic

FIELD HOCKEY NOT ICE HOCKEY

Hockey's World Cup has no problem with rainbow armbands
Jörg Strohschein
18 hours ago18 hours ago

At the field hockey World Cup in India, the German national team is setting an example. Captain Mats Grambusch's choice to wear a rainbow armband to promote acceptance and tolerance has received a positive response.

There was no sign of protest at the Kalinga Hockey Stadium in Bhubaneswar. On the contrary, the fact that Mats Grambusch wore a rainbow-striped captain's armband during the German national field hockey team's first match at the field hockey World Cup against Japan caused no displeasure at all. And the Germans won 3-0.

The colorful symbol for the worldwide LGBTQ+ community was accepted without complaint from either the spectators on site or by the World Hockey Federation (IHF), who were forewarned by the German Hockey Federation (DHB) of their intentions.

"I do believe that you can transport values into society through sport," Grambusch told DW in the run-up to the game. "We would have done the same if the World Cup were held in the Netherlands, Germany or Qatar. We stand for these values and want to embody that at the World Cup."

Symbol of hope and solidarity

There is no question of the problems that occurred at the football World Cup in Qatar, which ended last December. World football's governing body FIFA strictly forbade the wearing of the "One Love" armband due to the hosts feeling unfairly treated.

When it comes to the field hockey players and their World Cup in India, it’s the complete opposite with the DHB’s request met with an overwhelmingly positive response from the local community.

"There’s certainly power in visibility, especially when a leading sportsperson openly takes up the cause of LGBTQ+ inclusion," LGBTQ+ activist Anish Gawande tells DW. "However, such a 'message of tolerance' should not be seen as a radical act meant to give voice to some notion of a 'voiceless' LGBTQ+ community in India. I would be more keen to see this as a symbol for a wider acceptance of queer and trans people in sports as a whole."

Acceptance for the LGBTQ+ community has grown in recent years in India

Ayush Chopra/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/picture alliance

"Everyone deserves the right to express themselves unabashedly," activist Harish Iyer explained to DW. "The rainbow is a symbol of hope and solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community. We should celebrate it. The question should not be 'why are you wearing it', but rather 'why the hell not'."
Landmark rulings by India's Supreme Court

Yet even in the South Asian nation, social recognition of the LGBTQ+ community has been a long, ongoing process. It wasn't that long ago that homosexuality was no longer a criminal offense in India. In a decision hailed as historic, the country's Supreme Court in 2018 overturned a more than 100-year-old ban that criminalized homosexual acts between adults.

Yet members of the LGBTQ+ community often continue to live in the shadows, rejected by their families or society. Activists like Anish Gawande and Harish Iyer are helping them become more visible. "Despite significant progress over the course of the last two decades, the LGBTQ+ community in India continues to face significant challenges," Gawande says.

Then, last summer, the same court ruled that same sex couples are entitled to the same social benefits as traditional families. Another step toward "normalcy." There have since been further efforts by the community, with the help of petitions, to bring further measures around equality into law.
Criticism from politics

However, there are political parties in India that have a hard time with this. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, for example, has called same-sex marriages incompatible with Indian culture and religion. "The community is facing oppression all over the world," laments activist Iyer.

Grambusch believes people's sexuality shouldn't come into question in modern society

Image: Sukhomoy_ Sen/Eyepix Group/IMAGO

Indian society, which is often still quite conservative, has already become more accepting. In a 2019 survey by the US-based Pew Research Center, it is clear that a societal transformation has begun. The survey found that between 2013 and 2019, society's acceptance of homosexuality increased by 22%.
Grambusch: "Must become complete normality"

"The supreme court of india has decriminalized consensual sexual relations between all adults and recognizes people who identify as transgender," Iyer says. "We need to do more, but we have taken the first major step."

Hockey team captain Mats Grambusch is also aware that the issue of homophobia is not exclusive to India. "This issue needs to be more mainstreamed in different societies. It has to become complete normality that people have different sexualities and that is not questioned in any way," Grambusch said.

This article was translated from Germa

Egyptian activists: We need to talk about abortion

Diana Hodali
DW

 JAN 17,2023

Abortions are illegal in Egypt unless they are necessary to save a married woman's life. But that doesn't stop local women from having one. Egyptian society needs to acknowledge this, activists say.

