Wednesday, September 08, 2021

Alberta government scales back pay cut proposal for nurses amid fourth wave of COVID-19

Author of the article: Lisa Johnson, Ashley Joannou
Publishing date: Sep 08, 2021 • 
Heather Smith, United Nurses of Alberta president, is pictured here in March 2021. The union said Tuesday that Alberta Health Services’ latest proposal “represents progress.” 
PHOTO BY IAN KUCERAK /Postmedia, file
Article content

The Alberta government has backed away from its demand that nurses take a three per cent wage cut.

In a news release Tuesday evening, the United Nurses of Alberta (UNA) said Alberta Health Services’ (AHS) latest proposal “represents progress” after AHS contacted the union over the weekend with a new mandate from the government.

AHS has dropped what the union called “offensive rollbacks,” including reductions of shift differentials and other pay premiums, but maintained other demands, including the the elimination of lump-sum payments, costing members two per cent a year in pay.

Now on the table is a pay freeze for the first three years of a five-year collective agreement, followed by increases of one per cent in each of the final two years of the contract.

In a statement of his own Wednesday morning, Finance Minister Travis Toews said the new proposal “acknowledges the hard work and dedication of Alberta’s nurses, while respecting the tough fiscal situation the province is in.”

“There are still a number of items that need to be negotiated, including the twice yearly lump sum payments that do not exist in any other nursing contract in Canada,” he said.

The union said that while the changes are an improvement “they would do nothing to address the critical problem of attrition and retention now faced by Alberta Health Services throughout the province.”

The latest offer comes days after the UNA said it was informed that AHS would immediately begin working with three staffing agencies to hire contract nurses from outside the province to fill staffing gaps.

In August, AHS said it had held preliminary discussions about potentially hiring contract nurses after being approached by agency Greenstaff Medical.

Rising COVID-19 case hospitalizations have put pressure on intensive care units, contributed to a staffing shortage, and forced the provincial health authority to cancel some elective surgeries.

Both sides have reached an essential services agreement in the event of a strike or lockout, and the UNA is set to meet with the mediator on Friday. If mediation fails, a strike vote could happen following a 14-day “cooling off” period.

Toews has previously defended the government’s original proposed three per cent wage cut, which nurses said amounted to an overall five per cent compensation reduction, as necessary to bring Alberta’s spending in line with that of other provinces.

In July, Toews said on average, Alberta nurses make 5.6 per cent more than in other comparator provinces, based on total compensation as of 2020.

“The need to bring wages in line with other large provinces does not diminish our deep respect for the exceptional work and dedication of public sector workers. It is simply reflective of our fiscal reality, and one that many sectors in the province have experienced,” he said in a statement at the time.

In a Tuesday night statement, Opposition NDP Leader Rachel Notley demanded the government stop the rollbacks completely, with the healthcare system “in chaos” and frontline workers caring for Albertans with COVID-19.

“To be clear, the government-led attacks on these professionals cannot continue and this change in bargaining position will not be enough to combat the widespread staff shortages arising from burnout and low morale,” said Notley.

Both sides are set to be back at the table when formal mediation begins on Sept. 21


Alberta drops bid to cut nurse wages by 3 per cent, union says other cuts still on table

'It seemed like they started to realize how much of a crisis they are really in,' says UNA

Michelle Bellefontaine · CBC · 
Nurses and supporters rallied in front of the Royal Alexandra hospital in
 Edmonton last month during a Day of Action information picket.
 (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press)

Alberta Health Services has taken a proposed three-per-cent wage rollback off the table in its talks with the United Nurses of Alberta. 

The new proposal offers nurses three years with no salary increases followed by two years with a one per cent increase.

The offer arrived two weeks before the start of formal mediation, during a period where Alberta's hospitals and intensive care units are struggling with staffing shortages and employee burnout during the surging fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

"This new proposal acknowledges the hard work and dedication of Alberta's nurses while respecting the tough fiscal situation the province is in," Finance Minister Travis Toews said in a written statement. 

However, an official from the UNA said Toews's remarks were "absolutely false."

AHS still wants an end to two annual lump-sum payments, which amounts to a two-per-cent cut in salary, said David Harrigan, the UNA's director of labour relations.

"Minister Toews issued a statement saying they're proposing a wage freeze for the first three years. That's just absolutely false," Harrigan said. 

"it's not helpful when he makes misstatements and it just confuses the public and our members." 

Harrigan said the AHS chief negotiator reached out to him over the long weekend after receiving a new mandate from the government. 

