NO to war – Russia’s hands off Ukraine!

February 8, 2022

An international statement of solidarity launched by the Ukraine Solidarity Campaign. The International Marxist-Humanist Organization has signed and supports this statement. — Editors

We, socialists, trade unionists, scholars, activists for human rights, social justice and peace, stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine against Russian imperialism.

The international left and labour movement must vigorously oppose Russia’s threats against Ukraine.

We say neither Washington nor Moscow. We oppose the policy and manoeuvrings of the big Western powers and NATO.

But currently it is Russia that is threatening the Ukrainian people’s right to self-determination and challenging their legitimacy as an independent nation.

It is Russia that has massed troops on Ukraine’s borders; Russia that has annexed Crimea and persecuted the Crimean Tatars; and Russia that has organised an eight-year war in eastern Ukraine leading to 14,000 deaths, 30,000 wounded and 1.9 million displaced people on the Ukrainian side alone.

Subjugated by Russian Tsarist and Stalinist rulers, for centuries Ukraine was the object of exploitation and national oppression, its culture and language subject to discrimination. Millions perished at the hands of the Kremlin.

We call for peace through self-determination of the Ukrainian people. That does not mean support for the current government of Ukraine or the capitalist oligarchs it serves.

Despite its rhetoric, self-evidently the Russian government is interested in neither democracy nor opposing fascism. The Russian government actively promotes pro-Russian sections of the far right in occupied eastern Ukraine and other parts of Europe; and its anti-Ukrainian policy strengthens the hand of far-right Ukrainian nationalists too.

We hail the brave internationalists in Russia protesting against Putin’s war politics. We demand the release of Russian political prisoners.

We stand in solidarity with socialists, trade unionists and activists for democratic and human rights who, who can bring real progress – in Ukraine and in Russia..

We demand the withdrawal of Russia’s troops from the Ukrainian borders and occupied territories, and an end to Russian interference in Ukraine.

—
This statement was launched by the Ukraine Solidarity Campaign (UK) https://ukrainesolidaritycampaign.org.

Economists Warn Against the Fed Raising Rates at Worst Possible Time

"A large across-the-board increase in interest rates is a cure worse than the disease," says economist Joseph Stiglitz. "That might dampen inflation if it is taken far enough, but it will also ruin people's lives."


People shop in the egg and dairy case on March 13, 2020 at Whole Foods Market in Vauxhall, New Jersey. (Photo: Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

KENNY STANCIL

COMMON DREAMS

February 7, 2022

As the U.S. Federal Reserve mulls hiking interest rates in the coming weeks in an effort to curb inflation, progressive economists are warning against such a move—arguing that it will hurt workers and fail to address the real source of rising prices: unmitigated corporate power.

"The last thing average working people need is for the Fed to raise interest rates and slow the economy further."

"A large across-the-board increase in interest rates is a cure worse than the disease," Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate in economics and Columbia University professor, wrote Monday in Project Syndicate. "We should not attack a supply-side problem by lowering demand and increasing unemployment. That might dampen inflation if it is taken far enough, but it will also ruin people's lives."

Josh Bivens, director of research at the Economic Policy Institute, echoed Stiglitz's message, writing Monday: "The inflation spike of 2021 has been bad for typical families and is a real policy challenge. But it remains the case that an overreaction to it could end up causing the most damage of all."

Stiglitz and Bivens' essays came three days after Robert Reich, professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, made a similar warning.

According to Reich:

Fed policymakers are poised to raise interest rates at their March meeting and then continue raising them, in order to slow the economy. They fear that a labor shortage is pushing up wages, which in turn are pushing up prices—and that this wage-price spiral could get out of control.

It's a huge mistake. Higher interest rates will harm millions of workers who will be involuntarily drafted into the inflation fight by losing jobs or long-overdue pay raises. There's no "labor shortage" pushing up wages. There's a shortage of good jobs paying adequate wages to support working families. Raising interest rates will worsen this shortage.

Although Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell "has expressed concern about wage hikes pushing up prices," Reich wrote, "there's no 'wage-price spiral.'"

"To the contrary, workers' real wages have dropped because of inflation," he added. "Even though overall wages have climbed, they've failed to keep up with price increases—making most workers worse off in terms of the purchasing power of their dollars."

Reich conceded that "wage-price spirals used to be a problem" but argued that's no longer the case "because the typical worker today has little or no bargaining power."

