Why Are Laos Activists Being Targeted Abroad?


Deutsche Welle

2023/06/07
Critics of Laos’ repressive one-party state, both in the country and in exile in Thailand, have been targeted in a recent series of arrests and attacks.

By Tommy Walker

Political activists from Laos are facing growing threats to their safety in exile, human rights activists have warned.

The body of exiled Lao political activist Bounsuan Kitiyano was found with three gunshot wounds in a forest in Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand, on May 17. Kitiyano, 56, was a member of Free Lao, a Thailand-based pro-democracy group formed by Lao residents, migrant workers, and activists who oppose the one-party government in the Southeast Asian nation.

Members of the group have become a target of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party, which has held power since 1975 following a civil war that led to the country’s monarchy being abolished.
Criticism of one-party state ‘off limits’

The Free Lao group is backed by the Alliance for Democracy in Laos, a Lao diaspora group based in Hagen, Germany, according to Emilie Palamy Pradichit.

Pradichit is the founder of the Manushya Foundation in Bangkok. The human rights organization promotes democracy and has assisted with activists’ protection, including helping Lao critics and bloggers in exile resettle in third countries.

“That diaspora is the old generation, they used to be monarchists. They left the communist regime in the 1970s and ‘80s and became political refugees,” Pradichit said of Free Lao.

Pradichit described the alliance as a key enemy of the Lao government. But in recent years, it has reduced its advocacy, particularly since the disappearance of Od Sayavong, a Free Lao member who had been living in Bangkok. He hasn’t been seen since August 2019.

“Since the disappearance of Od [Sayavong], [the alliance] has stopped having activities much, leaders have been relocated abroad, others have kept a low profile,” Pradichit said.

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said the watchdog is “worried that the Lao government is hunting the last group members of the Free Lao activists’ network in Bangkok.”


“Any sort of criticism of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic [government] or the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party leaders is really off-limits,” said Robertson.
‘Escalation of attacks’ on activists

Kitiyano is the latest in a long list of activists to be targeted. In April, Lao activist Anousa “Jack” Luangsuphom, 25, was shot in the face and chest at point-blank range by an unknown assailant while sitting in a cafe in the Lao capital, Vientiane. After surviving the ordeal, he fled the country and is currently at an undisclosed location.

The activist ran two community Facebook pages that triggered discussions on corruption and pollution, and called for more civil rights in Laos. Luangsuphom’s associates believe an undercover police officer was sent to kill him because of his work. Lao authorities said the attack was related to a personal or business dispute.

In 2019, human rights and environmental activist Houayheung “Muay” Xayabouly was arrested and imprisoned for five years by Lao authorities after she repeatedly criticized the government over the mishandling of the Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy dam collapse in 2018, which killed dozens of people.


In April this year, Free Lao member Savang Phaleuth was arrested as he returned to Laos from Thailand.

“We have been unable so far to determine his fate or whereabouts. We don’t know what happened or where he is now, or how he is doing,” said Andrea Giorgetta, director for the Asia region at the International Federation for Human Rights.

He said the crackdown on Lao critics is a “concerning trend.”

“There has been an escalation in the past several weeks because of obviously attempted killings and murder. That is definitely much more an extreme measure, and definitely an escalation of attacks against government critics and activists.”

Calls for Thailand to ratify U.N. Refugee Convention

Thailand has not ratified the U.N.’s 1951 Refugee Convention, meaning the country has no specific domestic legal framework for the protection of urban refugees and asylum-seekers.

Following the Thai general elections in May, which saw the progressive Move Forward Party win the most seats and form an opposition coalition, Robertson of HRW said change is needed to protect refugees.

“The new Thai government should totally change policy and ratify the Refugee Convention. There can be no more of the ‘swap mart’ arrangements sending people back into harm’s way across the border.

“Free Lao group members are already trying to get out of Thailand, and who could blame them? There’s been little or no protection for the Free Lao,” he added.
EU to meet Laos for human rights talks

Last year, Thailand passed a law that would prevent enforced disappearances. The International Federation for Human Rights has been pushing for a stronger legal framework to protect exiled critics and refugees.

“On the legal standpoint, we have been campaigning for many years for Thailand to ratify the international convention for the protection of all persons from enforced disappearance. The hope is that there will in fact be a [new] law for the prevention of torture and enforced disappearance in Thailand,” Giorgetta said.

The European Union is also set to meet with the Laos government this month for a human rights dialogue, Giorgetta added.

“We brief the European Commission, we normally provide alternative information from the side of civil society, to inform about the key cases […] human rights violations, impunity and so on will be in the briefing papers.”

Edited by: Sou-Jie van Brunnersum

This article was originally published on Deutsche Welle. Read the original article here.

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Cameroonian Women Win German Africa Prize for Peace Efforts

The 1st National Women's Convention for Peace in Cameroon, an umbrella group with 80 member organisations, has been awarded the German Africa Prize, according to Deutsche Welle.

It is the largest and most far-reaching network of women's organisations focusing on peace in Cameroon. It was established in January 2021 and is made up of organisations representing the 10 regions of Cameroon, as well as up to 25 distinct social categories of women.