"We're not sure what exactly prompted it," Harrigan said.

"It seemed like they started to realize how much of a crisis they are really in. ...They can't attract staff and they can't retain staff."

David Harrigan, shown with NDP labour critic Christina Gray, is the director of labour 
relations for the United Nurses of Alberta. (Gaetan Lamarre/CBC )

While AHS has dropped many proposed changes to how nurses are scheduled and paid overtime, Harrigan is concerned the health authority wants to end scheduling provisions that have guaranteed nurses two full calendar days of rest each week. 

In his written statement, Toews said UNA members are the only nurses in Canada who receive two annual lump-sum payments under their contract. 

The start of formal mediation marks a new chapter in the year-long talks to reach a new five-year collective agreement.

The mediator has 14 days to get both sides to reach an agreement. If that occurs, a strike or lockout can occur after a two-week cooling-off period.

UNA and AHS have already settled the essential services agreement that sets minimum staffing levels in the case of a strike or lockout.

AHS is now admitting it is reaching out to staffing agencies to hire casual nurses. The top rate for an Alberta nurse is $48 an hour. The contract nurses earn an hourly wage of $75. 

Two weeks ago, the health authority brought new rules which would force nurses to work mandatory overtime or cancel their vacation. 


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Calgary·Opinion

How Kenney's political ideology is out of touch with Alberta values

The approach has not worked, argues Duane Bratt


Duane Bratt · For CBC Opinion · 
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney speaks to the media at the Alberta Legislature at the outset of the pandemic on March 13, 2020. (Sam Martin/CBC)

This column is an opinion by Duane Bratt, a political science professor at Mount Royal University.

When it comes to Alberta's COVID-19 response and the public's reaction to it, I think it's fair to say we have a problem. 

The flames of outrage are burning on many fronts, and the premier poured more gas on the fire last Friday with the "cash for a jab" offer. 

So what's going on? What's behind all the decisions and non-decisions? 

Many observers have identified a partisan political angle. 

However, Premier Jason Kenney's political ideology is a much more powerful explanation for Alberta's comparatively poor response to COVID-19. 

Ideologies can often predict public policy. That has been the case with the Kenney government and its response to COVID-19. Look through Kenney's lens, you see a pattern. 

Problem is, Albertans are looking through a different lens. 

A clear political ideology

All political parties, and politicians, come equipped with an ideology. 

Rachel Notley has an ideology, as do Justin Trudeau and Erin O'Toole. Ideology is not a negative term — rather, it is a set of interrelated values or beliefs composed of attitudes toward various institutions and societal processes. It helps us understand where our politicians are coming from and what they might do.

Jason Kenney has been a political figure in Alberta and Ottawa for 30 years. Throughout this time he has articulated a clear political ideology through his words and actions. 

As a conservative (the name is a good indicator), Kenney attempts to either preserve the status quo or revive certain aspects of the past. 

His ideology sees the state as a promoter and protector of morality, social responsibility, personal responsibility, and traditional institutions and practices.

He advocates smaller government through decentralization of authority and maximizing individual freedom. Smaller government also extends to the economic realm by reducing social spending, cutting taxes, balancing budgets, deregulation and privatization. 

Alberta has been hit hard by the second, third and fourth waves of the pandemic, Duane Bratt writes. (CBC)

But the ideology allows for government intervention in order to protect the "traditional" family through supporting religious institutions, parental rights and challenging certain abortion and LGBTQ+ rights. 

Kenney has not hidden his political ideology but embraced and promoted it. 

He has also surrounded himself with many like-minded individuals in cabinet, caucus, and political staff. 

Albertans know what Kenney believes, and in 2019 they elected the UCP with a strong majority government. The strongest UCP supporters, in fact, wanted to punt the NDP for, in their view, imposing what some called Notley's socialist ideology on Alberta. They wanted to replace her ideology with Kenney's. 

But there can come a problem with ideology when that of politicians no longer aligns with that of the population as a whole. When there is a fundamental disconnect between the government and the governed. 

And that, I think, helps explain the problem so many Albertans have with the UCP government's handling of the COVID-19 crisis.

The first wave

What happens when political ideology confronts a once-in-a-century pandemic?

Initially, Kenney's response was to downgrade his ideological principles and adopt a more pragmatic approach. 

Big government, making big decisions. Collective action over individual liberties. 