Declining union membership and corporations' increased mobility—both key pillars in the ruling class' highly effective assault on workers that has been carried out on a bipartisan basis for more than four decades—"have shifted power from labor to capital," wrote Reich. "Increasing the share of the economic pie going to profits and shrinking the share going to wages... ended wage-price spirals."

It is "totally wrong" to contend that inflation is being fueled by rising wages stemming from a so-called "tight" labor market, Reich argued. He continued:

The January jobs report shows that the U.S. economy is still 2.9 million jobs below what it had in February 2020. Given the growth of the U.S. population, it's 4.5 million short of what it would have by now had there been no pandemic.

Consumers are almost tapped out. Not only are real (inflation-adjusted) incomes down, but pandemic assistance has ended. Extra jobless benefits are gone. Child tax credits have expired. Rent moratoriums are over. Small wonder consumer spending fell 0.6% in December, the first decrease since last February.

"Given all this, the last thing average working people need is for the Fed to raise interest rates and slow the economy further," Reich added. "The problem most people face isn't inflation. It's a lack of good jobs."

When it comes to what is causing inflation, Reich blamed "continuing worldwide bottlenecks in the supply of goods, and the ease with which big corporations (with record profits) are passing these costs to customers in higher prices."

Corporate greed has played a large role in why people are paying higher prices for food and gas, as Common Dreams has reported and a majority of the public appears to understand, based on recent polling. Amid a public health crisis that has claimed the lives of more than 900,000 people in the U.S. and 5.7 million people globally, price-gouging corporations are enjoying mega-profits not seen since 1950.

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While pandemic profiteering is evident, the question remains as to what made global supply chains so fragile to disruption in the first place—leading to prolonged shortages of key inputs and increased shipping costs that have been accompanied by price hikes.

According to Rakken Mabud, chief economist and managing director of policy and research at the Groundwork Collaborative, the answer lies in offshoring, financialization, deregulation, just-in-time logistics, and other profit-maximizing policies associated with neoliberalization and globalization.

Mabud made that case last week when testifying at a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing. She and David Dayen, executive editor of The American Prospect, expanded on that argument in a recent essay introducing a new series on the supply chain crisis.

As a number of economists have warned recently, policymakers on the verge of making life-altering decisions with respect to interest rates may be doing so based on faulty data or misconceptions.

"Among the biggest job gains in January were workers who are normally temporary and paid low wages (leisure and hospitality, retail, transport and warehousing)," Reich cautioned. "This January employers cut fewer of these low-wage temp workers than in most years, because of rising customer demand and the difficulties of hiring during Omicron. Due to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' 'seasonal adjustment,' cutting fewer workers than usual for this time of year appears as 'adding lots of jobs.'"

Stiglitz, meanwhile, noted that "the inflation rate has been volatile. Last month, the media made a big deal out of the 7% annual inflation rate in the United States, while failing to note that the December rate was little more than half that of the October rate."

"Moreover, given that a large proportion of today's inflation stems from global issues—like chip shortages and the behavior of oil cartels—it is a gross exaggeration to blame inflation on excessive fiscal support in the U.S.," Stiglitz continued.

While "the U.S. has slightly higher inflation than Europe," he added, "it also has enjoyed stronger growth. U.S. policies prevented a massive increase in poverty that might have occurred otherwise. Recognizing that the cost of doing too little would be huge, U.S. policymakers did the right thing."

Stiglitz wrote that his "biggest concern is that central banks will overreact, raising interest rates excessively and hampering the nascent recovery. As always, those at the bottom of the income scale would suffer the most in this scenario."

"What we need instead," he argued, "are targeted structural and fiscal policies aimed at unblocking supply bottlenecks and helping people confront today's realities."

For instance, wrote Stiglitz, "food stamps for the needy should be indexed to the price of food, and energy (fuel) subsidies to the price of energy."

"Beyond that, a one-time 'inflation adjustment' tax cut for lower- and middle-income households would help them through the post-pandemic transition," he added. "It could be financed by taxing the monopoly rents of the oil, technology, pharmaceutical, and other corporate giants that made a killing from the crisis."

'Obscene': BP Profits Hit 8-Year High Amid Climate Emergency

"Oil company bosses are being allowed to make obscene profits from climate breakdown and the gas price crisis on the back of widespread devastation for people around the world," said one campaigner.


