Day: May 27, 2021

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

More than 616,000 households or 3 million people, representing 20% of the Zambian population, are currently registered to receive Social Cash Transfers

In 2020, the World Bank, UK and Swedish Governments provided financing to the Social Cash Transfer program benefiting 370,000 households in 67 districts

A maximum of 994,000 beneficiaries in 116 districts are expected to be reached with Social Cash Transfers by 2022 with support of the World Bank and cooperating partners

LUSAKA, May 27, 2021—Sylvia Banda, 65, uses the monthly cash transfer she receives from the government to take care of her husband who is disabled, and four orphaned children. Africa Zulu, 70, pays his grandchildren’s school fees to ensure they have a better future. Marcelina Ngandu, a widowed mother of five, invests the cash transfer into her small business.

“I buy baking flour and make doughnuts for selling,” said Ngandu, who is also raising her late sister’s five children. “From my last bi-monthly payment of K300 ($14), I made doughnuts and sold them for K400 that helps me pay for school fees for the orphaned children I look after. I urge all other widows to not only eat the money but grow it like I do.”

Through the Social Cash Transfer Program (SCT), supported by the World Bank through the Girl’s Education and Women Empowerment and Livelihood Project, is helping the Zambian government address one of its most important development challenges: poverty.

Sixty percent of Zambia’s population, estimated at about 17.9 million, lives below the poverty line, and the levels of poverty in rural areas tend to be very high. The Zambia Demographic Health Survey of 2017/18 reveals that women headed households are more affected by poverty.

With financing provided by the World Bank, the United Kingdom and Sweden, more than 370,000 households are now receiving regular cash transfers. A recent World Bank simulation indicates that if regular social cash transfers are provided to all current SCT beneficiaries, poverty in Zambia will reduce by six percentage points in 2021.

“Providing cash directly in the hands of poor people has a proven impact in reducing poverty and increasing human capital,” said Emma Wadie Hobson, World Bank Task Team Leader for the Project.

The latest evaluation of the SCT program, which aims to reduce extreme poverty and eradicate intergenerational poverty in the covered households, showed an increase in human capital and productivity. Households were found to have increased the land they operate by 18%, maize production increased by 8% and their livestock by 21%. Households also increased the material needs of children (clothes, shoes, blankets) being met by 30% and increased the number of children attending primary school by 10%.

Through the Ministry of Community Development and Social Services, the government has been implementing the SCT Program since 2003, and the World Bank Board has recently approved a second additional financing which will expand coverage to a total of 750,000 households in 2021 and 994,000 households by 2022. This support will enable timely and predictable disbursements of cash transfers to 30% of the Zambian population and 50% of the country’s poor citizens by 2022. The program is also in line with the government’s Seventh National Development Plan vision of “accelerating development efforts towards Vision 2030 without leaving anyone behind.”

Source: World Bank

The Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Dendias had a brief meeting today with his Slovak counterpart Ivan Korcok on the sidelines of the informal meeting of the EU Foreign Ministers (Gymnich) in Lisbon.
In this context, the Slovak Minister informed that Slovakia withdrew its participation from the Turkish military exercise Anadolu Ankasi 2021, held from 24.5 to 4.6, due to the participation of the occupied part of Cyprus, emphasizing his country’s commitment to international law and European solidarity.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs welcomed this action and thanked his Slovak counterpart for his swift response.
It is noted that relevant demarches had been made to Slovakia, in coordination with the Cypriot side.

Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Hellenic Republic

MAPUTO, Mozambique/LUANDA, Angola – It can be challenging enough when a girl gets her first period – she may not even know what is happening to her body. Now put her in a situation in which she’s been displaced or vulnerable because of a natural disaster, conflict or pandemic and has no access to supplies or proper sanitation.
In the wake of back-to-back disasters – Cyclones Idai and Kenneth in 2019 and COVID-19 last year – adolescent girls in Mozambique have faced hampered supply chains and disrupted school-based reproductive health education, and they have seen sanitation resources diverted to fighting the pandemic.
Girls who have been displaced have to go further to find food, water and firewood in unfamiliar places, and many lack shelter, health care and privacy. If they know menstrual hygiene products exist, limited availability and cost keep them out of reach, and girls resort to cloths that are uncomfortable, irritate skin and take a long time to dry after washing.
In Sofala Province, thousands of girls remain in resettlement areas more than two years after the cyclones. But as part of this transition, UNFPA is supporting the government and partners to ensure their menstrual needs are considered a key part of the recovery.
Normalizing the natural
Working with BeGirl, under the leadership of the Government of Mozambique and with funding support from the Government of Norway, and technical support from the Association for the Promotion and Development of Women and Plan International, UNFPA piloted a project that provided reusable menstrual underwear with washable absorbent insert to dozens of girls, and reached both boys and girls with information about the female reproductive system, menstruation, reproduction and family planning, helping to destigmatize menstruation within the community. The adolescents also received a period-tracking “clock”.
“I had a friend who missed school because of her period,” said one test participant. “If I saw her now, I would not let her miss school. I would tell her that it is normal to have a period and that she does not have to miss school because it is not an illness.”
Advancing girls’ education and gender equity
Angola has also supported girls in humanitarian response – to the arrival of refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2017 and internal displacement caused by severe drought in 2019. During the pandemic, vulnerable women and girls faced constraints in accessing affordable menstrual products. In this fragile context, UNFPA also partnered with BeGirl to address menstrual health and hygiene beyond the aftermath of a crisis toward a larger goal of advancing girls’ education and gender equity by not letting periods or unintended pregnancies keep them from school.
The initiative, reaching 2,000 boys and girls aged 10 to 16 in four provinces, trained 27 educators to provide menstrual health and sexual reproductive health educational workshops and distributed the same reusable period panties and tools to help participants track and understand cycles.
In Huíla province, women receive an average of only three years of school, according to surveys. Many girls living in rural and remote communities are unaware that menstrual hygiene products even exist. When girls begin menstruating, they often start skipping classes because of pain, lack of supplies, or stigma and shame. Repeat those absences with every cycle, and it’s not hard to see why they can fall further behind or drop out completely.
Lack of knowledge about reproduction often contributes to Angola’s teenage pregnancy rate that is among the highest in Africa: 163 births for 1,000 among girls 15 to 19. In Huíla, 36 per cent of girls 15 to 19 have already had their first pregnancy. The programme offers an encouraging step forward: results showed that participants learned how the female reproductive system works and how menstruation and family planning are linked. Girls felt confident in participating in activities when they might have held back before, and boys felt more comfortable supporting friends, girlfriends and sisters in making informed health choices and in everyday participation.
In both countries, the programmes dispelled common myths. In Mozambique, for instance, there is the belief that one can’t add salt to their food or wash dishes while menstruating; in Angola, many believe one can’t bake a cake or that one can get pregnant from sitting next to a boy while on their period.
Scaling up
This year, UNFPA plans on scaling up the programme to include 4,000 adolescents in an additional three drought-affected provinces. Eventually, the goal is to reach 150,000 adolescents and youth by the end of next year. They are also working toward the elimination of taxes that make menstrual products hard to afford and even better, making period products free.
Menstrual health means being able to manage your body and period, not just during a one-time calamity or even on a monthly basis but long-term. As one Angola participant said, “I don’t think about having babies yet, but when the time comes, I already have the information.”