In his response to the first wave, starting in March 2020, Kenney declared a public emergency and placed restrictions on large gatherings (sporting events, concerts, restaurants, theatres, etc.) and shut down in-person classes in schools, post-secondaries, and child care facilities. 

Employers were encouraged to have their employees work from home. A testing/tracing/isolation protocol was also put in effect. In an April 7, 2020, televised address, Kenney encouraged collective action and asked Albertans to act like buffalo, and, "herd closely together and face the storm head on, coming out of it strong and united." 

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and his new cabinet ministers hold a press conference after a cabinet shuffle at in Edmonton on July 8, 2021. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press)

Kenney's response to the first wave was effective. Compared to other provinces, Alberta saw fewer cases, hospitalizations, ICU admissions and deaths. 

But some of the original ideological values still arose and caused problems — most notably the decision to continue with trying to reduce doctors' compensation in the midst of a pandemic. This backfired and explained why Kenney, unlike other premiers, did not receive a COVID-19 bump in approval.   

Still, this bending to the overwhelming needs of a pandemic worked and worked relatively well. 

Unfortunately, Kenney's response to the first wave — even though it was successful — was an outlier. 

The next waves

Not only did he adopt a much more ideological approach to the second, third and fourth waves, but he apologized for some of the ideological actions that made the first wave less severe. 

When the second wave started to arrive in Alberta in October 2020, the Kenney government initially refused to re-impose the previous COVID-19 restrictions. 

Instead, Kenney emphasized personal responsibility and personal choice. 

In a foreshadowing of his response to the fourth wave, Kenney was publicly absent for 10 days at the beginning of the second wave. When action was finally taken (well after other Canadian provinces), it was much less restrictive than other provinces and Alberta's first wave response. 

Even when Kenney announced the COVID restrictions, he went out of his way to explain that this went against his core values. 

"[B]ehind every one of these restrictions lie crushed dreams and terrible adversity. Life savings, years of work, hopes and dreams that are suddenly undone due to no fault of brave Albertans who have taken the risk to start businesses, to create jobs." 

The response to the third wave in Spring 2021 was similar. 

The lighter restrictions imposed during the third wave were removed much quicker to allow for the "best summer ever" to start on July 1.  

The vaccination plan itself also revealed the ideological approach of the Kenney government. 

Even as Kenney emphasized the critical importance of vaccines (those in hospitals and ICUs are overwhelmingly not vaccinated) and implemented a decentralized system to get shots into arms, he also maintained vaccines were an individual choice. 

Vaccines would not be mandatory. 

Decades-old provincial legislation was even repealed that previously allowed the government to require vaccines, even though that power had never been used.

So far, unlike most other provincial governments, the Kenney government has refuted the concept of a vaccine passport or to mandate vaccinations in schools, large gatherings and private businesses. 

The problem with the approach? 

It has not worked!

Alberta has been hit hard by the second, third and fourth waves. 

In the fourth wave, which picked up steam in mid-August 2021, Alberta has seen the province hit with the highest number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths in the country, not just in per capita terms but in absolute terms. 

As with the second wave, Kenney was silent for three weeks and no one else in the government could publicly speak. 

When the response finally came on Sept. 3,  a province-wide mask mandate was reintroduced (churches exempted) and a curfew for alcohol sales was established (rodeos exempted). 

But the major policy response was to plead with unvaccinated Albertans to get the jab including, remarkably, an inducement of $100 to do so. A free market bribe rather than a vaccine passport. Completely in keeping with Kenney's ideology.

Individual choice, not government mandate, remained the primary policy tool.

Another problem is that the pandemic, and the public outrage, reveals the ideological lens through which Jason Kenney views the province, and which he uses to create government policy, no longer reflects modern Alberta. 

Where we are at

In a time of crisis — war, depression, natural disaster, health pandemic — an ideology that emphasizes the individual, the market and small government does not work. 

The ideological approach to COVID-19 so far tries to appeal to the mythology of Alberta's frontier past — of settlers taming a harsh environment and harnessing its natural resources through hard work, ingenuity, and free from the shackles of government. 

WATCH | Jason Kenney on Calgary's mask bylaw:


Jason Kenney criticized Calgary council for not killing mask bylaw by July 1. 5:52

This vision of ourselves has a long history in Alberta's grassroots political movements of the United Farmers of Alberta in the 1920s, Social Credit in the 1930s, the Reform Party in the 1980s, Wildrose Party in the late 2000s/early 2010s, and the UCP today. 

It may work well as a rhetorical flourish (few are those who would argue against empowering the individual) but it's an ideology that presupposes everyone works toward some shared notion of the common good. 