Climate activists with Stop the Money Pipeline held a rally in midtown Manhattan on March 3, 2021, protesting companies that have profiting off the climate crisis.

 (Photo: Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images)

JULIA CONLEY

February 8, 2022

Fueled by rising oil and gas prices that have left millions struggling to afford energy bills, British fossil fuel giant BP reported its highest yearly profits in nearly a decade on Tuesday while rejecting calls for a tax on its financial windfall.

The company raked in $12.8 billion in profits in 2021—more than its annual income for the past eight years. The announcement comes a week after BP's rival Shell reported $19.3 billion in profits last year.

"BP and Shell are raking in billions from the gas price crisis while enjoying one of the most favorable tax regimes in the world for offshore drillers."

BP CEO Bernard Looney said Tuesday the company is "delivering distributions to shareholders with $4.15 billion of buybacks announced," and the company intends to deliver $1.5 billion more in share buybacks.

"We see these wealthy firms extracting billions in profit from one of our most basic needs," said Ryan Morrison, a just transition campaigner for Friends of the Earth Scotland. "BP and other fossil fuel bosses are getting even richer as the price of energy pushes millions more homes into fuel poverty and forces people to choose between heating and eating."

Oil and gas prices have skyrocketed in recent months due to higher demand following economic shutdowns during the coronavirus pandemic, with the crisis in Ukraine being blamed for pushing them even higher.

In the U.K., an estimated 22 million households are expected to see their energy costs rise after the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (OFGEM) announced last week a 54% increase to its price cap from 2021.

Household energy bills in the U.K. could rise by nearly $1,000 per year, according to CNBC.

BP's announcement intensified calls for a windfall tax for large fossil fuel companies in the U.K., which, Greenpeace head of climate Kate Blogojevich noted, are "pushing our world closer to catastrophic climate change" while collecting record profits.

"These profits are a slap in the face to the millions of people dreading their next energy bill," Blagojevich said. "BP and Shell are raking in billions from the gas price crisis while enjoying one of the most favorable tax regimes in the world for offshore drillers."

Caroline Lucas, a member of British Parliament representing the Green Party, called BP's profits "obscene" in light of the energy and cost-of-living crisis in Britain.

Despite reports that more than one million additional U.K. households could struggle to afford adequate heat due to rising prices, Finance Minister Rishi Sunak last week rejected calls for a windfall tax for oil and gas profits derived from drilling in the North Sea, where BP and Shell have drilled for decades.

Looney also dismissed demands for a windfall tax, which the Labour Party put forward earlier this month, saying it could save most households more than $200 per year on energy costs.

"We need more gas, not less gas, and therefore we need to encourage investment into the North Sea and not discourage it. That's number one," Looney told CNBC Tuesday. "And the second thing is around the transition, we need to accelerate the transition."

Like other Big Oil companies, BP has recently released plans to purportedly reduce emissions and shift toward renewable energy sources as global experts at the International Energy Agency and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have warned that companies must stop burning fossil fuels to avoid the worst effects of the climate crisis and to limit global heating to 1.5° Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures.

But as Common Dreams reported last week, climate pledges released by companies including BP, Shell, Chevron, and ExxonMobil are rife with loopholes which "ultimately serve little more than to greenwash the fossil fuel industry's image and deceive customers about the climate risks inherent in continued use of its products," according to the Center for Climate Integrity.

"Oil company bosses are being allowed to make obscene profits from climate breakdown and the gas price crisis on the back of widespread devastation for people around the world," said Morrison Tuesday.

The Stop Cambo campaign, which successfully pressured Shell to cancel plans to develop the Cambo oil field in the North Sea late last year, tweeted that the solution to the energy crisis as well as the climate catastrophe is "cheap, green energy."

"Instead of allowing these companies to continue causing social and environmental devastation for their own pocket, we need to overhaul our energy system to end our dependence on oil and gas," said Morrison.

"It's time to rapidly scale up investment in renewables and energy efficiency while winding down fossil fuel production to create affordable renewable energy for everyone," he added. "A just transition will not be realized while profit-obsessed fossil fuel companies call the shots."

Paid Leave for All: Worker Advocates Demand Expanded Protections

"The call for paid leave has never been clearer or louder from all corners of our country," said a pair of Senate Democrats marking the 29th anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act.