The memory of that day is still very painful for Noura. She was in Cairo's City Stars Mall when she suddenly felt cramps, accompanied by heavy bleeding: "I sat down on the toilet. I felt something heavy flowing from my uterus. I put my hand under me to catch the blood."

Noura is not using her real name here. She had an unplanned pregnancy at the age of 23 while in an extramarital relationship with a man called Khaled.

After they realized she was pregnant, her boyfriend obtained abortion pills through friends. "It was too early for me to get married and become a mother," Noura remembers. Since abortions are forbidden in Egypt and punishable by law, she could only talk about it with her boyfriend and her roommate.

She witnessed the abortion of her embryo sitting on the shopping mall's toilet. "It was an incredibly brutal moment," she says, one she will never forget.

Talking about a taboo

Experiences like that had by Noura are what prompted feminist activist Ghadeer Ahmed Eldamaty to write them down. In her book "Abortion Tales — Women between Family, Love and Medicine," which was published in Arabic in late December 2022, she explains the circumstances in Egypt, describes the legal and medical situation and also lets numerous women like Noura speak openly.

"I want other women who have gone through an abortion, or are still facing one, to know that they are not alone," she says. "Motherhood is emphasized in our society, yet the topic of abortion is completely avoided. It is forbidden."

Eldamaty, now 32, demonstrated against the former regime in Cairo's Tahrir Square back in 2011. Women's rights were especially important to her, and over the years her interest in the issue of abortion grew.

Author and feminist Ghadeer Ahmed Eldamaty published her book 'Abortion Tales' in late December 2022

Image: ACSS/E7na Summit

Egypt's restrictive abortion laws

The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights and the Alliance for Realizing Sexual and Reproductive Justice describe Egypt as being one of the most restrictive countries in the world when it comes to abortion.

Egyptian law does not allow abortion, nor does it allow survivors of rape or incest to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. Only danger to the life of the expectant mother or fetus is a legal justification for terminating the pregnancy — and even this is only if the woman is married.

Articles 260 to 264 of the penal code stipulate penalties for women, doctors, midwives and pharmacists who perform or assist in illegal abortions or who sell abortion-inducing drugs. In Egypt, abortions were first criminalized in 1883 during the era of Muhammad Tawfiq Pasha, following the French criminal code of that time.

Abortion laws are strict in the Middle East and North Africa

"These laws reflect the attitude toward women's bodies. Women have no say about whether they want to get pregnant or not, or whether they want to have an abortion," Azza Soliman told DW. She is a lawyer, feminist and chair of the board of trustees of the Center for Egyptian Women's Legal Assistance (CEWLA). Soliman has been fighting for women's rights for years and was arrested for this in 2016.

Protesters demonstrated in 2012 to support Samira Ibrahim, who accused a doctor of forcing her to take a 'virginity test'

Image: Mohammed Hossam/AFP/Getty Images

Bans don't prevent abortions

However, the fact that abortions are banned in Egypt does not prevent women from having one, whether they are married or not.

Research by the World Health Organization has shown that abortion bans or restrictions do not reduce the number of procedures. Rather, they lead to more women undergoing dubious or dangerous procedures that can endanger their lives.

"If something happens to a woman or there are medical errors, you can't take action against the doctor," Eldamaty says. There is also no follow-up care, she adds. Women are left alone with their pain and the possible consequences. In addition, "abortion is only possible if you have the financial means. They are often very expensive," she told DW.

According to WHO figures, about 39,000 women worldwide die each year as a result of unprofessional abortions. About 60% of these happen on the African continent, and 30% on the Asian continent. Reliable statistics on unsafe abortions in Egypt are not available.

"Unreliable statistics on unsafe abortion in nations where access to safe abortion is limited or non-existent prevents adequate research on the effects of abortion laws on women's health in the Middle East and North Africa area," Washington-based gender studies expert Habiba Abdelaal told DW.

Egypt is no exception to this rule. In all Middle Eastern and North African countries, abortions are permitted only if the life of the pregnant woman is in danger. Some countries, including Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Morocco and Oman, for example, also allow abortions if there is a risk to the physical health of the pregnant woman.

