Central American migrants hope Biden will support American Dream

Issued on: 13/01/2021

Hurricanes Eta and Iota destroyed numerous homes in Honduras 

Orlando SIERRA AFP

La Lima (Honduras) (AFP)

Emerson Lopez sells bananas on the side of a dusty road in northern Honduras -- but soon he is going to try his luck chasing the American Dream.

He is hoping the administration of US President-elect Joe Biden will be more welcoming to migrants than his predecessor Donald Trump.

Either way, he says he has no future in Honduras, where two hurricanes in November blew off the roof at the family home he shares with his parents and four siblings.

"We hope that will change and we'll benefit" from Biden's arrival, the 18-year-old told AFP.

Biden has promised "a fair and humane immigration system" and pledged to tackle the root causes of poverty and violence that drive Central American migration to the US by providing aid to the region.

Trump, on the other hand, froze a $750 million aid package agreed by his predecessor Barack Obama -- whose vice president was Biden -- and before being elected characterized immigrants from Mexico as "rapists" who were "bringing drugs" and other criminal activity with them.

Before the hurricanes, the coronavirus ended Lopez's hopes of earning a degree in information technology.

His town of La Lima, 110 miles (180 kilometers) north of the capital Tegucigalpa, still shows the scars of the destruction wrought by Eta and Iota when they ripped through the Sula Valley, the country's industrial heartland and economic motor.

The government says the two hurricanes and coronavirus cost the country, one of the poorest in Latin America, some five billion dollars.

"I haven't found work and how could I without experience and given I'm too young?" said Lopez.

A call went out on social media to form a new caravan, like the ones that so angered Trump, on January 15 -- just five days before Biden's inauguration.

But Lopez won't be joining it.

"If it goes well, most of us here will decide to go later," said Lopez.

- Difficulties mounting -

His neighbor Martha Saldivar is another ready to tackle the long journey, although not this time.

"We've heard that Biden will take down the wall," said the 51-year-old, whose home also lacks a roof.

"But I won't leave with this caravan because we don't know the people."

Since October 2018 more than 10 migrant caravans have been formed in Honduras, including at least four with more than 3,000 people.

But all of them floundered at the US border with Mexico. And the route is getting tougher.

Guatemala's government has warned that anyone wanting to pass through its territory must show a negative coronavirus test and have their papers in order.

Mexico's consulate in Honduras's second largest town, San Pedro Sula, from where caravans usually leave, warned that its government "does not encourage and will not allow the illegal entry of caravans."

More than a million Hondurans have fled poverty and violence with the majority now living in the US.

Last year they sent home to their families a record of almost $6 billion in remittances -- worth just over 20 percent of the country's GDP.

Money transfers by emigrants also hit a record in Guatemala in 2020 of more than $11.3 billion, or 14 percent of GDP.

In El Salvador, family members of the 2.5 million immigrants living in the US received $5.6 billion, some 16 percent of the country's GDP.

Cecilia Arevalo, 54, lives in California but is visiting family in a suburb of El Salvador's capital San Salvador.

She is hoping for "a change in migration laws with Biden, and that they're more humane."

That aspiration is shared by Mexican Cristian Panameno, a 42-year-old mechanic living just outside San Salvador.

He has already been expelled once from the US but has saved up some money to try again.

"I think with this new president things will change for undocumented migrants," he said.

"If I make it to the US I hope they'll give me the opportunity to work."

They may have to wait a while, though, as Biden has already admitted he will have to wait at least six months to roll back Trump's southern border security policies.

© 2021 AFP

Indigenous peoples wary of UN biodiversity rescue plan
  

Global leaders will meet for a critical biodiversity summit in Kunming, China to set new goals for protecting nature RAPHAEL ALVES AFP/File

Paris (AFP)

As crunch UN talks to reverse the accelerating destruction of nature loom, indigenous peoples are sounding an alarm over proposed conservation plans they say could clash with their rights.