And, this common good, I think we have learned in the pandemic, is not a mutually agreed upon path. 

Herein we find one of the great ideological dilemmas in our province. 

A major disconnect

These political ideological notions Kenney has of 'who we are', and 'how we act', are outmoded. And, given the diversity of values held by individuals across the province, applying this flawed all-inclusive vision puts the government out of step with the people. 

Evidence for this comes from many sources including the 2018, 2020, and 2021 Road Ahead Surveys conducted by Janet Brown for CBC Calgary that found that Albertans consistently placed themselves in the centre of the political spectrum. 

The 2018 survey — pre-COVID — showed a large majority of Albertans did not want cuts to social programs and believed the government should take steps to reduce the gap between rich and poor, and men and women. Half of Albertans believed that there was a role for the government in job creation, not just private business. 

In short, the survey data, I would argue, explains the current emotional eruptions over the government's handling of COVID. 

It reveals a major disconnect between Kenney's political ideology of government staying small and out of sight and the values of a majority of Albertans.

Do you have a strong opinion that could add insight, illuminate an issue in the news, or change how people think about an issue? We want to hear from you. Here's how to pitch to us.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Duane Bratt

Duane Bratt is a political scientist at Mount Royal University in Calgary

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Hot job! The agricultural industry is desperate for workers and Canada is no exception

Everything from agronomists, or experts in soil management and crop production, to veterinarians are needed

Author of the article: Nicholas Sokic, Special to Financial Post
Publishing date: Sep 07, 2021 • 

A rooftop greenhouse in Montreal. 
PHOTO BY SEBASTIEN ST-JEAN/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES FILES

There’s a global shortage of agricultural workers, from manual labour roles to science and engineering-focused agricultural tech work, and Canada is no different.

Everything from agronomists, or experts in soil management and crop production, to veterinarians are needed in Canada and it’s a long-standing need. Pre-COVID-19 studies showed that primary agriculture experienced a labour shortage of 63,000 positions in 2018, giving it the highest job vacancy rate of any Canadian industry at 5.4 per cent. The shortage has been predicted to increase to 123,000 by 2029.



A ‘weird’ pandemic problem: Shortage of skilled workers


Meanwhile, a recent Information and Communications Technology Council report suggests that agri-food and food-tech sector jobs are projected to grow to 683,000 by 2025 from 634,000 currently, because there’s a rising demand for food from an ever-increasing global population.

What’s it pay?

Farming encompasses a large variety of roles, including ones with low or no entry requirements and those that require advanced degrees. Based on 2,800 salaries listed, Indeed Canada pegs the average salary for a farm worker at $15.25 an hour, which works out to $31,720 a year. An agronomist can expect to make an annual average of $59,996 while agricultural engineers will earn more $100,000.

Who’s it for?

A comprehensive list of roles, their requirements and prerequisites in primary agriculture can be found on the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council’s website. It breaks down the labourer, manager and owner hierarchy in various sub-sectors, including aquaculture, poultry and eggs, cattle, field fruit and vegetables, as well as roles in greenhouses and nurseries.

Beyond that, Jennifer Wright, the council’s acting executive director, said the industry has been increasingly reaching out to those in non-agricultural educational and career streams.

“We’re hoping to connect them with work experience and experiential learning opportunities, so that they can see where their technology degree or their environmental science degree or their software engineering degree could really be put to good use within the agriculture industry,” she said.

Wright noted the industry needs to adapt both its skills base and its workers to face technological innovations such as automation and artificial intelligence. One particularly burgeoning area is indoor farming, which she said has huge potential, both in terms of cleantech and because there’s a need to address food security concerns.

An agronomist works at a vertical farm in Ontario. 
PHOTO BY GLENN LOWSON/NATIONAL POST FILES

“With the increased innovation that’s being shown in this space, there is much more opportunity for food to be growing,” she said. “Fresh produce could be available locally from indoor farming spaces in the North, which hasn’t been something that’s been available, really ever on a consistent basis.”

Wright said soft skills are also something she’s been hearing the industry needs more of, including communications, problem solving and working well within a team. Given the breadth of the industry, she highlighted the space it gives workers to move around based on their transferable skills and career goals, particularly within larger companies on the agribusiness side.


At the moment, the gender divide in farming is much like many other industries: disproportionately male. Across the country, men account for 28.7 per cent of all farm operators. However, according to the 2016 census, British Columbia had the highest proportion of female farm operators at 38 per cent, followed by Alberta at 31 per cent. Ontario is not far behind at 29.7 per cent.