Cover of the book 'Abortion Tales' by Ghadeer Ahmed Eldamaty

Almaraya for Arts and Culture

Abortions and local women's movements

In 1990, September 28 was proclaimed Safe Abortion Day. It is the international day of action for the right to safe and legal access to abortion. Eldamaty says that in the 1990s, the issue of sexual health and also abortion was taken up by several organizations in Egypt. But that has changed now, she says.

Abdelaal agrees. "Abortion is rarely at the top of local women's movements' agendas," she said. "This is probably due to a fear of retribution from conservative social groups that often attempt to regulate and constrain women and girls to fit stereotyped gender roles in society."

There are also frequent attempts to justify abortion bans on religious grounds, she said.

CEWLA's Soliman hopes that in the future the issue of abortion will be discussed more and in a wider context. "On a legal level, it is clear that the law needs to be changed," she said. "Abortions should not be banned. But we also need to talk more about women's sexual and reproductive rights on the medical and social level, and educate about the topic."

After her traumatic abortion, Noura had to pretend that everything was fine. The fear of social stigma or possible punishment was too great. A short time later, Khaled and she broke up.

Jennifer Holleis contributed to this article.

This article was originally published in German.

Philippines court acquits Maria Ressa of tax evasion

Ressa had pleaded not guilty in the case. She became the first Filipino to win a Nobel Prize in 2021.

A court in the Philippines on Wednesday acquitted Nobel Laureate Maria Ressa of four tax evasion charges, alongside her online government-critical news site Rappler.

Ressa had pleaded not guilty in 2020.

The tax case is one of several government lawsuits that she and Rappler are facing, sparking press freedom concerns in the Southeast Asian country.

Ressa, the CEO and executive editor of Manila-based Rappler, received the Nobel Peace Prize for her work in 2021. The award also made her the first Filipino to win a Nobel Prize.

'Truth wins. Justice wins.'

Addressing reporters outside the court on Wednesday, Ressa said it was "emotional" for everybody, describing the charges as "politically motivated" in an attempt to stop journalists from doing their jobs.

"It took four years and two months," she said, in reference to the trial. "But today, facts win. Truth wins. Justice wins."

In a statement on the court decision, Rappler described it as "the triumph of facts over politics." The website thanked the court for "recognizing that the fraudulent, false and flimsy charges" were baseless.

The renowned journalist and her website still face three other criminal cases, most notably a cyber libel conviction that is now under appeal. If the conviction is upheld, Ressa could face nearly seven years in prison.

'There's a reason why we were targeted'  03:04

Why was Rappler accused of tax evasion?

Ressa founded Rappler to combat misinformation and document human rights abuses carried out by former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, including during his deadly war on drugs.

Her site, launched in 2012, is one of the most popular in the country. Philippines authorities ordered the website shut in June last year, affirming a 2018 order.

The order to shutter the website and the tax charges were based on accusing Rappler of violating a constitutional provision which bans foreign ownership and control of media companies in the Philippines.

The Securities and Exchange Commission accused Rappler of the violation after receiving funds from foreign investors including Omidyar Network and North Base Media.

However on Wednesday, the tax court ruled that the financial papers through which the funds were paid were non-taxable.

The legal fate of Rappler, however, remains unclear.

rmt/wd (AFP, Reuters)

Davos 2023: Young 'Global Shapers' hungry for change

Manuela Kasper-Claridge

DW in Davos, Switzerland

January 16, 2023

A few dozen young people have been invited to this year's World Economic Forum. They are just some of the 10,000 members of the Global Shapers network and want to make their voices heard as they demand change.

https://p.dw.com/p/4MDpl

"I saw a man walking toward my school. He was wearing worn-out shoes. Then I realized it was my father and suddenly I was incredibly proud. Because I knew that he had invested everything he had in my education."

Wanjuhi Njoroge sits wrapped up in a thick quilted coat in a Davos hotel as she tells this story. It is cold and snowing outside. She is a member of the Global Shapers Community network and has come to Switzerland from Nairobi to attend the World Economic Forum (WEF). The environmental and education activist grew up in a small Kenyan village. Her father was a farmer and her mother was a teacher.