The women called for an immediate cease-fire, a resumption of dialogue between the government and separatists in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon, a place for women at the negotiating table, the strengthening of disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration centres and the creation of psychosocial support centres for war victims in conflict regions.

The German foundation has been committed to strengthening relations between Germany and Africa for 45 years. Since 1993, the foundation has awarded the German Africa Prize to outstanding personalities from the continent who have made exceptional contributions to democracy, peace, human rights, arts and culture, economic development, science and society.

Cameroon's English-speaking separatists launched their rebellion in 2017 after what they say was years of discrimination by the country's French-speaking majority.

The conflict has killed more than 6,000 people and displaced more than 760,000 others, according to the International Crisis Group.

More recently, thirty women kidnapped by pro-independence rebels were released, some with serious injuries. Deutsche Welle reports that the women were released on Wednesday May 24, 2023, having been captured days earlier. A prominent traditional leader in the troubled Northwest region, Fon Kevin Shumitang, was also freed after 18 months of being held captive by separatists. Government officials say the military rescued him in battles with separatist fighters, but the fighters insist that they set the traditional ruler free.

Collapse of Ukraine’s Nova Kakhovka dam an ‘ecological catastrophe’


By Josh Pennington, Jo Shelley, Olga Voitovych, Julia Kesaieva and Helen Regan, CNN
Wed June 7, 2023

02:22 - Source: CNN

CNN —

The collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine has sparked fears of an ecological catastrophe, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky describing the situation as “an environmental bomb of mass destruction.”

Water levels on Wednesday continued to rise after the Russian-occupied dam and hydro-electric power plant was destroyed early Tuesday, forcing more than 1,400 people to flee their homes and threatening vital water supplies as flooding inundated towns, cities and farmland.

Kyiv and Moscow have traded accusations over the dam’s destruction, without providing concrete proof that the other is culpable. It is not yet clear whether the dam was deliberately attacked or whether the breach was the result of structural failure.

Zelensky, however, said Russia bears “criminal liability” and Ukrainian prosecutors are investigating the dam incident as a case of “ecocide.”

“The consequences of the tragedy will be clear in a week. When the water goes away, it will become clear what is left and what will happen next,” he said.

Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office said Wednesday that it is investigating the incident as a war crime and as possible “ecocide,” or criminal environmental destruction.

“Ukraine has initiated proceedings over this crime, qualifying it as a violation of the laws and customs of war and ecocide. It has caused severe long-term damage to people and the environment,” Prosecutor General Andrii Kostin said in a meeting Wednesday, according to a readout from his office.

“The consequences are catastrophic. More than 40,000 people have been affected. Homes and infrastructure have been destroyed, land has become unsuitable for agriculture, and water supply has been disrupted in a number of regions, both in the government-controlled areas and in the territories temporarily occupied by Russia,” the readout added.

Concerns are now turning to the dangers to wildlife, farmlands, settlements and water supplies from the floodwaters and possible contamination from industrial chemicals and oil leaked from the hydropower plant into the Dnipro River.

The head of Ukraine’s main hydropower generating company told CNN the environmental consequences from the breach will be “significant” and damaged equipment at the plant could be leaking oil.

“First of all, the Kakhovka reservoir is likely to be drained to zero, and we understand that the number of fish will gradually go down,” said Ihor Syrota, the CEO of Ukrhydroenergo.

“Four-hundred tons of turbine oil is always there, in the units and in the block transformers that are usually installed on this equipment,” Syrota said. “It all depends on the level of destruction of the units and this equipment… If the damage is extensive, then all the oil will leak out.”

Olena stands next to the entrance to her house on a flooded street, after the Nova Kakhovka dam breached in Kherson, Ukraine, on June 6.Alina Smutko/Reuters

Ukrainian Environment Minister Ruslan Strilets said at least 150 metric tons of oil from the dam have leaked into the Dnipro and the environmental damage had been estimated at 50 million euros ($53.8 million), according to Reuters.

One environmental expert warned of the potential damage that the oil spill could cause. “Just 1 litre of oil can contaminate 1 million liters of water. So 150 tons will have numerous impacts on Ukrainian water resources and the environment,” said Yevheniia Zasiadko, Head of Climate Department at Kyiv-based environmental non-profit Ecoaction. “Oil spreads over the surface in a thin layer that stops oxygen from getting to the plants and animals that live in the water,” she said.

As the Dnipro River flows to the Black Sea, some of the oil will end in the ocean where it “will affect the marine ecosystem,” she told CNN.

Gas stations and sewage treatment plants along the river also pose an additional risk of water pollution, Zasiadko said.

Strilets said downstream wildlife species found nowhere else in the world were in jeopardy, including the sandy blind mole-rat. Ukraine’s Black Sea Biosphere Reserve and two national parks were also likely to be heavily damaged, he added, Reuters reported.

The flooding has already killed 300 animals at the Nova Kakhovka zoo, according to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said Tuesday the dam collapse was an “ecological catastrophe” with the destruction of newly planted crops and massive flooding “another devastating consequence of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”

Rescuers evacuate local residents from a flooded area after the Nova Kakhovka dam breached in Kherson, Ukraine, on June 6.Vladyslav Musiienko/Reuters
Farming and food threats as millions in need of assistance

Before its collapse, the critical Nova Kakhovka dam was the largest reservoir in Ukraine in terms of volume.

