Methane moment

Pakistan is among the top 10 methane emitters.

Jamil Ahmad 

DAWN

Published May 28, 2024 

METHANE gas is the second largest contributor to climate change. Methane emissions, caused by human activities, account for roughly a third of the current global warming and are over 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide in the near term. A steady rise in methane concentrations in the atmosphere is, therefore, worrisome. Methane’s atmospheric concentration has more than doubled since pre-industrial times; it is second only to carbon dioxide in driving climate change during the industrial era.

Human-caused emissions of methane come from landfills and waste, coal mining, oil and gas systems, and agriculture — including livestock. While methane is a far more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, its lifespan in the atmosphere is much shorter. This means that reductions in methane made now can deliver immediate progress to slow the current rate of warming as we decarbonise.

Carbon dioxide historically received greater attention as the major contributor to global warming. This approach hindered policymakers from paying heed to controlling non-CO2 greenhouse gases, particularly methane. This is now changing. Having remained feeble for long, international efforts to lessen methane emissions have gained momentum.

Some of the key reasons why policymaking has been handicapped — such as lack of financial resources, scientific knowledge, and credible data — are finally being prioritised internationally and in national policies. Methane receives merely two per cent of the global climate finance.

Pakistan is among the top 10 methane emitters.

The Global Methane Pledge launched in 2021 at COP26 brought together countries to reduce methane emissions 30pc by 2030. Pakistan also joined the initiative. More than 150 governments are participating.

UNEP has built a support system to empower countries to meet the pledge’s goal, including via methane policy roadmaps, through its Climate and Clean Air Coalition. In addition, UNEP’s Internatio­nal Methane Emissions Observatory is bridging gaps in scientific data on the sources and scale of methane.

Additional national actions and funding pledges announced at COP28 in Dubai last year placed methane firmly in the spotlight. Donors committed $1 billion in grant funding to assist low- and middle-income countries reduce methane emissions.

Overall financing for methane reduction increased from $11.6bn in 2020 to $13.7bn in 2022, according to a report by the Climate Policy Initiative. Even this amount is insufficient. For the effective abatement of methane, the world will need $48bn annually by 2030 — more than a threefold increase from current levels.

Private sector and industry have also stepped in. In Dubai last year, more than 50 top oil and gas companies announced new steps to reduce methane in their operations. This sector emits about 35pc of human-caused methane, second only to the agriculture sector’s 40pc. Its commitments must be matched by credible data provided by the likes of UNEP’s Oil and Gas Methane Partnership 2.0.

Deeper and concerted action in these sectors will be a very cost-effective way to complement climate action and lift the SDGs out of trouble. One useful and win-win option is to capture methane from waste and landfills for use as a fuel, reducing dependence on fossil fuels.

Methane emissions in Pakistan have increased by about 2pc annually since 1990, doubling over this period and putting the country among the top 10 methane emitters globally, thus aggravating its ambie­­nt air quality. Agricul­ture, and landfill acco­unt for most of Pakistan’s methane emissions. Pakistan’s climate change and clean air policies identify actions on short-lived climate pollutants as an important action area. At the national and provincial scale, Pakistan is identifying short-lived SLCP mitigation actions that will maximise climate and clean-air benefits. Including an SLCP emission reduction target in the updated Nationally Determined Contributions for Pakistan by 2025 is key to unlocking climate finance for multiple benefits. Additionally, a methane specific time-bound strategy developed as part of the country’s climate policy will be necessary to control air pollution and move swiftly on implementing the Paris accord.

As the world continues to hit deadly climate milestones, it is high time for a serious conversation on how to accelerate action to reduce often-overlooked and high-emitting super pollutants. Controlling methane is a cost-effective way to help reduce global warming and keep hopes alive for the Paris target of keeping the rise in world temperature below 1.5 degrees Celsius. As the world enters the final stretch towards meeting the 2030 agenda, capturing the methane moment will instil vigour into efforts to deliver the SDGs and offer the best chance of avoiding the worst of the climate crisis.

The writer is director of intergovernmental affairs, United Nations Environment Programme.

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2024

Why Modi claims he has won

Jawed Naqvi 

DAWN

Published May 28, 2024 

FIFTY-SEVEN races are still to be decided on Saturday, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi says he has already won a thumping majority. Let’s see the mind more than the logic at work here.

It was Jawaharlal Nehru’s 60th death anniversary on Monday. His grandson Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on May 21 during an election campaign in 1991. Rajiv was the last member of the Nehru-Gandhi family to be prime minister. All said and done, there was civility in the electoral discourse under their watch even if the battles were bitterly fought.

Narendra Modi, like his inspiration Donald Trump, has deliberately vulgarised India’s political discourse, and how. As the longest Indian elections trundle towards the last punishing phase in the scalding heat devouring much of the country, one is reminded of the most pivotal and brilliantly short March 16-20 polls Indira Gandhi ordered in 1977. There were 542 seats in the fray even then, but polling was not stretched over 44 days of hate-filled name-calling as is happening today.

Indira Gandhi made the announcement on Jan 18, and leading opposition groups met on Jan 20 to create the Janata Party. There were no invectives hurled from either side during the unblemished polls. If we must find a reason for this general civility, it could be simply that the leaders were nicer and perhaps also because the elections were held when the emergency was still on. It ended only on March 21, the day after the polls were completed.

The claim of having won a third term even before the elections are over, fits with the emasculation of India’s democratic heft Modi has supervised.

Had she wished, Mrs Gandhi could have held on to power after the results went against her, the emergency statutes ensuring her unbridled hold on the levers of government. But the transfer of power was silken smooth, and if there was a problem it was the infamous jostling for the top job among senior Janata Party leaders.

In hindsight, it seems the Janata Party was cobbled hurriedly by groups who had otherwise little in common. The unstated reason for the rushed and short-lived adoption of a single-party emblem leading to the merger of most non-communist northern parties into a single unit, stemmed from a mortal fear based on a technical worry. Had they fought the elections separately, Mrs Gandhi as the likely leader of the single largest party would be called to stake a claim as per convention. Indeed, she ended with a no mean tally of 154 seats, which would have been higher than any individual party against her.

The question is, would she have taken advantage of the offer? She wouldn’t, and a good clue to her response came in 1989 when Rajiv Gandhi lost his humongous 400-plus majority of 1984. The Congress got 197 seats and its closest rival, the Janata Dal, managed just 143. The BJP, aided by communists and centrists, catapulted from two seats in 1984 to 85, enough to spur L.K. Advani’s imminent march on Ayodhya.

Rajiv Gandhi remains unique in turning down the prime ministerial offer as the head of the single largest party. He stated, instead, that the fractured mandate was not for him. It remains a remarkable act of parliamentary propriety, more so when compared to the 1996 elections and Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s lurch for power in a fractured verdict.