 

Snow covered Davos, Switzerland, where global shapers and the powerful come together

Image: Gian Ehrenzeller/KEYSTONE/picture alliance

Programming in the countryside

For the family getting their children a good education was a priority. Still, Njoroge only learned how to use a computer in high school. But she realized very early on that access to technology means access to education. Now through her advocacy she is making sure that more and more young people from rural areas of Kenya are learning to work with computers. She wants them to have the opportunities it took her a long time to find.

Another important issue for her is reforestation and rescuing Kenya's indigenous trees. #SaveOurForestsKE is the name of the campaign she launched in 2018. And in that short time she says "it led to a total ban on forest harvesting" in Kenya. But then she hesitates for a moment. It's as if she has a vision of devastated forests and says, "I have seen the impact of climate change."

Global Shapers meet world leaders in Davos

But what do Kenyan trees have to do with the World Economic Forum? Wanjuhi Njoroge thinks they have a lot to do with it. The WEF offers a unique platform for exchange. It is a place where people can learn from each other, share and discuss projects, and come up with action plans. First of all the young Global Shapers can get together among themselves. They additionally have the opportunity to sit with the decision makers who attend the WEF.

"I meet African presidents here, something that would otherwise hardly be possible," Njoroge says. With her work and her presence in Davos she wants to promote change by shaking things up. She is determined to keep climate and environmental protection a top priority for world leaders.

 

Roman Smolynets wants to make sure world leaders don't forget about the war in Ukraine

Image: Privat

Young Ukrainians and the consequences of war

Roman Smolynets has come to the meeting with something completely different in mind. His face betrays the hard work of the last few weeks and months. The 24-year-old Ukrainian is from Lviv where he works as an anesthetist in the largest hospital in Western Ukraine.

He doesn't know how many victims of the Russian war of aggression he has seen in the operating room. But some of the images he just can't seem to get out of his head. Among them is a 6-year-old girl who lost both of her legs in a missile attack. "I saw terrible things during my work," he says in a reflective voice.

It took Smolynets two days of traveling to get to Davos. He is also a member of the Global Shapers Community network. For months, besides his normal job at the hospital he made sure that much-needed medical supplies were donated to Ukraine. He worked with Support Ukraine Now!, a project that was initiated by the two Global Shapers Community hubs based in Ukraine. Now he wants to ensure that the war and its consequences are back at the top of the WEF's agenda.

"I need to be the voice of Ukraine," he says proudly and plans to take part in as many discussions as he can in Davos over the next few days. He is worried that the world's attention span is waning and support for Ukraine may waver. "We have war in Europe, there can't be fatigue," he emphasizes, putting on his rather thin coat.

Tariq Al-Olaimy is ready to have tough conversations to make a better future

Image: privat

While Smolynets heads out into the snow for his next meeting, Tariq Al-Olaimy from Manama, Bahrain, also part of the Global Shapers Community, sums up the young people's mission in one sentence. "We are the next leaders, we aim for diversity and we need to have a more radical conversation."

This article was originally written in German.

The British government wants to hand police unprecedented powers to handle protesters. Human rights activists say it's an affront to democracy

Story by Luke McGee • 16h ago

The British government wants to hand new powers to police that would allow officers to take stronger action against people engaging in peaceful, political protest.

Video: Activists deface King Charles III wax figure, Monet painting

Charles was defaced. At least two protesters smeared chocolate cake

Duration 0:39 View on Watch

Human rights activists have accused the government of trying to suppress freedom of speech, while opposition politicians claim that Downing Street is simply trying to distract from the myriad of things going wrong in the United Kingdom at the moment.

The government issued a statement on Sunday night, in which it said it would table amendments to legislation that is already passing through Parliament called the Public Order Bill. This has already been the subject of huge controversy due to the extent to which it curbs protest.

Specifically, the bill nakedly targets groups such as Black Lives Matter, Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil, all of which have used disruptive tactics in their protests against the government.