It’s the last of the cascade of six Soviet-era dams on the Dnipro River, a major waterway running through southeastern Ukraine, and supplied water for much of southeastern Ukraine and the Crimean peninsula that was annexed by Russia in 2014.

There are multiple towns and cities downstream, including Kherson, a city of some 300,000 people before Moscow’s invasion of its neighbor.

Speaking to the UN Security Council on Tuesday, the UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said its collapse is possibly the “most significant incident of damage to civilian infrastructure” since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The dam, Griffiths said, is a lifeline in the region, being a critical water source for millions of people in Kherson as well as the Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia regions, and a key source of agricultural irrigation in southern Kherson and the Crimean peninsula – impacting farming and food production.

The Ukrainian Agricultural Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres) of agricultural land are expected to flood on the right bank, the west side controlled by Ukraine, following the collapse. “It was several times more on the left bank,” the statement added.

The collapse has left 94% of irrigation systems in Kherson, 74% in Zaporizhzhia and 30% in Dnipro regions “without a source of water,” according to the Ukrainian Agricultural Ministry. The ministry added that the dam will lead to “fields in southern Ukraine perhaps turning into deserts.”

Satellite images show a close-up view of the Nova Kakhovka dam and hydroelectric power facility before and after the dam collapse on June 6, 2023.Maxar Technologies

Severe impact is also expected in Russian-occupied areas where humanitarian agencies are still struggling to gain access, he added.

“The damage caused by the dam’s destruction means that life will become intolerably harder for those already suffering from the conflict,” Griffiths said.

Between 35 and 80 settlements were expected to be flooded due to the breach, Zelensky said, and aid efforts are ongoing to get drinking water, hygiene kits and other supplies to affected neighborhoods.

In the low lying districts of Kherson, a CNN team on the ground saw residents evacuated from their homes carrying their possessions and pets in their arms as rising floodwaters penetrated one city block in less than an hour.

As the area is on the front lines of the conflict, the rising water brought with it an added danger of mine and explosive ordnance contamination.

“This is both a water element and a mine hazard, because mines float here and this area is constantly under fire,” said Oleksandr Prokudin, the head of Kherson’s regional military administration, who has been overseeing rescue efforts.

Satellite images show homes along the Dnipro River before and after the Nova Kakhovka dam collapsed.Maxar Technologies

Griffiths said projectiles like mines risk being displaced to areas previously assessed as safe.

Mohammad Heidarzadeh, senior lecturer in the department of architecture and civil engineering at the University of Bath in England, said the Kakhovka reservoir is one of the largest dams in the world in terms of capacity.

“It is obvious that the failure of this dam will definitely have extensive long-term ecological and environmental negative consequences not only for Ukraine but for neighboring countries and regions,” Heidarzadeh told Science Media Centre on Tuesday, adding the facility was an “embankment” dam, which means it was made of gravel and rock with a clay core in the middle.

“These types of dams are extremely vulnerable, and are usually washed away quickly in case of a partial breach… a partial damage is sufficient to cause a complete collapse of the dam because water flow can easily wash away the soil materials of the dam body in just a few hours,” he added.
Falling water supplies

Both Moscow and Kyiv noted the humanitarian and environmental consequences, while blaming each other for the dam’s destruction.

The Russian-appointed acting governor of Kherson, Vladimir Saldo, said the collapse of the dam led to “a large, but not critical” amount of water flowing down the Dnipro which resulted in the washout of agricultural fields along the coast and disruption of civilian infrastructure.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday the dam breach “has caused devastating damage to the farmland in the region and the ecosystem at the mouth of the Dnieper river.”

“The inevitable drop in the water level of the Kakhovka reservoir will affect Crimea’s water supply and will hinder the improvement of agricultural land in the Kherson region,” it said.

Several Ukrainian regions that receive some of their water supply from the reservoir of the Nova Kakhovka dam are making efforts to conserve water.

Local residents carry their personal belongings on a flooded street after the Nova Kakhovka dam collapsed, in Kherson, Ukraine, on June 6.Alina Smutko/Reuters

In the Dnipropetrovsk region, where about 70% of the city of Kryvyi Rih was supplied by the reservoir, Ukrainian authorities have asked people to “stock technical water and drinking water” and businesses to limit consumption and banned the use of hoses.

The reservoir also supplies water to the upstream Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

While the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said there was “no immediate nuclear safety risk” at the plant, water from the reservoir is used to cool its reactors and emergency diesel generators.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said the UN nuclear watchdog’s staff on site have been told the reservoir is draining at 5 centimeters (2 inches) an hour and it is “estimated” that water used for the mainline of cooling “should last for a few days.”

However, should the reservoir drop below the pumping level there “are a number of alternative sources of water,” Grossi said, with the main one being the “large cooling pond next to the site.”

“It is estimated this pond will be sufficient to provide water for cooling for some months,” he added.

CNN’s Yulia Kesaieva, Richard Roth and Hira Humayun contributed reporting.

Climate another casualty of the war in Ukraine

Stuart Braun
June 7, 2023

In the year following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the war's carbon bootprint is similar to the entire emissions of Belgium, conflict emission experts say.