That year, the BJP, headed by Vajpayee, for the first time became the single largest party, winning 161 seats in the Lok Sabha, but with next to no hope of gaining a majority of 272 seats. P.V. Narasimha Rao’s Congress struggled at 140. The way the House was stacked, Vajpayee’s defeat in the mandatory trust vote was imminent. Yet he happily took power for all of the 13 days that president Shankar Dayal Sharma gave him to prove his majority. The 13 days would become a blot on parliamentary ethics, to be upstaged only by Modi’s communal politics.

With no hope of winning the vote of confidence, the Vajpayee government tore up the rule book and signed the infamous Enron deal in which the US power company was given scandalous and eventually suicidal financial guarantees to set up a gas-run power plant in Maharashtra.

The project was doomed to fail, and tomes were to be written about the alleged financial scandals it spawned. But it gave the BJP a ruse to signal to Washington the arrival of India’s oldest pro-US party at the helm. Vajpayee’s 1998 nuclear tests saw more crude messaging to the US that India was ready to be an ally in its anti-China project.

Vajpayee resigned without facing the vote but not before giving a long lecture on democratic propriety. Indian democracy, however, recovered from the setback to see one of its more memorable occasions of pride laced in rare selflessness. Like Julius Caesar, communist leader Jyoti Basu was offered the crown which he politely turned down. Unlike Vajpayee, Basu was promised the support of a substantial secular bloc but he was bound by his party’s fiat against taking the oath of office. He would go on to describe the CPI-M’s decision as a historic blunder.

The claim of having won a third term even before the elections are over, fits with the emasculation of India’s democratic heft Modi has supervised. Leave alone the lumpenisation of language gleaned from his Trump-like election speeches, there is a more serious worry doing the rounds. Several well-regarded election analysts are not sanguine that Mr Modi would get a clear majority. They also fear that he would not relinquish power as Indira Gandhi did if he loses.

Desperation to stick to power is evident from his juggling of the election commission and low-calibre messaging to voters. Subhash Chandra Bose was a freedom fighter who famously said: “You give me blood. I’ll give you freedom.” What does Mr Modi tell the most impoverished section of the electorate? “I gave you five kilogrammes of rice. It’s your turn to give me your vote.”

The writer is Dawn’s correspondent in Delhi.
jawednaqvi@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2024

World War III?

Mahir Ali ]

DAWN

Published May 29, 2024 


THE president of Ukraine has lately devoted a great deal of his energy to soliciting international attendance at a supposed peace conference scheduled to be held in Switzerland in mid-June. He is particularly keen on the participation of Joe Biden and Xi Jinping. Vladimir Putin has not been invited.

Kyiv’s idea is to persuade the Global South to ditch its purported neutrality and help persuade Moscow to end the war it launched more than two years ago. Convincing China to reassess its alignment with Russia would be the biggest prize, but that is almost certainly out of reach for now — the same could probably be said about the bulk of nations economically (or politically) reliant on China or Russia.

Thanks largely to China and India, among others, as well as a stepped-up military industry, the Russian economy has not tanked because of Western sanctions: earlier this year, the IMF predicted a 3.2 per cent growth rate, higher than what lies in store for Britain, France and Germany. What’s more, many of the Western imports coveted by the Russian elite that helps to sustain Putin flow in via Dubai and other such entrepôts. It is unlikely that recent Western initiatives to deploy frozen Russian assets in the aid of Ukraine will make much difference.

Nor can a peace conference that excludes Russia produce a meaningful result. Putin would not anyhow have accepted an invitation without an embarrassing Swiss assurance of immunity for the duration of the conference, given the International Criminal Court’s warrant against him from last year for the war crime of transferring Ukrainian children to Russia. It could even be argued that he has committed far worse crimes both within Russia and on its periphery. What stands out, however, is the Western hypocrisy in hailing Putin’s indictment while placing Benjamin Netanyahu — whose regime has slaughtered children, rather than transporting them to Israel — on a pedestal of impunity, and hence immunity in the face of an ICC warrant.


Ukraine remains the key global tinderbox.

It would appear that the Western-designed ‘rule of law’ applies chiefly to Russia and China. The US and its close allies are exempt from this much-ballyhooed standard of civilisation. A vengeful killing spree by Israel apparently does not violate those norms. An International Court of Justice injunction against deadly operations in Rafah cannot be supported, even though it echoes similar suggestions by the US and many of its allies — perhaps because they had factored in the unlikelihood of the Netanyahu administration heeding their pleas.

Were the West so inclined, switching off military supplies to Israel would help to stem the hostilities in Gaza and the West Bank. Ukraine is a far trickier proposition. For all its foibles, Kyiv isn’t the aggressor. Russia’s historical paranoia about influence, infiltration or aggression from the West, even when combined with EU and US efforts to woo Kyiv, cannot even begin to justify its military assault and the subsequent war of attrition.

Fortuitously, the attempted invasion initially went badly for Russia, but lately the tide appears to have turned — to the extent that the US and Nato are considering openly deploying ‘military trainers’ within Ukraine, and Washington is debating whether to allow US-supplied weapons to target Russian territory. That seems like a potent recipe for facilitating a third world war, regardless of who lobs the first missile.

Putin has lately purged his defence hierarchy, ostensibly on grounds of corruption (and incompetence). Volodymyr Zelensky has done the same now and then, recently purg­ing his personal bodyguard amid suspicions of a plot to assassinate him as a gift to Putin on the eve of the latter’s umpteenth inauguration as president. Such indications serve as a reminder that both countries have much in common, beyond the historical connections absurdly exaggerated by Putin and crudely under-emphasised by Kyiv’s rulers.

There have been indications that some territorial concessions — Crimea and the Donbas region, for instance — would quench Putin’s thirst for expansion. Back when the Soviet Union was intact, which region belonged to which constituent republic did not matter much. Potential geographical disputes ought to have been settled before the USSR split up in 1991, but the Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian architects of its demise were in too much of a hurry to worry about such niceties.

Among others, Xi Jinping and Pope Francis both reckon that reasonable territorial concessions would be an acceptable price to pay for peace. Reports suggest that Donald Trump — once and, appallingly, possibly the future US president — does not disagree. Zelensky and most other Ukrainians would understandably question the idea of rewarding aggression. But is there a feasible alternative for ensuring more Ukrainians don’t perish?

mahir.dawn@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, May 29th, 2024

‘Demolition of my life’: Chronicling the horrors of forced evictions in Pakistan

Mass forced evictions violate a range of human rights including adequate housing, standard of health, education, social security, security of person, and freedom from cruel treatment.

Dawn.com 

Published May 29, 2024 

LONG READ

“My husband, Ghulam, used to put a stall with samosas outside Empress Market. Last time when an anti-encroachment drive took place, police seized his cart without any prior notice,” said Sakina Wali, a 43-year-old domestic worker in Karachi.