A woman works at a distribution station at the 855,000-square-foot Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island, one of the five boroughs of New York City, on February 5, 2019. (Photo: Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images)

ANDREA GERMANOS

COMMON DREAMS

February 5, 2022

Economic justice advocates and Democratic lawmakers on Saturday issued fresh demands for comprehensive paid leave for the nation's workers, saying such protections would address crucial gaps in labor law that the ongoing pandemic has underscored.

The calls came on the 29th anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which provides eligible employees with up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave to care for a new child or take care of one's own or family member's illness. But, worker advocates say, the groundbreaking law is sorely insufficient, because the leave is unpaid and FMLA doesn't cover all workers.

"It's been 29 years today since the FMLA was passed—the first federal protection for people to take time off work when they need it most. But about 10.5 million need leave and don't take it," tweeted the National Women's Law Center.

"All workers should not only be covered," the group added, "but be able to afford to take their leave."

The House Education and Labor Committee similarly noted that "millions of workers are not eligible for FMLA. And unpaid leave is not practical for most Americans."

"We must build on the FMLA by expanding access to PAID leave for workers across the country," the panel added.

Such expansion would also help advance racial equity.

According to NARAL Pro-Choice America: "The 44% of Americans not covered by the FMLA include 48% of Latinx workers, 47% of AAPI workers, and 43% of Black workers. Every American should be covered by the FMLA."

In a Friday statement, Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who heads the Senate's Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) said the lack of guaranteed paid leave is especially problematic in light of the ultra-contagious Omicron variant.

"American parents still can't take paid time to care for a seriously ill child. Patients can't take paid time to recover from surgery or cope with a cancer diagnosis. And workers with a cold, the flu, or even Covid-19, can't take the time to get well and keep their coworkers safe—because they would risk losing a paycheck or even their job," said Murray and Gillibrand.

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In addition to harming families and the economy, the pair said the absence of paid leave and sick days is "hurting our ability to fight this pandemic. If we want to stop the spread of Omicron, be ready for whatever this pandemic brings next, and prepare for future public health crises—then we need paid leave."

Pointing to recent polling showing overwhelming public support for such protections, the lawmakers added that "the call for paid leave has never been clearer or louder from all corners of our country" and urged their congressional colleagues to help enact such a measure.

President Joe Biden, for his part, said in a Saturday tweet marking the FMLA anniversary that he is "committed to continuing the fight for national paid family and medical leave."

That vow was welcomed by Center for Economic and Policy Research co-director Eileen Appelbaum, who expressed hope Biden would "push for it when bills to provide it are introduced in the Congress."

"People are desperate for paid leave," she said, calling it "policy that is needed and popular."

Activist Fund Pushes Insurers To Drop Oil And Gas Clients


Editor OilPrice.com
Thu, February 17, 2022

Activist investment fund Green Century Capital Management has filed shareholder resolutions aimed at forcing three insurance companies to stop offering coverage to oil and gas companies, MarketWatch reports.

In response, the targets of the arm-twisting attempt—Chubb, Travelers, and The Hartford—filed no-action requests with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Green Century Capital Management resolutions call on the insurers to “adopt and disclose new policies to help ensure that its underwriting practices do not support new fossil fuel supplies, in alignment with the International Energy Agency (IEA)’s net-zero emissions by 2050 scenario.”

The scenario in question was released as a Road Map to Net Zero by the IEA in May 2021. In it, the agency said the world would not need so much oil and gas in the future, so new oil and gas exploration needs to stop immediately. A few months later, however, the IEA was vocal in its calls on OPEC to boost oil production as demand rose faster than expected.

A growing number of companies from various industries are becoming targets for activist investors, insistent that more action needs to be taken to reduce carbon emissions.

“Investors are demanding that insurance companies stop supporting the rampant expansion of fossil fuels that is driving the climate crisis,” said Elana Sulakshana from the Rainforest Action Network as quoted by MarketWatch.

“But instead of taking concrete action to limit fossil fuel insuring and investing, Chubb, Travelers and The Hartford are trying to silence their shareholders and continue business as usual,” she added.

Speaking of fossil fuel financing, a recent study from a group of nongovernmental organizations found that top international banks had provided some $1.5 trillion in direct financing and debt underwriting services to the coal industry between 2019 and 2021. All of the banks involved, including HSBC, Barclays, and Mizuho, had made emission-cutting pledges.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

  

Oligarch's death sends Czech giant west

A year after the death of Czech oligarch Petr Kellner, PPF Group — the conglomerate he left behind — appears to be retreating from his bet on eastern markets.