The COP-15 UN biodiversity summit in Kunming, China -- provisionally slated for early October -- will see nearly 200 nations attempt to thrash out new goals to preserve Earth's battered ecosystems.

To limit the devastating effects of species loss caused by pollution, hunting, mining, tourism and urban sprawl, the draft treaty proposes to create protected areas covering 30 percent of the planet's lands and oceans by 2030.


Global leaders from over 50 countries pledged on Monday at the One Planet Summit to back the plan, which could become the cornerstone of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) meet in China.

But the past experience of indigenous populations has made them wary of the proposal.

Earlier efforts to create protected areas such as national parks sometimes led to their eviction from ancestral lands.

"By just setting a target without adequate standards and commitment to accountability mechanisms, the CBD could unleash another wave of colonial land grabbing that disenfranchises millions of people," said Andy White, coordinator of the Rights and Resources Initiative.

When the Kahuzi-Biega National Park in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo was dramatically enlarged in 1975, for example, the Bambuti community lost more than access to the forest.

A whole culture intertwined with nature perished.

"We no longer have access to medicinal plants," said Diel Mochire, regional director of the Integrated Programme for the Development of the Pygmy People.

"Our diet changed. In the forest we had easy access to resources, now we have to buy everything."

-'Less biodiversity loss'-

Arguably, the first conservation-related evictions date back to the last 19th century, when the US government violently expelled native Americans from lands that became the Yellowstone and Yosemite National Parks.

"That model was exported around the world," White told AFP.

It is still the dominant model today, he added.

The RRI, which defends indigenous peoples' rights, estimates that 136 million people have been displaced globally to date during the creation of the world's protected areas, which cover some 8.5 million square kilometres (3.3 million square miles).

It further calculates that over 1.6 billion people could be affected -- directly or indirectly -- by the so-called "30-30" initiative.

A UN report from 2016 concluded that some of the world's leading conservation groups had violated the rights of some indigenous people by backing conservation projects that ousted them from ancestral homes.

A 2019 Buzzfeed investigation implicated the World Wide Fund (WWF) in serious rights abuses -- including torture and murder -- carried out by rogue anti-poaching units in national parks in Asia and Africa.

An independent audit released in November found that none of the group's staff participated in any abuses, but that WWF should be "more transparent," and needed to more firmly engage governments to uphold human rights. WWF vowed to "do more".

Scientists and environmental groups alike are increasingly emphasising indigenous peoples' role in conservation.

At the same time, however, efforts to protect and restore nature on a global scale have failed spectacularly.

The planet is on the cusp of a mass extinction event in which species are disappearing at 100 to 1,000 times the normal "background" rate, most scientists agree.

The UN's science advisory panel for biodiversity, called IPBES, warned in a 2019 landmark report that one million species face extinction, due mostly to habitat loss and over-exploitation.

Indigenous peoples' know-how represents a glimmer of hope in an otherwise bleak picture, the same report found.

IPBES said at least a quarter of global lands are traditionally owned, managed or occupied by indigenous groups.

"Within that 25 percent, the lands managed by indigenous peoples tend to have less biodiversity loss," a lead author of the report Pamela McElwee told AFP.

- 'Bottom up' -

Research has shown that forests under indigenous management are more effective at storing carbon and are less prone to wildfires than many "protected areas" controlled by business concessions.

Private companies that manage huge tracts of forests under a UN-approved financial mechanism to curb deforestation -- known as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) -- too often bulldoze the rights of forest-dwelling peoples, earlier research has shown.

Indigenous peoples are "disproportionately attacked for standing up for their rights and territories," watchdog Global Witness said in July.

In 2019, a record 212 environmental campaigners, nearly half from indigenous communities, were murdered around the world, according to the group's annual tally.

Major conservation groups ranging from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to WWF now emphasise the importance of indigenous peoples' role in conservation.

"WWF firmly believes that we will only be able to halt and reverse our unprecedented loss of nature if we work hand in hand with indigenous peoples and local communities," the group said in a statement.