The bill would criminalize long-standing protest tactics such as locking on (where protesters physically attach themselves to things like buildings) and tunneling (literally digging tunnels), and could force people who protest regularly into wearing electronic tags. The new amendment would also give police the power to shut down protests before any disruption even occurs.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “We cannot have protests conducted by a small minority disrupting the lives of the ordinary public. It’s not acceptable and we’re going to bring it to an end.”



Activists from the Just Stop Oil climate campaign group hold a banner at Barons Court in west London as they block a major road as part of a series of actions on October 18, 2022.

- Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images

The head of London’s Metropolitan Police Service, Mark Rowley, also issued a statement, in which he made clear that the police had not asked the government for more powers to curb protests.

Adam Wagner, a leading human rights lawyer, thinks this might be due to the fact there is actually very little to be gained in all of this for the police.

“The police already have to decide which protests to get involved with and which to leave alone. Whatever they do, they will get criticized and ideally they would probably rather have less to do with policing protests and the bad publicity that comes with it,” Wagner told CNN.

Critics of the government’s move point out that officers already have the ability to handle protests that get out of hand and are disruptive.

“The police have been very clear that they have the power to adequately deal with protests and manage protests when they are going to cause unjustified disruption and that’s been the case for decades,” Yasmine Ahmed, UK director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), told CNN.

“Our right to protest is fundamental, especially at a time when we are in the grip of a cost-of-living crisis, a climate crisis and our public health service is on its knees. Instead of helping people who are below the poverty line – people who are in work, including nurses – the government is wasting time crushing dissent,” Ahmed added.

Wagner believes that the bill could lead to the government being taken to court over allegations of breaching human rights law.


Just Stop Oil activists glue their hands to the frame of John Constable's "The Hay Wain," which was also covered by posters reimagining the scene, in London's National Gallery on July 4, 2022. 

- Carlos Jasso/AFP/Getty Images

“(In) breaking up peaceful protest you are getting right to the core of human rights law. Direct action groups like Black Lives Matter and Extinction Rebellion are not doing much different to what we saw in the civil rights movement or from the Suffragettes. To get some issues on the national agenda you have to be disruptive and people who do that should be tolerated as they are protected in law,” he said.

Conservative MPs are on the whole publicly supporting the government, but privately some concede that making amendments to make the bill even stronger could have something to do with the fact that the Conservative Party is trailing in opinion polls.

This allegation has been made of the government on a number of policies, such as its controversial plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, its efforts to make it harder for unions to declare strike action and a law that protects statues and national monuments.

“It is politically convenient to put the opposition on the side of all these other issues and remind the public that Labour (the official opposition) is funded by the unions,” a senior Conservative told CNN.

While issues like these might be controversial, just being willing to have the argument is something that could help the Conservative Party as it tries to rebuild its base before the next general election.

Multiple polls suggest that the public generally opposes disruptive protest and the Conservative Party has become very good over the past few years at weaponizing wedge issues, such as Euroskepticism, immigration and protecting statues of Winston Churchill.

A statue of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill is seen defaced in Parliament Square, central London, after a demonstration in June 2020 to show solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. - Isabel Infantes/AFP/Getty Images

There is no doubt that these issues put Labour in a tricky spot. On one hand, to have broad appeal they have to support the police and not appear to be on the side of disruptive protesters. On the other, they still have to oppose the government.

Sarah Jones, Labour’s shadow minister for policing, said in a statement that the police “have powers to deal with dangerous, disruptive protests and Labour backs them to use those powers… But the Prime Minister has spent more time talking about protest than he has the epidemic of violence against women and girls or his government’s shameful record prosecuting criminals.”

This might be a fair criticism of the government and prime minister, but is a less clear and clean message than simply saying “protests are bad and we will stop them.”

It’s not clear that the government will receive much of a boost from cracking down harder on demonstrators, especially if the new legislation leads to lots of messy scenes where peaceful protesters are being hauled away by an increasingly unpopular police force.

But beyond the politics, this Public Order Bill has left Ahmed, of HRW, questioning what sort of a country Britain really wants to be in 2023.

“When people argue that the government have a right to stop protests, well that’s what China says, that’s what Russia says, that’s what Myanmar says,” she said. “We wouldn’t live in the democracy we have today if people didn’t have the right to protest and disrupt things.”

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