“My husband was abused and humiliated by the staff concerned, and we had to pay them a hefty amount of Rs20,000 to get our cart back,” she recalled.

Hundreds of kilometres away in Islamabad, Farmanullah, who is the sole breadwinner for a family of seven, was arrested for committing the offence of “encroachment” and imprisoned for three months, along with a fine of Rs500,000. His crime: selling kulfi outside the Faisal Mosque.

According to a report by US-based group Human Rights Watch, titled ‘Abusive Forced Evictions in Pakistan’, forced evictions of urban poor across the country is a “frequent and widespread” problem. The irony is that because the victims of these operations are mostly from the poor and marginalised strata of society, data reflecting the scale of the problem is largely absent.

Forced evictions are driven by multiple factors, including urbanisation and development projects where the government and private developers acquire land for infrastructure projects, often displacing poor communities without due process and human rights protection.

“‘Anti-encroachment’ drives are another justification used for eviction operations,” the group said, noting that large parts of the urban population live in informal settlements lacking formal ownership documents and this coupled with lack of affordable housing, corruption and inefficiencies make them particularly vulnerable to evictions.

Several other factors provide an enabling environment for evictions such as the rapid pace of urbanisation, housing developments for the affluent displacing poor communities, land grabs by powerful private actors and a legal system that fails to protect the poor, it added.

A section of a stormwater channel in Karachi clogged with solid waste, where authorities claimed that rainwater could not pass through due to “encroachments”, 2021. — Karachi Bachao Tehreek


Colonial-era regulation

The framework of property rights in Pakistan is enshrined under the Constitution. Land ownership, transfer and acquisition are all governed by many federal, provincial and municipal laws and regulations.

Forced evictions in Pakistan rely on the Land Acquisition Act (LAA) — inherited by the British — which authorises public officials to evict people from land with minimal procedural safeguards for those displaced. When a government authority decides to acquire land, whether for public or private purposes, the law outlines the process for acquisition and compensation to affected persons.

“However, the law now permits Pakistani authorities to acquire land for other entities, including public-private partnerships and private companies,” the HRW report highlighted.

It stated that the LAA gives the government “almost exclusive authority to decide what falls within its scope and to displace people to achieve those aims”. Under the law, once the government decides that land is required for “public purposes”, the landowner has no legal recourse but to transfer ownership of the land.

“The LAA treats a title-based relationship with the land as the basis of eligibility and as a result does not cover displacement of ‘informal settlements’, areas recognised by the government that are entitled to some municipal services and protection against arbitrary evictions.

“The LAA also envisages cash payment as the only form of compensation and provides no provisions for relocation and resettlement support for displaced populations,” the report said, adding that the Act had been adapted and incorporated into other laws that regulate land acquisition for sector-specific development.

An impression of the futuristic Ravi Riverfront City project in Lahore, Pakistan. — Courtesy Meinhardt group

Over the years, the LAA’s inadequacies have been widely recognised, with the Supreme Court in a 2018 decision observing the law’s “shortcomings” with respect to compensation. “[It] remains a remnant of colonial times that should have been … amended to cater to our evolving socio-economic circumstances,” the apex court noted.
Anti-encroachment drives

Anti-encroachment operations are a frequently used “method of forced evictions of residential communities, small shops and markets in Pakistan”, the HRW report pointed out.

“In these operations, the authorities assert that evictions are necessary and justified under the law by removing structures that encroach on public lands,” it said.

It observed that Pakistan has various federal and provincial laws that define and, in certain cases, make encroachment a criminal offence. For instance, the municipal law in Islamabad defines encroachment as “illegal occupation of land or procuring its allotment in any unauthorised manner or by illegal means and includes the use of any land otherwise than in accordance with the terms of its lease, license or allotment”.

The HRW said it had documented numerous cases in Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi where the manner of forced evictions and demolitions was “abusive, could not be justified as a proportionate measure and violated the rights of homeowners, families and occupants”.

“In almost all cases of anti-encroachment drives documented, the government failed to comply with international human rights standards on evictions, including providing those evicted with an alternative place to live.”

On November 7, 2021, a video of Zakia Bibi, a resident of Karachi’s Gujjar nullah, went viral on Facebook. The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation had just demolished her home in an anti-encroachment operation on orders of the top court.

“Why don’t they kill us [all at] once?” she said in the video, which was cited by the HRW. Zakia went on to speak about her husband, who had a heart attack after seeing his house reduced to rubble. She referred to the demolition of her abode as the “demolition of her life” and everything she and her husband had built over a lifetime.

Four days later, on November 11, Zakia died of a heart attack.

“This was not the first death or the last for that matter to happen because of the demolitions. There is an emerging health crisis in the affected communities, directly linked to demolitions. There are multiple heart patients among the affectees of this anti-poor campaign.

“What will become of them? The government is signing their death sentence with every new demolition,” the report quoted Khurram Ali, convenor of the Karachi Bachao Tehreek, as saying of Zakia’s death.

Karachi has seen several anti-encroachment drives in recent years. In 2018, it was the Empress Market where over 1,000 shops were demolished. In 2020, it was the Orangi and Gujjar nullahs, where the evictions and demolitions affected up to 12,000 homes housing 96,000 people, the HRW said.

Karachi residents organise a sit-in to protest the Supreme Court’s ordering the demolition of their houses, 2021 — Karachi Bachao Tehreek


A never-ending list of failures

Pakistan’s judicial system, as highlighted in the report, has failed to protect people from forced evictions.

“Evicted residents often try to seek redress in the courts, but generally find that they are unable to obtain a meaningful remedy. Even when a court decides in favour of residents, it is often too late: their homes and businesses have already been demolished.

“Evicted individuals and communities are only able to contest the adequacy of compensation,” it said. The HRW, however, added that the law does not compensate for the loss of livelihood of the evicted nor requires the government to resettle and rehabilitate the displaced people.

It found that the cash compensation, rarely adequate, is not in accordance with market rates.

Rahim Dad, a 58-year-old farmer with land near the banks of River Ravi, which his family has lived on and cultivated for three generations and which was earmarked for acquisition by the Ravi Riverfront Urban Development Project (Ruda) in October 2022, termed the compensation he received “a joke”.

“The price that the government puts on our lives and livelihoods is ridiculous. There is no mechanism to calculate the market rate. They take over our lands which is in acres and will build high-rise buildings that they will sell at a rate/price per yard,” he told the HRW.

Apart from the compensation, the evictees also revealed that most of them had not been adequately informed of or consulted for the planned eviction operations.

Moreover, the HRW highlighted that the government either gave no formal notice or issued an insufficient notice before the evictions.