IUCN Programme Development Manager James Hardcastle told AFP: "The biggest single determinant of success in conservation is ... having the rights included and having something that's bottom up.

"That's where you will be successful on all accounts -- you'll be able to defend the rights, territory, integrity, the ecological functions or species in the area."

Canadian Basile van Havre, co-chair of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) insisted that "the CBD makes ample room for indigenous peoples."

- Accountability mechanisms -

But indigenous leaders have yet to be convinced that a shift in narrative will translate into a change in practice.

"Until I see action I will not believe it," Peter Kitelo, a 45-year-old telecommunications engineer from the Ogiek community in Kenya told AFP.

"Most conservation organisations have perfected the art of public relations."

The draft treaty for the October "COP15" summit says 30 percent of the planet should be covered by "protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures".

For Hardcastle, "other effective" measures could include governance by indigenous communities.

Mochire from the DRC also said he is not necessarily opposed to expanding protected areas, but need to see how the measures would be carried out.

"We are currently putting forward proposals to the government on how to get there without damaging communities," he said.

The COP15 treaty should enshrine indigenous peoples' land rights and devise accountability mechanisms to ensure that expanded protected areas do not lead to human rights violations, said White from RRI.

"In many cases local people cannot complain to their own governments when they are abused by the national park service. So they have to have recourse through the international arena."

© 2021 AFP

EU food agency approves mealworms as human food

Mealworms, whole or as powder in pasta, have become the first insect-based food approved by the EU's food safety watchdog. The EU Commission has yet to endorse the decision.


The darkling beetle larvae are already commonly used as food for pet reptiles and fish

Mealworms got approval for EU plates Wednesday from the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA), based in Italy's city of Parma — better known for its tasty pasta, tomatoes, ham and cheese.

Actually larvae of the darkling beetle (Tenebrio molitor) and typically fed to pet reptiles and fish, the yellow grubs could soon be the first "novel food" cleared for sale across the EU, assuming the European Commission adds its endorsement.

Rich in protein, fat and fiber, they could be eaten whole or as a powdered ingredient in snacks and noodles, assuming their original fodder was free of contaminants, concluded the Italy-based EU agency. 

Interest 'great' in food sector

EFSA food scientist Ermolaos Ververis said interest was high among the "edible insect sector" of the food industry and the scientific community.

Watch video 09:28 Plastic recycling with mealworms

Mealworms are the first species approved among 15 insects subjected to risk assessment procedures delegated to the EFSA in 2018 under a 2015 EU regulation.

The EFSA food agency has 156 applications for "novel food" on its plate. Those also include algae-derived edibles.
'Yuck factor' could dwindle

For many Europeans, eating insects still triggered a "yuck" reaction, said Giovanni Sogari, a consumer researcher at the University of Parma.

"With time and exposure, such attitudes can change," he speculated.

Elsewhere in the world, including Africa and Central America, chewing on insect crisps, cooking with them, even mealworm burgers, have long become norms, so-called entomophagy, alongside massive meat consumption blamed in part for climate change.

Two EU nations, Austria and Germany, already have special dispensations for insect-based snacks. 

Answer to food insecurity?

Around the world, thousands of insects are potential candidates —prompting the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 2013 to speculate that "eating insects can help tackle food insecurity."

Watch video 07:06 Insects: Our future food?

Fed even on bio-waste, insects used significantly less water than livestock, and could be farmed more easily, said the FAO.

"For example, pigs produce 10-100 times more greenhouse gases per kilogram (pound) than mealworms, the UN agency said.

Experts warn that some insect species could become extinct globally over the coming decades — largely due to habitat loss as land is converted to intensive agriculture, as well as urbanization and the use of pesticides.

The EU's EFSA cautioned Wednesday that insect proteins were sometimes overestimated and a watch had be kept for potential allergies.