Rebuilding civilian infrastructure generates the most carbon when counting conflict emissions

UKRAINIAN ARMED FORCES/REUTERS

Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine has been highly damaging, not only in terms of civilian and military casualties, and the destruction of homes, infrastructure and the environment, but its impact on the climate.

While a burst dam in Ukraine is overt evidence of the environmental impacts of war, a new report quantifies often hidden emissions generated by the conflict that could threaten climate goals.

Released today to coincide with a preliminary meeting of climate leaders in Bonn, Germany, ahead of this year's UN climate summit in the UAE, the report by the Initiative on GHG Accounting of War breaks down the conflict emissions beyond direct warfare.

The Europe-based research group analyzed multiple sectors including emissions from fires that destroy infrastructure and the environment, the degradation of carbon sinks, post-conflict reconstruction, and the movement of refugees.

Emissions generated over the first twelve months of the war totalled 120 million tons of CO2, according to the authors. This is slightly less than the annual emissions of Belgium, whose per capita emissions in 2019 were the seventh highest in the European Union.

Titled "Climate damage caused by Russia's war in Ukraine," the report also flags the climate impact of the war after it has ended.

With "an aggressive neighbour to the east," Europe will go through major rearmament to create "sufficient deterrence," said lead author, Lennerd de Klerk.

A more robust military in Europe will see "emissions rise at a time when they have to go down," he said.

At the same time, a massive reconstruction program will further increase emissions.
Reconstruction costing the climate

Projected reconstruction constitutes around 42% of all conflict emissions for the first year of the war in Ukraine. They are by far the highest source of emissions due to the use of "very carbon intensive" concrete and steel, noted de Klerk.

Attacks on energy infrastructure during the winter months also considerably increased emissions associated with reconstruction, he explained.

The embedded carbon in building reconstruction is by far the highest source of what the report calls civilian infrastructure emissions, generating almost twice the greenhouse gases as transport and infrastructure.

Russia dominates warfare emissions

Actual warfare is the second highest source of emissions, mostly due to fossil fuel consumption.

De Klerk noted that a lack of transparency from the opposing armies made it difficult to obtain exact figures on fossil fuel use, forcing the researchers to use proxy data.

According to the report, of the near 22 million tons of CO2 generated by warfare, less than 14% was attributed to the production of ammunition and military equipment.

Meanwhile, a total of 64% of warfare emissions were generated by Russian fossil fuel use alone in the first year of the conflict.

The author says the emissions of a cruise missile are relatively small compared to the massive reliance on fossil fuel for moving around during warfare, especially given Russian military reliance on outdated and "extremely inefficient" equipment — including tanks from the 1960s.

As the war has largely been a ground war, diesel fuel has been the main source of emissions — rather than jet fuel, the dominant source of CO2 generated during the Iraq war.

 

Displacement and rebuilding are among numerous climate impacts of war

Image: Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP

Military and conflict emissions go unreported

Lennerd de Klerk is at the Bonn climate talks this week as part of a consortium of military and conflict emission researchers who are lobbying for carbon bootprints to be included in the "Global Stocktake" of emissions to be finallized at COP28 — and which aims to judge progress on emission reductions.

Due to the difficulty of quantifying conflict emissions, researchers have so far mostly sought to count the carbon bootprint of the day-to-day running of global military installations.

"At 5.5% of global emissions, the big fossil fuel-reliant militaries of the world have a significant part to play in reduction and mitigation," said Deborah Burton, a conflict emissions expert at UK-based non-profit, Tipping Point North South, who is also part of a military emissions panel at the climate summit in Bonn.

But this figure is likely much higher.

"At the moment, there is only an obligation to report data on military fuel use, and this is voluntary," noted Linsey Cottrell of the Conflict and Environment Observatory (CEOBS), a UK-based monitoring group.

She adds that "military fuel use, fires, use of munitions and damage to infrastructure, and all the reconstruction needs" are not included in UN emissions accounting.

According to a 2021 report by CEOBS, UK military emissions alone are at least three times higher than the 11 million tons of CO2 reported in 2018.

Negotiations at the Climate Change Conference begins in Bonn, Germany 04:32

'Climate goals at considerable risk'

Meanwhile, annual emissions from the US military, the world's largest, were higher than Sweden or Denmark when properly counted, researchers noted in 2017.

In 2020, rich countries spent six times more on militaries than public climate finance, according to Burton.

Conflict emissions are compounding the climate impacts. "The multitude of emission sources linked to fighting a war puts climate goals at considerable risk," said Cottrell.

"We wanted to show that this act of aggression not only impacts Ukrainians but all of us," said de Klerk of the broader climate consequences of military and war.

Edited by: Tamsin Walker

Stuart Braun Berlin-based journalist with a focus on climate and culture.

EU countries agree stricter reforms on asylum and migration

Sweden, which holds the rotating EU presidency, said the deal is a "good balance" of responsibility toward those seeking asylum and solidarity in the EU

 (Photo: DW)


DW

Published: 09 Jun 2023

The European Union's 27 member states have agreed on a plan to enact tougher asylum and migration policies across the bloc, officials announced on Thursday.

Sweden, which holds the rotating EU presidency, said the deal is a "good balance" of responsibility towards those seeking asylum and solidarity in the EU.