But there’s some welcome news for young adults interested in farming. In May, Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau announced up to $21.4 million to enhance the Youth Employment and Skills Program that pays up to 50 per cent of wages for those between the ages of 15 and 30, which could create up to 2,000 jobs. The program will also pay as much as 80 per cent of the wages for Indigenous applicants and youth facing barriers.

Where are the jobs?

Well, they’re everywhere. We all need food. More specifically, in terms of looming estimated labour shortages, Ontario, Quebec and Alberta are the most needy in that order. Wright also singles out the interior of B.C., Abbotsford, B.C., Napa Valley in Nova Scotia, the Eastern Townships in Quebec and southwestern Ontario as areas that need help.

And the work, as mentioned, is not all outside. Quebec has earmarked $91 million to double the volume of its indoor production of fruit and vegetables and Ottawa is involved in a pilot project for a vertical farm in Nunavut.

Financial Post
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AUSTRALIA

Legal battle looms over Overwatch herbicide some farmers say has damaged their crops

ABC Rural / By Angus Verley
Posted Yesterday
This dying cereal crop in western Victoria is an extreme example of Overwatch damage.

Debate over a new farm chemical appears headed for the law courts, with a Sydney law firm this week asking grain growers to join a class action against the herbicide's manufacturer.

Key points:

A class-action legal case is being mounted over a farm chemical

The manufacturer says it wants to resolve the issue with growers

It may offer compensation to affected growers

Overwatch is a pre-emergent herbicide developed by chemical company FMC, launched commercially this year to much fanfare, thanks to its ability to control ryegrass – one of the country's worst weeds — in barley, wheat and canola.

But there have been mixed reactions in its first season of use.

Some farmers say it has been extremely effective in killing ryegrass and has not affected their crops, but others say it has caused bleaching that will lead to substantial yield penalties.

Class action proposed

Brett Imlay, a special counsel with law firm Levitt Robinson, which is bringing the class action against FMC, said the firm had been approached by a group of farmers from Victoria's Wimmera region.

"They've had experiences across their barley and wheat crops with bleaching, which is not growing out," he said.

"They've used Overwatch in some of their paddocks, and they have a very good comparator to see how their crops are going with and without Overwatch, and they're forecasting a loss of yields in the order of 30 to 40 per cent."
Brett Imlay is leading the class action for law firm Levitt Robinson. 
(Supplied: Brett Imlay)

Mr Imlay said FMC had predicted the chemical would cause bleaching of crops in some cases but said there would be no yield penalty.

"All of the messages FMC put out were that this product had been thoroughly tested and was safe." he said

"And yes, there would be some bleaching, but the crop would grow out, and it would not affect yield.

"That is not the experience. That is not what's happening," he said.

Mr Imlay said he had spoken to farmers and agronomists who described the damage as the worst they had seen in their careers.

"It's far too early to talk about estimated damages, but on an individual basis — and these are not big growers — they say they've suffered $200,000, $250,000 in damage.

"That's what they're forecasting at this stage given what they're seeing in their paddocks."
FMC may pay compensation

Kristina Hermanson, managing director of FMC in Australia and New Zealand, said the company was inspecting affected crops.

"We're really focused on investigating reports in the paddock on a case-by-case basis, and the reality is the incidence of really enhanced bleaching is still estimated at one per cent or less of the total crop area," she said.
Despite issues with crop damage, Overwatch has been very effective at suppressing ryegrass, as pictured here turning ryegrass pink and killing it in a wheat crop in the Riverina. (Supplied: Brett Dunn)

"It's September, so no-one has actually suffered a measurable yield penalty until we get to harvest, but we're aware of some of the cases."

Ms Hermanson said if it was shown that growers followed the chemical's label directions and their crops were still damaged, compensation would be offered.


"Where there's legitimate on-label use of FMC products, where there is a yield penalty at harvest, we'll address the grower concerns at that time," she said.

"Class actions, I've been advised, can end up taking 50 per cent of any kind of settlement.

"They can also take up to three to four years. We're looking to resolve things with growers that have legitimate cases in this season," she said.
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Unnecessary coal plants could waste India's 247,421 cr: Report

Adani Group and Bajaj Group are proposing Rs 26,286 crore and Rs 17,998 crore respectively on new coal plants


IANS
September 07, 2021,
crore (cr)
[krôr]NOUN
INDIAN
  1. ten million; one hundred lakhs, especially of rupees, units of measurement, or people.