Edible insects move closer to European plates

Issued on: 13/01/2021 - 

Insect burgers containing protein-rich mealworm could soon be available in European Union countries

Fabrice COFFRINI AFP/File

Brussels (AFP)

The EU's food watchdog on Wednesday paved the way for diners across Europe to tuck into insects as it gave safety approval for human consumption of dried yellow mealworm.

The move by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is the preliminary step needed before officials can decide whether to allow the beetle larvae to be sold to consumers across the 27-nation bloc.

The ruling is the first completed risk assessment of an insect food product application by the agency as it looks to approve a potential boom sector that could provide a sustainable source of protein.

It could "pave the way for the first EU-wide approval," Ermolaos Ververis, scientific officer in EFSA’s NUTRI unit, said in a statement.

"Risk evaluation is a decisive and necessary step in the regulation of novel foods by supporting policy makers in the EU in making science-based decisions and ensuring the safety of consumers."

The EFSA said it had found the mealworms -- or Tenebrio molitor larva -- were safe to be eaten "either as a whole dried insect or in the form of powder" after an application from French insect-rearing firm Micronutris.

"Its main components are protein, fat and fibre," the statement said, but warned that more research needed to be done on possible allergic reactions to the insects.

The burgeoning insect farming industy in Europe welcomed the decision and said they hoped to see authorities give permission for yellow mealworms to be marketed to the public by the middle of this year.

"The release of this document indeed represents an important milestone towards the wider EU commercialisation of edible insects," Antoine Hubert, president of the the International Platform of Insects for Food and Feed, said in a statement.

The Italy-based EFSA has more insect investigations on its plate and is also set to examine if crickets and grasshoppers are fit for consumption.

Insects are widely eaten elsewhere on the globe with an estimated 1,000 species finding their way onto dinner plates of some 2 billion people in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

They are already available for human consumption in a small number of EU countries and are more widely produced for use in animal feed.

The industry says it expects the European market for insect-based food products to grow rapidly in the coming years and for production to reach some 260,000 tonnes by 2030.

© 2021 AFP

Uber and Lyft drivers challenge California 'gig worker' ballot

Issued on: 13/01/2021 - 

More than $200 million was spent promoting Proposition 22, which was heavily backed by Uber, while only a tenth of that amount was spent by labor groups opposing the measure Johannes EISELE AFP/File

San Francisco (AFP)

Drivers for ride-share and meal delivery apps filed a lawsuit Tuesday to nullify a referendum passed by California voters that lets such "gig workers" be treated as contractors.

Labor legislation known as Proposition 22 -- passed in November and heavily backed by backed by Uber, Lyft and other app-based, on-demand delivery services -- effectively overturned a state law requiring them to reclassify their drivers and provide employee benefits.

The lawsuit argued the measure is invalid because it usurps the power of state courts and legislators when it comes to worker rights and compensation.

The suit was filed directly to the top court in the state by a few drivers and the Service Employees International Union.

"The measure grossly deceived the voters, who were not told they were voting to prevent the Legislature from granting the drivers collective bargaining rights," the lawsuit argued.

The suit went on to argue that the initiative also precluded the state legislature "from providing incentives for companies to give app-based drivers more than the minimal wages and benefits provided by Proposition 22."

Defendants in the litigation were the state of California and its commissioner of labor.

The November vote came after a contentious campaign with labor groups claiming the initiative would erode worker rights and benefits, and with backers arguing for a new, flexible economic model.

The victory for the "gig economy" in California was expected to echo across the US, in a boon for app-based services while igniting fear that big business is rewriting labor laws.

Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi has vowed to "more loudly advocate for new laws like Prop 22."

More than $200 million was spent promoting Proposition 22, while only a tenth of that amount was spent by labor groups opposing the measure.

Under the proposition, drivers remain independent contractors but Uber and Lyft are to pay them a number of benefits including a minimum wage, a contribution to healthcare and other forms of insurance. Critics of the measure said it failed to take into account the full costs borne by drivers.