Maria Yaqub, a 21-year-old college student, had been informed that homes in her area, near the Gujjar nullah in Karachi, were marked for demolition, but was not informed when.

Women protest their eviction at a stormwater drain in Gujjar Nullah, Karachi, in 2021. — Maria Yaqoob via HRW



One day in April 2021, she returned home to see bulldozers ready to go to work. She asked the officials present to wait so that she could go in and save the photograph of her late parents from inside the house. She was told to hurry. There was no time to gather her other belongings and books. While she was inside trying to take the photo off the wall, she heard the bulldozers turning on. The giant yellow mechanical claw hit a wall, causing it to collapse immediately.

“I heard screaming and shouting [from outside]. The photo frame slipped from my hands. I ran out and escaped with my life —nothing else,” the report quoted Maria as saying.

While international law does not prescribe a specific notice period before evictions, the UN special rapporteur on adequate housing recommends that there should be a notice period of at least 90 days before any involuntary resettlement.

Further, the HRW noted that rights groups have documented the use of threats, intimidation and unnecessary or excessive force by officials to enforce evictions for development projects. In some instances, the evictions took place in highly charged circumstances leading to clashes between residents and the police.

Under international standards, the government must ensure that all feasible alternatives are explored with the affected community before the evictions are carried out, the report pointed out.
Long-lasting impacts of evictions

International human rights standards ensure that evictions should not lead to homelessness or expose individuals to further human rights violations, according to the HRW report. The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has said that “[w]here those affected are unable to provide for themselves, the government must take all appropriate measures … to ensure that adequate alternative housing, resettlement or access to productive land, as the case may be, is available”.

In many cases, the group reported that evictions resulted in homelessness, and adversely impacted access to health and children’s right to education.

The LAA lacks provisions for the rehabilitation and resettlement of evicted individuals, and cash payments are often inadequate and delayed, leading to temporary homelessness and severe financial hardships, the report noted.

In cities, evictions frequently force low-income residents to move to suburbs or villages where their skills may be unusable, resulting in a significant loss of income. For example, Kashif Rehan, an air conditioner repairman in Islamabad, saw his income plummet after being evicted and relocating to a village.

“In its current form, the [LAA] critically remains silent on the issue of rehabilitation and resettlement, offering no recourse to families who lose their land, are inadequately compensated, and are unable to replace their assets or source of livelihood through the market,” Fizzah Sajjad, an urban planning expert, told the HRW.

Razia Khatoon, the sole breadwinner for her family, ran a women’s clothing shop in Lahore’s Anarkali bazaar for nearly 20 years. In 2016, her house and shop were marked for demolition for the metro train project.

“We were given compensation that was the cost of the shop and the house. But the cost of the shop is not only the land and the debris: it is the clients, the customers,” she said. “If I set up a shop in another area as an outsider, it would take me 20 more years to get to the level of sales that I had before the demolition.”

A marquee demolished along Kashmir Highway during CDA’s operation in Islamabad in September 2018. — File Photo


Furthermore, victims of forced evictions, often poor and living in informal settlements, face additional barriers to healthcare.

Citing research by the Karachi Urban Lab in 2020, which focused on 13 informal settlements, the HRW report said that households of eight to nine people lived on plots as small as 20 square yards. About 40 per cent had a family member needing special medical or social care, with 70pc at high risk of contracting viral illnesses.

Zain Ali, an office clerk, was evicted in 2017 when his house in Lahore was demolished for an infrastructure project. His paralysed, 80-year-old father lost social support and access to healthcare.

“After we had to move to the outskirts of the city, I lost all connections with the doctors and pharmacists, the hospital was two kilometres away and I didn’t have the support of the community. My father passed away less than one year after we were displaced,” Ali told the HRW.

The UN special rapporteur on adequate housing stated that evicted individuals needing medical care, including those with disabilities, “should receive the medical care and attention they require to the fullest extent practicable and with the least possible delay”, according to the group.

Special attention should be given to the health needs of women and children, ensuring ongoing treatments are not disrupted by eviction or relocation. Additionally, economic assistance for relocation should consider access to health and medical care.

Moreover, forced evictions severely impact access to education for displaced people. During the construction of Lahore’s Orange Line Metro Train, at least 42 educational institutions were partially or completely demolished.

Forced evictions often leave people temporarily homeless and needing to relocate far from their original homes. Children often drop out of school when parents lose jobs, with many never returning, especially in a country with high school dropout rates. Girls are particularly at risk of permanently leaving school due to factors like gender discrimination, child marriage, sexual harassment, and the insecurity of travelling longer distances.

“Forced eviction and displacement often has disastrous consequences for access to health and education. In Pakistan, particularly for the socio-economically vulnerable segment in urban contexts, the social and communal contacts developed in neighbourhoods are critical for accessing municipal service, getting employment, school admissions, and affordable health care,” said Dr Shehryar, a former civil servant working with displaced groups, told the HRW.

The report cited research by the Karachi-based Urban Resource Centre, which found that an anti-encroachment campaign after the 2020 monsoon rains had disrupted the education of over 30,000 students. This is particularly devastating in low-income areas with already poor enrolment rates. Poverty is a major barrier to education, with even low costs being prohibitive for many families.

Many Pakistani children are out of school due to work, with girls often kept home for housework and caregiving. Evictions exacerbate poverty, pushing more families to send children to work instead of school.

Muhammad Ansar is one such child. He was in grade nine when his education was disrupted after his family home was demolished in Lahore. They moved to Sheikhupura due to financial constraints. Without income, Muhammad and his family took up daily wage jobs, leading him to abandon school for work in a factory, he told the HRW.

The HRW noted that displacement increased travel distance to schools, especially impacting girls. A Karachi resident, who relocated to Lyari Basti, told KUL that her daughter couldn’t continue education beyond grade 10 due to the absence of nearby colleges and her safety concerns about travelling alone as a single girl.
Recommendations

In its report, the HRW recommended comprehensive reforms to LAA to align it with international human rights standards. This includes prohibiting all forced evictions and respecting human dignity.

It also recommended exploring all feasible alternatives to eviction, consulting with affected individuals, and providing adequate notice, legal remedies, and compensation for loss of property. The law should guarantee access to justice, legal aid, and resettlement rights. Importantly, legislation should protect against discrimination, particularly concerning indigenous peoples, and ensure transparent and participatory land acquisition processes, with the right to appeal disputes to an independent body.

The HRW urged the federal and provincial governments to prioritise community participation in all stages of development planning and ensure fair compensation for landholders and occupants. They must prevent homelessness and uphold displaced individuals’ rights to alternative housing, along with access to essential services and livelihood opportunities.

Additionally, officials responsible for excessive use of force or property destruction during evictions should be investigated and prosecuted accordingly.

The group stressed that municipal authorities should ensure evictions are authorised through a fair and transparent process. Officials should receive proper training to uphold international law enforcement standards.