Well-versed in tales of how Kellner became Czechia's richest man by steering PPF into some of the world's riskiest markets, the country was shocked by the 56-year-old billionaire's demise in a helicopter crash in March 2021. A year on, shorn of the oligarch's vision and political sway, PPF looks to be seeking safer waters.

Founding the company during the much-maligned coupon privatization of the post-communist 1990s, Kellner spent three decades building PPF into a rare beast: a Czech giant. The corporation now sits on around €40 billion ($45 billion) in assets, with Central European banking, telecoms, and media at the base.

However, over the past decade or so, the Home Credit subsidiary was the main driver of profitability via its consumer loans businesses in China and Russia. How PPF in 2010 became the first foreign company to land a lending license in China or survive the cut-throat competition of Russian oligarchs has long been a topic of conjecture.

Most connect the success to Kellner's skillful political maneuvering, for which he was both admired and feared. The billionaire had links with the pro-Russian former President Vaclav Klaus and worked closely with his successor, Milos Zeman, and his inner circle of Russia- and China-linked businessmen, who have spent years trying to push Czech foreign policy closer to eastern interests.

Scandals have been common. In 2014, Zeman introduced Kellner to Chinese President Xi Jinping and was ferried home by the billionaire on a private jet. The oligarch was then suspected of helping to shut down roads and protests when Xi visited Prague two years later.

Many eyed with concern PPF's growing interests in Central Europe's media sector after the company was revealed in 2019 to be running a PR campaign for Beijing.

"Czech foreign policy certainly shifted around the time that PPF got its first break in China," says Vit Havelka at the Association for International Affairs (AMO).

President Zeman (center) welcomed President Xi to Prague back in 2016

Closer to home

The analyst admits there's a dearth of hard evidence that the billionaire's politicking drove PPF's eastern adventures. However, almost a year after his death, PPF appears to be pulling back from some of those risky markets to focus on Europe and the US.

Numerous reports claim that the company is set to sell Home Credit's Russian unit to local corporation Sistema. PPF refused to either refute or confirm the speculation to DW.

However, in late December, CFO Katerina Jiraskova hinted that Home Credit could sell or take on partners in markets with "limited … potential."

That has sparked suspicion that the Chinese arm of Home Credit could also be on the block. Bloomberg also reported that disposals worth close to $2.5 billion could be due in India, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Meanwhile, PPF is still busily chasing acquisitions, as has long been its habit. But its focus is clearly on markets closer to home.

The group is working, for instance, on deals that will see it create the Czech Republic's third-biggest bank, expand its holdings in European telecoms, and extend its recent push into the US real estate market.

"It's fair to say there is a repositioning," said one source at the company.

"PPF has always been and still is opportunistic, but there is now a deeper concentration on established markets," PPF spokesman Leos Rousek told DW. "We're strengthening in Europe and the US in banking, telco, biotech, industry, and real estate."

Just business?

Battered by the pandemic, Home Credit saw operating revenue in China drop to €462 million in the first half of 2021 compared with over €1 billion in the previous year. But it's not only COVID-19 hurting the bottom line. Competition is rising in some of the Asian markets where Home Credit works.

"The banks in these markets see PPF handing out consumer loans and they've decided that they'd could be doing it themselves," said the company source.

These local competitors can have significant advantages. For instance, a local partnership in a market like China, where Beijing last year began restricting access to local financing for foreign banks, might make sense.

It's such changing regulation that can make operating in these markets so risky. And that risk is only growing as geopolitical tensions rise, analysts point out.

"There's been a change in China since PPF entered," said Lukas Kovanda, chief economist at Trinity Bank in Prague. "The growing tensions make it ever riskier to operate in countries with authoritarian regimes that perceive a business as being from an unfriendly nation. This is likely to lead a company like PPF to consider its direction."

Protestors have picketed the presidential office in Prague over its political and business links with Russia and China

Home Credit also faces geopolitically driven difficulties in Russia. The unit's sizable assets in Kazakhstan reportedly deterred Hungary's OTP Bank, thought to be an early suitor, as the Central Asian country teetered on the edge of civil war late last year.

"There is clearly geopolitical tension around Russia and this influences business decisions of course," said the PPF source. "We always follow the money. Just look at the ruble! You eventually have to ask yourself if you want to be long in a market that has an almost endlessly depreciating currency?"