Also Read: Nearly 1 million apply for asylum in EU in 2022

Proposal was 'difficult' for Germany

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser had said on Thursday that a new reform proposal on EU migration policy was "very difficult for us in Germany" to accept, as it did not include exceptions for families with children.

She made the comments as EU interior ministers gathered in Luxembourg in a bid to reach a deal on joint migration and asylum policy.

One of the contested reforms was the introduction of preliminary checks on asylum seekers, who would then be sent back immediately if deemed that they did not have a chance to be granted asylum. Berlin wants to secure exemptions for minors and families with children.

"It is important that we come to an agreement," Germany's Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said after she arrived to the talks. "We can only handle migration together as the whole EU."

"I feel there is a common understanding which could lead to an agreement, but not at any price," she said.

Faeser said that Germany wanted to include enhanced rights for children in an EU migration deal.

"On one point we still have a real problem from the German point of view, because we want the protection of children and families with children in border procedures," she said, adding that such protections would be in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Faeser insisted that "human rights standards" were a top priority for Berlin in elaborating migration policy. She said that there was a chance EU member states could reach an agreement, but that this could not be done "at any price."

She said that the current reform compromise is "very difficult for us in Germany," but did not clarify whether Berlin would support the proposal.

Migration reforms must be solved 'together'

While the EU interior ministers meeting got underway in Luxembourg, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also held talks on migration reforms in Rome with Italy's Meloni.

"Those who want to overcome the challenges associated with refugee migration can only do so together in the European Union," Scholz said.

"All attempts to either leave the problems with someone else or to point the finger at others will fail," he added.

Italy's prime minister said that she was "convinced" that the bloc would seen reach an agreement on migration policy.

She said that the situation becomes "difficult" when the responsibility for dealing with is shifted onto other partners.

Meloni said that she would travel to Tunisia long with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. Many migrant boats that attempt to traverse the Mediterranean in order to reach EU soil embark from the North African country.

Scholz reiterated Berlin's offer to take in migrants that had entered other countries on the EU's border.

Gulf states spending big on AI: Opportunity or oppression?

Saudi Arabia and the UAE are becoming some of the world's biggest spenders on artificial intelligence. At the same time, concern about AI's misuse in authoritarian states is also increasing.

By: Deutsche Welle
June 7, 2023 

Artificial Intelligence words are seen in this illustration taken March 31, 2023. 

(Image: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic)


Written by Cathrin Schaer

The world’s best-known arbiter of artificial intelligence isn’t sure if the new technology might not pose a danger to people in the Middle East.

“There have been reports and concerns raised about human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia that involve the use of digital technologies,” ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence language model that’s been making international headlines since it was introduced last November, replies when a DW journalist asks whether it might cause problems in the Middle East. But, the robotic assistant added, “it is important to note that these reports and allegations are not limited to artificial intelligence specifically but encompass a broader range of digital technologies and their potential misuse.”

Recent high-profile cases involving Saudi Arabia include the country using digital technologies to spy on dissidents and their families overseas, as well as trying to infiltrate Twitter in order to identify government opponents using anonymous accounts.
Also read | Former US Intelligence officer claims country possesses alien craft: Report

This is why there are concerns about what the country’s government might do with its increasingly rapid deployment of artificial intelligence, or AI, a technology whose implications are already regularly questioned by digital rights activists.

“The use of so-called AI and AI-based systems is increasing all over the world, and they open up novel ways of potentially infringing on people’s most basic rights by surveilling or manipulating them,” Angela Mueller, the head of policy and advocacy at Berlin-based organization, Algorithm Watch, told DW. “There is definitely the danger that the use of AI-based systems will further exacerbate existing injustices, especially when such states [without human rights protections or rule of law] now boost AI development and use by billions of dollars,” she pointed out.

Big spenders on AI

The most recent market intelligence suggests that governments of wealthy oil-producing Gulf states like the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are now spending as much, if not more, than some individual European countries on advancing AI-related technologies at home.

A report on worldwide AI expenditure by the International Data Corporation says the Middle East will be spending $3 billion (€2.8 billion) on AI this year, rising to $6.4 billion by 2026. Investment will continue to ramp up, market researchers say, with the region seeing annual growth in spending of almost 30% in this technology over the next three years. That’s “the fastest growth rate worldwide over the coming years,” they note.
Also read | Homo naledi, long-lost human species, buried their dead and carved cave symbols, say scientists

A much-hyped term, AI covers a wide range of digital technologies. It can mean anything from the speedy processing of large amounts of digital data for analysis, to what’s known as “generative AI.” The latter, which includes the attention-getting and much-discussed ChatGPT, is considered one of the most exciting developments in AI because it “generates” information and insights as it evolves.

“The more computing power, data and users it gets, the better it [generative AI] performs, sometimes in unexpected ways,” Deutsche Bank research analysts explained in a briefing on the technology. “Its talents range from sifting through data and recognizing images and speech, to identifying sentiment in swathes of documents and generating text, images and code. Future iterations will soon do still more. Most importantly, it synthesizes these tools so they feed on each other.”

Favored Gulf strategy

Gulf states are spending so much on AI because it is an important part of future plans to develop their national economies away from oil income.