New Delhi: A total of 27 GW of pre-permit and permitted new coal power plant proposals in India are now superfluous to its electricity requirements. These coal project proposals could jeopardise the achievement of India's widely-praised renewable energy target of 450 GW by 2030, a new report said on Tuesday.

These surplus 'zombie' plants, assets that would be neither dead nor alive, would require Rs 247,421 crore ($33 billion) of investment, yet are projected to lie idle or operate at uneconomic capacity factors due to surplus generation capacity in the system.

According to the analysis by Ember and Climate Risk Horizons, the private sector's unnecessary investment on 'zombie' coal plants will be Rs 62,912 crore. Of this, JSW Energy, which publicly stated it will not build any new coal plants, is proposing a Rs 10,130 crore Barmer coal expansion project.

Register Now Adani Group and Bajaj Group are proposing Rs 26,286 crore and Rs 17,998 crore respectively on new coal plants.

Aditya Lolla, Ember's senior analyst, said: "As India recovers from the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, how the country uses scarce public resources will be absolutely crucial. By avoiding these unnecessary 'zombie' coal plants, India can not only save lakhs of crores of rupees, but also lower power costs and reiterate its commitment to the success of its clean energy transition goals."

The analysis by energy experts at Ember and Climate Risk Horizons demonstrates that India doesn't require new coal capacity beyond the 33 GW of new coal plants already being built, to meet demand growth by FY 2030.

Even with aggressive projections of five per cent annual growth in power demand, the analysis shows that coal-fired generation in FY 2030 will be lower than in FY 2020, as long as India achieves its 450 GW renewable energy and other non-coal targets.

The report finds that over 300 GW of renewable energy commitments have already been made by India's public and private power generators.

Furthermore, India can meet peak demand in FY 2030 even if it retires its old coal plants and stops building new coal beyond those under construction. By FY 2030, India will have a total 'firm' capacity of about 346 GW in addition to 420 GW of variable renewables capacity to meet an estimated peak demand of 301 GW.

The daytime peak demand would be easily met with India's huge planned solar capacity, while the report shows that evening peaks will be most effectively met by additional battery storage, at a lower cost than building new coal.

The analysis reveals that switching investment from coal projects to renewables and battery storage would save the Indian power system an additional Rs 43,219 crore ($4 billion) a year from 2027 onwards in terms of reduced power purchase cost -- in addition to capex savings -- without sacrificing the power system's ability to meet future demand.

Abhishek Raj of Climate Risk Horizons, said: "Once incurred, these wasted investments will lock DISCOMs and consumers into expensive contracts and jeopardise India's renewable energy goals by adding to the system's overcapacity. The smart option is to divert these resources to renewables and storage to build a cheaper, more resilient grid for the future."

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Why Afghan asylum-seekers are protesting in India

Several thousand Afghan nationals who arrived in India over the past few decades are demanding greater rights for themselves, just as the country begins to take in those fleeing the current crisis.


India is not a signatory to the UN's 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees

Many Afghan migrants and asylum-seekers, especially single mothers and their children, have been camping outside the office of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in New Delhi for more than a week.

They're demanding recognition as refugees and better economic security for their children. Many of them arrived in India several years ago but are struggling to make ends meet because they've not been able to work.

Thousands of them haven't officially been recognized as refugees. India does not have a refugee law and treats all those coming into the country seeking refugee status as illegal migrants under The Foreigners Act of 1946.

The UNHCR is responsible for processing people's applications and determining their status in India. Until then, they're handed a document that allows them to stay in the country.

But the document, a piece of blue paper, is widely dismissed by Indian authorities.

Without assistance from the Indian government and officials, asylum-seekers and migrants find it immensely challenging to either rent homes or find work.

At the same time, the Indian government has reportedly begun processing emergency e-visas for Afghan nationals fleeing the Taliban. These visas are only valid for six months.

"This is an evolving situation. Making long-term plans has not been the best of ideas," Arindam Bagchi, the spokesperson for the External Affairs Ministry, told local news agency ANI on August 27.

Afghans demand long-term visas

There are around 21,000 Afghans in India, according to Ahmad Zhia Ghani, the head of the Afghan asylum-seeker community in the country.

Zia Ghani told DW that Afghans were looking for refugee cards so they can apply for long-term visas, among other things.

According to the UNCHR, around 11,000 Afghans are registered in India as asylum-seekers. That means they remain under consideration for being officially recognized as refugees in the country.