Running low

Amid the raised tension, "good political connections are increasingly important if you're going to work in markets like Russia and China," remarked Kovanda.

But PPF appears to be running low on political know-how just when it needs it most.

For the meantime, Ladislav Bartonicek, who owns half of the 1% stake in PPF that is not held by Kellner's family, sits in the CEO's chair. But he has appeared to admit that he's not able to steer PPF through the same dangerous waters as did the late oligarch.

"He was a bigger risk-taker, that's for sure," Bartonicek said late last year as he explained his approach to the group's deal-making strategy.

The billionaire, by way of contrast, had built such influence that his death spurred widespread discussion in the media of the implications for Czech foreign policy.

"Kellner's empire has so dug into the basic infrastructure of the state, wrote one columnist, "that any change of course is fundamental throughout the country."

Even worse, PPF has actually lost two political champions of its Eastern fortunes, suggests a senior political source in Prague.

Weakened by ill health and resistance from large swathes of the political establishment, President Zeman's eastward push has struggled in recent years amid a series of diplomatic disasters that have sent Prague's relations with Moscow and Beijing nosediving.

"The loss of Zeman's clout has been just as damaging for PPF as Kellner's death," stated the source. "There have just been too many setbacks. The Russians now understand Zeman's growing irrelevance. And China's not far behind."

Edited by: Hardy Graupner

THUMBNAIL The main thoroughfare from Prague’s airport is dominated by PPF’s headquarters

UN Palestinian refugee agency still short of cash

UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini visits Germany to shore up long-term financial commitments. After the US stopped funding the agency, Germany became one of its most important donors.

Around 58% of the UNRWA's funds are spent on education

At the outset of 2022, the cash-strapped United Nations organization tasked with supporting Palestinian refugees in the Middle East put out yet another call for funding. Over the year it would take $1.6 billion (around €1.4 billion) to make ends meet, the UN Relief and Works Agency said.

Commonly known as the UNRWA, the agency has previously spoken of an "existential crisis" due to a lack of funding.

The UNRWA takes care of the educational, health and welfare needs of close to 6 million Palestinian refugees living in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Funded almost completely by voluntary donations from UN member nations, it has been in financially straitened circumstances since 2018.

In August that year, the US government, then headed by Donald Trump, said it was cutting all funding to the UNRWA. Until then, the US had been the agency's biggest donor, making up about a third of its annual budget.

The UNRWA employs around 30,000 staff, most of whom are Palestinian refugees

Germany steps up

"[The] UNRWA is perceived as a lifeline by Palestinian refugees," the agency's head, Philippe Lazzarini, told DW during a three-day visit to Germany this week.

"For example, we have nearly 600,000 girls and boys in 700 schools," he explained. "We provide primary health care to more than 2 million people across the region and we also provide a social safety net. ... In places like Gaza and Lebanon and Syria, we provide cash and food for the most destitute Palestinian refugees." The UNRWA also offers micro-financing loans.

Lazzarini was in Berlin to discuss Germany's long-term financial and strategic support for the UNWRA. After the US halted funding in 2018, the agency appealed to other countries to make up the shortfall.

"Germany significantly stepped up its contribution to the organization in 2018," Lazzarini told DW's Emmanuelle Chaze.

Germany is now one of the agency's largest donors, supplying €150 million ($170 million) in 2021 and €210 million ($238 million) in 2020.

"We will continue to do so in the future," Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock confirmed after a visit to an UNRWA-run refugee camp in Jordan last week.

On a visit to the Jordanian camp, Annalena Baerbock (far left) said it was important to

 keep giving, "within the framework of the UN"

The US, under President Joe Biden, also started funding the UNRWA again in 2021, donating around $240 million by the end of last year.

Financial struggles 

The UNRWA has a core budget of around $800 million, about half of which goes on education. It uses the rest of its funding for emergencies that impact Palestinian refugees, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the Syrian civil war or the Lebanese economic crisis. Its international staff are paid out of a different UN budget.

But, as Lazzarini pointed out during his visit, despite donations from the US and Germany, the agency has been in debt since 2019. 

Financial struggles are nothing new to the UNRWA. It was first founded by the UN in 1949 to provide relief to Palestinians who had fled or were displaced during the 1948 war that established the state of Israel. It has regularly run a deficit since 1950. But thanks to factors such as changing donor priorities and other humanitarian crises, donations have been dropping for around a decade.