The UAE was the first in the region to adopt a national AI strategy in 2017 and became the first country in the world to appoint a minister for artificial intelligence. Other countries, including Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, have since followed suit, most of them over the past three years.

Saudi Arabia is particularly notable because it intends to use all kinds of AI in its futuristic city-building project, Neom, and it has the wealth to invest in these technologies both via state funding and through its state-controlled sovereign wealth fund.

Perceptions of AI in the Gulf states also differ. A 2022 IPSOS survey of international attitudes toward AI asked people whether they thought using AI in consumer products and services offered more advantages than disadvantages. Just over three-quarters of Saudi Arabians were enthusiastic, agreeing that it offered more benefits, compared to only 37% of the more cautious German respondents.

How is AI being used?

Currently in the Gulf states, AI technologies are being used for the same kinds of things they are in other countries: for example, as chatbots on retailer websites or to streamline state services for power and water, enhance digital financial services like web-based banking, analyze the performance of companies like the Emirates airline, or to provide insights from local health care data. In late May, the UAE released its own version of ChatGPT .

None of this is necessarily nefarious. But the same concerns that have been expressed about the use of AI elsewhere also apply here.

Digital rights activists are not seriously worried about a science-fiction-style scenario where robots kill us all. They’re more concerned about data security, surveillance, content filtering, the targeted dissemination of propaganda, accuracy in AI analysis and bias, as well as the potential for “dual use” of certain AI-linked technologies.

For example, AI-powered facial recognition has potential for dual use, for both civilian and military purposes. On one hand, it’s useful on Facebook to find your friends. On the other, it could be used to identify protesters at an anti-government demonstration.

As Geoffrey Hinton, the respected AI pioneer who made international headlines when he quit his job at Google recently, told The New York Times, “it is hard to see how you can prevent the bad actors from using it [AI] for bad things.”

Bad actors and autocrats

So what happens when AI ends up in the hands of autocratic governments, such as those in the big-spending Gulf states? The countries may have some trappings of democracy, but they are essentially led by royal families who tolerate little dissent and no political opposition.

“In countries where the authorities already target human rights defenders and journalists for peacefully exercising their rights, the implications [of AI] can be even more devastating,” Iverna McGowan, director of the European office of the Centre for Democracy and Technology, or CDT, told DW.

In a 2022 summary of the laws that currently pertain to AI in the Middle East, researchers at multinational legal firm Covington and Burling pointed out that no legislation on AI exists in the region as yet. This is also true for many other jurisdictions, they added. The sector is largely unregulated.

Both the UAE and Saudi Arabia have published ethical guidelines for the use of AI. However, neither country’s guidelines, which include a checklist of do’s and don’ts for software developers, are legally binding. That’s something they have in common with heavily criticized ethical guidelines on AI elsewhere.

“AI ethical principles are useless, failing to mitigate the racial, social, and environmental damages of AI technologies in any meaningful sense,” Luke Munn, an Australian digital cultures researcher, argued last year in the journal AI and Ethics. Part of the reason for this is the lack of any laws backing up the ethical guidelines, he wrote. “The result is a gap between high-minded principles and technological practice.

CDT director McGowan agreed. “Voluntary measures in the context of such systemic repression will be nothing other than window dressing,” she told DW.

“These systems open up novel ways of potentially infringing on people’s most basic rights by surveilling or manipulating them, by preventing their means to have a say and to defend themselves,” Algorithm Watch’s Mueller concluded. “The combination of opacity, sensitive areas and these potential impacts are especially problematic in contexts where there is no reliable protection of human rights and the rule of law.”

First published on: 07-06-2023 

Europe joins fight against Canada wildfire smoke

By Deutsche Welle
2023/06/08 

New York City ranked as the most polluted city in the world Wednesday, as heavy smoke shrouded the city's skyscrapers


European firefighters have joined in on the fight to put out hundreds of active wildfires in Canada, Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said on Thursday.

"Canada has requested support from the EU Civil Protection Mechanism — and we are responding promptly," von der Leyen said.

"France, Portugal and Spain are offering the help of more than 280 firefighters. More will come," she added.

Spain, which battles wildfires each summer and is bracing for a difficult season amid a prolonged drought and record-hot spring, will send 80 to 100 firefighters to Canada.

Neighboring Portugal, which has a record of deadly fires as well, has pledged another 100 firefighters.

Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden on Thursday also directed authorities to respond to Canadian requests for help.

"I have directed the National Interagency Fire Center to respond promptly to Canadian requests for additional firefighters and fire suppression assets such as air tankers," Biden said in statement.
Norway expects smoke from wildfires

Norwegian scientists said Thursday they expected smoke from the wildfires in Canada to travel into the country as well, though the air would not pose a danger to the health of the average Norwegian.

The smoke has moved over Greenland and Iceland since June 1st, scientists with the Norwegian Climate and Environmental Research Institute said.
Smoke from wildfires disrupt air travel, school close

The smoke from the wildfires in Canada has been drifting into the US for weeks, but the recent fires in the province of Quebec resulted in the harmful smog that is currently blanketing the eastern US, especially central New York Wednesday.

The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center reported Thursday that more than half of the 440 fires burning in nine provinces and two territories were out of control. 163 of those fires were in Quebec.