Amina Mohmand Najla arrived in India over a decade ago. She has the blue paper that says her refugee status is under consideration. She says it has been the case for many years now.

She renews the document every time it lapses, about every year or so.

Najla earlier worked as an interpreter for Afghans arriving in Delhi but lost her job a couple of years ago. Her son, Emad, was just six when he arrived in India. He is 16 today and laments about not being able to finish high school.

Emad says he had to drop out of high school just six months before finishing classes because his family couldn't pay the fees. "My country needs aid, and I wanted to be a doctor," he said. "I have nothing now."


Emad says he wants to become a doctor when he grows up

Single mothers and children at the forefront of protests

Most women said they received some money from their families in Afghanistan. But the current situation has left them in a more difficult place.

One woman, who asked not to be named for safety reasons, said her husband was a Taliban fighter in Afghanistan.

She's been living with her young daughters in Delhi, with no source of income. Many women had been forcibly married in Afghanistan, she said. Another woman, Najia Samadi, arrived with her young daughter in 2017. She is looking for a job and worries about her daughter's future in the country.


Najia Samadi arrived in India with her young daughter in 2017

Others said that the UNHCR has not helped them resettle in other countries like the US or Canada, pointing out that the UN agency is the only body that can issue a "support letter" that embassies typically ask for to duly process their visas for immigration.

"In the absence of legal status, they don't really have much to do in India. So, economically they are languishing," said Chayanika Saxena, who's writing her doctoral thesis at the National University of Singapore on the Afghan diaspora in India.

Others have taken up odd jobs to make ends meet.

Gulbashra Ahmad, for instance, worked as a lawyer in Afghanistan, but since her arrival in India in 2019, she's been working at a garment factory.

Zahra and Brishna are sisters and they don't have family in the country. They often take up work as domestic helpers in other people's houses. "We just want to go to school," the sisters say.


Zahra (L) and Brishna (R) often take up work as domestic helpers in other people's houses

Why don't they have rights in the first place?

India is not a signatory to the UN's 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees.

It has an inconsistent policy toward asylum-seekers and refugees. It treats them differently, either based on relations with the country from where they are arriving or after considering domestic politics.

For example, the Indian government assists Tibetans and Sri Lankans but considers Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar a threat to national security.

On August 17, New Delhi said it would grant asylum to Afghans of all religions. That means it would go beyond just helping Afghan Hindus and Sikhs.

But what the government says might not actually reflect what happens on the ground.

Without a firm asylum policy in place, there is little transparency about how people are being granted visas.

One recent case of confusion was that of the deportation of an Afghan MP who had arrived from Istanbul to Delhi on August 20. She holds a diplomatic passport and does not require a visa to enter India.

She was asked to wait at the airport and was deported to Istanbul within two hours. She said she was given no reason for her deportation.

"It was probably related to the changed political situation in Kabul, maybe security," the MP, Rangina Kargar, told The Indian Express newspaper.

The Indian government later said the deportation was a mistake and asked her to apply for an emergency e-visa.
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Disasters around the world are more closely linked than we might think

Climate catastrophes, pandemics and other crises ultimately stem from the same root causes, a United Nations University report finds.

    

Climate change increases the risk of extreme weather and some pests that destroy crops

A cold snap in Texas. A locust swarm in East Africa. A fish in China that survived the extinction of the dinosaurs but succumbed irreversibly to humans last year.

Though separated by borders and oceans, and affecting individual species or entire ecosystems and communities, disasters like these have more in common than people realize or plan for. This is a key finding of a report published Wednesday by the United Nations University (UNU). The scientists found some of the worst disasters over the past two years overlapped to make each other worse. In many cases, they were fueled by the same human actions.

"When people see disasters in the news, they often seem far away," said Zita Sebesvari, a senior scientist at UNU and a lead author of the report. "But even disasters that occur thousands of kilometers apart are often related to one another."


Tropical cyclones, growing stronger as the planet heats up, have caused extra devastation due to the coronavirus pandemic

Overlapping crises

Three root causes affected most of the events in the UNU analysis: burning fossil fuels, poor management of risk and placing too little value on the environment in decision-making.

Many of the disasters recorded were linked to extreme weather. In Vietnam, a cascade of nine separate storms, heavy rains and floods wrought havoc across the country over the space of just two months. A deadly cyclone in Bangladesh, turbocharged by climate change, struck land while workers quarantined in cyclone shelters during the coronavirus pandemic. 