Uber and Lyft claimed most drivers support the contractor model.

But the firms had been sued by the state which argued keeping that model violated California labor law. A Proposition 22 victory renders the court case effectively moot.

© 2021 AFP

Deutsche Bank 'cuts ties with Donald Trump': US media

The Frankfurt-based lender is to stop doing business with the outgoing US president, according to reports by the New York Times and Bloomberg. The Trump Organization owes the bank some €280 million in loans.



US media reports say Deutsche Bank executives are uneasy about the negative publicity surrounding the US president after his fradulent claims that the election was stolen.

Deutsche Bank will refuse to do business with President Donald Trump or his companies after his supporters' deadly Jan. 6 assault on the US Capitol, media reports said on Monday.

The New York Times and the Bloomberg news agency, citing company sources, said the German lender had ruled out any future ties with the billionaire real estate mogul once he leaves office.

Watch video 04:13 David Enrich on Trump and Deutsche Bank

The president's umbrella company, the Trump Organization, owes the Frankfurt-based institution about $340 million (€280 million) in loans.

Neither Deutsche Bank nor the White House has commented on the reports.

Trump has been a longtime client of the Frankfurt-based lender

Christiana Riley, the head of the bank's US operations, took to professional networking site LinkedIn last week to condemn the violence.

"We are proud of our Constitution and stand by those who seek to uphold it to ensure that the will of the people is upheld and a peaceful transition of power takes place," she wrote.

Trump’s longtime banker at Deutsche Bank resigned last month. Rosemary Vrablic, who worked in the private banking division, helped arrange hundreds of millions of dollars of loans to Trump’s company over a number of years.

That relationship subjected the lender to pressure from lawmakers and prosecutors for information during Trump's presidency.

The reports follow similar decisions by other companies to cut ties with the president after he encouraged attendees at a rally to march on the Capitol.

Facebook and Twitter have banned Trump from their platforms, while the Professional Golfers' Association of America has stripped one of his New Jersey courses of the right to host its 2022 tournament.

The march turned violent last week when Trump's supporters stormed the Capitol Building and interrupted the certification of the electoral college vote. At least five people died in the unrest and its immediate aftermath.

jf/msh (AP, Reuters)

#NIMBY

Memorial of Utoya massacre angers Norwegian neighbours

Issued on: 13/01/2021 - 

'We are trying to move on,' says Terje Lien. 'But every time we look in that direction we will be haunted by these memories' Pierre-Henry DESHAYES AFP

Hole (Norway) (AFP)

He rescued terrified youths fleeing the bullets of a fanatical killer. Ironically, a decade later Terje Lien is fighting to stop a memorial to the victims.

Lien and a handful of neighbours are battling to change its location, fearing the construction honouring the 77 people killed in Anders Behring Breivik's 2011 attack will make them hostages to a constant reminder of the trauma.

"We have been given a cemetery-like memorial: 77 three-metre-high (10-feet) bronze columns that will stand 75 metres (yards) from our house," Terje Lien tells AFP.


"The first thing we'll see when we look out of the kitchen window will be these columns," he adds.

Consisting of 77 columns, the memorial is set to stand on the bank facing the island of Utoya, where 69 people perished on July 22, 2011. The other eight victims died earlier in Oslo.

Most of those killed were teenagers attending a camp organised by the youth league of the country's Labour Party.

Disguised as a police officer, right-wing extremist Breivik tracked and gunned down the youths, shortly after killing eight people in a bombing outside a government building in Oslo.

Called Utoyakaia -- or "Utoya Dock" where the ferry departs for the island 600 metres away -- the site of the memorial in the village of Hole is next door to the home of the Lien family, which has lived here for four generations.

- 'Re-traumatisation' -

The 75-year-old retiree still has a vivid memory of the grey summer Friday afternoon, which was coincidentally his birthday.