It called on key international actors to provide capacity-building support to local organisations and civil society groups to monitor government compliance with human rights obligations.

Furthermore, the HRW urged governments and financial institutions lending to Pakistan to ensure their policies do not hinder housing rights protection. The group recommended that the UN special rapporteur on adequate housing should raise concerns with the Pakistan government and request a mission to investigate forced evictions.

Header image: White Star/File photo

PAKISTAN

Case of the missing poet

Zahid Hussain 

DAWN

Published May 29, 2024 

YET another case of alleged enforced disappearance has demonstrated the impunity granted to certain forces in the country, which consider themselves above the law in an increasingly repressive dispensation. Ahmad Farhad Shah, a Kashmiri journalist and poet, was reportedly picked up from his home in Islamabad a couple of weeks ago and has been missing since then.

He is the latest addition to a long list of missing persons, which highlights the state’s worsening human rights record and increasingly repressive nature. Over the years, the country has seen intelligence agencies orchestrate the abductions of dissidents. There has been a marked uptick in such cases over the past few years, with the hybrid administration becoming increasingly coercive.

There has been intriguing inaction from the administration over the fate of the young poet who dared to question the establishment. He was taken away after the recent violent protests in Azad Kashmir that caused fatalities. He had reportedly been facing harassment from the intelligence agencies for his political views.

The case of the missing poet has drawn wider traction after the Islamabad High Court summoned the officials of the ISI, MI, IB, the federal law minister and the secretaries for interior, defence and law to appear for the next hearing. Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, the senior puisne judge of the IHC, also ordered the live-streaming of all cases pertaining to missing persons to “facilitate public awareness and understanding of important legal issues”.

It has certainly been a bold decision by an increasingly assertive superior judiciary, which has been defying pressure from the intelligence agencies. The court order has also sharpened the clash between the judiciary and the establishment-backed dispensation.


These are the same political parties that, when in opposition, claimed to champion rights.

The case of Ahmad Farhad Shah has brought the issue of enforced disappearances in the country to the fore once again. Scores of cases of missing persons have been pending before the courts. Many of the abducted have been missing for years. The number of missing persons in the country runs into the thousands. Little is known about their whereabouts. Notwithstanding the government’s claim that it is committed to finding a solution to the problem, unlawful detentions have not stopped. Fifty-one cases of enforced disappearances were reported last year alone.

Over the past one year, we have also seen PTI leaders from Punjab and KP being abducted and later released after being forced to change their political allegiance. Many who were picked up have been languishing in detention for months without trial. The enforced disappearance of the Kashmiri poet is a glaring example of the government’s continuation of such unlawful acts. So much for the government’s democratic credentials.

What is happening these days is not an isolated phenomenon; it is a symptom of shrinking democratic space in the country, with the ‘legitimacy’ of hybrid rule being increasingly questioned. The rule of law seems to have completely collapsed as intelligence agencies appear to have been given a free hand.

An increasingly insecure PML-N-led government, struggling to sustain its rule, has taken draconian measures to completely stifle freedom of expression in the country. Recently, it placed restrictions on the coverage and reporting of court proceedings. The latter are also focusing on political and missing person cases.

These are the same political parties that, when in the opposition, claimed to be championing democratic rights and the rule of law. The federal government’s latest move to regulate social media seems to be a part of the effort to curb freedom of expression. The Punjab Defamation Bill, 2024, passed recently, is one of the blackest laws in the country’s recent history, and reminiscent of the era of authoritarian rule.

Despite strong protest by civil society and media organisations, the Punjab provincial government pushed through the bill on the pretext that it was aimed at curbing fake news and criticism of state institutions. There are no two views that there is a need for a rules-based and more responsible media. But the way the controversial defamation law has been drafted reflects sinister designs. Defamation in the bill has been loosely defined as the “publication, broadcast or circulation of a false or untrue statement … which injures or may have the effect of injuring the reputation of a person or tends to lower him in the estimation of others…”. So, any criticism of the government and the unlawful action of security agencies defined under the new law becomes a crime.

While the government claims that the law is meant to provide legal protection from false, misleading, or defamatory publication, it is being seen not only as an infringement on the freedom of the press but also as a means to clamp down on the political opposition.

It gives sweeping authority to tribunals set up by the government to prosecute anyone it deems to be against the security forces and other state institutions without giving them legal recourse. Such a draconian law has not been enforced even under the worst military rule. In fact, it provides protection to illegal and unconstitutional actions by the establishment and government. Curiously, Punjab is the only province to have passed a defamation bill.

While the controversial bill is still waiting to be signed by the governor for it to be promulgated into law, the Punjab government, led by Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, has already decided to initiate legal action against former prime minister Imran Khan and some other PTI leaders “for building hate-narrative against the state institutions”. This makes it apparent that the defamation law is to be used as a tool to suppress the opposition and silence any voice of dissent.

How does criticism of the establishment’s extra-constitutional involvement in political manipulation become a criminal act? Similarly, questioning the apex court’s judgement cannot be declared unlawful. In fact, it is the harassment of judges by the government and establishment that is a criminal act.

Even before the draconian defamation bill, we saw poet Farhad being abducted and the judges facing pressure and intimidation. The country is in real danger of turning into an authoritarian state. One can only pity the PML-N-led government that is virtually signing its own death warrant by imposing such draconian laws that could be used against its own politicians in the future.

The writer is an author and journalist.
zhussain100@yahoo.com
X: @hidhussain

Published in Dawn, May 29th, 2024

Missing poet Ahmed Farhad Shah in Kashmir police custody, IHC told

Umer Burney 

DAWN

Published May 29, 2024


The Islamabad High Court (IHC) was informed on Wednesday that missing poet Ahmed Farhad Shah was in the custody of Dhirkot police in Azad Kashmir.

The development came as Justice Kayani resumed hearing a petition seeking the missing Kashmiri poet’s recovery.

During the last hearing, IHC senior puisne judge Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani had ordered live streaming of all missing persons cases. However, today’s case was not broadcast live.

Justice Kayani had also summoned the sector commanders of the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and Military Intelligence (MI), the director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar and the defence, law and interior secretaries today.

During today’s hearing, Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan, Additional Attorney General (AAG) Munawar Iqbal Duggal, and the law minister appeared before the court.

Senior journalist Hamid Mir and human rights lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir were also in attendance.

AGP Awan informed the court that Shah was in police custody and presented the police report to the court.

Justice Kayani said that the poet was “arrested after the Kohala bridge and then its jurisdiction was fixed”.

The first information report (FIR) against Shah was filed today at the Dhirkot police station at around 8am, with the time of the incident just an hour earlier.

It was registered under section 186 of the Pakistan Penal Code for obstructing a public servant in the discharge of public functions.