Source: United Nations Population Fund

The Human Rights Council this afternoon adopted a resolution on ensuring respect for international human rights law and international humanitarian law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel, in which it established an international commission of inquiry to investigate violations of international humanitarian law and all alleged violations and abuses of international human rights law leading up to and since 13 April 2021, and all underlying root causes of recurrent tensions.
The resolution was adopted at the end of a one-day special session of the Human Rights Council on the “grave human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem”.
In the resolution (A/HRC/S-30/L.1), adopted by a vote of 24 in favour, 9 against and 14 abstentions, the Council decides to urgently establish an ongoing independent, international commission of inquiry, to be appointed by the President of the Human Rights Council, to investigate in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel all alleged violations of international humanitarian law and all alleged violations and abuses of international human rights law leading up to and since 13 April 2021, and all underlying root causes of recurrent tensions, instability and protraction of conflict, including systematic discrimination and repression based on national, ethnic, racial or religious identity.
The Council also calls upon all relevant parties to cooperate fully with the commission of inquiry and to facilitate its access. It urges all States to refrain from transferring arms when they assess, in accordance with applicable national procedures and international obligations and standards, that there is a clear risk that such arms might be used in the commission or facilitation of serious violations or abuses of international human rights law or serious violations of international humanitarian law.
Pakistan introduced the draft resolution on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Conference.
Israel and the State of Palestine spoke as a concerned countries.
Speaking in general statements or in statements before or after the vote were Austria, Germany, Russian Federation, United Kingdom, Bahamas, Mexico, Venezuela, France, Bulgaria and the Netherlands
At the beginning of the meeting, the Council concluded the discussion, which started in the morning meeting.
Speakers said people in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank needed their leaders to make courageous steps towards peace.  Some speakers said that the indiscriminate barrage of rockets fired by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad into Israel were completely unacceptable. Other speakers said the Council must do three things: address the root causes of the conflict; call the situation what it was, apartheid and persecution, that is crimes against humanity; and end impunity by creating a standing mechanism – because the problems were systemic, long-lasting and would not be solved overnight.  It was unconscionable that States including the United States, Germany and Italy still supplied weapons and other military assistance to the Israeli Government, despite the clear risk of serious violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law.  Some speakers, expressing their full solidarity with Israel, said they refused to support any investigation or mechanism that victimised and exonerated Hamas and other violent organizations. There had been an explosion of anti-Semitism in past weeks, the result of the anti-Semitic vilification of Israel, to which the Council provided cover.
Speaking were Faysal Mekadad, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of Syria; Sultan bin Saad Al-muraikhi, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Qatar; Sameh Shoukry, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Egypt; and Dato’ Kamarudin Jaffar, Deputy Foreign Minister of Malaysia.
The following countries also took the floor: Argentina, France, Senegal, Nepal, Bulgaria, Argentina, Netherlands, Philippines, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Jordan, Costa Rica, Djibouti, Mali, Brunei Darussalam, Ireland, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, EcuadorIraq, Chile, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Malta, Viet Nam, Morocco, Australia, Nigeria, Niger, Algeria, Maldives, Albania, Sovereign Order of Malta, South Africa, United Nations Relief and Works Agency, Peru, Timor-Leste, Oman, Liechtenstein, Yemen, Canada, Holy See, Iran, Colombia, Botswana, New Zealand, Luxembourg, Guyana, United Arab Emirates, Hungary, Sri Lanka, Paraguay, Switzerland and Angola.
The following non-governmental organizations also took the floor: International Commission of Jurists; European Union of Jewish Students; Human Rights Watch; Al-Haq, Law in the Service of Man; Defence for Children International; International Service for Human Rights; Norwegian Refugee Council; Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom; Institute for NGO Research; Ingenieurs du Monde, United Nations Watch; World Jewish Congress; Amnesty International; Caro Institute for Human Rights Studies; ADALAH, Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel; International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists; and Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling.
Israel spoke in a point of order.
This was the thirtieth special session of the Human Rights Council, which was requested by 69 States, of whom 21 are Member States of the Council and 48 are Observer States.
The forty-seventh regular session of the Human Rights Council will be held from 21 June to 15 July 2021.
Discussion