At first he mistook the bangs for "firecrackers", and as he saw people diving into the water to escape he thought he was witnessing a "swimming contest".

Then his grandson came running, shouting: "They are shooting on Utoya."

The two quickly took off in their family boat; 28 youths were rescued from the cold waters and they also brought a policeman out to the island.

"When we came out there were bodies floating all over the bay, there were bodies on land and many wounded and bleeding," Lien recalls.

For their bravery, he and other residents who helped were awarded medals and met Norway's King Harald -- but he feels the government is not taking their feelings into account.

"We are trying to move on," he says.

"But every time we look in that direction, we will be haunted by these memories," he adds, pointing towards Utoyakaia where construction machines are rumbling.

Sixteen local residents have taken the state and youth league to court demanding the memorial be moved, with proceedings currently underway.

The plaintiffs say they fear a permanent "re-traumatisation," citing a report from a private psychiatric clinic which states that they face a risk of psychological disorders due to the presence of the memorial.

In a country eager to find closure, they have been accused of being selfish and sometimes greedy for holding up the construction.

Lien, for his part, says he offered, free of charge but in vain, another piece of land a bit further away for the installation.

- 'Hierarchy of mourning' -

A previous project planned in the vicinity failed in 2017, in the face of opposition from the neighbourhood.

Families can already visit a memorial on Utoya itself, but the new memorial will be open to all.

"For us, it is very important that the memorial is erected at Utoyakaia because that is where almost everything happened" on the day of the tragedy, Lisbeth Kristine Royneland, president of the victims' family support group who also lost her 18-year-old daughter on Utoya, tells AFP.

"This is where the participants in the summer camp travelled to Utoya from, this is where the perpetrator arrived on July 22 and this is also where a large part of the rescue operations were organised," Pal Martin Sand, the lawyer representing the youth league at the trial, says.

Psychologists arguing for the relatives of the victims claim there is a "hierarchy of mourning" which would prioritise the sentiments of those closest to the victims and the survivors.

In any case, since the work has already begun it could very well be finished by the time the legal procedures are exhausted.

Authorities hope the memorial will be ready for the 10th anniversary of the attacks this July.

Much to the chagrin of Anne-Gry Ruud, another resident who also remembers the shooting, the sound of helicopters and the bodies of dead children lying on Utoya "as if a bag of colourful sweets had been emptied on the island."

"So I would have to live every day of my life with a memorial linked to terrorist attacks, and all that that entails in terms of tourists, visitors and the atmosphere of mourning?"

© 2021 AFP

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

WHERE TO SPEND BITCOIN

'Largest illegal darknet marketplace' DarkMarket taken offline

Authorities say the darknet platform had half a million users, where drugs, counterfeit money, stolen credit card data, anonymous SIM cards and malware were traded. The suspected operator was arrested in Germany

   

Authorities say it could be the biggest darknet marketplace bust

German prosecutors in the cities of Koblenz and Oldenburg said on Tuesday that they had shut down what was "probably the largest illegal marketplace on the Darknet" called DarkMarket and arrested the man believed to operate it near Germany's border with Denmark. 

The detained man, believed to be DarkMarket's operator, is a 34-year-old Australian national.

Authorities say drugs, counterfeit money, stolen credit card data, anonymous SIM cards and malware were all traded on the site, which had a half a million users and transacted business in cryptocurrencies equivalent to a value of €140 million ($170 million). 

Oldenburg police said the raid took place over the weekend. "Investigators were able to shut down the marketplace and turn off the server on Monday," prosecutors said.

International probe

DarkMarket's bust was not the first for German authorities, which have found illegal platform operators on German soil in recent years. In 2019, Koblenz prosecurots announced the discovery of darknet servers hosted from a former NATO bunker in a sleepy German town.

Authorities say the probe that uncovered DarkMarket involved a months-long international law enforcement operation.

US agencies like the FBI, DEA narcotics law enforcement division and IRS tax authority all contributed to the investigation, along with police from Australia, Britain, Denmark, Switzerland, Ukraine and Moldova, with Europol playing a "coordinating role."