More to follow

Turkiye FM Fidan: Our brotherhood under "One nation, two states" slogan will be eternal

AZERBAIJAN IS A CLIENT STATE

29 May 2024

“I cordially congratulate dear Azerbaijan's Independence Day,” said Hakan Fidan, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Türkiye, as he shared a congratulatory message on X.

“On this remarkable day, when the glorious Azerbaijani flag is waving freely in every inch of its land, I honor all our martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the independence with gratitude and respect.

Our brotherhood under "One nation, two states" slogan will be eternal,” the Turkish minister emphasized.

---

Water woes: Cambodia
and Vietnam clash over
the Funan Techo Canal

JUKI TRINH

Environmental, economic and geopolitical concerns are all
bound up in the latest tensions along the Mekong River.

Phnom Penh, looking across the Mekong River in February 2024 

(Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP via Getty Images)

Published 29 May 2024

In August 2023, Cambodia sent an official notice to the Mekong River Commission flagging the construction of a new major canal project on the Mekong River. The Mekong, long a source of regional bounty, has become a modern point of contention for the countries along the waterway, with disputes over the environmental and economic cost to the river flow from the growing number of upstream dam and canal projects.

Cambodia’s planned 180-kilometre Funan Techo Canal, worth US$1.7 billion, is funded by China as a part of the Belt and Road Initiative. This canal provides a waterway linking the capital Phnom Penh and the deep seaport in the coastal province Kep, ultimately opening onto the South China Sea. The Cambodian government hopes that this ambitious project may foster economic development by facilitating the transportation of goods and eco-tourism, along with an estimated 5 million jobs to be created. Moreover, the Funan Techo waterway would reduce Cambodia’s dependence on Vietnam’s seaport, notably Cai Mep.

The canal project may bring economic benefits to Cambodia, however, it has lead to mounting concerns within neighbouring Vietnam. Water security is a particular concern, with the canal is thought to act like a dam, altering the flow of the river and preventing water from reaching areas in the Mekong Delta in the south of Vietnam. This would not only exacerbate the present long-term drought and growing problems with salination affecting Vietnamese agriculture, but also impact the habitat of endangered species.

Hanoi’s influence in Phnom Penh has evidently decreased – a relationship that has a tumultuous history.

The project also brings geopolitical anxiety for Vietnam. The canal thought to have “dual-use” potential – that is, promoting economic growth and domestic connectivity for Cambodia, but it could also facilitate China’s military presence in the country. The canal is said to connect the Ream naval base in Sihanoukville, recently refurbished with Chinese funding. A CNN report in December last year showed that two Chinese navy frigates docked at the base. Security concerns have been raised about the ability of vessels to transit the Funan Techo canal from the Gulf of Thailand.

Cambodian officials have defended the aims of the project. Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Manet claimed the canal would have minimal effects on Vietnam and that there would be no foreign military base on Cambodia’s territory in line with Article 53 of its constitution. His father, and former Cambodian leader Hun Sen, declared the canal would not strain the Vietnam-Cambodia relationship. Meanwhile, the United States and Vietnam have called for more information and transparency about the canal.

The Funan Techo canal is a further example of Cambodia’s economic reliance on China and Beijing’s considerable economic influence in Southeast Asia. This concern is not only for Vietnam but extends to the unity and consensus of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. In 2012 and 2016, Cambodia blocked a ASEAN statement on the South China Sea dispute, which stymied Vietnam’s effort to internationalise the issue and call for regional support.

Hanoi’s influence in Phnom Penh has evidently decreased – a relationship that has a tumultuous history, with Vietnam having militarily intervened in Cambodia in 1978, maintained its influence in the country for a decade, and then significantly supported the Hun Sen’s government. Anti-Vietnam sentiment in Cambodia runs deep, as the stage for the clash of ancient empires seeking dominance in Indochina, with the Nguyen dynasty’s territory expansion southward over land regarded by Cambodians as “Kampuchea Krom”, and illegal Vietnamese migrants in Cambodia.

China describes Cambodia as its “ironclad” friend in Southeast Asia. The Mekong is watery thread that these regional rivalries are seeking to bend in their favou

WHO Director-General's opening remarks at the Seventy-Seventh World Health Assembly roundtable– 28 May 2024

All for Health, Health for All: the WHO Investment case, 2025-2028


Thank you, John-Arne.


Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,


fThe World Health Assembly is off to a great start.


This morning, Committee A approved the 14th General Programme of Work – our guiding strategy for the next four years, with a mission to promote, provide and protect the health of the world’s people.


On Sunday night, we launched WHO's first Investment Round – a critical part of our long-term plan to transform the way WHO is financed, and to implement GPW14.


The budget for implementing GPW14 is 11.1 billion US dollars, over four years.


We estimate that about 4 billion US dollars will be secured through assessed contributions, if the increases to which Member States have committed are realised.


The Investment Round aims to mobilize the other 7 billion US dollars through voluntary contributions.


Today, we are launching the WHO Investment case, which shows how, if fully funded and implemented, GPW14 could contribute to saving 40 million lives over four years.


These lives will be saved across the range of our work, from expanding immunization, to preventing NCDs, to providing vital services during emergencies.


Together we can make 10,000 health facilities climate-resilient;


We can help 84 countries reach their targets for disease elimination;


And we can keep the world safer by assessing health threats and coordinating responses to multiple emergencies at any time.


But we can only do this with the predictable and flexible funds we need to make long-term plans, and recruit and retain the people we need to implement those plans.


Excellencies, colleagues,


I thank Brazil, which will host the Investment Round as President of the G20, alongside co-hosts France, Germany and Norway, and Mauritania in its capacity as Chair of the African Union.


I also thank the G7 finance ministers, who recently called for increased funding for WHO through the Investment Round.


And I thank all Member States and other donors for their voluntary contributions, especially those who already provide predictable and flexible funding.


I commend the Investment case to you.


We seek the support of every Member State and donor to ensure the Investment Round is a success, and that GPW14 is fully funded, so that together we can realise our shared vision to promote, provide and protect the health of the world’s people.


I thank

Cameroon fights period stigma and poverty on World Menstrual Hygiene Day

May 28, 2024 
By Moki Edwin Kindzeka
 

Girls walk on a road in Maroua, Cameroon

Cameroon’s government says 70% of menstruating women and girls lack access to regular basic sanitation products.

YAOUNDE —

Cameroon is observing World Menstrual Hygiene Day (May 28) with caravans visiting schools and public spaces to educate people about social taboos that women should not be seen in public during their menstrual periods. Organizations are also donating menstrual kits to girls displaced by terrorism and political tensions in the central African state.

Scores of youths, a majority of them girls, are told that menstruation is a natural part of the reproductive cycle.