For example, the UK recently cut donations by more than half and donations from Arab Gulf countries have also plummeted. 

Not political

The donations are decreasing, even as the Palestinian refugee population has grown. This is because, until a long-term solution is found, descendants of refugees can also claim refugee status under international law.

"The organization keeps struggling to deliver its services … because of financial challenges, which most of the time are also an expression of political challenges," Lazzarini told DW.

In an open letterto Palestinian refugees, published in December last year, Lazzarini explained what he meant.

"Since 2018, [UNRWA] and its mandate have come under increased political attacks," he wrote. "These attacks are based on the foolish and wrong idea that by closing UNRWA, they will erase 5.8 million Palestine refugees."

Critical opinions

The UNRWA has been criticized by former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, among other Israeli politicians, and ex-US President Donald Trump because of how it defines who can be called a Palestinian refugee.

It defines them as "persons whose normal place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946, to 11 May 1948, and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict.” Descendants of those people may also sign up with the UNRWA.

Netanyahu argued that the UNRWA should be disbanded, calling it a "refugee perpetuation agency" and suggesting other UN agencies take care of Palestinian refugees in the region.

"It also perpetuates the narrative of the so-called ‘right of return' with the aim of eliminating the state of Israel," Netanyahu said in 2018.

No solution in sight

Israel has always rejected the right of Palestinians to return. If millions of Palestinians returned, the demographic change would make Israel a Palestinian-majority state, rather than a Jewish-majority one.

However, as the UNRWA itself explains on its website, even if it were dissolved, Palestine refugees "would still be Palestine refugees and retain their rights under [UN] General Assembly resolution 194, pending a just and lasting solution to their plight."

The same UN resolution incorporates the right of Palestinian refugees and their descendants to return to the homes from which they were displaced.

Close to 3 million Palestinian refugees use the UNRWA's health services

At the moment, any kind of solution to one of the Middle East's longest-running conflicts does not appear to be in sight. And many political experts, including Israelis, warn that closing the UNRWA without an alternative could result in deepening poverty and maybe even more violence.

"The root causes of the conflict remain," Lazzarini said at a press conference in Gaza, following fighting there in May 2021. "These must be resolved."

Until then, the UNRWA will be needed, he concluded.

Edited by: Nicole Goebe

Israel won't cooperate with UN rights probe

Israel announced it would not cooperate with the UN Human Rights Council's investigation into alleged abuses against Palestinians, saying it was unfairly biased against Israel.

Israel formally said on Thursday it would not be cooperating with a special commission established by the UN Human Rights Council to investigate alleged abuses committed against Palestinians.

Israel charged in a letter sent to Navi Pillay, the head of the commission and a former UN high commissioner for human rights, that she is biased against the state of Israel and therefore so is the commission.

Meirav Eilon Shahar, the Israeli ambassador to the UN and other Geneva-based international organizations, wrote in the letter, "It is obvious to my country, as it should be to any fair-minded observer, that there is simply no reason to believe that Israel will receive reasonable, equitable and non-discriminatory treatment."

Pillay, a judge from South Africa, has previously compared the former system of apartheid in her country with the situation confronting Palestinians in Israel and has also supported the movement to boycott and divest (BDS) from Israel. Both are significant strikes against her in Israel's view.

What is the UN's Human Rights Council?

The UN-backed Human Rights Council is based in Geneva. Among the Human Rights Council's 47 members are known human rights violators, including China, Cuba, Eritrea, Pakistan, Venezuela as well as several Arab countries run by dictators.

In addition to the council's awkward membership roster, every time the Human Rights Council meets, Israel's human rights record is raised. There is no other country where this is the case.
Why is there a commission of inquiry?

Last May, the UN Human Rights Council moved to establish the commission following 11 days of conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. That brief eruption of hostilities cost 260 Palestinians their lives as well as 14 people within the state of Israel.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet has said Israeli airstrikes on population centers could constitute war crimes. Several international organizations, including Human Rights Watch, concur.

Bachelet and Human Rights Watch have also criticized Hamas and charged rocket fire on cities violates the international laws of war. Israel has countered that Hamas uses residential areas to launch its rockets and blamed it for the casualties inflicted in what it calls retaliatory strikes.

The council's persistent focus on alleged abuses in the state of Israel and the competing conflict narratives emerging from events last May led the council to create a commission to investigate.