"A total of at least 320,000 transactions were carried out via the marketplace, with more than 4,650 Bitcoin and 12,800 Monero - two of the most common cryptocurrencies - changing hands," Oldenburg authorities added.

At the time of its closure, DarkMarket had more than 2,400 vendors.

jcg/msh (AFP, dpa)

 

Iran: Facebook deletes Press TV page

Iran's state media Press TV wrote on Twitter that Facebook has deleted its main page "without any warning or explanation."

Press TV's Twitter page

Iranian state media said Tuesday it had been removed from Facebook.

Press TV wrote on Twitter about the move, saying Facebook deleted their page "without any warning or explanation."

The Press TV Facebook page had close to "4 million followers" prior to its removal.

The move came amid increasing tensions between Iran and the US, but it is unclear what prompted the social media giant to delete Press TV's page.

Suspending state-media accounts

In June last year, Facebook labeled Iran's Press TV, Russia's Sputnik, and China's Xinhua news agency as "state-media," saying it would later block them from running advertisements in the US.

In 2018, Facebook targeted hundreds of accounts tied to Iran and Russia under the pretext of fighting "misinformation" campaigns.

India: Supreme Court puts contentious farms laws on hold

India's Supreme Court formed a committee to resolve a standoff between the government and farmers over three agriculture laws. The farmer unions say they will only settle for a repeal of the laws.


Watch video 01:30 India's top court blocks implementation of farm laws

India's Supreme Court on Tuesday temporarily suspended the new agriculture laws that are at the heart of the massive protests by farmers outside the national capital New Delhi.

"We are going to suspend the implementation of the three farm laws until further orders," Chief Justice Sharad Bobde said in a decision that comes as a major blow to the government.

The court-ordered stay may "assuage the hurt feelings" of the protesting farmers and encourage them to come to the negotiating table with confidence and in good faith, Bobde said.

The court said it wanted to facilitate mediation between the government and the protesting farmers. The two sides have held eight rounds of talks, all of which have been inconclusive. Another one was scheduled for mid-January.

The farmers' unions have maintained that they want the laws rolled back — a demand firmly rejected by the government which has instead offered to amend the laws.

Thousands of farmers have camped near the border of New Delhi since November 26 in hopes of pressuring the government into repealing the laws.
What was the court's solution?

The Supreme Court added that it would form a four-member committee of agricultural experts that would take over negotiations and try to end the protracted dispute that emerged as a major challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Every person who is genuinely interested in solving the problem is expected to go before the committee," the court said. "The committee will not punish you or pass any orders. It will submit a report to us."

The committee will hold its first meeting in 10 days from Tuesday and will submit its report within two months, the court said.

What was the farmers' response?

While the farmers' unions welcomed the Supreme Court's decision to freeze the implementation of laws, they refused to participate in the consultation process of the committee which they criticized as "pro-government."

"We think the government is bringing this committee through the Supreme Court. The committee is just a way to divert attention," Balbir Singh Rajewal of the Bhartiya Kisan Union told DW.

Rakesh Tikait, another farm leader, told DW that the protests will continue. "We are not satisfied with the stay on the implementation of the laws. The protests will continue and we are even preparing to sit here till the summer months."

"We don't accept this committee, all the members in this committee have been pro-government and these members have been justifying the laws," one of the farmers' unions was quoted as saying by NDTV.

"Suspending the implementation of the laws as an interim measure is welcome but is not a solution and the farmer unions have not been asking for this solution, given the fact that the implementation can be reinstated," another union was quoted as saying by the Indian Express newspaper.

"It is clear that the court is being misguided by various forces even in its constitution of a committee. These are people who are known for their support to the three laws and have actively advocated for the same," they said in a statement.

The unions also said that they would only settle for a complete rollback of the laws.
What are the farm laws about?