Schools in the US states of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania have moved classes online or canceled after-school activities.

Air travel logged major delays and disruptions for a second day in a row, as more than 2,600 flights to, from and within the US were delayed as of Thursday afternoon, according to FlightAware.

Washington DC bumped up its air quality index to indicate worsening level of air quality, while the White House canceled an LGBTQ Pride event scheduled Thursday.

The air quality slightly improved in New York Thursday, but winds could bring smoke back into the state, authorities warned.

According to an initial analysis by a team at Stanford's Environmental Change and Human Outcomes Lab, as reported by the Verge, the average American witnessed their worst pollution levels from heavy smoke Wednesday.

rm/rs (Reuters, AP)

Global warming surged in past decade, says research

The research said human-induced warming was rising at an 'unprecedented' rate

Deutsche Welle 

Published 09.06.2023

Climate heads are convening in Bonn, Germany, to lay the groundwork for the coming COP28 summit

Deutsche Welle

Global warming has increased in the past decade by 1.14 degrees Celsius, according to new research presented on Thursday in the German city of Bonn during the interim negotiations for the annual UN Climate Conference (COP28).

The research warned that human-induced warming has been rising at an "unprecedented rate" of 0.2 degrees per decade. The study, which looked at the decade between 2013 and 2022, was published in the Earth System Science Data journal.

The global community convenes annually at COP summits to review climate efforts and measure them against targets set during the 2015 Paris Climate Conference.

A peer-reviewed assessment presented on Thursday revealed that the net-zero plans of most countries contributing to global greenhouse gas emissions lacked credibility.

The United States and China, which together contribute to about a third of the global greenhouse gas emissions, were among the countries whose plans were regarded as lacking.

Who scored low on the 'net zero' plans review?

Nearly all of the 35 countries that contribute to over four-fifth of the global greenhouse gas emissions scored low.

Only one of the world's top carbon polluters had a credible plan: the European Union. Other top scorers included Britain and New Zealand.

Most countries are targeting carbon neutrality by 2050, with China and India committing to the years 2060 and 2070, respectively.

Thursday's assessment noted that many net-zero goals lacked important details, including whether the targets only cover CO2 or include other important planet-warming gasses such as methane and nitrous oxide.

How did emerging economies fare?

The majority of emerging economies were at the bottom of the list, scoring the lowest ratings. They included Brazil, India, South Africa and Indonesia.

Arab states such as Egypt, which hosted last year's COP, and the UAE, which is hosting this year's COP, also scored low.

COP28 call to scale down fossil fuel emissions

In Bonn, the UAE's incoming COP28 president tried to strike a stricter tone on the phasedown of fossil fuels. Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber had previously called in controversial comments for scaling down fossil fuel emissions rather than the use of the fuels themselves.

"The phasedown of fossil fuels is inevitable. The speed at which this happens depends on how quickly we can phase up zero-carbon alternatives, while ensuring energy security, accessibility and affordability," he said.

Al-Jaber also runs the UAE's state oil giant.

Last month, over 100 US congressmen and the EU parliament urged US President Joe Biden and European Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen to pressure the UAE to oust him.

The Bonn interim negotiations are meant to lay the groundwork for the decisions reached during the COP summit.

US scientists have warned that El Nino could bring extreme weather and temperature records


An aerial view shows A boat lies on the dried-up bed of a section of Iraq's receding southern marshes of Chibayish in Dhi Qar province, on July 24, 2022

 AFP


Deutsche Welle
Published: June 8, 2023

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced on Thursday that the expected, so-called El Nino phenomenon has arrived.

"Depending on its strength, El Nino can cause a range of impacts, such as increasing the risk of heavy rainfall and droughts in certain locations around the world," the NOAA quoted as saying Michelle L'Heureux, climate scientist at the Climate Prediction Center.

"Climate change can exacerbate or mitigate certain impacts related to El Nino. For example, El Nino could lead to new records for temperatures, particularly in areas that already experience above-average temperatures during El Nino."

El Nino often brings increased rainfall to southern South America, central Asia and the Horn of Africa, raising hopes that it may bring an end to droughts there. However, the climate pattern is also associated with an increased risk of droughts in other areas such as Australia, Indonesia and parts of southern Asia.

Earlier this week, Australia warned that El Nino would deliver warmer, drier days to the country that is already vulnerable to wildfires.

Japan has partly blamed the climate pattern for its warmest spring on record.

In the US, El Nino has a relatively weaker effect in the summer, but gets stronger starting from late fall through spring, according to the NOAA.

While El Nino has a suppressive effect on hurricane activity in the Atlantic, it usually boosts hurricane activity in the central and eastern Pacific.

The climate pattern takes place every two to seven years on average. The work El Nino is Spanish for "Little Boy," and it refers to the warm phase of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation.

It starts largely because of unusually warm waters in the eastern Pacific, and is likely formed when the trade winds blowing east-to-west along the equatorial Pacific slow down or reverse as air pressure changes.

Before this El Nino began, the average global sea surface temperature in May was already about 0.1°C higher than any other on record.

The warming effects of El Nino last occurred from 2018 to 2019, and was followed by a cooling period, known as La Nina, from 2020 until its return.