Officials in Cameroon’s social affairs and health ministries say the monthly flows are not a curse and girls and women should never be isolated from markets, schools, churches and other public places because of their menstrual cycle.

The government of the central African state says it invited boys to menstrual health day activities because boys often mock girls in schools when they see blood dripping on their legs or skirts.

Tabe Edwan is the spokesperson of Haven of Rebirth Cameroon, an association that takes care of victims of sexual and gender-based violence. She says she participates in in activities to mark World Menstrual Health Day to battle taboos about menstruation that persist in Cameroon.

"We are looking at instances of stigmatization such as prohibition from cooking, prohibition from attending religious ceremonies or visiting such spaces," she said. "Most often a young girl who is having her menstrual flow is considered to be unclean and so anything that she touches becomes unclean or it also becomes contaminated."

Cameroon’s government says World Menstrual Day activities took place in many towns and villages, especially in the northwest and southwest regions, where a separatist conflict, now in its seventh year, has displaced about 750,000 people.

The country’s Social Affairs Ministry says displaced women and girls have lost nearly everything and lack even the $2 needed to buy sanitary pads each time they are on their monthly cycle.

Mirabelle Sonkey is founder of the Network for Solidarity Hope and Empowerment, a founding member of the International Menstrual Hygiene Coalition.

Sonkey says she is disheartened when women and girls use rags, papers and tree leaves or just anything unhealthy to stop blood flow because they cannot afford sanitary pads.

"We usually give about 1,000 dignity kits which include buckets, soap, pants and reusable, washable menstrual pads," she said. "We are still advocating for pads to be free. Our mission is to have an environment where pads will be accessible, that is why we are opening pad banks now where vulnerable women and girls can go there and have pads."

Sonkey pleaded with donors to provide sanitary pads to give to several thousand northern Cameroonian girls and women displaced by Boko Haram terrorism.

Cameroon’s government says 70% of menstruating women and girls lack access to regular basic sanitation products but it has not reacted to pleas from NGOs to distribute sanitary pads free of charge.

The central African state’s officials say families and communities should help put an end to stigmas by openly discussing menstrual flow and letting everyone know that menstruation is a normal and natural biological function.

Zimbabwe: Water Scarcity a Barrier to Menstrual Health and Dignity


Keïta/UNICEF/
"I used to miss class because I was on my period:: the teenagers who made their own pads (file photo).

28 MAY 2024
263Chat (Harare)

As the world observes Menstrual Hygiene Day, the Women4Water movement has called for the need to address water shortages, a critical issue profoundly affecting menstrual hygiene and the well-being of women and girls worldwide.

In a statement to mark the day, the movement said without reliable access to clean water, they face numerous challenges that compromise their health.

"Access to clean and sufficient water is essential for maintaining proper menstrual hygiene. Women and girls need water not only for drinking but also for washing and sanitation purposes during their menstrual cycles. Without reliable access to clean water, they face numerous challenges that compromise their health, privacy, and educational and economic opportunities.

"Water shortages exacerbate these difficulties, making it nearly impossible for women and girls to manage their menstruation safely and with dignity. The consequences are profound: Insufficient water for washing can lead to infections and other health issues. Poor menstrual hygiene management increases the risk of reproductive and urinary tract infections, which can have long-term health implications," said the movement

The consequences of water shortages are far-reaching, making it exceedingly difficult for females to manage menstruation safely and with dignity.

"Many girls are forced to miss school during their periods due to inadequate water and sanitation facilities. This absenteeism contributes to higher dropout rates and limits their future opportunities. The inability to manage menstrual hygiene effectively can prevent women from participating fully in the workforce and community activities, perpetuating cycles of poverty and gender inequality. The lack of water and sanitation facilities infringes on women's and girls' dignity, causing stress and embarrassment, and perpetuating stigma and discrimination related to menstruation

"By addressing water shortages and improving menstrual hygiene management, we can make significant strides toward gender equality, public health, and the empowerment of women and girls. Together, we can ensure that menstruation is no longer a barrier to a healthy, dignified, and fulfilling life. Women4Water stands committed to advocating for these changes and working towards a future where every woman and girl can manage her menstrual hygiene safely, comfortably, and with pride," added the movement

Africa: Menstrual Equity Is the Key to a Healthier and More Equitable World

28 MAY 2024
UNFPA East and Southern Africa (Johannesburg)


Blog by Meron Negussie, UNFPA Regional Programme Specialist for Adolescents and Youth, to commemorate Menstrual Hygiene Day, 28 May 2024

Menstrual health is a non-negotiable human right in our urgent mission for universal access to sexual and reproductive health. Without access to menstrual education, information, products and services, we cannot meet UNFPA's transformative goals as a contribution to the SDGs, to enable millions on a journey towards equal opportunities and empowerment.

A pivotal moment in this vital journey occurred six years ago this month when UNFPA in East and Southern Africa held the inaugural Africa Menstrual Health Symposium. The resulting movement created a groundswell of support for improving menstrual health on the African continent.

For the first time, menstruation was embraced as integral to sexual and reproductive health. This movement was the first of its kind on the continent, marking a significant shift in the resolve for promotion of menstrual health as a human right.

The Johannesburg Call to Action: Improving Menstrual Health Management in Africa committed to ensuring menstrual health across the life cycle using a multisectoral approach. The birth of the African Coalition for Menstrual Health provided a much-needed compass to steer the menstrual health movement on the continent. It has emerged as the convener of choice for a dynamic community of menstrual health practitioners, advocates and experts across the private and public sectors.

Paving the way

Over the years, I have observed the strides made by the coalition in shaping a brighter future for menstrual health. The organization has driven significant changes across the region - such as the development of policies and strategies, the creation of regional and national standards for menstrual products, and the implementation of comprehensive processes. The coalition has supported and guided countries and regional partners in menstrual health programming and policy, ensuring that these issues are addressed with the seriousness they deserve.

I have witnessed the coalition leading joint advocacy and partnerships, to tackle key issues such as tax exemptions on menstrual health products. They have been at the forefront of driving evidence generation, bridging research and measurement gaps that have long hindered progress in this field.

At the country level, I have seen the impact of the coalition's work in East and Southern Africa. Menstrual health is gaining momentum, with education and awareness on the rise. School health clubs in Ethiopia and Uganda are leading the charge, empowering young people with knowledge and resources. Kenya and Tanzania are reaching youth through innovative programmes like Twaweza, while traditional and digital media ensure broader audiences understand the importance of menstrual health.

Access to menstrual health products is improving, with countries like Kenya and Zambia allocating national budgets to provide sanitary products in schools. Distribution drives in South Africa ensure that free products reach girls from low-income families, highlighting a commitment to access and affordability. The removal of taxes on menstrual health products is becoming more common, with Kenya, South Africa, Ethiopia, Lesotho and Rwanda eliminating import and sales duties on these essential items.