What is the mandate of the commission of inquiry?

The commission of inquiry is considered the strongest tool the UN Human Rights Council has available to use at its discretion.

It will investigate allegations of abuses against the Palestinians in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank.

The commission is certain to face an uphill battle as the Israeli letter indicates, though Israel has long accused the council, and the UN generally, of bias.

It is unclear how much the commission will be able to achieve with Israel showing fierce resistance to its efforts.

ar/fb (AFP, AP)

Opinion: Focus in Mali needs to be on people, not the military

Nobody in Mali is surprised by the withdrawal of French and EU troops. It is time to review old strategies and to stop working with corrupt elites, says DW's Dirke Köpp.

In future, Mali's army will have to make do without French support

After many threats in this vein, and as many postponements, on Thursday France and its EU partners finally announced that they would be withdrawing their troops from Mali. They said that the plan was to continue the fight against terrorism in the Sahel region from a different country. In Germany, the announcement has caused a stir because of the Bundeswehr's involvement.However, in Mali itself, many seem to be indifferent. Indeed, many have even welcomed France's withdrawal.

There are many reasons for this. One of them is the "Francafrique" system, an arrangement thanks to which the French state has, over decades and with the help of corrupt elites in individual countries, secured access to resources in Africa. Many people in Francophone Africa are completely fed up with this – and rightly so.

Riding the anti-French wave

Meanwhile, more and more, Russia has exploited this anti-French resentment for its own goals – which are, of course, not a jot grander than those of many others. In addition to access to resources such as gold, uranium or gemstones, Moscow is primarily concerned with geostrategic hegemony. Accordingly, Russian trolls have flooded the social networks with anti-French propaganda, fake news and alleged success stories of Russian military operations.

Dirke Köpp heads DW's French for Africa department

Mali's military regime – which was trained in Europe, but also in Russia - is also riding the anti-French wave for its own purposes: namely to maintain its power. For months, it has engaged in a diplomatic showdown with France, while at the same time intensifying its military cooperation with Russia, whose exact nature it has neglected to disclose to its allies. (Is the cooperation with mercenaries from the Wagner group or soldiers from the regular Russian army?)

What is clear is that France, and the EU, have double standards. And this is precisely what many Malians are annoyed about: While the (bothersome) putschists in Mali have had sanctions slapped on them, Chad's interim president remains a welcome guest. Yet, he also seized power in a highly undemocratic way after the unexplained death of his adoptive father.

Non-military solutions needed

One does not need to think for more than a second to understand that the solution for the Sahel cannot be a military one. What people in the region need is development, reliable state structures and prospects for a safe future. And this does not only mean protection from terrorists. It is a question of survival.

It would be much better for the people of the Sahel region if as many billions of euros were invested in developing their societies as were pumped into military missions.

It would be even better if everything was done to make sure that the funds invested did not land in the pockets of corrupt elites. The situation is catastrophic. Harvests are either drying up or being flooded because of climate change. There are more and more people to feed because of a population boom. The state is absent in many places, and bandits have been allowed to wreak havoc.

In some parts, jihadis have set up parallel tax systems. There is hardly any work. There are few hospitals. And most roads are in a state of disrepair.

More and more, the members of different ethnic groups are coming into conflict over resources, which are increasingly scarce. Millions of people are in danger of famine and starvation. Millions have fled. Millions of children cannot go to school because of the terrorist threat. A lost generation is growing up.

Desperate measures

The daily struggle and lack of prospects are causing many to despair. It can thus be easy for jihadis luring people in with promises of a better life and money. This is not a reproach and not everybody is tempted by the offers of terrorists. But how many people who are safe in Europe can say for sure that they would resist such temptation if their families were in danger?

For far too long, the international community has placed its bets on military solutions alone. Now, it must find other ways of helping the abandoned populations of the Sahel region.

It means taking them and their needs seriously. It means working with them to find local solutions. It means making sure that children can go to school and their parents can go back to work in the fields without being scared.

If this means talking with armed groups first, then this is an option that should at least be entertained. In some places, approaches such as these have led to people living in more safety.

This piece was originally written in German.

Controversy over hijab at India's educational institutions

India's secular constitution allows minorities like Muslims to practice their religion. But some members of the Hindu majority, reportedly linked to Hindu nationalist groups, say hijabs have no place in schools and colleges.