Events like these "feed into each other," said Jack O'Connor, a senior scientist at UNU and a lead author of the report. If emergency shelters are being used to protect people from extreme weather and house coronavirus patients, fewer people can — or want to — use them. Those who do are more exposed to the virus. And then when the cyclone strikes, it damages hospitals and disrupts supply lines needed to treat patients.

"You don't design your cyclone response with a pandemic in mind," said O'Connor. "But this is the kind of thing that we're going to need to start doing."


Early evacuations could have saved lives when floods struck central Europe in July

Increasingly extreme weather

The UNU report comes a week after the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) published an analysis showing that a weather-related disaster occurred every day on average over the past 50 years. Each day, the report found, disasters from hurricanes to droughts had killed 115 people and caused $202 million (€170 million) in losses.

The overall death toll from extreme weather, however, is falling, even as humans burn fossil fuels and heat the planet — mostly because of advances in forecasting and early-warning systems. These allow governments to evacuate people out of harm's way before extreme weather events strike. As a result, devastating storms and floods are killing fewer people — yet displacing more.

But it is unclear if that relationship will hold as the planet warms and more catastrophes overlap with each other.

Human influence has likely already increased the chance of "compound extreme events" since the 1950s, according to a landmark report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published in August. Heatwaves and droughts, for instance, are striking in unison more often across the world. In some regions, similar trends can be seen for heavy rain and storm surges, or fire conditions.

Should the planet heat 4 degrees Celsius (around 7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial temperatures, heat waves that used to hit once every 50 years can be expected to scorch the land 39 times more often, according to IPCC projections. The planet has already warmed 1.1 C. Though world leaders have pledged to limit warming to ideally 1.5 C by the end of the century, their current policies are on track to double that. 


Scientists project that heat waves, droughts and wildfires will strike together more often

Ecological and climate crises

The UNU report highlights three specific examples of ecological crises that are also closely tied to climate change.

About 25% of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia was severely bleached last year. Coral reefs will decline by 70% to 90% percent if global warming hits 1.5 C. Virtually all the world's reefs would be lost with warming of 2 C.

But while climate change is the main driver, the resilience of a reef can also depend on stresses such as pollution and overfishing, said O'Connor, who trained as a marine scientist and has seen coral reefs before and after bleaching.

"It's like 'Finding Nemo' ... it's full of color and life," said O'Connor, referring to the popular Pixar film about fish. "When you visit a reef that's bleached due to rising ocean temperatures, all the color is gone. Everything has gone white. But not only that, it's like a graveyard: All the animals have moved out."

In the Amazon rainforest, swathes of trees have been burned to satisfy the global demand for meat, whether to clear land to graze livestock or grow soy for their feed. This has reduced the amount of carbon pollution the forest could store out of the atmosphere. Some studies suggest deforestation and global warming will accelerate forest dieback to a tipping point where the Amazon flips into dry savannah.


Coronavirus lockdowns made it harder for firefighters to battle blazes in the Amazon rainforest

In the Yangtze River, China, the Chinese paddlefish was wiped out last year after decades of overfishing, pollution and the construction of several dams that cut the species off from its spawning ground upstream. As is the case with the coral reefs, the loss of a species in an ecosystem can be enough to bring the whole system crashing down.

A balancing act

The report's findings highlight how policymakers are able to narrow in on a handful of "win-win solutions" to prevent disasters, like reducing emissions or designing infrastructure with greater respect for nature. In both the Amazon and the Yangtze, the authors wrote, people altered landscapes to harness economically valuable resources, yet too often failed to account for the environmental costs.

This report also reflects on the cost of ignoring those links between disasters and pushing solutions that make other extremes worse. The dams that contributed to the death of the Chinese paddlefish, for instance, generate clean electricity and provide an alternative to burning fossil fuels. In some cases, the trade-off may not be worth it. In others, targeted policies can offset the damage.

"We can't afford anymore to take short-sighted solutions that end up biting us later on," said O'Connor. "We need to be better." 


IN PICTURES: DEADLY EXTREME WEATHER SHOCKS THE WORLD 
Fierce flash floods in Europe
Unprecedented flooding — caused by two months' worth of rainfall in two days — has resulted in devastating damage in central Europe, leaving at least 226 people dead in Germany and Belgium. Narrow valley streams swelled into raging floods in the space of hours, wiping out centuries-old communities. Rebuilding the ruined homes, businesses and infrastructure is expected to cost
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