Speakers said they were profoundly preoccupied by the new cycle of violence between Israel, Hamas and other Palestinian organizations, which was spiralling out of control. Should the escalation continue, there would be devastating consequences that would aggravate the humanitarian plight born by years of extended blockades, recurrent hostilities, and, more recently, the COVID-19 pandemic. Further bloodshed must be avoided, speakers emphasised. One speaker said the objective of the military and civil leaders of Israel had been precisely to kill children and destroy mosques, schools and civilian infrastructure under the false, immoral pretence of self-defence. A speaker presented a four-prong approach: bolster the ceasefire agreement; work towards a political agreement; provide the necessary humanitarian support; and ensure that the international community, including the Human Rights Council, assume their full responsibilities. The international community could not put on an equal footing the occupying power and those subjected to it. Speakers underlined that the expansion of illegal settlements; forced evictions of Palestinians from their homes in East Jerusalem, including in Sheikh Jarrah, as well as other parts of the occupied Palestinian territory; and the demolition of Palestinian property were grave human rights violations that undermined prospects for peace and reconciliation.
People in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank needed their leaders to make courageous steps towards peace. Some speakers said that the indiscriminate barrage of rockets fired by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad into Israel were completely unacceptable. Silence in the face of acts perpetrated by terrorist groups amounted to granting them an impunity licence; such behaviour was inadmissible, as it threatened human rights. Expressing their full solidarity with Israel, speakers said they refused to support any investigation or mechanism that victimised and exonerated Hamas and other violent organizations. There had been an explosion of anti-Semitism in past weeks, the result of the anti-Semitic vilification of Israel, to which the Council provided cover. Other speakers said the Council must do three things: address the root causes of the conflict; call the situation what it was, apartheid and persecution, that is crimes against humanity; and end impunity by creating a standing mechanism – because the problems were systemic, long-lasting and would not be solved overnight. Some speakers said this meeting and the new commission of inquiry were an assault on Jewish self-determination and the existence of a Jewish homeland.
Some said that today’s one-sided session, and the predetermined investigation it proposed would foster war, and play into the hands of Haman and Iran. Others said it was unconscionable that States including the United States, Germany and Italy still supplied weapons and other military assistance to the Israeli Government, despite the clear risk of serious violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law. The international community must ensure an independent and thorough investigation parallel to and complementing the ongoing investigation by the International Criminal Court. Drawing attention to the situation of Palestinian citizens of Israel, speakers said they were subject to organised violence by extremist ultra-right-wing Israeli Jewish groups, with police protection and collusion, in the context of the 2018 Jewish Nation-State Basic Law, which enshrined the decades’ long systematic discrimination against, and domination over, Palestinians. Action on Resolution on Ensuring Respect for International Human Rights Law and International Humanitarian Law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel
In the resolution (A/HRC/S-30/L.1), as orally revised, adopted by a vote of 24 in favour, 9 against and 14 abstentions, the Council decides to urgently establish an ongoing independent, international commission of inquiry, to be appointed by the President of the Human Rights Council, to investigate in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel all alleged violations of international humanitarian law and all alleged violations and abuses of international human rights law leading up to and since 13 April 2021, and all underlying root causes of recurrent tensions, instability and protraction of conflict, including systematic discrimination and repression based on national, ethnic, racial or religious identity. The Council also decides that the commission of inquiry shall, inter alia, establish the facts and circumstances that may amount to such violations and abuses and of crimes perpetrated; collect, consolidate and analyse evidence of such violations and abuses and of crimes perpetrated, and systematically record and preserve all information, documentation and evidence, including interviews, witness testimony and forensic material, in accordance with international law standards, in order to maximize the possibility of its admissibility in legal proceedings; have the capacity to document and verify relevant information and evidence, including through field engagement and by cooperating with judicial and other entities, as appropriate; and identify, where possible, those responsible, with a view to ensuring that perpetrators of violations are held accountable.
By the resolution, the Council calls upon all relevant parties to cooperate fully with the commission of inquiry and to facilitate its access. It urges all States to refrain from transferring arms when they assess, in accordance with applicable national procedures and international obligations and standards, that there is a clear risk that such arms might be used in the commission or facilitation of serious violations or abuses of international human rights law or serious violations of international humanitarian law.
The results of the vote were as follows:
In favour (24): Argentina, Armenia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, China, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba, Eritrea, Gabon, Indonesia, Libya, Mauritania, Mexico, Namibia, Pakistan, Philippines, Russian Federation, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan, Uzbekistan and Venezuela.
Against (14): Bahamas, Brazil, Denmark, Fiji, France, India, Italy, Japan, Nepal, Netherlands, Poland, Republic of Korea, Togo and Ukraine.
Abstentions: (9): Austria, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Czech Republic, Germany, Malawi, Marshall Islands, United Kingdom and Uruguay.

Source: UN Human Rights Council

The Presidency can confirm that it has agreed to a request from the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture for President Cyril Ramaphosa’s scheduled appearance on 31 May and 1 June 2021 to be postponed to a later date.

The President’s office is in communication with the Commission to secure suitable alternative dates for his appearance.

Source: The Presidency Republic of South Africa