La Nina, Spanish for "Little Girl," is El Nino's colder counterpart, during which sea surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific Ocean near the equator are lower than normal.

The strongest El Nino effects on record were in the 2015 and 2016 period, when nearly a third of the corals on Australia's Great Barrier Reef died.

Thousands evacuated amid Philippines volcano threat

Updated June 8 2023 - 

Seismologists are warning the Philippines' Mayon Volcano is " in a relatively high level of unrest". (AP PHOTO)

Philippine officials have begun evacuating some 10,000 residents living near the country's most active volcano amid threats of a hazardous eruption.

The Mayon Volcano in the eastern province of Albay, which is known for is perfect cone shape, generated pyroclastic density currents or hot flows of ash and debris as lava domes at the summit collapsed, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).

"Fair crater glow and incandescent rockfall shed from new fluidal lava at the summit of Mayon Volcano were also observed last night," the institute said in an advisory on Friday.

Mayon is at alert level three, meaning "it is currently in a relatively high level of unrest as magma is at the crater and hazardous eruption is possible within weeks or even days", the advisory continued.

According to the Albay province information office, about 2400 families, or 10,000 residents, will have to evacuate the danger zone.

"As much as possible, I want to maintain the zero casualty record of our province, so ... I hope we'll be able to evacuate them to safer places," Albay Governor Edcel Greco Lagman said during an emergency meeting on Thursday.

Australian Associated Press

Philippines evacuates hundreds of people over Mayon eruption risk

Online News EditorJune 8, 2023

 

Manila, June 8 (EFE).- The Philippines on Thursday was evacuating of hundreds of people due to the increased risk of eruption of Mayon volcano after a significant increase in seismic activity and rockfall, the Philippines Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) confirmed to EFE.

In the last three days, Phivolcs registered two volcanic earthquakes around Mayon, in the southeast of the island of Luzon, and an increase in rockfall, and on Thursday it raised the alert level from two to three (out of a maximum of five) due to “increased tendency towards a hazardous eruption.”

Given the risk, Phivolcs recommended the evacuation of all residents within a 6-kilometer radius around the volcano and the authorities have prohibited planes from flying over due to the danger posed by the expulsion of ash.

Hundreds of people will have to be evacuated from the villages and settlements around the volcano due to the increased alert, the chief of the Phivolcs Volcano Monitoring and Eruption Prediction Division, Maria Antonia Bornas, told EFE.

In addition, school classes in the towns near Mayon have been suspended since Wednesday.

To the west of the same island, the other of the two most active volcanoes in the Philippines, Taal, increased sulfur dioxide emissions in recent hours, causing an increase in the number of people with respiratory problems in the nearby villages, however alert level one remains for now.

Since October 2021, Taal, located in the province of Batangas and just 80 kilometers from Manila, has increased its emission of toxic gases intermittently, but in recent days one of these episodes has once again alarmed the residents. Its eruption in 2020 forced the evacuation of thousands of people and covered the Philippine capital with ash.

In addition, Mount Kanlaon, another active volcano in the center of the archipelago on the island of Negros, and which is on alert level one, has also registered an increase in its seismic activity in the last 24 hours.

These three volcanoes keep volcanologists on alert, although for now a relationship between the three episodes has been ruled out, according to Bornas, who said that it is “coincidence” since “they are just three of the 24 active volcanoes” in the Philippines. EFE

Philippines on alert as volcano spews ash

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Philippine scientists said that a "hazardous eruption" of a volcano in the archipelago could be days or weeks away, and urged the evacuation of nearby residents from their homes.

Hundreds of families living around Mount Mayon in central Albay province are expected to be moved to safer areas after the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology raised the alarm.

Mayon, a near-perfect cone located about 330 kilometers (205 miles) southeast of the capital Manila, is considered one of the most volatile of the country's 24 active volcanoes.

The seismology agency said it observed three fast-moving avalanches of volcanic ash, rock and gases, known as pyroclastic density currents (PDCs), on Mayon's slopes on Thursday.

There are "increased chances of lava flows and hazardous PDCs... and of potential explosive activity within weeks or even days", the agency said, raising the alert level from two to three on a scale of zero to five.

"All necessary preparations are being done," said Eugene Escobar, the Albay provincial disaster management agency's officer-in-charge.

Rommel Negrete, an officer for the agency, said residents would be evacuated from Anoling village on the volcano's slopes.

Meanwhile, Taal volcano, located about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Manila, has been releasing sulfur dioxide this week, blanketing surrounding areas in smog and prompting warnings for people to stay indoors.

Steam-rich plumes have been recorded rising two kilometers (1.2 miles) into the sky, the seismology agency said on Thursday. It has left the alert level at one.

Earthquakes and volcanic activity are not uncommon in the Philippines due to its position on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", where tectonic plates collide deep below the Earth's surface.

Five years ago, Mayon displaced tens of thousands of people after spewing millions of tons of ash, rocks and lava.

The most powerful explosion in recent decades was the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) northwest of Manila, which killed more than 800 people.

It sent out an ash cloud that traveled thousands of kilometers in a matter of days and was blamed for damaging nearly two dozen aircraft.

© 2023 AFP

Philippines' Mayon volcano alert raised as eruption feared