India enacted three controversial agriculture laws aimed at liberalizing the country's farm sector.

The government has argued that the new laws will give freedom to farmers to sell their produce outside regulated markets and enter into contracts with buyers at a pre-agreed price.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) insists that the laws will fetch better prices and free farmers from traditional middlemen who dominate the trade.

The government hopes that its new policy will double farmers' income by 2022.

Farmers' associations say the legislation does not guarantee the acquisition of farm produce through state-run organizations that guarantee a minimum support price (MSP).

They fear this would leave them at the mercy of big corporations that will enter the country's troubled farming sector and squeeze them for profit, destroying their livelihood.

"The moment private companies come in, they will have a monopoly. Farmers will have little say, and large corporations will dictate terms," Sabaran Singh, a farmer from Punjab, told DW.

Opposition parties and even some allies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi have called the laws anti-farmer and pro-corporation.

AFP and Murali Krishnan from New Delhi contributed to this report

INDIAN FARMERS CONTINUE PROTEST AGAINST NEW DELHI
No concessions
The central government in New Delhi has refused to budge over the farmers' demands. Roads leading to the Indian capital have been blocked to prevent the protesters from entering the city.
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NGOs accuse France of climate inaction in landmark court case

Issued on: 13/01/2021 -

NGOs want the French government to be held responsible for climate inaction

 JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER AFP/File

Paris (AFP)

A Paris court will begin hearing a complaint brought by NGOs backed by two million citizens on Thursday accusing the French state of failing to act to halt climate change.

The NGOs want to the court to hold the state responsible for ecological damage and say victory would mark a symbolic step in the fight to persuade governments to do more.

An international accord signed in Paris five years ago aims to limit global warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels, and preferably to 1.5 degrees.

But experts say governments are far from meeting their commitments and anger is growing among the younger generation over inaction, symbolised by the campaigns of Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg.

The French case is part of a mounting push from climate campaigners across the world to use courts against governments.

In 2019, the Dutch Supreme Court ordered the Netherlands to slash its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 25 percent of 1990 levels by the end of 2020 after a case brought by an NGO.

The French case began in December 2018 when four NGOs accused the government of failing to reduce emissions in a formal complaint backed by more than two million people in an online petition -- a French record.

Unsatisfied with the response, the NGOs, including Greenpeace France and Oxfam France, then filed their legal complaint in March 2019 seeking symbolic damages of just one euro ($1.21) from the state.

- Exceeding carbon budgets -

"We are full of hope for this hearing and the decision that will follow," Jean-Francois Julliard, director of Greenpeace France, told AFP.

Julliard said he wanted the court to recognise that the state was not doing enough.

"The icing on the cake would be a decision to urge the state to do more to put France back on the trajectory of the Paris Agreement", he said.

While France has committed to reducing its emissions by 40 percent by 2030 compared with 1990, the NGOs say it is exceeding the carbon budgets it pledged.

They also complain of shortcomings in the energy renovation of buildings or development of renewable energy, saying this is having a daily impact on the health and quality of life of the French.

- Natural disasters 'increasing' -

The NGOs have presented 100 testimonies from individuals with their case, after collecting more than 25,000 online.

"For me, climate change -- with the increase in the frequency of natural disasters, the rise in sea temperatures and the progression of coastal erosion -- is a reality now," said Jean-Francois, a producer of mussels on the island of Oleron in western France.

The government rejects accusations of inaction, pointing to the energy-climate law of 2019 that "reinforces the climate goals" by aiming for carbon neutrality by 2050 or a 40 percent drop in the use of fossil fuels by 2030.

In its defence sent to the court, the government also rejected the request for compensation over ecological damage, arguing that the French state cannot be held solely responsible for climate change when France represents around 1 percent of global emissions.

Julliard acknowledged the case could be a double-edged sword for the NGOs.

"If we lose, then it will be easy for the state to say: 'We won in court, so stop your incessant demands,'" he said.

© 2021 AFP