Inspirational grassroots initiatives are flourishing. Girls' homegrown production of sanitary products is gaining traction in Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda, Mozambique and Zambia, empowering communities and promoting sustainability. South Africa champions the procurement of sanitary products and related services from women-owned suppliers, fostering economic empowerment.

Even in the face of humanitarian and post-crisis settings, efforts to ensure dignity kits and access to safe sanitation facilities are making a difference in Ethiopia and Mozambique. These initiatives not only address basic human needs but uphold the dignity and well-being of people who experience trauma and displacement.

The coalition's dedication to menstrual health is truly transforming lives, creating a future where menstrual health is universally supported and celebrated, from pre-menarche to menopause.

On this wonderful journey, I pay tribute to UNFPA's former and current leadership, and colleagues in the ESA region, who have blazed the trail for menstrual health across Africa. Equally, I acknowledge the efforts of the MH Day team at Wash United and the Africa Coalition on Menstrual Health leadership for their relentless technical contributions, without which the story cannot be told.

A world reimagined

Imagine a world where every person can manage their menstrual health with dignity and ease. To turn this vision into reality, we must join forces to achieve a shared goal - as the United Nations, governments, donors, civil society organizations, academic institutions, schools, health-care providers, the private sector, traditional leaders, and community activists. We all need to work together to address menstrual health across a person's life course, not just during their reproductive years.

Consider the millions left behind simply because menstrual products are too expensive. Imagine if subsidies and local social entrepreneurs could lower production and delivery costs without compromising quality. Picture the impact of removing taxes on menstrual health products, as has been done in Kenya, Lesotho, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Zimbabwe - it's a game-changer. We need to explore every avenue, including innovative financing, to ensure that everyone who menstruates has access to what they need.

To achieve our menstrual health goals, we must supercharge innovative solutions to reach more people. Envision embracing digital technology and non-tech approaches to accelerate progress. Solid research is crucial to discovering what works best and guiding our actions to achieve menstrual health for everyone, no matter their age. By examining the evidence, we will understand where we are falling short and how to improve the menstrual experience for all.

We cannot ignore the devastating impact of humanitarian crises on women, girls, and all those who menstruate. When disaster strikes, managing periods safely and with dignity becomes even harder. In these moments, we must act swiftly to ensure everyone has access to the menstrual products they need.

By addressing these challenges head-on and working together, we can create a #PeriodFriendlyWorld where menstrual health is universally supported and celebrated.

Denied entry to Israel, over 10,000 Palestinians find work in West Bank

Following October 7 massacre, ministers banned entry of Palestinian workers into Israel, however, they are turning to jobs in settlements; 'Economic situation in West Bank primarily Israeli security interest,' security official says

Elisha Ben Kimon|

Yesterday | ynetnews


While the Security Cabinet is stalling on a decision to allow Palestinian workers to re-enter for work in Israel, the number of Palestinian workers coming to work in West Bank areas is steadily increasig.

According to defense establishment data, the number of Palestinian workers employed in industrial zones in the West Bank, in factories, and even within some settlements, has already surpassed 10,000. Approximately 8,000 Palestinians work in industry, around 1,500 in services and about 1,300 in construction. Others are employed in agriculture and various other sectors.
 
Archival: Palestinian laborers waiting to enter Israel from Gaza's Erez border crossing
(Photo: MOHAMMED ABED / AFP)

Security sources say that the demand for Palestinian workers in the West Bank comes from contracting companies whose work has been halted and affected, as well as from within the settlements themselves.

"As time passes, we receive more and more requests from companies and communities seeking to bring in Palestinian workers, of course, under security protocols. There are many projects that have been halted and a lot of money that people have lost," a security official explained.

The increase in demand has occurred recently, especially after the local elections in February. Until then, for obvious reasons, council leaders preferred not to address the issue. After the elections, the floodgates opened, and the IDF and the Civil Administration began receiving numerous requests, primarily to bring in workers for employment.

In the West Bank region, unlike within Israel proper, the approval of the Central Command commander is sufficient to permit the entry of workers. Due to the numerous requests received on one hand, and the desire of some residents not to admit Palestinians on the other, the Central Command has developed a mechanism that ensures no settlement is forced to admit workers. According to the law, if the commander approves the entry of workers to a company whose factory is within a settlement, the settlement cannot legally oppose it.



(Photo: MOHAMMED ABED / AFP)

Due to this sensitivity, it was decided by the command that workers would be allowed entry only with the approval of the settlement committee, followed by the approval of the council to which it belongs.

Before the war, approximately 40,000 workers were employed in the West Bank, and about 100,000 in Israel. Currently, 6,000–8,000 workers are employed in Israel, and more than 10,000 in the West Bank. "It has reached a point where large companies from various sectors operating in Israel are requesting to open small factories in the West Bank to employ Palestinians," an industry source noted.

The workers in the West Bank are employed, among other places, in the Barkan, Mishor Adumim and Ariel industrial zones, and cities like Beitar Illit and others.

"Besides the security issue, where Iran and Hamas are sending money to the West Bank while the workers sit at home, it is important to understand that the prohibition on the entry of workers increases the phenomenon of illegal residents," a security official explained.

"Recently, we have seen worker smuggling, apprehensions at checkpoints and attempts to infiltrate by crossing the border fence. The numbers are not large, but there is concern that it could escalate. A worker who holds a permit and infiltrates is not supervised, unlike someone who would enter legally and be monitored."



(Photo: Nadav Eves)
However, not every West Bank settlement is willing to accept Palestinian workers. Some settlements have decided not to admit workers at this stage, some are still deliberating and have not held votes, and some have held votes and approved it.

While members of the Cabinet still prohibit the entry of workers into Israel, the defense establishment is trying to create innovative solutions to inject some money into the Palestinian Authority territories, with the aim, in their view, of preventing its collapse.

Among other measures, the entry of Arab-Israelis to Jenin through the Jalameh Crossing was recently approved for the first time since the beginning of the war. In the first week of opening the crossing, about 7,000 vehicles passed through it, and according to professional estimates, they generated an income of approximately three million shekels just that weekend. It is estimated that additional crossings for Arab-Israelis into the Palestinian Authority territories are expected to open in the future.

"The economic situation in the West Bank is primarily an Israeli security interest," a security official explained. "We must remember that on the other side, there is Iran and other foreign terrorist organizations, ready to invest a lot of money and resources to fund terrorism. After October 7, no one wanted to admit Palestinian workers into their settlement or area. Today, the trend is quite different. In the end, someone needs to take out the trash and build the houses.

“Meanwhile, it seems decision-makers are mostly focused on saying 'no' and are avoiding providing solutions. We are certainly not forcing the settlements, but we are working to allow those who want to employ Palestinian workers to do so, and of course, we have significantly tightened security conditions."